Lawn Tractors, Arkham Knight DLC, and Micro PCs

Stand by to have your wallet emptied by a tractor

bin. F***! Hello and welcome - Welcome to Altered

Geek Unlimited, episode 92. I'm your host, Steve

Megatron Phillips, and joining me this week is...

Michael Booth, Inja Powers. Hello, hello. Hi,

how are you doing? Eh, pretty good. Been up to

anything interesting? I've been doing the superhero

class thing still. That's almost over. We get

to... We had to design our villain this past

week and Then this week we get to come up with

a plot line and why they're fighting Here on

villain so it's kind of interesting and then

I'm guessing for the the final part of the project

You have to like come up with like a one -shot

comic type thing You have to do art and everything

for it or um They have this website called hero

machine for the artistically inclined people

that can't draw people so which would be me I

can make goofy graphics all day long but I cannot

draw unless it's like a website or something

that's boxy in format I could draw a transformer

before I could draw a person so squares you're

really good with squares I can use straight lines

really well well that's okay that's why I can

I I I in Middle school I pissed off the art teacher

because we were supposed to do self portraits

And you drew yourself as a square no, I I drew

Rodimus Prime From the animated movie I brought

a Like two by three inch picture and then I blew

it up I did like I Don't know however big it's

it was like a two foot by three foot image He

wasn't very happy with me. I used to be really

good at I I guess I don't know what the professional

term for it is but the best way I can describe

it is called transcribing artwork Like I could

reproduce a drawing from like a comic book or

Well, pretty much anything that was drawn I could

reproduce it like freehand not tracing it but

freehand. Yeah I know there's a technical term

for it and Joe Reed probably knows what it is,

but I just consider it transcribing artwork.

I used to be pretty decent at that when I was

younger, but I used to be able to look at action

figures and draw them too, but that I couldn't

do. I used to draw some of my Star Trek figures

that I had. I remember the last drawing I was

working on and I don't ever think I finished

it, but the last thing I ever remember Drawing

Like actually sat down was taking time to draw

was a picture of Colossus from the Fatal Attractions

X -Men series mm -hmm where he was he was a quote

-unquote bad guy had like Pretty he had a pretty

cool -looking costume. He had like this flowing

red cape. He looked you know Like a badass and

uh, that was the last thing I remember uh drawing

I don't know what Like changed in my life at

that point, but that was like the last thing

I remember working on. I never finished it It's

and that was Man 17 years ago So like now like

i've made like other attempts to sit down and

draw things. Um But usually they end up looking

like a child's finger paint So I Usually don't

spend too much time on it. I don't know I I like

to Give out I like to try and give direction

as to like what my vision for something is and

then have somebody else make it Yeah, that's

usually the easier route well you just you You

find the people that are good at what you're

trying to do and then you have to be able to

tell them what you're trying to do so they can

do it for you. So you mean what TFG1 Mike does

to me every week? Well, I was kind of like how

I asked you for help on the website that I'm

working on on Tuesday. It's like I know what

I want to do. but I'm not familiar enough or

patient enough to do it. Or working with Joe

on the artwork for Geek Stuff Garage Cast. He's

better at drawing than I am. I mean, he's an

art teacher for crying out loud. And I bought

some of his art, it's good. But I can do like

sketches or... Tell him what my idea for a banner

or a logo is and then he can he can run with

that then after I've like told him what I wanted

so Alright, that's that's kind of how I work

now It's like I just kind of surround myself

with people that can do what I can't and then

I get them to do What I want So luckily I have

nice friends and that that you know playing do

a spare their time Yes Yeah, other than that

that's that's pretty much all I've been doing

and then Kind of gearing up for Grand Con and

then there was another convention. I was kind

of looking at Trying to get passes for And it

takes place in August and it's somewhere in like

the Detroit area of Michigan I just Can't for

the life of me remember what the name of it was

Can't be the Motor City Comic Con because that

just happened Yeah, that one always falls on

my anniversary weekend so I can't go. Because

I know I can get passes to that. It's bad timing.

I think next year it will actually fall before

my anniversary. Yeah, so I would be able to go.

They're not on the same weekend for once. No,

I can't remember the name of it though. I was

trying to find it today and for whatever reason

I lost complete track of it and I thought I had

saved something to where it was and didn't and

I filled out their stupid form on their website

and Again, it just one of those things that it

disappeared afterward. He didn't get any like

email confirmations or anything no search for

No, it didn't say anything. Rob Paulson was at

it last year, they had a bunch of people like

that, so I was trying to find where the heck

it was, and I don't even remember what day I

did it. It was some day last week, but I look

at so much crap throughout the day that it just

disappears. Hmm. I don't know. It's like all

traces of it disappeared so I can't find it anymore.

So hey, I'm not I'm not big into the con Circuit

unless it's like the only ones I'm aware of ones.

Well, yeah, I'm aware of like grant grant cause

a big one I'm aware of grand con just because

of where we are and how we've been involved with

it I'm but like E3, PAX, Comic -Con? Those are

the ones I'm familiar with. The larger ones.

Yeah, exactly. Also, case in point, the ones

that cater to stuff that I like. Like, I'm not

familiar with the Transformer ones. They all

sound the same. When people are talking about

them, I don't know the difference between BotCon

and TFCon. I don't know, like, I always think

it's like... I always think like... And they're

talking about BotCon. I always think they're

talking about TFCon. When they're thinking about

TFCon, I always think they're talking about BotCon.

And I never know which one's which. But that's

just part of being a nerd, right? You pay attention

to what interests you and not the entire culture.

Because we're ignorant like that. Yeah. Some

of us, yeah, that's... I mean, all of us are

ignorant to certain aspects of the fandom, it

just depends on what part. I'm going to the low

version of the difference between TFCon and BotCon.

TFCon is the Canadian one, and it's unofficial,

and it's more fan friendly. BotCon is money hungry,

from what I've gathered. They have their generic

get in you know admission, but it's the same

as the admission to get into TF con and then

you have to pay for everything else And it's

the official one by Hasbro So I Just yeah, it's

one of those scenarios where I just I don't I'm

going to experience it for the first time But

because of money limitations, I can't do everything

I was hoping to do Right, it's like $800 to get

the entire complete like vibe of of BotCon. Are

you sure it was in August? This convention? Yeah.

Yeah, I just can't remember what the heck it's

called. Oh cuz I found one that was October 29th

to November 1st What was that one? That's like

YumaCon? Nope. Oh, okay That's an anime one.

Well, you know, I never you never know I I look

enough at all the conventions that I vaguely

know what's going on with a lot of them. I just

I just thought I thought I'd Google Detroit conventions

Let's see if August Returns anything August 2015

and this makes for great August 8th through the

12th ASAE Nope probably not Anyways Conventions

yay. Yep. So anyways, I was hoping to get into

one of those and try something different With

you know What what we've done so far I'd like

to just go around and experience some other ones

since we're not getting a booth this year It's

kind of one of those Well, it's saving us a little

bit of money And I don't know, I. We'll get to

wander around. Yeah, I I'm looking I think I'm

just looking forward to actually kind of being

able to hang out and not have to be glued to

a table. Yeah, I think that's kind of because

let's be honest. I mean, like the last the two

times we've got is not that we have a bad time

is that we go and we can't all go like out to

lunch or. There's always somebody babysitting

the table. Yeah, and it just makes it not fun

to, you know, hang out. I mean, I will say the

first year, I think it was more fun at the table

because we actually had people stopping by. Well,

I think we did better the second day last year

when we had. Unfortunately, you were there. The

one day you were there, it wasn't we didn't do

that great. And the next day we showed up. Well,

what we did is We had Joe bring all of his controllers

from home, so there was something there to grab

people's attention as they walked by, and we

were able to talk with them about it. We even

did a poll for the Off the Cuff podcast about

what controller was everyone's favorite. Anyone

that stopped and picked up a controller, we'd

ask them, what's your favorite video game controller?

and then we talked about the results and off

the cuff. We had something to grab people's attention

and from there we just like really quickly thought

of ways to, something to do for this year, but

when it came time to actually do that, I was

getting mixed stuff from my guys and I feel like

more stuff gets accomplished through verbal communication.

Like them through like messaging and that's one

of the things I've I'm trying to do now with

my guys and Like especially like on Tuesday when

I was like when I asked you if you're like just

available for a second Like that was I got way

more done You know in like the 30 40 minutes

that we were on Skype with my site then if I

had like tried to do that with you through Twitter

Mm -hmm. Yeah, that would take him forever. So

But yeah, next year, I think we'll be better

prepared. We're actively, I mean, from a geek

cast, not geek cast, sorry, geek stuff perspective,

where Joe doesn't like this word because it sounds

corporate to him, and it is kind of corporate,

but there's the whole synergy thing going on

with the geek sale and the geek cast. Joe and

Danner are actively out there, like, hitting,

like, their comic book store. Like, I'm pretty

sure you've listened to episode one, maybe? Yeah,

I did. But we're going to be running, like, ad

copy for, like, the comic book store Tardis out

in Grand Rapids when they have specials and stuff

like that. And Joe wants to do something where

he is going to go out and potentially interview

Collectors in the Grand Rapids area or cool or

like the Michigan area He wants to like he wants

to come up with a list of like 20 questions or

something like that and sit down and do like

one -on -one interviews with people that are

collectors or or That run the collector shops

in Michigan to like spotlight them I think the

guys like I just want to do a podcast and I want

to do something where I hang out with my friends,

but I think Joe and Danner have jumped on board

in terms of making it like the homegrown podcast

Like the you know made in Michigan podcast Yeah,

so it'll be interesting to see what happens and

you know I'm working on stuff like behind the

scenes to make that happen for them, but Yeah,

I think next year might be different We said

I know we talked right after I got you know I

told you not to get the tables We talked about

actually doing something next year, like getting

tables for next year and stuff like that. But

we'll see what happens because it could come

up again and be like, no, not going to happen.

Yeah, never know. Have you been up to anything

else? Not really, just kind of keeping up with

the news and stuff lately. Personally I have

decided to get off of my ass and start Working

out quote -unquote Excuse me. I've I've started

I've jumped on that whole trend of the couch

to 5k Okay Just one second But I I just finished

week one so like basically what I got an app

for my phone the way this works is they If you

it's way easier if you have an app because it

does all the stuff for you, it's both you're

supposed to be like You walk for a minute and

30 seconds and then you jog for a minute and

You do that for 30 minutes Three times a week

like and for the first week. It's all the same

you you walk for one minute for a minute 30 your

run you run or jog for a minute and then it switches

back you go back and forth for 30 minutes and

then next week they Swap change up the times

for you. So maybe the next week you're they slowly

they're gonna whittle down the amount of time

that you spend walking and Increase the amount

of time that you spend running and the idea is

is that if you keep up with this three times

a week with the regiment that in nine weeks you

should be running like three miles in 30 minutes.

So I mean, there are ways, obviously you can

do this like by, you can just download a schedule

and time it out yourself and go about it. But

I decided to invest in an app on my phone so

that I can take it with me. And it just like,

it tells me. Like when I'm walking, it'll show

a timer for like a minute and 30. And then like

if I'm wearing headphones, it'll say, okay, now

jog. And it'll change and start a timer for one

minute. And then it'll be like, okay, now you

walk for a minute and 30 seconds. Just makes

it a lot easier. So you're not like going like,

what do I have to do now? So I'm actually surprised

that I've been able to do it. I'm not doing three

miles. Basically they just set a 30 minute timer

for you and you go as fast as you can. The most

I've been able to do is like two and a quarter

miles. So in 30 minutes, so There's that I've

been Working on the geek stuff garage cast trying

to get a website up and running so we're not

just relying on Facebook and Libsyn Again, thanks

to you for helping me set that up and no problem.

Shout out to my friend Jason for the the free

posting And then The one thing I wanted to talk

about last week, but I didn't think it really

fit Just cuz I don't know. I there's a guy I

feel really bad. I can't remember his name. He

was talking to me about it on Twitter About my

lawnmower that I bought I got a new lawn tractor

Probably about a week and a half ago now two

weeks ago, maybe Like oh it was a tune master

Tim Do you know him? Yep. Yeah, he was I I he

was asking me some questions about I was tweeting

about my new lawn tractor and he was actually

a Surprisingly, he was actually asking me about

that that stuff I was kind of surprised that

anyone cared in my sphere outside of my family

I picked up a new lawn tractor. I picked up a

52 inch cutting deck Hustler Raptor which you

can hear all of us on Geek stuff garage cast

laugh hysterically at the name hustler Because

we're all a bunch of 12 year old boys over there

Apparently we are here too But I I love it I've

mowed the lawn just about every other day except

for the weekends like I'll mow on Friday and

then I'll mow again on Monday Wednesday Friday

my wife thinks I'm insane for the amount of time

I spend on it, but it's like night and day from

the lawnmower I had before that I was using the

I mowed three times with this like craftsman

riding mower from like probably the late 80s,

early 90s that my dad had found on like the side

of the road and like restored. And I was just

like, I'm not I'm not having this. And then that

The company hustler they decided to they offered

a really good financing special like zero percent

for 48 months so I was like, uh I get this awesome

zero turn lawnmower and I can actually afford

it so Grab one of those and I i'm honestly just

having a blast with it Supposedly it'll mow an

acre in about 30 minutes I The fastest I've been

able to do it was today Was I did like my front

yard the side and the back of my house at about

45 minutes nice And that's with like going around

obstacles Like cutting around trees and stuff

like that now I have a and the lawn doesn't look

as nice today because I was going I was going

for speed today and The last couple times I wasn't

doing that. I was just going for like nice straight

lines I mean, it's still like relatively straight

and this is probably really boring for anyone

that's listening But today I was just going for

sheer speed because I was like eventually I'll

get to this like I'll get to the perfectly straight

lines going like full speed and It's every time

I go out. It's just like over like way too fast

like man. I want to keep I want to keep riding

my lawn tractor So But that's about it for me

I mean, I guess we can transition into the stuff

that we want to talk about At least at least

with your zero turn it's a lot more fun than

I had just a riding mower When I moved to my

house, it actually came with it and I had to

have my dad help get it running It was too much

of a problem to keep running. So I ended up just

selling it and buying a push mower Because really

our yard wasn't big enough to need the riding

riding mower, but it would have it was it was

kind of counterproductive because Because it

wasn't zero turn I wasted so much more time circling

back around to hit like this little sliver of

grass. Yeah That's so I yeah, I I just was like,

um, yeah, no Thanks that yeah, that's one of

the reasons why like I even like the big even

with the Big yard that I have and I'm pretty

sure I get this from my dad who like Takes massive

amounts of pride and the way that his lawn looks

Like he taught me like how you mow the lawn so

that it looks nice like all the different like

cuts and that you cut a different direction each

time and so the graph, you know all this stuff

and For some reason like the I again I only gave

it like three or four times with the with the

riding mower But I could never I could get the

nice straight lines but when it came time to

like You know turn the tractor around it looked

like I was a crazy person driving across my lawn

and The only way to do the only way to make it

look nice was to waste tons of time cutting across

the lawn To make another cut like with the zero

turn I can zero turn worse a lot like a push

more, right? You can just turn right back around.

Yep and start cutting again. And that's that

that makes it look super nice versus the rotting

mower. You have to have like a huge turning radius

and it doesn't ever it just doesn't. It's almost

like you have to like go back around and then

just slither back around and follow the same

path just to make it look decent. Yep. But one

of the things I started doing at the end was

I would do two cuts around the outside and then

I cut my I would divide my yard in half. So like

I would go down one side and I'd cut across half

the yard and mow up the other and then come over

Like half the yard and you know cut like and

do it that way so at least it was Kind of a zero

turn thing because I wouldn't be traveling Across

my yard to make a cut on the outside. I'd be

it'd be almost cutting continuously in kind of

like this like circle ish Thing like smaller

like cut my yard and have a entire hard to explain

anyone's mowed their lawn probably knows what

I'm talking about But with the zero turn it's

you know You just go down and you flip it around

and you and you come right back up the same way

that you Right next to the line that you just

made in your yard. I Will say I feel a little

weird and mowing my front yard with it Because

it only takes about five passes So still that's

cool But it's really it's just it's it's really

nice and I guess the big thing about this about

the the zero turns is that they're not regulated

by the government really riding mowers and Push

mowers are regulated to where the blade it's

called the blade tip speed Now I was sold this

I don't know if this is a line of bull or not,

but I was sold this by my dad So I tend to believe

this and the marketing speak on the website and

by the dealer that sold me the tractor push mowers

and riding mowers The blades can't at the at

the very end of the tip. The blades can't spin

any faster than like 10 000 rpm So that's called

the blade tip speed is like 10 000 And on the

zero turn mowers they can one they go like their

top speed is almost twice as fast as a riding

mower Like I'm talking to just like straight

ground speed and the blades are unregulated.

So the tip speed on my on my zero turn and Other

zero turns is like 18 to 19 ,000 So the blades

spin like twice as fast as a riding mower And

I don't I have no clue why one's regulated and

the other one isn't but I just know that it Cuts

the hell out of my yard and unlike the craftsman

and this last thing I'll say so we're not boring

too many people Unlike the craftsman riding more

the grass doesn't come out and like my first

started mowing my yard Well, yeah when I first

started mowing my lawn I waited just a little

bit too long to mow it the first time and It

looked like I had a farm because the grass would

come out the side of the deck But it wouldn't

shoot it. It would just like it would hit the

grass like laying next to it and just like stick

there. So it looked like I had a farm and I was

like doing like bales of hay or wheat, like just

knocking it down. And you could see where I had

like the lines that I had mowed because there

was a pile, like a line of dead grass going up

and down the yard. When I switched to using the

zero turn, it took that stuff and shot it across

the yard. Like it I have not seen it. It does

not generate clumps of any kind It just throws

anything that gets underneath the deck. It just

throws it out the side So at least it lays evenly

across the yard so I can like dry out nicely

and become fertilizer again And in my defense

I've only when I've used it I've only mowed the

lawn once like like I cut I do one pass on my

lawn But it mows so fast that in the future when

I get better at it I feel like I could do two

passes and there would be no clippings left like

I have I all of a sudden know why like Like Landscaping

companies, you know, they the lawns look the

way they do where it's like they've got the straight

line and then they have the diagonal cut Like

one of those I don't know if it's always the

straight one or the diagonal one. But one of

those is just to Take care of all the clippings

that you just made with their with your first

pass Yeah, that's all I'll say about pulling

the lawn unless I'll be interested to see if

anything shows up in the comments because I'm

I'm like in love with that. I refuse to call

it a lawnmower. I call it a tractor Basically

it is yeah, and I also refused to say that I

sit on it I mean lawnmower IC is like something

you push. Well, yeah, but you know, I mean but

a riding mower, I mean, yeah I'm just saying

like I consider it like a actual tractor and

not like a riding lawn mower So I feel like that's

a disservice. I also feel like saying that I'm

mowing the lawn with it. Is it a disservice?

I Prefer to think that I am styling my lawn You're

giving it a haircut so it's it's a lot of fun

to drive I I'm open invitation Steve you want

to come drive it you're more than welcome to

So that's all I'll say about that and that's

all I've been doing And I can use this to transition

into like talking about topics because if you

don't mind The only other thing I did this week

is I hit my breaking point with Batman Arkham

Knight Yes I think it was Tuesday. I was at work

at the theater working on stuff and I stumbled

across an article earlier in the day on Polygon

and it was an opinion piece by Ben Kuchera, and

I apologize if I butchered his name, but the

headline was Batman Arkham Knight is the latest

release to give the finger to people who buy

at lunch. And basically I what I I don't have

a problem pre -ordering game pre -ordering games

is not an issue to me It's the season pass and

the DLC announcements before a game comes out.

That's the stuff that bothers me But what this

article did is except I preorder almost everything

from Amazon Just because I like it being shipped

to my house on day one and I don't have to do

anything It just comes to me because I'm lazy

like that But anyways, I I think I believe it

started on reddit, but they posted an article

containing the same information on polygon and

it was basically no version That you can get

of Arkham Knight is the complete version of the

game like not even like the hundred -dollar Collectors

edition or the serious edition or anything like

that. None of them has everything And they broke

it down to where Let's see if you pre -order

now you can play as the Red Hood That's a GameStop

exclusive in the Red Hood story pack If you pre

-order Arkham Knight now, you can play as Harley

Quinn I think that is just what you get for pre

-ordering period And then there's the Arkham

Knight limited edition There's the Arkham Knight

serious edition which has other stuff Let's see.

Oh, yeah. Okay. The GameStop exclusive is the

Red Hood Story Pack Best Buy exclusives the Wayne

Tech booster pack Explosive gel takedown set

traps to knock out enemies remotely the area

juggles strike an enemy in midair with massive

damage a weapon upgrade increase the devastating

power of the Batmobile and Batterings while gliding

launch multiple batterings while in midair So

you just took Gameplay mechanics and made them

a pre -order bonus I Read that right there is

what I read it and I was like nope and cancel

I immediately cancel my order after that because

you have to Pre -order like you'd have to preorder

the game at like all these different places to

get the full game So it's not even just a hundred

bucks to get the whole thing. It's And then that's

on top of the season pass. So we just decided

that we're going to put our money back in our

wallets and wait for either Black Friday when

it's going to be super cheap or the Game of the

Year edition and hope that that has everything

included in it. Yeah, that's what I'm going to

do because I can't justify spending that much

on a damn game. For the amount it would cost

to collect the entire game, I could buy the next

console. I mean, this is just like, I mean, this

is for me, this is on top of the whole tag team

mechanics, which I'm not a fan of the Batmobile,

which I don't understand the point of it. And

just like a couple other things about the game

that I was like, I don't this isn't doing anything

for me. This was like the straw that broke the

camel's back. So I tweeted that out. I tweeted

to Rock City Games and Amazon and PlayStation

and Warner Brother Games. And I said, you guys

are just asking too much, canceled my pre -order.

I mean, obviously, none of them say anything

back to me because they don't really care because

they're getting enough. I think it'd be hilarious

though. I mean, they're getting enough everywhere

else, you know, like one guy, like canceling

a pre -order is not going to make any difference

to them. This and now this isn't just like a

video game thing either because we talked about

this real briefly on the geek stuff podcast but

Star Trek Into Darkness did this too. Each retailer

had a different version of the movie like with

special features. Really? Yeah, I remember we

talked about this on Altered Geek a while back.

If you wanted the commentary track, you had to

get it from Walmart. But if you wanted behind

-the -scenes stuff, you had to get it from Best

Buy. And it didn't come with the commentary track.

It was messed up. And the same thing also happened

with... One of the Transformers movies, I want

to say it was Dark of the Moon. like there was

one Dark of the Moon I think had IMAX scenes

and In order to get the version of the movie

that had the IMAX like that would flip back and

forth between 16 by 9 and IMAX At home you had

to buy it from Walmart If you got it anywhere

else you got just the standard theatrical release

Which it's all just a big frickin mess Yeah,

I This this is why I mean I was gonna wait anyway

because I just I don't like the fact that they're

like, oh, you know Pre -order now and then you'll

unlock these story packs that Should already

be in the game if you're already throwing it

in there I don't know. I just I just like when

they're it's a money grab than that If they're

gonna do that, they might as well charge 20 bucks

for the damn game and then start tacking on from

there See I think pre -orders to me I just I

don't feel like pre -orders are the problem for

me personally because pre -ordering is just something

like it's ingrained in me I've been doing it

for like ever since like the mid 90s. I've never

done it but that's because I If I wait a couple

days after the game comes out anyway, I'll still

be able to buy it. And I know. I don't pre -order.

In the early days, when you would pre -order

in the mid -90s, you pre -ordered because you

wanted to make sure you got it. Right. And now,

every time I pre -order a game and I go to pick

it up, sometimes I'll pre -order from Best Buy

because Best Buy does this thing where if you're

a rewards member, they'll give you $10 for pre

-ordering a game. So like if you buy six games

you get a free game basically So every once in

a while I'll order a game from them, but It's

I don't I don't pre -order from them because

It's like what they're giving me in their pre

-order bonus and every time I go to pick up my

game I'm standing right next to a stack like

a palette full of the game that I just pre -ordered

but I wanted to make sure I got a copy of You

know? But it's just that the concept of pre -order

game is just so ingrained in me. It never has

anything to do with like the pre -order bonus.

Like it's never been about that for me. It's

just I want to pre -order the game so I can just

walk in and grab it instead of hoping that to

find it on the shelf. Yeah, which I get that.

Or like or maybe a pre -order because I'm super

lazy and don't want to walk all the way to the

back corner of Best Buy to grab. One copy of

the game and come back what I could just go to

the customer service counter Which is right to

the left of the door? And like buy it and walk

out like I preorder more out of convenience than

than anything So that's I've never had a problem

with that. I don't frown on people who do but

like I guess I can see But now like pre -ordering

has become this thing where they you know, they

The developer or the publisher, I'll say, comes

up with this material and companies bid on the

material for their pre -order bonuses. I understand

why they do it. It's to entice people to go like

to buy the game from GameStop rather than Best

Buy, right? But for me, at the end of the day,

it's all about where I care to go. I don't like

buying games at GameStop, so rarely will I ever

buy anything there. But they usually have the

best pre -order bonuses because They have the

most money to spend on games. And I know, there's

no reason to pre -order anymore, but it's just

what I do. I canceled my Arkham pre -order, but

I immediately turned around yesterday and I pre

-ordered Fallout 4. The minute they announced

it and it went up, I turned around and pre -ordered

it. Today when they announced the unchartered

collection on the ps4. I pre -ordered that I

was like But not because of like pre -order bonuses

just because I want that game sent to my house

I know I brewed it because I know I'm gonna be

getting the game Yeah, I can like I said I can

see that and I feel like ordering from Amazon

pre -ordering from Amazon versus like say Best

Buy or GameStop Different in my head because

for one reason when you pre -order from Best

Buy They take some of your money when you pre

-order from M or from GameStop They take some

of your money and they put that into an account

that earns interest So they're making money off

of your pre -order for as long as they have it

like so like if they the game if they if they

I Don't know. Let's say they've just Let's just

say they make a pre -order for fallout 5 right?

And you go in and plop down your five dollars

to read to pre -order that game like You know

you pre -order that game and you gave them five

bucks But they're gonna collect interest on that

until that game comes out like a decade from

now Like and these are just I'm just pulling

numbers out my ass here And so that's why they

want you to pre -order because they make money

off of that five dollars that you just put down

because that's theirs. But you can go get it

back any time. You can cancel a pre -order at

any time. But Amazon doesn't take any money from

you until it ships. Which is nice. Yeah, so they're

not making money off of your pre -order until

it ships. They don't make any money until it

ships. You just pre -order it. You get day one

delivery. And that's why I feel like it's not

as bad to get it from like Amazon because they

don't keep any of your money and funny story

I pre -ordered Uncharted 4 like January of 2014

Because it was it was supposed to come out this

fall, but they got moved to like spring of 2016

So I pre -ordered this game two years before

it was supposed to come out Alright and as everyone

knows Amazon has a pre -order guarantee Where

if the price drops you get it for whatever the

cheapest price was Like you know I'm talking

about mm -hmm yep at some point in like February

or March of this year somebody set the price

for uncharted 4 to $40 Huh And I had it in my

cart already for a year. So I get a brand new

copy of Uncharted 4 for 40 bucks. Can't beat

that. So. But it's an interesting discussion.

I mean, again, my issue is with DLC and the season

pass is being announced. And we've talked about

this ad nauseam, and I know we're going to talk

about it again on Geek Stuff eventually coming

up. That's where my issue is just don't announce

that stuff before it comes out One of the most

refreshing things about the fallout 4 trailer

was that it was a trailer Like it was a reveal

for the game and It and I believe it ended with

a pre -order But it didn't say pre -order now

to get this Yeah, it just said pre -order now

like And that was like, we'll wait and reveal

it later. Yeah, I mean, it's a fallout game.

You know, they're going to have add on content

for it. But it was just it was nice to see them

be like, here's a reveal, preorder it now. It

without any like gimmicks attached to it, it

was just it was just nice. It was the way like

games used to be. So but that's all I've got.

Yeah, I. The only thing I'm going to tack on

is I totally agree with the guy that wrote the

article on Polycon, saying that the once again

buying it launch is the absolute worst value

in every way. There will likely be a complete

edition where you're given all this content one

go for a price that's lower than $60 at some

point in the future, and I'll buy then. And to

go with that, I feel like this generation has

been really bad for games. Don't know what it

is. I've had a lot of offline conversations with

my friends about this like it's been Real slim

pickings. I feel like this generation while the

consoles are showing really well There has yet

to be like a compelling reason so I'm not worried

about like picking up Arkham Knight at a later

date because The release those release calendars

are so thin right now That whenever of the arc

the game of the year collection comes out will

be the perfect time to play it because there

probably won't be anything else to play at that

time. Probably right. And my wife who just got

into the Arkham games, she was like, why did

you cancel Arkham Knight? I really want to play

that. I was like, you have two other games to

get through before Arkham Knight. Has she played

Asylum, City, and Origins? No, and that's what

I'm talking about. She played Asylum, but she

has not played City or Origins yet. They keep

getting better. So I was like I was like you

need to you have two other Arkham games You need

to finish before we even before you get to Arkham

Knight so we can wait by the time she gets done

with those and Arkham Knight will be in collector

edition and there is supposed to well There will

be that also this fall another collection is

supposed to happen They're supposed to release

a remastered version of asylum and city And I'm

looking forward to those so I've been I've been

holding off replaying them because I want to

see if they come to the ps4 cuz I I don't know

if I could handle playing anything on the ps3

at this point I I Actually I I had to do it I

Actually got rid of my asylum copy only because

the game mechanics suck in that compared to the

other games The story is so much better, but

the mechanics of it. I just I couldn't Sit through

it again See I could get rid of my copy because

Sony gave me a copy for free so I Still have

my spy of they sell a combo edition anyway of

city and asylum So if I really wanted it again,

I could get it at least one of those is a good

game Yeah, well, I like city but that's because

I liked all the ad the additional Stuff you could

do in the game and the fact that there was replayability

on like asylum Once you beat the game, there

was nothing else to do. Well, you could go back

and like just explore the island and get the

rest of the stuff you missed. Yeah, but then

it's kind of just it's more eerie to me because

there's nothing there. True, true, true. I'd

rather there was somebody coming after me at

some point because at least then I'd be ready

for it. See, I always find that kind of thing

annoying when I'm trying to like when I'm like

trophy grinding or just trying to explore. I

hate getting attacked. Like it's worse in origins

than it is in city. I see IB origins and then

stop playing it, but I liked origins I just I

I mainline the the main quest I did a couple

of side things and when the credits roll I was

done but at that point I finished it right before

the ps4 came out and I never went back And I

know that because I finished playing Arkham origins

with the ps4 controller Because the ps4 controller

if you used a USB cable will work with the ps3

Speaking on that I actually did my first modification

on something Really um I put Xbox one sticks

on a ps4 controller hmm Feels pretty good, and

that's about all I can say about that They were

like the sticks were like six bucks on Amazon

And there you can find instructions online about

how to take their controller apart But yeah,

the ps4 and the Xbox one Sticks are interchangeable

between system or between controllers So But

yeah, that's all I've got What do you want to

bring up next? I Figured we could bring up the

the Amazon free shipping Even though it's like

a very minute Level thing that they're trying

to make out to be this huge deal Let's just let's

just turn this into the question of the week

here. Okay? Amazon analysis free shipping for

packages. I'm just gonna take this from the article.

Okay Packages that qualify for free small goods

shipping option. It must weigh no more than 8

ounces 230 grams Measure no greater than nine

by six by two inches in size and cost no more

than ten dollars What on amazon fits into that

criteria? Like I that is my listener question

What can you think of show me link me to something

in amazon that fits that criteria? I'm Honestly,

I can't think of I mean you were right. Maybe

they're cables Because I don't model price like

so the model price sells like stuff for like

dirt like less than ten bucks that would fit

into that and yeah, I know the Amazon essentials

like I'm this must be for like cables and stuff

like that because and Again, it's gotta be less

than ten bucks. So it can't be a thumb drive

Unless you got a really low low thumb drive.

Yeah one that you would never use I I don't even

think like I think like trial -size soaps and

stuff like that are less than eight ounces It's

just so weird it's like it's just it's like yeah,

we offer free shipping if it fits into this criteria

Find something that fits this criteria and we'll

send it to you That's what this is find something

that meets this criteria and we'll ship it to

you for free It's like saying explore our site

and then we'll make you buy something else. That's

exactly what it is In fact, I'm gonna see the

soap that I was looking at the other day. I'm

gonna see If that even fits into this criteria

Let's see the soap that I was looking at is Because

I'm a soap freak 16 fluid ounces a bottle of

soap doesn't even fit into this category That's

sad I mean the trial size stuff might It's so

weird, man. Whatever, it is what it is. Yeah,

so, side note. Qwanda Compute Plug is a mini

PC and a power adapter running full windows.

Basically, you plug it into the wall, it powers

it, and then it's got two USB 3 .0 ports and

an HDMI port on the underside. And you're supposed

to be able to plug it into your TV to make it

into a smart TV that runs Windows. Uh -huh. And

you talk to Cortana. I feel like... I don't know

why they just can't do... I mean, obviously I

know why they don't. It's because it's free to

use Android. Like, why don't they just make a

TV OS, but nobody wants to pay for Windows? It

doesn't have to I Don't see that my issue is

stuff like this. Well, it's cool. Like I don't

need another thing to control My TV because it's

never gonna work an overlay never works as well

as something that's integrated ever yeah, and

Not to mention this thing looks like a piece

of garbage I Don't see how it even works I mean,

you're not going to be able to do anything with

it other than like, it's a Netflix streamer built

into a box is all it is. Or it's a media playback

device built into a box. I'd like to see like

on -screen stuff, I guess, before like completely

writing it off. But yeah, I mean, I'd be interested

in finding out how it exactly works. Because

you might even be able to plug in a wireless

You know Chuck underneath it for keyboard and

mouse and then have it HDMI to your TV because

I mean It could be halfway decent. I would be

more interested in this if it had an HDMI in

and out Like if it totally overwrote your TV

yeah, like like the Xbox one does the Xbox one

has a has an HDMI in and out. So like you control

your TV with your cable box. Yeah, it becomes

it becomes your it provides an overlay. You can

say you can tell your Xbox show me the TV guide

and it shows you the Xbox one version of the

TV guide and you surf that way and it has like

an IR blaster that will change the channel on

your TV for you to that to that stuff. It also

allows you to do like think like you can I don't

know you can For if you ever wanted to you could

snap like Twitter to the side of your screen

So while you're watching like arrow you could

be watching all the tweets fly by for arrow That

would be kind of cool You know like I if it if

it was that kind of a device because one of the

things about the Xbox one that I like I like

Would set my Xbox up that way where you know

use the HDMI in and out, but I never do because

If I ever just want to use my TV the Xbox has

to be turned on as well It doesn't have a passive

like the pass -through is an active pass -through.

It's not passive so it has to be powered so like

That's so much stuff that you have to turn on

Just to watch TV, and you're wasting electricity

Powering your Xbox just to run an HDMI port So

I never I never set it up that way because I

was like this is just dumb if it was a passive

HDMI pass -through That would just like do it

even when I was powered off I would totally set

it up that way but Like this get being that it's

plugged into a wall like all the time It's probably

almost always gonna be drawing power especially

if you put it into a power brick You're never

gonna reach around and turn this thing off So

why not have an HDMI in and out? Who needs the

USB ports? There's no practical application for

this thing. You put it in a power strip, you're

not gonna plug two USB devices into this thing.

You're gonna plug it into a power strip in your

entertainment center and never see it again.

I honestly... Thinking about it now, the better

thing to do, especially with what they're aiming

this thing for, which is like the Netflix streamer

and being able to control your TV with Cortana,

it should have had an HDMI in and out instead

of the USB ports. Because Bluetooth, baby, you

can do anything with Bluetooth. Well, you can

control it with Bluetooth. Right. So why do you

need the USB ports? You need Bluetooth mice and

keyboards. Yeah. What could you possibly need

this for? I mean, unless I said like it's a full

-on media streamer where you plug like a thumb

drive into it to stream pirated content. But

again, you plug this into a power strip that's

hidden behind your entertainment center. Come

on, honey. Let's go watch some arrow that I just

downloaded. All right, let me pull the TV out

from the wall and plug this in. Yeah, I don't

I just I don't know is it Wi -Fi enabled then

I can say that it doesn't say anything I'd be

curious to know more about it I'll just stick

with my Sony blu -ray player there you go that's

got Netflix and all the other stuff on it that

I could use and then My my shows that I've downloaded

to my flash drive. I'll just use that yeah, I'm

gonna stick with my Apple TV and my ps3 and 4

i mean i don't i use my apple tv for all my streaming

stuff because it's i like to use as little power

as possible so i usually just i say this i like

to use as little power as possible so i use an

apple tv my tv which is a smart tv and then my

stereo for surround sound i don't even and even

when i'm watching tv like It's I still use the

stereo for surround sound so like there is no

there is like I said that there's no way that

I never turn like My stereo is always on if the

TV is on the stereos on because then nothing

works So I Think that's about it. Yeah, I think

so, too So if you guys have any question comments

or suggestions for wait, I got one more thing

Sorry, I want to bring this up on here because

I brought it up on Facebook and Twitter And I

don't feel like it got the proper acknowledgement

that I was thinking it would get Why is nobody

talking about Batman having a sniper rifle in

the Batman versus Superman trailer? Yeah, I was

wondering about that too, but like Batman doesn't

play with guns, but It's their rubber bullets

with lace with kryptonite. I mean, it's out there

like it's been there for almost two months now

like everybody lost their shit when Superman

snaps that snack But like no one's like mentioned

this like I didn't even notice like the first

time I saw the trailer I noticed it when I went

to see Age of Ultron is the first time I noticed

it I noticed it but I just I was chalking it

up to like he's just you know, like in Dark Knight

Returns where he you know is using his rubber

bullets Well, when I first saw it in the movie,

I thought it was like the antenna on top of the

tower. Because it could be confused for that.

But it's got a scope on it. I mean, it looks

like an antenna on top of a building. But yes,

it is a scope. If you take the screen grab that

I took, it is the scope. I have it for you. I

don't know if you want to put it in your episode

post for everybody else, in case everyone's like,

he doesn't have that. Yeah, they can watch the

trailer again. I feel like I think it's either

gonna be kryptonite bullets Which one of my friends

said that you know Superman's like too fast for

that, but my retort to that is he can't dodge

something if he doesn't know what's coming Hence

the sniper rifle Which of course then Superman

then goes well he has super hearing and that

is why I hate Superman doesn't mean he can't

get hit. Right. Or it's like Dark Knight Returns

and it's a grapple rifle. Yeah. Which could be,

but the other thing too is they've released today

that Batman's gonna have a blade laced with kryptonite.

That's fine. I mean... Just I'm I want to know

I guess I want to know what people's thoughts

are about this why it hasn't been a thing I mean

did people just like gloss over? The bat that

they write off the Batman vs Superman trailer

just as ho hum I'm not saying like this isn't

me. I'm not holding this like it gets the movie

or anything like that I kind of followed this

up with like a tweet, but I followed up my previous

tweet before this about the batman versus zuban

was i was trying to say something negative about

what's been shown about the movie and the only

thing negative i can think to say about all the

rumors and given all the rumors and what's been

shown the only thing negative i can say about

batman versus zuban is that superman statue in

the trailer why does it have to be cg like they

couldn't have paper mached a statue that's like

that's like the only negative thing i can say

Yeah, I don't know that it I I like the Kind

of ending that the Shia LaBeouf version better

Where it's got the statue and it says just do

it or whatever Because the the video where he's

in front of the green screen losing his shit

Going you know you could do it blah blah blah.

You know I'm just screaming at whoever it is

and It's a funny video that somebody put together

that Green screen them into the trailer If you

want to find it just Google it it's not hard

to find at this point So yeah, that's all I that's

all I want to see if we can get more people involved

in that discussion about the gun And what they

think so I think he's gonna blow Superman's head

off It would be funny though So, if you'd like

to get ahold of us on the show, you can do so

many ways. You can contact us on the website

post, geekcastradio .com. You can get ahold of

us on Twitter at AlteredGeek. My Twitter handle

is at scp21. Mine is at boothninja81. So, until

next time, get Altered Geeky with the Altered

Geeks. Bye.