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Video Game Product Placement in TV shows

13

Posts

  • Burden of ProofBurden of Proof You three boys picked a beautiful hill to die on. Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Reznik wrote: »
    In the new X-Men cartoon, you can see Iceman and Shadowcat playing the Iron Man game in the background of one episode

    It's so out of place because it's actual in-game footage on the TV being played by 2D animated characters.

    Oh man, that's hilarious.

    Especially since the Iron Man games was one of the worst games I've played in the last few years.

    Burden of Proof on
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    EvilBadman wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Oh man you guys have forgotten like, the grand-daddy progenitor of all "conspiracy information is inside a video game"... The Net.

    The Sandra Bullock movie? Is that what that's about?

    I avoided it like the plague because it's a Sandra Bullock movie.

    No, the computer program wasn't a game. Primus is a dumb head with silly avatar/sig combos.

    The Net was a 1984-esque movie wherein Sandra Bullock gets a random ass computer program and not a game that housed a backdoor into government/military systems. The hackers responsible discover her stumbling along their plans and remove all computer records of her existence, or add a pretty robust rap sheet to further fuck her life up. They go so far to kill Dennis Miller in a hospital by erasing the fact that he's allergic to penicillin in the database.

    A movie of fear mongering for having all our information on computers, and it's 14 years old.

    The Net was a pretty good movie as I recall. Sure, it was fearmongering and all but the scenario is pretty plausible. Sandra Bullock was living alone, in fear of society (due to stuff that happened in her past that turned her into a recluse), and she had very few friends that she could trust. It's not too far fetched that some shady bastards with access to government databases could essentially erase records of a character like hers from existence. If anything, they could classify her as being dead 2 years ago in a car crash or some such.
    It wasn't plausible. There are still plenty of paper documents that she could have gotten to prove she existed such as a birth certificate, diploma, etc.

    Couscous on
  • Atlus ParkerAtlus Parker Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Veronica Mars once played an FPS and claimed "ownage" while she was team-killing. It was kinda dumb but I didn't care because it was Veronica Mars.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YokF5xC7HRM

    There's a really bad scene in season 3 where a couple of characters go back and forth saying how awesome Guitar Hero is then they show a 30 second Guitar Hero montage, complete with overacting.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYTktiEk_2Y

    Atlus Parker on
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Couscous wrote: »
    EvilBadman wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Oh man you guys have forgotten like, the grand-daddy progenitor of all "conspiracy information is inside a video game"... The Net.

    The Sandra Bullock movie? Is that what that's about?

    I avoided it like the plague because it's a Sandra Bullock movie.

    No, the computer program wasn't a game. Primus is a dumb head with silly avatar/sig combos.

    The Net was a 1984-esque movie wherein Sandra Bullock gets a random ass computer program and not a game that housed a backdoor into government/military systems. The hackers responsible discover her stumbling along their plans and remove all computer records of her existence, or add a pretty robust rap sheet to further fuck her life up. They go so far to kill Dennis Miller in a hospital by erasing the fact that he's allergic to penicillin in the database.

    A movie of fear mongering for having all our information on computers, and it's 14 years old.

    The Net was a pretty good movie as I recall. Sure, it was fearmongering and all but the scenario is pretty plausible. Sandra Bullock was living alone, in fear of society (due to stuff that happened in her past that turned her into a recluse), and she had very few friends that she could trust. It's not too far fetched that some shady bastards with access to government databases could essentially erase records of a character like hers from existence. If anything, they could classify her as being dead 2 years ago in a car crash or some such.
    It wasn't plausible. There are still plenty of paper documents that she could have gotten to prove she existed such as a birth certificate, diploma, etc.

    But computers, mann!

    I like The Net because it spawned a great line in Seinfeld from Frank Costanza, explaining why he decided to start selling computers.

    "...I watched a provocative movie called "The Net," with that girl from "The Bus." I did some research and found out... it wasn't that far-fetched."

    KalTorak on
  • ButtcleftButtcleft Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Buttcleft wrote: »
    it was CSI Vegas.

    Thats almost as bad as watching people play one console, with the controller from another [ or worse, from a previous generation as well ], over acting the playing. No one jumps off the couch every time they fucking jump in a game, for instance.

    I'm pretty sure it was CSI Miami.

    Your right, I had Vegas on my mind for some reason and PEBKAC'd. :P

    Buttcleft on
  • Sol InvictusSol Invictus Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Buttcleft wrote: »
    Buttcleft wrote: »
    it was CSI Vegas.

    Thats almost as bad as watching people play one console, with the controller from another [ or worse, from a previous generation as well ], over acting the playing. No one jumps off the couch every time they fucking jump in a game, for instance.

    I'm pretty sure it was CSI Miami.

    Your right, I had Vegas on my mind for some reason and PEBKAC'd. :P

    Vegas actually gets a lot better after season 5. They ditch a lot of the whole forensic science nonsense for creatively written episodes and a lot of human element, between the CSIs and the victims and the criminals, who aren't so stupid anymore.

    CSI New York continues with the routine '2 crimes per episode, each solved by fake forensic science' formula. At least Vegas tries to be accurate with their procedures.

    Sol Invictus on
  • gjaustingjaustin Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Wasn't there another CSI (or it might be Without A Trace) where to find the kidnapped person the authorities checked Second Life? The kidnapper had recreated his lakeside home, and they made the Second Life programmers change the time of day so they could see where the sun would rise; that way they knew which side of the lake to search.

    Not exactly video games, but the Internet episode of Fairly Odd Parents was pretty cool.

    I think it was a Law and Order (either SVU or Criminal Intent).

    At least, I saw it and I don't watch CSI or Without A Trace, so I don't think it was one of those two.


    There was another SVU episode where some guy commits a crime then hires a developer to make a GTA (clone) mod about it.


    Rent wrote: »
    gjaustin wrote: »
    This isn't a TV show, but the movie Reign Over Me used Shadow of the Colossus quite extensively. One of the characters was playing it as coping mechanism for the death of his family, and eventually the other main character starts playing it too and it ends up being a bonding experience.
    Except Reign Over Me is an actually good movie and the game is a perfect metaphor for the literal demons Adam Sandler's character is fighting
    Oh and the game was played like it was supposed to instead of the actors slapping the controllers
    Damn I should watch Reign Over Me again sometime
    Also, that video was a fucking travesty
    A hilarious travesty, but a travesty nonetheless

    He didn't say Reign Over Me was bad, nor the product placement. Product placement doesn't have to be a bad thing if done well.

    Again, I point to The Office (and more than just COD).

    Yeah, I actually enjoyed the movie. Of course, the entire reason I watched it in the first place was that I had heard about the product placement and that it was well done.

    gjaustin on
  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Robin Williams' One Hour Photo had a fairly obvious cameo in it.

    In any case, it featured the son of the family he was stalking playing Dead or Alive: Hardcore on the PS2. Kind of odd, given the kid was....seven or something, at most. I'm fairly certain DOA3 on the original Xbox had already come out.

    I recall he was playing as Lei-Fang, in the ice cavern level (it's been a while since DOA2, the name escapes me).

    Synthesis on
  • manaleak34manaleak34 Registered User regular
    edited January 2009

    There's a really bad scene in season 3 where a couple of characters go back and forth saying how awesome Guitar Hero is then they show a 30 second Guitar Hero montage, complete with overacting.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYTktiEk_2Y

    Man that's how your supposed to play guitar hero.

    manaleak34 on
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  • ZiggymonZiggymon Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Congo had a good one of the gorilla playing doom to show its levels of intelligence.

    Ziggymon on
  • Raiden333Raiden333 Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Can't believe I haven't seen this yet:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9kKurUHTwE&feature=related

    edit: oh, durr, mentioned in OP. But still.

    Raiden333 on
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  • CrashmoCrashmo Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Synthesis wrote: »
    Robin Williams' One Hour Photo had a fairly obvious cameo in it.

    In any case, it featured the son of the family he was stalking playing Dead or Alive: Hardcore on the PS2. Kind of odd, given the kid was....seven or something, at most. I'm fairly certain DOA3 on the original Xbox had already come out.

    I recall he was playing as Lei-Fang, in the ice cavern level (it's been a while since DOA2, the name escapes me).

    Also, when they're in the store getting their photos, the boy is seen holding an Evangelion toy.

    Crashmo on
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  • LeitnerLeitner Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    gjaustin wrote: »
    Wasn't there another CSI (or it might be Without A Trace) where to find the kidnapped person the authorities checked Second Life? The kidnapper had recreated his lakeside home, and they made the Second Life programmers change the time of day so they could see where the sun would rise; that way they knew which side of the lake to search.

    I think it was a Law and Order (either SVU or Criminal Intent).

    Yeah it was Law and Order, they've actually been oddly good in this regard. They've also had one episode where the criminal claims videogames made him do it, and they go onto take apart his defence. As well as one in SVU where they think a Diablo/RPG game made a disturbed kid kill the victim, but find out that he was emulating the hero and tried to defend her.

    Leitner on
  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Crashmo wrote: »
    Synthesis wrote: »
    Robin Williams' One Hour Photo had a fairly obvious cameo in it.

    In any case, it featured the son of the family he was stalking playing Dead or Alive: Hardcore on the PS2. Kind of odd, given the kid was....seven or something, at most. I'm fairly certain DOA3 on the original Xbox had already come out.

    I recall he was playing as Lei-Fang, in the ice cavern level (it's been a while since DOA2, the name escapes me).

    Also, when they're in the store getting their photos, the boy is seen holding an Evangelion toy.

    I recall that as well--though they pronounce it 'evangelical', rather than the hard G as it was originally.

    (I'm not a purist or anything, I just thing 'Evanjelion' sounds hilariously comical.)

    Robin Williams is, admittedly, quite a big gamer and apparently a huge fan of Evangelion (the action figure belonged to him) an other series, so it's not too surprising.

    Synthesis on
  • UnbreakableVowUnbreakableVow Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Uh...it's pronounced Evanjelion.

    Unless the anime series pronounces it incorrectly on purpose.

    UnbreakableVow on
  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Uh...it's pronounced Evanjelion.

    Unless the anime series pronounces it incorrectly on purpose.

    They do. Don't ask me why, maybe the Japanese don't find the soft 'G' pleasant, or it could be difficult to pronounce. In any case, every time they say the whole word, versus just 'Eva', it is rendered as 'Evangelion'--and this transferred onto the English language version.

    Given that it's a new 'word' in this context, and not the same thing as the Bible's 'Evangelium', I think they can pronounce it however they want and it's right. At least they're consistent.

    Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I might be the only person who remembers this, but didn't some of the characters of Friends own a Playstation?

    Synthesis on
  • CherrnCherrn Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Synthesis wrote: »
    Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I might be the only person who remembers this, but didn't some of the characters of Friends own a Playstation?

    Actually, I'm pretty sure a Nintendo 64 was shown repeatedly. I've never confirmed this, since I hate the show, but Nintendorks (Hey, remember them?) made a whole thing of it back in the day, featuring screenshots and everything.

    Cherrn on
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  • CrashmoCrashmo Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Also, there is a couple episodes in Scrubs where Turk is seen playing a 360, and Carla turns out to be a secret pro at the game. They only show a second or two of screentime, but I think they are playing GRAW.

    They talk about shooting aliens like maybe it was Halo 2 or 3, but it was quick so I wasn't sure.

    Bonus laughs when Janitor plays , when after his first kill he stops to say a few words for his fallen enemy.

    Crashmo on
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  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Oh yes, the writers of Crime dramas hate technology. All of it.

    The makers of this trash will get old and die eventually.

    Cantido on
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  • obolon84obolon84 Good news, everyone! I just blue myself.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Crashmo wrote: »
    Also, there is a couple episodes in Scrubs where Turk is seen playing a 360, and Carla turns out to be a secret pro at the game. They only show a second or two of screentime, but I think they are playing GRAW.

    They talk about shooting aliens like maybe it was Halo 2 or 3, but it was quick so I wasn't sure.

    Bonus laughs when Janitor plays , when after his first kill he stops to say a few words for his fallen enemy.

    I just saw that episode a few days ago, but it kind of bothered me that it was two-player with just one character on-screen as well as (I think) them saying something about levels. The Jan Itor part was pretty funny, though.

    obolon84 on
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  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    obolon84 wrote: »
    Crashmo wrote: »
    Also, there is a couple episodes in Scrubs where Turk is seen playing a 360, and Carla turns out to be a secret pro at the game. They only show a second or two of screentime, but I think they are playing GRAW.

    They talk about shooting aliens like maybe it was Halo 2 or 3, but it was quick so I wasn't sure.

    Bonus laughs when Janitor plays , when after his first kill he stops to say a few words for his fallen enemy.

    I just saw that episode a few days ago, but it kind of bothered me that it was two-player with just one character on-screen as well as (I think) them saying something about levels. The Jan Itor part was pretty funny, though.

    Also i think one of the controllers is wireless (fatter body for the batteries) and the other one is a wired controller with the wire cut off. Carla also tells Turk to "jump in that Warthog" which suggests Halo, but i think the game footage was something else.

    KalTorak on
  • CrashmoCrashmo Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    KalTorak wrote: »
    obolon84 wrote: »
    Crashmo wrote: »
    Also, there is a couple episodes in Scrubs where Turk is seen playing a 360, and Carla turns out to be a secret pro at the game. They only show a second or two of screentime, but I think they are playing GRAW.

    They talk about shooting aliens like maybe it was Halo 2 or 3, but it was quick so I wasn't sure.

    Bonus laughs when Janitor plays , when after his first kill he stops to say a few words for his fallen enemy.

    I just saw that episode a few days ago, but it kind of bothered me that it was two-player with just one character on-screen as well as (I think) them saying something about levels. The Jan Itor part was pretty funny, though.

    Also i think one of the controllers is wireless (fatter body for the batteries) and the other one is a wired controller with the wire cut off. Carla also tells Turk to "jump in that Warthog" which suggests Halo, but i think the game footage was something else.

    Yeah, it seems like they were trying to make it a Halo advertisement, but they only had GRAW so they just avoided showing a lot of screen time and had them mention vague Halo-ish things. Weird.

    edit: Let's not forget Dr. Kelso and his sacred love affair with Mrs. Pac-Man!

    Also, from the Todd: Oh Ms. Pac-man I would sex that bow right off your head. Eat those dots you naughty, naughty girl.

    Crashmo on
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  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Cherrn wrote: »
    Synthesis wrote: »
    Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I might be the only person who remembers this, but didn't some of the characters of Friends own a Playstation?

    Actually, I'm pretty sure a Nintendo 64 was shown repeatedly. I've never confirmed this, since I hate the show, but Nintendorks (Hey, remember them?) made a whole thing of it back in the day, featuring screenshots and everything.

    I really don't remember the specifics (I thought the show was funny, but that was more than ten years ago, everyone's tastes change).

    In the case of Scrubs, it was definitely an Xbox 360, but I think the footage of the game was created for the show--didn't look like GRAW. It was humorous how the Janitor attempted to eulogize his kills.

    Synthesis on
  • METAzraeLMETAzraeL Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Domhnall wrote: »
    Spaced has a brilliant episode, every episode. Episode. Buy Spaced.

    METAzraeL on

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  • yurnamehereyurnamehere Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    theSquid wrote: »
    I know whenever someone plays a video game in Dexter, it's a modern game with hilariously antiquated sound effects they put in for some reason.

    Any time a video game appears in a movie or TV show, there's about a 90% chance that the sound effects being used are for Atari 2600 Pac-Man or Donkey Kong.

    yurnamehere on
  • Johnny ChopsockyJohnny Chopsocky Scootaloo! We have to cook! Grillin' HaysenburgersRegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I really can't believe that nobody has mentioned the South Park episode 'Make Love Not Warcraft' yet.

    Johnny Chopsocky on
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  • ChewyWafflesChewyWaffles Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Oh man you guys have forgotten like, the grand-daddy progenitor of all "conspiracy information is inside a video game"... The Net.

    Are you kidding? The great grand-daddy of them all is Cloak and Dagger.

    ChewyWaffles on
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  • Cpt_InnocuousCpt_Innocuous Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I really can't believe that nobody has mentioned the South Park episode 'Make Love Not Warcraft' yet.

    When I watched that episode, all I could think about was when Stan's dad was talking about his character, how he was a hunter. He was wearing a SHIELD man, hunters can't wear shields.

    Cpt_Innocuous on
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I really can't believe that nobody has mentioned the South Park episode 'Make Love Not Warcraft' yet.

    When I watched that episode, all I could think about was when Stan's dad was talking about his character, how he was a hunter. He was wearing a SHIELD man, hunters can't wear shields.

    Technically he shouldn't have been able to give Stan the Sword of a Thousand Somethings either - he was wielding it, it would have soulbound to him.

    Unless that's one of its powers.

    KalTorak on
  • chasmchasm Ill-tempered Texan Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I have no idea wtf posts #109 and #110 are about. I don't know how to feel about that.

    But yeah, Two and a Half Men have lots of video game references in their episodes. Everything from Charlie bragging to Jake about picking up a new game (Crimson Skies for the oXbox), to Jake going from a GBA SP to a DS, and Jake getting a Wii for Xmas.

    chasm on
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  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    This may be the end of the World.... of Warcraft.

    DarkPrimus on
  • PiggoPiggo Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    An excuse to post Spaced. Thanks thread. (Embedding is disabled, but click again to go to the page and watch it.)

    Resident Evil 2

    And it also allows me to post a link to one of the best moments of comedy. Ever.

    Slow Motion 'Gun' Fight

    Piggo on
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    maximumzero on
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  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    The best thing about the Writer's Strike is that it prevented that show from even having the chance of getting picked up for a full season.

    DarkPrimus on
  • Big ClassyBig Classy Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    chasm wrote: »
    I have no idea wtf posts #109 and #110 are about. I don't know how to feel about that.

    But yeah, Two and a Half Men have lots of video game references in their episodes. Everything from Charlie bragging to Jake about picking up a new game (Crimson Skies for the oXbox), to Jake going from a GBA SP to a DS, and Jake getting a Wii for Xmas.

    Let's not forget Jake pissing on his DS. Then taking it to school and showing it to everyone as part of his report on what he did over the weekend.

    Big Classy on
  • PaladinPaladin Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Season 1 or 2 of House had a segment where he was playing one of the metroids on a game boy


    except he would die whenever he ballmorphed on a chozo statue

    Paladin on
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  • NocrenNocren Lt Futz, Back in Action North CarolinaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Going back to Scrubs, I thought the game footage was of Quake 4. The gun held looks a lot like the SMG from Q2 anyway (Never played Q4).

    Anyway, CSI:NY had the whole Second Life tie in where the main characters had to interact with the people there was a 2 or 3 episode arc. CBS even had a big tie-in with SL for it.

    Nocren on
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  • nlawalkernlawalker Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Wow... on to the fifth page now and no mention of the OG of video game product placement. Yes, even older and even more of a tie-in than anything in The Wizard... Cloak and Dagger. It's predated by both Tron and (just barely) The Last Starfighter, but unlike either, is concerned with a real game (Tron games were based on the movie, not vice versa) that was developed by Atari.

    And to top it all off, it is the originator of the "you have to beat the game to unlock the secret files" crap.

    It's not just simple product placement, either: Part of the movie's plot was that the secrets were hidden on a video game cartridge. The producers and the developers of a game called Agent X at Atari heard about each other's projects and met to discuss product placement of a game. A killer deal was struck: The game was renamed after the movie (Cloak and Dagger), a character in the movie was named after the original name of the game (Agent X), the movie includes real-life elements that vaguely parallel the game, and gameplay footage is featured in the film.

    And strangely enough... the game was never released for an Atari home console, even though it is only shown in the film as a home game. It was released in the arcades a year prior to the film, and all of the game footage in the film is actually the arcade machine output sent to a TV.

    Here's one of those fascinating little snippets of ancient development history relating to C&D - http://www.atarihq.com/5200/5200faq/02_06.html

    EDIT: Just realized that the thread title is "...in TV shows," but I have already seen mention of other movies, and this bit of history should be known by all.

    nlawalker on
  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Maybe I just missed it, but I can't believe none of you watch the new Knight Rider! :D

    The most recent episode had the NSA confiscating all of the Knight Industries stuff from the bunker, including KITT (they wanted his CPU/personality for KARR). So KITT uploaded himself to the internet to hide and save himself. (picking the perfect hiding space of michaelknight.com - no one would think to look there!) Anyway, they go to download him and a packet is missing. Turns out some 11 year old downloaded it to his 360. So the geek guy goes over there with a basket of "unreleased" software saying he won some competition and later it shows them playing Halo 3. Geek guy claims they have to rescue the "artifact" to win. He then takes the memory card and leaves, having rescued the lost packet.

    Now, it actually wasn't too bad. Obviously, playing a video game wouldn't rescue the packet, but given the geek's programming skills, he could have programmed the game to search for the while they played and the "artifact" was just a market indicating it was copied onto the memory card successfully. It was the proper game (Halo 3) on the proper console (360) and I think it had the proper sound as well.

    Was still cheesy. You would think if the kid downloaded the packet they could hack his 360 through the net and recover it, but no, had to do it locally.

    ArcSyn on
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  • TVs_FrankTVs_Frank Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Watching the "air playing" in the OP's clip was kinda creepy.

    TVs_Frank on
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