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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Nintendo Lawyers, Home Gardening & Comic-Con At Home featuring Shaun from Comics2Movies

This week we invite our special guest Shaun Keenan, creator of Xtreme Champion Tournament (in which mythical and legendary heroes face off) to share his thoughts on some news from San Diego Comic Con.

Kicking things off, the Nerds discuss Nintendo's itchy DMCA trigger finger, they’ve taken down the tragically short-lived DirectX 12 Super Mario 64 Port. This was a fan work based on the Mario 64 decompilation project, reformed into a gorgeous 4k Ultra-Widescreen rendition of everyone's favourite plumber. And they also lost 2TB of data including user account details, which are now being used to hack people. Oops.

There's now one less reason to leave the house, since gardening provides a boost to your emotional well-being that is as powerful as going out for dinner or taking a run. Grow chickens and you have an excuse for a dinner and a run as well. So, is gardening the ultimate weapon against millennial depression memes?

Lastly, Shaun chips in to talk about SDCC's move to being an online only event. Pros: Better food. Better chairs. No lines. Cons: No costumes. No crowd excitement. It's a tough sell for some of us, but the rest of us are perfectly happy to stay at home.

This week, Professor broke his brain in HyperRogue and DJ confronted his fear of the dark in Alan Wake.

Come back next week, we miss you.

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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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Gaming Hotels, Money & Nebula

Hello, welcome, and G’day, we are so happy to have you join us again for our latest episode. When we say episode we don’t mean Buck having a rant and all that; just thought we should clarify that up front. Now we have a bumper episode this week with lots of stuff for you to enjoy.

            First up we have Professor bringing us news about Atari’s plan to open a chain of hotels. They have announced that they will be themed and focus on developing E-sports functionality. But we wonder is it going to be presented with the old style timber/brown laminate like we used to see on the old Atari? Guarantee that it won’t be the first option for the honeymoon market, although, any ladies who think that would be cool let us know that we are wrong once again. Following this Professor has the ESA’s environmentally unfriendly stance against the right to repair and modify your machines/consoles. BOO HISS!!! How lame can these idiots be, I mean, don’t they realise that advancements in technology have come about by people looking under the hood and figuring out ways to do things better?

            Next up we have DJ talking about IDW losing money and what they are planning to do about it. Apparently they have announced they are struggling in various markets with the material they are presently distributing. Of course the solution would be to develop new material, breathe new life into the company instead of just pumping out more of the same thing. But, no, they are hoping that their partnership with Netflix will save them. Then DJ brings us news on the critic’s reviews on Birds of Prey for us to laugh at and make fun of. Seriously, does anyone actually take them serious anymore? Buck suggests that if Rotten Tomatoes give a film a bad rating it must be good, and if it is good then stay away. What do you think, does that sound like a good approach to use?

            Then Buck has the latest on the Spitzer Space Telescope, which has just retired. After being on mission since 2003 it has provided heaps of data for scientist, with the first images and data being of the Tarantula Nebula. In homage to its origins the last images and data developed by Spitzer were also of the Tarantula Nebula. Which honestly is a hotbed of activity, with the explosion of a supernova that was first discovered in 1987 (interestingly called 1987a) and still sweeping through space creating some awesome images. Also there is a collection of 40 massive stars at least 50 times the size of our sun all in a tiny area together. If this isn’t enough for you Buck also brings us news of the latest evolution of robot tanks. Before anyone gets all Terminator Judgement Day on us, they are not all armed and those that are still need a person involved to fire on a target. But for those who are looking for an alternative to a trailer that hitches to your car, we might have a solution for you.

            We hope you enjoy this bumper episode this week. As normal we have the usual shout outs, remembrances, birthdays, and special events. Let us know what you think, make requests if you have a topic you are interested in having us dig into. Or just drop us a line and we will give you a special shout out. As always, remember to take care of yourselves, look out for each other and stay hydrated.

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Toyota, 1917 & Google Stadia

Well, here we come, waltzing down the street, getting hot and sweaty, with all this humidity. Hey hey we’re the Nerds yeah, and people say we look kind of funny, particularly Buck the big Boomer. Haha, admit it, you started to sing that in to the Monkey’s theme tune didn’t you, if not you just went back and tried it. We this week we bring you another awesome episode to listen to while you rest in the shade and enjoy a breeze on the long weekend.

          First up we are taking flight with Buck, Toyota, and Joby. No, Joby is not a new host, it is an aviation company that Toyota is investing in to increase its presence in the transport arena. Also this is the next step to having vehicles like in the Jetsons. Check out the drawings in the link, a tilt-engine vehicle that looks like a cross between a drone and a helicopter. This is seriously cool. Also while looking around at all the different transport tech news Buck also found some artists renderings of potential vehicles for space travel from Lexus. Wait till you hear what Buck and Professor think one of them looks like. Which is your favorite option?

          Next up DJ has a story about the Producers Guild Awards, in particular 1917. Want to know what movies won which awards, listen in. Also you can hear about the movie 1917, with some of the various story plot points to look out for. For those unfamiliar with it 1917 is a movie set in World War One. It is the story of a soldier and his friend trying to save the lives of 1600 British troops. There are some funny parts, but it is a moving drama based on stories told by the Grand Father of the Director Sam Mendes. DJ has also asked for your predictions for the Oscars and who you think should be nominated and win, so let us know on either: Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

          Next up we have Professor bringing us an update on the saga of Crytek and CIG (Star Citizen). Would you believe that so far CIG have spent over $900,000 on this legal matter? Yep, for the company started on kickstarter and now sells space fleets for $27000 they are really going hard. Want to know what has happened then listen in. As usual we have all the shout outs, remembrances, birthdays, and events of interest. Until next week, please remember to take care of yourselves, look out for each other, and stay hydrated.

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QTime, Cat Robots & 2 Studio Ghibli Movies

With the wind rustling the trees, a faint hint of the bouquet from the honeysuckle on the air, the moon moved from behind the cloud. It was hard to accept that this was still the same group that everyone knew and liked (loved is suck a strong word and with Buck involved we might be stretching it a bit). The utter shock of it all is beyond belief; we are almost at that time folks. Yes, we really are almost at the 2 year mark. Tell your friends that like Keith Richards we have refused to stop going, like an aging rock band we are here once again. The Nerds are back!

                First up this week we have a segment about QTIME, what is that you ask? Well it is an amazing device to help when gaming is more important than life, but you still have to pay the bills. It is awesome for those parents that want to guide their dirt urchins out into the wide blue yonder and do their chores around the house. It is also the perfect way to destroy a room full of sports fans. Want to know exactly what this miracle device is, listen in and hear the Professor tell us about it and Buck hatch evil ideas.

                Now there are restaurants that have monkey waiters, cafes where you can cuddle a cat or puppy, there are even sushi bars with trains. Now we give you Cat Robots! Yes folks it is that time of year when the biggest collection of Nerds and Geeks gather. It is the CES once again and Buck has found that there are Cat Robots, also a super important and special bot for those times when you stuck needing a roll of paper. This is important and we invite you to tell us your favourite exhibit at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) we only discuss a couple, there are some many things it would require a special episode of its own.

                Next up we have DJ telling us about the news that Studio Ghibli are planning to release 2 new movies. The special part of this is we have an expected release date of….Listen in and find out when. Also we discuss what the movies theme is going to be. We don’t want to spoil it for you and tell you everything now, but we are sure you will enjoy it as much as we do. Lastly, we have the usual game played, shout outs, remembrances, birthdays, and special events. Until next time, thanks for listening, take care of yourselves, look out for each other and stay hydrated.

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2019 Year Review

So, we come to the end of another calendar year, wow, thank you for all the support and listening to us each week as we look at topics we feel deserve more attention. Now this episode we are doing a year in review and discuss what some of our favourites were, what we felt were some of the highlights and what was just downright funny. So strap in as we look back on a year full of robots, space travel, recycling, and the energetic joy of Katie Bouman, and that is just the start. We also go for a ride looking at the movies and tv series that have made us laugh, cry, scream, and sit in awe throughout the year. We discuss the controversy of crazy violence and insanity in movies such as Rambo – Last Blood. Yep some one has claimed it is… Nope you will need to listen in to know what is happening. Also we look at the year in games and take stock of what has happened. We laugh at some of it, get annoyed at some, and shake our heads in bewilderment at others. We recap what has been some of the most exciting and stand out moments for us this year in terms of topics. We also include some special shout outs, remembrances, birthdays, and events for the end of the year. So as the year draws to a close and the dawn of a new one creeps over the horizon we once more ask you to take care of yourselves, look out for each other, and stay hydrated.

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Kirigami, Anime & Remake

Here we are again the latest episode from the triplets of Nerdity, that’s right folks those wacky goofballs have done it again. First up we have Buck bringing us news about new robots using the art of Kirigami. The art of cutting paper, in this case it is cutting and folding paper. This method has been applied to robotics with some awesome results. Now while it is only early days, we ask you to remember the Origami claw we featured a while back. With this in mind you will understand why Buck is excited, and Professor joins in with the excitement. This is just the start of the show and it is already looking fantastic.

                Next we look at the dismal lack of taste exhibited by the foolish bunch of weirdos in Hollywood behind the Golden Globes. That’s right we said it, actually Buck did if any snipers are being sent for reprisals. But seriously, just get those idiots to go look at some of the amazing work in animation out there. It doesn’t have to be all CGI, honestly Hollywood was built on proper special effects. These days they struggle to do anything outside a computer lab. While we are not meaning to insult CGI and the wonders it can produce, why can’t we have some proper animation and anime getting awards. When can we see some real special effects like we used to get back in the day. Not meaning to sound as grumpy as Buck or as old as a Boomer but seriously the talent involved in special effects was astounding.

                Last we look at a remake of Sonic 06 that is actually looking good. That is until corporate lawyers realised they could make money by getting it shut down. Take a moment and open the link, doesn’t that look so much better then what was dumped on the market like so much garbage? The amount of work involved must be mind-blowing, but there may be hope for the future. Want to know what that might be, well you will need to listen in to find out. You thought I was slipping and going to tell you everything, but believe me, there is so much more for you.

                We finish with the regular shout outs, remembrances, birthdays, and special events. As always we hope you take care of yourselves, look out for each other and stay hydrated.

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Magnetic Waves, Piracy & Valve

We hope that everyone is well and enjoying the start of the holidays season. This week we have the answer to the mystery of why the Sun is so hot and the dispersal of magnetic waves during solar flares. That’s right, one of those little mysteries that has been confounding scientists for years appears to have been solved with evidence supporting the rejection of the null hypothesis. Ooops, sorry, in other words research that explains why it appears to happen has been developed. So if you would like to know more about why that is then please listen in and enjoy this discussion that does wander off topic occasionally but in a fun way.

Next we look at the effect piracy is having on Marvels profit margin (which as a Disney corporate entity we must acknowledge are very slim margins). We discuss this and consider the alternatives such as going digital like XCT and some of the other projects from our friend Shaun at Comics2movies have begun to do. Buck wanders down memory lane reminiscing about when he was a boy (OK Boomer does not apply here as Buck isn’t that old). Can you believe that comic books used to only cost 15 cents? These days it is $10 and has less of a story in some cases, although XCT is cool if you want a great read.

Last topic is Valve news and what is happening with them. For example did you know that they are in the process of ending their controllers? Also did you know that they have recently had a sale on these controllers? Professor did and has bought one, even though they weren’t on sale here? Also Half-Life Alyx the VR experience game is looking downright awesome, if the promo video is anything to go by this is a game to get into.

As usual we have the regular shout outs, remembrances, birthdays and events for the week. Until next time remember to look out for each other, take care of yourselves and stay hydrated.

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Machines, Steam & Godzilla

Hello, Ni hao, G’day, welcome to another episode of rambunctious fun and games from those Nerds we all love. We wish to say an especially warm welcome to our friends in China, and thank you for listening, you are awesome. Now this week we have Buck up first with news about the rise of the machines. Now please note we said rise, not uprising, two totally different things which we explain in the show. We discuss the different attitudes between countries like Japan who are excited to see advancement in AI and robotics; compared to the sad grumpy people in Hollywood who think Robots are going to take over the world in a violent revolution. But honestly, if the robots are going to take over can they hurry up, I mean have you looked at what those apes we call politicians are doing to the place? Things are so bad we have idiots somehow gluing themselves to the road, we all learned about glue in at 5 years of age making arts and craft. Even then we never managed to glue ourselves to the floor.

Next up we look at France and the judgement against Steam finally coming down. Now this is going to be an interesting topic as we look at some of the ramifications. Plus we ask the real hard hitting question that really defines the situation. That’s right folks, you will hear it here first, are the French gamers really going to care what the courts and government say? Are Valve really going to be concerned about this? If in space no one can hear you scream are all farts silent but violent? Um, yes, well if anyone can answer those let us know, these are truly hard hitting facts that we wish to know.

This week we have a review from the DJ on the anime trilogy of Godzilla movies, and wow these are looking really cool. Spoiler, they rock and you should really take the time to go and watch them some time soon. While it is cgi animation it still works well and is a whole lot of fun with the usual Japanese drama that makes Anime so much fun. These movies are Godzilla: Planet of the monsters, Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle, and the last movie Godzilla: The Planet Eater. Check them out and let us know what you think in the Nerds Amalgamated group page on Facebook.

As usual we have the games being played, shout out, remembrances, birthdays, and special events. Once again thank you for listening and we hope you enjoyed the episode. Take care of yourselves, look out for each other and stay hydrated.

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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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