Archive for the 'Nerd rage' Category
October 19th, 2009, 9:38 pm by Jayson Peters
 Chad, we hardly knew you.
As Tribune reporter Ed Taylor writes today, Verizon Wireless has completed its assimilation of Alltel’s stores and billing systems in the Valley.
While this of course means Alltel customers will now be served by Verizon personnel, perhaps more visibly for consumers it will literally change the face of mobile phone advertising.
No more will we be subjected to calls to “join the Circle” or be entertained by the four wily nerds’ attempts to outwit the perfectly coiffed Alltel pitchman known as “Chad.”
The cruelly well-adjusted slick talker, who had the gall to let slip that he didn’t know Dungeon Masters don’t have levels (dork!), will fade from out TV screens, just as the bumbling Sales Guy characters, each of whom represented one of Alltel’s competitors, have been phased out since Verizon began its acquisition of Alltel this year.
Posted in: Business • Nerd rage • Technology • Television • Advertising • Alltel • Chad • Chadvertising • Media • Verizon | Post a Comment »
October 5th, 2009, 10:14 pm by Jayson Peters
 PlayStation 3 owners say a mandatory firmware update has ruined their systems, and they’ve launched a class-action lawsuit seeking compensation and restitution.
According to Courthouse News Service, the upgrade promised new features and improved navigation, but caused the gaming console to crash and rendered controllers inoperable. A subsequent update reportedly failed to solve the problem and caused the system’s Blu-ray player to malfunction.
And let’s face it, that Blu-ray player is the only real reason to own a PS3, right?
One plaintiff said Sony wanted $150 to fix the problem. Sony has stated it’s not a firmware issue, and that repair costs are the responsibility of consumers.
The suit is seeking declaratory relief, compensation and restitution for breach of implied warranty, negligence and unjust enrichment.
Posted in: Business • Gaming • Nerd rage • PlayStation 3 • Technology • lawsuit • Sony | 1 Comment »
September 29th, 2009, 3:34 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
“As if a million page view requests cried out at once, and were suddenly silenced.” Apologies to the great Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi for the paraphrasing, but it seems particularly appropriate.
Video game company Bioware opened up beta tester applications for their upcoming online role-playing game, “Star Wars: The Old Republic.” Gamers promptly hammered the page with requests causing Bioware to pull it down.
Currently, it reads “We are making adjustments to the site due to the overwhelming response to the testing announcement. Please be patient and check back later.” There’s still a long way to go, but given the strength of the Star Wars universe combined with Bioware’s incredible track record and this game has a chance to be something very special. It might even be the first real competitor to the online juggernaut that is “World of Warcraft.”
Posted in: Gaming • Internet • Nerd rage • RPGs • Star Wars • BioWare | Post a Comment »
September 17th, 2009, 10:37 am by Jayson Peters
 A British film about the life of Charles Darwin and the naturalist’s “struggle between faith and reason” will be shown in theaters across the world — but not here in the U.S.
Why? Because distributors here don’t think fundamentalist Christians would approve. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Huh? • Movies • Nerd rage • Science • censorship • Darwin • religion • Stupid creationists | 1 Comment »
August 21st, 2009, 3:56 pm by Jayson Peters
 Twentieth Century Fox While the world has been clamoring to get a sneek peek at the highly anticipated sci-fi epic Avatar, director James Cameron has been busy wheeling and dealing to bring television into the third dimension — and, no doubt, make himself even richer.
A deal announced Friday will put Avatar in several trailers that will haul Panasonic’s big-screen, 3-D TVs around the U.S. and Europe next month.
Avatar is shot entirely in 3-D, and it will be the first major motion picture to debut in both 2-D and 3-D when it is released in theaters Dec. 18. But the technology — both in homes and at theaters — is so new that it is sorely lacking in content and has no clear direction when it comes to disc and broadcast formats. Cameron’s name will give Panasonic a major edge in the coming dimensional war.
Because, in a recession, the first thing on people’s minds is this: “Gosh, I need to get me a better TV.”
Posted in: Business • Movies • Nerd rage • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Technology • Television • 3-D • avatar • James Cameron • Panasonic | Post a Comment »
August 17th, 2009, 6:47 am by Jayson Peters
Why am I not surprised that a computer game based on the swine flu pandemic has beat a vaccine for the H1N1 virus to market?
 Image: PhotoSpin You can play The Great Flu online at www.thegreatflu.com. It was designed by medical experts who apparently have nothing better to do at a university hospital in the Netherlands.
Thanks, Dutch doctors. (Cough, cough.) When the swine flu makes its epic comeback this fall, we’ll know who to blame. Unless this is like Ender’s Game, and world health officials have given up all hope of managing the crisis themselves, and they’re disguising the situation as a game that will inspire some child prodigy to step forward and save us all.
For the love of God, kids — PLAY THE GAME!
Posted in: Gaming • Internet • Nerd rage • PC • Ender • simulation • swine flu | Post a Comment »
August 14th, 2009, 11:38 am by Jayson Peters
 Image: Archie Comics Betty or Veronica?
Archie Comics is entering dangerous territory with a six-issue story arc that answers that question for carrot-topped everyman Archie Andrews.
For decades the hapless high schooler has been town between sweet, blond girl-next-door Betty and raven-haired heiress Veronica. Now he will propose to one of them in next week’s issue No. 600, and twins aren’t far behind. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Collecting • Comics • Nerd rage • Archie | 1 Comment »
August 9th, 2009, 9:44 am by Jayson Peters
 An author who has worked extensively in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU), fleshing out bounty hunter Boba Fett and the clones that make up the Grand Army of the Republic, announced Saturday on her blog and official Web site that she was ending her involvement in George Lucas’ Galaxy Far, Far Away.
Karen Traviss decided to make the as-yet-untitled Imperial Commando 2 her last Star Wars novel because of clashes in continuity emerging from the upcoming second season of the Clone Wars animated series:
 I’ve been receiving mail from Star Wars fans who have bought the new visual guide to the second season of the Clone Wars TV cartoon, and have been perplexed by detail in it. They’ve noticed changes in canon. They’re mailing me to ask what’s going on because it appears to affect areas that my novels deal with. I admit I didn’t know there was a guide coming out this early, let alone what would be revealed in it. But now that it has, and you’re asking me what’s happened, it would be naive to stall you when you have the book in front in you, and pretty rude to ignore you.
I can’t discuss the canon issues because of the standard non-disclosure agreement that all writers sign. I’m not even going to discuss the ones that are public now, and I know little of the full detail anyway. So please don’t ask me. All I can say is that I was given enough of the detail in January to realise that changes in continuity were such that I wouldn’t be able to carry on as originally planned with the storylines you were expecting to see continued in my books. It would have required a lot more than routine retcon.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Books • Nerd rage • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Star Wars • canon • continuity • retcon | 3 Comments »
August 5th, 2009, 12:01 am by Jayson Peters
In a clear indication of just how bad G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is likely to be, Paramount has declined to let critics see it before it opens Friday, The Associated Press reported.
The way studio executives see it, they’re doing you a favor by freeing you from the tyranny of the evil print and broadcast media:
 Paramount Pictures “G.I. Joe is a big, fun, summer event movie - one that we’ve seen audiences enjoy everywhere from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland (pictured, right) to Phoenix, Ariz.,” said Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures. “After the chasm we experienced with Transformers 2 between the response of audiences and critics, we chose to forgo opening-day print and broadcast reviews as a strategy to promote G.I. Joe. We want audiences to define this film.”
 Phoenix? When was that? Must have been a carefully vetted test audience, because I’ve heard to expect nothing but the worst. But that’s all right — we knew it was going to be bad when we saw those ridiculous power suits and bizarre casting. This is a Netflix candidate if ever there was one.
Bad as it is, they can’t take away our childhood memories, which is why I’ve prepared a slideshow of images — nostalgic and new — generously provided by Hasbro and Paramount. Just click on classic Destro, or the link below, to begin!
See also: G.I. Joe gets ‘Resolute’ in Adult Swim animation
Posted in: Collecting • Movies • Nerd rage • G.I. Joe • Media | 3 Comments »
July 25th, 2009, 11:27 pm by Jayson Peters
We’ve already reported that at least one e-tailer has proved it has both the ability and the guts to snatch back content you thought you wanted (Amazon embraces the Orwellian spirit and UPDATE: Orwell e-books yanked from Kindles were bootlegs, July 17).
Now the U.S. government appears to be on the verge of establishing a squad of truth police if not Thought Police, if Tribune columnist Austin Hill is to be believed (Obama appointee wants control of web speech, July 25).
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Books • Business • Hmmmmm..... • Internet • Nerd rage • Piracy • Politics • Technology • Television • Amazon • Barack Obama • Big Brother • e-books • George Orwell • Kindle • PDF | Post a Comment »
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