The Walking Dead “Nebraska” Viewing Party a Success.

As you can see things didn’t bode well for me at last weeks The Walking Dead mid-season premier viewing at Daddy Macs with Fat Beard Studios and Cosmic Comics.  Many of the LEET Ladies saw me as a tasty treat, and that’s not a compliment.  I was neither a survivor nor a zombie, I was just a victim.  A piece of flesh to be feasted upon.  But at least I got to see the episode with my friends and a brewski in my hand before I met my infinite demise.  Check out more awesome pics at Cosmic Comics Facebook page and don’t stare too long at the LEET Ladies, it’s said if you find dead bodies sexy you have something psychologically wrong with you.  Pervert.

Burke

The Walking Dead Viewing Party with Cosmic Comics

Don’t forget, The Walking Dead‘s mid season premier is tomorrow.  Enjoy it with some brewskis and fellow Cosmic Comics nerds at Daddy Macs in Henderson.  We’ll be making an appearance and expect to see our friends from Fat Beard Studios, LEET Ladies and of course Cosmic Comics there.  More information can be found at Cosmic Comics Facebook page.  You can’t beat the combination of zombie slaying and beer drinking, so this is a Nerd Event you wont want to miss out on.

Burke

Button Mashing at the Soulcalibur V Tournament.

Someones not paying attention...

Nerd Farm is all about getting out and mingling with the nerd community.  Last week Insert Coin(s) in Las Vegas held a Soulcalibur V tournament that I decided to try my hand at.  I haven’t played Soulcalibur since the first installment on the Dreamcast and I’ll let you in on a secret, I wasn’t good then and I’m probably even worse now.  I was quickly reminded that Soulcalibur V isn’t really a button mashing fighter as my losses stacked up like Tetris set at the hardest difficulty.  I actually called fellow Nerd Farm author Nic for button mapping and tactics since I didn’t know any of them.  Vertical & horizontal attacks, blocking, and grabs don’t do anything if you can’t actually reach the person you’re trying to attack.  Even Xiba with his staff and Ezio with his hidden guns I couldn’t win more than 2 rounds.  Tournaments at Insert Coin(s) are beginning to get competitive, even more so when it comes to fighters.  Either way I’ll try my hand at any tournament just for the story.  Always an enjoyable experience even if I did lose both matches with a combined record of 2-14.

The next tournament will be for UFC Undisputed 3 on February 14th.  I don’t think I’m brave enough to even attempt that one, maybe I’ll hit the next on for Twisted Metal.

Burke

Big Weekend for Nerd Events in Las Vegas. 2/4-7/2012

Tomorrow night will be a Saturday full of hard choices to make.  All of them involve the most difficult choice of all, actually leaving the house.

The first of these events is brought to you by MaximuM Comics.  MaximuM Comics and Rave theaters in Town Square bring back SpaceBalls to the big screen for one night only…AND FOR FREE!  These movie nights are a blast, they’re 18+ so please don’t bring the kidos, fun prizes are included, and did I mention it’s free?  Yeah, it’s free.  So click here to print out your free ticket and show up around 11:30P.M. on February 4th and enjoy some SpaceBalls.  May the Schwartz be with you.

 

 

 

There’s a new underground phenomenon taking place in the industrial area of Las Vegas.  IGL (Immortal Gamers League) has acquired a warehouse and are having what they hope will be the equivalent of LA’s “Friday Night Fights”.  For those not in the know, Friday Night Fights is a huge battle royal between arguably  the best arcade fighters in the United States.  IGL is hoping to put Las Vegas on the proverbial arcade fighter map by having regular “Monday Night Brawl’s” and with it’s first tournament tomorrow (2/04/2012).  Find out more details here .  The tournament does have entry fees and will include Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat 9, Street Fighter IV, King of Fighters 13, and Soul Calibur V tournaments.  The IGL Warehouse can be found at 5830 Wynn Rd, but don’t expect to see any signs, just follow the parked cars, loud music, and smells of suspicious foods.

Starting February 7th, Insert Coin(s) Las Vegas is bringing you “glitch” Tuesdays.  A day where the events will almost always be video game based tournaments.  Soul Calibur V will be the first in a long list of tournaments to come on glitch Tuesdays.  I’ve participated in early Insert Coin(s) tournaments, although they weren’t always the most organized, they were always fun.  Bring your friends, drink some booze, and even if you don’t play in the tournaments you can still listen to the live DJ and play some classic arcade machines.  You really can’t go wrong.  Find out more about glitch Tuesdays here.

 

 

Yes all of these things do involve you leaving your home, but they do let you come out at night so at least you won’t get sun burned.  Enjoy!

Burke

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Wander the Desert With Someone I Don’t Know in Journey

During my exploration of the massive Sony booth at this years CES I managed to stumble upon That Game Company’s third title, Journey.  With no more than 12 people, That Game Company has managed to make some of the most interesting and creative games of the past few years.  Flow was peaceful and bright, Flower was elegant and had a masterful soundtrack, and now with their third installment Journey looks to be as beautiful as it is mysterious and allows them to delve into the multiplayer scene.

The demo Sony had available sent you through the first 3 episodes of Journey, mostly to get the feel for the game.  You can choose to use sixaxis controls or the conventional analog, the choice is yours.  The soundtrack continues to be ultra calming and matches the mood of Journey.  Rolling sands and broken temples mark your path as you collect “glyphs” to enlarge your scarf and collide with larger pieces of cloth to make bridges and solve puzzles.  The difficulty came with explaining how Journey works, rather than actually playing it.  Imagine the scarf you wear as mana, when you use your magic to jump or solve puzzles, your mana depletes.  Cloth are strewn all over the desert to replenish your mana.  With the addition of a completely anonymous drop in/out multiplayer, Journey allows you to experience the desert and puzzles in a different way.  When running with another player your mana refills simultaneously allowing you to jump higher and run faster.

The whole Journey experience is something new and refreshing.  Concerns of mine were more focused on people watching me play who continually asked where the “action” was and who do I shoot.  That Game Company knows who their audience is, and although the idea of Journey is lost to the general public, I believe fans of That Game Company will be very pleased with this brand new IP.  Expect to see Journey as a PSN exclusive sometime this spring.

Burke

I Did CES 2012 Today

I debated whether to write about my quest to CES 2012 today because of my lying and deceit I had to do to get there.  Being a Las Vegas local it wasn’t difficult getting my hands on a badge and would rather not divulge the details on how I got my grubby hands on them.  But, I thought it would be a worthy cause for the blog so I grabbed my buddy Greg and today we would be Yvonne and Jeffery.  Since I have longer hair I chose to wear around the Yvonne badge.  Next, the Hilton was charging $30 for CES attendees to use their parking garage, good thing I was there to bet on football *wink wink*.  With our badges around our neck and free parking behind us we entered into the multiple humungous warehouse size rooms of CES.  Without making eye contact with anyone checking badges we joked and laughed at made up stories as to not raise any suspicion.  CES is a tech geeks wet dream, I mean there is literally everything tech.  TV’s, robots, cell phones, vacuums, vibrating chairs, games, and accessories to go with everything.  I was there for one reason and one reason only, games.  Microsoft was easy to find and found myself playing the new Alan Wake and I Am Alive unopposed by anyone.  No one in lines and no one waiting to play after me.  It was rather strange since all I know is PAX and the lines that come with it.  Greg and myself are men, and as such were very opposed to reading anything that even resembled a map, so stubbornly we walked around the wrong two floors of the wrong building for two hours looking at cell phone accessories instead of finding the Sony booth.  We finally started to read maps and quickly learned Sony was not where we thought it was and began our long trek back through countless booths and security check points to arrive in a small corridor we had past several times before.  There it was, one of the largest booths in CES, Sony.  TV’s, PSP’s, Playstation 3’s, and even PS Vita’s were abound.  Sony had really outdone themselves, with Starhawk, Journey and Twisted Metal all available to play, I had yet again an unopposed time limit to demo these upcoming titles.  Six hours quickly passed and with the booths closing up shop, Jeffery and Yvonne decided to call it a night and head home.  CES is gigantic, I don’t know how you could possibly see everything even with all the time allowed.  I’m glad I got to experience CES, but I’m glad I only spent one day there.  And I don’t know if I could handle the anxiety of walking around with those badges for much longer.

Burke

One Missing Piece…

I noticed something missing from all the recent VGA trailers and as I am the resident expert on all things robot that may or may not be in disguise I thought it relevant to show you guys this in case you missed it!

My only disappointment is the choice of music, but hey you can’t win them all.

SRS

Video courtesy of GameTrailers.

2011 VGA Recap

In cased you missed it, the Spike VGA’s were last Saturday.  I don’t want to hype them up or tear them down but, I don’t really care about them.  In fact, I don’t care about any awards shows.  They never seem to have the same taste in entertainment as I do, so I disregard them.  This years VGA’s had some improvements over last years, Zach Levi is no NPH, but you could tell he certainly had some interests in video games.  But let’s face it, the VGA’s are a time for larger game companies to show their grand accomplishments and “latest and greatest” trailers.  I’m not complaining, I ate up the Mass Effect 3 and Metal Gear Rising trailers like krispy kreme kreme straight off the conveyor belt.  But for you, I did pick some of my favorite videos and compiled a convenient list here for your viewing pleasure:

Reapers Attack in the new VGA Mass Effect 3 trailer

“Sorry” Kojima, Metal Gear Rising looks bad ass

What is “The Last of Us”?

Alan Wake and Agent Cooper

Bioshock: Infinite brings eariness to the skies

And for those of you who do care Skyrim won Game of the Year and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 won Best Shooter.  I don’t really agree with either of those, but more so on the side of MW3.  That’s why I tend to sway away from these award shows.  Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception took Best PS3 game while Batman: Arkham City rightfully won Best Xbox 360 game.  Portal 2 didn’t take home enough awards but was able to snag the Best PC Game category.   

nerdfarm

Bioshock: Infinite Brings Eariness to the Skies.

From an underwater city in the sea to a world’s fair in the sky, Irrational Games is making sure we don’t get too comfortable.  Bioshock: Infinite‘s newest trailer released at the VGA’s introduces you to yet another government divided.

The floating city of Columbia is looking to be as eerie and dystopian as your first journey through Rapture.  With the help of the hymn “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” Infinite shows it can be whimsical, artsy, and frightening all at the same time.

Expect this gym sometime in 2012.

Video courtesy of GameTrailers.

nerdfarm

Alan Wake and Agent Cooper

Remedy’s highly underrated 2010 title Alan Wake finally has a trailer for it’s followup arcade title Alan Wake: American Nightmare.  Paying homage to many cult/campy flicks, the ever apparent similarity to Twin Peaks was uncanny.  Now in it’s second installment, not to be termed a “sequel”, Alan Wake is fighting through “nightmares” attempting to stop his murderous doppelganger.  Again with the similarity to Agent Cooper and the Black Lodge of Twin Peaks.  I have no complaints, I like Twin Peaks, I like Agent Cooper and I like Alan Wake, so I’ll probably like this XBLA title.  If you haven’t seen Twin Peaks or played Alan Wake, I highly suggest you stop reading now and go do one of those things…go…NOW!

Video compliments of GameTrailers.