Jun 062011
 
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Welcome to Rag-NERD-rok, your home of the nerdpocalypse! In our first episode, we tackle the rising costs of being a nerd in the 21st century, and discuss the many different hobbies, pastimes and technological developments that make our money disappear. We also estimate just how much of our hard-earned cash we’ve spent to maintain our nerdy lifestyles, breaking down and analyzing our expenditures during 2010 for your amusement. Later, Erik presents a review of Roadkill Rally (Z-Man Games, 2010), and Ed and Meyer give the James Lipton treatment to our friend Will. So kick back, relax and ride out the nerdpocalypse in style, here with the Rag-NERD-rok crew!

(Show notes after the break.)

I. Show Intro: (Beginning of track)

Our goal here at RNR is to bring you all the nerdy news that you care about, and maybe even some that you don’t. We’ll have discussion on nerdy topics (beyond the usual “Kirk vs. Picard” debate), highlight events, interview interesting people and bring you reviews of things that you’d want to know about.

It’s no easy task to keep the nerdy masses entertained (we are a critical bunch, after all), but it’s what we strive for. You can keep up with everything that we’re doing on our website, www.ragnerdrok.com. You can also follow us on Twitter @ragnerdrok, or even “like” us on Facebook. If you have any questions or comments for us, feel free to email us at info@ragnerdrok.com.

Welcome to Rag-NERD-rok. We put a lot of work into this and hope you enjoy it. So sit back, relax and ride out the nerdpocalypse in style with us.

II. Feature: The High Price of Fandom (00:05:50)

Our inaugural topic here at Rag-NERD-rok is one that I’m certain everyone listening  can relate to: the high price of fandom. Because lets be honest, folks – being a nerd is freaking expensive.

There’s a high price for the games we play, the books we read, the events we attend – everything a nerd wants to do costs money. Even if you just want to stay in with your friends and play a board game, that game probably cost one of you about $50.

Going to go out and catch the latest super hero flick? That’s going to cost you. Around our area, it’s about $11 per ticket. Add on popcorn and a drink, and you’re looking at $20 per person to just see a movie.

Paul, forcing the Sphynx to give him head.

Our friend Paul, who was name-checked several times during this episode.

Video games also really hurt you these days. They’ve always been pretty expensive, but now a new game for the Xbox 360 or PS3 will run you $60 (games for the Wii, as you know, are comparatively cheaper, at a mere $50 each). Not to mention how many special edition releases there are that coax you into spending upwards of $80 or $90 for a game to get special bonuses  like figurines, accessaries or launch-day downloadable content.

And DLC is pushing up the price of games, too. I remember when ‘Assassin’s Creed II’ came out, there were two chapters of the story that, for some reason, weren’t in the game. Once you completed Chapter 11 in the story, one of the characters said how 12 and 13 were “corrupted” and then you jumped to Chapter 14. But Ubisoft was kind enough to eventually release chapters 12 and 13 – as $5 add ons. These days, if you want to get the full experience of the latest and hottest games, you need to be prepared to shell out more money on top of the initial purchase price.

Many games these days also require high-definition televisions to play. One example I can think of is ‘Mass Effect’. In the ‘Mass Effect’ games, as many of you well know, dialogue isn’t really something that just gets you from one action sequence to the next, as in some video games. The dialogue is really what makes the game interesting. It’s engaging, and you have to interact with the characters you’re talking to in-game. If someone asks you a question, you have to pick your response. And they all can affect a conversation differently. So if you can’t read your options because you don’t have an expensive HD-TV, it makes playing the game more difficult. I know this is a problem that Ed, personally, has dealt with.

Games tend to come out at specific times, too, especially in November. There’s often a hard choice to be made for gamers come the holiday season: which games do you put off buying because you just can’t afford to purchase all of the Triple-A titles you want – at $60 a pop – all at once?

Not to mention the increasing price of watching a movie at home. As with all new formats, Blu-Ray is slowly edging out DVDs, just like DVDs did to VHS. But Blu-Rays are more expensive than DVDS, sometimes going for about twice the price of the DVD version. Netflix – one of the greatest things a person who likes sci-fi TV and movies could ask for – helps mitigate this problem, but you have to pay more money to get Blu-Rays from the service.

And that $1,500 laptop you bought last year? Chances are it’s already obsolete by now, what with the fast pace of technological development. Especially if you’re buying Apple products. That $500 iPad will pretty much be a paperweight in another year when the iPad 3 comes out.

III. Our Nerdy Expenditures 2010 (00:25:30)

Just how much money did the Rag-NERD-rok crew spend to feed their geeky habits last year? We went ahead and figured it out.

Alex’s total: $1300 between comics, video games, movies, etc.

Ryan’s total: $1400 ($2860 including gifts) between roleplaying games, books, board games, video games, technology, and services (Netflix, WoW, X-Box Live)

Ed’s total: $1700 between X-Box games and accessories, and rent in his mom’s basement

Meyer’s total: $700 between Blu–Ray DVDs, video games, comics, etc.

Erik’s total: $3500 between video games and board games.

III. Board Game Review: Roadkill Rally (00:46:40)

Check back later in the week for a full article covering Erik’s review of Roadkill Rally.

IV. Interview with Will (00:57:45)

Will Wohlsen

The esteemed subject of our interview.

Ed and Meyer interview our friend Will using the ten questions that James Lipton asks his guests on ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio.’

Question: What is your favorite word?

Answer: Poltergeist.

Q: What is your least favorite word?

A: Moist.

Q: What turns you on?

A: Big breasts. Also, he’s kind of an ass man.

Q: What turns you off?

A: Billy Meyer. Erik Dickash.

Q: What sound do you love?

A: The sound of a motorboat–a literal outboard motor, not motorboating a woman’s breasts.

Q: What sound do you hate?

A: The sound of dress shoes sliding against a tile floor.

Q: What is your favorite curse word?

A: Fuck.

Q: What profession, other than yours, would you like to attempt?

A: Security guard. Pilot.

Q: What profession, other than yours, would you not like to attempt?

A: Plumber.

Q: If heaven exists, what would you like God to say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

A: (as The Fonz) HEY! Come on in!

V. Sign-off and Outro: (01:07:10)

Be sure to check back again in two weeks, when we’ll have extensive coverage of this year’s E3 convention in our next episode.

Music Used in This Episode:

Intro Sting:

Pine Metal (Kuuleminen
Asiat
) / CC BY-NC-SA
3.0

1st Transition:

8 Bit Raceway (Wizwars) / CC
BY-NC-SA 3.0

2nd Transition:

Fast Turtle (Anamanaguchi) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Sign-off / Outro:

Video Connector (Outro) (2NRO8OT) / CC
BY-NC-SA 3.0

 

Copyright:
Creative Commons License
Rag-NERD-rok Podcast by Alex Costello, Edward Cress, Erik Dickash, Ryan Mannix and Billy Meyer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by contacting info@ragnerdrok.com.

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