This Week in Nerd News 8/17 - 8/22

Jon Stewart, Gersberms, loads of Nintendo, and more! Tingle shows up where you least expect him, and catch the world's greatest Chatroulette!  Did you see all of this week's Nerd News? If not (or even if you did) catch up here.

Welcome to This Week in Nerd News, my weekly blog series where I recap some this past week's geeky entertainment headlines. I also throw in a little of my own $0.02 for good measure. I don't catch everything but I try to get the interesting stuff. Thanks for reading, I hope you learn something and enjoy.

Hello folks. Welcome to the second issue of This Week in Nerd News. The first one was fun to write and got enough likes that I'm going to try it out for a couple more weeks and see if I like it. The original plan was to go from Sunday night to Sunday night, but one of these stories is timely so it's going up in the wee morning hours. There was a lot of news coming out of Nintendo this week. People are pretty pumped up about the 2DS price cut and Mario Maker (I found a headline for the latter that I think you'll all love) though my favorite piece to come from the Big N involves a certain fighting game. We also say goodbye to an actress and a website, but don't get too sad, because there are a few novelties in here, too. Thanks for coming. Enjoy.

Volume 1 Issue 2 - 8/17 to 8/22 2015 

8/17 - Super Mario Maker to feature Tingle

Link 1 - Nintendolife
Link 2 - GoNintendo

The Gist:
Originally thought to be photoshopped, a screenshot showing Tingle in Mario Maker has been confirmed to be legitimate.

My Opinion:
These costumes were featured heavily in Nintendo's E3 presentation where they were used as segues between segments. I was delighted at the end when they announced that the things would be an actual part of the game (albeit with amiibo use.) I know a lot of people hate Tingle, but I think it's a creative and unexpected addition. I also don't hate Tingle as much as other people do. I think it's actually kind of clever. Does this also mean that we'll be getting a Tingle amiibo down the line?

8/17 - Batgirl actress dies

Link 1 - Official Obituary
Link 2 - Comic Vine
Link 3 - Los Angeles Times

The Gist:
Yvonne Craig, the actress best known as Batgirl in the 1960's Batman show, passed away on Monday from complications of breast cancer. She was 78.

My Opinion:
That's very sad news. It's sad when anybody dies, and a two year battle with breast cancer must have been rough. I hope her family can find peace. She did a lot more than just Batgirl, including roles in a couple Elvis movies and having bit parts in various other 60's shows. I only ever knew her as Batgirl, though, which is a pretty good role to be. If you never watched the old Batman show, it was pretty corny. As a kid, I watched it in ernest; as an adult, I watch it for its goofiness. No matter how you look at it, though, Batgirl was a badass in that show.

8/18 - Jon Stewart to host Summer Slam

Link 1 - USA Today
Link 2 - E!
Link 3 - Huffington Post

The Gist:
WWE Network announced that former Daily Show host Jon Stewart will be hosting upcoming Pay-Per-View Summer Slam on August 23.

My Opinion:
Given the timeframe of this blog, by the time you read this, it might be either already happening or over. Anyway, Jon Stewart is hosting WWE Summer Slam. I'm only a casual fan of either of those parties but I thought this was actually kind of hillarious. This follows a (kayfabe) feud earlier this year between Jon Stewart and WWE Champion Seth Rollins. Rollins made a quip about Stewart on the air, and Stewart responded by posting a video of himself "cutting a promo" on Rollins in hammy pro-wrestler style. This led to some appearances on either show, and now Jon Stewart's first major gig after retiring is going to be this weekend's Summer Slam PPV. If you're interested, Summer Slam starts this Sunday at 7 Eastern and can be seen on the WWE Network (only $9.99 a month!) Other events on the card this week are Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar; John Cena vs. Seth Rollins; Cesaro vs. Kevin "Owens" Steen; Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler; and more.

8/19 - Gersberms getting a video game in October

Link 1 - XBox
Link 2 - Destructoid
Link 3 - GamesRadar

The Gist:
A listing popped up on the XBox marketplace for a point-and-click game based on the Goosebumps book series. The game is being developed by WayForward and will act as a prequel to the upcoming film.

My Opinion:
Gersberms! As a nineties kid myself, I remember Goosebumps being everywhere. They were one of the big trends of the time, right up there with Pogs and digital pets. I had friends who had enough of these to fill libraries. There was TV show based on them, but even back then I recognized it as a crappy version of Are You Afraid of the Dark? Truth be told, the books themselves weren't much better. As popular as they were, though, it makes sense that they'd be a prime contender for the recent 80's/90's nostalgic cash grabs.

 I didn't even know there was a movie coming out, and I have no reason to believe it will be any good. Based on the limitted knowledge we have about the game, I'm slightly less pessimistic. But only slightly. The art looks pretty good. Very nineties-adventure-gameish, appropriately enough. On the other hand, developer WayForward doesn't have the best track record: outside of Santae, the only notable games they've made a mediocre tie-ins. This is also a tie-in. It's really not looking good for Gersberms the game. I'll give it the same hope that I would any other game, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

8/20 - Blip shuts down

Link 1 - Blip
Link 2 - Channel Awesome

The Gist:
Blip.tv, a video hosting website, shut down after a business deal with Maker Studios.

My Opinion:
Blip was a video hosting website that specialised in web series. It was heavily used by the Channel Awesome/TGWTG crew, among others. Apparently people knew this was coming for a while: the deal went down back in 2013 and users were notified of the impending shut down back in July. I did not know this, and was pretty stunned when I logged on and saw it.

I don't make videos so I have no idea what things were like behind the scenes. From what I understand, it was a pretty user-friendly place. It gave producers a lot more potential to make money off of their work, and it didn't have the same kind of copyright B.S. that YouTube does. The official website is referring people to Maker Studios, while Channel Awesome seems to be taking their stuff to Screenwave or moving back to YouTube. They're far from the only ones affected by this. Basically, if you watch web series, especially review shows or sketch comedies, you've seen something on Blip. Hopefully the users can find a satisfactory replacement so that they can keep up their revenue and viewers won't have to see their favorite stuff get taken down for copyright.

8/21 - Pokken Tournament coming to Wii U

Link 1 - Pokemon.com
Link 2 - Nintendolife
Link 3 - Destructoid

The Gist:
Nintendo announced that arcade fighter Pokken Tournament is getting ported to Wii U worldwide in the spring. Pokken Tournament is a Pokemon fighting game developed by Namco and was previously exclusive to Japanese arcades.

My Opinion:
YES! I mean, I doubt there were many people out there who didn't think this would happen, but it feels good to get an official confirmation. I think a Pokemon fighting game is one of the best directions they could have taken the series outside of an MMO. The Wii U finally getting another high profile AAA game isn't hurting anything, either. I've been pumped about this game since the first time I heard about it, I'm really glad it's on its way.

8/21 - Best Chatroulette Ever

Link 1 - YouTube
Link 2 - Destructoid

The Gist:
Small indie film company Realm Pictures created an interactive FPS-style game to be played on Chatroulette

My Opinion:
Every once in a while something creative will pop up on one of these video call websites. This might have just taken the cake. This little group went to great lengths to set up a zombie First Person Shooter game that viewers can control by yelling commands. It's really cool. I'd love to give it a try. Heck, I wish I could sign up to do it. If you haven't watched that video, what are you waiting for?

8/22 - Nintendo files patent for disc-free game console

Link 1 - NeoGAF
Link 2 - Gamespot
Link 3 - Nintendolife
Link 4 - Destructoid

The Gist:
Members of NeoGAF uncovered a patent application filed by Nintendo back in February for a disc-less video game system. The news has sparked speculation on how the patent relates to the upcoming NX.

My Opinion:
This doesn't actually mean anything. Companies file patents for things all the time that never come to fruition. That doesn't make it any less suspicious. We know jack-all about the upcoming NX so any news is news and we're free to speculate. The NX could be something completely original. If it is a disc-free system, we can assume that means digital distribution exclusively. I'm not keen on the idea for reasons that would take too long to type here. Let's just say that I hope Nintendo doesn't give us something like that any time soon.

That's it for week two of this little experiment. It's going well so far, so if anybody out there is still interested, I'll keep it up next week. My personal schedule is putting this up on Saturday instead of Sunday. I'll try to stick with the original schedulre from here on out, life providing. Thanks for reading.

LOOK WHO CAME:

Adam P   

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