Episode 113: Kirby’s Dream Come True

Jack Kirby’s takes center stage on this weeks…The Surly Nerd!

In case you didn’t know,
Jack Kirby was kind of a bad ass
Greetings adventurers, it’s time for an all new episode of The Surly Nerd! This week we come at you with all the geeky news you need, while spinning off topic more than usual! After the prelude we jump into comic news where we tell you all about Marvel’s X-men ’92, Jack Kirby finally getting the recognition he so rightly deserves and close out Level 1 talking about the Death of Wolverine and why Wonder Woman is so important to comic history.
In Level 2, we go into the changes that Nintendo is trying to undergo to become relevant again as well as why Sony is having internal issues. We wrap up gaming news with the closure of Microsoft’s entertainment division and why that hurts their current console more than helps it. In Level 3 we chat about the new Agent Carter show and how she ties into the greater Marvel U, debate if a Hellraiser reboot is a good idea, go into Fox’s gritty Peter Pan series and close it all out with another Leatherface prequel. In the epilogue this week we get a little serious as we talk about video game movies in the context of modern comic book movies.
So grab a drink and settle on in for this weeks action packed episode of…The Surly Nerd!
Episode 113: Kirby’s Dream Come True Summary:
In Comic Industry News – Jack Kirby, Wolverine, Wonder Woman, X-men ’92
In Game Industry News – Nintendo region locking, Sony, Microsoft
In Entertainment News – Peter Pan on Fox, Leatherface, Hellraiser, Agent Carter
Epilogue – The video game movie revolution

The last time someone wanted to reboot Hellraiser,
it didn’t go so well
Read about the things we love to talk about!
All about Jack Kirby here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kirby
What is Hellraiser?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellraiser
Chicken Breasts with Avocado, Tomato, and Cucumber Salsa!: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-breasts-with-avocado-tomato-cucumber-salsa
Episode 112: Marvel Ate Our News

Marvel takes over our universe on this weeks…The Surly Nerd!

Not shown: The Infinity War Trailer
Greetings adventurers, it’s time for an all new episode of The Surly Nerd! This week Marvel has decided they want to be all up in our news and we are here to pass the savings on to you! After an awesome prelude where we go into the new Constantine show, we start off with Comic Industry News. In the world of comics we go a bit into the new Harry Potter story to be released on Halloween (today), She-Hulks cancellation, Marvel’s new anti-bullying campaign and the “The End” campaign for the Ultimate’s universe.
In Game Industry News we tell you all about the PS4’s newest update, the remote features coming to the PS4, 3D Realms reopening for business and the current state of the Call of Duty franchise. In Entertainment News, Marvel takes center stage again as we rejoice in all the Marvel movie announcements, we talk about the new Archie T.V series and why we can’t wait for it and the Phantom of the Opera series that we hope doesn’t make it out from the sewers. We close out the show with a discussion about the current state of the “Super-hero” genre that we think all of you will love.
Grab a drink and settle on in for this weeks action packed episode of…The Surly Nerd!
Episode 112: Marvel ate our News Summary:
In Comic Industry News – Harry Potter, She-Hulk, Marvel’s No More Bullying Campaign, Marvel’s Ultimates “The End”
In Game Industry News – Playstation Share Play, Playstaton Remote Play, 3D Realms Reopens, Call of Duty Sales Decline
In Entertainment News – Marvel Movie Announcements, Doctor Strange, Archie the T.V show, Phantom of the Opera T.V Show
Epilogue – Comic book movies

Archie is ready to head to Twin Peaks
Read about the things we love to talk about!
Read the newHarry Potter short story here: https://www.pottermore.com/en-us/
More about Playstation Share Play: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2014/10/24/check-out-share-play-in-action-on-ps4/
Halloween Tacos!: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/halloween-monster-mouth-tacos/5ff0a8f3-aeed-4cb9-b482-e80db2cf651a
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Episode 111: Wolverine Dies and Valve is Threatened

Wolverine has passed but do we mourn? This and more inside this weeks episode of…The Surly Nerd!

Wolverine is ready to leave this world
Greetings adventurers, it’s time for an all new episode of The Surly Nerd! After warming up with our prelude we head over to Comic Industry News where we talk about the death of Wolverine, dive into more theories about Marvel’s summer lineup and tell you how DC is revving up to pay tribute to Barry Allen in January.
In Game Industry News we tell you what happens when you threaten a company as big as Valve via Twitter, Doctor Who teaches children how to code, Tony gets excited for the Halo 2 documentary and we discuss the rise of E-Sports. In Entertainment News we talk about if a Night of the Living Dead prequel is something we want, we touch on Del Toro wanting to make more Pacific Rim, go over Adam McKay’s involvement in the Ant-Man movie and close out the show with a small rant about the remake of the I.T Crowd.
Grab a drink and settle on in for this weeks action packed episode of…The Surly Nerd!
Episode 110: Wolverine Dies and Valve is Threatened Summary:
In Comic Industry News – Wolverine’s Death, House of M, Infinity Gauntlet, The Flash
In Game Industry News – Valve, Doctor Who, Halo 2 Documentary, E-Sports
In Entertainment News – Night of the Living Dead Prequel, Pacific Rim 2, Pacific Rim 3, Ant-Man
Epilogue – I.T Crowd Remake

The new face of the Infinity Gauntlet
Read about the things we love to talk about!
If you are in the U.K you can find the Doctor Who coding game here: http://www.cbeebies.com/cbbc/?cdrid=myNmpvHkXw
Some of The first failed remake of the I.T Crowd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVuR4NxdaxI
Make some Nachos today!: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/super-nachos-recipe.html
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Forsaken by SEGA on U.S. Shores: The Story of Phantasy Star
“It will be then, in the darkest of days that the final lights of SEGA’s love will disappear into the Aether once and for all and the most united of states will feel the cold discombobulating nothingness that is life without Phantasy Star.” –PSO 13:5
For many older gamers, the name Phantasy Star is one spoken with a certain amount of reverence. For those of you too young to remember and enjoy games along the lines of Silkroad Online, before Square released the first installment of Final Fantasy on to the console world in 1990*, there was a game trying to garner popularity for the role-playing game (RPG) genre way back in 1988. This title, released on the Sega Master System was quickly overshadowed in the U.S. by anything released on the Nintendo Entertainment System – but in the wake of its launch, still managed to manifest a cult following that lives to this day. This game was known simply as: Phantasy Star.
The narrative of Phantasy Star was a surprisingly deep one for the time of its release, from political assassinations, to revenge plots and even an elder god manipulating humans so that he could rise to power after hiding in the shadows for centuries. This, coupled with a an overhead map, a rich battle system and a faux-3D first person dungeon view set on the sci-fi/fantasy solar system of Algol – proved to be more than Americans were ready to embrace. This did not, thankfully, dissuade SEGA from releasing the subsequent titles in the series here in the states…for a while.
As SEGA made the transition from the 8-bit generation to 16-bit universe, so too did Phantasy Star. The next three installments of the Phantasy Star series would all take place on the Sega Genesis with each game building on the last in terms of visuals, sound and story depth. Phantasy Star III alone spanned several generations of characters stories all within the course of one game, a concept that is rarely seen at all in modern games and a complete version (mint in box) of Phantasy Star IV is still a highly sought after treasure for game collectors.
Phantasy Star was notably absent for the handheld and 32-bit era in America, with only a series of remakes and spin-offs available only in Japan. However, SEGA was not content to let their beloved RPG go silently into the good night. At the beginning of 2001 Phantasy Star Online (PSO) burst onto the scene, cementing its place into the hearts of gamers everywhere on SEGA’s newest gaming platform, The Dreamcast. Phantasy Star Online was a wildly successful game, and one of the first real online console gaming experiences. PSO eventually was released for the Xbox, Nintendo Gamecube and even PC markets.
With a version update, an expansion and a card based video game spin-off under their belt, Phantasy Star had finally hit the prime time even in the midst of the Dreamcast’s short-lived lifespan. In 2006 Phantasy Star Universe, the next title in the online Phantasy Star series, was released on several consoles and PC to a lukewarm reception. For many, it was so vastly different from PSO that it lost most of the magic of the original PSO experience and the game suffered for it in terms of ratings and sales.
In 2011, the U.S. got their first glimpse of the game that had been waiting years for, a true sequel to Phantasy Star Online. Elegantly called Phantasy Star Online 2, it promised to give American gamers everything they loved in the original PSO and more with features such as more simultaneous players for larger boss fights and a more complex and rich character creation system. The message boards across the internet lit up, eagerly anticipating the next installment of the franchise and year after year when SEGA was asked when PSO2 was going to get released to western shores the only response given was “soon”. With the Phantasy Star festival now over in Japan, we found out that there is a new Phantasy Star Online 2 spin-off dubbed Phantasy Star Nova, in the works and that it is more than likely going to be a Japanese-only release. This announcement, alongside the repeated delays of the American release of PSO2 ultimately begs the question: What does SEGA have against America, when it comes to releasing more Phantasy Star content on our shores?
If we look back to the franchises history, the decision to not release the remakes and spin-offs of Phantasy Star on western shores does start to make sense . Japan has always fostered the Phantasy Star market in terms of sales where systems like the Game Gear and Saturn under performed in America, at best. This means that the creation cost-to-profit margin is much slimmer when you take into account the amount of resources SEGA would have to spend to have those games translated on top of marketing and publication. SEGA took a risk on releasing Phantasy Star Online to the states when non-PC internet gaming was in its infancy. This gamble did ultimately paid off for them, which leaves many people scratching their heads as to why Phantasy Star Online 2 has yet to see a western release.
Unfortunately, at this time all we have is wild speculation. With SEGA still holding firm to the idea that PSO 2 will be released “at some point” in the west, we can only look to the amount of time it has taken the game to even leave Japan. Reports are saying that around early 2014, PSO 2 had finally entered closed beta in Southeast Asia – nearly two years after the launch of the game in Japan. In 1988, a gap of years like this was commonplace when it game to translation and publication. These days, it can be a death sentence for a game. Gamers who wait too long to play their favorite titles can become disillusioned over time, knowing that the game they have waited to play for so long can never live up to the hype they have built up in their minds.
Another factor could simply be the overall cost of releasing the game here. While in 1988, translation and publication times were much wider, (Final Fantasy I was released by Square Japan in 1987 and not released in the states until 1990) those games ultimately had a large cost associated with release such as paying for the localization teams. Phantasy Star IV alone retailed for up to $100 when it launched in 1995. Phantasy Star Online 2, is currently a free-to-play game with buy-in options as a central game mechanic. Most of these in-game purchases are purely cosmetic since there is a physical copy of the game available for purchase should you prefer a non-digital distribution platform. When you take into account the X variable which is “how much does this game make per day?”, it may not be financially feasible for SEGA to take a risk like translating, distributing (bandwidth costs money) and establishing servers for every region. If this is the case, it would only make sense that SEGA would not be willing to take a chance on Phantasy Star Nova here – considering it is a spin-off of the Phantasy Star Online title we have yet to receive.
While American Phantasy Star fans are eagerly awaiting another game release in their beloved franchise, for now they must be content with the videos being published out of Japan of the upcoming series titles until SEGA has finally announced that a new Phantasy Star is coming their way – or at the very least, finally told them why they will be unable to release it here. If the online fan base is any indication, they are willing to wait a very – very long time to once again step into the shoes of a hunter and try and save the galaxy from Faltz once again.
-Until next time, goodnight and good game1990*– All dates are based on the U.S. release windows
Episode 102: Comics And Movies And Stuff

Time to get all up into comics and movies and…Nintendo?!

Not even Link can save the Wii U
Greetings adventurers, it’s an all new episode of The Surly Nerd and what a crazy ass episode we have lined up for you this week. After a lengthy prelude, we jump into comic book news where we get down and deep into the Marvel lawsuit with the Kirby estate and to try and lighten the mood a little bit we talk about what Chuck Palahniuk has in store for Fight Club 2, brought to you by Dark Horse comics.
We roll on over to video game news where we spend the whole time talking about Nintendo. So much information has come out this week about the state of Nintendo as a whole, and it’s not looking good. We touch on what they can do to salvage themselves or if they even can at all. Over on the entertainment side of things, we hear more about what Sony has in store for the Spider-man franchise, what Marvel has in store for Guardians of the Galaxy when it comes to animation, and GHOSTBUSTERS?! We close it all down with a discussion about how important horror and sci-fi is to history, because we are a bunch of giant nerds. Get comfy with us as we get into super sexy six pack we call episode 102 of The Surly Nerd.
Episode 102 Comics and Movies and Stuff: Summary and Time Stamps
In Comic Industry News – The Jack Kirby estate v Marvel and Fight Club 2.
In Game Industry News – Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo and NINTENDO!
In Entertainment News – Spider-man, Carnage, Venom, Guardians and GHOSTBUSTERS!
Epilogue – Horror and Sci-fi in relation to modern history 101.

All Guardians ALL the time!!!
Read about the things we love to talk about!
More about The modern Guardians of the Galaxy here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_the_Galaxy_(2008_team)
Who is Rocket Raccoon? ?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Raccoon
Things to try, a taco bake!: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/taco-bake-63779.aspx
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