Nerd Alert!

Hitler Hates FinalCut Pro X

2011-07-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

GIRP

2011-03-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hello NerdAlerters. It's been a while. I'm getting used to things like twitter and tumblr, where you throw something against the wall, and see if it sticks. With that in mind, here is a small flash game I found called GIRP

2010-05-21T08:49:00.001-07:00

I think Miles is gonna kill the smoke monster. Because he's the only person who hasn't spoken to him yet. 

I think the scene where Joker shoots Bob the Goon because Batman stole his baloons is one of the funniest things ever shot on film. 

I feel like I should round this out with a third observation. But I won't. 

Y'know whats funny? HITLER!

2010-03-30T18:12:00.000-07:00

A few years ago there was a really good German movie about Hitler's last days. It was called Downfall, and if you haven't already seen it you really need to (it also makes a great double feature with MAX). Here is a very good scene where Hitler finally realizes that there is no hope of victory. He has a little tantrum and then finally accepts the inevitable.

Oscar gold! Am I right?

Well, since Downfall came out there have been many Youtube videos that replace the subtitles on that scene for comedic effect. The first one I saw was Hitler as Hillary Clinton learning that she wouldn't defeat Obama. Funny stuff. But that was when there were maybe a half dozen of these things out, and now they exceed my ability to count. I wanted to make a posting that included every single one, but I think they are being generated faster than I can embed them. They seem to attack with overwhelming odds, just like real Nazis. Here are as many as I can handle.

Holy shit! Valve is bringing Steam to the Mac!

2010-03-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

I'm usually no big cheerleader for corporations, but this is one time where my interests are intersecting in such a way that I can't ignore it.

Valve (makers of Half Life, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, and Portal) are bringing their games to the Mac. This alone would be very good news. But it gets better.

They're also bringing their online store Steam (think iTunes but instead of music it's face-melting video games) which will encourage other gaming companies to start getting on the ball with their own Mac versions. They're also doing something kind of unprecedented. If you've already bought the game on PC, they're going to allow you to download it on your Mac. And to cap it off? They're going to have cross platform multiplayer, so PCs and Macs can play together.

Valve games constitute about 75% of all PC games I play. Today's news is that I might never buy another Windows machine again.

Every Day the Same Dream

2010-02-06T11:54:00.000-08:00

Every Day the Same Dream This is a game. There are only three buttons (backwards, forwards, and interact) and there is no wrong way to play it. You wake up, drive to work, and sit down. The goal is to break the rules. Can you win?

I've tried a few times. So far catching the leaf is as far as I've gotten. And sometimes the lady in the elevator says something different. Games are getting weird, and moody. I think it's a great sign.

LOST...in space?

2010-02-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

I am trying to get the latest podcast up before the season premiere of LOST tonight, but there are some technical issues so who knows if that's going to happen. To tide you over I thought I would share this with you.

Did you know that the WB tried to reboot Lost In Space as a TV series in 2004? And that the pilot was directed by John Woo? You know, the director of such awesome action films as Hard Boiled, Face/Off, and... Windtalkers. Not a terrible show it seems, though it never got past the pilot, which you can see here (embedding was disabled for some reason).

Thankfully, Matt LeBlanc is nowhere to be seen

LOST Art

2009-12-18T08:37:00.000-08:00

Don't know if anyone reading this is aware, but LOST fans have been producing some really great pieces of art in anticipation of the show's final season. At first there was just the pieces at damoncarltonandapolarbear.com (all really cool), but now Gallery 1988 in California has gotten into the spirit with even more pieces! Here is my favorite, called LOST Showdowns, by Scott Campbell.

Not all the pieces are this cutesy. There is really a wide variety of styles and some of it is pretty astounding considering it is just fan art for a TV show on ABC. If you like LOST take the time to look at all of them. Really cool stuff.

Find them at http://lostundergroundartshow.blogspot.com/ and http://damoncarltonandapolarbear.com/dcpb/x/

New TRON 2 Poster

2009-12-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

Frakking sweet!

Bring it.

Via a lot of places on the internet.

Endgame

2009-12-01T16:23:00.000-08:00

Check out this new trailer for the final season of Lost. Its in spanish and its fucking awesome! No new footage but still cool.

This Has Been Cracking Me Up Lately

2009-11-26T21:06:00.000-08:00

REVIEW: Star Trek: Mission's End

2009-11-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

This was a mini series that I've had my eye on since I first heard of it, and I finally got the chance to pick up the trade paperback collection yesterday. (Yes, I wait for the trades). I am very much an Original Series fan, and this looked to be a good adventure in that vein. The last adventure, as a matter of fact. The hook is that this is the final mission of the Enterprise crew under Kirk's command. Five years goes by fast (especially when you get canceled after three).

The book begins with a flashback to Kirk's first mission as Captain, and features characters we only saw in the series' second pilot like Gary Mitchell and the blonde dude he eventually force chokes (who surprisingly had a name). They have been spying on an alien race of insect beings for a while decide the time has come to make first contact with them. It's an event Trek fans here about but seldom get to see, made all the more interesting by the world the aliens live on and in. Their entire planet is actually a massive space station built by giants (complete with huge stairs and seats) that was abandoned millions of years ago. Since then insects and lower life forms evolved to intelligence, developed a culture, warp drive, etc. From the first contact we flash forward five years. The alien's are being inducted into the Federation, and Kirk is there to see it happen. A perfect bookend to this crew's career, but everything is not as it seems...

It is an interesting story and feels very much in line with TOS. The scope of this story is large and not something we ever really got to see on the show, but I am sure we would have had Roddenberry and team had the resources. All of the characters get their moment in the sun, though I wish Spock had been given more to do, and they all sound like themselves. One of the purposes of the book was to show why the band broke up, so to speak. When they all reunite in The Motion Picture Bones has retired to the old country disco and Spock is shrooming on Vulcan. Bones' decision to leave Starfleet makes sense based on what happens in this story. Spock's, on the other hand, seems really sudden and a bit drastic. I found myself rereading the last few pages a couple times going "Wait, WTF?".

The art is good, but not great. The creature designs are good the alien culture seems well thought out. I wasn't blown away but I was never let down. Often times with books based on Film and TV properties every frame seems DOA because the artist is just tracing stills of the actors. For the most part that wasn't happening here. The characters look like the actors, but not photos of the actors. The line art is well supported by the coloring. It's bright and loud, just like you would expect from a show who's color palette was designed to sell then new Color TVs.

I really enjoyed Mission's End despite wanting a little more substance from Spock. It's a fun adventure and a fitting final episode to a great show that never got one. Another good Trek book from IDW.

Mission's End was written by Ty Templeton and drawn by Steve Molnar.

New Wolfman Poster

2009-11-06T18:17:00.000-08:00

AICN just posted the new 1 sheet for the upcoming Wolfman movie starring Dr. Gonzo. The movie looks cool and the poster is not bad, but... take a look.

Harry says it is very film noir, but for some reason it reminds me a little of this.

Maybe its just me.

Battlecock Galactiballs: The stupid Plan.

2009-11-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

Me and Feyonce recently finished up the entire series of Battlestar Galactica. I am actually proud of the fact that I got her to watch it at all. Lets face it, a title like Battlestar Galactica doesn't inspire a lot of interest from a potential audience. Before long I was overhearing her say "I love BSG" to her friends and family, with no provocation on my part. She even cried at the finale! A lot of people hated the ending but I thought it was great, though not perfect (is anything?). All in all, a solid program that is infinitely superior to the original (anyone who disagrees probably like Voyager). I was both sad and glad to see it end.

And then there was 'The Plan'.

'The Plan' was a follow up movie that was supposed to show the first two seasons of the show from the perspective of the Cylons. OMG! I was so there!

I never thought the Cylon's plan would be so boring.

Adama himself promised it would show the entire series in a new light, prompting you to reevaluate what you thought you knew. Apparently this meant showing Cylons switching wigs and hiding in closets to confuse silly humans. Wow. What a revelation. Although its nice to have some plot holes finally filled it felt like I had selected 'play all' on a DVD of webisodes. Probably the worst part of the movie was the pointless inclusion of nudity. Don't get me wrong, I love the nudes, but putting in a bunch of naked extras out of focus in the background, at this point in a nudity free series, seems like a shameless cry for attention. And it's not just naked ladies. There is some penis in here to. A quick zoom in on an anonymous penis in a co-ed restroom. Why the frak is there a penis on a show called Battlestar Galactica?

The whole thing seems pointless. And aside from an incredibly awesome opening showing the Cylons destroying humanity it's not really worth watching. But lets hope it does well so we can get a Final Five movie out of the deal. That's what this should have been.

Lame.

They're actually going to make that Taun Taun sleeping bag.

2009-10-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

from Thinkgeek : "ATTN Tauntaun Fanatics! We should have the real version of these cool sleeping bags arriving in early November. Initial quantities will be limited..."

99 bucks. I feel like the internet has willed something into existence.

Man Murdered for his Batman Collection

2009-10-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

Holy Crap!

A guy with soundly awesome collection of Batman Memorabilia was killed! For his awesome collection of Batman Memorabilia.

From the Miami Herald;

Much of the Batman memorabilia owned by slain Fontainebleau heir Ben Novack Jr. is missing from several warehouses in Broward County, The Miami Herald has learned. Sources close to the case said the locks on the warehouses were cut.

How bad does the economy have to get before this starts happening to Booster Gold fans?

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

2009-09-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

Gamefly texted me early this morning to let me know this is on the way. Yes. Gamefly sends me text messages.

Thanks for the laughs.

2009-09-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

Swayze is dead. Long live Swayze.

2009-09-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in heaven this contest continues.

Locke Rap

2009-09-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Season six can't get her soon enough.

Via Doc Arzt.

Nuts of the Old Republic

2009-09-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

Animals with Lightsabers- via Io9.com

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis : Episode 6 Charlize Theron

2009-09-08T11:05:00.001-07:00

"She looks a little like you... and a lot like Dog the Bounty Hunter."

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns

The Anakin that time forgot.

2009-09-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what happened to Jake Lloyd? The kid from Phantom Menace? Here is a recent interview with him, ten years after TPM. It is a very unfortunate angle on Mr. Lloyd, shot by someone who only knows how to use the onboard mic. He seems like he is coping rather well, considering.

Wizard!

Via

Beaterator by Rockstar Games and Timbaland

2009-09-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

Listen to Timbaland create a track on the Beaterator software, coming to PSP and iPhone this fall.

Try before you buy at RockstarGames.com

Disney's Secret Wars

2009-08-31T10:35:00.001-07:00

I am sure you've all heard, from the post below and every news outlet in the world, that Disney has bought Marvel Comics. I don't know if I would call it a wake though. Hell, WB bought DC ages ago and it's been working out fine so far. This business does get me a excited about one possibility, though: Pixar doing Spider-Ham?

Cross your fingers.

Looks like that 70th birthday celebration was a wake.

2009-08-31T07:23:00.000-07:00

Today, Disney announced it's intention to buy Marvel Comics for 4 billion dollars. Disney will acquire the rights to over 5,000 characters under this agreement.

Start writing your Loki meets Donald Duck treatment today.

Disney to buy Marvel

"You will learn from Clooney, the Jedi master who instructed me."

2009-08-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

This movie looks fucking awesome! Its got a killer fucking cast to boot! Young Ben Kenobi, Keyser Soze, Starman, and...well...Clooney.

Can't wait. This gets me giddy the way Avatar never has, or will.

This comes out monthly.

2009-08-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

Archie comics. Incredibly awesome and terrifyingly wretched.

Halo 3 : ODST Preview.

2009-08-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last week I read a post on Halo.Bungie.Org that Bungie was going to roll out a special preview for ODST, making select stops around the country. Since Portland is next door to Seattle, they came to see us on Day 2.

So on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, with plenty of other options for the day, Aaron and I elected to stand in a mostly empty parking lot in Hillsboro, with a bunch of other sweaty nerds, hoping to play then newest version of Halo 3.

There was a giant black truck filled with 8 Xboxs, and matching Televisions. A mobile Lan Party. The Microsoft P.R. guys were there, in their Bungie shirts. Doing trivia. Handing out "Prizes", which were these silly license plate covers that had the word "Warthog" on them. The P.R. guy also took great pride to let us know that the truck was wrapped in real Kevlar. It all seemed a little bit too Nascar for my tastes, but then again, I'm about 10 years older than their prime demographic.

The game itself was very fun. And as much as the P.R. guy was trying to convince us otherwise, the few minutes we played of the game felt a lot like Gears Of War Horde Mode. It was fun to see covenant dropships again, I feel like they haven't been used widely since Halo 1. The computer sent waves of Jackals, Drones, Grunts and Brutes. One time, it even dropped a Wraith near us, and we had to disable it by hand. I attached a clip of Firefight mode below to give you an idea of how the game looks and feels.

The biggest drawback to the event was that ODST was still in beta, and it crashed a lot. This is kind of surprising for a game that is 1 month away from being on store shelves. Aaron and I got to play for about 4 minutes before it crashed. They had promised us 10, so they let us restart the session, and it played for about 3 more minutes before it crashed again. This scenario happened to pretty much everybody who got to play, which explained the abysmally slow line progress. Given Bungie's track record, these bugs should be squashed by the time the game is released.

There was one question that Aaron had though... where's the Battle Rifle?

EPIC WIN

2009-08-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

Our 48 Hour Film

2009-08-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

Here is 3ccd Mafia's entry into the the 2009 48 Film Project, Portland Oregon edition. To qualify, we had to use the following:

Character: Brian or Briana merrywether, lab tech.

Prop: A picture frame.

Line: "For crying out loud!"

Genre we drew out of a hat: Mockumentary.

Unfortunately Jonpaul was too busy stuffing his poi hole in Hawaii to be a part of this groundbreaking project.

September is going to make my ass fall asleep.

2009-08-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

First off, Halo ODST will be playable in Hillsboro on Sunday, August 23rd. I have to convince my co-hort Pilot to Gunner to go to this event with me. Halo ODST will be released on September 22nd, a scant one month from now.

Second-ofly, Kotaku has a small writeup on the three new maps that will be released with Halo ODST, Heretic, Citadel, and Longshore. Heretic is a remake of Midship, which is a Halo 2 classic.

All of this, plus the new Batman Arkham Asylum game pretty much ensures I'll be indoor for most of September.

Crossing my fingers for rain.

Hey, remember Minority Report?

2009-08-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

Moving images in print publications have long been featured in science fiction films set in the distant future. Well, it looks like the distant future is September 18th, 2009! That is when CBS will be running video ads in Entertainment Weekly Magazine!

From cnet.
'The technology for the battery-powered ads was manufactured by a Los Angeles-based company called Americhip, and each ad can handle about 40 minutes of video.'

40 minutes!? Holy crap! If they could push the tech a little more you could be watching one hour dramas while you wait around at the Doctor's office. Speaking of the tech, here is a little more.

'The screen, which is 2.7 millimeters thick, has a 320x240 resolution. The battery lasts for about 65 to 70 minutes, and can be recharged, believe it or not, with a mini USB cord--there's a jack on the back of it. The screen, which uses thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) technology, is enforced by protective polycarbonate. It's a product that has been in development at Americhip for about two years, spokesman Tim Clegg told CNET News via e-mail.'

That's effin sweet! So are they using this tech for good or evil? Well, they're advertising shows like TWO AND A HALF MEN! Does that answer your question? George Schweitzer, CBS marketing president, tries to explain himself.

"The evolution of marketing television in the fall--it used to be as simple as this," Schweitzer said, holding up a vintage copy of TV Guide. "It was axiomatic in those days. If you took an ad in TV Guide, people watched your program. Not anymore."

Yeah, because actually making the shows good so people would want to watch them would have been harder than creating groundbreaking tech.

Changing gears here, I want to address the environmental impact. These ads are really just little LCDs, right? I am pretty sure that the stuff in them isn't great for ecosystem. So what happens when we start filling magazines and newspapers with these things? Before long they're going to be on cereal boxes and beer cans too. So if this tech catches on we're talking billions of little LCD's being created for essentially one time usage. What do we do with our copies of EW when we're done with them? Can we still recycle them? Or do we have to tear the ads out first? If so, how many people do you think will do that? Then we'll have LCDs and paper being dumped into landfills.

When looking around for some info about the environmental impact of LCDs, I ran across this little article. And hey, its from cnet as well!

'A chemical used to make LCD televisions and semiconductors could cause more global warming than coal-fired power plants, a report warns.'

Well that's just great. Seems a high price to pay just let people know about a new season of How I Met Your Mother. Read both articles and then have an opinion.

Xbox 360 Update and a New, Cheaper Playstaion 3.

2009-08-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a week out of town and found that my Xbox had an update waiting while I was away. This new update is actually small changes, compared to the last overhaul. But the biggest thing that is useful for me is the ability to browse Netflix titles that aren't in your instant queue. Now when I login, it gives me the top 50 movies in each category. Last night I checked out an Episode from the first season of "Lost" and "Step Brothers", it's nice to not have to load them to your queue first.

Also, in Sony News, they've come one step closer to getting me to buy one of those damn things by Dropping the price a hundred bucks. I don't care if it's "slim" but I guess it is. I'd be a lot more impressed if they'd build in the PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility like they had in the original PS3s.

Apes! Apes! Apes!

2009-08-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hey, do you like Planet of the Apes as much as I do? Then head on over to Hulu because those guys just posted the entire series of Return to the Planet of the Apes, the ill advised 70's cartoon series. Check it out!

More fun than Grape Juice Plus.

Thanks, io9.

Marvel's 70th Birthday

2009-08-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to Marvel Comics 70th Birthday Party at Cosmic Monkey. Pretty fun stuff. All Marvel products were 50% off, so I snatched up the Amazing Adult Fantasy Omnibus that I have had my eye on for years. I never have $75 to spend on comics, but $37.50? Sold!

I also got to meet Spider-Man again. He didn't seem to remember me, but I guess I look a lot different than I did at 7. He would not hold up a sign saying KRONSER IS A PUNK.

All in all a pretty fun time. They even had a birthday cake that looked like Marvel Comics #1. I did not eat any as I don't really like cake and doing so would have caused the cake to go from 'Near Mint' to 'Damaged' fairly quickly. No one wants that on their conscience.

And to think that you only need to know all 70 years of continuity to understand EARTH X.

Walking Dead on TV!?

2009-08-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

Hey, motherfuckin Variety says motherfucking Frank Darabont is putting together a Walking Dead TV series. Sounds cool to me, but what do you guys think?

I just hope they don't stick too close to the comic storyline. I've already read those stories, you know? This is a good opportunity for more stories set in this world without using the books as storyboards. At the very least they should come up with a new opening. The comic started just like 28 Days Later, with the hero waking up in the hospital having missed the rise of the zombies. Not saying it was a ripoff though. Both the comic and the movie were made at the same time so it was coincidence as far as I am concerned.

Also, I think Vol #10 comes out today.

Watch Spaced on Hulu

2009-08-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

Spaced is a BBC sitcom, 14 episodes in total by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, the guys who brought you Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

I've been meaning to watch this series for a couple months now. I could have gotten it from movie madness. Or put it on my netflix cue. Borrowed it from a friend. Downloaded it illegally. Look for copies on dailymotion. Purchased it. But I usually just wait for things to come to Hulu or instant Netflix instead. As you may have noticed by now. Spaced on Hulu.

Netflix adds Lost to it's streaming service

2009-08-06T16:42:00.000-07:00

See. This is why I held off on buying those DVDs.

That and I can borrow all of them from Marq pretty easily.

Netflix to add Lost to Streaming Library

Mega Man History in chart form.

2009-08-04T10:31:00.000-07:00

It won't let me post this picture, but it's worth visiting.

A chart showing every mega man release ever. Year by year.

In my humble nerd-pinion, they could have stopped at #2 and it still would have been the best series ever.

Snow > View Gallery

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-31T08:44:00.000-07:00

After more than a decade of squandering potential, FOX has gotten it's head out of it's a-hole and...hired SIR RIDLEY FUCKING SCOTT to direct a new ALIEN movie! As you may know, Scott directed the first ALIEN back in 1979. It was only his second feature after The Duelists (kick ass), and a handful of sweet ass commercials. Since then he has gone on to direct a whole bunch of amazing shit such as Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, 1492, G.I. Jane (moving on, moving on...), White Squall, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and Kingdom of Heaven (don't bother with anything but the director's cut), among many others. Truly one of the greatest directors of our age.

And he storyboards his own movies! Well!

Word on the tubes is that this will be a prequel to his original film and is intended to reboot the franchise. After all the AVP bullshit i didn't bother to see this is a surprisingly smart move from the studio. (now if they can just get his brother Tony to take an early retirement...). Naturally I am getting all my facts from Variety.

Here is an example of some his earlier commercial work. If you are old or nerdy you might recognize it.

Ben Folds and William Shatner - In Love

2009-07-28T15:14:00.001-07:00

The previous Shatner Poetry reading made me want to watch this, and share it with you, dear nerd.

Ben Folds and William Shatner - In Love

Shatner Does Palin's Poetry.

2009-07-28T12:53:00.001-07:00

Palin's final speech was so beautiful, they had to get a master to read it properly.

Mr. William Shatner.

LOST Cast Interview

2009-07-26T17:38:00.001-07:00

A nifty little interview with Richard, Ben and Hurly. All those throw pillows are cracking me up!

Michael Emerson (Ben) kind of creeps me out at the 3:25 mark. "Egyptian stuff maybe. (creepy pause) That would be niiiicccceee!"

Pictures of indy.

2009-07-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

Because everybody loves him. And I have nerd writer's block

Joe Keatinge is Amazing! Spectacular! Web of!

2009-07-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

Our good friend Joe Keatinge, who handles PR and Marketing for Image Fucking Comics, just got interviewed by Graphic Novel Reporter! Also, he recently wrote An Open Letter on the 2009 Harvey Award Nominations at Newsarama, which is worth checking out.

And if you got a few extra bucks lying around why don't you go buy Popgun. Its worth your money.

Nerd Alert Episode 7 - "Loki is 6'4"!?"

2009-07-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

Alright, another sweet ass PODCAST! JP and I get into about Marvel Series 2 trading cards, Trek, Nintendo and... David Leisure? Some dope tunes play throughout the cast if you're into that kind of thing.

Nerd Alert Episode 7 - "Loki is 6'4"!?"

Subscribe to the NerdAlert podcast in iTunes!

This podcast was recorded by Jeff Rad, of the Occasional Radcast.

Korg DS-10 Plus.

2009-07-09T11:30:00.001-07:00

Okay, everybody pile into the wayback machine.

*waaaaayback* in March of 2008, I wrote a small post about "game" that was coming to the Nintendo DS, the Korg DS-10, which replicates the Korg MS-10 analog synth. At the time it seemed like a neat idea, but I wasn't into taking a few more semesters wroth of Japanese to crack the language barrier that I would need to use it. Then they released it in the US, so I gobbled it up and made a few tracks.
I've been really happy with it, and I've thought about buying a second DS [dorky]because they can interface with each other over wi-fi and I could do separate channel outputs and do different effects on the high and low parts[/dorky]. But just recently XSEED announced the DS-10 Plus! What's so different about it? Let's ask an awkward Japanese guy!

The DS-10 Plus will be available in Japan on September 17th. It does not have a U.S. release date yet. Also, you'll need a DSi (the newer hardware) to take full advantage of the updates.

Xbox Live : Battlefield 1943

2009-07-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

I used to play a ton of Battlefield 1942 back in college, and now it's on Xbox as Battlefield 1943! I only had a chance to play for about an hour last night, and the whole experience was plagued with connection issues so I'm not going to do a review, but here's the GiantBomb review of the game. These guys are great by the way, nerd approved, see their madness at giantbomb.com

He came all the way from Latveria...

2009-07-08T22:04:00.001-07:00

... and boy, are his arms tired!!!

Jack Conte - Impression Video Song

2009-07-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

It's not a music video, it's a video song. This guy records every noise he's making on camera, and then syncs it back up with the song to make a music video. Impressive. Most Impressive. He uses a lot of Electro-Harmonix pedals, which are a favorite of mine, and this video makes me want a Memory Man.

HOLY SHIT! Stan Lee as Larry King!

2009-06-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

Stan Fucking Lee is going to be ACTING in a movie!

Our source has exclusively told NukeTheFridge.com about the cameo that Stan Lee will be playing in the upcoming sequel, "Iron Man 2."
Iron Man creator and Marvel comics legend, Stan Lee will be playing "Larry King" in "Iron Man 2." Lee as "King" will interview Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) on "Larry King Live." Stan Lee will be questioning Stark about his new, modified "black" Iron Man suit.
Our source has also told us that Stan Lee will be a hidden character in the upcoming video game, "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2." Stan Lee will play a senator in that game.

From Nuke The Fridge.

Desperately missing Michael

2009-06-29T17:09:00.000-07:00

God Damn, he was one hard core mofo back in the day.

Let it be remembered that he never turned his back on Smooth Music.

Nerd Approved : Cheapassgamer.com

2009-06-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a picture review is better than a written review. There's a weekly podcast, forums, and blogs. Check it out at www.cheapassgamer.com

My Dear Ol' Dad

2009-06-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

My dad recently had neck surgery, and since then he has had to wear a neck brace most of the time.

He looks like this.

Which reminds me of this.

No offense to my dad. He never even came close to chopping my hand off.

Went to a Garage Sale Today!

2009-06-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

Guess who got HULK HANDS, suckers!

Note that these are the discontinued Eric Bana style of Hulk Hands, not the chump ass Ed Norton plush kind. Now if I can find a pair of THING HANDS I'll be set.

RIP

2009-06-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

Ebert's Transformers 2 review

2009-06-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

In it's entirety.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. One of these involves a dog-like robot humping the leg of the heroine. Such are the meager joys. If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination.

I love this review for how short it is. He gives it one star, obviously. Not that you need it, but here is the link.

Erik Henriksen of the Portland Mercury also wrote a great review, which starts with a William Blake quote if you can believe it. I am going to pass on this movie. I wasn't really into Transformers as a kid and I hated the first one.

Game Review - 5 Things about Resident Evil 5

2009-06-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

I have yet to write a review of a game that I haven't finished all the way, but I'm starting to think I've played enough to give Resident Evil 5 a fair shake. I'm just going to do a bullet point review because I think a long form would be too rambly.

First. You are Chris Redfield. They drop you off in this sea of infected African villagers, only they don't really tell you what you need to do. And some of the Africans are Asian. The objective is something like 'survive for 5 minutes' but I kept trying to kill everything on the screen, which I found out (slowly) was impossible with the weapons you are given. After an hour I go back to the title screen and lower the difficulty to "Amateur". Looking back, I can't believe this didn't help me more than it did.

Second, they give you a partner in the game, which completely removes the feeling of isolation. I guess this is good if you have a second player to play the game with. I don't so she's kinda... worthless. Her name is Sheva, no seriously. Her alternate costume is a culturally sensitive leopard loin cloth. Also, when a door is too heavy for just your main character to open, you can pres the B button, and he will stare at Sheva's chest. I don't know what this does, but after a while she helps you open the door.

Third, the game is way too long. And there's not enough ammo. Resident Evil games used to be about ammo scarcity and bad camera angles that made the controls confusing, and therefore, suspenseful. Now it plays a lot like a Gears of War game, the camera is always behind your back, and there's even stuff to duck behind and shoot from. In fact, now that I think of it, the Zombies shoot BACK at you. Since when could a Zombie hold a gun. Now wait up. What does it say about a Zombie if he still has the intelligence to hold a gun straight, fire it at you, and even reload when it runs out of ammo. Pretty soon these Zombies are going to demand the right to vote, cite the Geneva convention, and cop attitudes with pedestrians while driving a car, and drivers while a pedestrian. Where was I?

Fourth. Oh yeah, this game is too long. And there's not enough ammo. Or pockets. I've basically been using my A.I. character as storage space to Chris "Nine Pockets" Redfield. She carries all my grenades, plus a few weapons in case I run low on ammo. I gave her this stun baton back in Act 3, and she hasn't used a bit of ammo since. She gets beat up every once in a while, but I control the herbs. And why can't I pickup ammo for a gun I'm holding, why does "Nine Pockets" Redfield have to have an empty pocket to hold ammo, or combine an herb? I can do those things without pockets!

Fifth. Really game? You're going to keep on going? I fought this thing in Act 5 where I had to use a flamethrower, for about 5 minutes, just pointed at the dumb tentacle Japanese-boss thing. I thought I was doing it wrong and I was about to give up. Then the dumb tentacle thing died. And that still wasn't the final boss. At this point the only fear this game inspires is what else it will make me do to get those remaining achievement points. When is Dead Space 2 coming out?

Hodgman calls out Obama

2009-06-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

John Hodgman calls Obama out on being a nerd. Obama flashes the Vulcan salute. Twice.

Shit I Found In My Garage, Part Three

2009-06-21T01:05:00.000-07:00

Lots of old drawings, including this comic strip I did for a cartooning class i took at MHCC taught by THE Joe Spooner! It starred Fred and the Nameless Floating Eye.

I know Fred looks like a limp pee pee, but he isn't. He was born out of a middle school project that had us design our own animal. I designed a race of Freds, which were weird hot dog looking things with big eyes in the middle of their bodies. With bow ties. Eventually Fred's upper half flopped back, as it appears here (the bow ties didn't last long).

Fred popped up in my drawings often for quite awhile, sort of like my own Mickey Mouse. This is the only comic strip that I ever did with him, and I like it. I would have loved to do more but I could never think of any four frame jokes that felt worth my time. The Floating eye was created so he would have someone to talk to that didn't take up much of the frame.

Shit I Found In My Garage, Part 2

2009-06-19T17:06:00.000-07:00

Wow. Its raining really hard right now. Good thing I found my Marvel Super Heroes Umbrella!

It features Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Hulk, Daredevil, Punisher, Spider-Man, Captain America, and the Marvel Logo. I can't believe I even considered giving this to Goodwill.

This Picture...

2009-06-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

...is really funny.

Via Blogtown, which is in turn via Topless Robot

2009-06-18T11:27:00.001-07:00

Dear Internet,

Things are becoming too complicated. Why do I have so many "social networking" accounts. I think I have 5 myspace accounts, and 3 twitters, 2 bloggers, and a facebook. Picasa and Flickr, livejournal and typepad, and forums... oh the forums.

What happened to a simpler time.

Stop Motion Pixel Post-its

2009-06-17T09:25:00.001-07:00

Holy Moly. This must have taken weeks to put together.

Nerd Apporoved : Cinemassacre.com

2009-06-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

Marq posted the Trek-no-babble earlier this month, which comes from James at Cinemassacre.com This is the home of many Sci-Fi and Horror movie reviews, as well as some short clips about nerd culture, "you know what's bullshit" rants, and my favorite feature, the Angry Video Game Nerd. Here is one of my very favorite episodes, Entitled "NES Accessories"

Hey look! Another Trek post!

2009-06-14T00:23:00.001-07:00

Yes, another trek post. FU, Iam drunk. This video is weird but cool. TOS remake to sell chicken, but done very faithfully. All the actors seem very close to their TOS counterparts, their differences hidden in shadow. Mmmmm. Chicken.

Futurama is back

2009-06-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

For your consideration. Futurama's humor didn't reach the height of the Simpsons, but it also never reached the depths. There are some long running plot threads (involving time travel, becoming your own grandfaher, and missing brainwaves) that make the show feel like one big story. Yesterday Comedy Central Ordered New 'Futurama' Episodes. I'm happy for the new episodes, but really all this does is give a dying ember of hope to those Firefly and Arrested Development nerds. Shame on you comedy central.

Shit I Found In My Garage, Part 1

2009-06-10T18:49:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks I have been slowly cleaning out my garage. Inside there were several large boxes that I had not opened since I moved in over three years ago. Most of them I had not opened since I moved into the house where I lived before, or even at my apartment before that. I lugged these cardboard behemoths around with me all my adult life. Why? Because these boxes held my Collectibles! All the great stuff I had amassed during my Nerd heyday in the late 90's.

What the hell was I thinking!? Going through these boxes made me feel dirty, and I desperately wanted to get clean.

I've purged nearly all of it now, and stand before you a free man. This series of posts will chronicle the stuff I chose to keep, for one reason or another, rather than the stuff I threw away. Y'know, cool stuff like this Batman mask*(shown). I actually wish I could show it all but I didn't think to take pictures of the stuff I threw away.

*Not me in the pic, just one of my mysterious friends.

Nerd Alert Episode 6 : Star Trek Pregame Show

2009-06-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

On Episode 6, we talk about the new Star Trek movies, and our different expectations for them. We talk about Mission Impossible 1, 2 and 3. Shakespearean Biggotry. Starcraft. Lou Diamond Phillips and Emilio Estevez. The NES Star Trek game. Ex-girlfriends are into Felicity. Star Trek. Star Wars. Galaxy Quest. More Star Trek. Heroes. Star Trek. Lost. Then more Star Trek. Jonpaul tries to get Mark to talk about other things, but it turns out, that all he wants to talk about it Star Trek, so we talk about that. There's a little echo on the last half of the podcast from Jonpaul's mic. He kindly asks you to deal with it, as this is a month overdue already.

Nerd Alert Episode 6 - Star Trek Pregame Show

Subscribe to the NerdAlert podcast in iTunes!

Visit the Nerd Alert Blog at
NerdAlertNerdAlert.com

TOS Producer Reviews New Trek

2009-06-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

Yes. Another Star Trek post.

Herb Solow, executive producer on The Original Series, reviewed the new movie. It's a quick read from an interesting perspective. I kind of wish he would have gone into more detail about the new and old actors, but oh well. Check it out anyway.

And what do you guys think of the new banner?

Trek Fans Revolt!

2009-05-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Treknobabble

2009-05-05T07:57:00.000-07:00

Well, the new Star Trek finally opens this weekend. All new and all improved. Hopefully they cut down on the heavy handed technobabble that has plagued the franchise for, well, pretty much it's entire run.

This video sums it up nicely.

"Full of shit" indeed.

Superhero party!

2009-04-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

An oldie but a goody. And Margot Kidder!

Great Spidey web comic

2009-04-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

Check this out. It's a hoot!

AHHH! Marketing!

2009-04-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

Science fact, just as Gene Roddenberry intended.

It says you should submit a pic with no glasses, facial hair, or open smiles. Well fuck them, even if it does look like my mouth opens at the top of my teeth.

Transformers 2 will be long!

2009-04-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

Just read on Latino Review that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will be...147 minutes long! Weepin Jesus on the Cross, more like Revenge of the Fallen Asleep!! Zingers!

Seriously, that's about two and a half hours. Four minutes longer than the last one, according to Bay. I for one do not get it. Why do these movies have to be so long? Don't get me wrong. I love long movies. Epics. Can't get enough of them. Dense stories that require the time it takes to tell them. Transformers is not one of those stories. I know a lot of people like Transformers, but lets be honest. Its about robots fighting. And then turning into cars and walkmans and then back into robots. And then fighting some more. Its not Gangs of New York or Lord of The Rings for fucks sake!

Damnit, Bay! You're great at visuals. Make a tightly paced action movie!!! They're more fun to watch and you can show more of them per day and make more money! You don't need to waste time on Anthony Anderson playing DDR and talking about donuts.

Why OnLive won't work (even if it does work).

2009-04-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

So even if the OnLive system "works", the client sends controller input to the server which in turn sends the video output back to the client, I don't think it's going to take off. The promise of never upgrading my computer's video card is not that much of an incentive, and here is why.

First, the system is subscription based, and they haven't released pricing which means I'll have to make some assumptions. These assumptions could be dead wrong but I think they're all reasonable.

Let's say the service is comparable to Xbox live for 8 bucks a month. (8 per month). I'm basing this on the reviews which mention a subscription charge, but do not mention a set price (source Shacknews)

Now you have to buy or rent a game. These aren't included in the service they cost additional monies. Again they have been nebulous about pricing, but I'll wager that it's going to be a little cheaper on their server than retail so let's say it's 30 bucks for a game that would usually cost 50.
($30 + 8 per month.)

You're also having to pay for Internet. Right now there's a huge uproar about TimeWarner's Cable Internet pricing. Hulu and other streaming services are threatening the traditional cable TV model, and the Cable companies are responding by threatening higher internet prices. Onlive doesn't really say anything about how many Kbps or Mbps their streaming service will need to function properly, but there is a relationship between how long you spend gaming OnLive and how many Gigabytes per month will be steamed. I'm going to go on the higher end of things and add a 40 GB per month data package for 54.90 per month (source : Gamers with Jobs)

($30 per game + 8 per month + 54.90 per month)

They haven't said how much the "inexpensive" microconsole will be, but I'll wager it's around 30-50 dollars, or included with the service agreement (like a cable modem). Let's just say 30 for now.

($30 per game + $30 for microconsole + $8 per month + $54.90 per month)

So already, on month one, I've spent a about $120 bucks on getting everything up and running, and I'll have an additional 63 dollars per month in connection charges. If I do happen to go over 40 GB in a month, that's an extra $2 per gig. So over the a year the price could be (63 x 12 =) $756. Granted, I'm already spending a bunch on Internet anyway, but I don't use anywhere near the amount of bandwidth that this service requires.

AND! If I ever decide to cancel the OnLive Service my console gets bricked and I probably lose access to my games. What is the microconsole worth to me if it doesn't connect to the cloud? It's like the iPhone, as long as you're paying the subscription fee it's awesome, the second you stop, it's a paperweight. And what about all the Games? Much like the iPhone, I doubt there will be any way to use these applications on anything but the OnLive service. To be fair, they haven't said anything about letting people download physical copies of the game... but again, how the heck is Joe User supposed to play Crysis on a netbook or macbook?

Compare this to the PC I bought from Dell this year. 3 Ghz DuoCore, 3 GB Ram, and a big hard drive for 300 dollars, which I upgraded with a 99 dollar GT9800 video card (400 dollars total). Every game I buy on it will run on it, even if I lose my job, or internet connection, just like my Xbox or DS or Wii.

Here's the other thing.... in 12 months, I could pay another 100 bucks to upgrade the video card on the PC and play newer games. So if the cost of this service is to avoid upgrading your PC every year, I don't think it's a valid argument at all.

5 things that they would have to explain before I jumped on board would be.

1) Do I own a license to play the game on OnLive, or a license to play it on any PC? Can I download a backup to a CD or DVD?

2) How many Kbps/Mbps will the streaming video require. How much data throughput can I expect per month, or at least per hour of play.

3) Why am I paying more per month to get less ownership of the media I purchase? What good is it to have a cheaper console if it increases my data costs?

4) How is this service, which is Broadband based, going to entice people who don't plug their consoles into the Internet, or don't have the ability to do so.

5) Wouldn't the data have to move at the speed of light, almost instantaneously for the service to behave like the Xbox? How many milliseconds of latency are in between my xbox controller and video output because the best case scenario for a ping on the internet is 30-100 ms.

There is a definite benefit to this service, and it would be very impressive to have video games behave like on demand television. However, I think at this point, the costs outweigh the benefits in a huge way. That has not stopped me from signing up for the beta, as I'm very interested in how this plays in the real world with variable connetion speeds, and not just on the GDC controlled environment.

-

Jonpaul is a blogger and podcaster at the media critic site NerdAlertNerdAlert.com . He still has NES Carts from the 80s that work fine without a monthly fee.

Star Wars Shadows of the Empire - Game Developer Magazine

2009-04-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

I found a retrospective on the making of Shadows of the Empire for Nintendo 64. It's a reprint of an article from 1997. Check it out. Awesome if you've played the game in the past... or are still playing it today (I'm looking at you Portland Burrito...)

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/04/postmortem_star_wars_shadows_o.php

Nerd Alert is in the Battlefield Heroes beta.

2009-04-07T23:28:00.000-07:00

Can't review the game yet, but I did get into the Battlefield Heroes beta this week, and it's very fun. If you have a PC, sign up for the beta, It runs in the browser!

http://www.battlefield-heroes.com/

GAF Recommendations for XNA Games

2009-04-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

I found a thread on NeoGaf today which recommends XNA Community games. Check it out to see if you agree with them. Be forewarned that GAF is not always the most "civil" of message boards, but it is nice to see a thread reviewing the community games.

GAF Recommends XNA Community Games

Wolverine Leaked!

2009-04-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

Anyone else excited for the new Wolverine movie? Anyone? Yeah, me neither. Really, who needs second rate hippity hoppity stars playing second rate New Mutants villains? Anyone? Anyone?

Moving on.

As you may have heard, a complete workprint of the flick leaked onto the massive series of tubes we call The Net. Plenty of unfinished effects, clipping errors, etc are present. It's been downloaded a jizillion times, mostly by JonPaul. NY Mag has posted a funny ass slide show, with pics from the workprint, pointing out why its best to see it in theater as opposed to your laptop. Check it out here!

NerdAlert Reccomendation : Creative Screenwriting Podcast

2009-04-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

The Creative Screenwriting Podcast talks with film and television writers such as David Hayter (Watchmen, X-men) Joel and Ethan Cohen (No Country for Old Men, The Big Lebowski) and the entire writing staff of The Office about the process of writing. The list of interviews is very impressive, and no doubt you'll be able to find an episode about a movie you've seen recently.

I just listened to the Watchmen episode last night and found David Hayter's explanation of the ending pretty reasonable. He also explains why he didn't use the "hacksaw" situation from the prison breakout scene from the comic book (he said it was too reminiscent of a similar situation from The Road Warrior, which I'm not sure is a good enough reason). He didn't quite explain all the Skinemax scenes though. Anyway, it's interesting to hear writers defend their decisions, and explain the writing process.

Inter-web Links :
The Creative Screenwriting Podcast on iTunes

Funny Stuff

2009-04-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

All in all this episode was pretty disappointing, but the cast of TNG going to McDonald's is pure gold. Will Wheaton owns (did i just say that?).

AND I THOUGHT THESE THINGS SMELLED BAD ON THE OUTSIDE!!!!

2009-04-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

Probably an April fool's joke, but who cares? TAUN TAUN SLEEPING BAG!

I now have a reason to have kids.

5 Ways to Improve Xbox Community Games

2009-03-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

The XNA Community Games that launched with the 2008 Dashboard update is a service which lets indie developers post their games to the Xbox Live service after a series of peer reviews. In theory it has the possibility of upsetting the current environment that surrounds development and distribution, which is something that we could all benefit from.

A post went up on Joystiq today "Some creators disappointed with XNA Commu nity Games sales" which indicates that developers believe they are not making the kind of sales they were expecting. The service is good as it is, but it's lacking a critical feature: user reviews.

I'll mention from the start that I am in no way associated with Microsoft, and have no stake in XNA succeeding or failing (but as an aside, community manager Kathleen Sanders is a badass). That said, here are 5 ways to improve the sales of community games on Xbox Live.

1) "Dashboard" user reviews - Nothing says "TRY ME" more than 100 other users recommending a product to you. The fact that they're not associated with the product being sold is a bonus to the person at the receiving end of a review. The best example of user reviews that I can think of are the rating systems that iTunes uses. On iTunes I can search for any word, in this example "Nerd Alert" and get an idea of which of the items returned are the most popular. This should not be a written review, rather a 5 star rating that could be used with an Xbox controller very easily.

2) Related Recommendations - It would be nice if there was a place in the community rating which takes into account other games that user has reviewed. Much like Amazon's product recommendation or Netflix DVD Recommendation, there should be a feature that says "It looks like you enjoyed Rumble Massage, 95% of users who enjoyed this application also enjoyed Remote Masseuse."

3) A community webpage / community podcast - There ought to be a webpage where people can share their thoughts about their experience with a demo or full purchase. The current XNA Website is focused on creaters, not gamers. An example of this would be something like iFanboy.com. If you're unfamiliar with the site, it's built around 3 guys to read a stack of comics, and each week one of them presents their favorite. They have a review part of their website where site members can also read, and respond, and pick their own favorite comic for that week. This generates lots of discussion and lots of free P.R. for the books that are "Pick of the Week", and gives the creators immediate feedback. The Podcast is for those of us who like to read with our ears, or have boring commutes. It's important to note that this website is not assosciated with comic book publishers at all, and therefore is free to say whatever they want in a review.

4) Greater involvement in the game review/preview community - I've never actually seen a site like Giant Bomb or Kotaku or 1up review a community game. I've seen the remote masseuse application show up as a news item, but I've never actually seen these games reviewed by large, or small, gaming review outlets. Perhaps this could be remedied by targeting smaller review blogs, and gifting them Review codes. I also understand it's hard to get "previews" for these games for review because the release schedule is up to the peer review process, but it might be nice to let previewers see a product in it's beta stage, in order to drum up some P.R. for its' release.

5) Internal Advertisements - the problem is that these games are created by users who do not have the P.R. budget of a larger XBLA Game... or any P.R. budget at all. If Microsoft wants to not only provide a place for community games to exist, but also to thrive, they'll have to do advertising out of their own pocket. It's akin to the commercials that Comcast puts on cable TV, or the way a newspaper will sometimes have advertisements for itself in the classifieds. Microsoft owns the billboards, and can put whatever content they want there. If they want more users to download these games, and pay to unlock the full versions, they have to let users know that they exist. The dashboard advertisements are clearly a great way to get more downloads. Major Nelson's podcast is more free billboard space, and could be a good place for gamers and developers to learn more about well recieved XNA games.

It's my hope that Microsoft is already working on some of these suggestions. Of course, I have a few more in mind, but this is just the demo. Please convert your NerdAlert consultant to the full version for unlimited access.

Jonpaul is a media critic at NerdAlertNerdAlert.com. He lives in Portland with his Yorkshire Terrier-Mini Schnauzer-thing "Indiana", and likes those little mandarin oranges that are in season right now.

Game Review : Madworld for Wii - 1/5 Stars

2009-03-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

I heard that Madworld was for the seasoned gamer like myself. What I found was a mindless beat-em up, with the same "waggle your right while moving with your left" as the majority of 3rd person over the shoulder Wii games. The problem is that I'm not looking for another game that controls like Zelda, but has the F word and a lot of blood. That's not what draws me into games, and makes me want to keep playing them. For example, Grand Theft Auto obviously has violence, but that's not the reason it suceeds. It succeeds because of the environment that it builds around your character is so believeable, the radio and the cars, and the pedestrians and random dialogue, that when violence is interjected its stunning and demands your attention. Chainsawing a guy up the middle over and over again doesn't have the same kind of oomph.

The graphics are pretty good, and it pulls of the Black, White and Red of Sim City or Grendel as a video game, which is no small feat. It actually looks like a Frank Miller drawing in motion. The sound mix is abysmal, and I had to adjust the levels in order to hear to "mature" commentary. It's provided by Futurama's John Dimaggio but you would never know that because it's suspiciously missing on his IMDB page

Let's not get started on that man in the black-face.

In short, stunning violence and profanity do not a hardcore game make. Give me some innovative use of the control scheme, like Boom Blox or Residen Evil 4 or Mario Kart. Do not buy. Do not rent. 1/5 Stars.

Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack drops on April 9th.

2009-03-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

The maps which were previously exclusive to the collector's edition of Halo Wars will be available for all players on April 9th. They will cost 800 spacebucks.

Microsoft: The Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack Happens On April 9th (via Kotaku)

I want this.

2009-03-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

I really want this.

Shatner's Birthday

2009-03-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

Chris Pine, your destiny awaits.

COOOOOL!

2009-03-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

I talked about this during the podcast, but I thought I would reiterate. Marvel (y'know, comics) is finally releasing Spider-Man 2099 as a trade! About freakin' time! I bought the first issue at the first con I went to. Actually it wasn't really a con. It was more like a few vendors (i.e. local card shops) in a hotel lobby with a few tables set up. Anyway, the series was great. The writing was good and the art was fucking awesome. Leonardi is the man. I loved his shit in Warlock and the Infinity Watch (don't laugh), and was pumped when he came back to 2099 to do Fantastic Four 2099, another fun book. I only read the first issue of that one so I am not sure how long it hung around. Probably not long since 2099 imploded soon after.

But I digress.

Spider-Man 2099 vol.1, collecting issues 1-10, is hitting April 22nd. The price? $30.

$30? That struck as being a little high. I guess it makes sense, but still. Am I a cheap bastard? Or just chronically broke? Whatever. I'll still buy the damn thing. But for $30 it better have some kind of cool foil/embossed/hologram cover.

Watchmen. Oh, Watchmen

2009-03-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally saw Watchmen a couple days ago.

It was very entertaining. Fun to watch. But... I didn't feel anything. The thing that, for me, made the book so great was the realism of the characters. The emotion of it. But what Zach Snyder has done is to repeatedly neglect drama in favor of spectacle.

A few of examples...

The prision riot scene. Rorschache in the cell, Big Figure and his goons trying to get him out. Rorchache ties one of the goons to the bars, and the other goon has to kill him so they can get into the cell. In both the book and the movie, this scene is very bloody. In the book they slit the goons throat. You can see the fear in his face as his friend reluctantly comes at him with a box cutter. It's a short moment, but a dramatic one. In the movie they cut his arms off. Close up of blood splattering against the wall. The goon screams as we look at the bones sticking out of his stump. This is not dramatic. It's a cheap shock. And it would have taken the same ammount of time to do it the dramatic way. Our loss.

The sky fuck scene. Dan and Laurie do it in Archie. In the book this scene represents the moment when the characters finally feel like themselves. After years of living impotent lives they finally feel vital again. There is nothing wrong with the movie version of this scene, but rather it is the set up that falls short, making the scene gratuitus. The scene where Dan can't get it up is in there, but it doesn't connect. It's far too brief. It felt like a light moment. A little joke. Because of that scene's inabilaty to perform, we wind up with a scene that serves no other purpose other than showing off whatsherface's tits. Tits that, in the book, were hidden in shadow because they weren't the fucking point of the scene!

And then there were several scenes that added carnage, seemingly for no other purpose than to add carnage. In the book, when Dan and Laurie get cornered by the gang in the alley way and fight their way out, it is really just punching at kicking. For some reason the movie decides to add bullet wounds and compound fractures. Not really sure why. Same goes for the scene where Adrian fights off the assassin in his building. I don't recall the assassin opening fire into a crowd a splattering brains everywhere in the book. I don't see how that helps the movie's narrative.

And I know that Dr. M blows people up in the book, but here we get blood and guts flying everywhere. Cut to a woman covered in it, looking stunned. Everyone laughs.

I am not saying that Watchmen is a bad movie, but it's not a great one. Hell, I know I'll see it again when they come out with the longer DVD. But my point is that Zach Snyder has a ten year old kid in him that loves to see blood and guts. In his other movies it worked to listen to this kid, but for Watchmen it is in bad taste.

Nerd Alert Episode 5: The Parasaurolophus

2009-03-15T22:21:00.001-07:00

In this Episode of Nerd Alert...
We're back after an 11 month absence! Mark doesn't know what Twitter is and we try to explain it. We talk about old Star Wars Video Games. Jonpaul gives his spoiler-free Watchmen movie review. Mark gives his take on the new Star Trek Trailer. We gush about Walking Dead and Invincible. Mark submits his idea for a Reno-911-pedia. Jonpaul wants more Backwards Compatibility. We're trying out a new format this episode, with the music underneath the conversation, I'm sure it will evolve. Please leave your comments below, and let us know what you think.

Mp3- Nerd Alert Episode 5

Subscribe to the NerdAlert podcast in iTunes!

Interweb-links.

Visit the Nerd Alert Blog at
NerdAlertNerdAlert.com

Mercury Blogtown
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/blogs/BlogtownPDX/

Obi-wan is the Villian Guy - Link Forthcoming

Wiimote Head Tracking - 3d
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

Star Trek Trailer
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/startrek/

Green Goblin's last Stand Part 1
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1677661214102744051&hl=en

Green Goblin's last Stand Part 2
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1868813073984637340&hl=en

Playlist-
John Williams - Superman Theme
The Cardigans - Iron Man
Thelonious Monk - Bemsha Swing
The Who - Wont get fooled again
RJD2 - Two more Dead
MF Doom + Talib Kweli - Old School
Dressy Bessy - Girl you Shout
Ratatat - Tropicana
Zelda Theme - Koji Kondo original
Le Tigre - The Empty (BBC live version)
Leaning Towers - Aaron's Birthday
Matson Jones - Good Advice
Pixies - Alec Eifel
Apples in Stereo - Baroque

New Wiki

2009-03-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hey, are you a fan of Reno 911? Me too! Thats why I started a new Wiki for it. Reno 911pedia!

Reno911.Wikia.com

Come check it out!

Nerd Alert Episode 4 (repost)

2009-03-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

We are mostly back, though we need to do some housekeeping before getting back to full speed. So here is a repost of Episode 4, recorded last year. We have just finished recording Episode 5, which will be posted this weekend. In this episode we talk about Season 4 of Lost, The cardboard cutout ghost of Ted Danson, Shaq-Fu, and Trekkie Fever!

MP3 - Nerd Alert Episode 4

Thanks!

8-Bit Hip Hop

2009-03-12T16:12:00.001-07:00

Coming from the ...Shot Then blog 8 Bit Hip Hop Medley.

http://www.shotthen.com/2009/02/04/8-bit-hip-hop-medley/#more-1106

About 4 minutes long...

Jay-Z — Dirt Off Your Shoulders
T.I — What You Know
Chamillionaire — Ridin'
Ludacris — What's Ya Fantasy
Bonecrusher — Neva Scared
Kanye — Overnight Celebrity
Ludacris — Move Bitch
Lil' Jon — Get Low
Kanye — Gold Digger

2009-03-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Woah! We're back? Guess so. Anyone been geeking out over the new Star Trek trailer? Yeah, me to!

Almost as much as the the new Star Wars trailer!

And don't worry. The place won't look this bad for long.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith : The Review : The Blog Post

2008-11-25T20:15:00.000-08:00

It starts out kinda good. It's a recreation of the scene from Return of the Jedi, but instead of taking the high road, he scissors off Dracula's head.

Then Anakin and Padme are reunited and their inane conversations can begin. It's as if these two have an invented twin language that they use to talk to each other. Their dialogue is forced, and infantile. Here is an actual snippet.

Anakin: You are so...beautiful.
Padme: It's only because I'm so in love.
Anakin: No. No, it's because I'm so in love with you.
Padme: Then love has blinded you?

I speak English. I even know all those words. But I have NO idea what this means at all. No clue. Not even close.

If you watch very closely you can see almost pinpoint the moment when Samuel Jackson has completely given up in this movie. I don't want to spoil it for you.

Obi-wan rides this animal, it's kind of a reptile thing. It's dumb. It looks dumb, and it sounds dumb. I pity the child who received this toy for a Christmas present.

Then Obi-wan fights grievous. Hey, does anybody still have Darth Maul's number? That guy was a blast to watch, can we get him back? No? Oh fuck it, let's just give a bunch of lightsabres to a six armed robot. At least somebody will have a good Christmas this year.

Then some more stuff happens, but I'm too preoccupied trying to decide if James Franco or Hayden Christensen is a more terrible actor. In the end I have to say Franco, only because I'm not sure if it's Christensen's fault. Garbage in, garbage out. Any movie which can make Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman sound like hacks shouldn't be used to judge an actor. And I've never gone out of my way to see another Hayden Christensen movie, so Franco it is. Congratulations James Franco.

Obi-wan gets blasted off of his stupid dragon thing into a pool of water. I'm hoping that thing can't swim. And yes, I understand the Jedi were caught off guard, but it's hard to believe that they could punked so hard.

Then Jimmy Smits shows up and says his 3 lines. Good job Jimmy.

The wookiees kind of send off Yoda like he was E.T. that's funny.

Cool, the Rebel Blockde Runner. That might be the coolest thing in this movie. Jimmy Smits has at least 3 more lines in this scene, I've underestimated him it seems. Scratch that, it was two lines.

I think Anakin sums up his role in this trilogy with "From my point of view it's the Jedi who are evil!". I can't believe this is the guy who turned into Darth Vader.

Obi-wan takes care of him. He calls it out like Babe Ruth.

Then they actually put the armor on him, and he has this incredibly pathetic moment where he's yelling about Natalie Portman and looking completely neutered. Thanks for infecting my original trilogy Darth Vader, George Lucas.

I feel dumber for having seen these movies.

Retro Gaming Expo - Video Game Convention - Portland, Oregon

2008-08-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

Retro Gaming Expo - Video Game Convention - Portland, Oregon

Jade Empire Available for download to 360 on Monday

2008-07-17T08:26:00.001-07:00

I should see if I can find it used first... but I may end up picking this up since I never played it, and loved Kotor.

http://kotaku.com/5026139/jade-empire-is-your-next-xbox-original