Smile, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Paul Allen’s Living Computers Museum + Labs & BRZRKR

Has Professor finally found a way to keep DJ in the time limit? Some say yes.

Can a smile really make you think better of someone? What if it would make you think worse of them? This study looked at the perceived trustworthiness of people with various disorders, but the Nerds think it's not particularly rigorous.

Microsoft Flight Simulator will come with a physical edition including a lovely hardcover flight manual, and ten discs. TEN discs. It's going to be a pretty significant drive eater but if you don't have a good internet connection or want a pretty book this is the way to go.

It's time to say goodbye to Paul Allen's Living Computer Museum + Labs. Paul's museum is the only place a regular civilian can access the classic Big Iron mainframes of the 60s and 70s, but they've recently announced their temporary closure which is sounding more and more permanent as more news comes out. Now if you'll excuse us, Professor needs to have a bit of a cry.

Keanu Reeves is writing a comic book called Brzkr which sounds like the most Mary Sue self insert fanfiction a man could write. We'll have to wait for the full story to come out, but the main character sounds annoying. Maybe it'll have good art though.

This week, Professor sat around waiting in Forager, DJ jumped around in Nohra and Dev-i-Boy formed an army in VRChat.

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Chicxulub, Lost NES game & Chinese theatres

Hi diddly ho fans, welcome to our new episode...

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, a meteor crashed into a planet. This week we talked about Chicxulub, yes that the asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago left behind more than a legacy of mass destruction.

Out of the ashes, comes a nostalgic game….we talk about DAYS OF THUNDERRRRRR!!!!! An old NES game that was remade from scratch. An unreleased, never-before-seen title co-authored by Chris Oberth at Mindscape. It took a lot of floppy disks and a ton of nostalgia...one must wonder...will we ever see more old games resurrected.

And finally, we talk about Chinese theatres and how they are going to be really affected by the coronavirus. More than 40% of surveyed Chinese cinemas say they are “very likely to close” in the near future.

This week in gaming DJ jumps into an old game with a twist….Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath complete with Robocop and other Mortal Kombat characters.. and Professor enjoys hovercraft racing while shooting down aliens in Crysis Warhead.

Until next time...

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Space Movie, Space Cement & PokeCoin

Nanoo Nanoo.

Ryan Gosling is going back to space for Andy Weir's next book, which isn't even out yet but is already casting actors. This one has a working title of Project Hail Mary and features a lone scientist on a spaceship trying to save the world. Slightly higher stakes than The Martian, but Andy's books are always great.

Astronauts are also going to use pee to build houses on the moon. Let's hope NASA has a large surplus of air fresheners to send up with them, because this cement is probably the most useful way to use human waste on the moon, but it's going to smell.

Back on Earth, Niantic are trying to deflate the Pokecoin economy by severely lowering the minimum wage. Nobody seems to be happy with this, but Australia is just the test site, so it's coming to a phone near you soon.

This week Professor took a trip to a far away planet to care for slimes, and DJ found out what happens when you swim with the cardsharks.

Check in next week for probably less pee jokes. Probably.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Come back next week, we miss you.

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Virtual meetings, Wonder Woman, WarriOrb & Autism Studies

Welcome, to the World of TOMOROOOW!

What does listening to a podcast have to do with listening to your boss? Science is now showing benefits to virtual meetings. Which means one day, even your boss might be replaced by a voice over the wire. This still doesn't mean you can get out of wearing pants.

Wonder Woman's director thinks DC shouldn't follow the tried and true MCU formula. Sure, it worked for them, but can it be pulled off twice? Let us know if you have a good argument for there being room for two comic cinematic universes.

WarriOrb is a new game that's just been released on Steam. But following a highly popular demo, WarriOrb's initial sales have been disappointingly low. The devs have posted their own analysis on Reddit, and they're understandably confused.

Wrapping up, we have a discussion about scientific studies involving Autistic people.

We played Crysis and Legends of Runeterra this week. Professor's computer didn't melt playing Crysis, and DJ isn't any better at counting cards.

Wait around to hear from us next week with another great episode.

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High Stakes, Hollywood & Forbidden Library

It's that time of week again, so check out our newest episode.

To start this week, we have a bit of levity. NASA have programmed one of their robots to hit itself with a shovel. It's all for a good cause, they want to get their InSight lander's mole digging again. The probe became stuck and using the shovel as a hammer is just the latest attempt to get it going again.

DJ wants to tell us about Hollywood's response to COVID-19, including delays to the filming of Amazon's Lord of the Rings series. Now New Zealand has closed their borders and the Hobbits will not be going to Isengard.

Next, it's time to enter THE FORBIDDEN LIBRARY. It isn't just in Harry Potter anymore; a group have created a library dedicated to copying articles from countries without press freedom. Did we mention it's in Minecraft? Next time you get busted playing Minecraft when you should be doing homework, just say you're researching.

On this week's games section, Professor makes a declaration that will surely lead to war. Having experienced Final Fantasy 7 and Black Mesa, he declares Black Mesa the better remake. If anyone has an issue with this, we'll have to substitute fisticuffs with videogames.

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QTime, Cat Robots & 2 Studio Ghibli Movies

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

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

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

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

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2019 Year Review

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

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Pegg, Dungeon & Hanabi

Welcome back for another amazing episode from the triplets of mayhem, the Nerds Amalgamated crew. This week we have an excellent show for you to enjoy with everyone in fine form and having fun. The first topic of the week is from DJ looking into Simon Pegg claiming that cinema appears to be dying. Now does this relate to the comments about thin margins in movies? Well, that is a good question and if you want to know more you will have to listen in to find out. But we are you will laugh when you listen to this section.

                Next up Professor unveils his darker side and lures us into a dungeon…. What, he doesn’t… oops sorry apparently that was supposed to be Professor tells us about a dungeon game made by an AI. My apologies, but it is a reasonably easy mistake to make, after all he is a bit of a mad scientist. But this is looking really cool and fun, some of the options in this are pretty outstanding. Once again this is not a warning about AI trying to take over the world…yet.

                Last up we have an AI system that is learning how to work co-operatively with people, and possibly manipulating them. Buck brings us a story about some research from Facebook’s AI team that is pretty darn well ground breaking in regards to the results being achieved. We are talking about an attempt to formulate a near perfect response to an imperfect problem. What does that mean, well listen in and you can find out.

                As usual we have the games being played, with Buck changing his at the last second which is kind of cool. Then this is followed by the regular variety of shout outs, remembrances, birthdays, and special events. We are offering a new service, if you are feeling a little pompous and wish to regain that sense of reality Buck is offering to develop a personal insult just for you. As always please remember to take care of yourselves, look out for each other and stay hydrated.

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