The OrNERDnary Podcast: Recent Episodes
PolyNerdic
The OrNERDnary Podcast contains the raw, unedited thoughts, musings and rants of an everyday, ordinary, nerdy guy (and sometimes my friends). I am deeply passionate about a number of nerdy and geek culture related things causing me to shout and curse about things that I'd do differently or am generally annoyed by and rave about that which I love deeply with equal intensity.
Heyo nerdy neighbors.
Well this was a hard decision to make and one I thought about for many weeks but as I was taking a lengthy walk Sunday night and thinking about the general state of things in my life I decided now was the right time to step away from The OrNERDnary Podcast.
I've been doing this show every week since June of 2017.
According to a date duration calculator that's five years and three months.
The only week I know I missed was when I was in the hospital in 2021 but we did the episode the following Tuesday to make up for it and I think there were a couple weekends that the show didn't go up until Sunday but in general terms that is a show a week for over five years.
I'm incredibly proud of that accomplishment.
The show never really took off, it never paid a dime in revenue, I never had guests on that weren't already a part of my friend group (but behind the scenes we came really close a few times) but it was always a labor of love and a passion project.
For years now I looked forward to getting the microphone out and babbling about video games and movies and nerdy news and nonsense.
But as things changed in my personal life doing the show every week became much harder.
While I struggled to heal from personal trauma this show was a bright spot in my week however the lack of disposable income, the inability to watch every new thing so I could talk about it thanks to COVID and not having all the streaming services because there are just too many of them, not being able to maintain Game Pass constantly or get a new console to talk about the best versions of the newest games...all of it made this show much harder to look forward to each week.
Honestly I grew disheartened with the amount of times I came on here with nothing new to talk about and just an assortment of stories to give you my opinion on, if I even had one.
So as me must due from time to time I decided it was time to step away and let this project rest.
I'm not promising a return in the future but the door remains open.
As I continue to do the hard work to rebuild my life and myself, as I continue to put the one foot in front of the other and grow into the man I am supposed to be I hope to be in a position to do this show again with the passion and financial baking I feel like it deserves.
I say more in the show about my plans for streaming and PolyNerdic.com at large so if that's your thing please listen to it....just be kind as I get a little tore up at a couple of different points.
This was hard but I think it's for the best.
Heyo nerdy neighbors.
This week's episode is a disorganized mess as I came at it raw and without any idea of what I was going to talk about.
The discussion covers a wide range of things from the Amazon LotR show and how frustrated I am about another weekly release schedule to my love of fantasy as a genre and how the Forgotten Realms setting was my personal LotR decades before I started playing D&D.
I also slip into a brief bit about the struggles of existing in our world and how I continue to try to make each day slightly better than the next so one day I'll be the best me that ever existed after letting the worst me destroy something good.
And then I go over some headlines, lots of interesting stuff coming from Disney this week with some interesting teasers and announcements of things to come.
Have a great weekend everybody and I'll see you around the neighborhood.
Heyo nerdy neighbors.
This week's show is about two topics that I can't believe we are discussing in 2022 but here we are.
A post-credits scene in episode 3 of She-Hulk showing the titular heroine shaking her butt with Megan Thee Stallion has enraged the fragile fanboys of the MCU because of course.
WOTC published troubling content with the new lore of the Hadozee, a race of sentient flying monkey people, somehow taking existing racist tropes within the race and making them worse by making them kidnapped by a wizard with the nefarious intentions of selling them as solider slaves. On one side you have people who have real lived experiences tided to such tropes and on the other you have willfully ignorant @$$hats.
The underlying message is if you don't have experience with what people are legitimately upset about take a moment to listen to them about why its harmful instead of telling them that they can't be hurt because you aren't.
Oh and WOTC issued an 11pm EST "apology" after removing the harmful background info, not replacing it, just removing it.
I'm still baffled by how many terrible and non-empathetic people populate nerdy social spaces.
Do better.
Specifically if you are in this nerdy neighborhood of the internet but in general as well, just do better.
Heyo my nerdy neighbors!
Hope the week treated you well and you're ready for an excellent weekend.
This past week I slept a whole lot because the temperatures were a little higher than the last few weeks and it sapped me of my energy.
However I did record and post a review of the new Spelljammer: Adventures in Space box set that WOTC put out and had time to finish Cult of the Lamb's story so all was not lost.
I also sat down prior to recording and watched about 20 Gamescom Trailers and for the first time in a while am hyped about video games even if there were a handful I still will not be able to play for a bit.
We also had wild news this week as the news cycle played "will they/won't they" with two big companies and another company decided that in these "challenging economic times" that a price increase was in order for a large chunk of the world.
Enjoy the show and as always talk to you next week (unless you choose to join me on a live stream over on Twitch).
Heyo Nerdy Neighbors of the Internet!
This weeks was about three things for me:
The Sandman
Cult of the Lamb
Dungeons and Dragons
And the third was definitely the dominate force in my week as I spent so much time writing, reading, opining about and watching my favorite table top game. I made a video about the new playtest material they published and expand on the ideas in today's show. I also gave a few early thoughts about the Spelljammer books that released this week ahead of my eventual review video and also tease a few upcoming TTRPG videos that I hope to do in the near future.
I also talk about Ironheart's Black Panther Mark 1 armor design concept art, Ezra Miller's "apology", why MTG never hooked me, Embracer Group buying everything and other things that I can no longer remember since I recorded this over 30 minutes ago and have already forgotten it now that it's exited my noggin.
So sit back and enjoy this week's episode while I spend the weekend with my nerdy spawn.
Heyo nerdy neighbors.
This week's show is another rambling babbling affair while I talk about the week that was and wait for my landlord to come inspect the apartment (I know, right?).
Played a heaping helping of The Cult of the Lamb yesterday so I of course have loads to say about it.
I watched two episodes of The Sandman on Netflix and enjoyed them but did have to battle my ADHD brain and restart the 2nd episode about 4 times.
Also dabbled in a little D&D planning and of course am excited about next week's Spelljammer books.
Beyond that I discuss some gaming and movie news including pondering why The Flash hasn't been scrapped or at the very least recast and reshot.
It's the weekend everybody, hope you make it a good one.
Hey nerdy neighbors.
The show this week is a little short as I had to record it in the liminal space between when I got out of bed and the kids woke up.
Thankfully my personal week was a pretty normal week with some real high highs and the normal sort of workday lows.
So aside from finishing two narrative games and planning this weekend's Dungeons and Dragons game I did not get up to much.
Which leaves the bulk of the show to discuss my utter disappointment in Warner Discovery's decision to shelve the Batgirl movie. A movie that would have seen Michael Keaton return as an aging Batman among other really exciting potential performances.
Once again the crossroads of capitalism and the arts sees creativity die in the name of the almighty dollar as new leadership at Warner Discovery wants to cut $3 billion and rumors swirl that they want to lean more into "reality" TV than scripted shows.
Sad days for fans of DC.
But don't worry nerdy neighbors, Warner's new leaders is super excited for the very troubled Flash movie.
Heyo nerdy neighbors!
It's the end of another wonderful week and I was so busy enjoying myself that I did not prepare thorough notes about SDCC2022.
But that doesn't mean I lack thoughts about what I did see, mostly the Marvel stuff since we talked about that awesome D&D movie trailer last week.
I also "watched" stuff this week, meaning I put on Moonknight and Ms. Marvel while working on other things but to my ADHD addled brain that counts as watching.
We finished Road 96 on stream this week and made some more Elden Ring progress.
It was a pretty good week and I'm happy with how things went.
Hope your week was great as well and that you are enjoying this weekend.
Enjoy the show and I'll see you around the internet.
Heyo nerdy neighbors.
This week was the one year anniversary of me finally getting the help I needed after my life came apart at the seams on possibly the worst Tuesday evening of my life in July of 2021, the heartbreak and hard work done over the last year to be where and who I am today.
So I fittingly gave it about ten minutes of discussion to start this week's show before rapid fire bouncing around the things I've been doing, the various videos we've posted and streams we've accomplished this week and a small handful of stories in game related news.
We wrap up with a discussion of the Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves trailer that dropped during the opening days of SDCC (something I can't believe is happening in the midst of yet another wave).
Enjoy.
Heyo my nerdy neighbors.
After weeks of just getting by I am happy to report that I had a good week.
I didn't feel bowled over and crushed by work and was able to not only pull down three streams during the week but I also made my first bit of TTRPG/D&D content about the new Spelljammer stuff and even got in a few after work errands....which you know required going outside in the big scary world.
I also finished The Boys season 3 and devoured the rather interesting Resident Evil series on Netflix and we spend a while talking about the latter as it was simultaneously entertaining, terrible in a good way and bad in a bad way.
Beyond that I hit a few choice news stories such as Skate. being free to play and the deluge of games in development for 80s movie franchises.
Enjoy.
Heyo nerdy neighbors!
Thanks to the misguided and poorly named holiday this past week I had a three day weekend that let me have plenty of time to make content.
I did a trio of demos on the Switch.
I played three Elden Ring sessions.
I tried some games on Game Pass and even played the entirety of TMNT: Shredder's Revenge.
Additionally I hawked a bunch of my library and put myself in a position to be able to get my hands on some stuff for some new TTRPG and Unboxing content later in the week (stay tuned for that).
Life sprung some changes on me too so I am hoping to get to do more in the coming weeks as well.
Within this episode I also discuss Gamestop cutting more jobs, including more losses at Game Informer, and the continued Jamison Stone story.
Enjoy.
Heyo my nerdy neighbors.
It's been a tough week hasn't it?
Well I had some thoughts I needed to get off my chest this morning so if you're the "content creators should just make content" type you're welcome to turn back now because the first 36 minutes of this podcast are me working through my thoughts on the state of things as they stand now and where they look to be going in the immediate future.
After that 36 minute discussion I get to talk about some more pleasant things such as:
-Stranger Things Season 4 Finale
-The Boys Herogasm
-Video Game Stuff
Hope you have a good weekend.
I've also started a Tiltify campaign as a means of helping with the current situation in the US. You can find it here: https://donate.tiltify.com/@polynerdic/reproductive-rights-are-human-rights
Heyo nerdy neighbors.
It has been quite the week hasn't it.
Apologies for the short episode, I was wrapped up in so many things this week I didn't have time or energy to really dive into anything of value.
And that was before Friday's disheartening news out of DC.
So enjoy a relatively short "life" edition of this "nerd-centric life and culture" podcast.
And if you're feeling weighed down by things in the world know that you are not alone, lots of us are feeling smothered by the recent "unpleasantness" and if you think what has gone down the last couple of weeks but especially on 6/24/2022 allow me to show you the door.
The Nerdy Neighborhood and any other community I oversee will always be inclusive and safe spaces and people that find cheer on the things that are going on are frankly not welcome.
Heyo my nerdy neighbors new and old.
This week I take more time to discuss the news that followed Summer Game fest that I didn't get to cover, largely out of the Microsoft/Bethesda showcase.
Starfield looks interesting but it also fully looks like a Bethesda RPG so I am not sure why that is is surprise.
Game Pass looks like it's going to continue to be the "Best Value in Gaming" over the next year as the M/B showcase revealed many new games coming to the service (and making me regret cutting Game Pass as a budget cut).
New Final Fantasy 7 stuff coming soon, Crisis Core getting a remake this year and the next installment of the proper remake coming next winter.
Hideo Kojima and Xbox working together?
My thoughts on Ghostbusters: Afterlife after finally getting a chance to see it last weekend.
And we end with a discussion of the latest D&D controversy and my feelings on community vs industry and people just being genuine.
Heyo my nerdiest of nerdy neighbors.
It's that time of the year again where the video game companies get out there with a bunch of cool marketing to show us the new games that are coming out soon.
We all know many of these games will not live up to the hype but oh so many of them will be more awesome than we could ever hope.
It was also Netflix Geeked Week which revealed a lot of upcoming stuff from another Castlevania show to a Tekken anime and a surprising number of video game announcements as well (although I didn't see them until after recording so don't expect discussion of that here).
And in "industry" news we saw the shocking departure of Jeff Gerstmann from Giant Bomb the video game website he co-founded 14 years ago.
Heyo nerdy neighbors, Happy Pride Month to those in the LGBTQIA+ community.
Spent a lot of time this week pondering what I am doing with The OrNERDnary Podcast and Polynerdic.com and where I want it to go in the near and distant future.
Don't worry, I'm not giving up on this passion project but I do want to make some changes, I want to get back to the spirit of what it was when I started this all those years ago.
I also discuss my disgust with a certain number of "fans" in the Star Wars community who seem unable to not be racist garbage fires.
And I talk about the latest seasons of The Boys and Stranger Things.
As I say a number of times in this episode, today is going to be a good day.
Hope you have a good time with this episode and in life overall.
Heyo nerdy neighbors.
Have to admit it, I almost didn't do a show this week.
For a long time, years even, I've been battling burn out brought about by more than 15 years of grinding out existence in jobs that give me zero satisfaction for my entire adult life and when you add in the last month of events (not to mention 2+ years of a global pandemic) I was feeling pretty wore out this week.
I even took Friday off just to have a few hours to handle business (laundry, groceries, etc) before my weekend with the kids.
After I handled all my business I sat down in front of the mic and hit a wall.
Did I record another episode of this show or did I take a week off and let the streak end at 259 episodes?
But the thing is, as wore out as I am by all the death and politics and disease and war, talking into this microphone every week is who I am.
I've already let fatigue keep me from streaming multiple times a week or at all for weeks on end.
I've already let fatigue keep me from making arrangements with friends or keep me from doing things that need done.
I wasn't going to let fatigue keep me from babbling into a mic for a little bit at the end of my free time on Friday.
So I powered up the mic and busted out 30ish rambling minutes talking about everything from D&D to The Evil Dead to PS5 inventory to being too broke to pay attention.
This episode is absolutely all over the place.
But I enjoyed every second of it, including the 4 takes I attempted before this one.
Short episode this week my lovely nerdy neighbors.
Had myself another great week but apart from continuing to explore Elden Ring and work on D&D stuff for this weekend with the kiddos I didn't get up to much.
Add to that a fairly lackluster nerdy news week and I didn't find much of interest to talk about.
So enjoy this very short episode and get back to having a wonderful weekend like I know I'll be having.
Heyo my nerdy neighbors.
As promised last week I took in my first in theater movie in more than two years and loved Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
I do discuss the movie with spoilers so if you aren't ready for that I suggest skipping the 12:45 to 35:20 section of the podcast.
Other than that I discuss:
-Starfield and Redfall get delayed and why it's a good thing.
-Xbox One and PS4 versions of Gotham Knights cancelled and my annoyance with reaching the "last gen consoles get no new games" part of this hobby already when so many people cannot afford or find the current gen.
-The Twitter buyout put on hold.
-Dead Space gets a release date.
-A quick review of the release dates of the rest of 2022 (or as they stand currently before more delays).
-My plans for the weekend and my ongoing streak of "up" mental health days.
-And probably some more stuff but I forgot to take proper show notes as I recorded this week.
Heyo my lovely nerdy neighbors.
This might be my most polarizing episode to date because after discussion my personal week which included such topics as finally watching the newest Spider-Man movie and my excitement to see the Multiverse of Madness shortly after recording this episode I briefly get "political" and express my beliefs about human rights and my disgust over what is currently happening and what continues to happen in this country.
It potentially could be a "cut the wheat from the chaff" moment for the show but I said what I said.
And then I wrap things up talking about Embracer group buying a bunch of Square Enix properties so Square Enix can go more in on blockchain and such (while the NFT market "collapses") and of course that Obi Wan trailer.
Oh and happy Mother's Day to the all the lovely nerdy mommas out there, specifically the kind who are understanding and supportive of their children.
Obvious content warning right there in the title but this week I do talk for a moment about my struggles with depression, how I isolate to heal/not emotionally harm others and how deeply and often I slept this week.
I didn't accomplish a whole lot this week other than rest.
I explored the Lands Between in Elden Ring a little off stream but other than that I slept most of my free time away this week.
This week I do remember to discuss the Netflix stuff that I was prevented from discussing last week, spoiler: I'm not a fan of Netflix's recent decisions or attitude.
We also lost a comic book legend this week so I reminisce about the time I got to meet Neal Adams at my one and only comic book convention and the joy I still feel when I look at his signed prints on my wall.
Thanks again for listening to another 30 minute rambling episode about life and nerdy nonsense.
Relatively short episode here as I primarily dive into two topics.
My continued love of Elden Ring and Spelljammer's official return to D&D.
Sprinkled throughout I discuss my appreciation for those that support my projects, my struggles with mental health and feeling productive and more but this 30 minute jaunt is almost entirely about Elden Ring's world and design and flying ships that either look like they belong on (or in) the ocean through space.
Expect more of these topic next week as well because I'm sure we'll have more thoughts by then.
Heyo my nerdiest of neighbors on the internet.
First of all, thank you for joining me on yet another episode of this journey I've been on.
This week had it's shares of up and downs and gave me a fair bit to think about as I make more life altering changes in the continued wake of my self induced life implosion from mid 2021.
But like all things, this too shall pass.
In an unexpected twist I was gifted Elden Ring on Monday this week and found myself once again in love with FromSoft's world while getting smashed by giant crabs and murdered by giant birds with swords on their legs that sometimes throw explosive barrels at me. Nine hours in and still loving the experience.
I might be forced to stick with this one though as budgetary decisions had to be made and I no longer have Game Pass for the time being which means it's Elden Ring or bust as far as new games to play until I get some financial breathing room (is this the correct time to remind you of my Patreon/Ko-Fi/Venmo, etc?).
Outside of that discussion I hit a couple of topics this week from WOTC buying D&D Beyond, allegations that the California Governor is interfering in the state's case against Activision Blizzard, Stranger Things season 4 and a little bit more.
Once again thanks for making me a small part of your day and hope to see you around the Nerdy Neighborhood.
Heyo nerdy neighbors!
It's a special day here at PolyNerdic and The OrNERDnary Podcast because on this lovely Saturday April 9th your ordinary nerdy host came into this world way back in 1983.
Yes, I am in fact 39 today.
I am old.
But I am alive and that matters.
Today's conversation is relatively short as I discuss the last week that was my mental health struggles and conquering Tunic and Pupperazi in back to back moments.
I also dabble in some gaming news but I tried to keep it short this week for my own selfish birthday related reasons.
See you next week.
Hello nerdy neighbors.
As you no doubt just read, this week I actually played some video games instead of being a sleeping puddle of sadness (well....instead of ONLY being a sleeping sadness puddle).
I played a bunch of Tunic (on and off stream).
I played some Weird West.
I played a tiny bit of Dig Dug 2, a game I played once more than a quarter century ago and have been thinking about from time to time ever since.
This episode also contains discussion of:
-Playstation unveils their "game pass"
-E3 2022 cancelled
-And more.
Heyo nerdy neighbors and newcomers alike.
I hope this episode finds you well.
This week I woke up at o'dark thirty, brewed myself some coffee and sat down in front of a live mic to largely talk about how things are going and have been going the last week.
In addition to my mental health woes, excessive sleeping and whatnot I discuss:
-THAT deleted scene and my thoughts on the character choices.
-Early Tunic thoughts.
-A new Witcher game?
-DICE beginning pre-production of a new Battlefield and lessons "learned" by the failure of 2042.
-And more.
Quick show this week my lovely nerdy neighbors.
I'm wore down and hanging on by a thread.
Continued workplace grind, perpetual heartbreak and disappointment and an unexpected conversation with a doctor this week left me with little time or energy to do much more than sleep, eat, work, eat, sleep.
Keep holding on to hope that things get better.
Good day my nerdy neighbors.
Gotta be honest with you, I've been feeling a weird sense of duality of late.
Got a new car but feel poorer than ever.
My move is nearing completion but I'm dealing with a tremendous heartbreak along with my excitement of getting it together.
Life is going well but the world is teetering on disaster.
And through it all we play the video games, write adventures, paint miniatures and just try to get our nerd fix in as often as possible.
This week's show contains discussion of:
-Dreamscraper -Companies ceasing business with a certain warmongering worldpower -A bundle of hundreds TTRPG games selling to raise money for Trans kids found here.-Dead Space in 2023 -Classic TMNT games getting a collection -And more
Folks, this was yet another exhausting week full of moving boxes and making big expensive adult purchases.
Not a lot of games played.
A fair bit watched while soothing my aching old man body.
Especially watched a lot of Elden Ring, so much so that it's convinced me that I want to actually play the game.
So once again we're finding ourselves with a week without a full blown episode and lots of me rambling about things that come to mind.
And once again that means I'm hoping next week brings us a better week so we have more to talk about.
Also looking forward to resuming streaming in the weeks ahead.
Admittedly I'm ill prepared for this week's show but so happy the week itself is over.
From big global atrocities to very personal stressors this week was rough to get through.
Oh and Elden Ring came out much to the joy of masochistic gamers everywhere, I haven't played it but I have some quandaries and questions.
That and some other ramblings await you in this episode.
Hey Nerdy Neighbors, sorry I missed the usual Saturday posting of the show.
I wasn't able to get the show recorded thanks to a variety of life stuff, namely all the nonsense that goes with moving.
So because I'm tired and I wanted to get this out there as soon as possible we recorded this week's show at 9:30 on Sunday night, directly in Anchor, which left us a limit of 30 minutes.
So I chose to speed through the news and my personal goings on as fast as I could.
In this not quite 30 minute long episode you'll find my thoughts on:
-The Legend of Vox Machina Season 1
-The Matt Mercer Effect and the cycle of TTRPG discourse online
-A variety of new(ish) games I've played and loved but haven't gotten to do videos about: Dreamscaper, Pupperazzi, Nobody Saves the World, etc.
-Cyberpunk 2077 reaches a state that it should have launched in had "Capitalism" not forced it out a year too early.
-Released dates and updates on The Wolf Among Us 2, Balder's Gate 3 and others.
Thank you for your understanding in regards to missing our usual Saturday morning episode drop and I'll see you on the 26th for next week's episode.
Not a lot of time this week thanks to work stress, neurodivergence, moving and everything in between.
So this weeks show is real quick and kind of an apology for why I'm not babbling for longer than 8 minutes.
When will they learn?
Company or celebrity announces plans to partner with a certain type of image based currency scam (you know the one I'm talking about) and after intense backlash from folks who understand the variety of ways such scams are harmful and/or start losing business partners said company/celebrity retracts their support of the newly announced partnership.
As Brian Altano of IGN said, just skip all that drama and headaches and start by denouncing those projects.
But that dear nerdy neighbors is but a small part of this truncated episode as we also discuss my coming around on the Boba Fett show, the ice storm that hit us this week and of course the IRL heel turn of a certain wrestler turned movie star turned tequila shiller.
Also I endeavor to end the show on a semi-sappy message of positivity.
This episode is all over the place and only 30 minutes long.
For some reason I open and close this episode by calling it #242.
It's actually 243.
And within this episode I'll be discussion:
-The season of unwanted and stressful changes continuing.
-Ubisoft doesn't "get" why we don't want our games burdened with crypto nonsense.
-Activision Blizzard refuses to voluntarily recognize the QA union that just formed.
-Elden Ring should be beaten by more players says director.
-The Legend of Vox Machina debuts and is wonderful.
-Respawn is making new Star Wars stuff, no hope for Titanfall 3
Obviously the big news on everyone's lips and minds this week was the fact that I streamed Mass Effect for six hours on Monday.
And then of course once they were able to get over that news they discovered Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard have announced a $70 billion dollar deal for the former to absorb the latter.
So you know I had to dive into that.
I also discuss the following this week:
-New job exhaustion and new place anxiety.
-The Legend of Vox Machina cast reveal, namely a former Doctor joining the cast.
-My thoughts on Tal'Dorei Reborn and a big thanks to the friend who gifted me a copy.
-My love of the Old Gods of Appalachia podcast and lore.
-My initial impressions of the Book of Boba Fett series after two episodes.
-The super ok MCU entry The Eternals
-Troy Baker discussing "that tweet" from last week on the Play, Watch, Listen podcast he cohosts
We are merely two weeks into the new year and we already have the first handful of internet "controversies" to discuss.
From Troy Baker antagonistically announcing alignment with a company that plans to sell voices for use (a nightmare scenario if I've ever read one).
To yet another mediocre male content creator (I say as a dude who streams as a hobby and hasn't been paid once) announcing to the world that he thinks "females" need to cover their boobies.
And of course misogynistic internet trolls attacking a host on the returned G4 because she isn't "bangable enough".
Fun times in nerd space.
Obviously I'm not addressing everyone and I hope this applies to none of you who regularly listen to my ramblings but, just be better. Kindness costs nothing.
Also this week I discuss:
-Death's Door and Mass Effect 1
-My new lease on life
-Big Critical Role stuff in the next couple of weeks
Finally here a week into 2022 we have the 2021 Game of the Year Awards.
Because I didn't play "everything" that came out this past year I felt the need to pair down this year's categories to the following:
Most Disappointing Game
Best Soundtrack
Favorite Game from Prior to 2021
Best Presentation/Style
Best Remake/Remaster
Best Update or DLC
Best New Series/IP
Favorite In Game World
Most Surprising Game
Favorite Campaign/Story
Game I Didn’t Finish but Most Look Forward to Playing More of
Ten Favorite Games of the Year
This might be the first time the first episode of the year actually lands on the first of the year.
Due to the chaos that has been my last few days this is not the planned end of the year episode I wanted.
Instead this episode is entirely about my thoughts on a few pieces of media I've consumed in the last week (or in the case of the first one over the last year).
In this fine episode I discuss:
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Hawkeye Season 1 (with some spoilers)
The Wheel of Time Season 1 (again with some spoilers)
The Witcher Season 2 (after watching the first 4 episodes).
I'm not going to take up your time this Christmas morning with a long rambling episode about what I love and think.
Instead I wish all of you a wonderful holiday weekend.
I obviously can't speak for everyone but if 2021 could be summarized with a single word for me it would absolutely be: changes.
In 2021 I received life changing diagnoses.
I followed that with life changing treatments and medications.
My relationship status changed as my forever relationship was derailed.
It's been a heck of a year and keeping with that theme two more changes arrived in the last week, first I moved this show from my old hosting platform to Anchor but most significantly I was able to quit my job this week and accept a position with a new company.
But I wasn't the only one to see changes this week, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 announced they would utilized NFTs in game and changed their minds really quickly when the fanbase pushed back on the environmentally damaging plans. Wizards of the Coast announced changes to lore, creatures and player races of Dungeons and Dragons and you just know these changes were immediately accepted by "that" vocal group of "fans".
Bungie saw a change in HR leadership in light of a report by IGN of abuses at the developer.
Turtle Rock made one change, bringing single player offline progression to Back 4 Blood and saw ownership change when Tencent bought the company.
I discuss all this and more in this weeks rambling and nonsensical show.
The Game Awards were this week, so of course we have to talk about that for a little bit, covering some of the winners and the reveals and trailers that stood out to me.
Activision Blizzard employees continue to push back on the toxic culture of the company and the execs bust out the old fashioned union busting talking points and threats as the employees move towards unionization.
And we discuss my love of the new Hawkeye episode, finishing a real play D&D show, returning to another and my dreams of producing one of my own along with various thoughts on games and the future for me personally.
This week's fantastic episode covers the following news and personal tidbits.
-My thoughts on a variety of latest episodes of multiple shows from Hawkeye to Wheel of Time.
-B. Dave Walters running a game with 15 players against Tiamat.
-Holiday shopping.
-Dying Light 2 has "gone gold".
-US Congress to tackle "Grinch Bots"
-Various State Treasurers targeting Activision Blizzard
-More Tom Holland Spider-Man to come?
-Battlefield Universe is going to be a thing?
And more.
Running a little behind this week due to my mental health and work struggles but here's this week's podcast.
Within the hallowed halls....er, audio recording you'll find discussions of: -Mental Health and Medication -Unpacking, a delightful game about, well, unpacking. -Moonglow Bay, a delightful game about restoring a town through the power of fishing and cooking. -Backbone, a delightful game about murder. -Other delightful things. -Elden Ring looking good and like something I'd fail to enjoy after 30 minutes. -Chris Pratt and the internet -Other things that are mostly pleasant.
Apologies for the late posting of the show.
I procrastinated last night watching Midnight Mass on Netflix and didn't get up early enough to record the show before running around to deliver a care package to a sick kiddo so I just now got the show together.
Today's show contains discussion of: -Things I've been playing, such as Kena: Bridge of Spirits and Garden Story among others. -My thoughts on the latest direction of What If? -My thoughts about Midnight Mass (since it was what held my attention all of the later half of the week). -Free games on Xbox and Playstation. -Marvel's Avengers and Scarlet Nexus both arrived on Game Pass. -And no doubt there is more stuff I just don't remember.
Since I'm terrible at managing my time/was super tired earlier in the week I had to record this episode on my breaks on Friday.
This week's episode is a rapid fire thought parade what I've been up to and a few select news stories.
-Psychonauts 2 -Blasphemous -Last Saturday's 12 hour stream. -Netflix continues to make questionable live action animes. -Sony does not provide an upgrade path from PS4 to PS5 for Horizon Forbidden West (a move they have since reversed course on but I'd already posted the episode before the news arrived). -Patty Jenkins has some disappointing negative thoughts about movies not made for theaters.
As we march into the weekend of E3 2021 we saw a handful of interesting things have already been revealed.
The official Elden Ring trailer was revealed. Gearbox is bringing the Borderlands feel to the fantasy genre. A Tunic demo launches on Tuesday. We heard about the next Battlefield and it's completely, absolutely non-political setting in the midst of a climate apocalypse and refugee crisis. And I recapped my nerdy goings-on during the week that was.
Enjoy.
This week was one of those emotional roller coaster weeks where things went wrong, life threw curveballs, victories were achieved and boredom was boring.
Activision Bobby is still an asshole.
New stuff coming to Animal Crossing.
Fingers crossed for a promotional opportunity for our streaming efforts.
Dragons were acquired.
Like I said, up and down all week long.
Not a lot going on this week so I did my best with what I had.
Talked about Immortals, Super Mario Bros, Animal Crossing, D&D.
Also discussed mental health, future plans for the site and channels.
Oh and briefly the discussion turned to the weird news coming out of the Avengers game that they're making it harder to level up.
Having one of those too much to do, not enough energy to go around weeks.
You know how it goes.
Didn't get much streaming done after the weekend.
Painted some awesome miniatures (check out our instagram for a look at the two dragons I finished).
Prepped for D&D with the kids.
Played some Immortals and Animal Crossing.
Excited for the new Mortal Kombat movie.
Even more excited for a day when the world doesn't weigh us down like a massive boulder.
Not a lot to talk about this week.
I recap the previous weekend's activities.
I discuss my desires to spread out into more TTRPG content some day.
Give my thoughts on why I don't do more of it right now.
And get myself hyped for the weekend with the kiddos, playing the real big game and not the silly one on the TV.
Don't have a lot to say this week.
Exhausted by the events of the week.
AC Valhalla is still pretty cool.
Extra Life 2021 is a go: https://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=449809
Hold you loved ones, enjoy your weekend.
Lots to cover and only a little bit of time to cover it.
Cyberpunk arrived but left lots of folks wanting more.
How about the Game Awards?
Did they deliver the goods or was it a three hour advertisement?
Well we know it was an advertisement but did people react to the GOTY in a reasonable and sensible manner?
Oh who am I kidding....
Following another pretty miserable week I came into today's show late and without a plan.
But I still managed to ramble for nearly 45 minutes about stuff on my mind.
Such as: -No such thing as "Wrong Fun" -Cyberpunk hype -Shake ups at Bioware -Solid Snake has been cast? -Don't be an a**hole about things you don't like -PAX in 2021? -D&D continues to dominate my life and freetime.
Didn't have a plan for this week's show due to the raging dumpster fire of emotions and life struggles this week was (and that doesn't even touch the real world news).
So I give you a little update on last week's Extra Life 15 Hour Marathon and the planned aftermath of that.
I also talk about how this weekend's plans were derailed. What I did during the week and then I scan movie and video game news sites for information to discuss.
All in all not my favorite episode.
But thank you for listening.
This week I fly solo again to discuss the major news that fell this week about confirmation of release date and prices for the Xbox Series X and the Series S.
I also discuss last weekend's Extra Life 2020 Labor Day fundraising efforts.
And of course rapid fire discussion of: -Vampire the Masquerade -Table Top Role Playing Games I enjoy watching -The Grendall Affair -Spiritfarer -Paradise Killer -And more
Heyo Folks.
Sorry but life threw some monkey wrench wielding curveballs at me this week and I didn't get to do the planned episode.
So I really quickly recorded a few thoughts about DC FanDome, the games I've been playing, my Extra Life fundraising campaign and a few other things.
Hope to be back next week with a proper show.
Donate to Extra Life here: https://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=414214
This week was long and terrible in so many ways.
From abuses of power, to improper behavior and outright assault to the spikes in COVID and other forms of terrible behavior.
It wasn't all bad but I felt it was necessary to discuss the terrible with the good.
I also discuss: -The Last of Us Part 2 -Yes, Your Grace -Gary Whitta's Abomination -PolyNerdic Viewing Party: UHF & conversation about questionable jokes. -COVID spreading through the WWE -The Boys season 2 release date -Loads of Cyberpunk 2077 news -Microsoft closes Mixer and physical stores -Are games going to be more expensive next gen and should they be? -And more
Well we've done it folks.
For the first time in the history of this show we have both a returning guest and two back to back weeks with shows that aren't just me talking to myself.
Jen from Texas is back this week and without the "technical difficulties" that put an end an early end to last week's show.
This time out we discuss:
-Our thoughts on Midsommer -Robert Pattinson as The Batman -Nerd Rage at casting choices -The performances in Knives Out but not the plot because one of us wasn't paying attention to the movie. -Final Fantasy VII Remake Hype -Animal Crossing Pocket Camp and New Horizon -Henry Cavill -And some other random stuff
It was my absolute pleasure to have Jen join me via telephone again and I hope it won't be too long before we do this again.
Happy New Year!
Pretty sure I forgot to say Happy New Year during the recording...so there it is.
This week's show is all about what I've been tinkering around with since we last spoke and it's basically all about video games I've been playing.
Games such as: -Pokemon Sword -Battlefront 2 -Call of Duty -Untitled Goose Game -Ape Out -Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds gets special focus as it has been a highly regarded game and I've spent a fair bit of time playing it and trying to figure out what it is that so many love but I'm neck deep in luke warm feelings.
Also I have a few moments of personal reflection and a glimpse at my plans for the near future.
Enjoy.
Oh boy did nerd culture ever have a roller coaster of a week!
Super "shocking" new console news shocked no one.
A big, highly anticipated game got delayed.
Another huge game revealed that it was heading to PC.
BURGER TIME IS BACK!
And other crazy out there entirely believable stuff happened.
In addition: -I finished and then wrote a review of Control. -I played Tetris for the first time in months and had a revelation about my real job. -I dipped my toes into 2018's Assassin's Creed game. -Felicia Day's new book seems good. -Still haven't seen the Joker and absolutely forgot to talk about it so other than this mention right here it's not mentioned at all in the episode. -GO. BUY. Control. RIGHT. NOW.
That is all.
Not really I talk about a few other things.
Enjoy.
So last week the news broke about Face/Off being remade.
This week saw rumors that The Princess Bride is being eyed to get the "Hollywood is out of fresh new ideas so let's try to tap into nostalgia and remake something that worked before" treatment.
So that inspired me to spend probably too much time this week thinking about movies I don't want to see remade....and promptly forgot about a few of them while I threw this list together over the course of an evening.
But be warned this isn't a "they keep ruining my childhood" rant but more of a I think this movie is perfect and needs to be left alone thing.
I also babble a bit about: -Finally watching X-men Dark Phoenix -Finishing Man of Medan -Posting a handful of reviews. -Almost finishing Final Fantasy 8 after 20 years and probably not going to do so due to old school game design flaws. -And a few other things.
Sorry about posting another sub-15 minute episode but this week has been hectic and hot and it's all made it impossible to focus on trivial things like the sort of stuff we talk about on here.
We did finish Stranger Things season 3 so I briefly share my thoughts about it.
SDCC 2019 is upon us so I talk about a few trailers I've seen.
I ponder my inability to really do anything entertaining this week and then things rap up.
I'm tying to break the trend of short episodes but life just isn't cooperating at this point in time.
Didn't have a whole lot of down time this week and frankly the news cycle was a little slow (at least when it comes to stuff I'd like to talk about).
That means this week's episode is limited to a brief discussion of what I did happen to do since the last episode, my plans for the coming week and a handful of teasers and trailers I wanted to speak about.
So this week's show contains discussion of: -More Days Gone -Civil War 2 -Spider-man Far from Home trailer -Vol 2 of the Superior Iron Man. -My excitement and immediate disappointment with the announcement of a Predator game. -Finally watched Aquaman -The new Final Fantasy 7 remake trailer -And maybe one or two more things.
Busy work weeks always create shorter episodes and this was one of them.
See you next week.
Yesterday I was struck with a thought while playing the latest AAA game released as a console exclusive.
I was enjoying my time with the game but it occurred to me that the game was nothing special.
Don't get me wrong, as I said I'm enjoying the game but it's not setting my world on fire, I'm not dying to tell everyone I know they should play it, I am merely having fun playing a very video game type of game.
That's when it hit me.
2018 was the year of the blockbuster, must play, arguably greatest of all time sort of game. Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, Spider-Man, Dragonball FighterZ, Dead Cells, Yakuza 6 and so many others.
2019 has been the year of "It's Alright" games. Games that are fun and enjoyable. Games that tell their story (if they have one) but are forgettable in the bigger picture. Games I'm having fun with but don't feel nearly as much excitement or passion about.
I mean when you find yourself drawn back into games that are 9, 10, 15, 20 years old on the regular it doesn't speak highly of the newest releases.
2019 has not been as exciting a year in my opinion. The games have been fine for the most part, most of them haven't been disasters...looking at you Anthem....but they haven't been masterpieces either.
Also in this episode: -the normal discussion of what I've been up to and what is coming up in my nerdy little world. -Avengers Endgame and how I'll be dodging spoilers for the next week. -Other upcoming movies I'm excited about. -Days Gone -Mass Effect 2 -and a little bit more.
Have you been following the rumors?
Did you hear the news?
Read the articles at Wired and Kotaku and others about the PS5?
New consoles are definitely on the horizon and you know what the means for a blue collar, paycheck to paycheck living fella like me, the dreadcitemant of new consoles. The excitement of the new games that look better and better and the dread of the cost of entry to the next generation.
Also this week I discuss: -Capcom and their Home Arcade (aka giant Capcom logo for your home that plays an underwhelming collection of games). -PolyNerdic.com content: new videos galore -Phoenix Wright is awesome. -Owning your passions and not being ashamed of them -Loads of PNPW stuff for those that like that nonsense. -Sega adds new games to the list for the Mini-Genesis -And more.
This week's episode is the perfect companion piece for a quick run to the store and back or while you fold your laundry.
Had a lot of stuff going on professionally and personally this week so I only had a handful of hours free to enjoy myself which of course means I had a limited amount of time to pour through entertainment news as well as actually do entertaining things to babble about on here.
So what do I yammer about here?
Well, in this week's short but sweet episode I discuss: -My thoughts on the Star Wars teaser trailer. -My continued binging of Supernatural season 12. -My progress in Super Mario Odyssey -Finally getting hands on time with Phoenix Wright -Will X-men find their way into Phase 4 of the MCU? -and a few more things.
In this week's astoundingly ordinary episode I talk at you about:
-Amy Hennig leaving EA -Shane Black's The Predator getting a new trailer -Cyberpunk 2077 being pre-alpha -Patrick Stewart returning to Star Trek? -PUBG stops suing Fortnite and launches an "Event Pass" similar to Fortnite's Battle Pass system -Indiana Jones 5 lands a new writer -Playstation Plus and Xbox Games with Gold lineups for July announced -Jared Leto set to play a Spider-man villain -Sony Exec comments on Cross Platform Play -and more
I also fill you in on the latest stuff to be found on the PolyNerdic Youtube page and Twitch channel. There is a brief discussion of the movies I managed to take in this week from The Raid to Robocop to Sweeney Todd and others. I also make a brief comparison between what I've watched of Altered Carbon the show and what I've read of Altered Carbon the novel.
I close things out with a very brief, non-scientific breakdown of what I think about the WHO classifying Game Addiction as a thing and what my understanding of addiction means as someone who reads a fair bit of articles on psychology websites (i.e.: I'm not a medical professional but I have thoughts regardless).
If I could steal a hook from my man Willy Wonka for a moment:
Come with me And you'll be In my world of pure indignation Take a look And you'll see My utter exasperation
I don't know about you folks but I'm increasingly worn down by living within the shadows cast by these giant clouds of carcinogenic culture. Every day there some new bit of vile behavior in the news from toxic fans either harassing artists who dared to make a thing differently than how the "fans" felt it should have gone to absurd elitism amongst supposed social groups to the constant revelations that a beloved figure may actually be a monstrous scum-sack of a garbage person (and thats on top of the "regular" news that is consistently nightmare fuel).
Yes this is another podcast where I rant about toxicity but it's also a podcast where I spend a sizable chunk babbling about what I view as proper nerd culture. Not gatekeeping, misogyny or elitism but rather unabashed, un-ironic love for stuff.
Also sprinkled in at the end I talk about Incredibles 2, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and a few other things before stealing a line from Bill and Ted (Preston and Logan NOT Cosby and Bundy).
This week I had a lot of stuff going on which unfortunately prevented me from properly putting together the show in my usual format.
I couldn't go a week without producing something so I struck a bit of a compromise with myself.
This week I briefly discuss my thoughts on the novel Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, the live action Blade of the Immortal film and Assassin's Creed Origins.
Be warned there are some spoilers in the discussion, especially when it comes to Assassin's Creed.
This episode is only slightly more than 30 minutes long instead of the full hour I usually put out since I didn't get to put together the usual collection of news and nerdy happenings.
In this week's fantastic and only a couple hours late episode I'll be catching you up on last week's toxic influencer discussion as a couple of platforms actually made some positive strides towards curbing the toxic and ill thought out antics of their creators.
I'll also drive hard into the paint at the idiotic Kentucky Governor's comments that video games are to blame for the heinous act of evil that occurred this week in Florida.
Afterwards I'll quickly run over assorted, light hearted talking points like: -Black Panther getting rave reviews -Red Sparrow not so much -New Labo news from Nintendo while I continue to be underwhelmed -The Incredibles 2 and Ready Player One trailers -Loot box legislation from Hawaii -Batman in Anime Form -Goku vs Vegeta -The Terminator joining the new Kung Fury project -EA might be out as the sole licensee of Star Wars games -John Wick 3 -Destiny 2 reworking Nightfall strikes, but are you even playing it still? -Blade of the Immortal -and more...
No main topic this week but there certainly were many interesting reveals, trailers, rumors and bits of news that caught my eye.
In this episode I'll discuss: -2018 Oscar nominations and how few of the nominated films I've seen. -God of War gets a release date. -Robocop may get a new sequel that ignores the existing ones. -John Cena may play Duke Nukem and who thought that was a good idea? -Battlefront 2 is updating its progression system. -Cloverfield 3 might be a Netflix property. -Red Dead Redemption 2 release date rumors. -Empire Magazine released a top Villains list. -Xbox Game Pass will get 1st party games on day one now. -Ryan Reynolds working a new Clue movie. -Anthem moved back to 2019. -And more.
2017 is drawing to a close and that means it is time to spend more than an hour talking about my favorite (and least favorite) games of 2017.
What game disappointed me most? What game surprised me the most? What game told the best story? What game had the best look or style? What were my top ten favorite games of the year?
After a couple of weeks with some heavy topics I go 180 degrees in the opposite direction and gush about my favorite episodes of Batman: The Animated Series in honor of it celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Afterwards I babble about movies I've seen recently, movies I'm excited to see soon, the X-Force and Han Solo movies, video games I've played, ones I wish were better, ones I'm going to play soon and a good old fashioned bit of bad decision making by a video game publisher/studio.
Join me as I take a deep dive into the world of angry online fandoms and the potentially dangerous attitudes that arise when they begin to feel they are owed one thing or another.
I also cover lots of nerdy entertainment news from Overwatch's 2017 Summer Games event, micro transactions, movie trailer controversies, video game thoughts and reviews and more.
Brace yourself folks this week's episode is a long one thanks to the tidal wave of awesome nerdy news that came out of San Diego Comic-Con 2017.
I don't cover everything here but I do go over my favorite bits of news and speculation. Talking extensively about a number of trailers and the rumors that this year's Con unleashed on us.
I go over the Justice League trailer and the news surrounding the reshoots. The Ben Affleck Batman rumors, the Flashpoint movie and what it COULD mean for the DCeU. This leads to a bit of ranting about both the DC New 52 continuity and the ending of Batman v Superman as well. New DC animated movies are announced and I touch on the Captain Marvel MCU movie news.
In short we cover a lot of ground here.
Links: Movieverse: The Kingsmen: The Gold Circle Trailer Reaction: https://youtu.be/a_p6w2nWAf0
Movieverse: The Defenders Trailer Reaction: https://youtu.be/1FMZevUt_hQ
Movieverse: Pacific Rim Uprising Trailer Reaction: https://youtu.be/VVsihOng9HA
Movieverse: Ready Player One Trailer Reaction: https://youtu.be/Rge08Xac7D8
Movieverse: Thor Ragnarok Trailer Reaction: https://youtu.be/8CmSCm-wcsw
Movieverse: Justice League Trailer Reaction: https://youtu.be/Ncu8A77D7qA
PolyNerdic Play Test: Serial Cleaner: https://youtu.be/5vRogG1ms3E