June 18th Mother Lode

Woah! I struck the Mother Lode this June 18th with some funny and interesting news for you guys today. Shall we start?

Harold Ramis Feeling.....Glad?

Yup! Harold Ramis the American actor, writer and director who, for those of you who are playing the recently released game Ghostbusters, played the role of Egon Spengler feels like he also hit the mother lode because of actions he took almost 16 years ago. So what action this is? Turning down the opportunity to direct the infamous movie, Super Mario Bros. Looking at Harold Ramis resume you will find a list of classic comedies like Caddyshack, Groundhog Day and Analyze This so imagine if Harold Ramis took that offer it would have been tarnished by that mutated looking Koopa-Princess Peachless Super Mario Bros. flick. Other amazing actors who escaped 1990s epic fail were Danny DeVito, who turned down the role of Mario, and Kevin Costner, who passed on playing King Koopa. Bob Hoskins accepted the role of Mario and later called the experience "a fucking nightmare". Dennis Hopper, who ended up taking the role of Koopa, said that he did the picture so his son could have shoes. What?! Uh...err...okay?!*I really did not make that last part up*

Microsoft Pulls Plug On Xbox OriginalsFirst launched in 2007, Microsoft's "Xbox Originals" seemed an easy way to re-release old Xbox titles on the 360 as a digital download, and make a couple bucks off them in the process. Hasn't worked out that way. After an initial flurry of titles, releases for the service soon slowed to the point where most of you probably forgot it was even around. So now Microsoft saying it has now "finished it's portfolio" of releases for the service. Though they have made cleared that the Xbox games already offered for download will still be up for grabs.

Left 4 Dead 2 Box Art Were Made for the Weak Hearted in Mind!

Recently the official Left 4 Dead blog explained the rules ESRB has actually stated to be suitable for a public audience. From what it seems rules for how many gnawed of human fingers one can highlight on a video game box is...drum roll please...ONE!According to an update to the official blog, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board apparently thought that having a chewed off pinkie and ring finger in addition to the gobbled up thumb, as seen on the original Left 4 Dead, was going a little too far. Therefore, because of this, Left 4 Dead 2 will have to stick to the "one for the thumb" ESRB bylaw for its box art. So much for freedom of creativity...*sigh*