Talk:video games

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Vector game reference

As this is mere speculation, I've chosen not to add it to the page, but the giant vector-graphics Strong Bad head, at least to me, seems like it could be a reference to Sega/Gremlin's vector games Space Fury and Zektor, both of which featured giant heads as villains. --67.115.105.191 20:16, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

There were actually lotsa games like this back in the day. I was playing Vector Breakout and Vector Pong on my brand spankin new Leading Edge 12mHz 80286 IBM-PC compatible machine (with 640k ram and a hard drive with a few megs' storage). Hey, I was 8, but man that was the coolest freakin thing I'd ever seen. Anywho, point is: this isn't a direct reference to any one game, but to the vector genre, which was an early attempt at wireframe 3d gaming. --Southpaw018|_talk 19:20, 28 Nov 2004 (MST)

It is indeed a reference to vector games in general...the giant, evil, player-taunting head just invokes memories of those two games in particular, though it could in fact be a reference to any of those early-80s games with the main villain taunting you (through that immortal primitive speech synthesis), from Berzerk, to Gorf, to Sinistar. So I just don't really know...that's why I didn't add it to Fun Facts. --67.115.105.191 22:27, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

sinistar

I would vote for sinistar. Check out the resemblance (ok - it's kind of slight...) --Duke33 10:13, 14 Dec 2004 (MST)

Removed "fact"

I just removed the following:

• Strong Bad's intro is a reference to Pete Rose's book, "My Prison Without Bars", which was released about the same time as this e-mail.

"with no walls" is a common expression. --Tom 11:56, 5 Feb 2005 (MST)

Arguments for a specific fact

I just replaced the following, which had recently been removed:

• Strong Bad's intro is a reference to Pete Rose's book, "My Prison Without Bars", which was released about the same time as this e-mail.

Even though "with no walls" may be a common expression, Rose's book had been released only days before this email premiered. It was all over the news, and the reference to a prison missing something was timely and is therefore valid now. -- It's dot com 17:57, 22 Feb 2005 (MST)

I'm not going to get into an edit war with you, but I side with Tom on this one. It just seems too much like a coincidence. It's the only reference that could possibly be equated with the book, and Strong Bad makes a very different prison reference less than a minute later. --Jay 18:13, 22 Feb 2005 (MST)

You have to bear in mind the timing of it all. The email's debut was January 12, 2004. Only four days prior to that, My Prison Without Bars was released. It was the hot topic of the weekend. I vividly remember the Monday morning I first saw the email and thinking to myself: Wow, they put a pop-culture reference in there! If I had known of the Wiki's existence at the time, I would have added the fun fact then.

Time passes. Nearly thirteen months later, some anonymous contributor (I don't know who) adds the fact to the page, but it's been so long that the context and the feeling of a year ago are gone, and so it seems like this so-called fact is a stretch. I can see where you're coming from in this.

But it's not a stretch. The key phrase here is "prison without." Without bars, without walls -- or even, as Strong Bad says, without toilets -- it doesn't matter what it's without... The fact is that the phrase, given the context of the day, is too coincidental to be a coincidence. It is an apropos reference, and a valid fun fact.

Sincerely, and with warm regards,
-- It's dot com 20:27, 25 Feb 2005 (MST)

P.S. It's true that Strong Bad mentions Alcatraz, but I think that's because TBC already had prison on the brain due to the constant news coverage of Pete Rose's book (and the shocking revelations within it).

Closed STUFF