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First Erika Szabo and now Liana. I need to move to Canada!

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.

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I really hope you all appreciate this gift...

By now you have probably opened all of your presents and are wondering what else to do with your day. Since you can’t go to the theater to watch The Interview (topical!), why not kick back with some eggnog and listen to the Nerds Without Pants have an exhaustive discussion about some of our favorite music from the seventh console generation? And yes, I realize that I blundered when I brought up BioShock Infinite. We were almost 4 hours into recording, so cut me some slack! Happy Festivus! EDIT: You can thank Angelo for pushing to get this episode out early for you Christmas Eve travelers. Enjoy!

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BioWare has a nifty way of continuing your adventure, but does it work?

The Dragon Age series has something of an identity crisis, due in large part to its disjointed development history. Even though Dragon Age: Origins came out a couple of years after the first Mass Effect, it was actually announced way back in 2004 as a PC exclusive. The roots of Origins could be found in BioWare’s classic Baldur’s Gate series, and the design sensibilities of the game were far removed from the company’s more recent action/RPGs like Jade Empire and Mass Effect. Dragon Age 2 was clearly very influenced by the success of Mass Effect 2, and the input of now BioWare parent company EA was easy to see. While Dragon Age 2 alienated some fans of Origins it also created a new set of people invested in the world of Thedas. Now we have a third entry in the series that has the difficult task of keeping old players invested while trying once again to do a “soft reboot” of the franchise. How does BioWare hope to craft a new adventure but still make players feel like they made their mark on the world? Enter the Dragon Age Keep.

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Now with more Adam West!

I didn’t really expect what I got when I started playing Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. To my understanding, this newest entry was going to focus on Batman, and the rest of the Justice League as they tackle some of the more cosmic threats on the DC universe. While that still stands true, parts of the game – like what I played at the New York Comic Con – are very unique and full of fan service.

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A nostalgic memory lost in translation.

The only reality worse than the inflated asking pricing for an old video game is the one where said game is digitally available for a fraction of the price, but devoid of the context that made it fun to play.  Such is the peculiar situation I found myself in upon downloading Tomba 2: The Evil Swine Return (The Wild Adventures in Japan) from the PlayStation Store. Originally released in 1999 by the now-defunct Whoopee Camp, it was re-released earlier this year by Monkey Paw Games.  Once the game booted up, it was both recognizable and unfamiliar at the same time. The game looks and plays the same as I remembered, but there was just one problem--it’s all in Japanese.

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