Category: Today’s Specials

Coffee Talk #52: Holding Out for a (Super) Hero (Videogame)

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Biz Markie teaming up with The Shack, this excellent Dhalsim song, or your upcoming holiday feasts, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

As a bunch of you were discussing the Iron Man 2 trailer, the subject of super hero dream games came up. In the spirit of Coffee Talk #6, I thought it would be an excellent idea to talk about the spandex game of your dreams. So let’s do it!

As for me, there are two games DC Comics games that I’d love to see. The one that’s more likely is a Green Lantern title. With the success of the Nintendo Wii and motion controls from Microsoft and Sony coming in 2010, there’s a decent chance that the Green Lantern game of my dreams will be made. It would star Hal Jordan (and hopefully Guy Gardner) and use motion controls to create various power-ring constructs. It could be something unique and imaginative if handled by the right developer.

The second super-hero game I want will never happen. It’s just too late. I want a buddy-action game, similar to Army of Two, starring Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. The JLI era of Justice League was one of my favorite comic-book runs of all time. It was unique and hilarious, but still contained enough action to keep traditionalists happy. My Blue and Gold game would be full of fast-paced action and high-tech gadgets, but the dialogue would be key. The game would be full of witty quips, immature insults, and tons of “bwahahahaha” laughter that Beetle and Booster were famous for back in the day.

As a special shout out to my friend at Marvel — make a frickin’ Quasar game already!!!

Anyway, let me know about the super-hero videogame of your dreams. Kindly list the character and describe your game. Quantum bands for life!!!

Coffee Talk #51: Horrendous Moments in Professional Wrestling

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the sudden death of Brittany Murphy, how the NFL playoff picture is shaping up, or the U.S. government’s healthcare reform efforts, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

In Coffee Talk #45, Iceman asked for a column dedicated to the worst moments in professional wrestling. Here it is! As much as I love the “sport”, it has served up so many ridiculous storylines and scenarios, some of which made me question why I was a fun. At the end of the day, I’ll always love the violent soap opera that is professional wrestling, but I can’t forget its stupidity. Here are two moments that made me go, “WTF?!?”

Sid Vicious and Vader Send a Midget to Blow Up Sting’s Boat

Every now and then, I have to watch this old WCW video to remember that this actually happened. While Davey Boy Smith and Sting played volleyball on the beach, the heels employed a short person to blow up Sting’s boat. Forget the overacting by the heels or the unintentionally gay beach-volleyball scene — some WCW writer thought the heels would get heat by sending a little person to blow up Sting’s boat! It’s especially sad that the legendary Harley Race was used in this nonsense.

Robocop Saves Sting From the Four Horsemen

WCW had a number of lame celebrity angles over the years — Jason Hervey, Jay Leno, David Arquette, Dennis Rodman, Kevin Green, Karl Malone, etc. The worst of the bunch involved Robocop. Sure, this angle took place when pro-wrestling wasn’t up front about being staged, but what kind of moron would believe that a fictitious movie character would come to the aid of Sting? On the plus side, major professionalism points have to be awarded to Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Sid Vicious for pretending to be scared of Robocop and not bursting out in laughter.

Bonus: Shawn Michaels Oversells Hulk Hogan

Okay, this isn’t one of wrestling’s worst moments, but I love watching this clip and I wanted to share with you. Shawn Michaels bent over backwards to get Hulk Hogan over in this angle, even going as far as to turn heel. HBK was originally booked to win this match, but Hogan exerted creative control and put himself over. Annoyed that he gave up so much only to become a jobber, Michaels totally oversold Hogan’s offense in this match. It’s frickin’ hilarious. Not only did he make Hogan look silly, he also buried him on the mic on the following Raw. Hogan deserved it for being a prick.

What are some of your “worst moments in wrestling”? Please list them in the comments and let everyone know the reasoning behind your picks. I can’t wait to read your comments for this story!!!

Coffee Talk #51: Horrendous Moments in Professional Wrestling

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the sudden death of Brittany Murphy, how the NFL playoff picture is shaping up, or the U.S. government’s healthcare reform efforts, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

In Coffee Talk #45, Iceman asked for a column dedicated to the worst moments in professional wrestling. Here it is! As much as I love the “sport”, it has served up so many ridiculous storylines and scenarios, some of which made me question why I was a fun. At the end of the day, I’ll always love the violent soap opera that is professional wrestling, but I can’t forget its stupidity. Here are two moments that made me go, “WTF?!?”

Sid Vicious and Vader Send a Midget to Blow Up Sting’s Boat

Every now and then, I have to watch this old WCW video to remember that this actually happened. While Davey Boy Smith and Sting played volleyball on the beach, the heels employed a short person to blow up Sting’s boat. Forget the overacting by the heels or the unintentionally gay beach-volleyball scene — some WCW writer thought the heels would get heat by sending a little person to blow up Sting’s boat! It’s especially sad that the legendary Harley Race was used in this nonsense.

Robocop Saves Sting From the Four Horsemen

WCW had a number of lame celebrity angles over the years — Jason Hervey, Jay Leno, David Arquette, Dennis Rodman, Kevin Green, Karl Malone, etc. The worst of the bunch involved Robocop. Sure, this angle took place when pro-wrestling wasn’t up front about being staged, but what kind of moron would believe that a fictitious movie character would come to the aid of Sting? On the plus side, major professionalism points have to be awarded to Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Sid Vicious for pretending to be scared of Robocop and not bursting out in laughter.

Bonus: Shawn Michaels Oversells Hulk Hogan

Okay, this isn’t one of wrestling’s worst moments, but I love watching this clip and I wanted to share with you. Shawn Michaels bent over backwards to get Hulk Hogan over in this angle, even going as far as to turn heel. HBK was originally booked to win this match, but Hogan exerted creative control and put himself over. Annoyed that he gave up so much only to become a jobber, Michaels totally oversold Hogan’s offense in this match. It’s frickin’ hilarious. Not only did he make Hogan look silly, he also buried him on the mic on the following Raw. Hogan deserved it for being a prick.

What are some of your “worst moments in wrestling”? Please list them in the comments and let everyone know the reasoning behind your picks. I can’t wait to read your comments for this story!!!

Japanese Man Marries Nintendo DS Character

A Japanese gamer has married a character from Love Plus, a Nintendo DS title from Konami’s Tokimeki Memorial series. Reuters has reported:

The man, who prefers to use his online moniker SAL9000, met character Nene Anegasaki while playing dating simulation game Love Plus.

They got married a few weeks ago, broadcasting their ceremony live on Japan’s version of video-sharing website Youtube.

The image of gamers has progressed greatly in the last decade. Unfortunately, some idiot marrying a Nintendo DS character will have the world thinking that we’re all losers that live in our parents’ basement. Thanks a lot SAL9000. Moron.

Thanks to N8R for sending this in!

Source

Blizzard Will Definitely Make Console Games Again

Blizzard is undeniably one of the best and most successful developers of PC games, with huge franchises like World or Warcraft and StarCraft. Gamers that play exclusively on consoles are missing out on Blizzard’s magic…but that will change one day. In an interview with Gamasutra, two company directors explained why Blizzard focuses on PC games and promised that it will eventually return to console gaming. Senior director Samwise Didier said:

We’re working on PC because it’s familiar to us and it’s relatively easy and it’s not changing formats every other year and there aren’t three different versions. Console, we have to worry about [those things].

The promise to return to consoles was made by production director J. Allen Brack, who said:

Continue reading “Blizzard Will Definitely Make Console Games Again”

Coffee Talk #50: Favorite Games of 2009 #1 Dragon Age: Origins

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the miracle of Manning, whether Operation Chokehold will do some damage to AT&T today, or destroying all Snuggies, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

As I mentioned last week, I’ll be counting down my five favorite games of 2009 in this week’s Coffee Talk columns and I’d love for you to join me! Let me know what your favorite games of the year were in the comments section. Remember, this isn’t about what games you thought were “best”. I want to know what you had the most fun with in 2009.

Dragon Age Origins 3

What did you think I was going to pick? Halo 3: ODST?!? Ha! For those of you that have have been reading my articles for a while, there should have been no doubt that I was going to pick Dragon Age: Origins. I adore BioWare. RPGs are my favorite genre. Fantasy is my favorite setting. I played the hell out of both Baldur’s Gate games. Of course I was going to go nuts for this game! (And if you’re new to the site, just nod and smile. This all makes sense.)

While the graphics in Dragon Age: Origins aren’t the best, pretty much every other aspect of the game is perfect for me. I love the versatile gameplay — tanking as a warrior, backstabbing as a rogue, and dishing out spells as a mage were all fun experiences that are quite different from one another. The story and writing are brilliant, especially after playing the game multiple times (five completions so far) and noticing how expertly different characters were woven into the game’s tapestry. The music is top notch. With different dialogue branches, multiple outcomes, various companion characters, and variations in gameplay, I wouldn’t be surprised if my play-throughs hit double digits.

Although I’ve logged more hours into Civilization: Revolution for iPhone, I had the most fun — by far — with Dragon Age: Origins in 2009. I swear BioWare made the game just for me.

The Case for Operation Chokehold: AT&T Make$ More, $pend$ Le$$

AT and T FailAs some of you pointed out, Fake Steve Jobs’ Operation Chokehold could pose a danger to people that actually need their phones in case of an emergency. That’s completely understandable. Having  said that, I think more AT&T customers — specifically iPhone customers — should be pissed off at the company. Fake Steve added up the numbers and found that ever since the iPhone launched, AT&T has been cutting its expenses while its data revenue has soared:

Go look at their financial statements and open up the Financial Operations and Statistics Summary and look at capital expenditures over the past eight quarters. I’m no math whiz, but it looks like capex has gone down by about 30% over the time period. Scroll down a bit to the Wireless section and check out data revenues — they’re up 80% over the same period.

That’s just ridiculous. Where’ the nerd rage?!? Shouldn’t more AT&T customers be pissed off that they’re helping the company reach record numbers while a bare minimum has been done to improve network conditions? Shouldn’t you be up in arms that days after president & CEO of AT&T mobility Darth Vega Ralph de la Vega promised that the network would improve, it gloriously crashed in San Francisco?!?

Hmmmm, I might have to think my happening/not happening percentages on Operation Chokehold. I now believe there’s a 35 percent chance of something going down tomorrow.

Source

How Google Can Disrupt the American Mobile Phone Market with the Nexus One…and Three Reasons Why it Won’t

Google has the opportunity to turn the American phone mobile market on its head with the Nexus One. If it chooses to sell the phone directly to consumers at a price that’s close to cost, it would truly disrupt the current American model. When the iPhone 3GS first came out, iSuppli estimated its manufacturing cost to be about $180. So let’s say Google sold the Nexus One for $199 — that would be killer! American customers would be getting a high-end phone that’s unlocked for a bargain price. Compare that to the costs of other premium unlocked phones, which cost upwards of $500.

Why would Google do this? Well, there are a few reasons. By inflating the installed base, Google could sell more Android apps. The company gets a cut of every app sold through the Android Marketplace. More importantly, it has the opportunity to serve more mobile ads. Remember, at the end of the day Google makes the vast majority of its money selling advertising. If more people are using Android browsers and products that serve mobile ads, the more money Google will make. So in a way, it would selling the Nexus One at cost would be similar to the old razor-and-blade model. Google practically gives away the razor and will make way more money selling the blades.

Having said that (Curb Your Enthusiasm!), there are several reasons why Google will probably not follow this model.

Continue reading “How Google Can Disrupt the American Mobile Phone Market with the Nexus One…and Three Reasons Why it Won’t”

Coffee Talk #49: Favorite Games of 2009 #2 Civilization Revolution

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Danica Patrick making her NASCAR debut in California, Kelly Pavlik finally returning to boxing, or Bret “The Hitman” Hart signing a short-term deal with WWE, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

As I mentioned last week, I’ll be counting down my five favorite games of 2009 in this week’s Coffee Talk columns and I’d love for you to join me! Let me know what your favorite games of the year were in the comments section. Remember, this isn’t about what games you thought were “best”. I want to know what you had the most fun with in 2009.

Civ iPhone

#2 Civilization Revolution — I picked up this iPhone game as an impulse purchase when it was on sale for $2.99. It quickly became one of the best gaming values I’ve had in years. There’s nothing fancy or complex about Civilization Revolution — it offers classic Civ gameplay on your iPhone…which is more than enough for hundreds of hours of entertainment.

Whether I’m flying across the Pacific Ocean, dealing with jet lag in Yokohama, or simply can’t sleep at home, it’s so easy to pass the time with this game. The only problem is that it’s so addictive that it’s easy to lose track of time and miss important things. Ha! That said, I’m amazed that I’ve gotten hundreds of hours of gameplay for only three bucks! Civilization Revolution rules!!!