Der Nerdery

This is me compairing/rating both CALPICO and Milkis. I was told that Milkis is the knock off of CALPICO witch in this video I would have to agree they’re both the same color plus the taste is kind of the same. However the CALPICO has more of a orange flaver thats very mild where as the Milkis has a very fruity flavor as well but its not orange. I couldn’t place it but they are both very good and I rate them a 9/10. One thing I forgot to say in the video was that I liked Milkis better.

You’ve missed the last comic con in Seattle, and you had really planned on going to it, too. But don’t despair, not only are there other comic cons on the horizon, both near and far, but, in the interim, why not get yourself to a nice, intergalactic UFO con?

You Are Not Alone

2011 MUFON (Mutual Unidentified Flying Object Network) of Ohio Summer Conference is a con on the very near horizon, right behind that round saucer-looking thingy in the sky. With a conference title of “50 Years of Abduction Experience – Setting the Record Straight,” people are stampeding to get their plane tickets. It’s a one day conference, July 16, in Ashland, Ohio. This is the con that bills itself “REAL UFOs – the latest UFO videos and news,” featuring Travis Walton, “author of the famous abduction account ‘Fire in the Sky’ made into a blockbuster movie,” and Kathleen Marden, niece of Betty Hill, and author of the bestseller, “Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience.”

Or if that’s too soon, plan to go to the McMinnville UFO Festival next May, noted as “the second largest UFO Celebration in the Country,” held in an out-of-this-world venue, McMenamin’s Hotel Oregon. Here’s an event that offers the best of both worlds – or of many worlds. It starts off with an Alien UFO Costume Parade, followed by the Alien Pet Costume Contest. Getting those alien creatures to look like earth dogs is no easy task, but the festival participants are pretty successful at it.

The other bonus is that the McMinnville UFO celebration is held in the heart of Oregon’s wine country, so you can tour the many excellent wineries as well. No wonder the aliens landed here.

I-Con, Con You?

But if the UFO scene is too “spacy” for you, how about I-Con (aka: Island Convention) held in March at Stony Brook, New York, on the State University of New York campus. This is an eclectic convention including science fiction authors, Anime and other animation devotees, furry folks, gaming, SCA medieval participants, with various and sundry performances.

The first I-Con was held in 1982 with Gene Roddenberry as a GoH (guest of honor). How do you top that?

Finding Our Furry Friends

And now, for something completely different, how about a furry con? The attendees at a furry con focus on fictional anthropomorphic characters. The first furry convention, ConFurence, was held in California in 1990.

Many attendees at a furry con wear elaborate animal or animal-like costumes, usually of their own construction. Costumers play a major role at a furry con. Like most cons, attendees will find an art show, a masquerade – distinguished from walking through the halls by having a raised stage – discussions of the literature, movies, print and online fare of anthropomorphic stories and characters.

Boo!

And if all of the foregoing is not scary enough for you, why not go to a World Horror Convention? The next one will be held March 29 through April 1, 2012 in Salt Lake City, “At the Mountains of Madness.”

Salt flats for miles, now that’s scary! Here attendees rub elbows with famed horror writers and watch horror films, as well visit the dealer’s room, go to presentations and panels, as is usual for all cons. But horror Con-goers have the added advantage of getting to run about the halls in terrifying zombie, oozing, blood-dripping costuming. Fun will be had by all.

I Want My Comic-Con

But if you’re still pining for a full-on comic con, don’t despair. THE comic con of comic cons, the San Diego Comic-Con International, will be held July 21-24 at the San Diego Convention Center, Petco Park. With an attendance of 130,000 in 2010, it is billed as the fourth largest convention in the world. It’s still but a pale follower of Comiket, held in Tokyo, Japan twice a year in December and August, with an attendance of 520,000 in December 2010.

The San Diego Comic-com was originally all about comic books, but has expanded to include, somewhat logically, animation, anime, manga, horror, webcomics, fantasy novels, the burgeoning popularity of the illustrated novel, as well as the other pop culture components of video games, toys and collectible card games.

Probably the most intriguing aspect of the wealth of cons is that people from all walks of life, with greatly varying belief systems, political stances, cultural underpinnings and gender persuasions come together and play well together. Earthlings, take a clue!

 

Matthew Warren is a sci-fi fan, wanna-be astronomer and a programmer when not working on Gump Tees and Things Nerds Like.

 

The enormous success of the Nintendo Wii made it clear that consumers are ready to get up off the couch and enjoy a more active approach to video games. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have long been the kings of the gaming market so it comes as no surprise that Sony and Microsoft weren’t far behind Nintendo with their own motion controlled systems. While it is debatable whether Sony’s PlayStation Move will find its way to the top of the market, it is certainly going to be a contender.

Playstation Move Pricing

Cost of the PlayStation Move will vary depending on what you already have. If you’re starting from scratch, then the most logical option will cost you $399, and that includes a 320GB PS3 Starter Bundle (more on this in a second) and a motion controller officially called the DualShock 3 pad. The Starter Bundle includes the motion controller, required PlayStation Eye camera, and the Sports Champions game. The Starter Bundle goes for just under $100 and is probably the smartest choice if you already have a PS3. All of these items can be purchased separately but bundles will save you money. Sony has also released an alternative control listed at $30 but it is not interchangeable with the motion controller and only a small selection of games enables the use of both simultaneously.

Playstation Move Hardware

Motion controlled gaming requires the PlayStation Eye camera, the PlayStation 3 itself, and the handheld controllers mentioned above. The Eye and PS3 have been on the market for some time now. The controllers are very comfortable and, other than the  45-degree counter-clockwise twist of the command buttons, simple to use (even that feature won’t give you too much of a problem). Each controller is wireless and has the four symbol buttons that will be familiar to anyone who has ever used PlayStation products. A t button is on the underside of the controller and the butt houses two ports: one for charging/syncing and an extension connector. Motion tracking is on par with the competition and initial calibration isn’t too much of a hassle.

Playstation Move Games

While Move’s pricing or hardware doesn’t disappoint, it doesn’t blow the competition out of the water either. Because of this, the success of Move will depend largely on games made available and their playability. Its initial lineup seems to be a positive sign. Move’s flagship title, Sports Champions, is a collection of six sports: Disc Golf, Gladiator Duel, Beach Volleyball, Archery, Table Tennis, and Bocce. Sports Champions can be compared favorably to Nintendo’s Wii Sports and Microsoft’s Kinect Sports. The gameplay seems to improve on the Wii, particularly with table tennis. Other  titles include SOCOM 4, Tiger Woods 2011, R.U.S.E., and Heavy Rain. If the quality of gameplay and apparent commitment to market a wide variety of titles remain consistent, Move will remain a major force in the motion controlled video game industry.

About the author: Diane Johnson writes about a number of her interests including fourwheeling, shopping, online colleges, and traveling.

We all love gaming, so we all want this favoured past time of ours to continue into the future. It can only continue by the ongoing investment of publishers who hope to recoup this initial outlay at the time of release. Sales of new games would traditionally be the only return the publishers make and with more and more retailers giving an increased shelf space to pre-owned titles it has required the industry to be clever and consider new ways of thinking.

In many ways, the video games industry has tried to emulate the other forms of entertainment in the way it hopes to make a return on the investment. This business model has its faults and as the games industry has developed to more than just the whiny younger brother of the two more established mediums, striving for attention, the whole system needs to be re-evaluated.

It’s well documented that as new generations of consoles come out, the cost of developing games for these consoles is increased, this in turn puts more pressure onto the developers and designers as the publishers have to put much more than their neck on the line. We have started to see a new take on continual returns with DLC, micro-transactions and the less than ideal “project ten dollar” by EA. But it all highlights the direction the industry needs to head in order to escape the heavily saturated physical media market.

Being able to create on-going revenues, the developers can once again start to take the reigns by being able to reinvest into future projects and the ongoing funding from the previous titles will therefore help to shift the power back to developers and once again allow them to spend the money developing games how they want to develop them.

The good thing is, not much is going to change. The development of games isn’t going to nosedive on quality as a sub-par game will still receive sub-par reviews, the impetus still remains firmly with the consumer.

The new forms of digital distribution with Gaikai and On-live will sure test the limits of the consumer and will be a good starting point into what new models can be adapted, and most importantly, will be accepted. If these new consoles start to see a great success with the model of digital distribution, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the consoles streamlining their attempts to create a more digital market.

There are many underlying factors when it comes to implementing developments in the console industry with more politics, hissy fits and backstabbing than you may realise. The great thing about this industry is the power of the consumer, great games succeed, as people start to realise the benefits of digital distribution and companies don’t just use it as a money grabbing technique (*cough* EA *cough*) we will start to see a re-balance of power and a fruitful future for developers.

Andy is a keen gamer and fan of all things nerdy. He is currently working for a company that deals in Level Measurement and Pressure Transmitters or follow him on his Twitter

Castle Crashers

Info:

Price: $14.99

Rating: 10/10

Genre: Fighting/Action/RPG

ESRB Rating: Mature

System: PS3/X-Box 360

Players: 1-4

Online Compatible: Yes

Resolution: 1080P

Review:

This game is the best side-scrolling game I have ever played, hands down! I would say it’s a fighting/action/rpg like Gauntlet Legends . As you play the game you gain XP to level, and increase your skills which are strength magic defense and agility. Strength increases how much damage you do. Magic gives you new magical abilities, increases your mana, lengthens your magic distance, and increases magical damage. Defense makes you take less damage and increases your HP. Agility accelerates your movement speed, and how fast you can shoot arrows. The enemies drop  money, items, weapons and animal orbs which help you immensely throughout the game. As you level your character you will gain new moves at certain levels to entertain you throughout the whole game. This game keeps you laughing throughout. If it’s not a crapping deer, a boss jumping in the lava or the ice boss the slowly freezing while screaming in agony after you defeat him.

Animation & Sound:

The graphics of Castle Crashers is just amazing! This game was entirely made by Newgrounds the same developers that made the epic game Alien Hominid!!I love the cartoon style graphics with all the bloody goodness (yes you can turn off the blood, but why would you want too). The music in Castle Crashers is the kind of music you can listen to over and over again. Actually, I go to the Castle Crashers icon on the PS3 all the time just to hear it the song. The game has its own friggin soundtrack for Gods sake! If you have played this game and don’t own the soundtrack you’re a stronger person then I.

If you have ever played this game and have anything to add, please comment!!

Tips & Tricks:

These are just a few tips and tricks I have found though my many hours of playing Castle Crashers.

Infinite Money:

In the desert level where the alien ship beams you up at the end, before you fight a bunch of smaller ships that drop Alien Hominids. Here’s what you need to do, just don’t attack the ships. When you don’t attack the ships they never stop dropping Alien Hominids. Now you just need to get 1P on each side to kill the Alien Hominids as they drop.The great thing about Alien Hominids is that they drop all sorts or gems, coins, bags of gold and food. The player that needs money grabs the loot.

Infinite XP:

In the lava world, you come to a point where you need to eat a sandwich to go any further. The guys you fight there drop them when you slay them to you just don’t eat one. Just camp there to gain all the XP you like. This works best with lower levels. Higher levels can just go to insane mode slay the troll boss at the end of thieves forest . Happy XPing

Story Line Items:

Compass: Find to the left of the blacksmith.

Ship Wheel: At the end of the lava level after defeating the dragons.

Telescope: Grab this item at the end of the Industrial Castle level.

Treasure Map: You’ll receive this after defeating an opposing team at the sand castle, in a game of volleyball.

Useful items:

Boomerang: Equip the Cardinal Animal Orb, and go to the Thief Forest. When you locate the owl pooping from a tree, the cardinal will find the boomerang.

Bow and Arrow: In the Thief Forest level, they are dropped randomly.

Horn: Will receive after killing the Corn boss.

Key Weapon: Equip the Cardinal Animal Orb, and go the Full Moon level. When you reach the mountain path, go up until you reach the second hut, and Cardinal will locate Key Weapon for you.

Spade: Head to the first desert level after you’ve completed the ship level. Leave the ship and find this item right in front of you on the left side of the sand castle.

Unlockable Characters:

Alien Hominid: Have the full game of Alien Hominid HD on your Xbox 360′s HDD and get at least one achievement in it.

Barbarian: Beat King’s Arena.

Bear: Beat the game with Skeleton.

Beekeeper: Beat the game with The Barbarian.

Black Knight: Beat the Game with Grey Knight.

Brute: Beat the game with The Eskimo.

Civilian: Beat the game with Peasant.

Commoner: Beat game with peasant knight.

Eskimo: Complete Icy Arena offline.

Fencer: Beat the game with Mechanic.

Forest Knight: Beat the game with the Thief.

Grey Knight: Defeat the Barbarian Boss.

Mechanic (Gear Knight): Beat the game with Blue Knight.

Ninja: Beat the game with The Red Dragon Knight.

Peasant: Complete the “Peasant Arena”.

Periwinkle Knight: Complete the “Volcano Arena”.

Red Dragon Knight: Beat Game With Orange Knight.

Royal Guard: Complete the game as Green Knight.

Skeleton: Complete the game as Red Knight.

Thief: Beat Thieve’s Arena.

PS3 Only Characters

Open Faced Gray Knight: Complete the Catfish level on Insane Mode

King: Complete the Pipistrello’s Cave level on Insane Mode

Necromancer: Complete the Industrial Castle level on Insane Mode

Cult Minion: Complete the Ice Castle level on Insane Mode

Unlockable Animal Orbs:

Beholder

Power: Provides a magical boost (+2 Magic)

Location: Full Moon

Have Cardinal as your animal in Full Moon, and at the second hut on the mountain path, it’ll give you a golden key that unlocks a cell in the ark holding the Beholder.

BiPolar

Power: Attacks enemies and friends when they’re about to die

Location: Snow World

Use the horn near a sign while walking up a ramp.

Bitey Bat

Power: Bites the enemy’s head

Location: Pipistrello’s Cave

Bitey bat is found after beating the Bat boss.

Burly Bear

Location: Tall Grass Field

Look for the tall grass on the cliff, and instead of going up the cliff, go left to the side of the cliff. A rock blocks your path, but can be moved by eating a sandwich. Bomb the crack behind the two treasure chest to reveal Burly Bear.

Chicken

Power: Increases defense, agility, and strength (+1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Defense)

Location: Flooded Temple

In the first dry area, dig at the X sign marked before the two fish statues.

Cardinal

Power: Increase chances of finding secret items

Location: Industrial Castle

Beat the Brute at the top floor of the castle.

Dragon Head

Power: Occasionally shoots fire

Location: Insane Store

Buy in store for 5500 gold.

Frogglet

Power: Frogglet’s catches items with its tongue

Location: Marsh

Find the X halfway in the first graveyard, where you’ll see a crypt.

Giraffey

Power: Increases leveling rate

Location: Desert

Look for the X in the sand towards the end of the level.

Hawkster

Power: Attacks enemies on the ground and picks up fruit from them

Location: Tall Grass Field

Before getting the animal Rammy from the bear with the banner, Hawkster can be found by blowing the horn outside the huts.

Install Ball

Power: Shoots enemies with his photons

Location: Alien Ship

Play through until the countdown begins. Shoot the mechanism that destroys the first green laser gate (after the toilet) and head straight up. There’s a door there (hard to see what with it being dark etc). Go left slightly. It’s still possible to exit the ship before the countdown ends.

Meowburt

Power: Increases agility (+3 Agility)

Location: Parade

The cat Meowburt is in a tunnel after the level Parade. Enter the level following Parade, and when the level begins, head to the left for the tunnel.

Monkeyface

Power: Increases the chance of finding secret items

Location: Church Store

Buy in store for 750 gold.

Mr. Buddy

Power: Increase rate of digging

Location: Home Castle

Find a X on a straw pile near the back wall in the first room of the castle.

Owlet

Power: Exposes hidden fruit in trees

Location: Forest Entrance

Repeatedly attack behind the area infested with vegetation before the Deadland exit.

Paazo

Power: Points out the location of buried treasure

Location: Snow Store

Buy in the store for 750 gold.

Pelter

Power: Occasionally shoots ice

Location: Insane Store

Buy in store for 5500 gold.

Piggy

Power: Increases the amount of health restored when eating food

Location: Swamp Village Store

Buy in store for 585 gold.

Rammy

Power: Rams the enemies down to the ground

Location: Tall Grass Field

Look for a bear with a banner.

Scratchpaw

Power: Increases agility and strength (+1 Strength, +2 Agility)

Location: Sandcastle Interior

Scratchpaw, a tiger, is behind the second barred window in the back of the room. Set him free by bombing the window.

Seahorse

Power: Increases speed in water

Location: Thieves Forest

Between the poo streak left by the deer and the river.

Sherbert

Power: Increases jump height

Location: Animal Ark

Eat a sandwich while standing under a door in the animal ark, then jump and press X, X, and Y button. Attack the door as it rises until you’re high enough to grab Sherbert.

Snailburt

Power: Increases defense but decreases agility (+5 Defense, -5 Agility)

Location: Marsh

Near the end of the level.

Snoot

Power: Increases strength (+2 Strength)

Location: Cyclop’s Fortress

In the first room of the fortress, find a crack in the wall and bomb it.

Spiny

Power: Increases defense (+2 Defense)

Location: Buy in store for 680 gold

Troll

Power: Health is slowly restored over time

Location: Thieves Forest

The troll is behind a wall that can be destroyed with three bombs.

Yeti

Power: Immunity against being frozen

Location: Snow World

The Yeti is behind a hut on a declining ramp.

Zebra

Power: Exposes food in the grass

Location: Desert Chase

The Zebra is carried by the rider on a camel, who runs away from you in the desert. Chase the rider and knock him off with an arrow to score the Zebra.

I picked my top 5 favorite Bleach shinigami men mainly due to how hot they are.  I also love the way these 5 guys fight and what they fight for.

Renji Abarai is the lieutenant of the 6th Division in the 13 court guard squads under captain Byakuya Kuchiki.  He is very cocky and always willing to fight for what he believes in.  I love his long red hair and tribal tattoos.  One of my favorite Renji fights is episode 52, Renji vs. Captain Kuchiki.

Byakuya Kuchiki is the captain of the 6th Division in the 13 court guard squads.  It is hard for me to choose a favorite episode featuring Byakuya Kuchiki, I like most of his fights.  Probably my favorite is episode 197 & 198. In these episodes Byakuya saves his sister Rukia once again by fighting Zommari Rureaux, the 7th Espada.  I also love his heart to heart with Rukia in episode 62.

Ichigo Kurosaki is a human who becomes the substitute soul reaper of Karakura Town.  He is very short-tempered, strong-willed and impulsive.  I love that he always fights for what he believes to be right and the people he cares about. Some of my favorite episodes are # 59 Ichigo vs. Captain Kuchiki and 272 Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra.

Shuhei Hisagi is the lieutenant of the 9th Division in the 13 court guard squads under former captain Kaname Tosen.  He is a very mature and calm person.  I like that when he fights he is calm, quiet, and focused.  I love his face and his stare.  Even though he despises his zanpaktuo, Kazeshini, I think it is really cool and he is very good at using it.  My favorite episode is 219 when he fights and defeats Findor, one of the 2nd Espada’s fraccion. I also like episode  260, in which he battles against his zanpaktuo, Kazeshini for control over his materialized form.

Toshiro Hitsugaya is the captain of the 10th Division in the 13 court guard squads.  He is the youngest captain ever. He is usually very serious and mature. One of my favorite episodes is #274-275 Captain Hitsugaya vs. Harribel, 3rd Espada.