But Sony and Nintendo still had to deal with that pesky speed bump of a disc. Any PS3 user knows the pain of having to eject a game and insert the Netflix-provided disc every time they wanted to watch a movie. In a world of efficiency and an increasingly lazy population, this was a major hurdle and shifted some prospective buyers to the Xbox.

 Now they’re on equal ground, and even though the PS3 is late to the disc-less game it will offer dramatically more than either Nintendo or Microsoft, including a renovated interface, faster start times, Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround and 1080p hi-definition support. PC World calls it the best version yet. 

Now the world waits for Xbox’s response.

Tabbed to pen the script is Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie (“The Usual Suspects”), who recently impressed Hollywood fat cats with a screenplay for the “Wolverine” sequel.

McQuarrie, though, will have his work cut out for him. “The aviation community has completely changed since we made the movie a long time ago,” Bruckheimer said last June at a press junket. The real life “Top Gun” programs of today are nothing like the ones in the movie. Modern pilots aren’t so much trained in the graceful art of dog-fighting as they are in the explosive, if cinematically less-exciting, practice of bomb-dropping. So expect fewer high speed chases in the sky and more ho-hum target locations at low altitudes.

But why make yet another sequel?

Two reasons. First, the original was a monster hit, grossing $353 million worldwide, which translates to about $699 million in today’s dollars. Secondly, David Ellison, a film producer with a passion for aerobatics. He’s also the son of Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle and the sixth richest man in the world. My guess is that helps a bit, considering David is set to finance “Top Gun 2.” Ellison is already buddy buddy with Paramount Pictures after he raised $350 million for the forthcoming “Mission: Impossible IV” … starring Tom Cruise.  Ellison, even though he was 3 years old when “Top Gun” first hit theaters, definitely hasn’t lost that loving feeling.

For kicks, here’s a clip from “Sleep With Me,” in which Quentin Tarantino explains how “Top Gun” is really a story about a man struggling with his own homosexuality.

Rescuers will first perform a test run, sending the empty capsule down and up the bore hole. A rescuer will then enter the capsule, traversing the hole multiple times “taking some measures.” After which, at the bottom, he will aid the first miner into the capsule, which will then be sent to the surface. A second rescuer will travel down the hole, where a second miner will ascend. From there, the two rescuers will continually send the remaining miners to the surface.

Traveling at 1 meter per second, the trip from the bottom to the top is estimated to be between 10 to 15 minutes. The descent is expected to take 25 to 30 minutes.

After 12 hours, two additional rescuers will be sent down to provide help and rest for the first rescuers.

It’s a fun game. But I never thought to play it with “Back to the Future.”

Turns out Michael J. Fox was not the first choice to play Marty McFly. In the Blu-Ray edition of “Back to the Future: The 25th Anniversary” (released Oct. 26), it is revealed that the movie execs initially went with actor Eric Stoltz, better known as Lance, the robe-wearing, adrenaline-injecting drug dealer whose wife has “all the metal shit in her face” from “Pulp Fiction.” Stoltz was five weeks into the shooting of “Back to the Future” when director and co-writer Robert Zemeckis made the decision to change his lead actor.

Zemeckis had consulted with executive producer Steven Spielberg and they both agreed that Stoltz just wasn’t providing the laughs. He was too dark and brooding for a role Zemeckis intended to be light-hearted.

“This was a horrific decision,” Zemeckis says. “It was heartbreaking for everybody.”

Everybody except Michael J. Fox, whose boyish charm made Marty McFly a career-defining role and a springboard up to stardom.  Hindsight may be 20/20 but it’s hard to picture anyone else riding the Delorean with Doc Brown. Fox as Marty is in the Untouchable territory — not quite Pacino as Tony Montana or DeNiro as Jake LaMotta, but comfortably alongside Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow and R. Lee Ermey’s Sgt. Hartman.

Here’s a short video of Stoltz as McFly.  You’ll see why Zemeckis and Co. ultimately went with Alex P. Keaton.

The network, tentatively named AXS (Like “access” — or is it “axis”?), will air video footage captured by Seacrest’s partners, Anschutz Entertainment Group. This might be the kicker.  The potential with such a wide-reaching company is huge. AEG owns dozens of entertainment venues around the world, namely the Nokia Theater, which hosts dozens of red carpet events each year from the Grammys to the MTV Video Awards. And owning venues like the Staples Center in L.A. and the O2 in London has a lot of perks, the best of them being: Anschutz also owns footage of what happens inside.  Live content of Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Cher and Jon Bon Jovi — as well as AEG’s interests in the Los Angeles Lakers, Sparks, Galaxy and Kings — may now be fair game for Seacrest’s new network.

But let’s focus on Seacrest the personality for a moment.  Is there anyone more suited to launch a television network? As Forbes points out, he just has a knack for knowing what’s interesting. “He lives and breathes pop culutre,” Forbes writes.  His fingers are firmly on the pulse of America’s guilty pleasures, and he knows how to push it.  He recognizes latent talent like Justin Bieber, sees potential in shows like “The Kardashians” and he works his ass off to develop it. Plain and simple.  It’s his keen eye and work ethic that have made him a brand.  That’s why music artists go to his show to debut their music videos and that’s why his syndicated radio program is a must-attend for actors promoting their latest movies.  Seacrest will undoubtedly scroll through his extensive Rolodex — the envy of TMZ — to create buzz around his budding network.

The Seacrest empire is upon us.

But just to show that everyone starts from the bottom, here’s a clip from one of Seacrest’s first gigs as a host.  It’s 1994′s “Gladiators 2000″ (think American Gladiators for kids), and Seacrest (then 20, now 35) looks exactly the same. He really is the next Dick Clark.