The Surly Nerd

  Greetings adventurers and welcome to the first episode of the year for…The Surly Nerd! We start off this week in technology news with Windows 8’s sales issues, Sony’s plan for their own HBO Go and we explain to you what a Gamestick is (spoiler: it’s not what you think). Closing out level one we talk about the future of Sony’s DRM with the PS4. We bounce over to level two, game industry news from there where we cover what’s new with THQ, new ways to transfer your xbox account internationally, what’s new with the original Bioshock and finally we chat about what one father would do to keep his kid from gaming. In level three, entertainment news we delve into EPIX and if it’s going to be good to have on the market, what’s going on with Community and the new Bates Motel TV show and finally we talk about how great J.J. Abrams is to his fans. Drinks at the Inn closes us out this week with a long talk about what we look forward to in 2013. Pop open a beverage and kick back with us as we plunge headfirst into the new year, here, on…The Surly Nerd.   If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at TheSurlyNerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.

  The Surly Nerds Holiday Special This week on the show we get really drunk. News is light this week so we spend all our time talking about the year that was 2012. Grab a drink and curl up with us we send off the year with several bottles of champagne and a sass that only The Surly Nerd can bring you!   If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at TheSurlyNerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.

Easier to get your hands on than a Twinkie, and with twice the cream filling we are…The Surly Nerd Welcome to episode 26 of our little show, adventurers. This week we open up with technology news, talking about Apples stock, Apple bringing Google Maps back, Dells obsession with the PC market, the petition for the White House to build a Death Star and we ask the question: Are we in the Matrix? From there we move on to level 2: gaming news where we cover what Square-Enix is up to, how well the 3DS is ACTUALLY doing, Cliffy-Bs plans for the future. We also find out what the most played games of 2012 were, how THQ fared with the bundle fund-raiser, what they learned from it and talk about GOG.com’s amazing holiday deal. We bounce over to level 3, entertainment news from there. We kick it off talking about the possibility of a Spy Hunter movie, what’s going on with the next Tron movie and AMCs plans for valentines day. During drinks at the Inn we ask: How much information is too much information when it comes to trailers? Grab some egg nog and curl up with all of us over here at…The Surly Nerd

Bouncing here and there and everywhere, we are…The Surly Nerd This week we open up the show with Technology News, breaking in our lawsuit” in progress buzzer with a lawsuit against Yelp. We talk about how Playdom has found success with their Avengers game, people going to the moon for vacation and how Spotify is doing worldwide. From there we head over to level 2: entertainment news where we chat about HIMYM, Kevin Smiths retirement plans, what Del Toro is ACTUALLY up to these days and more Ghostbusters rumors. We finish off level 3 with Tron and all the Marvel movie news you want to hear. In level 3: gaming industry news we cover 343s new tournament for Halo 4, Journey being up for a Grammy, I (James) gush about how much I love the Legacy of Kain series while Tony listens and we wrap-up with Minecraft sales numbers more THQ bundle news and the Ouya shipping date. Finally, in our Drinks at the Inn we cover the VGAs! Sit back and relax with the sultry tones of…The Surly Nerd   If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at TheSurlyNerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.

Livelier than a post-Thanksgiving coma, we are…The Surly Nerd Welcome to episode 24 of our little broadcast. This week we open up with a little bit of technology news, discussing the Microsoft Surface table and also how well Windows 8 is doing post launch. From there we have a talk about a possible law suit against Hewlett-Packard before we head into level two, gaming news. We kick off gaming news this week chatting about the humble THQ bundle and what it means for THQ as a company as their stock continues to decline. We move on to the future of Square Enix, when the new Xbox could be coming out and we wrap up level two talking about the Museum of Modern Arts new Design in Gaming exhibit. In level three we are packed full of movie news, from Much Ado About Nothing to what’s going on with Days of Future Past and what movies Nick Fury is slated to be in next. We finish entertainment news with Sherlock season 3, updates from the set of the Highlander remake and some thoughts about how we feel about a Roger Rabbit sequel. As always we close out the show with our Drinks at the Inn talk. Grab yourself a drink or two and settle in with us here, at The Surly Nerd.   If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at TheSurlyNerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.

Not nearly as stuffed as a Thanksgiving turkey, but damn near as tasty…we are, The Surly Nerd! Welcome to our Thanksgiving holiday blowout special. To be perfectly honest, there’s not a ton of news this week but what we lack in news we make up for in general fucking off. Level one is technology news, where we cover Firefox 64, the new Xbox casual model, Hulu Plus for Wii U, HPs fourth quarter earnings and what was really going on with that Warner Brothers app. From there we head to level two, entertainment news. More Star Wars, Deus Ex and Hobbit talk takes the stand. A little chatting about Thor 2 and the future of Community before our Drinks at the Inn segment. The news list might seem short this week but we promise it’s worth the listen. Grab some Thanksgiving leftovers and settle in with us here on…The Surly Nerd   If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at thesurlynerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.

Not nearly as hydrating as water but at least as bland, we are…The Surly Nerd We open up episode 22 with technology news, discussing Warner Brothers new television app, Google’s new terms and conditions, and a research paper suggesting that people who torrent music are more prone to buy it. From there we move on to level 2, game industry news where we fill you in as to why GTA Vice City was pulled from Steam recently, how much Black Ops made in 24 hours, how many people have finished HALO 4 and what Valve is working on outside of Steam. Wrapping up the show this week is level 3, entertainment news where we go into the new X-men film, Tarantino talking about retirement, when the new Spider Man is being made, a DEUS EX movie and what Ben Affleck is doing with The Stand. We end the show on a high note discussing some more Star Wars rumors and what types of Video Game levels we hate in our Drinks at the Inn segment. Grab a drink and curl up by the fire with your MP3 player with all of us here at…The Surly Nerd   If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at thesurlynerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.

Fruitier than a Fruit Roll up but not nearly as sticky, we are…The Surly Nerd Greetings adventurers and welcome to episode 21 of the show. This week we open up with Technology news where we talk about Steam for Linux, NASA’s upcoming plans, the president going back to Reddit and the Microsoft gaming tablet. From there we head over to Level 2: Entertainment News where Mortal Kombat and Star Wars take center stage followed by news about the new Twilight Zone movie and Del Toro wanting to do a Justice League of monster movies. We wrap up the show this week in Level 3: Gaming news where we cover what Capcom is up to, the financial state of several gaming companies, more video gaming prints dying and what’s going on over at Blizzard. A little talk about Seal Team Six, the Microsoft rewards program and what we think about video games that are movie tie-ins close out our broadcast. Grab a seat, grab a drink and curl up with all of us here at…The Surly Nerd   If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at thesurlynerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.

Greetings adventurers and welcome to a special episode of our show. We had the pleasure of speaking with a source that wishes to remain anonymous about the upcoming World War Z movie. There’s been both a lot of hype and bad press about this film and we wanted to get to the core of what’s going on with it. Below is a transcript of what was said and if you listen to the podcast posted with this episode we not only read the transcript for you but also discuss what it means overall to the film. Grab a drink and kick back with us in an amazing mini episode of: The Surly Nerd The Surly Nerd: Alright so you worked on the movie World War Z. Were you familiar with the book going into working on the movie? WWZ Insider: no, I actually read the book a month into filming after having read the script at that time SN : From what I understand the film really is different than the book, do you think it still holds to the main themes of the book? WWZ: Not really, the book really focuses on how every country and level of society reacts to the zombie war, the movie is much more intent of Brad Pitt running around playing hero. That said there are aspects of certain countries involvement, but not really in the same detail as the book SN: So is it more I am Legend than World War Z? WWZ: It’s more like a prequel to World War Z. The book is interviews told by the U.N guy – in the movie Brad Pitt is the U.N guy and it chronicles *his* story and how he survives the zombie war, which is actually a pretty cool way to tell the story SN: Alright, I don’t want to spoil it for everyone since so many people are excited about it but I’ve heard the movie has been plagued with problems since the time it started filming. Could you touch on some of those issues? WWZ: Honestly no large feature film with without issue, WWZ got put on the spotlight mostly because the media is obsessed with everything Brad Pitt does. Probably the most dramatic issue is that the entire end sequence that was shot in Budapest has been scrapped, and they’re actually shooting a completely new ending now in England SN: Can you elaborate as to why the ending in Budapest was scrapped and had to be refilmed in England? WWZ: in the weeks running up to Budapest the script getting hacked away, sequences dropped in an effort to save money, what we were left with was something that just didn’t make much sense.. I don’t think there was a single person on that set who didn’t think there was going to be reshoots, although I do think everyone was surprised that they scrapped it entirely, I think we all figured that sequence needed more shots and that’s what the reshoot needed, but I guess the powers that be saw that wouldn’t work WWZ: I would imagine the new ending being set in England, shot as England was due to budget again SN: The director is Marc Foster yes? WWZ: Yea, and still is to my knowledge SN: Was it Damon Lindeof coming in to oversee what had been filmed and to oversee the ending that made most of the major ending changes? WWZ: honestly no idea SN: So Marc Foster has been at the helm of this film and is his creation in your eyes? WWZ: It seemed like it was more of Brad Pitt’s baby honestly, it’s his production company who own the book rights, he was a producer and obviously the star. During the actual shoot a lot of the time it felt like Bob Richardson the cinematograph was the driving force keeping everyone going, he really was excellent SN: So Brad Pitt bought the rights to the story before the book was released yes? WWZ: I have no idea when his company got the rights SN: I heard there were arguments on the set between cast and the producers. Did this happen or was it Hollywood gossip? WWZ: Total Hollywood gossip, the cast was so incredibly professional, Pitt was awesome, he just got on with it even in tough conditions – man made dust storms, rain and snow machines. If they argued it was behind closed doors and there was no hint of it on set. Pitt [...]

Not nearly as likeable as an Ewok but also not nearly as furry, we are: The Surly Nerd This week on the show concludes our IN THE MONTH OF MADNESS. We start off the show with technology news, chatting about the Ouya, the Wii U browser and what’s in store for us in a post Windows 8 world. From there we move on to Level 2, Gaming news and what is going on with 38 Studios and Rhode Island. We talk about video game music, Cliffy B’s opinion on Resident evil and the Shadowgate kickstarter. We jump into level 3: Entertainment news with some Riddick news, some more Ghostbusters 3 disappointments, Castle Wolfenstein the movie and the Lucasarts buyout. Our Drinks at the Inn segment puts this years In the Month of Madness to rest as we talk about one of our favorite horror movies of all time, Session 9. Strap yourself in for another awesome news filled week with the crew here at: The Surly Nerd

  Not nearly as talented as Eric Clapton but at least slightly as entertaining we are… The Surly Nerd We’ve made it to episode 19 and this week we kick up the audio quality so you can hear us drunkenly rant about all the nerdy things you love in higher audio resolution…or something. We kick off the week with level 1: Technology News where we hit up everything from the new Apple products to robots who paint your dreams. In Level 2: Gaming Industry News we chat about Nintendo taking a hit on the Wii U, what the creator of Wing Commander is up to and what it means for the gaming industry, what’s up with Zynga and a college course on gaming at Rice University and the people who work in the industry who make us sad. In level 3 we have entertainment news with talk about the Walking Dead, X-men, The Avengers and what the hell Michael Bay is yelling about these days. We move from there to our Drinks at the Inn segment where we talk about the 80s horror/comedy classic HOUSE and why you should have been watching it. Grab yourself a drink or two and curl up with all of us here at… The Surly Nerd! Also, If you like the music this week its brought to you by Harley Poe. Check them out, its great stuff. http://harleypoe.com/   If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at thesurlynerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.

In this special boss fight for “In the Month of Madness” we talk to Maurice Broaddus the editor of ‘Dark Faith Invocations’ by Apex Publishing. From how to get your start in the writing world to the books that influence us we have one hell of a mini episode in store for you. Toss your earbuds in and settle in for this amazing interview on – The Surly Nerd   If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at thesurlynerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.

Not nearly as creepy as Michael Myers… no wait, we are. We are: The Surly Nerd! It’s week 3 of our “IN THE MONTH OF MADNESS!”. We have a hell of a show lined for you this week. After our prologue segment we head into level 1: Technology news where we discuss a wide range of topics from Twitter censorship to child labor in China for the Wii U to the moving of Pirate Bay from physical servers to the cloud. A little talk about a next generation Sony move controller ends level one and leads us into level 2: Gaming industry news. We start off this week with some more Mechwarrior Online and Prey 2 news. We chat a bit about the Nintendo Wii U touchscreen controller and where you can go with it and about the future of the Old Republic. We wrap up level 2 talking about layoffs at Lionshead and then it’s just a hop, skip and a jump into level 3: Entertainment news. In level 3 we go over how well Walking Dead did its first week on the air in a year, talk about the direction of the new Marvel movie properties.  We chat about what the Dark Knight producer thinks about the Avengers, where the He-Man and James Bond films are going.  We close up the week talking about the Kickstarter for the movie The Goon and then in our Drink at the Inn segment we talk ALL about how amazing Creepshow is and why you should love it! Grab a drink, toss your earbuds in and settle in with all of us here at: The Surly Nerd   If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at thesurlynerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.

Not nearly as funny as a season of Community but having a better chance to have their season renewed, we are: The Surly Nerd Welcome to week 2 of our “In the Month of Madness”. We keep the best month in the world rolling with our Prologue where we sing the praises of the shows we’ve been watching. We head from there into Level 1: Gaming news where we cover NPD numbers, what that means for the gaming industry at large and how important Darkstalkers and Mechwarrior Online is to James. A little chatting about THQ studios, Halo 4 being leaked and some mobile gaming happens and we wrap up level 1 with a special segment you’ll just have to hear to enjoy. In level 2 entertainment news we talk a bunch about the state of Marvels next slate of movies, Gears of War getting launched again and the state of Universal and Matel franchise remakes. We question how important Ridley Scotts sequels and prequels are before we head into our drinks at the inn segment. We wrap up the show there with week 2 of In the Month of Madness where we cover Killer Klowns from Outer Space and tell you whats next in line for all of you to watch as we continue celebrating Halloween. Strap yourselves in for one hell of a ride for this weeks: The Surly Nerd If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at thesurlynerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.

What an amazing time we have been having at GDC Online. Today was day 3, the final day of GDC. We spent today at the writers summit learning all about writing for video games. Man, it was amazing. More on that on the inside. Also, we have a great interview with Robert Winkler, CEO of 5th Planet Games. They have some super cool games, we highly suggest you check them out. So grab a cold one and enjoy our quick recap of GDC Online Day 3. We will be back to our regular show format on our next episode. If you have any questions, comments, or show suggestions leave us a comment below or contact us at thesurlynerd@gmail.com and on Twitter @TheSurlyNerd. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast here or here.