Nerds Amalgamated

Apparently, the market for gamers who don't actually play games is now bigger than the market for gamers who play them. That's probably not surprising though.

Concrete with poo sounds like something you'll never get clean, but it's actually stronger than regular concrete.

Card shops are dying. Somehow, comics returned.

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We enjoyed a nice drink of Rez which you can get a 10% discount when you type NERDS at the checkout from the Rez website at www.drinkrez.com

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Resources Mentioned

The rise of the non-player

- https://automaton-media.com/en/news/sega-president-says-theres-been-a-rise-in-fans-who-dont-play-the-games-and-their-engagement-with-ips-can-be-even-higher-than-that-of-gamers/

Introducing poop-crete

- https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-are-making-concrete-with-human-poop-and-it-gets-42-stronger

- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-66956-6

Are we seeing the death of the card shop

- https://bleedingcool.com/comics/comic-store-in-your-future-goodbye-to-gaming-so-more-comics/#google_vignette

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Tim Sweeney thinks the games industry is crashing like it's 1980 again. Which game will we bury in the desert this time?

The Ig Nobel prizes have been awarded. This year, we have scientific definitions of kissing and splashless urinals.

A movie about a talking cow has taken the world by storm. The weird thing is, they had a budget of about $200.

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We enjoyed a nice drink of Rez which you can get a 10% discount when you type NERDS at the checkout from the Rez website at www.drinkrez.com

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Resources Mentioned

• Another games crash scare ("This is the worst crash we've seen since the 1980s," says Tim Sweeney | GamesIndustry.biz)
• The 2026 IG Nobel awards (Rich people more likely to steal children’s sweets, finds Ig Nobel prize-winning study, Meet the 2026 Ig Nobel Prize winners - Ars Technica)
• The Chinese talking cow vs the world (Niu Lai movie: I watched the Chinese cow film. It sure is something.)

Full Show Notes : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zE3nOuqNCGo0rbenylGbDIAa2ju-swz1VQPuDC-wlUA/edit?usp=sharing

***

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GTA6 has been leaking like a sieve. Why are people even excited for this?

People love monsters. Is it because they provide an outsider view of society, or is there something else going on?

A study has suggested that Australia is the most resilient country to anything from global thermonuclear war to another pandemic. So where the bloody hell are you?

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We enjoyed a nice drink of Rez which you can get a 10% discount when you type NERDS at the checkout from the Rez website at www.drinkrez.com

***

Resources Mentioned

• The GTA 6 Saga (Take-Two Interactive files subpoenas against Microsoft, Discord, and X amid ongoing GTA 6 leaks | GamesIndustry.biz)
• Australia can survive…..THE APOCALYPSE (No Place to Hide? Regional Resilience and Vulnerability to Global Catastrophic Risk - Jehn - 2026)
• Why do we love monsters? (Why We Love Monsters, Metaphorical and Otherwise)

Full Show Notes : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gcYaqUlxZpB2o-cuiO76TNf9HtHad6spFuAHsAiXkjE/edit?usp=sharing

***

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Stop killing games is going from strength to strength, and now has joined the fight against Sony in a fresh new lawsuit

We then started flexing our cooking muscles while discussing how to save our vegetables and the solution was.......birdseeds...and plenty of it

Then we came to the conclusion that instead of buying paper comics...online comics is the way to go

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We enjoyed a nice drink of Rez which you can get a 10% discount when you type NERDS at the checkout from the Rez website at www.drinkrez.com

***

Resources Mentioned

• Stop Killing Games...the saga continues ("It's time to sue Sony": Stop Killing Games joins lawsuit over PlayStation's digital "monopoly" amid death of physical games | GamesRadar+, Stop Killing Games Joins Lawsuit Against Sony Over Its 'Total Control Of PlayStation Store Pricing')
• Something is killing the veges (The World's Vegetables Are Vanishing, And It's Quietly Wrecking Our Diets : ScienceAlert, Reversing vegetable biodiversity loss to diversify diets | PNAS)
• The rise of online comics (In an Online Era, Digital Comics Are Still Loading Up)

Full Show Notes : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oDJgSK0-Te4sWXJK1RDHtyMX4R8lo6z5CVJ10TQv3XQ/edit?usp=sharing

***

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Finding the needle in a haystack of a good game is getting more difficult as more releases come out. A workgroup has come up with a plan to fix that.

The Cambrian Explosion may have been caused by the accumulation of feces. Food for thought.

Why are people turning to miniseries and one shots instead of ongoing comics? Maybe they're just too long. We're talking about you, One Piece.

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We enjoyed a nice drink of Rez which you can get a 10% discount when you type NERDS at the checkout from the Rez website at www.drinkrez.com

***

Resources Mentioned

• Why it's hard to find a good game (The industry makes great games, but nobody can find them | GamesIndustry.biz)
• Its official poop fueled evolution (An Ancient Poop Explosion Could Have Helped Complex Life Evolve : ScienceAlert, The Cambrian fecal revolution: Fueling the Cambrian Radiation: Trends in Ecology & Evolution)
• What killed ongoing comics (Whatever Happened to Ongoing Comics?)

Full Show Notes : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cLHOB-5sJWBXsKcdVPsVtmWtatE1YC9-JoRlOaqpN74/edit?usp=sharing

***

If you'd like to be featured on the show, send us an email: [email protected]

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Xbox doesn't have much left to offer after the recent cuts. So can their tentpole franchises support the entire business?

New research suggests that a massive fireball killed all the dinosaurs in hours, not weeks. Which means there was a point where a time traveler could have an all you can eat dino buffet.

Getting your book adapted to a movie sounds like a dream come true. But letting someone else touch your baby has led to many crushed dreams, the latest being Children of Blood and Bone.

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We enjoyed a nice drink of Rez which you can get a 10% discount when you type NERDS at the checkout from the Rez website at www.drinkrez.com

***

Resources Mentioned

• Can Xbox recover (Xbox Is Dismantling Its Future To Rebuild a Past It Can Never Recapture)
• Dino-Instadeath (Dinosaurs died out within hours, new study suggests | Popular Science, Heat and Wildfires During the K‐Pg Mass Extinction Enhanced by Fine Dust - Johnson - 2026 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences - Wiley Online Library )
• Heat from Blood and Bone (Children of Blood and Bone Author Tomi Adeyemi Left Film Set Sobbing)

Full Show Notes : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j2_WWO1rT4YhqB9qrMIPk0ol1NjL7L8kC0SBUdw8uvM/edit?usp=sharing

***

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Xbox has fired massive numbers of devs. Who's actually left to make games?

Can you sleep through a trip to Mars? Probably not, but it won't stop scientists trying.

George Lucas thinks AI is the big new thing. But when was the last time George Lucas was relevant?

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We enjoyed a nice drink of Rez which you can get a 10% discount when you type NERDS at the checkout from the Rez website at www.drinkrez.com

***

Resources Mentioned

• The Death of XBOX...via a thousand cuts (Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs and shrinks Xbox in 'significant restructure')
• Can you sleep through a trip to mars (NASA Seeks Volunteers for New Yearlong Simulated Moon, Mars Mission, Can humans hibernate their way to Mars? | Science | The Guardian )
• George Lucas ‘s love for AI (George Lucas Says AI Makes Filmmaking ‘Easier’ and ‘There’s Nothing You Can Do About It,’ Criticizes Hollywood for Giving Fans Too Much Power, The Last Picture Show: a conversation with George Lucas - A Rabbit's Foot )

Full Show Notes : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LMdQoAu58ImxNC2HV_71mmHUCf4RNm0LCIhDscA7h-4/edit?usp=sharing

***

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The end of physical media, the loss of Stop Killing Games and Minecraft servers are illegal. Things are bad. When will they start to get better?

On the up side, there is a team working on making artificial life and they've just had a big breakthrough. This won't go wrong at all, right?

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We enjoyed a nice drink of Rez which you can get a 10% discount when you type NERDS at the checkout from the Rez website at www.drinkrez.com

***

Resources Mentioned

• Death of optical media (Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles)
• Minecraft servers are now illegal (ESA clarifies views on private servers after saying Minecraft servers are ‘illegal’ and ‘considered piracy’ | VGC, Private DIY Servers Are "Illegal Black Markets of Piracy" | The ESA's Shady Ties)
• New Stop Killing Games news (US bill requiring paid games to be playable after they shut down has failed to pass a Senate vote)
• Sony killed the movies (PlayStation Removes 551 Purchased StudioCanal Movies with No Refunds | The CyberSec Guru, Studio Canal Removal (UK))
• Syntha-cells is now becoming a reality (‘Beautiful blobs’: synthetic life a step closer as scientists make cells using lab-made DNA | Science | The Guardian, A Chemically Defined Synthetic Cell Capable Of Growth And Replication | bioRxiv, Biotic | SpudCell)

Full Show Notes : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qp6UUkBUeIwPwiOxuwMoHbMgH3dp-Z0W351KzHLx20U/edit?usp=sharing

***

If you'd like to be featured on the show, send us an email: [email protected]

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The Steam Machine has finally been released, and if it wasn't for the price of RAM it would probably sound a lot better. But make sure you save some money for GTA6 because ouch.

Scientists have discovered a cluster of neurons in mice that cause them to have ADHD. It could lead to a permanent treatment for ADHD, which is pretty exciting.

Critics think Anime is becoming commoditized. What does that even mean? Who cares?

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We enjoyed a nice drink of Rez which you can get a 10% discount when you type NERDS at the checkout from the Rez website at www.drinkrez.com

***

Resources Mentioned

• All the news from the Steam Machine and GTA 6 ("This is going to be a niche device" – Analysts react to the $1,000+ Steam Machine price reveal | GamesIndustry.biz, GTA 6 - all you need to know about Rockstar's blockbuster game, Rockstar Games Responds to GTA 6 Physical Disc Backlash)
• ADHD Mice (Scientists discover ancient brain cells that help block distractions | ScienceDaily, Evolutionarily old brainstem neurons are required for the control of selective spatial attention | Nature Communications )
• Anime as a commodity (Anime’s growing commoditization could lead to a future where the medium itself no longer matters, Japanese critic warns - AUTOMATON WEST)

Full Show Notes : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KoEtH9hnCRRr48QCYGDmIE_tIeKrLoK3oWGw9ZcAWMw/edit?usp=sharing

***

If you'd like to be featured on the show, send us an email: [email protected]

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Blizzard are suing another World of Warcraft fan server. This doesn't set good standards for game preservation, but where is the line between preservation and copyright infringement?

Researchers have found a massive whale necropolis in the deep ocean. We're scared of anything big enough to hunt whales, so hopefully it's not a hunting ground for Cthulu.

Production companies are leaving Hollywood. Where are they going, and can Hollywood as a concept survive?

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We enjoyed a nice drink of Rez which you can get a 10% discount when you type NERDS at the checkout from the Rez website at www.drinkrez.com

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Resources Mentioned

• Not another Blizzard lawsuit (Blizzard sues private World of Warcraft server for "large-scale, egregious, and ongoing infringement of Blizzard's intellectual property" | GamesIndustry.biz)
• There is now a whale graveyard (A 5.3-million-year-old deep-sea whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone | Nature)
• The Great Hollywood Exodus (Hollywood’s Mass Exodus: Why Film and TV Production Is Fleeing L.A. and What Can Be Done About It)

Full Show Notes : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QTDMmmsfWX7FLUhFP9VK8fRc8dgGk5e1msAp5vgZoBw/edit?usp=sharing

***

If you'd like to be featured on the show, send us an email: [email protected]

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And watch us on YouTube: Nerds Amalgamated - YouTube