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View Full Version : Isn't that Tempest?



Flack
07-28-2004, 10:35 AM
Around my house, we watch a lot of television. Actually, in all honesty, we don't watch a lot of television, it's just that the television is always on. It provides that soothing background noise that I grew up around.

The other day I happened to be passing through the living room and caught a glimpse of Drake and Josh, a teenie show in Nickelodeon (notice how I back pedal for ten minutes, never actually admitting to watching the show? :))

Anyway, the stars of the show were in a movie theater or something and were standing in front of some arcade games. The one on the end is clearly a Tempest, one of the most unique and recognizable arcade cabinets of all time. From the side angle, you could see the side art was perfect. It looked like they had a brand new Tempest machine in a 2004 sit-com!

When they switched to the front angle, I noticed that the game had a fake marquee. It said something like "blasting lazers" or something generic like that. Everything else about the game was mint. I guess it was just one of those licensing issues ... I just thought it was kind of strange that they would pick the most recognizable cabinet in the world to try and rename.

Kid Ice
07-28-2004, 06:14 PM
Odd. I'm not sure what kind of licensing issues would exist. My guess is they found a nice condition Tempest cab with a bad (or no) marquee, so they just stuck a regular sign in there instead of ponying up the cash for a repro. Or maybe the studio keeps a stock of games on hand for such occasions, and some employee took the marquee home for his game room. Either way, I doubt anyone lost any sleep over a Tempest cab being "recognizable" to the nine year olds that watch the show...it's not as if it was on Friends.