Guilty Pleasures
By Associated Press
Asteroids, Myst, Resident Evil, SimCity and Ultima inducted into World Video Game Hall of Fame
ROCHESTER, N.Y. | The World Video Game Hall of Fame inducted its 10th class of honorees Thursday, recognizing Asteroids, Myst, Resident Evil, SimCity and Ultima for their impacts on the video game industry and popular culture.
The inductees debuted across decades, advancing technologies along the way and expanding not only the number of players, but the ages and interests of those at the controls, Hall of Fame authorities said in revealing the winners. The Hall of Fame recognizes electronic games of all types — arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile.
The Class of 2024 was selected by experts from among a field of 12 finalists that also included Elite, Guitar Hero, Metroid, Neopets, Tokimeki Memorial, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and You Don’t Know Jack.
The honor for Atari’s Asteroids comes 45 years after its 1979 debut in arcades, where it was Atari’s bestselling coin-operated game. The game’s glowing space-themed graphics and sound effects made their way from more than 70,000 arcade units into millions of living rooms when a home version of Asteroids was made available on the Atari 2600.
“Through endless variants and remakes across dozens of arcade, home, handheld, and mobile platforms, Asteroids made a simple, yet challenging game about blasting rocks into one of the most widely played and influential video games of all time,” said Jeremy Saucier, assistant vice president for interpretation and electronic games at The Strong museum, where the World Video Game Hall of Fame is located.
The next inductee to debut was Ultima, not necessarily a household name but a force in the development of the computer role-playing genre, digital preservation director Andrew Borman said in the news release. Designed by Richard Garriott and released in 1981, Utima: The First Age of Darkness inspired eight sequels and is credited with inspiring later role-playing games like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.
The urban design-inspired SimCity was released by Maxis in 1989 and found an audience among adults as well as children who were challenged to build their own city and respond to problems. Among the sequels and offshoots it inspired was 2016 World Video Game Hall of Fame inductee The Sims.
“At a time when many people thought of video games in terms of arcade shooters or console platformers, SimCity appealed to players who wanted intellectually stimulating fun on their newly bought personal computers,” Aryol Prater, research specialist for Black play and culture, said.
The adventure game Myst sold more than 6 million copies, making it a best-selling computer game in the 1990s. The 1993 Broderbund release used early CD-ROM technology and allowed for a level of player immersion that until then had not been available in computer games, the Hall of Fame said.
“Few other games can match Myst’s ability to open imaginative worlds,” collections manager Kristy Hisert said. “It was a work of artistic genius that captured the imagination of an entire generation of computer game players, and its influence can be seen in many of today’s open-world games.”
The final honoree, Resident Evil’s “cheesy B-movie dialogue, engrossing gameplay, and chilling suspense” helped popularize the “survival horror” genre following its release by Capcom in 1996 and offered mature entertainment for older teenagers and adults, video game curator Lindsey Kurano said. Created by game director Shinji Mikami, it also inspired an action horror film series that as of 2022 had grossed more than $1.2 billion, according to the Hall of Fame.
Anyone can nominate a game to the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Members of an international selection advisory committee submit their top three choices from the list of finalists. Fans also are invited to weigh in online. The public as a whole is treated as a single committee member.
Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, Jon Stewart to premiere new podcasts in
early June
NEW YORK | Some stars known for their work onscreen — Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson and Jon Stewart — are entering into the world of podcasts.
Danson and Harrelson have signed up for “Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (Sometimes),” which will be launched June 12 by SiriusXM.
The title, of course, is a reference to their years together on the NBC sitcom “Cheers,” and to the fact that Harrelson’s participation is more limited. He’ll be on with Danson “when he can find him,” SiriusXM said.
The podcast will consist of their conversations with the likes of Will Arnett, Kristen Bell, Laura Dern, Jane Fonda, Conan O’Brien, Nick Offerman and others.
Stewart, who returned to Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” earlier this year to host once a week, will do a podcast called “The Weekly Show,” according to Comedy Central. It is expected to launch in early June.
The podcast sounds like an extension of the television show, with guests and deeper dives into issues, according to a description by MTV Entertainment Studios & Paramount Media Networks.
“After much reflection, meditation and prayer, I have decided to extend my work week to two days,” Stewart said.
Supreme Court sides with music producer in copyright case over sample in Flo Rida hit
WASHINGTON | The Supreme Court sided with a music producer in a copyright case Thursday, allowing him to seek more than a decade’s worth of damages over a sample used in a hit Flo Rida song.
The 6-3 decision came in a case filed by Sherman Nealy, who was suing over music used in the 2008 song “In the Ayer,” by the rapper Flo Rida. It also was featured on TV shows like “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Nealy says he didn’t find out his former collaborator had inked a deal with a record company that allowed the sampling of the song “Jam the Box” until 2016. He sued two years later for damages going back to the song’s release.
Copyright law says suits must be filed within three years of the violation, or the point when it’s discovered. The record company, Warner Chappell, argued that means Nealy would only be entitled to three years’ worth of royalties at most.
The question of how far back damages can go has split appeals courts, and it’s one that industry groups like the Recording Industry Association of America called on the Supreme Court to decide.
The opinion handed down Thursday was written by Justice Elena Kagan, and joined by her liberal colleagues Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson as well as conservative justices John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
“There is no time limit on monetary recovery. So a copyright owner possessing a timely claim is entitled to damages for infringement, no matter when the infringement occurred,” Kagan wrote.
Three conservative justices dissented. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the majority sidestepped the important question: Whether Nealy’s claim was valid to begin with, or whether copyright holders should have to show some kind of fraud in order to sue over older violations. The dissenters said the suit should have been dismissed.
Weinstein won’t be sent back to California while he awaits New York rape retrial
NEW YORK | Harvey Weinstein will remain locked up in New York as a court works out whether he should stay in a city jail while awaiting retrial, or be sent to California to serve his prison sentence for rape there.
The fallen movie mogul denied his consent for California’s extradition request during a brief court hearing Thursday, and will remain behind bars in New York for now.
Weinstein, 72, was returned to the city’s Riker’s Island jail just days ago from a city hospital. He showed up for the hearing in a wheelchair and wearing a dark suit. Defense attorney Diana Fabi Samson said outside of court that their main concern is making sure Weinstein gets the medical care he needs.
“He’s holding up the best he can,” she said.
A judge scheduled his next appearance on the extradition question for Aug. 7 — just weeks before New York prosecutors said they could be ready to try him again.
The 16-year sentence Weinstein received in 2023 for raping a woman at a 2013 Los Angeles film festival had been on ice while he served a 23-year rape sentence in New York.
After the Empire State conviction was overturned late last month, Manhattan prosecutors said they’re working to retry him, and at least one of two accusers was willing to testify again.
The once-powerful former movie executive has denied the New York charges, which accused him of raping an aspiring actor in 2013 and sexually assaulting a TV and film production assistant in 2006. The 2020 verdict was heralded at the time as a milestone in the #MeToo movement, an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein.
In vacating the convictions, New York’s highest court found that the trial judge prejudiced Weinstein with improper rulings, including by letting other women testify about allegations he wasn’t charged with.
Weinstein was doing his time in an upstate New York prison until he was transferred to city custody following the appeals court decision. Then he was sent to Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital, where his publicist says he was treated for pneumonia and other medical issues. He was moved back to Rikers on Monday.
Samson said outside court that California now needs to produce a warrant signed by the governor. “They are not in a position to extradite Mr. Weinstein because they have not done what they need to do,” she said.
—From AP reports
