Pet Rock: The Pop Culture Blog

Do you long to relive the intensity, passion and competitiveness of beer pong college athletics? Have you had a debilitating wrist / elbow injury that’s robbed you of frat party immortality? Do you want one more shot at that jerk that lived two doors down who “Sneaky Peted” your girl and your cups?

Thanks to Nintendo Wii’s new “Frat Party Games: Beer Pong” (recently renamed “Pong Toss”), you should bust out the old “Castles in the Sky” mix-tape and reincarnate the pimpled drunkard in you.

Due later this month, “Pong Toss” features two distinct competitive games. “Pong Toss” offers an ol’ school tournament-style game of Pong Toss for one to four players and then there is the new age Speed Pong, in which two or three players compete at the same time, each trying to be the first to eliminate all of his or her cups.

Take a sneak peek at Wii’s "Pong Toss" with a cast that is entirely too sober, then dust off that old wrist band and start practicing your patented “snipe shot."

- Jose Moreno

Every now and again, I am reminded why YouTube was invented. And it's for things such as what you'll find below in Old School Tuesday, submitted this week by CL.

If you've got ideas for future Old School Tuesday installments, email me.

- La Monica

By Adam Abramson

I grew up playing all kinds of video games. I still play video games on occasion. I've played the older Grand Theft Auto games since 1998, and they're all a good time.

But part of the intrigue to the GTA series is the intricacies of the video game. GTA San Andreas was extremely intense and fun because of the challenge it presented. I remember playing the game for countless hours, checking to see my progress only to find out I had completed 30% of the game.

Eventually I decided to switch it up and throw in Rockstar's versions of up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, select, start. It was like getting a new game.

I've tried the reverse. I immediately found the codes upon the release of a game, and guess what? I never played the game without the codes.

My advice: Wait. Rockstar spent all of this time developing the game for your enjoyment.

Give it some time, THEN find the codes and shred away with unlimited health, or whatever strikes your fancy.

For all you gamers out there (and nongamers who just like to watch awesome trailers for video games), enjoy our double-feature sneak peek of "Grand Theft Auto IV," which hits stores Tuesday, April 29.

That damn Soda Popinski!

It's been 20 years and he's still unbeatable in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! You'd think after this length of time, he'd be a bit out of shape with wimpy noodle arms.

But oh no. He's still a mighty Russian with uppercuts that start at the floor and end at the top of the TV screen, Little Mac's rattled brain caught in the middle.

Thanks to Jitsu friend Jitsu and his keen ability to spend $5 to download the original game to his Wii, I scored the opportunity to conquer my childhood demons.

Isn't this what we dream about? To be older and wiser when we meet our childhood nemesis? To have that "one of these days" when we're at our peak and the sides are equal?

I cruised through the early rounds, laying out Von Kaiser in under a minute and taking Dom Flamenco to the third round just for fun. I even remembered the timing on countering Bald Bull's bull charge (no thanks to Doc Lewis).

Then came Soda Popinski, with his two left hooks, his Russian two-step and quick right jabs and those mighty uppercuts. He smoked me. Again. I felt like I made no progress in life. If there were an Alyssa Milano poster hanging on the wall, I'd have felt 12 years ago again. Sitting on a couch, no closer to personal glory as I see Little Mac sitting on a chair after the fight with Nintendo's game makers taunting me into retirement after losing the rematch.

Damn you, Soda Popinski!

But here's the major difference in life these days. Fueled by 20 years of anger and embarassment about rarely being able to beat the almighty Russian, I went on YouTube and typed in "Soda Popinski." I found a tutorial on how to use a glitch against Popinski.

Now we'll see what happens in our next fight. Bring back the Cold War, this Russian is going down!

- Mark La Monica