That said, there’s some awesome comics coming out this week including TWO Amazing Spider-Man issues!  Aaron and I talk about who and what Marjorie Liu and Daniel Way want Wolvie’s son, Daken to have sex with.  Also, there’s a Walking Dead calendar coming out for 2011 – that’s COOL!  Listen to us talk and make jokes and stuff, then check out this week’s TOP COMICS.  Then buy your damn comic books …tomorrow… Fffffffff.

Ask me something on my Formspring, dammit!

International viewers unable to use YouTube, try watching on Facebook.

The Tracks:

1. IG-88′s 57 Chevy (Untested Methods REVOLUTIONARY Remix) :: mc chris
2. Hank Pym :: Adam WarRock
3. Magic [Video Version] :: Mick Smiley
4. Instant Victory :: Keiichi Suzuki

Dungeons & Doritos Character Sheets & Bios:

CHAIR :: Jamela :: Jen’Ifer :: Vimak

CHARACTER BIOS!!!

Links:

• The Fantasy Sagas Player’s Guidebook
• Check out Sagas digital books at DriveThruRPG

Well, as well as the plethora of free tracks Shael has sprinkled across the internets (with the help of The Double Ice Backfire – Ricky Henry and Ty “Suzumebachi” Guenly) he has been gearing up for the reprisal of Songs from the Pit, entitled Ultimate Songs from the Pit. As a way to raise funds and awareness for the album, the guys organized a Kickstarter Account, where fans successfully funded the engineering costs necessary for the album. I think it’s also important to point out that there was so much faith of the success of this album that it’s already funded the additional $1000 to also accommodate the physical release and distribution!

Well, I got a chance to preview this album, and I have to say that the 89 backers that are supporting Shael already over at Kickstarter are definitely going to get their money’s worth! Just listening to the unmastered demos has blown me away! Shael and the guys have developed a great sound that plays off of all of their musical strenghts: Shael’s songwriting and singing prowess, Ricky’s impressive hand with the Gameboy, and Ty’s wicked mastery of the guitar. The original six tracks from the Songs from the Pit kind of set the stage for what a fan can expect from this release, yet it still manages to surprise the listener. One track that blew me away was Rarest of Elements, which made its first appearance earlier in the year, but the return of this track on the album in a tangential direction and even comes equipped with phenomenal guest rapping by Billy the Fridge. For me at least, this entire release took a few listens to fully appreciate it, not to say that I didn’t appreciate it first time around, but each of the ten new tracks tell a different story that individually compliment the original Songs of the Pit.

As a critic, I tried to put my fanboyness aside and look at the album for any faults that I could point out, if only to tell Shael on an aside before it gets sent to their professional engineer. However, even with the fanboy hat off and in the closet, I couldn’t help but nod my head in enjoyment to things like MegaRan on the track Area Dolls Guy, the toe-tapping intensity of Boot Straps, or the masterpiece that is Pump up the Bass. Yeah, I sound like a total fanboy, but maybe it’s because Shael Riley and The Double Ice Backfire are GOOD! Yeah, some of the tracks aren’t as strong as others… but that’s a contrast issue, not a quality one. Some songs are so jaw-dropping that others don’t stand out as much. In Songs from the Pit and Ultimate Songs from the Pit, Shael Riley and The Double Ice Backfire have created a wonderful look into the culture that has arisen in this time where being a nerd is not only acceptable, but arguably the zeitgeist. Between Arcade Fire making art with Google; the Scott Pilgrim trifecta of comic, movie, and video game; and even Capcom teaming up with The Megas for the latest Mega Man Universe Gameplay Trailer, it seems as if the day of the Geek has come, and it feels that Ultimate Songs from the Pit tells the story of how we got here.

While there is no release date yet, as of this review, there’s only a week left before the Kickstarter ends, and you lose out on some amazing opportunities. Whether you’ve always wanted to hear how Shael Riley would sing Tom Waits, want to get your name in there as an Executive Producer, or (like me) just want a Sega Saturn game case used to deliver some sexy Shael Riley music, I highly recommend contributing!

So, as three of you may have noticed, there was a distinct lack of Nerdy Strip last week.  Suffice it to say that I have been summarily punished for my slacking.  So many burns… So many images that shall be forever burned into my retinas.

To make up for my laziness, you guys’re going to get two strips this week!  Otherwise I get to see Mike’s tri-force again.  You wouldn’t wish that upon me, would you fair Nerdy Show listeners?  Don’t answer that.

Exciting news from Nerdy Strip coming up at the end of the week to coincide with the second strip!  What could it be?

Words and art by Tony Baldini

With Metroid: Other M just having come out for the Wii, now seems like the best time for Nerdy Show to devote a whole episode to one of the greatest game series’ of all-time, Metroid, and it’s bounty hunting protagonist – Samus Aran!  But something’s gone awry for the strong, silent, space pirate-slayer… the same thing that plagues every woman as they near the big 3-0… she’s gone baby crazy…  METROID BABY CRAZY!  Our review of Other M elaborates, as do the Nerdy Show gents.  You know their strange little minds tend to wander.

Not only does this episode weigh the pros and cons of this new game-changing installment to the legendary series, but it explores Metroid’s past.  The gang share stories of their first time on the planet Zebes and delve into the series chronology and its real-world origins – the games’ influences and the men who created it.  The episode also features a playlist of stupendous Metroid-influenced music and an interview with Metroid Metal - the band that screw attacks nerd music like no other. All that plus some suped-up sci-tech that’ll hit ya – pow!  Right in the baby-maker!

Though this is the last episode of Season 3, we won’t be gone -  no, no, no, no.  Listen to this episode for some hints to what we have in store and some cool things we’re going to be bringing to you in the interim.  Nerdy Show.com will still be quite “bumpin”, as the kids say, so be sure to check back with us often to see what we’ve cooked up, and keep an eye out for announcements for what awesome may come!

The Tracks:

1. Brinstar :: Metroid Metal
2. Super Metroid – Armcannon
3. Metroid :: brentalfloss
4. MetroTransFunk :: Franz Keller
5. Hostile Abduction (First Battle Theme) :: Suzumebachi and Proticity
6. City Theme :: Stemage
7. Prime Theme (Metroid Prime) :: Metroid Metal *EXCLUSIVE*
8. come again (ft. Elijah Lucian) :: YTCracker
9. On Top of Jacob’s Ladder :: Prophecy
10. Tigra and Firebird Intermission :: Adam WarRock
11. MARIDIA :: The Amazing BrandO
12. Magnetic :: Freezepop
13. Crystal Flash :: Virt

Links:

• Check out the “Metroid & Me” video and have your mind blown
• Jam to the new Metroid Metal side-project – YES MAYHEM!
• Check out some footage of Alpha Squad and get the demo for PC
• Watch English-patched in-game footage of Gameboy game, “For the Frog the Bell Tolls”
• Watch “Minitroid”
• Watch the Little Nemo: The Dream Master commercial from 1990
• Phil Plait (Bad Astronomer)’s twitter
• Watch Bad Universe on Discovery Channel

Aaron and I talk about this week’s best new comics. You’ve got to check out Jason Aaron’s WOLVERINE #1 Wolverine goes to HELL. It’ll trifurcate your shame shank.  Atomic Robo comes out too – with all the Dr. Dinosaur! Aaron talks about the clever political analogies of Bedard’s DC cosmic books.  And yeah, PURPLE SHOEHORSE… I SAID IT! Listen to us talk and make jokes and stuff, then check out this week’s TOP COMICS.  Then buy your damn comic books!

Ask me something on my Formspring, dammit!

International viewers unable to use YouTube, try watching on Facebook.

I preface my review of MC COOL WHIP’s recent release with this to let you know where I stand in the unwritten argument of nerdcore. If you turn to nerdcore because you are hoping for something that is more or less hip-hop with the occasional nerdy references, you may not enjoy this album as much as I did. However, if you are actually interested in someone’s experimenting in what nerdcore can be, then read on.

I guess I should ALSO forwarn that I am a bit of a supporter of the young WHIP. I’ve been listening to (and critiquing) demos since 2007, happily opened my home as a place to crash for two Nerdapaloozas, and artisted (Editor’s note: Hex likes to make verbs out of non-verbs and out of annoyance I left this one in. HA!) his two most recent album covers, so that may lead you to believe that I am more biased than the next reviewer. You would be correct. However, my bias won’t be expressed as lauding incorrect praises upon this young rapper, instead I give you a bit of a case study of how he has progressed over the years as an artist. I am not of the opinion that coddling will help someone improve. I see COOL WHIP as someone who is still developing as an artist and a performer, so until he has found his final niche, it’s actually my duty as someone in his corner to not pamper him so that he can grow.

If COOL WHIP’S time in the scene was his study into nerdcore, Cool Whip Recipes would be his thesis. His VERY rapping style has been both his most appealing trait and his darkest of cardinal sins according to the two camps of nerdcore. Obviously influenced by MC Frontalot‘s unorthodox style, COOL WHIP raps with a pronounced and seemingly stiff flow (as contradictory as that may sound) and it’s DIFFERENT! It was COOL WHIP’s rejection of standards of hip-hop in his style and subject matter alongside his enthusiasm that fist endeared him to me. I feel that the album has shown how much he’s grown since then, gaining confidence and showing certainty that his style is that: HIS.

The album showcased an array of collaborations, from the spellbinding Schaffer the Darklord in the Faustian Sick Skills to the unfortunately distracting Grizzly C on You’ve Been Bitten. What Do I Do?, the first horror/love song I’ve ever thoroughly enjoyed (or heard for that matter). COOL WHIP stayed pretty consistent throughout the album and the collaborations sometimes helped and sometimes hurt the track. I will also admit that I braced myself before listening to the album, expecting mediocrity, but was pretty impressed by All Around Awesome and was glad to see my favorite track from The Man Cave make it onto the album (Welcome to Ohio).

For a LIMITED time offer, MC COOL WHIP has offered Cool Whip Recipes to you for half price! All you have to do is go to his Bandcamp Page and put in the promotional code of coolbeans, and you’ll get the album for only $5!

A new discovery for me, I was introduced to Geo by my beloved fiance (and PHENOMENAL editor), Diana who is a bit of a skepticism and science fan girl. She actually first got me hooked on his podcast, and it was there that I started getting hooked on his music. She ordered an older album, Coelocanth, which I quickly became infatuated with! If time treats me well, I’ll get around to reviewing that as well, as it is an amazing listen. I started looking forward to Trebuchet’s release with the same rabid anticipation as Diana had been exhibiting for a month prior. When Geo announced on his podcast that I, as a podcaster, had an open invitation to play the entirety of the new album, I leaped at the opportunity! It was an honor not only to play the album and interview Mr. Hrab on Nerdy Show, but also to host him as a performer at Nerdapalooza 2010. Like so many in the nerd music family, Geo is as polite and gracious as he is talented, and with almost every instrument on this eclectic album played by him, he continues to set a standard for musicality unforeseen in today’s age of digital plug and play.

For the last week, I’ve left this album in the car to listen to while driving to and fro, trying to pinpoint how I wanted to express my feelings for it. It wasn’t until recently that I realized the difficulty spawned from how dynamic the songs are, jumping in genre, content, and tone. The only constant, besides Geo himself, seemed to be the quality of the music. I’m going to put on my critic hat for a sec and say that usually, when dealing with most nerd music, studio production value almost always takes the backseat in an artist’s mind, something I have to check out on in order to power through the album. With Hrab though, the bar is raised, and it’ll be difficult going back to the farm.

Another interesting element is how the album is a whole other experience from the live Geologic experience, which is an incredibly dapper gentlemen with a guitar and music stand. Meanwhile, the album’s music content runs the gamut from the usual four-piece rock equation, to having a focus on percussion, to a beautiful string backup, to a veritable funk authority backing him. The listening experience is TRULY enjoyable throughout, where you can feel the amount of love that went into each and every track from concept, to delivery, to production and post. Be it the most cheerful existential song you’ll ever find (Everything Alive Will Die Some Day), the nostalgia inducing When I Was Your Age, the truly funky Hai Yookita ‘Ya, or the intense musical experience that is the title track to the album, Trebuchet, Geo will keep you riveted, thinking, and laughing, waiting to see what he’ll do next on this breathtaking album.

It would totally behoove me if I were to wrap up this review without pointing out the incredible effort that also went into the album cover creation, which you can see on this time lapse video taken over the four days it took to turn a wall into a work of art. Every square inch of the intricate liner notes are photographed from the wall. Clever to the end, Geo left little jokes throughout the entire notes, including an image that alluded to the rest of his musical catalog. In the Nerdy Show interview, we had the chance to discuss this with him, finding out more on his music philosophy in this digital age. If people want the mp3s, they’ll find a way to get them whether or not they pay. So, Geo commits himself to making his albums something more, something enjoyable, such as Coelacanth, where the album is designed like a carefully packed parcel of a biological sample sent to a museum. It’s important to point out exactly how much energy Geo put into the presentation of the album, for I feel it STILL pales in comparison to the amount of effort you can feel in the album itself.

This should be high on your list of albums to purchase, however if you’re STILL not convinced you should throw down the coin for a copy of Trebuchet before trying out the Geologic experience for yourself, let me remind you that Geo is letting you test ride it before you buy it! The album, in its entirety, for your streaming pleasure. Thanks for reading!

[hex]

In response to this ruling, Nerdy Show has created Fight the Power, an organization and movement dedicated to fighting for the rights of nerd musicians and the right to make nerd music of all kinds. Read the Fight the Power Manifesto, join the Facebook Page and find out what you can do to join in the fight.

In this episode we elaborate on the plight in the UK and talk with British chiptune musician, Pixelh8 about his feelings on the ruling, what he’s doing to turn the tide, his upcoming projects, and how BBC America butchers British television. We’re also joined by chiptune beatsmith: DJ RoboRob, calling all the way from Iraq, and yo-yo master and chiptunes rapper: Doctor Popular. All that plus a surplus of cool video game news, Mike gets weirdly (and disturbingly) political, and crackpot Russian conspiracy theories – oh boy!

As though we needed to further emphasize their relevance Chiptunes just recently got its own showcase at PAX Prime!! We also want to give a shout-out to a handful of WPRK DJs who are taking up the Fight the Power cause and dedicating their radio shows to Chiptunes awareness: Flying High in the Mushroom Kingdom, Marc with a C‘s radio show, the Real Congregation and the Freaking Geek Show are doing a combo show for five hours of pixelated political partying! You can catch Flying High in the Mushroom Kingdom in the taint of this Friday night/Saturday morning at 1 AM – 3 AM, and the Freaking Geek and Real Congregation mashup next Monday night/Tuesday morning from 1 AM – 6 AM. These are, of course, Eastern time, so plan accordingly!

This won’t be the last you see of Fight the Power! We have big plans including not just for fighting hate on the chip community, but also fighting big corp wherever they stick their head in the nerd’s world.

Tracks:

1. Aurora (Meet Me In the Strars) :: Anamanaguchi
2. OutBrk :: Sabrepulse
3. Computability Love :: Pixelh8
4. Spiral :: Pixelh8 *NERDY SHOW EXCLUSIVE*
5. Before I Go.. :: .:ikanetik:.
6. The End :: Firebrand Boy
7. Harder, faster, Stronger, Better (DJRoboRob) :: Daft Punk
8. So Say We All :: DjRoboRob
9. SysOp :: ComputeHer
10. Artificial Ocean :: Plain Flavored
11. Crimson Dreams (ft. Doc Pop & Beefy) :: crashfaster Purchase Album
12. Hassle the Dorkening (Doc Pop Rare Demo) :: MC Frontalot *NERDY SHOW EXCLUSIVE*
13. Bedbugs (ft. YTCracker) :: Doc Pop

Contest:

Show Willrow Hood fanlove WIN Star Wars prizes!

Links:

• Read the Fight the Power Manifesto
• The Fight the Power! Facebook Page
• Pixelh8 on E24, BBC News
• Pixelh8 on BBC Look East, BBC Radio 1
• Pixelh8 BBC Look East, Obsolete? at The National Museum of Computing
• Pixelh8 BBC Look East, Obsolete? PART 2
• The BBC article on the court ruling
• Wired‘s Geekdad article on the court ruling, “Death Knell for Chiptunes”
• Check out Doc Pop’s Mighty Boosh App
• Watch the BioShock Infinite trailer
• VGChartz’s article on what the US Military thinks of playing as the Taliban in Metal of Honor
• Crazy Russian conspiracist
• A picture of the “Pixelh8 One 128k”‘s control board
• Real life Koopa skeleton
• Brian’s art for Captain America: The Fighting Avenger
• Homebrew game, Colors, now a legit App
• The Colors gallery
• Lisa Frank parody art

Ask me something on my Formspring, dammit!

International viewers unable to use YouTube, try watching on Facebook.

Words and Art by Tony “The Tiger” Baldini

As some of you may be aware, there was a recent UK high court ruling which very well may negatively impact the future of the Chiptunes movement. We at Nerdy Show are staunch supporters of all forms of nerd music, and Chiptunes is definitely no exception.

We will be devoting next week’s episode to talking about the state of affairs but also about a new project we’re working on called, Fight the Power! You can read more about it on that page. You can also get more updates over on our Fight the Power! Facebook Page, where we’ll be posting some educational links building up to the episode’s release next week.

Thanks for the support, and help us Fight the Power!

…Star Wars Celebration V came to the Orlando Convention Center!  How convenient! Cap and Hex bravely ventured into that wretched hive of scum and villainy to get the low-down on this intergalactic hoedown.  This year’s Celebration honored the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back – a momentous occasion, and it also marked the Last Tour to Endor, the closing of the classic Star Tours ride.

Four days of non-stop Star Wars, countless hours of waiting in line, and a fair amount of pent-up aggression have led to a Lucas-sized BLOCKBUSTER of an episode.  It’s too big to be a space station and will definitely rip your arms off , but hold your Tauntauns kids, this is STAR WARS – how were we ever gonna contain it in a normal-sized episode?  You could be waiting sixteen years before we do a follow-up to this one

In this episode we share the highs and lows of the Celebration and relive myriad panels including secrets of the NEW Star Tours, season 3 of Clone Wars, the EXCLUSIVE videos Warwick Davis showed, inappropriate jokes from Anthony Daniels and Carrie Fisher, TOR and The Force Unleashed 2, Seth Green and the Robot Chicken panel, and of course, The MAIN EVENT: George Lucas and John Stewart, which Hex stood in line overnight to see!  Since we’re such Fettophiles we also hit up BOTH Boba Fetts for interviews – the original Jeremy Bulloch and young Boba Fett, Daniel Logan!  Perhaps you remember back in Episode 10: Geek Mythology when we interviewed Jabba the Hutt’s right-hand man, Dave Barclay?  Well now we’ve got his left-hand man – Toby Philpott and the man behind his sultry figure and gorgeous eyes, John Coppinger.  They share with us what it’s like being so close with the baddest gangster in the Star Wars universe as well as their other illustrious exploits in the world of movie creatures.  We also had a chat with Julian Glover who portrayed one of the Empire’s greatest tacticians and leader of the AT-AT attack on Hoth, General Veers as well as the scheming Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade and Bond villain Aristotle Kristatos.  All that plus frequent rants about the prequels AND a kick ass contest to win EXCLUSIVE Star Wars Celebration goodies (see below)… something in this episode will get you excited about Star Wars, even if your heart has been frozen in carbonite.

Tracks

1. Space Game :: MC Lars
2. Galvanize the Empire (John Williams v. Chemical Brothers) :: PartyBen
3. Level 7 :: 8-Bit Bandit
4. Fett’s Vette (the good, the baddd, the ugly – Baddd Spellah Remix) :: mc chris
5. Blue Harvest (ft. Billy the Fridge) :: KABUTO THE PYTHON
6. George Lucas Raped Our Childhood :: Hot Waffles
7. Limit Break :: Dale Chase
8. Star Wars Theme/ Cantina Band :: Meco
9. Yellow Lasers (Live at Los Angeles 2008) :: MC Frontalot
10. Tattooine :: Sci-Fried
11. Fallout 3 – The Fallout of Eli :: Brynner Agassi & Mazedude
12. Finale/End Credits (Empire Strikes Back) :: John Williams

Contest:

Show Willrow Hood fanlove WIN Star Wars prizes!

Photos:

• Slide show of SWC5′s displays by Matt Rex Downham
• Slide show of costumes at SWC5 by Matt Rex Downham
• Slide show from various SWC5 panels by Matt Rex Downham
• Cap’s snapshot slide show:

Links:

• Watch the MAIN EVENT on YouTube
• Return of the Jedi deleted scene
• Willrow Hood’s Wookieepedia entry
• Red Letter Media‘s Plinkett Reviews of Episode I and Episode II
• Nerdy Show’s E3 coverage of Star Wars: The Old Republic
• Nerdy Show’s E3 Coverage of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2
• Check out Jeremy Bulloch’s autobiography, Flying Solo
• Become a fan of Jabba the Hutt on facebook
• Star Wars Underoos commercial

Aaron and Mike are back in The Geek Easy to talk about this week’s best comics – hurray!  Brian’s INFINITY GAUNTLET miniseries starts this week – how’s that for awesome?!

Here’s the list of this week’s TOP COMICS. Not only does it show you what we think is the best shit coming out this week but we write funny and/or informational captions for them.  We even have special meetings to decide on them… really!

Ask me (Triforce Mike) something on my Formspring, dammit!

International viewers unable to use YouTube, try watching on Facebook.

As with any convention, we came away from Star Wars Celebration V with a lot of neat stuff.  So now here’s your chance to win win win these cool items and have a some fun doing it too.  Perhaps you’re familiar with Willrow Hood, aka “The Ice Cream Maker Guy” If not, let me tell ya.  This background extra stumbled through the scene as our heroes escaped Bespin, clutching what looks suspiciously like an ice cream maker.  Star Wars has been expanding its background characters for years and it’s only natural that fans would come to celebrate the pudgy guy in orange with a love for mint chip.  As the years went by, fans were clamoring for Willrow/ICMG’s backstory and, of course, an action figure – both of which, he eventually got.  We want to expand Willrow’s universe even further.

WHAT IS THY BIDDING MY MASTER?

Show Willrow some fan love!  Expand his universe! Give us your version of his background story or contribute to his expanded universe story.  What did Willrow do when he decided to “take it easy”?  Was he a ladies man?  What’s his favorite ice cream flavor?  We know you’ve got the answers. Don’t make us send and interrogation droid to get them out of you.

We’ll accept any medium – tell your story however you can.  Heck, it doesn’t have to even be good to compete.  Tell your story the old fashioned way with text, send us some audio, or go all Princess Leia and webcam you telling your story to us and upload the video.  You can also draw some cool fan art or commit Willrow’s epic to song.  Take pictures of your Willrow action figure doing cool stuff.  Anything!  We serve all kinds here.

DUE DATE EXTENDED: Sunday, September 5th, 11:59PM est

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?:

1st place -

• $25 Sideshow Collectibles Gift Card
• EXCLUSIVE Darkhorse/ Del Ray Star Wars: Knight Errant issue 0 comic SIGNED by Knight Errant comic and novel author, John Jackson Miller and series editor, Dave Marshall
• EXCLUSIVE Jango/Boba Fett double-sided promo mask from Darkhorse
• EXCLUSIVE single-packed Hasbro Galactic Heroes X-Wing Pilot Luke
• Star Wars: The Old Republic Republic Cog shirt
• Star Wars Celebration V Media Kit
• BOTH Sci-Fried albums: Geeks Unite and Ramming Speed.

2nd place -

• $25 Sideshow Collectibles Gift Card
• EXCLUSIVE Darkhorse/ Del Ray Star Wars: Knight Errant issue 0 comic
• EXCLUSIVE Jango/Boba Fett double-sided promo mask from Darkhorse
• BOTH Sci-Fried albums: Geeks Unite and Ramming Speed
• Lego Star Wars Darth Vader pen.

3rd place –

• EXCLUSIVE Hasbro poster of scenes from and the poster to Empire Strikes Back done with action figures
• + other random goodies.

Additional items may be added!

WHAT GOOD IS A REWARD IF YOU AIN’T AROUND TO USE IT?:

Send your submissions or submission links to contest@nerdyshow.com.  For YouTube videos be sure to include “nerdy show” in the tags and label it as “Nerdy Show Star Wars Celebration V Giveaway”.  Be sure to e-mail us from an account you actually check and include your mailing address in your e-mail – these prizes ain’t gonna mail themselves.  Nerdy Show reserves the right to repost or redistribute any content made for this contest – we want to share your awesomeness, but we won’t take credit for it (promise).

Now: GO GO GO!

Words and Art drawn a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away by Tony Baldini

Cap and Mike passed the interview duties off once again to Colin, whose experience with Bioware’s titles runs deep.  Join Colin for an in-depth interview with Bioware lead writer, Daniel Erickson, and find out why this game will revolutionize MMORPGs, interactive storytelling, how it fits into the Star Wars cannon, and how they’ll finally bring the depth of tabletop role playing to video games.  (Cap’s note: Not only is this guy super-cool, but he sounds kinda like Henchman #24 from Venture Bros).

Part 1:

Part 2:

And don’t forget to also check out our E3 coverage of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2:

<< Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 / :: Archive :: / MORE COMING SOON >>

Help us fund our crazy adventures:

PLUS we dialed up Pete of Anamanaguchi, the chiptunes rock band that are providing the score for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game.  Together we fight mediocre cellphone reception, dodge the cops, and find out how they scored this sweet gig.  We also talk to Reid, Ryan, and Charlie from Starmen.net and Fangamer, about the currently running Mother 3 Fanfest, their upcoming release of chiptunes documentary, Reformat the Planet on DVD as well as chiptunes-inspired merch, and the origins of their prolific fan communities.  There’s lots of old school video game conversation including some truth-bombs about River City Ransom, one of the games that most influenced Scott Pilgrim‘s world.  So strap on your power glove… and then take it off ’cause it’s useless- But play some cool games and listen to this episode.  It goes a little something like this:

Tracks

1. We Are Sex Bob-Omb :: Sex Bob-Omb
2. Autotune :: Insane Ian
3. Black Sheep :: Metric
4. Threshold :: Sex Bob-Omb
5. Threshold (8-Bit):: Brian LeBarton
6. I’m So Sad, So Very, Very Sad :: Crash and the Boys
7. We Hate You Please Die :: Crash and the Boys
8. Garbage Truck :: Sex Bob-Omb
9. Mom’s Hometown :: katanaswordfish
10. Super Mario Land :: Action Adventure World (watch video)
11. Personal Space :: Shael Riley and The Double Ice Backfire
12. MvL (ft. Odd Austin & TV’s Kyle) :: Insane Ian
13. Power Supply :: Anamanaguchi
14. Airbrushed :: Anamanaguchi
15. Rap Loogies (ft. Fatty Goodness) :: KABUTO THE PYTHON
16. Death to All Hipsters :: Beck & Nigel Godrich
17. T.U.R.T.L.E. Power (ft. MegaRan) :: Klopfenpop

Links:

Play along, August 6th-27th

• Fangamer’s Reformat the Planet DVD set and chiptune-inspired merch
• Watch the Reformet the Planet trailer
• Insane Ian’s “Everything I Know” video
• Watch Triforce Mike play Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World: The Game at E3
• The archive of Nerdy Show’s E3 2010 video coverage
• Watch “Know Your Meme: Weird Al Yankovic Helps Explain Auto Tune”
• Help fund Twenty-Six & a Half, the Weird Al tribute album on Kickstarter
• The official page of Twenty-Six & a Half
• Help fund the next Shael Riley & The Double Ice backfires’ album
• katanaswordfish’s YouTube channel
• Check out Flying High in the Mushroom Kingdom Radio Show Saturdays 1AM-3AM EST

Aaron and Mike come to you from The Geek Easy. Join us soon for the KICK-ASS 2 #1 release party. This week’s video highlights the BEST OF THE EISNER LOSERS!!! Including us… we lost… this year’s…  making this our official EISNER AWARD LOSING EPISODE of A Comic Show!  Here’s the list of this week’s TOP COMICS. Not only does it show you what we think is the best shit coming out this week but we write funny and/or informational captions for them.  We even have special meetings to decide on them… really!

Ask me (Triforce Mike) something on my Formspring, dammit!

International viewers unable to use YouTube, try watching on Facebook.

Until its release, the Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World video game is available for pre-order on the PS3 $5 off! What’re you waiting for, an invitation from Brian O’Malley!?

Well you’re not getting one.

Scribbly bits by Tony Baldini.

Tracks:

1. Ace of Spades Feels Good (Motorhead v. Gorillaz) :: DJ Morgoth
2. People Are Strange :: Echo & the Bunnymen
3. Headshot (ft. Benjamin Bear) :: ZeaLouS1

Dungeons & Doritos Character Sheets & Bios:

CHAIR :: Jamela :: Jen’Ifer :: Vimak

CHARACTER BIOS!!!

Links:

• The Fantasy Sagas Player’s Guidebook
• Check out Sagas digital books at DriveThruRPG

And now a special bonus!! Here’s a sneak peek at a scene from the episode, drawn by our pal, Tony! Entitled “Come here, often?”

Along for the whole ride we have not just the fabled Nerdy Show four, but some of our comrades in arms: Nerdy Strip writer/artist, Tony Baldini, video game correspondent, Gina Lockwood, and sci-tech correspondent Jon West - for the whole show, not just a segment.  Together we conquered many a harrowing phone call!

In this episode we discuss Nerdy Show’s secret, and not-so-secret origins – how the team formed and how Brain joined up.  Fans ask hard-hitting questions, like just how much of Red Hulk is in continuity? what kind of characters are we going to play in DC Universe Online? And when the hell is Brain returning to Dungeons & Doritos?  That plus MORE including a way-cool call-in from super-duper remixer, Klopfenpop, our first impressions of Starcraft 2, Cap’s review of Alan Wake: The Signal, and a call from Dean Wallace’s… son!?

Tracks:

1. Song 6502 :: Inversed Phases
2. The Link :: ytcracker
3. Children of the Elder God :: Old Gods of Asgard
4. Zerg, Shotgun, and You :: Whiteboy James and the Blues Express
5. Terran One :: Glenn Stafford
6. Shark Attack :: Math the Band
7. (The Legend of) Area Dolls Guys (a Mix to the Past) (ft. MegaRan) :: Shael Riley & the Double Ice Backfire
8. My Skateboard Will Go On :: Anamanaguchi
9. The Ultimate Showdown (RBN Mix) :: Lemon Demon
10. Left 4 Paper Planes :: Positive Attitude
11. Death From the Skies :: George Hrab
12. If I Had a Rocket Launcher (ft. Possible Oscar) :: Insane Ian

Links:

• Help fund the next Shael Riley & The Double Ice backfires’ album
• Gamers fight back in an epic LAN Center brawl
• Preview commercial for Phil Plait’s Bad Universe
• Poets of the Fall “War” music video featuring IRL Alan Wake
• Video of the WoW Easter Egg in Starcraft 2
• Silent Hill 8 trailer
• Scott Pilgrim game zombies code: down,up, right, down, up, right, down, up, right right, right
• Listen to Cap and Hex on OCAD talk about the Sega Saturn

More yammering from those guys at A Comic Shop and their stupid A Comic Show. This week DC fell asleep at the wheel and didn’t bring anything to the table. Mixed metaphors anyone? Well there was a Brightest Day, but the BIG DEAL was more SHADOWLAND, HIT-MONKEY, and Spider-man’s satanic annulment finally made good. Here’s the list: TOP COMICS in case you can’t hear the video, because you might be deaf, which would be weird considering this is a site for a podcast, but it’s not improbable that you read comics.

Ask me (Triforce Mike) something on my Formspring, dammit!

International viewers unable to use YouTube, try watching on Facebook.

Before the epic Nerdy Show Call-In even begins, the questions start flowing!  To think, all of the issues with the Red Hulk could have been solved with an industrial strength vial of Rogaine for Men.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m certainly looking forward to this call in shin-dig.  I look forward to talking to you all tomorrow night!

Poor writing and scribbles by Tony Baldini.

This Monday, August 2nd between 7pm and 9pm EST

We’re holding a call-in show.  Dial us up in to ask the gang anything you want or strike up a conversation about your favorite nerdy topic!  Is there something you wish we’d talk about that we never have?  Ask us about it!

(321) 332-7906 in the U.S. or via Skype at nerdy.show

Triforce Mike, Cap, Hex, Brian will be there as well as other Nerdy Show peoples:

Tony Baldini – Writer and artist of Nerdy Strip

Gina Lockwood – Video Game Correspondent

Jon West - Sci-Tech correspondent

+ …More?!  Maybe!  You never know who you might be sharing the line with!

Check back here for the full roster of who’s gonna be in the studio.  What’s gonna make this episode awesome is you, you, you!  So reach out and geek out with us. It’s gonna be crazy!

RSVP on facebook

Nerdy Show has tasted the many flavors of Comic-Con’s meaty soup and picked out the most delicious nuggets of news including the Marvel films, the Green Lantern movie, and other outstanding comic film showings like The Goon! Joining us to talk about his first hand V.I.P. experience in San Diego is A Comic Show and Bleeding Cool‘s Aaron Haaland.  Plus: stabbings, protests, and cosplay bank robberies, hurray!

We also talk about the forthcoming release of PC Gaming blockbuster – Starcraft 2 and Cap give his review of the epic new X-Box Arcade game Limbo and more more more!

Tracks:

1. Henchmen :: Kirby Krackle
2. Boot Straps :: Shael Riley & the Double Ice Backfire
3. Dokuta Wairi, Rival to the Light :: Sixto Sounds
4. Everclear Hangover IV :: The Crakaz
5. Heights :: Linde
6. Thunder Jack Flash :: G3RSt
7. Penpal :: Anamanaguchi
8. Cost of Living :: Torrentz
9. Dr. Jones :: Sci-Fried
10. Hero vs. Villain :: King Pheenix
11. Only an Expert [Tech Support Glitch Mix] :: Laurie Anderson
12. Title Screen (16-Bit Firefly) :: Doctor Octoroc

Links:

• AMC’s Walking Dead Comic-Con Trailer
• The Goon amazing animated short
• Green Hornet Comic-Con trailer
• RED Comic-Con trailer
• Mind-blowing DCU Online opening movie
• See Darth Vader rob a bank
• VGChartz Starcraft 2 sells 1.8 Million in a day! (Excluding Korea)
• A photo of a South Korean Starcraft tournament

Mike and Cap have become totally jaded by Star Wars so they passed the mic off to stalwart videographer Colin Peterson to aptly wield his expanded universe knowledge… but will he use his powers for good… or evil?

Oh yeah, AND we’ve got a video for BioWare and LucasArts’ Star Wars MMO The Old Republic so check that out below:

<< Hands-on High Voltage’s The Grinder / :: Archive :: / Bioware’s Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO >>

Help us fund our crazy adventures:

High Voltage Software, the guys who brought you Conduit and Hunter: The Reckoning are cooking up something amazing.  The game’s called The Grinder, no, it’s not a delicious Italian-style sandwich, it’s a mining machine that’s burrowed straight to hell and it let something nasty out.  Now you, as one of four comic book-style bounty hunter miscreants must save the day for cash and glory and leave a pile of otherworldly corpses in your wake.  Check out our hands-on demo of the game and see why it’s one of the forthcoming titles we’re most excited about:

<< Cap & Mike Play GoldenEye 007 / :: Archive :: / Star Wars : The Force Unleashed 2 >>

Help us fund our crazy adventures:

The new game is an interpretation of the original shooter, both an adaptation of the 1995 movie and the 1997 game.  Can it possibly live up to the original, or is it just a pretender like the forgettable GoldenEye: Rogue Agent from 2004?  Cap and Mike have the answers.  Watch them try to kill each other (and a Nintendo representative) in an old-fashioned deathmatch:

<< Hands-on With Fable 3 / :: Archive :: / Hands-on High Voltage’s The Grinder >>

Help us fund our crazy adventures:

Fable 3 needs to prove that it’s not just a clone of Fable 2, and Lionhead Studios is aware of that.  Cap met up with the game’s Senior Artist, Jon Eckersley to find out not just what makes this game different from its predecessor, but what might make it the best Fable of all:

Part 1:

Part 2:

<< The First Templar – Historical Action RPG / :: Archive :: / Cap & Mike Play GoldenEye 007 >>

Help us fund our crazy adventures:

The First Templar takes place during the 13th century and features 20 historically accurate locations. You take the roles of a French Templar and a noble lady who has been branded a heretic.  Going into E3 we were really excited to get the scoop on this new title from Kalypso Media and Haemimont Games (Tropico).  This is thier first action RPG and has a unique story concept that feels like an issue of Northlanders come to life (…well, different time period, but that same gritty, ball grabbing, historical realism that you just don’t see in games these days).  Even Assassin’s Creed needs a sci-fi plot to hold it together, The First Templar is the real deal.

We talked with Kalypso’s Mark Allen as he took us to the forests of Gaul and demoed for us fun action gameplay, innovative co-op, lush level design, a solid leveling system, and even found the time to trash talk Indy 4.  Aw yeah.

Now that you’ve seen that, check out the more action-packed trailer!

<< Inside the Bethesda Booth – Fallout: New Vegas & RAGE / :: Archive :: / Hands-on With Fable 3 >>

Help us fund our crazy adventures:

Aaron and Mike talk about how Aaron went to San Diego Comic Con, the Eisner Awards and how A Comic Shop didn’t win. They also talk about the comics coming out and other cool stuff, like SWAMP THING returning to the DC Universe. See the rest of this week’s TOP COMICS.

Ask me (Triforce Mike) something on my Formspring, dammit!

International viewers unable to use YouTube, try watching on Facebook.

Unfortunately, [hex] now has to eat the words he uttered back in the Dystopia episode.  If you’ll excuse me, there’s a simian out there somewhere in coke-bottle frames that needs tending to.

Arts and wordy-bits done by Tony Baldini.

Outstanding Pre-Party Performance:

MC Cool Whip

Luke Skywalker Award:

Deputy Protoman:

The Ringer

Best Stage Show:

Emergency Pizza Party

MVP (Solid Snake Award):

Marc With a C

Breakout Act (Arkanoid Award):

ZeaLouS1 & the Bossfights

 
 
 
 
 
Listen to our episode to hear our Nerdapalooza 2010 experiences and the whys and wherefores of these awards. These guys earned ‘em! And if you’re into Nerdapalooza and you love lists check out Wired’s Geek Dad blog’s article: “Top 10 Awesome Moments From Nerdapalooza 2010“.

Tracks:

1. Double Rainbow (ft. Yosemitebear) :: The Gregory Brothers
2. Nerdapalooza Freestyle :: Shinobi, Shammers, 3P!C-1, and Random
3. Starcraft is Racist :: Shammers
4. Left4Dead :: THE BOSSFIGHTS
5. Pump Up the Bass :: Shael Riley and the Double Ice Backfire
6. Hobbie Model (Live in the Studio) :: Shael Riley & Ty Guenley
7. Chinese Ninja Warrior (Live in the Studio) :: Shael Riley & Ty Guenley
8. Bohemian Rhapsody :: Nerdapalooza 2010 Audience
9. Villi People/Anything But Tangerines :: Tommy Tallarico
10. Everything I Know :: Insane Ian
11. Magic :: Mick Smiley
12. Living in Threed :: Radiator
13. Mr. Roboto / Due Vendetta :: The Protomen

Music download:

• Full Nerdapalooza Freestyle ft. Shammers, Shinobi, 3P!C-1, and Random

Fund Shael Riley & The Double-Ice Backfire’s next album at Kickstarter!

Links:

• Nerdy Show’s 2010 Nerdapalooza Awards
• Nerdy Show performs “Don’t Stop Believing”
• Cap’s Article: “Gettin’ Down and Nerdy: CoS at Nerdapalooza ’10″
• Wired’s Geek Dad article: “Top 10 Awesome Moments From Nerdapalooza 2010“
• Miss Mary Cyn’s Gozer the Gozarian Striptease
• Photos from Epic Win’s infamous Holy Shit Batman! Burlesque show
• Fanboys webcomic
• Yosemite Bear’s Original Double Rainbow video
• The Ringer performs “The Stand” with The Protomen
• Fan-vocals on “Vengeance” from the Saturday Protomen show
• Insane Ian and Luke Ski’s video for “My Parents Bought me Intellivision”
• Insane Ian’s “Everything I Know” video
• B-Type as Sakura at Nerdapalooza 2009

Triforce Mike’s greatest fear realized, she’s late!   By she, I’m using a gendered pronoun to describe, A Comic Show!  But before I falcon punch my worries away, watch for this weeks Top Comics!

Man, Nerdapalooza has slowed everything down!  Not only that but Scott Pilgrim 6 had a midnight release party, and it was epic!  BOTH THE BOOK and the PARTY!  All this partying has made us late! So, yeah check this video where we clown Daniel Way, Deadman and other usual antics!   Aaron doesn’t party anymore, he has a baby and goes to lame things like highschool reunions… except that jerk gets to go to San Diego Comic Con. Grr..

Check my Formspring, in between the lameness there is sometimes a nugget of awesome, where I school noobs on why Ryan Reynolds is awesome for being both Deadpool and Green Lantern, and why Wonder Woman’s new costume is awesome!  Why don’t you go on there, and ask me a question! I’m smrat and funny!

International viewers unable to use YouTube, try watching on Facebook.

-mike

Nerdy Show chatting with Stevo and Deven about Nerdapalooza, Star Wars, and Sega Saturn Games.  Unfortunately no Brushfire on this Episode, but he’ll be back next week!

OCAD Episode 31 :: Nerdy Show is Haunting Your Butt

Delicious chicken wings…

The entries have penetrated me, and filled me up.  I am so engorged with excitement to announce our handsome winners.  I rolled the die, and let lady luck guide my hand down the pants of fate.

Our winners get none other than  3 team passes to compete in the MLG Doritos Combine in Denver, Colorado – July 23-25.

Lets cut the foreplay, the anticipation is swelling.  We have 3 very sexy winners to announce.

1 WINNER FOR FACEBOOK
1 WINNER FOR TWITTER
1 WINNER FOR THE LULZ

So first, the faciest of book facers to ever friendface my book, the Facebook winner is:

Steven DiLeonardo!

Next the #1 tweeter tweet that tickled my twat was:

codemonkey85

Whip out the lollerskates, because the roflcopter deemed the lulziest:

NoskcajLlahsram

WHAT A CLIMAX.  I blew my load.  But seriously, thanks for all the entries, and I look forward to doing more contests like this.  Eat my butt.

-mike

NERDAPALOOZA has come and gone, and how did your Nerdy Boys weather the proceedings?  About as well as can be expected.

This past weekend was amazing, with an outrageous amount of standout acts and moments.  Several of which will be used as blackmail later in life!  I’d bore you with the awesome details, but I think that’s better suited to the gents of Nerdy Show proper in this week’s forthcoming episode.  In the meanwhile, enjoy this visual representation of the way that everyone who attended the Protomen show now feels.  Rock on!

Crom! Nerdapalooza is on like a bob-omb righ now! Naturally, we’re gonna be quite distracted by constant awesomeness, yammering on stage, and hanging with cool listener-types such as yourself so we won’t be doing many updates here but you CAN follow the action online.

Follow our action on Nerdy Show’s twitter @nerdyshow

And scope out the action for the entire festival with #nap2010

Bethesda blew our collective minds with their Elder Scrolls-esque FPS RPG take on the Fallout series with Fallout 3, and there’s been some cool DLC since then… But this year we’ve got a BRAND NEW Fallout to play, and it’s back to the old desert stomping grounds with Fallout: New Vegas.  This game isn’t developed by Bethesda Softworks, but rather Obsidian Entertainment who’ve developed installments of Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, and as we recently mentioned are hoping to convince Square Enix to let them try their hands at a new Chrono Trigger.  Seems like they’ve got their sights set high, so let’s see how they’ve proven themselves by taking the reigns on the new Fallout:

THIS VIDEO IS TEMPORARILY DOWN – CHECK BACK SOON

On of the games most talked about at the Expo was RAGE, the first original game from legendary FPS studio, id Software in a decade.   The game is an FPS RPG hybrid in a post apocalyptic setting – sound familiar?  But despite the obvious comparisons that can be drawn it’s a wholly unique experience.  The only way you could see the game was one person per media group could go into a small screening room and watch a 20 minute long demo.  Cap recounts the excitement:

<< Flying Into the Future with the Parrot AR Drone / :: Archive :: / The First Templar – Historical Action RPG >>

Help us fund our crazy adventures:

Introducing the first augmented reality jaw-dropper of 2010, and the most incredible piece of consumer-ready AR we’ve ever seen: The Parrot AR Drone.  The AR Drone is essentially a Cypher from Metal Gar Solid but made for fun, not espionage.  Okay, maybe espionage – it’s all in how you use it.  It’s a bit light on actual augmented reality, but come on! It’s a remote flying and hovering aircraft with a camera that you control with your iPhone.  It’s incredible.  A perfect example of the future staring you straight in the face.  See for yourself:

There’s a lot of cool video games etc. coming out this holiday, but I think I speak for all of us when I say that this machine trumps all of them in its baffling futuristic awesomeness.  But use it responsibly, gang.  The Drone is an incredibly fun and amazing entertainment machine, so keep it that way.  We don’t want another General Zevo on our hands.

UPDATE: You can now pre-order the AR Drone at Brookstone.com!

<< Castlevania: Lords of Shadow / :: Archive :: / Inside the Bethesda Booth – Fallout: New Vegas & RAGE >>

Help us fund our crazy adventures:

This coming weekend is Nerdapalooza, and Nerdy Show will be selling Amber Lamp Corps shirts and caps there.  We’re likely to sell out and when we sell out, they’re gone.  We don’t know if there’s ever gonna be another run of these, not even a Blue Lantern can recharge them.  So order NOW before our stocks are depleted!

The t-shirts feature Da Amber Lamp Corps emblem in the front, the Lantern-style Nerdy Show logo on the sleeve, and Da Amber Lamp Corps oath on the back:

In the Jungles of Nam, on the county bus,
no transgressor shall escape this old cuss.
My old man strength will fight for what’s right.
I am a MOTHERFUCKER… da amber lamps might!

EMB’s very own Amber Lamp cap is embroidered with Da Amber Lamp Corps emblem in the front and the Lantern-style Nerdy Show logo on the back.

Just click the image below to go to the store and order yours TODAY!

As part of our preparation we’ve been joined by the high-class nerd musician George Hrab, a prime figure in the skeptic music scene.  He talks about some of the cool stuff he’s got in store for us at the festival, what being a “skeptic” is all about, and the importance of killer album art.  RPG fans, get ready for an intense Dragon Quest IX review that will carpet bomb you with harsh truths as our man, Brandon picks apart this globally-anticipated game.  Wash all that down with some wearable bacteria, lesbian mice, and video game industry drama.. and don’t blame us if you’ve got a raging hangover.  SEE YA AT THE SHOW!

The Tracks:

1. The Hounds :: The Protomen
2. Shrine of the Silver Monkey (ft. Steffo of My Parents Favorite Music):: MC COOL WHIP
3. A Lot Like Me :: Schaffer the Darklord
4. Geekquilibrium (FASTER Remix) :: Dr. Awkward
5. Think For Yourself :: George Hrab
6. Still More Fighting (Live at Nerdapalooza 2008) :: Random Encounter
7. 2600 :: Positive Attitude
8. Sea Monsters :: Captain Dan & the Scurvy Crew
9. Undefeatable (ft. Emergency Pizza Party) :: ZeaLouS1
10. Gowron Said Knock You Out – 2010 Edition :: the great Luke Ski
11. On and On :: Kirby Krackle
12. Nerdcore Rising (Live at Nerdapalooza 2009 ft. Beefy and MC Lars) :: MC Frontalot

The Contests:

• Major League Gaming Team Pass GIVEAWAY
• WIN Passes to Nerdapalooza 2010

The Links:

• Nerdapalooza 2010 schedule
• Hex and Cap guest star on Overclocked After Dark – “Nerdy Show is Haunting Your Butt”
• See George Hrab crate the cover art for Trebuchet in time lapse
• George Hrab’s one man rendition of Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart”
• Buy Hrab on CD Baby
• David Byrne’s article on album art
• Get Amber Lamps Shirts and Caps before they sell out at Nerdapalooza
• Kirby Krackle’s video for “On and On”
• Clothing made from bacteria
• Rob Spence, the director with a camera in his eye
• Tell FL Senator Bill Nelson to say NO to large lift rockets
• Tell your Senator to stick to the Obama NASA plan!

WHAT: We’re giving away 3 team passes for you to compete in the MLG Doritos Combine in Denver, Colorado – July 23-25.

Each team is for four players, so your and your most skilled friends can take cripple opponents with your might team work. And each team pass is valued at $100!

WHEN?  WHERE?

July 23-25th

@the Crowne Plaza Denver International Airport Convention Center – Denver, Colorado.

WHAT’S A COMBINE!?

The Combine series was created to inspire fans to pursue their gaming passions and showcase their talent at the highest level, uniting thousands of video game amateurs with MLG Pros and league officials across America. Aspiring professional gamers are given a rigorous testing ground to showcase their skills, and the opportunity to further gain exposure through MLG’s thriving community of players.  You could be a video game star on TV winning cash and sponsorships and THIS could be your ticket in!

Further details are available here: http://combine.mlgpro.com/events/2010/denver/

Passes are non transferable to other Combine locations.

OKAY, I’M PUMPED!  HOW DO I WIN?

Get social!  We’re holding this drawing via Facebook and Twitter.  We’ve got three passes to give away and you can double or triple your chances of winning.  One pass will be drawn from Facebook, one from Twitter, and the third goes to whoever posts or tweets the funniest/most awesome message.

STEP 1:

• Become a fan of Nerdyshow on Facebook

-and/or-

• Follow us on twitter

STEP 2:

• Change your Facebook status to include a link to http://nerdyshow.com/

-and/or-

• Tweet with a link to http://nerdyshow.com/ on your Twitter account

STEP 3:

• At the end of your Facebook status, tag nerdyshow. Do this by typing @ then start typing nerdyshow: this is important because it will post on the Nerdy Show fb fanpage, and this will determine how we choose our winner.

-and/or-

• At the end of your tweet, tag nerdyshow. Do this by typing @nerdyshow: do NOT start your post with @nerdyshow, that will make it a direct message and disqualify you. This is important because we will see you in the ‘tweets mentioning @nerdyshow section’ and this will determine how we choose our winner.

WINNING:

Entries stop at 12am Monday, July 19th and winners will be announced later that day.

There will be one winner for Facebook.
There will be one winner for Twitter.
If you have both, post on both, to double your chances to win.

You can say anything in your status or tweet. BUT while I am randomly selecting the winner I will also be looking for one I that makes me lol. So, if your status and/or tweet is lulzy you increase your chances of winning again! It’s not necessarily the most lulzy post that wins, it’s the one that I see that makes me lol.

1 WINNER FOR FACEBOOK
1 WINNER FOR TWITTER
1 WINNER FOR THE LULZ

’nuff said.
-Triforce Mike

Triforce Mike and some other guy talk Top Comics!

Man, Mike is handsome. And witty! Everything he says is just brilliant! It’s a good week for comics too, and they come out on a regular Wednesday. Superman touches your soul. Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine proves that those characters are overused for a reason, they are great! Batman helps our more special comic readers understand the end of Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis.

Ask me something on my Formspring dammit!

International viewers unable to use YouTube, try watching on Facebook.

In all seriousness, Nerdapalooza’s going to kick serious patootie.  I’ll be there.  Will you?

Words and art for this weeks comic were provided by Tony Baldini, and a heaping helping of Nerditude.

Well, here we are! A week away before the AMAZING Pre-Party we have planned over at A Comic Shop! If you’ve never gone before, it is DEFINITELY not something to miss out on! I’ve been assured by the boys at A Comic Shop (who, I should mention, were nominated for a FREAKING EISNER AWARD!!) that there will be plenty of free beer (for those of age) as well as free pizza while it lasts! Don’t forget the EPIC music that’s going down, too!

Now, for all those that were looking for more information on the video game competitions, what I got for you is right here, compliments of Mobile Gaming Events. Please note that BEFORE Nerdapalooza, entry costs $5, while AT Nerdapalooza it’ll cost $10. There WILL be some free play going down, so don’t worry about missing out on gaming if you want to save your coin for the merch that’s going to be flowing.

Just to remind everyone, this is the ONLY year we will be making the Final Boss Package available! Now is your only chance to get a lifetime VIP pass to Nerdapalooza and all the prizes that will come with it. Here on out, any Live CDs we make? You get a free digital copy. Any exclusive merch offers? You get first dibs! Any special non-festival events? You ALSO get into those with VIP passes! Take advantage of this while you can! I shouldn’t be mentioning this… BUT… we have had some talks with some pretty large artists who have shown interest in performing at Nerdapalooza. Artists that HAVE HAD AND STILL HAVE serious radio play, CONTINUE to tour nationally, and that we guarantee you have heard of. They will be coming to Nerdapalooza, and much sooner than you might think. So why not get in on the ground floor of Nerdapalooza while you can, because once the doors open for Nerdapalooza 2010, the Final Boss Package is gone forever.

Now, you may want to take advantage of our Formspring page and try to ask WHO these big names are. Well, I WON’T TELL!! However, perusing the Formspring page is a pretty good way to get boned up on what to expect for Nerdapalooza, as is taking a peek at my good pal Z’s new tradition of the N00b’s Guide to Nerdapalooza! I don’t know how he does it, but he has once again done a phenomenal job at summing up what to expect at Nerdapalooza, for those that might have been out of the loop until now!

For those of you bloggers and microbloggers out there that are hip to the hashtagging and whatnot, we’ve gone and “made” an official hashtag for ya: it is #nap2010. #Nerdapalooza2010 was too long, and since this event isn’t really restricted to being a “South East” event, #napse2010 is no longer applicable, we thought #nap2010 would succinctly sum up “where you is.”

This year we have two (count ‘em: TWO) raffles that friends of ours are coordinating! As we’ve pointed out before, we have the Geek Peek Post Raffle (now with the chance to guest star in a Dr. Awkward music video), but we also have our pal Matthias of MagiTek has offered to coordinate the “MegaRaffle”! It’s simple to enter: just buy some MegaMerch! That is, merch from either The Megas or The Protomen. Purchase a t-shirt, CD, WHATEVER, and you get a raffle ticket for the chance to win a free MegaMan Art Book (as shown to the right). And that’s it!! The raffle will be announced again at the Pre-Party and the winning ticket will be drawn during the Sunday lunch break!

As a quick announcement, for those curious about more details for the Epic Win Burlesque – yes, you may take photographs of the event to rub in the faces of people that didn’t attend; no, if you’re under the age of 18 you cannot attend; yes, you may purchase a ticket AT the Nerdapalooza event; and no, tickets will not be available for purchase ahead of time. If you have any other questions, go ahead and send it over to us at the Formspring page. And for those that were curious, yes, there will be a bar at the event, the venue is even going to supply a mobile bar RIGHT next to the entrance to the event itself!

Now, real quick, if you are STILL interested in volunteering, head on over to the Nerdapalooza volunteer form and fill it out! You’ll be compensated with a free ticket AND a free Nerdapalooza t-shirt! Details are provided above the form! And our final thing, we want to remind you of the pretty exciting YouTube Challenge we’re putting together! Remember: post a vid to YouTube before August 1st, get a chance to win a FREE Final Boss treatment (including free VIP ticket) to Nerdapalooza 2011! Pack your camera AND your charger!

Well, that’s all we got folks! Nerdapalooza is only 8 days away and I won’t have time to blog before then. However, if you have ANY questions, let me remind you to hit up Formspring, and we will answer your question in a timely fashion. Much nerdy love, and in one week I look forward to rocking with you. Until then, this is your final countdown…

[hex]

That’s right!  Here’s your chance to party with Nerdy Show and all the amazing bands at the largest nerd music festival in the world, Nerdapalooza!  We’re giving away two festival passes, it’s gonna be HUUUGE – have you seen the schedule?!

“How,” you ask, “do I score this awesome prize?”  EASY!  Just answer some trivia about our E3 vidcasts (up to vidcast 18) and send your answers to contest@nerdyshow.com along with your name.  The questions and other tidbits of information are in this audio greeting from Mike and Cap, hooray!

CONTEST ENDED – if you wanna hear the contest message fro some reason, click HERE.

Oh, okay, here’s a text version of the trivia questions, ’cause you’re the bee’s knees:

Q #1: What is an icy cold B.M.?

Q #2: What would Triforce Mike like to tap?

Q #3: What is a “cyberpunk Prince of Persia”?

Q #4: Who did Cap mistake for Mephesto on the Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Poster?

Q #5: What game banner is shown before Mike and Cap come out of the warp pipe?

Q #6: What did Nerdy Show eat with Geoff Johns?

Q #7: What do zombie killers eat for breakfast?

Level 99 has graciously sacrificed his own mental sanity and compiled a complete, unabridged reading of “My Immortal” in all its noxious, mentally-poisoning 44 chapters:

The Complete, Unabridged My Immortal

Now I can’t remember my name, where I live, or any good literature.

-Level 99, OCAD

The reading was played as a drinking game.  Every time the reader seriously broke the reading flow, whether it be to laugh, cringe, or otherwise, they had to take a drink.  At certain points everyone laughed, and we all had to take drinks.  We encourage those of you legally able to drink to safely play along as you listen.  Since this is all the readings together, I wouldn’t recommend drinking from beginning to end.  That’d be BAAAAAAD.

Featuring:

Level 99, Brushfire, Epicenter, OA, OA’s Lady, Flik, Moonlapse, Bardicknowledge, LadyBardicknowledge, Abadoss, Shojin, Nerdy Show, Vilecat, Cyril the Wolf, Arek the Absolute, DrumUltimA, and Fishy…

With backing music are tracks from the OC ReMix projects Chrono Symphonic, Final Fantasy 4: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption, Xenogears: Humans and Gears, and a few other assorted tracks thrown in (props to the Duck Hunt HD project for the ending).

Aaron and Mike talk about this week’s Top Comics… on a Thursday?!

Yes – today, THURSDAY is new comic book day, because the distributor uses any and every holiday as an excuse to take a break.  Nice.  It’s a good payload though, the new Marvel event, Shadowland is incredible and has an insane first issue ending, Mike whips out his Hit-Monkey doll, basically a party.

Check this mamma-jamma OUT!  Also, see why Triforce Mike thinks that the new Wonder Woman costume is awesome – on Formspring.

International viewers unable to use YouTube, try watching on Facebook.

In this episode we rail on the nonsense of the Twilight series, look into real life teen wolves and explore their tragic wolven anguish on the internet and their hatred for the “hunters”.  Our werewolf discussion heats up when we place a call to Lunario Von Darkwolfe III, who claims to have been a werewolf for over seventy years and then get him on the phone with our duck huntin’ pal, Dean Wallace who may have bagged him a wolf-man or two in the past.

There’s plenty of comics, video games, and science mixed in with all this wolfy nonsense – but that’s not all.  What’s the craze that never waxes and wanes but is as immortal as the sea and sky?  NINJAS of course!  Masurao and Shinobi of Krondor Krew join us in the studio for some hardcore ninja-talk, armed to the teeth and sporting some sacred silver blades just in case they should be attacked by a were-creature.

Tracks:

1. Big Bad Wolf :: Bunny and the Wolf Sisters
2. Shooting the Moon :: OK Go
3. This Toss :: MagiTek
4. Bad Moon Werewolves (Warren Zevon vs. CCR) Cheekyboy
5. Sneaking :: Krondor Krew
6. Adventure! :: Krondor Krew
7. Sick Skills (ft. Schaffer the Darklord) MC COOL WHIP
8. Resurrection of Breakbeat :: djpretzel
9. NES Me An Angel :: Inverse Phase
10. Chemixtrixx :: PrototypeRaptor
11. Lorem Chipsum :: Virt
12. They Moved the Moon :: Warren Zevon

Werewolf Links:

• News Report on Teen Werewolves
• News Report on Wolfie Blackheart
• Rigsby Justice
• “Destroy All Werewolf Hunters” on 43Things
• Epic werewolf hunter thread on 43Things
• “Become a Werewolf” on 43Things
• Fozzie’s remixes of the Teen Wolf soundtrack

Links:

• Mario Galaxy 2: The Grandmaster Galaxy
• Donkey Schlong Condoms
• Back to the Future II self-lacing sneakers
• Doktor Sleepless
• Nerdapalooza on Festival Outloook