Nerds Amalgamated

At last, the Oscars have added a rule that voters have to watch the movie. Somehow, people are complaining about doing their job. Ubisoft are being threatened with a complaint about their data collection. The GDPR hammer is raised and ready. Scientists want to grow astronaut food from scratch using bioreactors. This totally won't make a giant meat blob that consumes the Earth. We're supported by R...

We enjoyed a nice drink of rez which you can get from the Rez website at www.drinkrez.com  and with a 15% discount using the code word : NERDS15 DJ went wild and mixed a sachet of REZ with a bottle of coke, while the professor went with the traditional approach of mixing a sachet with water....how did it pan out? Find out.... Gacha games have seen rising popularity in the past few years, but...

Ubisoft has responded to a lawsuit against them as part of the Stop Killing Games campaign. This setback doesn't mean the end for the campaign. They'll keep fighting. A Minecraft Movie is a surprising hit. But it comes with some interesting implications for the future. And please don't throw your popcorn. Dire Wolves are back. But they're not really. Colossal Biosciences claims to have created dir...

From computer mice to increased prices for games, we'll tell you everything worth knowing about the Nintendo Switch 2 and why you probably don't want to buy it. Tariffs aren't just affecting video games, but they're also coming to Hollywood and could push out the smaller studios. A new brain to speech implant greatly improves the speed at which a human-computer interface can translate thoughts int...

SAG-AFTRA warn you not to believe the major games companies who claim that they're close to a deal. Instead, the union is refusing to back down without getting all the concessions they want for their members. Anime is facing a staff shortage. This could mean lowering quality or reducing season length. Hopefully it means removing filler. Light sails might be the best way to get to Alpha Centauri wi...

The anime industry is expecting some major growth, with the surprise entry of Chinese anime. Masahiro Sakurai of Super Smash Brothers thinks Japanese games should be made for Japanese gamers. How could he say something so controversial and so brave? Life in space takes a toll on your body. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have returned to Earth, but that's not the end of the story. We're supported...

Warner Bros and DC are in a bit of a sticky situation. They're failing to make money, and if their new Superman movie flops it could be the end for them. Trump's tariffs are going to have a major effect on the physical game market in the US. Of course, publishers want this to happen. At least twice in the Earth's history, a supernova has almost ended life as we know it. Good news though, it probab...

Should celebrities watch what they say? The latest controversy has come out after Emilia Perez was torpedoed by a castmember's comments. And why not hold them to the same standards most of us are? Urban Dead, one of the longest running zombie MMOs, is being shut down due to the new Online Safety Act in the UK. While it's sad to see something with such a cult following go, you can't run a product l...

Balatro has been rerated after an appeal to PEGI. Now teenagers can legally play it. Amazon now has full control over James Bond. They promise there won't be any TV shows, but it remains to be seen what they'll do with the narrative problems the last movie left them. A company plans to release genetically modified mosquitos in Australia to control the spread of dengue fever. This can't go wrong at...

This week we interviewed Isaac Fox of Astral Ticket Comics. Astral Tickets Comics Website - https://www.foxxycomics.com/   Youtube - Astral Ticket Comics - YouTube Facebook - ATFoxxyComics Instagram - Izumi Fox (@atfoxxycomics) • Instagram photos and videos X - https://x.com/ATFoxxyComics/   Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1784220658/   Bluesky - https://bsky.app/p...

The US Copyright Office has decided that at this time, generative AI doesn't deserve copyright. We've got a small chance of a massive asteroid hitting Earth in 2032. The good news is NASA already has an astronaut who was a driller. There's been a disappointing update to the Stop Killing Games campaign with the UK rejecting changes to the law. This episode supported by Rez www. DrinkRez.com US Copy...

CGC Cards has been accused of selling fake Pokemon alpha playtest cards signed by Takumi Akabane. Who is behind this devious act, and what are the implications for TCG collectors? Trump's tariffs on Canada could cause the price of comics to jump by 25%. Will this push independent comics out of business or create a new opportunity? In the next few years, Mastercard wants to get rid of the numbers o...

Nintendo says emulation is legal, but what does that mean? Are they being hypocrites for going after Yuzu? Trump has announced Project Stargate to advance AI for the US government. What could they want with images of people with too many fingers? Anime studios in Japan have started using AI as a tweening tool to speed up production. What does this mean for the animators? The UK Ministry of Defence...

AAA games are getting so expensive to make that companies have started marketing them as AAAA games. Despite this, games haven't really increased in price. But who's responsible for spending so much money? You can retrain your tastebuds to like a food that you hate. Will this finally end the war over pineapple on pizza? Harrison Ford wasn't always the first choice to play Deckard in Blade Runner....

The rumours are flying that Half Life 3 might be close to done. We're trying not to get too hyped just in case, but this might actually be happening this time. Alan Moore spoke about his new novel, The Great When from The Long London Quintet. Lots of parallel universe shenanigans seem to be heading our way. 2025 has some great astronomy opportunities coming up in Australia, from the possibility of...

It's the end of the year, so welcome to our Year in Review episode. We discuss our favourite things of the year from games to movies and science. We hope you have a happy New Year and we'll see you next year for more nerdy shenanigans. 2024 in video games – 2024 in video games - Wikipedia   2024 in film – 2024 in film - Wikipedia   2024 in Science & Technology – 2024 in science - Wik...

Your kids might be gambling in underground Roblox casinos. Or you might be gaming in underground CSGO casinos. Either way, there's been a proliferation of underground gaming casinos gambling in game assets for real world money. The latest investigation shows found children who have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Robux. Scary stuff. In what is certainly not just a way to get on the...

There's a big potential for the untapped Indian games industry. Why hasn't it taken off yet? Is 2025 finally the year of the Indian games industry? Former Bond girl Gemma Arterton thinks James Bond can't be genderbent. Someone out there will probably take that as a challenge. A group of scientists working with school students have identified a cytotoxic chemical found in goose feces. Really. It'll...

This week, things get heated when Professor and DJ talk about the reasons AAA games have to play it safe and take no risks. Disney is remaking Snow White and it looks AWFUL. They really should stop doing this, but they won't as long as people keep watching them. There's been a lot of news about birdflu lately. So why hasn't it become a pandemic? Playing it safe Triple A style - Borderlands 3 and T...

We are have a new Nerd on the Block : Shane from ComX Once an international brand, GAME is on the verge of shutting down. They've adapted to the changing market by not selling games anymore. We're not sure there's a way to survive as a physical games retailer with the domination of online marketplaces, but they're trying. Hate might be a strong word but Denis Villeneuve really doesn't like Star Wa...

Disco Elysium is a famous game for very good reasons. But when it comes to creating a sequel, there are now five companies all claiming to be working on a spiritual successor, all with part of the original team. And they're all suing each other. Get your popcorn. Ben Affleck (Batman) and Hirohiko Araki (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) have both come forwards to complain about AI. The future of their ind...

Reuploaded due to Spotify sync issues Australia's proposed social media ban is very broad and will likely affect gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite. We discuss the impact on the gaming industry if this comes into effect. Disney announced new Star Wars movies, then almost immediately cancelled one of them. What are they doing? Does anyone there have any idea what to do? Probably not. Track y...

This week we went to Supanova 100. We'll discuss our favorite panels, some great sights and of course the best cosplays. Brisbane Supanova 2024 – Event Home - Supanova Comic Con & Gaming  Shane Syddall from Comics Network Australia (ComX) – Comics Network Australia – Shane Syddall | Comics Network Australia    Full Show Notes : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tdeHIlAmUYvngQu...

Call of Duty Black Ops 6 has a new pay to win audio tier using customised Head Related Transfer Functions. Cool tech, but what isn't cool is allowing some players who can afford a subscription to have a gameplay advantage. Netflix are saving the Anime industry by... *checks notes* paying the animators a fair wage. This utterly insane idea will hopefully lead the industry in a better direction, awa...

A minor actor has had his identity used to create Venezuelan propaganda. He's not too happy about that, and hopes the unions will be able to prevent this in the future. Playstation have spent ten years suing a company for making hacks for their games, and they just lost. While this might lead to a proliferation of cheaters, we're more excited about the legal protection for modding. The Tasmanian T...