posted by Chris on January 28, 2008 5:55 PM in Podcast
Alright, who ordered the podcast with the large side of hateful banter and ridicule? Nobody? Well here's one on the house. On this week's podcast, Chris, Qais, Colette, and Mack wrap up the Mass Effect controversy with a discussion about griefing and revenge on the Internet. Are some types of griefing ok where others are not? We play a little Burnout Paradise and talk open-world games, destroy a little more of your faith in humanity, and discuss the record industry finally coming to the shocking realization that people enjoy convenience, especially when it's free. A wide variety of things! Things for you to listen to!
posted by Qais on January 23, 2008 8:10 AM in Games
Lately the mainstream media has been crawling out of the woodwork to at least address the topic of video games if not to simply bash it in an uninformed fashion. Starting with Kevin McCullough and ending this week with FOX News, it's been a constant deluge of complete and total douchebaggery. Naturally, this topic has garnered a good amount of attention from game blogs, much to the chagrin of those that seem to think that exposing and expounding on the issue only lends these people validity.
Admittedly, they're granted a little validity, and they get some pretty epic pageviews for a day or two, but eventually the hype dies down and they are largely forgotten. Unfortunately, talking about the unapologetic manner in which the mainstream media pretends they are actually well versed in the topic of gaming is the only way we can fight back. Until now.
Following the broadcast of a recent round table discussion led by Cooper Lawrence regarding the recent Mass Effect scandal, gamers flooded Amazon leaving one star ratings and tyrannical screeds in the review section for Cooper's book The Cult Of Perfection.
Unfortunately, Amazon is now deleting one star ratings on the book, alienating a pretty hefty portion of their customer base in the process. So big ups to Amazon in that regard. However, in spite of Amazon's attempts at scrubbing the reviews quite a few remain on the page at any given time, speaking pretty highly of the tenacity of gamers if nothing else.
Granted, not everyone that completely loses their mind (or makes a REALLY informed decision) and makes a frothing, completely ignorant statement about games has an Amazon page we can send hordes of rabid fanboys to vandalize, but even these small victories are cherished.
posted by Chris on January 21, 2008 7:12 PM in Podcast
The week doesn't officially start until someone gets called Bizzleteats, and The Weekly Geek satisfies in this epic episode. Qais, Chris and Colette are here to give you awkward nicknames, talking about mainstream media's view of gaming, proper parenting, and the NPD video game industry sales numbers asking the time-honored question: why is the PS2 still selling so well? A contest is also announced, so be sure to stay tuned until the end of the podcast! Or, you know. Fast forward to the end to get the meaty details. So meaty.
posted by Chris on January 4, 2008 9:34 AM in Games
The past few weeks have been slow in geek news land, everyone is busy playing the games that were thrown upon us during the holiday. But CES, GDC, Macworld and all sorts of other nerdy conventions and conferences are on the horizon, and you can just feel the echo chamber tingle. Feel that tingling? That's the feeling of thousands of control keys being pressed at the same time as the letter "c". Here is what everyone else on the Internets were meme-ing about this week.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is coming to Xbox 360. Wait no it's not. Konami somehow confirms and also denies the game is PS3 exclusive. I'm betting it's coming out for both anyway. Covered by: GayGamer, G4, Dtoid, Kotaku, Joystiq , X3f.
Feb Issue of OXM will have exclusive Rock Band Songs A Freezepop song and two others by unknown bands. Good thing pretty much any song in Rock Band is fun to play. Covered by: Dtoid, Joystiq, X3F, Kotaku.
Somebody did something that offended other people Some guy made a ROM hack of Mega Man 2 that parodied the recent Vancouver Airport tazer incident. People got huffy. Surprise! Special note to VH1: just because you are offended by something doesn't make it "senseless". Less emotion, more news plz. Covered by: Dtoid, Wired, VH1, Kotaku, GayGamer.
Ray Kurzweil to deliver GDC keynote Famous futurist dude to talk about the next 20 years of gaming, geeks collectively orgasm. Covered by: Joystiq, Kotaku, GayGamer.
posted by Chris on January 3, 2008 8:28 AM in Games, Rant
The oft-rumored "360 Ultimate" has been recently "profiled" in the "magazine" entitled "Stuff", Kotaku brings to our attention this week. The system is supposed to cram all sorts of amazing junk into one box, in order to more fully compete with Sony's PLAYSTATION 3. To echo the almighty house of Crecente:
The Xbox 360 Ultimate, Stuff writes, will be hitting store shelves by this autumn and feature "1080p HDMI output, built-in Wi-Fi, hi-def audio output, cooler 65nm hardware architecture and a near-silent fan." On top of all that, the IPTV service that MS touted at last year's CES will be good to go.
Microsoft is a fan of making money, so as long as they can turn a profit on the hardware, this rumor sounds slightly reasonable. Readers of the site will know that I don't usually post articles about hardware rumors, or newly posted specs about a system. Usually, I just don't care. Sure, it's neat that eventually I can replace my clunky hd-dvd player drive hanging off of my Xbox 360 like a remora, but the best part of this article is the comments section on Kotaku. I've been a commenter there for a while, yet I hardly use the ability to comment there. Why? Ridiculous statements by ill-informed children such as this:
BY CHINEZEPANDA AT 04:43 PM
Never going to happen.
Even if it does..
SONY WILL OFFICIALLY HAVE THE UPPER HAND.
And by that I mean.. Microsoft will be acting in an act of desperation... and my 360 will be going on Ebay.
I love the use of the phrase "Microsoft will be acting in an act of desperation" so dramatic! So final! SO EXCITING. Conjures images of the stunning beauty Microsoft being strapped to train rails by the dastardly Sony, who now has the UPPER HAND! This one is classic, too. And they go on for a couple hundred comments of ridiculousness!
BY CAPT_BIRDSEYE AT 01/02/08 05:42 PM
You have all been Riped off by Microsoft, BTW that reminds me microsoft can't think of thire own ideas.
Now it gose to show why microsoft want a new console the so called "Xbox Ultimate" let me gess Sony have the upper hand? thire tryied with the core, premuim and the elite and now the ultimate. But sony have only made 4 versions of playstaion 3, 20gb, 40gb, 60gb and 80gb now in terms of that thire have only added more harddrive space and removing ps2 BC from most of thire modles. Micro$oft umm money crabbing creedy mofos if u ask me.
Ok, so making fun of this guy's spelling is a bit of a low blow, but come on. It's a company that wants to make money. That's what companies exist for. Microsoft is not some sort of happy shiny non-profit game company who just wants to give you exactly what you want. They want to make a bunch of fantastic games for you SO YOU WILL BUY THEM. It's pretty transparent. All this knee-jerking and fanboyism is really ridiculous. Can't you just say "hey, neat. Hope that comes out and is reasonably priced." and leave it at that? Not everyone is an analyst. Heck, I am not even an analyst. So quit thinking that you are. Or, at least, learn to spell. It's embarrassing.
The holidays are a time of family gathering. People coming together at the feet of the matriarch (or patriarch if all those studies regarding women living longer than men are hogwash) to exchange gifts, well wishing, and other disingenuous pleasantries. This is also a time of horrifying anticipation for geeks and nerds around the world. This is the annual cleaning of computers and long winded, often confusing, explanations of hobbies, jobs, and functioning in an incredibly disparate world of those in the know and those blissfully ignorant.
I spent my own holidays with my family, and as many have related to me in the past week, I spent much of that time explaining what I do for a living, what I do for fun, and last but not least, hunched over a jaw-clenchingly slow computer doing everything in my power to keep from sending my boot through the monitor.
It is a strange experience, these annual info dumps and viral scrubbings. Not only are we suddenly the resident expert but we are also surrounded by people that have no idea what we're talking about. No one knows what an RSS feed is, or what the word "blog" means, or even why setting up a vast library of MP3s might be preferable to a big collection of CDs.
And it is thus we, the geeks, are faced during family gathering. Many of you are tempted to scoff and sneer, maintaining an air of intellectual superiority that only comes off as severe douchebaggery to your family (because it is). Others will try to drag their family members kicking and screaming into the 21st century, spending lavishly on electronics that would make any geek worth their salt salivate and taking hours to explain the finer points of internet culture.
Personally, I'm a little of both. It seems I simply can't completely rid myself of that sighing IT jerk from the back of my head, nor can I stop myself from expounding on memetics to the blank faces of my family.
What challenges do you face with your technologically phobic (or at least uninformed) family, and what are some of the best ways to gently push them into the blinding light of the technological singularity?
Recently, I wrote a little ditty involving a brief diatribe on completionism in gaming. Now as I said previously, I personally am not a "completionist" gamer. The fun in gaming for me is not getting every possible thing I can in the game, the fun in gaming is just that, the fun. However, I will admit to a certain level of satisfaction whenever I hear that little pop/hum/whistle and a reminder jumps on-screen telling me just what a good little gamer I am. That being said, achievements and the like are not the end all be all for me, nor do I suspect are they the end all be all for most completionist gamers.
However, it would appear that a few people are starting to ask the question, "What does my gamerscore buy me?". I, being the snarky gonzo journo that I am, am more than willing to answer that question. A gamerscore buys you nothing, absolutely nothing, other than a healthy sense of self satisfaction and a round of self back-patting that is several rounds of stretching away from auto-fellatio. And yet, even though the answer to "Why is my leetness not being fully appreciated?" seems so glaringly obvious, a few of the gimme-gimme generation (of which I count myself one) have the testicular fortitude to ask such a question.
Does no one remember the days when actually playing a game was it's own reward? I and many like myself have spent countless hours in front of TV screens (causing irreparable vision damage) simply enjoying ourselves, never to ask the question, "Well what is Game Company X doing for me?" The answer to such an arrogant question seems so obvious, Game Company X has already done for you. The fruits of their labor rest in your hot little hands. While the idea of getting free games for having an obscenely high gamerscore seems awfully nice in theory, expecting something along those lines borders on spoiled bratitude and conjures images of bleach blonde teutonic gamers angry at not being paid homage too on schedule.
Keep in mind everyone, this is a symbiotic relationship. We feed the industry and the industry feeds us. Free stuff is all well and good but greed looks bad on everyone, especially someone in a Cheeto's-dust stained button-up dragon shirt. So Geektomites, what do you get out of gaming? Is it the hope of something free, do you simply enjoy games for the joy of gaming, or do you follow Furniss' lead and give in to your base nature of obsessive-compulsive completionism?
posted by Qais on November 16, 2007 8:41 AM in Games
We here at the 'Geek, or rather I, have a tendency to stoke the rumor mill any time something juicy drips before our ravenous, news-hungry maws. As such, it is with great pleasure, and perhaps just a bit of mischievous schadenfreude, that I bring you yet another rumor. According to the investigative team at Kotaku, a site with which I'm sure you're familiar if for nothing other than it's journalistic integrity, a new DS is possibly in the works.
George Harrison, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communication at Nintendo, has been quoted thusly:
We don't have any imminent plans for an upgrade for the Nintendo DS. The product is still selling extremely well around the world.
which is a whole lot different from "no new DS ever no, never". Rumors indicate a potentially larger viewing screen, more on board storage, and the removal of the GBA port. Granted, there isn't much in the world that could keep me from spewing bodily fluids of joy over Phantom Hourglassbigger, but if Nintendo takes away my ability to play Japanese imports of GBA games on my DS then my DS will be the last Nintendo system I own. You hear that Nintendo, I'm breaking up with you, consider your friend code hastily erased.
posted by Qais on November 13, 2007 12:10 PM in Games
Apparently Sony has a tremendous set of balls. How a corporate entity could possess human anatomy is beyond me, but there's really no other explanation for the most recent news of Sony's warranty voiding practices. Toys have evolved since we were kids, no longer do we actively play with our toys. More often than not the main component of the toy remains in a single spot for long periods of time, and as such has a tendency to collect dust. Unfortunately, gamers have a reputation for being kind of gross or at least not necessarily as on point regarding hygiene as they might be, so that dust has a tendency to accumulate.
Well, if you're a stereotypical gamer and the owner of a PS3 you're pretty much screwed. Sony is claiming that the accumulation of dust can cause a PS3 to stop functioning correctly. Should your PS3 stop functioning correctly because of dust Sony considers the warranty invalid.
At this point you're provided with several options. You can pry the thing apart and go nuts with a can of duster, thus guaranteeing the warranty is void, you can pay $150 to have Sony do the dusting for you but maintain your warranty, or you can regularly dust your consoles (which seems pretty damn ridiculous unless you're doing carpentry in the same room you game, in which case you are a moron).
Sony supposedly took pictures of the dusty PS3, both inside and out, but isn't releasing them unless subpoena'd, so there's no way for us to really tell whether this is Sony being completely insane or if the formerly functional PS3 owner in this case is one of the aforementioned idiot carpenters.
In Pittston, Pennsylvania, a 14-year-old boy was suspended from school and authorities are considering terrorism threat charges for notebook sketches of Halo.
In Georgetown, Delaware, a 15-year-old boy was suspended from school for wearing a black trench coat several years after the infamous Columbine shootings.
Interestingly, both are true events and both are complete and utter travesties of justice. Interestingly, the school's case is based on the fact that the teenager said something along the lines of, "I'm thinking of murdering you." My school based my suspension on the fact that I looked weird, instead, this unfortunate young man's school based his on here-say. It's difficult to say which is worse. Considering I told countless members of my alma-mater that I not only was, but had often thought of murdering them, I'm surprised this kid hasn't been signed, sealed, and delivered into the hands of an apoplectic school board-cum-judiciary out to make an example of one poor kid.
School officials claim this kid sat on top of his roof and shot pigeons with an assault rifle. I'm not sure how many of you have shot an assault rifle, but I'd like to inform you that it's one of the most gratifying experiences of your as yet unfulfilled life, it's also pretty loud. Having some experience with the tendencies of Eastern seaboard neighbors I can say unequivocally that if anyone, let alone a child, shot off an assault rifle once, let alone multiple times, the police and a new catch phrase would've been involved faster than you can say, "Don't tase me bro."
Granted, the residents of this podunk burb are probably too stupid to realize the difference between an airsoft gun and an assault rifle but even so, this kind of thing is an indelible mark on the report card of gamers worldwide. We're all horrible, blood craving monsters, we have been since childhood, and the inception of video games is simply an outlet for all of us to hone our vicious and coldblooded skills.
Thankfully, the day has yet to come when I'll unleash my vicious brutality on the world, but the years of my adolescent training will see the light. Alternately, I'll just play Portal again and laugh at another of Furniss' fart jokes while we make fun of bros.
posted by Qais on October 22, 2007 2:38 PM in Games
It seems to be a universal constant that when a person grows old and out of touch with the thing they once loved their reaction to that thing becomes one of anger or fear. Change is difficult to deal with, and watching something you helped to grow and survive turn into a vast hydra can be an unsettling experience.
Such is the case with Pong creator Nolan Bushnell. Revered as "the father of electronic games" Bushnell has gone from godlike proponent of an industry he helped to build to detractor and defamer, recently quoted as saying, “Videogames today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash and I'm sad for that,". Interestingly, my grandparents had nearly the exact same opinion years ago.
What Bushnell seems to mean with his vituperative uttering is that gaming has seemingly lost focus on getting the whole family involved and moved toward a more isolated target audience. Granted, I'm not spending a whole lot of time with my friends or family when playing Portal over and over again or spending upwards of 16 hours a day playing the newest RPG but I'm definitely not an isolated zombie. Something most gamers can (hopefully) attest to.
What Bushnell seems to ignore is the growing trend of the "casual gamer", people buying up Wiis specifically in order to play with their families and friends. Ultimately it boils down to Bushnell simply not understanding the evolution of his creation. He's staring at his child and doesn't recognize the monster it has become. Thankfully, those of us carrying the torch are more than happy to whisper reassuringly into grandpa's ear whenever the new tech scares him.
posted by Qais on October 8, 2007 4:49 PM in Games
Back in June the BBFC handed down a ban on Manhunt 2 for "unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone," in concert with a North American ban from the ESRB. Rockstar Games was forced to go back to the drawing board in order to get Manhunt 2 released, a wholly unfortunate move necessitated by the unhealthy amount of scrutiny heaped on Rockstar because of it's past releases.
It would appear that the edits to Manhunt 2 weren't enough for the BBFC and that the "unremitting bleakness" and over all tone was still unacceptable. Rockstar Games responded to the ban thusly,"The changes necessary in order to publish the game in Britain are unacceptable to us and represent a setback for video games." Some might argue that the original ban was a setback for games, but considering the games that are making it through (and feel free to hurl abuse at me for jinxing it) it's easy to suspect that Manhunt 2 just happens to be the current favorite chew toy of pseudo-effectual action groups.
Rockstar Games plans to appeal the decision and hopefully our cousins across the pond are able to join in the gore (albeit crippled) fest. Interestingly, Rockstar's appeal on the original version is no longer suspended due to the banning of the edited version, although it doesn't take a genius to predict that the uncut version almost certainly won't be released on appeal.
North Americans can expect to get their hands on Manhunt 2 October 31st.
The Princess Bride is easily one of the most influential movies of my childhood. I wore out 2 tapes before I grew out of watching the damn thing on repeat and could produce quotes from the movie on demand, if I were inclined to giving into ridiculous demands. I'm sure that many of you have a similar story and share my affinity for The Princess Bride. I'm equally sure that very few if any of you ever wondered "Why haven't they made a video game out of this?". Donning a bath towel and recklessly swinging a broom handle in imitation of Westley had always been enough, get me liquored up enough and I'm likely to put on a repeat performance of my childhood imaginings. In short, I don't want to play a Princess Bride game, but I also didn't want a new Transformers movie and we all know how well that worked out.
In spite of my misgivings and caterwauling Worldwide Biggies, a small company few of us at The Geek have heard of, is bringing a Princess Bride game to the table. A teaser for the game will be released on "The Princess Bride 20th Anniversary DVD," which I'm sure you're all anxiously anticipating with nail biting impatience, and the full game can be expected in the spring as a download. Apparently Worldwide Biggies thinks this has real potential to tap the casual gaming market, specifically women.
Before you start writing angry letters for me to ignore, I'm equally confused by the classification of women as casual gamers. Most of the women I know are twice the gamer I'll ever be (and take pleasure in reminding me of my inadequacy) and would be just as disgusted at a Princess Bride game as I am. Now if Worldwide Biggies meant "doltish mouth breathing morons" in their classification of "casual gamer" (an easy enough typo, the keys are right next to each other) then I'm apt to agree that this game will indeed appeal to casual gamers.
I just have one request, can we please stop with the casual rape of my childhood? I only have so many happy memories left.
Editor's note: you can also download Princess Bride on iTunes as of today! --Chris
Prepare yourself geeks, for on our heels is the coming of a new dark age. The world as we know it rapidly ceases to be and anarchy reigns in the streets. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria! At least that's the case if you're one of the Larouche Youth Movement, one of the most stultifyingly dimwitted pack of misguided college kids I have ever had the misfortune of being accosted by on the street.
Supposedly Halo 3 marks the "3rd Wave" of the destruction of the U.S. in that it drives all the children of this great nation toward idleness and procrastination when they could be doing things like "discovering fusion power or rediscovering the universal principles in Classical physical science and art". I'm not sure how many of you are actually super scientists with the capacity for actually discovering fusion power but the last time I checked most of the people I game with struggled in Algebra, let alone Advanced Particle Physics. Now if in actuality you are some kind of deformed super science prodigy you should probably be working out the whole fusion thing, it's kind of important, but everyone needs downtime, and in that downtime I expect you to revel in gruesome blood filled scenes of murder and the joy of firing aimlessly into a crowd from a rooftop perch.
Wait wait, stop, looks like the Larouchites think that's also ruining what they've termed (in an astounding show of originality) the X Generation.
posted by Qais on September 25, 2007 2:37 PM in Games
Once again Germany blazes a trail of understanding, enlightenment, and liberal policy when it comes to video games. It would appear that Jericho, the upcoming release from the horrific mind of Clive Barker. Of course, being a Clive Barker creation the game is going to feature blood, probably some gore, monsters, dark creepy places, and probably some more blood so it's no real surprise that much like Gears of War and Manhunt 2 (even post gore edits) Jericho was denied a rating by the USK, the German version of the ESRB.
Having no real experience with the USK I decided that I should earn my journalistic dollars and do a little research. As it turns out, when the USK denies to rate a game it is effectively done for in Germany. Jericho will only be released on PC in Germany, is not allowed to be sold in retail shops or online, and no marketing, advertisement, or promotion for the game is allowed. Sony and Microsoft, even if they were allowed to market the game and release it for their platforms in Germany wouldn't be allowed to sell it except through shady out-of-shopping-cart transactions ala the Good Guy transaction scene in Child's Play.
Interestingly, the PC, 360, and PS3 demo for Jericho is going to be released tomorrow. I'm curious as to whether it's release in Germany will be blocked considering it is game they have effectively blackballed from sale in their country.
New Jersey is a town often lampooned in the media for being home to filth, petrochemical refinery, and a seemingly endless display of dullards. While this may or may not be true, although I'm inclined to believe it having lived within smelling distance for a time, what New Jersey is unquestionably home to is over reactionary parents, a newspaper of questionable scruples, and, if memory serves, Robot Hell.
While I take no umbrage with the latter, the former are a current source of consternation in the form of seemingly reasonable (yes in spite of living in New Jersey) adults pitching a fit over the new Wii zapper. Apparently for them Nintendo's new peripheral is just the thing to finally turn their otherwise innocent children into roving gangs of monsters, bent on destruction. Thankfully the blame can't wholly be placed on the shoulders of parents with enough time in their day to respond to newspaper polls, we must also look to the media in this case, for it is with them that this conflagration begins. The aforementioned poll from New Jersey newspaper The Star-Ledger (emphasis theirs) reads as follows:
Wii announced over the summer that it's coming out the a gun-like remote, so kids can play shooter games, with, well, a shooter.
What do you think about making a wand in the shape of a weapon so play is more realistic? ...Is it harmful? ...Will you buy one for your kids?
Every year the fine folks making Penny Arcade Expo happen put together a whole host of panels. Some of these panels are informative like the Podcasts and Blogs panel, some are stultifyingly dull and obnoxious like the Frag Dolls panel, and some are so completely off the wall that you don't realize what's happened until you wake up in a hotel bathtub full of ice with one of your kidneys missing. It's this last variety I had the extreme fortune to catch.
At the end of Friday's Penny Arcade Panel, with guests having strode on stage to Hustlin' and barely intelligible questions having been asked, Tycho and Gabe made an announcement concerning a surprise guest Q&A panel. Who would this mystery guest be? Apparently Jack Thompson declined (probably a wise choice) and Wil Wheaton had given the keynote speech so it couldn't be him. What big name could the stars of Penny Arcade have cadged for fans to barrage with questions? That big name dear readers, was Uwe Boll.
posted by Qais on August 22, 2007 11:35 AM in Games
The day dawns with news of victory. According to the New York Times all proposed legislation of video games have been rejected as unconstitutional. Yes there is usually outcry both from gamers and their antipodal representatives alike, and yes legal battles must be waged, but in the end we're winning. Sort of. As Newton's Third Law states, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and who are you to argue with Newton?
You see rather than contenting ourselves with allowing the government to regulate who can buy which games and where in their plodding bureaucratic style we turn to the industry we support to do it for us. With Manhunt 2 completely off the table for Rockstar Games due to the ESRB's rating of AO (Adults Only), Sony and Nintendo's unwillingness to allow AO rated games on their hardware, and large chain retailer's banning AO rated titles from their stores in spite of the fact that they sell media with far more realistic simulated violence in the very same section of the store, there brews trouble on the horizon.
Despite federal regulation of video games consistently being soundly rejected game designers are feeling the fear, and thus censoring or cutting back on their own content. And can you blame them? If your choices were waste a lot of money on a game that will never be released or release a creatively crippled version of a game in order to continue your existence as a business entity which way would you swing?
posted by Qais on August 21, 2007 10:26 AM in Games
See that? Well that right there is the face of a perfectly sane man according to one Dr. Wunderman. Jack Thompson, preempting the Florida bar's supposed demands that he undergo psychological examination, met with a psychologist on his own dime. I say supposed because that claim has never actually been validated by a representative of the Florida bar (with whom Thompson is currently embroiled in litigation) making it entirely possible that Thompson has simply fabricated the request in order to defer some of the extremely bad PR he seems so good at collecting. I imagine Thompson at a dinner party, the host of which has some mouthy gamer kid that begins to make allusions to Jack's potential mental imbalances, at which point Jack removes his Certificate O' Sanity and smiles smugly.
Dr. Wunderman's diagnosis is as follows:
The overall impression is that of a socially committed, and religiously devout man, of Superior Intellectual Functioning, who does not suffer from any major mental illness or impairment. He is deeply committed to personal betterment and social progress which he feels involves the regulation of exposure of minors to pornography, obscenity and violence.
The Weekly Geek is done on a zero budget, with no funding other than ads and merch. Help support the site with a donation! Consider it like tipping your waiter. We also give gifts for larger donations.
Every year the fine folks making Penny Arcade Expo happen put together a whole host of panels. Some of these panels are informative like the Podcasts and Blogs panel, some are stultifyingly dull and obnoxious like the Frag Dolls panel, and some are so completely off the wall that you don't realize what's happened until you wake up in a hotel bathtub full of ice with one of your kidneys missing. It's this last variety I had the extreme fortune to catch.
