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Gamebox 1.0 (2004) - Easter Eggs
Rory Joscelyne • 1 February 2024
VGMP: Cops don't even stop for references 'round here.
Gamebox 1.0 is an odd 2004 movie starring the guy who played Harvey in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. You could technically call it a dramatic horror, if any of it was dramatic or a horror. As you can see from the shot above, the details were so vital to this film that there's a guy at "work" just staring at a blank screen.
Regardless of the low budget nature of the film, there are still a surprising number of references hidden in this movie.
XBOX CONTROLLER & GAMES
Like a strange homage to the TV Series "24", which started in 2001, the intro of the film does this 4-way split of gaming and intro credits.
We'll go into the games a bit more later, but the top right of the screen first showcases footage from the original Halo game, then Riddle of the Sphinx, while Test Drive plays in the bottom right. All of these are original Xbox games - with an OG Xbox Controller S shown in the top left.
MIDTOWN MADNESS 3, NFL FEVER 2003, RALLISPORT CHALLENGE
Advertising Posters for Xbox games;
- A poster is seen in a young man's bedroom at the start of the movie, advertising Midtown Madness 3. This poster is seen at other times of the movie, and it is never particularly clear. However comparing it to the original boxart makes it clear that it is this title.
- We also see that he has a poster for NFL Fever 2003 - a popular American Football game of the time.
- On his bedside is the box and manual for Rallisport Challenge on the original Xbox.
LIVING ROOM REFERENCES
There's quite a lot of gaming references visible in the main character's flat. They're littered around and obscured by other items such as VHS tapes and picture frames, but each picture includes the following;
- As he sits playing an OG Xbox with an XBox Controller S, we can see a box for an OG Xbox to the right of the screen, and an unknown Xbox game atop the TV.
- From behind him, we can see a slimline Playstation One console, the boxart for Test Drive (Platinum Hits version) under and Xbox controller and another unknown Xbox game under the PS1 controller.
- There's a poster on his front door that says High Speed Gaming Arena and shows what appears to be American Football players armed with lightsabers. I do not know what game this could be.
- Finally, as we look from a top-down view from the TV we can see a large sized PC Box for a LucasArts game.
BRUTE FORCE and UNKNOWN PAUSE SCREEN
Gamebox 1.0 frequently showcases a pause screen across multiple games the main character is shown to be playing. I have tried for a long while, as I feel I recognise it, but cannot seem to find a match. Any ideas?
There's also a poster in his room for Brute Force of the OG Xbox.
HALO POSTER
A poster for the original Halo is seen on the wall of the main character's workplace (on the right). This looks like a special render, not often used in promotional art of the era.
CONCEPT ART
The main character is shown to work for a video game company, and there's loads of concept art strewn across the kitchen. These are all quite high quality and in various different styles, which would suggest they are legitimate concept art from different games. Can you guys recognise any?
XBOX NEON SIGN, CONTROLLERS
In his workplace, we can see an array of TVs (usually playing original Halo, and other video clips that are repeated throughout the movie). There are multiple posters here, including repeats of the Midtown Madness 3 poster, NFL Fever 2003 and also a new one for Blinx. There are also Playstation and Xbox controllers visible in these shots.
SNOWBOARDING AND ATARI
Behind this guy is a screen that appears to show a snowboarding game? Below that TV are two stacks of Atari 2600 games. I can't make all of them out but the ones I can discern are;
- Asteroids
- Sea Battle
- Horse Racing
- NFL Football
STAR WARS - REBEL ASSAULT
A stack of PC games are on this desk, including a copy of Star Wars Rebel Assault. There's several Star Wars games in the pile, but most are hard to make out.
SHADOWDOME WARRIOR
The top right corner of this shot includes the title on a poster for Shadowdome Warrior. I looked up this game online but could find no evidence of it. Is this a game that was cancelled? It could be invented for the movie, but considering everything else is legitimate, it seems unlikely.
GAMEBOY ADVANCE SP and MARIO KART SP
The main character is seen playing Mario Kart on a Gameboy Advance SP at the diner. This is the only time Nintendo products make an appearance in this movie.
HALO MULTIPLAYER
The time before Halo had online gaming, the original Halo had a split-screen multiplayer mode. It was also a little unfair in 3 player, as Player 1 would have twice the screen width to play in.
MEGA DRIVE / GENESIS CONTROLLER
Only visible in this shot, a Mega Drive controller is on the top shelf of this metal racking. This is an oddity as there is no other Sega paraphanlia in the entire movie.
BOSS' OFFICE
Across this boss' office includes a book on PGA Golf, a copy of PC Gamer on his desk (by his laptop) and what appears to be Tekken artwork on the unit by the door. As the camera moves around, an Xbox Controller S is still in it's blister packaging near the PGA Golf. Then behind the boss, we can see the legs of a large scale Halo standee.
BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL
Among the artworks in the Boss' office includes an image from the Ubisoft title Beyond Good and Evil in the bottom left. We also get a closer look at the Brute Force poster above.
RAINBOW SIX 3
A poster for Rainbow Six 3 is visible in the work kitchen late into the movie.
MEGAMAN X2, METROID and MORE
The kitchen has a lot of artwork from various games, including Megaman X2 behind the main character's head, and Samus from Metroid Prime to the right. There are also other character artworks to the left and above Megaman X2 which I was unable to identify.
TEST DRIVE
Because I'm insane, I got frustrated at not being able to identify the driving game on the Xbox - considering there were so few. Eventually I was able to get a close approximation in Test Drive, but the image stretching and cut off of information still made it difficult. I took a screengrab and used Photoshop to match the discolouration with the clip from the movie.
And that's everything I caught in Gamebox 1.0!
What do you think of these? Did you spot these when you watched the movie? Are you a fan of the movie? Join our Discord on the link below and let us know!
Blue Streak, speeds by... Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) is Hollywood's first big blockbuster attempt to bring Sonic to the big screen. A much more popular effort than the 1996 anime movie, this one sees Sonic come into the "real world", but that doesn't mean that it isn't jam-packed full of Easter Eggs. And some of them are references to other Sega franchises.
First things first - DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE. Kung-Fu Master may have the licence for the game, and it may include a few scenes at Arcades, but the story is nothing to do with gaming - and the story it represents is a literal crime. A vile, vile crime. With that out of the way, there are some interesting arcade machines visible throughout this film - all of which are here. So you have been saved from having to watch this vile garbage - and saving you the criminal act of watching it.
We look into all the Easter Eggs in the Paramount+ series of Knuckles (2024)
Also known as Sonic the Movie, the Japanese OVA was actually a run at a possible series that never materialised, instead leaving us with two episodes hastily stitched into a "feature". And boy, did they push taste and decency for some of this. Other than Robotnik chasing underage skirt, it's largely inoffensive. But unfortunately that story angle wound up kick-starting a long running VGMP joke of Sonic adaptations having to reference breast milk (which the 2020 Sonic movie also references).
I love The Wizard. It's so bad. The first major disagreement between Rory and Jamie in VGMP, Rory fully recommended The Wizard as a movie, whereas Jamie fully rejected it. It's not hard to see why this movie caused such a rift of opinion - it genuinely tries to be a deeper and emotional story, but it's still a Nintendo marketing product (and an out of date one, at that). One thing The Wizard does have, is a lot of videogame references.
The House of the Dead movie brings together two major events in film. It's the first foray by Uwe Boll into video game adaptations - the start of a terrible career. And it was the last ever movie to use the turn-table technique for 360 degree shots, as it was too dangerous to keep using - much like allowing Uwe Boll to have a film career. This film doesn't have many proper references, instead lazily throwing in random micro-shorts from the first three House of the Dead games (in no particular order, for some reason).
The first appearance of Jon Gries in a video game culture movie, and he would return in Noobz (2012) to steal yet another movie. Joysticks is an awful comedy movie, attempting to cash in on cheap teen humour of the time with a big dose of objectifying women. But to it's credit, it does showcase a lot of great arcade cabinets from 1983, and all in fantastic condition too! These screengrabs are ripped from the limited-run Blu-Ray release of the movie, which represents the best this film has ever looked. However this was a relatively low budget feature of it's time, so don't expect prestine visuals.
Tron is an undisputed 1982 classic that had a major impact on 80's culture and gaming aesthetics as a whole. And yet, when we reviewed it, it turns out the movie itself is a big bag of style over substance. The main videogame the movie revolves around is Space Paranoids, and it is not a real game. Several videogames were later made of Tron, but none of those appear in this movie.
The Controller / Video Game Earth Force, is a terrible film from 2006 with graphics that make the PS1 look like Advent Children. Starring Bob Rue as William Fence, this film has become infamous within VGMP as it is the film that nearly caused Jamie to leave the show.
Noobz is an attempt to create an edgy comedy akin to Adam Sandler in his prime. Sadly it lacks the comedic timing, the writing and the production values to pull off such a feat. In the screenshot above you can see the pathetic attempt to add sex appeal to a movie by hastily taking a pair of scissors to the poor actress' tanktop. It's not even a clean line! Released for a limited blu-ray run in Germany (of all places), Noobz still somehow manages to pack in references from (and sponsorship by) the following video game (and video game related) companies; CBS Interactive Microsoft Corporation Epic Games Inc Triforce Sales LLC Apple Inc GAEMS CompuExpert Game Informer Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc Play N Trade Majesco Entertainment Company Square Enix Penny Arcade Lucasfilm Ltd Digital Interactive Systems Corp. Konami Midway Mortal Kombat Warner Bros Entertainment Inc Final Fantasy Tomb Raider Let's go through all the references shown visually in Noobz!
