The Hollywood Byte #58: Bill Goldberg

One thing he doesn't play is the wrestling videogames, but he never has--even when he was the Heavyweight World Champion. "It was great to see myself in the wrestling videogames," said Goldberg. "I never played them. I tried to shy away from gloating in my glory. I never tried to hunt down magazines I was on the cover of and I never read any stories that I was the focus of. My boy, when he grows up, will get a kick out of those videogames and I'll be playing with him, so I'll probably get a kick out of it. But at the time, I had other things to do."

Although he's still recognized by fans, Goldberg has kept his distance from pro wrestling since he retired. "Wrestling's definitely changed, there's no question about that," he said. "Probably the wrestling videogames are more entertaining than the wrestling itself. Since I got out of it I've stayed as far as way from it as humanly possible. Except for the fans. I probably wouldn't be talking to you today if I never got into a wrestling ring."

Goldberg feels a bit old when he sees people playing games that he grew up on, like Pong and Pac-Man, on cell phones. "I played Pac-Man back in the day," he said. "If they're not talking on their cell phones enough, they're playing videogames on it and watching videos in it. It's a different day. It's amazing to see how far they've come, no question."

Being a gamer, even a part-timer, Goldberg understands the lure of next generation videogames. "It's just a good escape," he said. "Technology's gotten to a point to where it's kind of like you're in the game. It's a great source of entertainment."

Videogames serve as not only an escape from reality, but a good way to get rid of some stress. "It's wild, man," said Goldberg. "You never thought videogames would command so much time from all of the above generations. It's a mindless way of entertaining yourself and not hurting yourself or anybody in the meantime. It's good to be able to go into a videogame and shoot people and not have to suffer the consequences of reality. It's definitely borderline true-life realism on these videogames nowadays."

Goldberg is happy spending time with his wife and child, gaming when he can, and thinking up new ways for "Bullrun" to drive across the country.

The Hollywood Byte makes a weekly visit to the converging world of video games and traditional media.

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