Half-Life projects, Comic-Con program guide, Playstation Factory & Esports Mental Toughness

First, Dev-i-boy found a list of Valve games that never came out. These games were created in the dark times before Half Life: Alyx was announced, and include some interesting looks at what Half Life 3 could have been.

You can't go to Comic-Con this year, but you can watch it online. There's a great program with tons of shows including comics, television and gaming news. It's also probably the most accessible Comic-Con ever, since you don't need to leave your house and the shows are free.

First the robots came for the car factory jobs, and I said nothing. Then they came for the Playstation 4 assembly jobs, and I said "Cool, that's some nice tech". Sony has almost fully automated their assembly line and only use four people on the ends of a single assembly line that makes one console every 30 seconds. It's awesome.

Esports are stressful, and high skill players show the same signs of stress as their analogue counterparts. This doesn't surprise the Nerds at all, but it's an interesting study.

This week, Professor played a chaotic real time dice rolling game, DJ kept the peace in Agents of Mayhem and Dev-i-boy got distracted by job applications. Wish him luck.

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Night Sky Pix Solar Eclipse, SimRefinery & Promised Neverland

Never look at a solar eclipse. Unless you're wearing badass solar eclipse glasses and taking cool photos. Night Sky Pix sent us an article about photographing the upcoming solar eclipse, and it's so in depth we'll need to get it back from the Challenger Deep. So, if you live in the right places, get your camera and your solar filters and get snapping.

SimRefinery is the least well known Sim game of all time. That's because Maxis never actually finished it and it's been sitting in a box for decades. But now it's been temporarily released on Archive.org and around 20 000 people have downloaded it. SimRefinery was a training simulation commissioned by Chevron and designed to help introduce refinery workers and company staff learn about the operations of their facilities.

DJ is cautiously excited about Promised Neverland, an Amazon live action remake of the anime with the same name. A knock off version of the Eloi from The Time Machine find out what they're being kept for and try to escape. Don't get your hopes up though, what are the chances someone will actually make a good live action anime adaptation?

This week, Professor tries to drive across America in Overland and DJ takes a time machine to a medieval battle royale.

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DRM, Spring Anime & COVID-19

Crack and share. Until it is done. At least, if there's anything to crack. For the second time Bethesda have managed to release a game with a built-in crack for the Denuvo DRM. What's the story behind it? Incompetence, a rogue agent, or are Bethesda secretly the DRM free heroes we don't deserve? Doom Eternal is the latest casualty of Bethesda's DRM mistakes, and Professor wants to know why.

DJ has a list of the newest anime to watch this spring, or autumn if you live in the south. Southern Hemisphere Best Hemisphere. Get the latest ridiculously long anime names here!

Just when you thought it was safe to go outside after the fires, COVID-19 swept in. Where did it come from? A lab has dissected the DNA behind this threat and all signs point to COVID-19 not being a Chinese bioweapon. Keep the conspiracies coming, science knows what's what.

This week, both nerds played a Doom related game. Professor plays an official series game, but DJ plays a parody.

As usual, the Nerds discuss the latest shoutouts and events of interest. RIP Al Worden, Albert Uderzo and Kenny Rogers.

We'll be back next week for another episode. We're not going anywhere, and by the looks of things, neither are you.

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Magnetic Waves, Piracy & Valve

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

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

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

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

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Stan Lee Tribute Episode

In this special episode the nerds amalgamated crew along with Shaun Keenan, director of Comics2movies and author of XCT: Xtreme Champion Tournament; said goodbye to Stan Lee; the man who has touched the hearts, minds and souls of many generation through his work at Marvel comics.

We discussed the various tributes to Stan Lee, ranging from DC comics to Brian Michael Bendis. The number of heroes and villains he created and how his mind works when it comes to creating comic book characters. There were other topics that were discussed such as his lesser known achievements, for example his battle against censorship and his creation of Epic illustrated which resulted in Akira being released first in Epic Illustrated. We also spoke about his famous cameo appearances in nearly every Marvel movie to other movies that were not related to marvel and future Stan Lee cameos.

            Also discussed were Stan Lee’s contributions to creative endeavours such as in the anime and manga industry which resulted in 2 anime series and a couple of manga appearances, also his contribution to science and technology. We also spoke about how Stan Lee introduced merchandising through the use of the Merry Marvel Marching Society.

            While Stan Lee may be gone, other comic book artists will hopefully carry his torch, people such as Jim Lee. We also spoke about Stan Lee’s works on the Silver surfer comics especially Silver Surfer Parable which was collaborated with Moebius and also Jack Kirby, the Silver Surfer ultimate cosmic experience. We even made comments about how he looked like in his younger days. During our recording his funeral service was conducted in private and a tribute is in the works.

            All in all, Stan Lee was a man who cemented his legacy through his works, his ethics and his view on life. The world will never be the same without you. Excelsior!

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