Nerds Without Pants

Welcome to a fun-filled episode of Nerds Without Pants! We are joined once again by Friend Of The Show John Gholson to talk all about B movies and B games. What exactly do those entail? I'm glad you asked. Fortunately, we have John's incredible knowledge of film to lead the way. We skip the Consumption Junction portion of the show and instead split it into a section on movies and a section on video games. Enjoy!

In the movie portion of the show, John gives us a working definition of B movie. It's more complex than you might think! We talk about some of our earliest experiences with B movies, why we actively seek them out, and the sweet, sweet pain of Santa Claus Meets The Ice Cream Bunny. Yup.

Julian takes the reins of the video game section, where he lays out what he means by B games. It turns out that it is an even tougher thing to pin down than B movies. Basically, we know them when we see them. We talk about guilty pleasures, good games that time forgot, and finish things off with the most embarrassing game in our personal collections.

Welcome back! Angelo is on vacation this week, so Patrick and Julian take some time to catch up on some Consumption Junction and a bunch of comic book talk.

2:20 Game of Thrones; Powers

21:45 Julian is better at Rogue Legacy than Patrick; Bloodborne is pretty okay

41:56 Patrick is still way too lucky at Hearthstone; Mortal Kombat X

1:06:00 Massive comic book roundup

1:47:28 Patrick and Julian weigh in on Jared Leto’s Joker

1:56:20 BONUS: Batman Eternal spoiler conversation

FEATURED MUSIC

Theme song from The Tick

Craig Armstrong- Favela Escape (The Incredible Hulk)

Starbomb- Mortal Kombat High

Ramin Djawadi- Gulmira (Iron Man)

Neil Hefti- Batman Theme

Hello, friends! Grab some warm milk, position your sleep mask, and allow the Nerds Without Pants to escort you into the world of dreams. Video game dreams, that is! After a lengthy Consumption Junction section, the Pantsless Ones talk all about the use of dreams in gaming. We may deviate from the plan a couple of times, as is our way.

CONSUMPTION JUNCTION

2:40 Angelo’s PS4 impressions; Final Fantasy XV

30:40 Final Fantasy Record Keepers; free to play games; NWP shill for Blizzard

44:50 Patrick’s love/hate/love relationship with Bloodborne; Lewis Black is awesome; boss battles are an art

58:30 The Order 1886; Axiom Verge; Valiant Hearts

TOPIC: VIDEO GAME DREAMSCAPES

1:24:08 Super Mario Bros. 2 is the third best Mario Game; pizza dreams

1:30:45 The dreamy backstory of Shadow; Link’s Awakening is amazing and depressing

1:48:00 Chopin’s deathbed; Donkey Kong is tripping balls; Patrick’s comic book death rant

1:58:00 Angelo has permission to talk about Nier; Dreamfall returns; our video game related dreams

FEATURED MUSIC

The Ataris- San Dimas High School Football Rules

Gary Wright- The Dream Weaver

P!nk- Catch Me While I’m Sleeping

Cranberries- Dreams

Axiom Verge- Inexorable

Robbi Rob- In Time

Welcome to a special April Fool’s edition of Nerds Without Pants! Sure, it’s not April 1 anymore, but we recorded this on April 1, so it counts. No, really.

CONSUMPTION JUNCTION

3:22 Final Fantasy XV; Final Fantasy Record Keeper

15:00 The delay of Zelda Wii U; Majora’s Mask; what we want from the next Zelda

26:40 Bloodborne; game delays; the future of Metal Gear and Hideo Kojima

38:33 The latest mega gift from Angelo’s wife; Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

51:50 Disney’s Cinderella; pinball; Angelo’s table top gaming store pickups

1:11:57 Angelo is an Inspire Pro Wrestling fan; Julian talks about Inspire Pro Phenomenon

TOPIC: Video Game April Fool’s

1:35:15 The history of the EGM April Fool’s gags

1:50:37 The huge amount of disinformation in the arcades; Krazy Mortal Kombat legends

2:30:58 The best April Fool’s gags; avoiding the internet on April 1

3:10:05 Patrick’s Poetry Corner returns

3:40:10 The purpose of being; philosophic nerds

4:01:15 The final episode of Nerds Without Pants

FEATURED MUSIC:

Ninja Sex Party- Dinosaur Laser Fight

Starbomb- It’s Dangerous to Go Alone

Welcome to Nerds Without Pants, new listeners and old! We’re missing Angelo this week, but we have a huge special guest named Patrick Klepek. You’ve heard of him, maybe? He’s here to talk about interesting game mechanics that we’d like to see exploited more often, and it’s sure to be an interesting episode. Enjoy!

TOPIC: THE BEST LAID PLANS

We talk about bringing urban traversal into horror games, the somewhat stressful but satisfying time rewinding mechanic of Majora’s Mask, making tough decisions in video games, the trend towards more challenging titles, value proposition, and more.

CONSUMPTION JUNCTION

It’s a light edition of Consumption Junction since we are a man down and it had only been a week between recording. Julian and Patrick talk about the first episode of Powers (spoiler alert: Julian is not pleased). Julian has turned the corner on Rogue Legacy, and he and Patrick compare strategies and war stories.

And that’s about it! It’s a shorter episode, but we hope you enjoy. Patrick Klepek is just the beginning, folks. Nerds Without Pants is on the rise, and it’s thanks to you. Keep it pantsless, internet!

FEATURED MUSIC

Paul Kandel-Topsy Turvy

Dark Souls- Gaping Dragon

Starbomb- The Hero of Rhyme

Jane Pinckard and Eric Haller- The 1up Show

Welcome back to Nerds Without Pants! It’s been almost a full month since the Pantsless Ones got together to record, and after the heavy topic of episode 65 they decide to keep things light. So that means two hours of meandering talk about video games, comics, blasphemy, and indie pro wrestling, among other things. Enjoy!

2:45 PS Plus Roundup: Valiant Hearts; Ollie Ollie 2; Oddworld New and Tasty

14:25 Patrick and Angelo go deep into Hearthstone talk; Angelo is a cheapskate; platforming skills

40:10 Comic book roundup: Saga; Thor; Batman Year One; Bedlam; Ready Player One

1:11:00 Angelo falls back into Magic; Code Combat; DuckTales

1:33:30 Julian’s hate/love for Rogue Legacy; Game of Thrones episode 2

1:43:40 The unadulterated awesomeness that is Inspire Pro Wrestling

FEATURED MUSIC

Double Dragon Neon- City Streets 2 (Neon Neon)

Rogue Legacy- Trilobyte (Castle)

Strawberry Alarm Clock- Incense and Peppermints

DuckTales- Moon

Craig Robinson- Stay

 

Well hello again. It’s time for part two of Nerds Without Pants episode 65: the show so nice we named it twice. This is a continuation of our lengthy discussion with Liana Kerzer, and this entire episode is about mental health and how video games can tie into that and even help. This ends up being a very personal episode of Nerds Without Pants, and you are about to see a different side of Angelo, Patrick, and Julian. So enjoy, and we hope that this topic begins some open discussion. Keep in mind that there are spoilers for the Gears of War and God of War series throughout.

TOPIC: MENTAL HEALTH AND VIDEO GAMES

6:20 The surprising emotional resonance of Gears of War; the introspective marketing of the game; working through pain internally

15:30 How Angelo’s past affected his relationships; seeking help through support groups

22:20 Patrick’s experience having ADHD; getting along having autism and aspergers

34:35 The humanization of mentally ill characters in video games

39:00 Liana coming out as having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; dealing with triggers; Kratos is a checklist for PTSD

54:40 The responsibility of video game marketing to address triggers in trailers; Liana’s terrifying E3 experience

1:09:03 Julian’s very personal account of his recent traumas; healing with video games; the need to talk through problems

1:25:00 How video games can help give a new thing to focus on; changing the stoic male role model; using RPGs to learn about yourself

1:36:00 Using video games to heal physical pain and keep the mind sharp

RELATED ARTICLES

The Healing Power of Video Games

Some of Gaming’s Greatest Heroes Are Mentally Ill, and That’s a Good Thing

Why We Game

FEATURED MUSIC

Katie Costello- The Weirds

Michael Andrews & Gary Jules- Mad World

Damien Rice- It Takes a Lot to Know a Man

Ingrid Michaelson- Be OK

 

Welcome to an unintentionally bonus edition of Nerds Without Pants! Angelo hosts this episode, featuring special guest Liana Kerzer. Liana is a TV and internet personality who also writes about video games for Metaleater. The reason for Liana’s visit was to talk about mental health in relation to video games, but we had such a great time talking to her that the episode went beyond 3 hours. So we’ve decided to split the Consumption Junction and topic portions of the show into two. Please enjoy a lengthy Consumption Junction this week, and come back for our regular time next week as we discuss mental health and the healing power of video games.

4:05 A little bit about Liana; talking about her new book Wrestling With Gods: Tesseracts 18

11:45 Evolve; some of those issues with DLC

26:45 Game of Thrones beer (not really); Rogue Legacy; getting into Roguelikes

38:00 Patrick’s complicated relationship with Destiny; Fifty Shades of Grey is terrible

52:14 An update on Patrick’s Rocksmith journey; Thief; Hitman Absolution is better than you think

1:08:45 Julian’s epic first comic con experience; cosplay is awesome

1:24:52 Mighty Dungeons; Megaman X 2; Angelo introduces his boy to Metroid Prime

FEATURED MUSIC:

Katie Costello- Cassette Tape

The Rolling Stones- Under My Thumb

Nightwish- The Crow, The Owl and the Dove

Welcome to the 64th episode of Nerds Without Pants! As you may have guessed (because Julian is a lazy dude that loves easy topics), this episode is all about the Nintendo 64. Come join the Pantsless Ones as we discuss the mouthwatering anticipation for Project Reality, some of our favorite and obscure games for the platform, and where it sits in video game history. It’s a fun and free-flowing conversation that may  be a little different than the usual retrospective type podcasts. Stay tuned after the final song for Julian's mini rant about the Royal Rumble. Enjoy!

FEATURED MUSIC:

Super Mario 64- Main Theme

The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time- Title Screen

Buck Bumble- Title Screen

Well hello there! It’s time for another excellent community-driven episode of Nerds Without Pants. What does that mean, exactly? It means a bunch of fun, random, bite-sized topics. We are joined by Casey to talk about Pokemon, Drakengard 3, a look at some of our favorite consoles, piracy, and more!

CONSUMPTION JUNCTION

2:25 Wolfenstein: The New Order; Beyond Good & Evil is meh; the woes of Assassin’s Creed

14:55 The dark rabbit hole of competitive Pokemon

29:10 Patrick is part of the cool Destiny kids; Boyhood; more pinball talk;

44:15 Comic book rundown: Modern Wolverine sucks; Drifter; Invincible Volume 19 and 20; The Walking Dead

55:50 The dark rabbit hole of speed runs; Ace Combat 6; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989); Kingdom Hearts 2

COMMUNITY TOPICS

1:18:30 Drakengard 3 and Bayonetta 2

1:28:34 Nintendo had a pretty good 2014; Julian wants a Little Mac Amiibo

1:45:00 The best console to buy this year

1:57:22 The huge backlog shame of the Nerds Without Pants

2:11:35 Should certain subjects be taboo for video games?; the ethics of piracy when games aren’t available (and you can listen to our entire piracy episode here)

FEATURED MUSIC

Selections from Killer Cuts:

The Instinct

Freeze!

Do it Now

Controlling Transmission

K.I. Feeling

Starbomb- Toad Joins the Band