Awesome Beard Makes Games More Awesome

July 19, 2011 6:00 PM

Robin Williams and his daughter Zelda are in two commercials promoting the re-release of The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 3DS. Zelda William's name is not coincidental, as she was named after the video game princess.
posted by SpacemanStix (68 comments total)

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posted by anigbrowl at 6:04 PM on July 19, 2011 [26 favorites]

I love OoT to death, but I'm not sure I need to play it again in 3D.
Over here they constantly run ads for it during Sons of Anarchy, which seems... odd.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:05 PM on July 19, 2011

Oh, I'll gladly play Link, if you know what I mean...
posted by rowancluster at 6:07 PM on July 19, 2011

What should I name my daughter after for maximum endorsement dollars 20 years from now??

No, I'm just kidding.
posted by bleep at 6:16 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I really want Robin's beard.
posted by Lemurrhea at 6:16 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

That's it. I'm naming my next pet Q*bert.
posted by not_on_display at 6:17 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

They're a really cute father daughter team
posted by Blasdelb at 6:19 PM on July 19, 2011 [9 favorites]

This weekend at a music festival, I saw a shirtless college-aged guy with a huge triforce tattoo on his back. Underneath it was "1999." Which immediately made me think two things:

-I like Ocarina of Time too, but damn. That's a bold statement bro.
-Wait, what year was the game released?

According to Wikipedia, it was 1998, and no Zelda game was released in 1999. So, mystery currently unsolved.
posted by naju at 6:19 PM on July 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

Although the name Qbert causes an active mind and a restless urge to explore new ideas, we emphasize that it causes an unscrupulous, materialistic approach that frustrates higher humanitarian qualities.
posted by not_on_display at 6:19 PM on July 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

What should I name my daughter after for maximum endorsement dollars 20 years from now??


Tesla's a nice name for a girl...
posted by running order squabble fest at 6:20 PM on July 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

a robot maker / engineer friend of mind has named one of his offspring Tesla
posted by compound eye at 6:26 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I wish more famous people would share their love of video games and other traditionally "nerdy" things.
posted by ocherdraco at 6:27 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Tesla's a nice name for a girl...

Tesla was going to be the name of our potential kid, but we couldn't find a way to distinguish Tesla toward the person, or car and away from Tesla, the band. Might just go with Tess...
posted by Cog at 6:29 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is really cute, too.

The knowledge that Robin Williams and I have similar taste in computer games makes me forgive him for Bicentennial Man and even Patch Adams.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:29 PM on July 19, 2011 [5 favorites]

I seem to recall that Robin Williams also has a son named Zach. I usually find it cheesy when parents give their children alliterative names, but if you use the letter "Z" you can get away with it.

Also, Zelda is totally cute. She doesn't look much like Robin and must take after her mom.

And Robin, please shave off that beard. I am quite sure you would look a lot younger without it.
posted by orange swan at 6:30 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh, Bladelb beat me to the link! :D
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:30 PM on July 19, 2011

Surely someone out there named their little baby girl Glados.
posted by naju at 6:30 PM on July 19, 2011 [12 favorites]

I really want Robin's beard.

Here you go.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:31 PM on July 19, 2011 [37 favorites]

Had I had a daughter, I would like to have named her Telephoné (after the [imaginary] Greek muse of conversation, you understand). The side-deal with AT&T? Only an afterthought.

In real life, I've tried get my local school district to name their next school Home Depot Elementary (thinking it would reduce construction costs), but to no avail.
posted by SPrintF at 6:32 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

And Robin, please shave off that beard. I am quite sure you would look a lot younger without it.

Would you also ask Santa to shave off his beard??
posted by SpacemanStix at 6:32 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Tesla was going to be the name of our potential kid, but we couldn't find a way to distinguish Tesla toward the person, or car and away from Tesla, the band. Might just go with Tess...


Nicola? Or indeed Nicola Tesla [surname]. Or Nikola, if it's a boy.
posted by running order squabble fest at 6:32 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Funny, they didn't use her in this MIT Mystery Hunt puzzle. And the hunt was video game themed! (They did use Penn Jillette's daughter though.)
posted by A dead Quaker at 6:34 PM on July 19, 2011

I think the beard may be because he filmed this while he was on Broadway in Bengal Tiger At the Baghdad Zoo, and needed to keep it.

Also:

"Dad, are you confusing me with the video game again?"

"I don't know, you're both pretty magical."

D'awwwww.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:34 PM on July 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

I always thought Zelda was the main character guy :-|
posted by tumid dahlia at 6:35 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I want to name any of my kids Kirby, after both the game character and Jack Kirby. Turns out a friend's dad had the same idea, at least in regards to Jack Kirby.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:40 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Nascent homophiles cannot Sierpinski gasket
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:41 PM on July 19, 2011 [9 favorites]

My step-nephew is in kindergarten, and one of his best friends is named Ganon.
posted by Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo at 6:45 PM on July 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

Did you understand everything I just said?
  Yes
> No
posted by danb at 6:49 PM on July 19, 2011 [7 favorites]

When I was 18 and my unemployed best friend got pregnant, I suggested she name her baby after Coca Cola and ask them to sponsor him/her. She went with Adiya, which is nice too.
posted by Wantok at 6:51 PM on July 19, 2011

Joey Michaels: "The knowledge that Robin Williams and I have similar taste in computer games makes me forgive him for Bicentennial Man and even Patch Adams."

Yes, but as long as "Old Dogs" exists, there is no hope for redemption there.

Now if you will all excuse me, I need to discuss terms with my husband for creation of our next tax deduction, Little Mr. Game and Watch.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:51 PM on July 19, 2011

I haven't seen Robin in a beard like that since Jumanji. Frankly, he looks well in it, and encourages me to keep mine despite all the times I have considered trimming it.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 6:56 PM on July 19, 2011

Surely someone out there named their little baby girl Glados.

Or Chell. Think of all the cake the kid would get.
posted by homunculus at 7:01 PM on July 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

Cool name and all, but I still want to point at Robin Williams and go "Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! Get a shave!"
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:08 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I would name a daughter Samus Aran if my husband would agree. Otherwise, it will be Coraline Emily.
posted by Catbunny at 7:08 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Heh... I named my son Sean, because the wife wouldn't let me name him Bond, James Bond.
posted by tomswift at 7:08 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I want to name any of my kids Kirby, after both the game character and Jack Kirby. Turns out a friend's dad had the same idea, at least in regards to Jack Kirby.

So it's not just other people's kids that you're happy to see inherit a ruined planet.
posted by moorooka at 7:14 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

So it's not just other people's kids that you're happy to see inherit a ruined planet.

Little Kirby will be taught to suck up all the planet's resources and repurpose them into cute instruments of destruction, eventually turning this place into Apokolips.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:17 PM on July 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

Motion controls? How am I meant to play that on the train? It seems to me that the thing Nintendo and Robin Williams really have in common is total inability to distinguish brilliant ideas from terrible ones.
posted by howfar at 7:25 PM on July 19, 2011

Robin Williams has the best facial hair in Hollywood. Beard or 'stache, he makes my manparts tingle.

Or in bearspeak: WOOF.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 7:35 PM on July 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

Pepsi Zelda
(Because it's actually Blue)
posted by humannaire at 7:38 PM on July 19, 2011

I always thought Zelda was the main character guy.

I always gave my character a name when I played the Zelda games, just like they prompt you to. My daughters who grew up watching me play them are so confused why everyone calls him Link.
posted by straight at 7:39 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

1) I think that's the most calm and laid-back I've EVER seen Robin Williams. EVER.

2) I keep my beard trimmed relatively short, but when it finally turns that color I'm definitely going to let it grow out like his.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:48 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Lemurrhea: "I really want Robin's beard."

I got pretty close to that level of beardness last winter. Way too hot for that right now though.
posted by octothorpe at 7:48 PM on July 19, 2011

Should any of you ever feel a need for more beards, look no further than beards.org.

Sigh.

So. Many. Beautiful. Beards.
posted by ocherdraco at 7:53 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Octothorpe, that is an excellent beard. A+ in beardery.
posted by Neofelis at 7:53 PM on July 19, 2011

I was a little too old when OoT came out for me to feel nostalgic about it. I loved the old 2D Zelda games on the NES/SNES/Game Boy, but I thought the level design in OoT kind of sucked. It seemed like all the worlds were just modeled on large bowls in a way, and the world as a whole lacked the integrated, open layout of the 2D games. I figured it was a probably a technical limitation and that later games would fix it. But actually I never played any of the other 3D games that came out.

Still, the ads and interviews are pretty cool.
posted by delmoi at 7:56 PM on July 19, 2011

or listen to The Beards, an Aussie band who sing about nothing but beards
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:02 PM on July 19, 2011

If this FPP gets hijacked into a discussion about the Importance of Beards I for one will not complain about it.

*slowly strokes beard, lost in thought*
posted by jnrussell at 8:05 PM on July 19, 2011

I will, since OoT was my childhood. I preordered it, and since GameFaqs was slower in those days my friends and I would call each other up for solutions to puzzles.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:14 PM on July 19, 2011

Nascent homophiles cannot Sierpinski gasket

Now that's some inside baseball, right there.
posted by Theodore Sign at 8:17 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I've always said that if I ever got to name a female child, I would name her Ms. Pac-Man. This may be at least part of the reason why I have never had the opportunity to do so.
posted by burnmp3s at 8:26 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I want to name any of my kids Kirby, after both the game character and Jack Kirby.

You got the name wrong. I don't blame you though because lots of people do, but his name is actually Jack Motherfucking Kirby.
posted by JHarris at 8:55 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

My real name is Sinistar. Run, coward!
posted by jfwlucy at 9:19 PM on July 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

Is Robin Williams a gamer, or was that just something he and his wife did while she was pregnant?
posted by unmake at 9:31 PM on July 19, 2011

Is Robin Williams a gamer, or was that just something he and his wife did while she was pregnant?

There were stories going around an old RPG forum I was on that he'd show up to buy Games Workshop stuff.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:33 PM on July 19, 2011

That's it. I'm naming my next pet Q*bert.

When I was 12 I fantasized about legally changing my name to Q*Bert. I reasoned, surely all the girls would flock to me if I only had such a name.
posted by Brocktoon at 9:57 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

When I was 12 I fantasized about legally changing my name to Q*Bert. I reasoned, surely all the girls would flock to me if I only had such a name.


Is this generation going to name their kids Marcus, Nico, or Cole? That would be pretty depressing.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:58 PM on July 19, 2011

I've heard the same things as Lovecraft in Brooklyn about Williams being a big GW nerd. Those stories have been swirling around since the 90s to my recollection. Apparently he has got a really huge gaming table decked out for miniatures games.
posted by ursus_comiter at 11:02 PM on July 19, 2011

unmake, Here's an article from 2005 talking about his love of playing Battlefield 2 as a sniper. So yeah, this and the GW stuff...he's a pretty big gamer nerd methinks.
posted by jnrussell at 11:34 PM on July 19, 2011

When I was beta testing America's Army, one of the devs or program guys said that Robin had an account and was a frequent player. I never played against him nor did I ever get confirmation but it would have been cool to blow up Mork with the M203 or cut him in two with the Stryker.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:17 AM on July 20, 2011

Robin williams is very technically hip. I swear he showed up in at Macworld 2007 and ended up in a David Pogue video at the iPhone debut.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:07 AM on July 20, 2011

Waitaminute, that's not link...
posted by homunculus at 1:12 AM on July 20, 2011

I love the look often passing through young Zelda's face in Blasdelb's link, saying: "Oh god, my father is such a HUGE nerd".
posted by Skeptic at 2:21 AM on July 20, 2011

I do have a daughter, and I persuaded my wife that we should call her Eliza, without telling her why. After 3.5 years an analysis of the initial results suggests that naming a child after a well-known chatbot is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I blogged about the subject of good names for the daughters of geeks a while ago.

Also I've seen pics of Robin Williams posing with Games Workshop store staff, so yeah.
posted by Hogshead at 3:03 AM on July 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I always thought Zelda was the main character guy :-|

It always bugged me that it's The Legend of Zelda, but Link gets to have all the fun while Zelda...where is Zelda half the time? Kidnapped? Lurking around as the Secret Hero? Just...hanging out in a church the entire game?

I think Ocarina of Time was the last Zelda game I played, but oh man would I love it if, just once, Link could go get kidnapped or whatever...

my friends and I would call each other up for solutions to puzzles.

My friends and I did this with Link's Awakening! The internet has murdered so much mystery.
posted by byanyothername at 9:35 AM on July 20, 2011

I would absolutely play a game with Zelda as the main character. How has that not already been done?
posted by naju at 9:42 AM on July 20, 2011

It has. Zelda's Adventure is one of those CD-i games that Nintendo was contractually obliged to let Philips make, without any Nintendo involvement.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:47 AM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hmm. I take it back, I wouldn't play that game.
posted by naju at 11:05 AM on July 20, 2011 [4 favorites]