I Am Nerd

Cage Match: Best Rick Roll Replacement

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:41:21 -0700

Ah, the Rick Roll. It's part of our geek culture, sure, but it's old news. We need something fresh. Well, the team is here for you with our picks for the next Rick Roll replacement songs (after the jump).

For all of our picks, check out episode 15 of I Am Nerd.Runner Up
Snow - Informer

Winner
Matthew Wilder - Break My Stride

I Am Nerd - Episode 15

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:29:55 -0700

This week on I Am Nerd...

Mike, Ed, and Andy are back with their weeks in geek and their favorite news picks. Then 9 songs enter but 2 songs leave in our cage match for best Rick Roll replacement.

iTunes is your friend....to subscribe.

(Oh, and sorry about the audio quality.)

[Direct Link]

Suck it, Science!

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 00:51:07 -0700

I have officially changed my ways thanks to this video by SMBC that finally explains (via a fat red man) why fossils are bullshit.

Video after the jump.

tags: SMBC, Science, Comedy

I Am Nerd - Episode 14

Sun, 4 Oct 2009 22:19:29 -0700

This week on I Am Nerd...

Mike, Ed, and Andy (that would be me) discuss their week in geek and ONE cast member declares his ever lasting love for one Gregory House M.D.. Spoiler alert--it's also me.

Then we take a peek at our weekly news feeds to bring you hard hitting reports on wi-fi enabled weight scales, pain guns (as opposed to the ones that inflict happiness, I suppose), and Red Bull--the mobile provider. What other geek-centric podcast has the balls to cover these obviously important news items? Suck it, CNN!

Finally, we top this week of geeky goodness with dramatic readings from FML.

Subscribe to us in iTunes or use the:
[Direct Link]

The Vault: Geek Girl Litmus Tests

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:43:54 -0700

There comes a time in every nerd's life where they go through...changes. They start to notice girls (and how they go unnoticed by girls) and start to find bitterness and cold shoulders where there once was none. It's a magical time before we give up and settle on whomever is willing to stick around because we're still naive enough to believe we can have standards--a time we call "dating".

But how do you know that special lady in your life is really the one that won't toss out your Babylon 5 DVDs because they take up too much space? Ed, Mike, and Andy have the solution with their Geek Girl litmus tests...

Ed's Pick
Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Dr Strangelove - trailer
by gazobu

Mike's Pick
The Princess Bride

Andy's Pick
Firefly

To know WHY these are the geeky keys to our heart, check out Episode 13 of I Am Nerd.

I Am Nerd - Episode 13

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:16:40 -0700

As the legends foretold in days of yore, I Am Nerd has returned.

That's right, I'm giving this podcast thing another shot. New cast, same host, same low production values. Good times.

THIS week on I Am Nerd...

[Direct Link]Ed, Mike, and Andy step up to the mics to discuss the latest entries in the rhythm game genre: Beatles Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5.

Then, we see what's playing as we review the pilot episodes of the new shows FlashForward and Community.

Follow that up with our first picks for our newest segment, The Vault, and you got yourself one hell of a come-back show.

Tell your friends...us nerds are bringing sexy back.

tags: IAN, Nerd, Game, Music, TV, Community, FlashForward, Guitar, Hero, Rock, Band, Beatles, XBox

NXE Impressions

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:04:00 -0700

Have a nice idea for an article I want to write that likens politics (US) to game consoles, but this isn't it. Instead, I wanted to give out my first impressions of the NXE (New XBox Experience).

One of the things I absolutely love about the 360 is that they've been pretty good about keeping the system "fresh" with feature updates (usually twice a year). When I first bought my 360, there were annoying issues like the inability to queue more than one download, download when the system was off, and it lacked features like the video marketplace--but these were all later added. The NXE is another one of these updates and is perhaps the biggest so far since it not only contains a few new features, but a whole new user interface to the system. Basically, they just handed everyone a new OS this morning for free.

New features (that I'm aware of) with my impressions:

_Interface Overhaul
Lots of people loved the "Blades" interface--it was simple and sleek--but as they added more games to XBLA and more features to the console in general, it started to get to be a cluttered mess. Thus, they completely redesigned their interface to something they felt was laid out better.

I was nervous about this change, but now that I've played with it, I do enjoy it. Can't tell so far if I enjoy it MORE, but there's some definate improvements that I'm glad they've made. But it feels like a mixed bag. I love how they list a lot of the information now, and it's a LOT faster and more responsive, but I don't know where anything is anymore (fuck, how do I change my theme?!). It's like someone came in and cleaned my room. I love that everything's easier to get to now, but I don't know where the fuck anything is anymore!

_Installing Games to HDD
If you're one that was bothered by the noise of the DVD drive or just want things to run a little faster, Microsoft now allows you to copy your (retail) 360 games to your hard drive making it both a lot quieter and a bit faster to load. For protection purposes, though, you are still required to have the disc in the drive to play the game even though it's running exclusively from the HDD.

So far I've only installed Fallout 3 to my HDD and have tried to play it. I noticed a bit of a speed boost, but not too much (I'm told it's more significant with older titles that had a larger load time). It was, however, VERY quiet. The noise never bothered me. But those who want to use this feature are going to be happy, I'd imagine.

_Community Games
This is a big one. Sure, XBLA (like PSN and most recently VC) houses some indie games, but there was a fairly lenghty approval process to get into the store. Also, not every small company out there could afford to go through said process. The new community games section of the 360 lets indie developers put up whatever they want on the system. It doesn't get approved or monitored by Microsoft (they take a percentage of the profit though), instead they've put in place a system that lets the community police themselves.

I saw a few games already this morning, but none of them looked very good. Of course, this is what I expect. It's going to be a LOT of school projects or teams with big dreams but very little polish or (let's face it) talent. However, I do expect there to be some pretty amazing diamonds to show up...it just might take a while for the community to get there. Still, I absolutely LOVE that indie developers have this outlet and sometimes even horrible games have really interesting concepts.

_Avatars
Avatars are...well...avatars. Yes, they're just higher polygon Miis and yes it does feel like a rip off. But it's not like Nintendo was the first to market either. Like the Miis, they represent you in SOME games (some older titles have been updated to support Avatars) and you can also take photos of your Avatar to use as your GamerTag picture.

A lot of what I saw with Microsoft Avatars is what I WISHED the Miis where. They actually have a real body now and aren't just a head on a glorified stick figure. They wear ACTUAL clothes, they have arms, they'll have downloadable outfits in the future (I never understood why you'd pay 80 points to get new gamer pictures, but I could maybe see paying to get a pack of new body/clothes options in the future). It's the Sims meets Miis, and I kinda like that (they also have my power button shirt :) )

What I dislike, though, is what the Miis have that Avatars don't. You can't adjust where your eyes/mouth sit on the face, so there will be less create "alterations" of the Avatars to make Girl Hitler or space aliens. I guess it's not a big deal. There's plenty of opportunity to get special outfits so instead of hacking the system to make your guy look like Gabe from Penny-Arcade you could probably just download the Penny-Arcade avatar set or something. What IS a bigger downer, though, is you don't have that stable of Avatars like you can with Miis. As far as I can tell, anyway, it's one per customer.

As a side, Avatars do speak a lot to Microsoft's approach this generation. They're trying to be that middle ground to the Wii and the Playstation, so it seems to fit that Avatars look like a mix of Miis and what I've seen of Playstation Home.

_Party System & Netflix Integration
Okay, I have NO impressions of these because I haven't tried them (no one was playing at 6am and I don't have Netflix anymore). Instead I'll just tell you what the features are:

The Party system is a way to let you stick with your friends when you're on XBox. Some apps, like a photo sharing one they have up right now, let you view everything as a "party" to share with friends, but mostly it's just an easier method to make sure you're voice chatting with your friends even if you're playing completely different games, decide what you'd all like to do together, or just sticking together once you decided what game you're playing.

The Netflix integration lets you stream their online collection straight to your Xbox--which sounds pretty sexy to me...since they're website was sometimes a pain in the ass. I'm not really sure what else it lets you do (I think you can edit your queue from the XBox), but if you have a Netflix account and an XBox, it sounds like a really nice addition.

Japan is NOT God

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 12:10:07 -0800

Look, kids, we need to have an intervention.

Every nerd loves Japan, it's true. It's nerd Mecca. Our subculture has gained a LOT from their culture--video games, anime, robotics, etc. It's an amazing place that I really hope I get to visit one day.

That said, stop fucking worshiping them. No more fucking over our lexicon with a bunch of fucking Japanese terms you picked up from 4Chan (no more 4Chan, while we're at it), no more "here's Harry Potter if he was drawn in an anime", no more telling me that SHOW X is so much better in Japanese than the English dub, or how their games are so fucking innovative. Just. Fucking. Stop.

Any Anime that has come over here after Cartoon Network started showing shows like Cowboy Beebop as part of Adult Swim SHOULD have good voice acting. They never do, but they should. Anime is main stream here, now. It's not the underground. If you're putting out a product in the US and you've done a shitty job localizing it, you HAVE A BAD PRODUCT!

I don't speak Japanese. Just because the Japanese voices are LOUDER and more FRANTIC then the English version does mean they're necessarily better. And, even if they are, I CAN'T UNDERSTAND JAPANESE SO IT DOES ME KNOW FUCKING GOOD TO LISTEN TO IT! We have a lot of very talented voice actors in the US. HIRE THEM! It's not my fucking fault you only hire the same 5 goddamn voice actors for Anime imports! FIX IT!

Also, I'm sure there's a lot of edits being made to the show for the US, but Dragon Ball (ANY SERIES) is not good. Never was good. Never will be good. Quit telling me that if I watched the original Japanese version unedited it would be magically wonderful. It's a aweful, AWEFUL, show. As is Naruto, Final Fantasy Advent Children (movie, I know), Ghost in the Shell (the second movie, specifically), Yu Gi Oh, Milk Chan, Pokemon (the TV show and movies...the games are good).

And for you gamers, shut the fuck up. Japanese developers, themselves, admit they aren't as innovative as their Western counterparts. They haven't progressed nearly as far as us over the years. Sorry. This isn't the 80s anymore. Mario isn't the height of gaming innovation. They haven't pushed technical boundaries in a very long time and they still struggle with their presentation of stories in their games. This doesn't mean their stories are bad by any means...just the method that they tell them in games are severely lacking.

Let's take a look at JRPGs for example. Why, in 2008, are they all just Final Fantasy 7 in a different skin? You're seriously telling me that's the only way to approach a role playing game? Let's set aside their specific stories and characters and get to presentation and gameplay. Seriously, it's the same.

Everyone still talks in those pop-up dialog boxes. A lot of the animation is that same "emotion loop while speaking" method they've had since the SNES years. A lot still use the same top down/static world style. They mostly use turn based mechanics that Final Fantasy 1 started. There's rarely any cinematic use outside of cutsceens. It's all the same!

And there's SO MUCH they could be offering us in new ideas. They have some great character designs. They can tell rich stories from a different angle then you'd see in western games (there's some very good bits of Anime that proves this). But why is the execution SO POOR? Why are these things WASTED by placing them in such bad gameplay mechanics or stale presentation?

Unlike, say, Dragon Ball Z, I UNDERSTAND why people enjoy games like Final Fantasy. There's something amazing in there. But why can't we demand more of them as GAMES? Why worship so blindly at the alter of Japan that we give them this giant PASS on never trying anything really new?

We should embrace Japan's culture. That's not the problem. The problem is "fanboy-ism". It's blind worship because you like something and never demanding more and defending that false idol until your last virtual breath. When you do that NOTHING gets to move forward. Nintedo won't ever innovate again because every time they do ANYTHING we buy it up like saps and tell them how amazing they are. Square won't ever move past they're Final Fantasy template because each release we snap it up and tell them that it's perfect just the way it is. Bad anime will still be brought over because we'll all come in droves to watch it and buy all of the associated card games and merchandise attached (then fill up DeviantArt will aweful fanart and slash). These things will keep happening because the companies that produce them and/or localize them have no incentive for change.

I'm Not Gone, I'm Just on Hold

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:44:03 -0700

Hi folks! Just letting you know that I Am Nerd is not dead, neither am I. There's been a LOT going on lately, so that means my projects (including this one) has been put on hold.

The good news is all of my "Llama Drama" is finally wrapping up and I'll be moving into a brand new "Apartment of Solitude" in a couple of weeks. The new "digs" will give me enough room to have a podcast studio, so these things will go even smoother in the future.

Stay tuned for not only new episodes of I Am Nerd (one has been recorded, in fact, with a brand new "Nerd" that may become a regular of the show) but postings for NEW podcasts such as our indie music show (Frequency Zero One) and our first VIDEO podcast and live gameshow: All Things Trivial. Hell, there's even a webcomic in the works.

Lots of exciting things down the pipe, it just takes time.

Hands On: Ghostbusters

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:28:42 -0700

DreadCentral.com has a video up with nearly a full level of the upcoming Ghostbusters game from a hands-on demo at ComicCon '08. As a huge Ghostbusters fan, I simply cannot wait for this title to be released. The video has developer commentary to go along with it and helps really explain how some of the game's features will work.

I love the fact that the game's story and script were written by Dan Akroyd & Harold Ramis - Ray & Egon respectively. This is essentially Ghostbusters 3. We might not be able to have it on the big screen, but I think we might have gotten the best thing possible. Actually being apart of the action, being in the movie playing the part of "Rookie."

Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and even William Atherton are all reprising their roles from the films for the game - that just screams Nerdgasm to have the band back together.

Seriously, check out the video. I really can't wait to cross the streams in the fall.

Video after the jump.