Gaming, Conventions, and Geeky Married Life

Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network Hello and welcome

to Geek Unlimited, episode 74! I'm your host,

Steve Megatron Phillips, and joining me this

week is not Mike TF2 and Blanchard, and not Mike

Booth Ninja Powers, but... The one, the only,

the awesome, Mike the Birdman Dodd! Welcome back,

sir. I am reasonably surprised that it's just

you and I this week, actually. I'm kind of surprised

as well. Because I'm thinking... Like, I've always

seen Blanchard as the easily excitable golden

retriever of podcasting. He's like, hey guys,

hey guys, got a microphone. Hey, hey, hey, hey,

want to record? That's how I picture Mike every

day. Literally, just got his hand on the record

button all the time. Well, lately he's been like,

old yeller. Somebody took him out back. Just

put a 45 to the back of his head. Man, do you

realize how much more brutal? Old yellow death

scene would be today with modern firearms. I'm

just saying Today we take up old yellow with

the 50 caliber machine gun and it's a Russian

You get the guy like FPS Russia from YouTube

and just have him shoot all deal by God this

got dark fast Western and all of a sudden a Russian

mobster comes in Be fucking sick, but he has

to look like like friggin Ivan Drago from like

Rocky 4 in fact all Russians I'm convinced look

like him or Bridget Nielsen from Red Sonja That's

right, I'm calling out the old ladies references

tonight Nice So what have you been up to? Almost

exclusively nothing but Call of Duty and okay.

Um, I was supposed to come back to twig last

Friday, which you've noticed I haven't had a

nerd news up, mostly because I've been dealing

with a hardware problem, which kind of ties in

what we're going to talk about later. I got the

new Nintendo 3DS last week. Awesome. I just got

it working today because I had to wait for a

new memory card and then I had to call Nintendo

engineers to get them to work on it from the

back end. because me and a bunch of other journalists

had a bunch of trouble trying to transfer our

system content over because Nintendo's eShop

was like, hey, you're not supposed to exist yet.

So we had to figure that out. So I got that working

today. I've been playing a shit ton of Call of

Duty. I'm on my fifth prestige right now. Now,

what console is that for? I'm currently playing

it on Xbox One. Okay. I'm surprising there is

a surprising little amount of 10 year old shit

talkers. I've only come across like in the entire

two months since the game came out back in November,

maybe 10. Maybe I've heard little kids talk,

but none of them are talking shit. Surprisingly,

I've heard a few older people, but surprisingly

Xbox one's pretty quiet. I think they're all

still playing on 360. I've also been playing

this game because I'm a huge wrestling fan and

I discovered this game is very much like crack.

There's a game on the iOS. It's probably on Android

2. It's called WWE Supercard and it's like a

card game. You play it with five cards and you

just see if your cards better than the other

guys or if you use a modifier does his card not

be yours. You might have like Daniel Bryan versus

Kurt Henning or something like that. Kurt Henning

may be stronger than Daniel Bryan, but Daniel

Bryan may be faster. He might play a modifier

to make Daniel Bryan stronger and he can beat

him. It's retardedly addicting. Like literally

Steve, I was in bed earlier sick this week. I

drained my battery twice playing it in bed. Oh

my god, I'm like, my god, I'm such a loser. But

it was a lot of fun. So I did that this week.

What else did I do this week? Watched a couple

of movies and pretty much just worked on my 3DS

stuff. That's about it. Because I go back to

work as of today when this episode will go up.

So yeah, that is my life. Well... I've had school

this week again, which was interesting because

Monday, or not Monday, Tuesday, we had to recite

the lines of the dialogue we had to memorize,

which I don't know what the hell it's an excerpt

from, but it's from some other play or book or

something. It was amazing to me the amount of

people that didn't have it memorized, because

I'm normally terrible about that. The only thing

that got me through remembering it was I did

it in the persona of the Joker, which is the

only reason I remember it, which now I can kind

of recite it in different character voices and

my own without having to really think about it,

but... they had everybody going up and doing

their portrayal of it in front of the class and

Those that have met me like in person will realize

that I'm kind of introspective in a sense Which

is interesting considering on a podcast or sitting

on the computer I can sit and talk somebody's

ear off, but when I'm in person, I'm like, I

don't know who the hell you are Yes, always have

been, which is, again, another funny thing that

I sit here and podcast and talk. Anyhow, in that

class, I don't do well, and this is any class,

I don't do well standing up in front of people

and having people stare at me and have me talk.

If I'm sitting on my ass, not singled out, but

I'm mixed in with the crowd, I can talk fine.

which is kind of weird to me because I can sit

there and throw smart -ass comments or Add to

the the discussion in the classroom and have

people look at me that way, but I can't stand

singled out Basically you can't stand the camera

being focused solely on you basically So I get

up there and I'm fully expecting to screw this

entire thing up and Luckily some people were

using a chair is like a sit -down prop So I sat

there and was able to... I was trying to avoid

eye contact with people as much as possible and

I'm sitting there just belting out with the Joker

in the middle of the conversation and doing this

entire run of it and people were just like, holy

crap. And then the teacher actually, mostly when

everybody else got done, he would say... Okay,

thanks, you know because it was for a grade and

me he's like I Could definitely see the animation

there and the character blah blah blah blah from

you know I can tell it's a cartoon character

blah blah blah and I'm like yeah I says that's

what happens when you watch Mark Hamill portray

the Joker for you know up teen hours So I did

that and then I've been working on the GCR and

awards which we We're able to move on to phase

two, which phase one was the nominees phase two

was the actually voting with the top fives of

every category that was picked by the listeners

and We got almost almost as many votes since

doing that as we did for the nominees part And

it's this the the voting has only been active

for about eight hours So yes, it is great. Um,

so I'm looking forward to seeing what that is.

Um, the other thing I've kind of had a problem

with, and this is like just more so like, I don't

know if it's the other people too, but it, it's

more so a pet peeve on my behalf and I hope nobody

holds this against me, but it bothers me when

people vote, but they vote on one thing out of

like the 30 categories because it's, um, like

we did an external podcast network voting and

what's happening between that and one of the

syndicated things is people are voting for that

one item and then the rest of the the voting

they just left it blank so I don't know if that

would bother you but it bothers me See, I would

narrow down the category so people don't have

to go through your fucking 30 things. First of

all, I would do that, because I'm like, well,

here's the thing I actually care about. Well,

see, because we did movies, we did TV, we did

comics, we did gaming, and then we did the different

categories of the GeekCast Radio Network podcast,

and then we did the external podcast, which...

again every year like last year we chose everything

that went into the top fives we didn't give people

an option it was our it was whatever we chose

is the top five for the every category um to

vote on this year i have it all set up as drop

down so literally everything's in there you just

have to select which one you want and then hit

submit and it's all on one page so there's no

clickbait you're dealing with the fast food jack

in the box i needed it yesterday i need it now

see because Yeah, and see my mentality on it

the first time around when we were doing the

nominees is I Almost wanted to disqualify them

just for doing that Because I mean there'd be

like a huge influx on the one category and nothing

on everything else So that's the only thing that

bothers me about doing the awards thing compared

to doing something like a wars tournament well

you know who the true winner is of all this who

holly shore 2014 man of the year just say who's

that again exactly the 80s called they want him

back exactly like fuck man we need the weasel

i don't know why i'm talking about him but that

was hilarious So yeah besides that I've been

working on actually two different websites the

Yes yours twig and then I don't know if you're

familiar with this site But it's it used to be

kind of a medium -sized transformer site transformers

network No Okay So yeah, I used to be a mod on

there way back in the day and Something some

unfortunate events happened and it got sold out

from under the person that owned it So this person

came to me with the idea of recreating the site

just changing the URL because we can't get the

original one back because the other person's

a douchebag and it's been down for about seven

years, so I'm Having to design it from the ground

up with them and Should be interesting when it

gets done So yeah, that's what I've been keeping

busy with Among among that and watching television

Yeah, I watched the new episode of the flash

this week, which was pretty cool seeing captain

cold and heatwave So I'm hoping we get more like

I'm hoping Captain Boomerang makes it over to

Team up with all those guys. I think he will

I think that right now they're just building

his rogues and now that he's you know out in

the open and that kind of stuff and Was on what

was an arrow before the season? He was on the

crossover. Yeah, and then there was Raza ghoul

although supposedly they're not gonna use the

Lazarus pit to bring back all of her which i

totally think they should i watched the episode

of it it's such a cop out i haven't had a chance

to i still have to watch the other seasons like

i watch on episodes here they're like cool there's

that there's that i know i'm interested but i

don't have the time so maybe uh... when there's

a lull maybe when my wife takes her march break

or spring break from the kids maybe i'll get

a chance to do that What else? Shield wasn't

new this week. Agent Carter wasn't new this week.

Oh, that's right. Shield doesn't come back until

March. That's a show that is blacklist. I was

like, so I kind of indulge my guilty pleasure

of Master Chef Junior, which my God, these kids

are friggin awesome. I wish I was that talented

in the kitchen like at all. It's you know what?

I honestly love. the Food Network, that being

a chunky bastard, I love Guy Fieri, although

he's ultimately the worst thing that happened

to food in 20 years. And I'll tell you why. He

encourages you to eat things that have been deep

fried, covered in sugar, smothered in cheese,

and nacho dip, like here, here's a heart attack.

I want you to eat this and wait 20 minutes and

see what happens to you, sort of thing. like

it spontaneously combust yeah like i although

honestly when me and my wife went to visit kevin

smith's comic book men um two years ago or like

a year ago whatever we actually planned out a

route to jersey that would take us by as many

of the diners diners drive -ins and dive places

as possible we even saw the diner from the end

of the sopranos we were so like okay If we're

only going to be here and we have like no money,

we're at least going to eat awesome. So go fat

people. Because, you know, whatever. Yeah, like

that's a lot of what I've been watching. In fact,

sometimes my wife will go off to work and she'll

leave the TV on in the living room and I'll wander

out, you know, in my zombie state and there'll

be Gordon Ramsay prepared. He's got the show.

It's like called Gordon Ramsay's 100 meals or

something, and he's less pissy here. He's like,

he's almost mellow. Well, they told him not to

be British, and that was the big thing. I guess

so. And he's, and he's given me all these tips.

And I'm just sitting here just listening, like,

man, it's really weird not to hear a curse of

people. And he's like, you can use salt to bring

out the moisture in the fish or something. He's

talking about light. like how to crisp up fish

skin, which I had no idea how to do. I'm thinking,

man, that's really interesting. And I'm thinking,

man, maybe I should go back to bed. Yeah, it's

really weird the stuff you learn on those shows.

And sometimes some of the girl chefs, I don't

mean to be sexist here, are motherfucking hot

as shit. There was one chef, I think Rachel Ray's

hot too. Her name is Giada whatever Like she

I don't know. She's this hot Italian woman. I

Used to watch her show religiously a couple years

ago when I was like single and I was like man

Just tell me how to bake it man. I'll do anything

you want. Just please keep talking. Um It's a

little bit sad and I'm not afraid to admit that

that Food TV is my guilty pleasure. If I can't

shove it in my face, at least I'll learn how

to make Don't know what I'm saying about myself

by revealing these deep dark truths right now

But this is altered geek. You don't know what

you're gonna get But at least we're not complaining

Yeah We're being geeky in a strange way Hey,

man. Well when I started twig with Steve sailor,

he's like as long as you're passionate about

it You can be a geek about it. Actually, it's

really weird how food geeky has become this thing

like there's now these things called foodies

i mean like it's weird they know as much about

food and gastro food and all this other crazy

shit that i know about dungeons and dragons and

star wars it's ridiculous the amount of knowledge

these people have or some of these guys you don't

expect them to have all this really cool skills

or background in the culinary arts i don't know

it's really cool though and just seeing some

of the really meat restaurants that pop up with

geeky themes. There's actually one restaurant,

a show in Canada. You should look it up on YouTube,

guys. It's called You Gotta Eat Here. And it's

hosted by a guy named John Katucci, and he visits

different restaurants across Canada. There's

one restaurant in Calgary, and it serves nothing

but hot dogs. Here's the twist. They put really

weird crap on them. There's one hot dog, and

I'm actually tempted to make it. It's an all

beef wiener. with peanut butter, jelly, and Captain

Crunch. And I know, I don't know, they do something

else to it, but it's just, it's really weird

toppings and it's supposedly really, really,

really, really good. There was another place

which is near London, Ontario, which is like

a few hours south of me. And I went to a place

and you would never think that peanut butter

and pineapple on a cheeseburger is God -like.

like god tier awesome and it's like this 1950s

style diner but it's like 1950s as if seen from

back to the future like it's really really weird

or you'll see these restaurants they'll have

really cool like arcade cabinets in like some

of them some of these restaurants still have

the little jukeboxes at the table that you can

put your like diamond it'll activate the jukebox

across the place and it's so sweet that that

kind of stuff still exists and I don't know I

mean I think of all the hobbies and obsessions

you could have food relatively harmless depending

I think most most of geeky things are pretty

harmless for the most part and then kind of talking

about the food thing there's this channel where

The only reason I know of her is from the From

the Warp Zone videos that I've seen her in but

it's that a Rosanna Pansino or whatever she does

like the kind of geeky foods or baked goods.

Yeah like does Bomberman cupcakes or does like

My wife is yelling for me in the room. It's called

nerdy nummies. I think yes, that's pretty sweet

Yeah, so I mean like if you like kind of surf

her channel she has like all kinds of like geeky

like like board cube cakes and then you know

Metroid cupcakes like all kinds of like geeky

stuff like that It's just kind of interesting

to see what you could make out of food my friend

from the prototype his girlfriend Tiffany she

used to run a blog Called the nerd her I don't

know whether she still keeps it up though but

she had a goal to bake the items out of Skyrim

that she could possibly find recipes to and about

a year ago she brought me over a sweet roll and

a honey treat like and she made it just like

they would make it in Skyrim and it was so amazingly

good I was like oh my god please come back with

more of these And I've been begging my wife,

like, please, here's the recipe from Skyrim.

The video game is telling you to make it. Please

make it. It was so good. I've also seen nerdy

websites that have, like, they'll be dedicated

to different drinks. Like, I think it's called

the Drunken Moogle or something like that. They'll

have, like, here's the Hadouken or stuff like

that. I remember I went to a Capcom press event

about three or four years ago it was whenever

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 came out and they were serving

us Street Fighter and Marvel themed food and

drink and I remember having a Green Hulk burger

and like this Ryu fireball shot and it was really

weird and then they gave us aprons It was really

weird. I don't know why I just remembered that

now. And another random memory, I remember we

went, I was at a press event for Halo ODST and

they had people dressed up as UNSC officers and

were playing at this PR building in Toronto and

they're serving us these covenant sliders and

they keep feeding me, I think they were called

energy swords. and they were these shots or these

little alcoholic drinks and I don't remember

a lot past firefight mode because it was awesome

they just kept feeding them to me I guess you

know they look at the big guy he could take it

um it's an awesome time um sounds like it oh

my god that that's the thing though there was

another time at a video game event once again

it actually this was my first event I got invited

by Microsoft they usually have this thing in

Canada called X which is like the Microsoft showcase

or what's coming out for Christmas time and in

the fall so they took us to this really weird

retro bar and this is when Forza I think it was

Forza 2 or 3 was coming out for the Xbox 360

and the power went out because one of the really

expensive cars had hit a pole just down the street

and it is hotter than Satan's ball sack in this

place. They've got the door open. They're trying

to feed us all the drinks while they're still

cold. So I remember my friend Pierce filled one

of our nap sacks up to the brim so heavy we could

barely move this thing without looking suspicious,

full of Red Bull. And me, Steve Saylor, and a

few other people, they just kept feeding us stuff

from the bar. So I remember playing Halo 3, like,

months before it came out or whatever Halo something

I Remember and we drank nothing but screwdrivers

and played rock band and Tony Hawk It was a maze

balls And with the spike TV video game awards,

they spoil you when when it was good this year's

was Questionable I'm hoping someday I can go

to stuff like that. I just You know what some

of the really cool smaller events are really

neat like I'm really hoping like every year I

get invited the stuff like Toy Fair and it's

mostly because I don't want to stay in New York

that I don't go like I got two personal invites

from playmates this year and Jazzware and I'm

just thinking you know what thanks but no thanks

and there's the game developers conference out

in San Francisco and it's mostly just getting

around that I don't do as many of those but PAX

can be a tremendously fun time. I think this

weekend is pet. This week or next week is PAX

South and MAGFest is happening. That's a really

fun convention. But I find the ones that are

professional but not trade show are the best.

Like I said, PAX, if you're really into the gaming

scene or what they're talking about, it is such

a fun time. Like I did PAX East for two or three

years. into the best concerts of my life, with

Proto Man and MC Frontalot and Mega Ran and whatnot,

and going to different panels. I sat in a panel

with the BioWare people, the same guys who made

Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and they're answering

questions about Dragon Age 3, which I had no

idea what the hell it was about, but I wanted

to hear, they're gonna talk about Mass Effect

towards the end of it. and they brought in the

woman from that Comic -Con documentary from a

few years ago that was done by Morgan Spurlock

who had, she looked like Fem Shep, she had the

guy who came out as Rex in the giant animatronic

costume. But the question about that was, they

had all these cosplayers who looked like the

people from Dragon Age, like with the armor and

everything and it was like real metal or weathered

foam to look like it, but holy shit, it was so

impressive. And the cool thing is these developers,

they'll hang out with you. Like, I went to what

they call the BioWare base, and it was the middle

of the day on Sunday, and they're just hanging

out. So I'm like, dude, can you sign my game?

Like, yeah. What do you want to know? I'm like,

OK, here's a question. This happened in Mass

Effect 2. Will this affect Mass Effect 3? And

they're like, and I go on about this theory that

I have, and I'm like, and you know? We never

thought of it like that. We'll get back to you

in six months. They never did follow up on it,

but it would have been really cool had they did.

But yeah, like if you go to the right events,

they can be a lot of fun. And I'm trying to think

of another show you might dig. I don't know so

much about Comic -Con, like the really big corporate

events. Like I'm not I mean, I mean don't be

wrong. I'd love to experience some of the bigger

ones. I just yeah, I At least once in my life.

I'd like to go to something like that I don't

know how much I'd enjoy it because of how busy

they usually are The thing is it's the people

that you go with that can really make or break

it But you can also make a lot of really cool

friends. I actually one of the best experiences

I have the first time went to Paxi's back in

2010 I went to PAX on less than $300, which let

me tell you, first off, that's stupid. Second

of all, I was stalked by Adam Sessler the entire

weekend. It was really weird. But anyway, I'm

sitting in the line to go see Video Game Orchestra,

which is this Boston -based group. They play

video game music, and they're these prodigy musicians.

They sound amazing. Look them up on YouTube,

VGO. And I'm sitting there in line. And I start

talking to these two girls. And they're asking

me where I'm from, and I'm talking with them,

just going back and forth, back and forth. And

eventually, and I mentioned that I'm diabetic.

I'm thinking, oh crap, I haven't eaten today.

Shit, I don't have a lot of money left. Okay,

if I don't eat, I should be fine. If I eat something

now, I should be fine till I get back to my hotel

room, which is like six hours later. You're like,

dude, you know what? I'll buy you dinner. I'm

like, what, really? And they did. And you get

some really awesome kindness like that at conventions.

I mean, especially like your taxes, because everybody

kind of knows we're all here for the same reason.

No one should be a dick to each other. And nine

times out of ten, everybody there is really,

really awesome to each other. Later that night,

I had to leave the concert halls. I was just

feeling not good. And I gave I got these primo

seats because I'm kind of handicapped. And I

gave it to these two people that really, really

wanted to go to the show. They're waiting outside

for someone to leave. And they were thrilled

about it. Like, you can meet some really awesome

people. Another guy was filming a documentary

for PAX. And we stayed like we're still friends

on Facebook right now. His name is Jason. And

he is like the cheerleader for PAX and for MAGFest

and all that stuff. And you meet some really

fantastic people, especially Steve. Since you've

had a web presence for so long, odds are you've

got fans out there that would be psyched as hell

to see you. So you should understand one of these

things, like, for example, I'm finding out right

now what convention I'm going to do this year.

I only end up doing one or two conventions a

year as a guest and I'm waiting for confirmation

on this one. But. Interacting with fans can be

a thing, too, but even if you're not a web personality.

just going to one of these things and hanging

out, like, playing a board game. Like, one of

the things I want to do this year, for example,

is go to Indiana, I know, of all places, and

go to Gen Con, which is this huge role -playing

convention. Or go down to Dragon. Yeah, I've

heard of that one. Like, ugh! That's my dream!

Well, I will say, there's a convention that we've

been going to for two years for Geek Cast Radio,

and it's called Grand Con. It's in Grand Rapids,

Michigan. Oh, yeah, we talked about that About

10 episodes ago something like that. It was in

September. That's when we went but it's it's

interesting because it's it's all For the most

part it's I'd say it's a good 75 % bit board

gaming Which is what it's what the key element

of it is is the board games, but it also has

you know, your normal parts of the comic convention

with the vendors and everything else and the

artists and whatnot. And, you know, we were there.

We had a table, so we kind of would take turns

exploring and BSing around and handing out promo

discs of Geek Cash Radio stuff. But I mean, it

was kind of interesting the first year we went

because we bumped into a couple other podcasters

that I didn't realize we knew. Just because they

happened to come up to the booth and one of them

was like, where's Blanchard? I'm like in Kentucky.

Which was hilarious and I ended up having a bunch

of conversations about comics. Of course we were

like outside the door like close to all the board

gaming so people were just stopping by having

conversations. Whereas this year we were kind

of in the mix with all the vendors where people

were buying stuff so people were just kind of

passing by. I would definitely say I had more

fun last year than this year, but I think still

for me the convention that has been the most

fun for me has been TFCon that I went to 2011,

I think. Steve, you gotta come up and do a Con

Bravo sometime, which is in Toronto, so not far

from where TFCon is, probably about an hour east

of there. If you're into dirty shit, I think

you'll have a blast Yeah, and see the other thing

was is I had nobody I was going with for that

convention But I did end up bumping into like

four or five other people one of which was involved

with the Beast Wars dirt class that I'm doing

and then the the other people I knew from Twitter

and Transformer forums, so it was kind of nice

But and I had a blast going to that but Most

of the problem is trying to find the money and

the time to go. See, and that's the thing though,

if you pick the right convention it can be really

cheap. For example, MagFest for example, which

it's a smaller convention, like under 10 ,000.

And you can go for the week for about 600 if

you go and you split the room with a few other

different people. And travel can't be that bad,

depending. There's also like a bunch of really

good restaurants around it. The good thing about

conventions like that is you don't have to spend

money if you don't want to. In fact, I've gone

to two magfests. The most I've spent was 60 bucks.

All I bought was CDs. My rule was if I can't

fit it inside a backpack, it's not coming home

with me. And am I going to use it more than five

times? Hell, I went to PAX East one year and

I brought like $1 ,500 thinking, oh my God, there's

gonna be so much cool merch here. And there was,

I came home with a board game. I had 50 bucks,

that was it. See, I spent, what was it? Probably

60 bucks buying like autograph art. Yeah. At

Grand Con. Artist alley can be the best part

of a convention too or the small vendor area

not guys who are Selling Super Mario 3 for like

50 bucks if you go to the people there's a guy

I Want to say his name is rice hat samurai He

does a lot of the smaller conventions here in

Ontario. He does really cool custom geek jewelry

Stuff like that. You'd have to look him up. So

if I got your name wrong, dude, I'm so sorry

There's actually a convention that I'm kind of

interested in and I was kind of wanting to go

last year and this year I'm kind of hedging towards

doing it because Motor City Comic Con which is

like Michigan's, you know... I've heard a lot

of good things about that. I actually know some

people in Toronto that go. I've heard good things

and I've heard bad things. I've heard that they're

just batshit disorganized. I've also heard things

of various people that are... uh doing the autographs

like the the actors i've actually uh heard that

there's there's been uh um because you know michigan

we have stupid ass people that like to piss and

moan and fight um in lines over stuff uh you

know because we're in a close proximity that's

just how we are we don't like people so um and

and they've actually caused actors to just up

and leave Wow So that's what I've heard like

from various people that have gone. So I just

Plus the unfortunate part is it lands on my anniversary

every year And of course this particular year

the one year I was going to get my wife to go

She's pregnant and I'm gonna have a son born

around that time. So not gonna be going this

year But the other convention that is I don't

know if you've heard of Yuma con Anyways, they're

in Detroit as well and they usually hold it like

November Every year and I think they've done

it for like 10 years or something now, but it's

like a 24 -hour like two or three day convention

But they also run a new convention that started

last year, which is one that I was kind of interested

in It's called the Midwest media expo It's essentially

the It's basically all like your your web personalities

and that kind of stuff go It's like a pop culture

event similar to comic conventions, but instead

of only focusing on comics, they do animation,

TV, film, literature, video games, tabletop gaming,

comics, and internet culture. So people like

us. Yeah, it's a lot like Con Bravo that happens

here in Hamilton every year. You should totally

go and pick yourself as a guest. Mind you. If

you think you're nervous talking in front of

your classmates, imagine doing it in front of

a room. Yeah, I'd be better off going in and

experiencing it as a fan first and then trying

to. That's true. And I do recommend you do that

because that's the cool thing about it's never

been easier to be a geek in like decades than

it is now because you could go to these conventions

and odds are you'll meet someone or there's an

experience built for you. Hell, When I was talking

about Gen Con earlier, it's a role -playing convention,

as I mentioned. And there's even a thing for

the wives of the people that go. So if the wives

could give a shit less about what THACO means,

or rolling insanity, they can go hang out and

do crafts and yoga and all sorts of other things

that may be of more interest to them. And the

girls have a blast. Here's the funny part about

the the Midwest Media Expo. They're having the

the guy that's on YouTube called the black nerd.

Oh, yeah He's gonna be there. He was there last

year. It looks like Doug Walker's going And like

Lindsay Ellis and people like that, you know

from Channel Awesome and Yeah, among other people

that are you know going that are regular celebrities

like you know the kid that played Kevin on Supernatural

and stuff like that voice actors and whatnot

but yeah I mean so I mean I'm kind of interested

in going I just I'm not sure if I'm gonna be

able to or not it just kind of depends sometimes

Steve I'm if you can make it up the column Bravo

you have a room I will pop your pop culture cherry

and show you what it's like to be like a guest

and a minor celebrity at one of these things.

Come to Canadia again. Basically, you just gotta

pay for gas and your food. That's it. Yep. End

of July. Make it happen. Because I think it'd

be awesome just to hang out with you and do a...

We could do an Aldrich Geek Live. That would

be awesome. Yeah, I mean, it's so much fun just

being able to... kind of do this stuff now and

like i said i've made some pretty cool friends

along the way and i've had some really awkward

conversations i think my favorite one of my favorite

con memories was asking a random guy in a kilt

at five o 'clock in the morning what was his

favorite animal penis he replied with echidna

wow Oh, yeah, and then we started talking about

dolphin sex These are the conversations you can

have at a 24 -hour convention in the middle of

the night Because you're exhausted. Oh my god

was I ever it's weird though like for like Conventions

like that like magfest. Um, yeah, I sat up with

my friends Pete and Who I'd known for years,

but I met this girl named Krista who turned out

was a friend of mine's girlfriend at the time

That's the type of friendship you make there,

and they can be amazing. Like, you will have

a con family at some point if you go to these

things often enough. Con girlfriend. Yeah, like,

yeah, actually, my wife just mentioned this to

me. Krista is my con girlfriend. We don't do

anything like that, but if I need something,

bang and we just hang out and keep each other

company and make sure you know no one gets bored

or whatever and yeah i love it it's it's really

freaking cool like my friend justin was my my

packs ambassador he brought me into that world

he doesn't go to packs anymore due to like stupid

politics i could really give a shit less about

um ask michael about his con dress yes I wore

a dress at a convention. Oh yeah! In front of

Doug Walker and Lindsay Ellis, actually! Tell

the story! Good times! Uh, yeah, I walked out

on the balcony in my wife's sundress, looked

Doug Walker down from his balcony, I'm like,

Look upon your future! Tremble, Doug Walker!

He's like, That's really fucked up, Mike. I'm

like, You're right it is! Then I went back into

the room. Nice. Yeah, so that was probably in

front of about a thousand or more people. Good

times! This is what happens when you have no

shame. Well, kudos to you. Hey, man. You gotta

have something to wear a dress in front of people.

But, you know, Steve, like I said, I really want

to bring you out to some of these things and

get your geek. I want you to get a geek chubby.

I'll see what I can do. Damn right you will.

Please don't let your son be born in July. No,

he'll be May. Yes, it's enough time to recover,

so it's not quite in the douchebag period. Eh,

should be fine. Could be. Could be still douchebag

territory. Geekcast radio listeners, what is

douchebag territory? Can we get Steve to Canadian

land? I do have a passport. Gee? Make it happen!

We'll set up a donation button. Be awesome! It'd

be so much fun! Think of all I'd love to go Like

I said, you've got a room. So the big expense

is already knocked out He's from Detroit ish.

Oh It's a hop skipping a jump over a bridge my

hands are being made plans are being made I'm

gonna think of like of like other really neat

things That, uh... Actually, it's funny. We were

talking about this before the show, and then

we just always segue into... Conventionville.

Conventionville again. But, um... You've obviously

heard my wife in the background a few times.

And we were talking about this off -air, like,

a few weeks ago. Doing a podcast on being the

geek dad or the geek married guy. And since Blanchard,

I'm pretty sure the only... relationship he's

had in the last 10 years is a puggle former,

no offense. It's not something that, you know,

he can really give a perspective on. And it's

kind of funny because, Steve, your wife, from

what I understand of her, tolerates your geekiness.

She's actually gotten used to my geekiness. She

tolerates the podcasting. My wife, for example,

is geek -lite. However, she can impress the hell

out of me sometimes, and she'll pull out a technical

term from a role -playing game or from Firefly

or something like that. She'll pull out a random,

like, she'll rarely just pull a 180 on me. I'm

like, how the hell did you know that? Sort of

thing. And I don't know, finding that right geek

match, it's hard as hell. Although I don't think

I could date someone as geeky as me, because

I think I'd want to punch them. Well, because

then you wouldn't know everything about that

subject. Oh, yeah. And you wouldn't want somebody

showing you up. And we get an endless debate.

Although, because Blair is a geek in, like, Harry

Potter land, for example, I was pointing out

the various flaws in the magical system in Hogwarts

and how essentially it's a death trap every year.

And we just got into this really weird philosophical

debate about Hogwarts. And that's the kind of

conversations I'm glad I can have, yet I don't

want her telling me about the first appearance

of Batman and when did he first fight Spider

-Man and was it considered canonical or whatever.

Well, like, my wife and I, we have, because I've

gotten her to watch enough comic book movies

because she forces me to watch horror movies.

Dude, I wish I had that! She'll like, it's one

of those, you know, trade -off thing. Now granted

right now, because she's pregnant, she sleeps

a lot, so she sleeps through everything and she

has to re -watch it if she cares enough. So I

save it for when she's not. But she watches The

Flash with me, which is amazing because I didn't

think she would actually watch it, but she's

like, as she put it and as I mentioned before,

she likes it because they have superpowers. Whereas

on Arrow... arrows a dude in a suit Doesn't matter

that he has mad skills and and a team and you

know kind of like Batman has mad skills and in

tack and everything and Is the world's greatest

detective she's like he doesn't have power Superman

would beat him. I'm like Batman without smart

Superman But yeah, so I mean we have geeky arguments

like that at times but most of time I'm the one

sitting there explaining the shows because she

forgets My wife is suffering from superhero burnout.

We watch. We still have to finish Constantine,

because that's... I really hope it gets picked

up again, though I'm not sure. She used to want

to ease into shield with me. Don't watch that.

It sucks, because she sunk a season and a half

into it, and then she just kind of gave up, and

what sucks is now it's really getting good before

Age of Ultron. Now they've introduced the whole

inhumans element. Although she'll watch The Flash

with me. You want to hear something funny? Blanchard

and I were having an argument the other night

about one of those shows. I think it was... He

won't let the grudge die on the fact of Agents

of S .H .I .E .L .D., the fact that they brought

Coulson back. And I can say this because he can't

interrupt me here. Although I'm sure when he

listens to this he'll be shaking his hand at

his screen and banging his head on the desk.

But he can't get past the fact that they revived

Coulson in the show. I'm like, dude, it's the

Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nobody's truly dead.

Well, and he watched eight episodes into the

first season. And then he stopped watching. And

then he has the audacity to sit here and tell

me that there's no explanation for Colson's revival

or any of the other stuff that happens. And I'm

like, dude, you have to freaking watch the show.

Yeah, pretty much. You can't sit here and pass

judgment on it when you haven't watched it. Yeah,

it's like it's like his his Green Lantern Tangent

where he goes every time I talk about something

with Ryan Reynolds, and then he goes to Van Wilder

and I don't know yeah, you see I I hate it when

people do that like for example Blair's called

my bluff More than a few times on certain things

like this For example, I used to think the show

one trill one tree hill was stupid And I know

that's a teen romance thing. But I'm like, all

right, motherfucker, let's give it a shot. So

I went balls deep for six seasons. After that,

it does get pretty fucking stupid. So it's kind

of like Smallville. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it just

kind of tapers off. Like, here's your logical

endpoint. You probably should have just stopped.

But for reasons unknown, you kept going. And

she called me on Veronica Mars. I'm thinking,

all right, I've got no real interest. Whatever.

turned out the show is fucking awesome. And I'll

turn her on to something. And it's always like,

OK, if I'm going to be able to talk shit about

it, I better know what the hell I'm talking about.

Hell, I've even sat through episodes of Grey's

Anatomy, ER, and all this other stupid medical

bullshit. Well, like, some of the shows, I'm

trying to get my wife to watch Blacklist right

now, because we have Netflix, and she can go

back and watch the entire first season. So I'm

trying to get her into that because I really

enjoy the show and I think she would too because

she likes the you know The kind of Hannibal Lecter

ish type characters and in that kind of stuff

So and she like 24 and I kind of equate it that

it's a mix between silence of the lambs and 24

In a sense In weird amalgamation ways anyway,

but Like I I can't stand walking dead Because

to me it's just and I have watched it with her

on occasion Not now not all the seasons, but

I've watched enough episodes with her because

I'm in the same room Is it just too grim for

you? I don't know. It's just too boring to me

It's a lot of character development fact I didn't

expect the walking dead show to be as deep in

character as it is And I know someone's yelling

at the screen telling me there's no character

development right now. I know it's happening

Well, I mean, I kind of wish there was more like

Resident Evil to it than what it currently is

because it's just it's kind of bleh and it's

just I would reach to the screen and punch you

right now for that. I wish Resident Evil was

more serious. Well, I'm not saying that Resident

Evil was good. I'm saying it needs some of that

influx into The Walking Dead to make it interesting

to me. I'm not saying it needs the Great Falls

even as stupid. Yeah. Yeah, like, I'll give you

that. There are some very boring episodes where

nothing really happens but character development.

I just wish the monsters were actually more of

a focal point than having to deal with these

sick, sadistic people that are in their own little

villages. Yeah. It's funny. The whole tagline

to The Walking Dead is don't fear the dead, fear

the living. I guess we'll wait and see what happens

when the spin -off show happens. It'll get canceled.

See, I don't know unless it's supposed to be

a prequel. So they tried doing that was supernatural

They tried doing a spin -off in an episode and

then they were like, oh we're gonna do this spin

-off series And then it got canceled before it

ever hit but look at the flash the back door

pilot with arrow But I think that's a different

situation entirely too though. Yeah, I mean one

has its own case, which is kind of strange Yeah,

I mean it'll be interesting to see what all comes

out of it. I mean, now's a really good time for

horror television. I know there's talk of a Resident

Evil TV series, actually. I can't remember where

I heard that, though. I think... You'll see that

I would probably watch. See, but it depends.

Do they follow... But if they can keep the storyline

closer to the games, instead of closer to the

movie. Or find a happy medium, because honestly,

some... Up until the remake back in 2002, and

now the HD re -release, The Resident Evil story

was a bloody mess. And it's only recently kind

of made sense, but then again, anything after

Resident Evil 4 is frankly stupid. 6, although

I will frankly admit 6 is a guilty pleasure of

mine because it is so ridiculous. You'd have

to play it. Well, see, I can't play games like

that because they just they weird me out. Oh,

yeah. I can't play anything like that because

like where there's dark corners and then creepy

shit jumping out I just it I can't play. Oh my

god. You need to play dead space It's a game

that'll make you drop a load in your pants Play

that game in the dark with the sound up and if

you're alone in the house It's really quiet and

shit that game can freak the shit out of you,

dude I had a hard enough time playing like the

the Batman games having shit jump out at me.

Oh my God, I want you to play Dead Space. I want

you to do a Let's Play series of Dead Space.

Because it is so good. Or stuff like that. Or

hell, even The Last of Us. If you play that,

and you don't go Rambo, and you play it very

stealth -like, that game can be intense as all

shit. Which is amazing. That's one of the best

games of last generation, I think, hands down.

Some people might disagree with me. They are

wrong. But the last of us is one. You know what,

Steve? I'm actually going to look and see if

I have my copy for PS3. And because you wait,

do you have a PS3? Nope. Fuck, I thought you

had one. Shit. Nope, I got a 360. I was going

to give it to you. That and the weird like my

latest consoles like or newest. Welcome to 2007.

Yeah, basically. I can't afford a new console

they cost too damn much and they change too much

well speaking of well each console cycles getting

about Seven to ten years now actually in fact

anymore They're actually talking that this cycle

is only going to be about three years and they're

going to move on I doubt it I really doubt it

like PS4 the architecture is there for it to

be there for a long time same with Xbox one But

it's just a glorified PC Kind of yeah, I mean

I mean because at this point I have an Xbox 360

controller All I have to do is buy it for the

PC and I can play it on there forever Pretty

much. Yeah, I mean like One of the cool things

is you mentioned consoles changing all the time.

I'm actually giving you a console This week actually

I'm giving you a Nintendo 2ds, which is the 3ds

without the 3d function because you know what?

Not very many games use it to its full effect

and it's kind of a gimmick more than it is anything

Which is fine. Like it looks awesome for games

like Star Fox 3d or Luigi's Mansion stuff like

that that it's legit awesome but if you play

games like say Pokemon or Smash Brothers, you

don't need it and The 2ds was meant to be an

entry point into the 3ds game market for more

affordable people so they could play these games.

And now, Nintendo has released the new 3DS XL,

which I currently have, which is not released

for another few weeks. And I don't think a lot

of games are going to use the more horsepower

in it. I know in Japan, there's not that many

games that have it. I think for North America

right now, Majora's Mask uses it, and Monster

Hunter 4 Ultimate, which I've got both of them.

Either yet, you know what those remind me of

the old game and watch The consoles themselves

Yeah, the 2ds 3ds I can see that in fact having

a skin like that might actually be kind of awesome

actually I'm pretty sure it's I mean, it's there

there's you know, like the the the orange Donkey

Kong one that they had yeah Back in the day.

That's basically what the 3ds is There is one

variant. Actually, I'm very glad I waited, but

I kind of wish I didn't. They had one that came

out of GameStop. It was an exclusive. It was

a 3DS XL that looked like a Nintendo. They also

had one that was a Smash Brothers variant. They

had a Yoshi one. Looks so cool. Now, the one

that I got is just plain black, though there

is a Monster Hunter version and a Majora's Mask

version coming out. Although the ones we get

over here in North America, because we didn't

get the smaller new 3DS, which I know doesn't

make any sense, doesn't have the interchangeable

faceplates, which kind of sucks. But there are

tons of websites out there where you can customize

the stickers and everything. I actually spent

like an hour on a website last night trying to

design a Mega Man Airman one for my 3DS, because

I turned into that big of a nerd for like an

hour. But I'm thinking, I really don't want to

cut the vinyl for that. In fact, I'd almost take

it to one of those side places and have them

do it. Like here, here's 20 bucks. Please do

this, because I'm stupid. But I'm glad to give

you this console, because handheld gaming has

never been this good. Well, see, the last time

I've had a console, or a handheld gaming, I had

the Game Boy Advance. Great console. I actually

didn't like that a lot. Because Nintendo, when

they developed first party, almost all their

games are pure aces. Very rarely do you get a

shitty first party game out of Nintendo. And

if you want something just to play on the go,

hell, Steve, when you go to conventions, 3DS

SpotPass is your best friend. You meet so many

cool people from around the world. When I had

my original 3DS at PAX, I had people from Australia,

China, and it was so cool just meeting all these

people. I had famous people on my 3DS. I had

Reggie from Nintendo on my 3DS. I want to say

I had Hideo Kojima, but I can't say that for

certain. And I had let's you know other famous

people that I know people like spoonie and Kyle

a bear and all that shit It was really cool and

you get competitive with that too, but having

this system allows you to play Pokemon Smash

Brothers if there's any game that brings people

together at a convention. It's Pokemon Actually

funny thing at past I keep bringing this up,

but most conventions on tour. There's a Pokemon

There's somebody walking around if you can beat

him in a Pokemon battle or him or her they'll

give you a gym badge Which is really freaking

cool. Yeah, like a girl. I know her name is Sarah

She dresses up as a trainer at conventions And

if you whip out your like 3ds at her and you

say I challenge you you battle it out You win

get a badge It's so much fun to like kind of

do that stuff and like I said handheld gaming

is so good now, and the fact that local wireless

is so good. Like, one of the best experiences

I've had was playing Super Street Fighter IV

on my 3DS or playing Ultimate Mario vs. Capcom

3 on my PS Vita, which is a system that does

not get nearly enough love in North America,

which is utterly tragic, because it's a really

good console, just no one gives a shit about

it, which sucks. Like, there's some really cool

games that are like, Persona for gold and if

you want a role -playing game that'll eat your

life It's so worth it or to play your old PSP

game that you can still download It's pretty

sick or playing ps1 games on the go Like I was

playing Resident Evil 2 on my Vita for like a

long ass time Stuff like that or playing super

or playing Street Fighter alpha 3 and stuff like

that plus on older handheld like like PSP goes

you can hack those To play nintendo games or

if you have an older ds or whatever you can get

flash cards with custom firmware That can run

a game that can run super nintendo games. I remember

I was uh playing turtles in time on it on like

A ds like three or four years ago Which was so

much fun. I'm sorry. Oh just nerd boner. Um But

yeah, I mean Gaming on the iOS and Android it's

cool and the ui is a thing and oculus rift and

all that stuff I Can't I can't get in the PC

gaming or stuff like that. I mean like I said

the most addictive iOS game I have is that WWE

supercard and if they put that on a cartridge,

I'd never stop playing Even if you put microtransactions

in it, which there are right now, but I haven't

spent more than like a dollar would so seriously

play it like a shit ton more and I don't know

just but I'm probably wrong I know there's a

lot of really great gaming out there for I just

can't be bothered I I tend to play PC when I

can but again it kind of depends I prefer my

360 Oh, yeah, because I like the controller I

like I mean I know I can use in the PC and I

have on occasion But like I have on real tournament

3 which I play on my PC because it's free to

play online Whereas on my 360 it costs for the

Xbox live and I don't really care to do it on

my Xbox for the most part Xbox free games though

is pretty sick. Just saying I'm saving up my

Bing rewards points to sign up for Xbox live

I'm gonna try and get you like some codes or

Xbox miles even get you like a free year or something

Because I mean I've never tried it Online gaming

if you play the right games can be fun. I used

to play Mass Effect 3 with a group of my friends

my friend Tiffany Pat and my buddy Brandon and

We used to have our squad actually one of my

tattoos My n7 on my right arm is because we played

Mass Effect 3 so much that was me and Tiffany's

trigger finger or that's our trigger arm because

we're both right -handed when we shoot and we

did that because we're so hardcore Commander

Shepard all the fucking way and playing competitive

like Street Fighter and stuff like that online

sure you'll get you'll get cheesed more than

a few times but it forces you to become better

like I didn't become a competitive gamer until

probably last March when Titanfall came out.

I used to play Street Fighter Online, I'd get

my ass kicked by kids that were obviously way

better than me. And I used to say, play in my

face or not at all, like the whole kind of couch

co -op thing. But when I started playing over

Xbox Live and PSN, I don't know, just something,

if you play the right game, you find that right

rhythm, it really brings out a different spirit

in you. And if you guide it without getting aggressive

about it, it can change how you view online entirely.

For years, I used to say, you know what? I'm

not playing this online. Fuck you. It's not going

to happen. Yet this year, like I said, I played

Titanfall obsessively. I put over 1 ,000 games

into that because I actually showed the stats

and it's sad. I'm playing Call of Duty and Modern

Warfare right now. I'm over 1 ,000 games right

now. and the game came out in November. So first

off, let's take a moment in the podcast to laugh

at me. Okay. And, but it's just, it's weird though.

Cause you meet people that make you want to be

better. As long as you don't let the little kids

get in your head and you realize you're both

here for the same reason to have fun. Sure. There's

the odd person that's going to troll the odd

person that that's going to hack. But for the

most part, It can be a really fun experience,

and people want to encourage you. And there's

also other online games, let's say Hearthstone,

which is that Blizzard card game that's on the

PC. That's got a very good community with it.

Other games like DayZ, not necessarily. There's

a lot of people that are dicks in that game.

Interesting experience in the human condition,

though, let me tell you that. But yeah, I mean...

Online can be a lot of fun if you play with the

right people, or you have someone to walk you

through it the first time. But honestly, dude,

you're missing out so much by not playing on

360 online. But considering your console generation

behind, I wonder what's going to happen in Xbox

Live on the 360 in, say, two years. I imagine

it'll probably get canceled. Or maybe they'll

keep up certain games. And it sucks, though,

because I dumped An amount of money I don't even

want to think about into Mass Effect 3. Thank

God I got a lot of it for free. And I won't be

able to access all my guns and content because

it'll just go away unless they patch it. Oh,

yeah, here's offline horde mode. Have fun. They're

not going to do that. I can assure you they're

not going to do that. And it sucks, though, because

people like you get you miss out the experience

of play playing Gears of War 2 online. We'll

see like I play I've played Diablo 3 online on

my PC. Yeah, I've played DC universe Which I

kind of play both every now and again even recent

We need to play our Star Trek online at some

point I need to reinstall that Here's 17 gigs

were were the patches actually speaking of games

that went free to play recently It was announced

a couple days ago as of this recording that Elder

Scrolls Online is going subscription free in

March and the console version is finally coming

in June. If there ever was a botched MMO launch

that should have been huge, it's that. I love

Bethesda. I love Zenimax. I make no lies about

it. I think they're awesome. Although the Even

Within I thought sucked. But Elder Scrolls, it

should have been Skyrim Online it should be this

massive immersive world Tamriel. You should give

a shit about what's happening. My god My god

did that game suck And you had to pay a $30 a

month subscription on top of that In addition

to buying the game at like 90 bucks hell, do

you think it's actually worth it? for these companies

to actually make the games free to play? It depends

on the experience, because I know Dungeons and

Dragons online with Neverwinter Nights, you can

pay to get stuff, I think, or stuff like, I think

even World of Warcraft is free up until level

20. And it depends on what you're kind of getting

out of it. I guess if you've got a group of friends

or if you can make friends very quickly, I can

see it because then the company will make money

off of in -game purchases like say Guild Wars

for example you buy the game once and it's yours

forever you can play online I don't know how

the revenue model works for that but I think

for certain games it's worth it like if for example

if Marvel ever figured out their MMO online like

like DC it could be awesome and even DC online

could be really cool but I think that's another

botched opportunity well I think it's it's kind

of hindered. And I think it's just because of,

like, in some aspects, it's kind of like piss

poor graphics and implementation. Yeah, like,

just because you have a big property doesn't

mean it's going to be great. Well, I mean, like,

I think I mean, I love the voice cast. I love

the creating your own character thing. I just

I find that some of it just kind of ultimately

sucks. Because it gets repetitive and then some

of the things are so ungodly hard to do. Well

that or you need like a party of like 10 or more

people to go do certain things. Like that's the

thing, I don't like MMOs for that very reason.

You have to be social and yet I just finished

telling you I love social gaming. I don't know,

it makes no sense. Like for example, I know Mike

their booth powers loves destiny But you have

to go to a website nine times out of ten to get

people to do a looking for group I want to do

the raid on Crota or the vault of glass or whatever.

I Couldn't be bothered if I can't play it single

-player. I don't care I like having the option

to have people with me, but I don't want it all

the time I don't I don't like a game if I don't

have the option to do both. Yeah, like I I mean

I could care less about the online thing but

that's because most of the time I don't have

access to actually play it online so to me like

the personal experience of sitting there playing

the game by myself is usually fine. Like I just

got Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi which is

from 2011. I paid 30 bucks for it. I have to

say that Dragon Ball Z games, much like Mario

and Super Smash Brothers, pretty much keep their

value. Because I think even to this date, for

the Wii or PlayStation 2, because I couldn't

buy it for the Wii, but Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and

3 both still cost upward to $40. Yeah, because

they're really good games and people know it,

so they like hang on to them. And I'll probably

eventually pick up Tenkaichi or Budokai Tenkaichi

3 Again, because I used to own it on the PS2

back in the day I still have a Wii so I can still

get it and I think they have it for 360 as well

so I'll probably still get it for that They only

have it for the Wii and the PS2 It sucks, I would

love to have that on 360 I would too, but in

Ultimate Tenkaichi I played it The only thing

that pisses me off about that game is the fact

that When you go through it it There's too many

damn cutscenes That interrupt stuff like you'll

do one move and then there's a cutscene I Rented

that one. So I knew what I was getting into back

when that came out But uh Ultimate Tenkaichi,

I didn't mind it so much because they did explain

some of the story and you did get to unlock stuff

But it seems like a lot of it was hindered on

like Tenkaichi, Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Where it

actually let you play through the damn game And

I feel like I got gypped on some of the characters

because yeah, it has a you can create your own

character thing in this three of them And it

does have slots that are open for like five more

characters that you can unlock, but there's no

extra characters, I checked. And it doesn't let

you have Super Saiyan 4 Goku or Vegeta. It goes

right to Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta. And you do get

to play some of the villains, like Janemba and

Hildegarn from the movies and Metal Kula and

stuff like that, which some of those boss battles

are ungodly difficult. And the buttons seem kind

of nerfed at points, like when you're supposed

to break away from a multi -punch battle. It

says you gotta press all four buttons at the

same time, you know, in repetition to break away.

Well, I've done it once out of the entire time

playthrough of that game. And that was in the

tutorial. Yeah, sometimes. You can get red screwed

on those games. But I mean like overall I enjoy

the game it's just I mean I beat it already but

I've only had it a week but it's I mean it's

shit like that that bothers me with those but

I wanted to get back into the fighting Dragon

Ball Z games and I know I can play it online

too so that's kind of exciting but I'm kind of

hoping when the new one comes out it'll be better

yeah i'm open i'm hoping to get a review copy

of that so i'll let you know how it is yeah you'll

have to let me know because i think that that's

coming up for 360 as well i'm not 100 sure on

that but although you sitting in the previous

console generation you do sit in a rather unique

place because right now all the games are going

down exactly you're gonna see now is the time

to build a library. I mean, I remember when GameStop

was liquidating their GameCube, their Xbox and

their PS2 libraries, I picked up gems for like

under 10 bucks because they didn't know what

they were sitting on or it was an underrated

game or stuff like that. So right now, having

a 360, you got some really good stuff. And please,

for love of God, tell me you've got Skyrim. I

do not. Steve Steve Steve Steve Steve it's one

of those things when you're poor you buy what

you know, you're going to like Skyrim Skyrim

is a game that will eat you It will consume you

My wife just said she was a Skyrim widow for

the better part of almost two years I didn't

platinum that game until late last year. No That's

what she would cry. I remember setting up a Christmas

morning. She's like like we gotta go to my parents

can't dragon It was that and I filled my house

with cheese I'm not kidding. I filled an entire

cottage with cheese Now do you collect all the

achievements when you play the games You know

what? I've only recently started doing that like

I've only because I don't care about the achievements

I care about unlocking all the characters. You

want content as opposed to accolades? Yeah, um,

yeah like with skyrim some of them they're not

hard to get you just have to be patient with

them those stuff like halo get 30 kills without

dying yeah that's never going to happen for me

well and it's it's like playing the batman arkham

games where you have to do the riddler stuff

if it's in my path i'll get it but i'm not going

to go out of my way to go get them and some of

them are so damn difficult to get i just don't

care yeah i will do those If I know the content's

interesting, like for example, I'll do anything

in my power to unlock story content. Like, I

care about what's going on. If it happens to

unlock something cool along the way, awesome.

Like, although right now, it's funny you mention

that. Just before we were recording, I was playing

Saints Row 4 Gat out of Hell. And I started doing

achievements and thinking, well you know what,

I've come this far. And I've got the game 95

% beat. And I've got like 70 % of the achievements.

I'm thinking, you know what? I might be able

to pull this off. And I don't know. Sometimes

I will do it. Sometimes I won't. I've cleared

three games in my life 100%. One was a kid's

game. And I feel bad about even admitting that

one. It was, um. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

based on the new Nickelodeon series from the

Xbox 360 last year the year before last How was

that game? Fucking terrible. Oh I'm glad I didn't

buy that then. Yeah It looked bad I was I was

kind of gauging because like a lot of the problem

I have is like I'm trying to figure out if it's

worth me actually putting You know the money

into buying something So a lot of the time like

like the Dragon Ball Z the Batman Arkham The

Unreal tournaments like those I know I'm for

sure going to play again So I always buy those

but like back back in the wild days of game journalism

or at least More in the internet age. It was

kind of hard to even trust the reviews you get

on certain things Like I've played some games

that people can't fucking stand. I think they're

great. I think they're fun But yeah, I mean there's

a lot of good gaming I think you're gonna be

able to get into in fact I'm actually trying

probably later on this year when I'm in a little

bit better of a financial spot I'm gonna send

you a care package or 360 games like alright.

Here's my personally curated collection for you

Please play these and if you don't Beat the shit

out of you That's what like I'm saying dude Skyrim

will beat you and it's a game. I actually it's

funny once again at a press event I'm sitting

there with my able -bodied youthful ward Scotty

do and we're talking with one of the developers

from Bethesda and in a very unprofessional way

I don't care. Oh, yeah Giants arrows. Yeah, whatever

and I'm just kind of listening and Scotty's sitting

there. He's ripped God, really? Alright, cool.

So that was in September. November rolls around,

and I get the game about three weeks early. I'm

not playing anything, I'm done with Batman, I'm

done with all the big releases of the year that

I got so far, and I throw it in my 360. I start

the game at one o 'clock at night. Guess what

time I went to bed? Two days later. Uh, about

four o 'clock the next day. And I was like, oh,

well my, that is the sun. It is setting again.

Shit. And I just, I couldn't believe how much

I got into it. Normally, I don't like fantasy

games. I don't like Lord of the Rings stuff.

I like the movies, but I don't care for the games.

And Skyrim was the game that changed my opinion

on all that. Because everything you do has a

consequence. Hell, if you walk into the first

town and kill a certain person, That entire quest

line is gone from the game. You can fuck yourself

right over if you want, but the game doesn't

give you any restrictions. You can do pretty

much whatever you want when you want. Sure, certain

things have, like you have to be of a certain,

um, accomplish certain things to trigger other

things, but other than that, though, you can

wander around the game and steal cheese the entire

time if that's what you want to do. Or you can,

uh, It's so intense and it's so weird, but it's

so much fun. And if you don't want to get it

for 360, it's almost always on sale on Steam.

Grab it. Play it with a 360 controller. I do.

And put the mods into it. Your computer may cry,

but it's so worth it. When you can see these

beautiful scenes happening with you. The first

time you fight a dragon in the snow, it lands

and kicks up a whole gust of stuff. and you blow

this thing halfway across the screen with a dragon

shout let me tell you there's nerd chubbies and

then there's nerd woodies this is a nerd woodie

so awesome anyway i think we've riled on about

video games enough yeah i can go for hours and

i'm sorry no that's fine it's my secret passion

that's your secret fuck that we we did have uh

um You know Mike and Microsoft look really the

only thing that's that's memorable from the whole

Microsoft press conference They had the other

day is that? Yes free upgrades for Windows 7

8 and 8 .1 users and you can stream Xbox one

game to add to any device Which is awesome. Yeah,

so basically you've caught up to the PlayStation

4 and the Vita Awesome about time and the fact

that Cortana is gonna be part of the operating

system, which I think is actually kind of cool

It's definitely a better idea than Microsoft's

battery -operated buddy, better known as Bob.

See, honestly, man, if Microsoft offered it to

iOS users, hey, pay $20, you can now have Cortana

on your phone. Bang, done. I don't know - Instead

of Siri? Fuck Siri, I want Cortana. First off,

she sounds sexier. Two, that's Cortana! That's

the Master Chief's person, that's freakin' awesome.

That must be one of Microsoft's developing those,

like, 3D goggles. Oh, man. So they can have Cortana

come alive. That would be so cool if Cortana

would just - and they got that holographic display

shit. Yeah, if she just appeared, and like, hello

user, what do you need today? That would be awesome,

and if it - She's your holographic phone doctor.

Oh, my god, make that shit happen. See, I'm -

I'm fairly excited with this. I'm excited to

see what Spartan, the browser, is going to bring

to things now. So I'm kind of hoping we see some

improvements on the Xbox One end of things. Like

when Windows 10 launches, they'll update some

stuff on Xbox One. So maybe we get the Spartan

browser with flash support, for the love of Christ.

And stuff like that. I'd love to see that. I

think that'd be freaking wonderful. So yeah,

I mean there was that kind of what else happened

this week People might give a crap about actually

kind of a slow news week I'll say that entirely

because I did find a ton of shit, but Yeah, I

mean basically, you know the fact that you know

Batman vs Superman arts coming out and little

trickles Batman maybe in Suicide Squad Deadpool

starts filming in March Yeah, another girl being

another person being pulled from glee to a superhero

dim Fantastic four trailer confirmed to be a

part of Kingsman movie in February I'm gonna

wait for you to I don't give a shit enough Oh,

supposedly it's not that bad. The one director,

the guy I think he directed Kick -Ass or something

said, or no, asked my first class, that Matthew

Vaughn said, you know what, it's not that bad.

You know what's funny? All of the Fox and Sony

and all their company, you know, involvements

are gonna be total shit once Marvel reboots their

universe by having Galactus eat it all. I think

that'd be awesome. Cuz they're playing the entire

like DC convergence thing where they're like

meshing all the different universes together

to create You know this one continuity and so

the 616 and the you know unlimited or whatever.

Oh, yeah with the whole secret wars thing Yeah,

I think their version of convergence I'm really

hoping miles Morales becomes spider -man and

stays spider -man They'll probably have him and

Peter Parker there I kind of think it'll be like

Highlander and there could be only one. But they'll

find a way to bring Peter Parker back if Miles

Morales doesn't work out. They'll call him Peter

Porkard. You know what? The amazing Spider -Ham

has to stay incognito. Yeah. Him and Howard the

Duck. Yeah, so they've had that. They've had

the, you know, the... The talks of Beverly Hill's

cop relaunch in Detroit not part of plans unless

the script improves saying that Betty Murphy

won't do it. Unless it's better. Well, he's like,

what? Like, how old is Eddie Murphy? He's got

to be over 50. He's over 50, I'm pretty sure.

Yeah, I'm not going to believe that Axel Foley.

A fat Axel Foley? Yeah, I'm just not seeing it

like you'd have to have a new young actor. Take

it all in. It's not like there's any lack of

funny black actors in Hollywood right now. Well,

my whole thing is Judge Reinholdt is old as fuck.

See, have him back, but as the police chief.

I think he would be at this point, because the

other guys are all dead. Yeah. Is John Aston

dead? No, he's not. Although he was retired in

the movie God. Yeah. And then, you know, of course,

You know, like we mentioned all the Microsoft

crap and then The whole thing about the Lazarus

pit not being used and arrow Which like I said,

I've seen the episode I watched it before we

recorded and it's such a bullshit cop -out Like

I don't even know what the hell they did. It's

He's okay now Yeah, it's I was at least hoping

that it would be like a like half season long

of you know I'm still sure it'll be that long

before he actually comes back to Starling City

But it's just it's ridiculous, and they're getting

closer to the atom actually And then you know

heroes reborn Zachary Levi is gonna be the lead

Interesting is Hayden Panetteer gonna come back

or the guy? I'm gonna guess no, but the only

the only Cast member besides him that's gonna

be in it is Noah Bennett. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so

HRG Yeah, it's they're gonna have the horn room

glasses. I see I think him and hero were some

of my favorite characters Like, I liked Hero,

I liked Sylar, I liked the other characters.

I liked Peter in there only for the fact that

he didn't have to eat their pieces, you know,

of their brain to get the powers until they,

like, nerfed him and then he can only do one

at a time. I liked, you know what, my nickname

for Peter for the first season was Sponge. That's

all he did was just randomly take powers. Although

one of the best arcs in that show, but they completely

fucked it up. was when Siler was starting to

become a good guy. That would have been a great

path to redemption story. But no, they fucked

it up. Yep, they screwed up that whole show.

That whole first season was crap. Yeah, the first

season was cool, second season had its moments,

third I thought was great, and the fourth season

was... stupid. So, so, so stupid. But I mean,

I'm hoping that this actually turns out well

because I did enjoy heroes But it's it's gonna

be 13 episodes and it's a new standalone story

arc But it'll still be glad nice to see the horn

room glasses back because To me I felt like he

was like a major part of the show even with not

having powers Yeah, absolutely. I really hope

although I hope in some way they address what

happened to the other characters like Claire

like parker stuff like that i think it'd be cool

they all die and they pull a men in black and

they they use a giant a giant uh memory eraser

there we go they were all neutralized i can deal

with that yep sentinels that'd be so cool um

but yeah uh i think that's pretty much everything

yeah so i hope you guys have liked just me and

steve waxing poetic and me pipping out cons like

they're sitting on the corner. Even though we

never actually addressed the entire being married

and geek, you know. I think we kinda did, but

it's something we can easily expand upon later.

Yeah. Like, I'd like to get my wife on here at

some point, so maybe some night when she's not

working the next day, we'll bring her out here

and we'll just have a conversation, because...

She brings me down the earth with stuff, but

at the same time Here here's something fantastic

and awesome. This is way better than stupid rom

-com number 12 And I don't and I don't say that

to be sexist because she has show me some pretty

cool shit, but Come on man robots. Well, I do

have to give my wife this one prop I'm it's the

reason why I like supernatural See my wife trying

to get me into supernatural And I just couldn't

care. But maybe I'm not in the right mood for

it. But you told me Veronica Mars? I marathon

that shit. We caught Supernatural after the first

season was already aired. We went to a video

store. Yes, we have those still. Although there

are a few in far between but we went to this

one and we rented the entire first season of

the show And I'm like I'm not watching that that

looks like shit and it looks like horror and

then she had me watch it She's like, that's good.

Isn't it? I was like, yeah and We marathon the

first season and we've been watching it as it

airs ever since so season 2 to 10 and I'm wondering

what the hell they're gonna do with the season

11, but it's the first CW show to go over that

but In my wife's defense, she got me, like I

mentioned very early on, she got me into all

these food shows. She got me back into Survivor

after being absent for like 10 years. So I'm

glad we have that. And I got her into The Flash.

And she watched a season and a half of Ache of

Shield. So maybe, and she watched Constantine

with me and she likes that. And she likes Doctor

Who and Walking Dead. So you know what? I think

it turned out okay. I think we both turned out

even on this one. Um, so what do we want to talk

about next alter cake or I guess we just kind

of swing through the fences whenever we five

minutes before the record Yeah, we can do that.

I will ask the the listener question. Sorry for

not getting into those this week. We've just

run a little long Yeah, so I'm going to ask these

questions. Are you excited for the changes to

Windows by Microsoft? Or do you not really give

a rat's ass at this point? If so, what size of

rat do you not give a rat's ass about? Yes, how

big of a rat's ass do you care? And then the

other thing is, this is more of a fun speculative

one that I'm kind of curious to see. If you could

have any versus film of any characters, who would

you pit to the death? Who would win? Robocop,

Terminator, Robocop. What? What? That's my dream

project. I'm actually kind of excited to see

what the answer is to that because that's kind

of a new question and it's fun. Even though I

mistakenly asked the same question at one point

on... last week's about you know what what tech

item would you like to see in existence and Andre

was like wasn't the tech question asked before

and He's probably right. I will probably did

Do it in Scotty's voice For you and I, I know

we're gonna do another Future Imperfect in like

a week or two. I know for Twig we do Bill Murray

at some point next week. Yeah, that's right,

we got him tied up in our basement. That'll be

the Twig Topics Show for January. Can you guys

beat him and make him actually do good movies

again? See, I don't know, he's so weird and I

kinda wanna find out why. Because he'll do awesome

then shit, awesome or awesome and nobody saw

it. Well, like cuz I think like the entire like

the whole last decade I think he's done shit

for films loss and translation I Haven't seen

that one. So I can't say anything about that,

but I'm saying like all the other ones I've seen

that he's done in this decade or kind of See

loss and translation and then come back. That's

your homework for the week And I'll watch something

that you recommend to me, I don't know that's

right You go watch Lost in Translation like a

good film critic. Anyway, so this is your show,

so close this fucker out. Will do. Will do. Alrighty,

so if you'd like to interact with the show, you

can call the voicemail line 502 -526 -5821. You

can email us, feedback at geetcastradio .com.

You can post your comments on the episode post.

On the website, you can get ahold of us on Twitter,

at GeekCastRadio, hashtag AlteredGeek. My Twitter

handle is at SCP -21, and yours is sir. Mine

is at Birdman Dodd, and I tend to reply at all

times of the day or night because I don't sleep.

Yeah, that's the same thing for me. So, as always,

get AlteredGeeky with the AlteredGeeks. See you

next time.