Nerds Amalgamated

Despite the universe conspiring to prevent us releasing this week, we've finally got this episode done. Things will be a bit hectic for a few weeks while we sort out moving, but we'll be back to our usual schedule soon. The Powerpuff Girls, created from sugar, spice and everything nice, were nearly rebooted into a weird dark alternative universe where the Powerpuff girls gain some additional bitte...

Disco Elysium is the latest victim of Australia’s Classification Board, those evil boomers who want to stop you having fun. Ok, I’m only exaggerating a little. It took us this long to get R18 games, why do they keep getting banned? Why does the ACB treat games differently to movies? There’s a long history of video game censorship in Australia, and we spent way longer than planned talking about it....

ABC's Four Corners has done a report on predatory microtransactions. It's nice to see a layman's description to help explain to non gamers why this matters so much. We discuss a solution. Maybe. Let us know if you can see any issues. The Colonial Pipeline has been hacked, resulting in fuel shortages across the South Eastern United States. Is this the start of a new generation of cyber crime? Are p...

Epic and Apple's case is going through the courts, and we're on the sidelines gobbling up any juicy news on the industry. Xbox hardware has never been profitable. Only 7 percent of Fortnite income is from iOS. And the Epic Games Store is a long way from being profitable. However the case turns out, we'll have a much better picture of the industry. AI is a fancy buzzword, but sometimes there's a pr...

Another year, another Oscars ceremony. We're more interested in the Razzies though. This year's worst performances include politicians and the Oscars themselves. 505 Games, the publisher behind Control are pulling some dodgy deals with providing the DLC for Control. It's not clear why they're doing this or what they plan to do, but it's a really big problem for people who got Control in Humble Cho...

We blame our recording bot for our late release. The bot has been taken out and shot. Ingenuity has finally lifted off and begun proving that heavier than air flight is possible on Mars. Also Perseverance is creating oxygen. Very soon, the Martian Colonies will be open for business! Sony don't want you being able to play games you've bought, or using the PlayStation you paid for once they say enou...

Why does the Professor's sign off always cut out? Why does DJ always repeat himself? Why does Sony hate retro gamers? All these questions may never be answered. Sony plan to kill the digital storefront for older PlayStation consoles. Combined with C-Bomb, that means these consoles might become completely useless within six months. Gamers and Developers are very upset. Sci-Fi often predicts future...

Author and illustrator Rebecca Burgess has announced a new graphic novel about Autism, aimed at 8-12 year olds. She definitely seems to have a history of writing well rated books about neurodiversities, so this should be good for helping children learn about Autism. Operation Chicken Drumstick sounds like a name for a sneaky run to KFC, but it's actually a Chinese police sting against a major hack...

Professor has survived his man flu, and celebrates by derailing the conversation onto the bloodier aspects of everyone's favourite chocolate themed weekend. The Demoscene is now listed as national heritage in both Finland and Germany, bringing it one step closer to becoming UNESCO listed. Demoscene projects are about squeezing the most impressive graphics out of very limited software and hardware....

This is the last time DJ is ever allowed to talk to me about the Snyder Cut. It's finally out. Are you happy now? It's in 4:3 because Superman is vertical when he stands up, which is true for basically all bipedal creatures. It probably wouldn't have happened without lots of people complaining on Twitter, so go watch it if you like superheroes who don't lie down. To get all the characters you want...

Well, it's a bad week for Microsoft based businesses. Hackers have breached more than 30 000 businesses and it'll take a lot of fingers and toes to count up all the damage they've done. Luckily, we have a new Switch model to look forward to. The leak shows a model with an OLED screen. But will they finally fix the joycons? Ensign, Warp speed 10. We'll have to give him a few years for the drive to...

Now the robots are coming for the writers' jobs too. The first AI written play has been performed. And it gets dark and raunchy. BONK. Go to Hornybot jail. GPT is a really amazing piece of tech. Bethesda are being sued for advertising the season pass as containing ALL the Fallout DLC. Players are upset that it doesn't contain the Creation Club content. Does this look like a man who has had ALL the...

There's nothing funny about NVIDIA's ridiculous CMP cryptocurrency mining cards, from taking chips away from gamers to being single use electronics. Hopefully this goes better than anyone outside NVIDIA thinks it will, but we'll have to see. Maybe AMD will keep their cards competitive and keep out of trouble so we have one consumer neutral producer to buy from. NASA's Perseverance Mars Lander touc...

The Microsoft AI and Gaming summit is about to begin. How long until I get strap on a VR headset and go into a game perfectly designed to keep me interested forever and ever? Strange creatures living at the bottom of the ocean under a polar ice cap is probably not a big issue, but just in case we should be equipping Antarctic research sites with nukes. It's the only way to be sure. Facebook and th...

Last week we had some terrible ideas. And we are sorry, because we've had more. There's a reason none of us are allowed to work at CSIRO anymore. The Australian games industry grew last year, following worldwide trends. We've got some interesting statistics on the industry and why it isn't doing as well as it could be. Last week we spoke about your gut microbiome affecting your parenting skills. W...

The infamous Gearbox, creator of many mediocre licensed games, has now been bought by the former THQ Nordic, now Embracer Group, owned by Deep Silver, the publisher owned by the Koch Brothers. Yeah, this is why it's so hard to track down the correct owners of game IP. Before Minecraft and Roblox, there was Garry's Mod. And Garry's back, with a fully overhauled sequel on the Source 2 engine, curren...

What does thousands of dollars of VR tracking gear get you? A way to compete in fully virtual breakdancing battles. South Koreans are still at home, and are working hard on creating Ready Player One’s Oasis in order to show off their sick dance moves. And the tracking is surprisingly good. If you haven’t invested in GameStop, it’s probably too late. If you have, you already know what we’re talking...

If you're old enough, you might remember NBA Jam. This old basketball game has enough of a following that modders add new characters based on yearly rosters, and now there's going to be a documentary about NBA Jam and the start of sports video games. What would you write in 72 bits? Currently, that's the amount of data that can be stored in a self replicating colony of E. Coli. You can't quite fit...

We have another long one for you, but that's ok because LucasFilm is back to making games. EA's tyranny is over! Rejoice! 2020 was an interesting year for the games industry. It turns out people really like Animal Crossing when they can't go outside. Gamesindustry.biz have provided a detailed article of numbers from the year in review. Staying inside might make you crazy. It also makes you slightl...

This week we bring you the terrifying story of an AI that knows too much. It taught itself to count, which is pretty cool. Flash is dead, long live Flash. Now it's all gone, it's time to find out more from the people behind some of the big games on Flash Game History Should art be valid as evidence in court? Some courts think so. The nerds have a debate about art as criminal evidence. Apple leaks...

This week we offered remembrance to all the victims of COVID-19. Rather than the 500 000 we quoted, there are more than 1.8 million COVID deaths. It's early days for 2021, and things seem to be going well. So far. I'll try not to jinx us. So we're taking a chill week to talk about some of the most significant things that happened last year. This week DJ watched a retro anime and Professor was plea...

Is it that time again, Mr Freeman? We hope you've all recovered from feasting, but if you haven't, sit back and relax for another episode of Nerds Amalgamated. First Nerds were uncool. Then they had their Revenge, then their Triumph, then their King was crowned. Now being a Nerd is cool, but now Seth McFarlane thinks it's time for another bout of Revenge. It's a dish best served cold, but when Ner...

It's episode 150! DJ thinks that's an important number for some reason. EA bought a Christmas present for itself. Now they own Codemasters. RIP racing games. If you stream copyrighted content you might soon go to jail. All games are technically copyrighted material, so it has been an honour streaming with you, gentlemen. The Hyabusa2 probe has successfully been retrieved and scientists are studyin...

Christopher Nolan is upset again. Not because we can't hear him, but because all Warner Brothers movies are going direct to streaming. DJ keeps trying to make a terrible nursery rhyme happen and we won't let him. Meanwhile, Damselfish farm algae with the help of their shrimp friends in the first example of a vertebrate species domesticating another species. Cyberpunk 2077 is out, but it's a bit bu...

THERE IS ONLY METRO. Dev-i and Professor are very excited for Metro 4, the movie, and 4A's continued projects. There's a lot of ground to cover, so hopefully Dimitry keeps writing. China now has the second best submarines in the world. The Fendouzhe has come just 20m short of the world record for submarine depth in the Mariner trench. That's pretty deep. Chris Claremont wants to focus on character...