Half-Life projects, Comic-Con program guide, Playstation Factory & Esports Mental Toughness

First, Dev-i-boy found a list of Valve games that never came out. These games were created in the dark times before Half Life: Alyx was announced, and include some interesting looks at what Half Life 3 could have been.

You can't go to Comic-Con this year, but you can watch it online. There's a great program with tons of shows including comics, television and gaming news. It's also probably the most accessible Comic-Con ever, since you don't need to leave your house and the shows are free.

First the robots came for the car factory jobs, and I said nothing. Then they came for the Playstation 4 assembly jobs, and I said "Cool, that's some nice tech". Sony has almost fully automated their assembly line and only use four people on the ends of a single assembly line that makes one console every 30 seconds. It's awesome.

Esports are stressful, and high skill players show the same signs of stress as their analogue counterparts. This doesn't surprise the Nerds at all, but it's an interesting study.

This week, Professor played a chaotic real time dice rolling game, DJ kept the peace in Agents of Mayhem and Dev-i-boy got distracted by job applications. Wish him luck.

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Valve Index, Masters of the Universe & Crew Dragon

The Nerds are back, proving that 107 episodes just isn't too much for the human body to handle.

This week, the Professor has a complaint about that saintly game developer, Valve. What's his problem with Gabe and the multi award winning game studio? They're sold out of VR headsets with only a month to go before the release of Half Life: Alyx.

The Masters of the Universe are coming back as well. The Professor has another complaint, this time about the casting of Skeletor. He thinks it's ridiculous to bring back Skeletor's original voice in a different role and cast a new actor for Skeletor. Even if that actor is the esteemed Mark Hamill. DJ thinks this sacrilege is 100% ok. The star studded cast list has the Nerds highly excited for this revival.

Now that Dragon has been human rated, SpaceX have moved the capsule to the launch pad, and the crew are a pair of former Shuttle pilots. This will be the first manned space mission from the US since the Shuttle program was shut down. America Can Into Space? Soon, hopefully.

Professor and DJ have some trouble pronouncing American Indian and Finnish words in the Remembrances and Shoutouts, and laugh at the Boomers who couldn't believe Bill and Ted actually speak like that.

Stay hydrated and come hang out with us again next week.

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Second Galaxy, Space Hotel & Creative Emmys

I’m a Nerd and I’m okay, I play all night and I sleep all day, I read science journals, I eat my lunch I ride on the hover train (I wish). Welcome back to another exciting and fun filled episode from those whacky Nerds. First up this week we have a story about China influencing game studios to block any references to protests in Hong Kong. Obviously we weren’t approached, probably because of Buck’s rants. But this is kind of bad as it is enforcing the propaganda of a military regime. So please listen in and then go forth and show support for Hong Kong in its bid for democratic freedom from oppression. Viva la revolution!

Next up we look at news of resorts and hotels being planned for space. That’s right, hotels in orbit! You will be able to play basketball in one if you are so inclined. There is even mention of accommodation available on the ISS for a price, but no airport transfers, sorry. So if you know anyone expecting a return visit from aliens and wanting to avoid those pesky immigration queues then this might be just the ticket.

Then we look at the Emmy awards, particularly the creative side. They took place recently and there are some interesting winners to take a look at. There are the usual suspects that are to be expected, such as Game of Thrones, but also others such as “Age of Sail.” So take a look through the list and see who you like and also if there is something you like and we over looked it.

As always we have the shout outs, remembrances, birthdays, and special events from this week in history. We are planning on being at Supanova again this year, if you are let us know and we will be happy to see you. Until next time stay safe, take care of each other and stay hydrated.

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