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Nerds Without Pants   

Nerds Without Pants Episode 41: Pirates

P-p-p-p-pirate ghosts!

Yaaaar! Welcome to another adventure on the high seas of the internet, ya landlubbers! This week, the crew of the S.S. NWP take a stab at the dreaded topic of piracy. No, not that piracy, the kind where people steal games and other media because they can.

First off is a modified Consumption Junction. Even though it's only been a week since the last episode, Angelo has gone further down the pinball abyss, Patrick has played his first ever Lego game, and Julian had time to play 30 minutes of Remember Me. Okay, so not much has happened in a week, but the guys also spend some time doing a next gen check in. How do Julian and Patrick feel about their launch PS4s now? Is Angelo scared about the future of his shiny new Wii U? The answers may surprise you! (Probably not)

Then it's on to the task at hand: piracy in video games and other forms of media. The crew confesses to their past transgressions and have varying levels of opinions about the core concept of pirating games. This leads into a discussion of emulation and the used games market. It's a looser, more freeform type of main topic, as the guys don't try to argue for or against the ethics of piracy, but it's an interesting discussion nonetheless.

FEATURED MUSIC:

Klaus Badelt- He's a Pirate

Nightwish- The Islander

Alestorm- Keelhauled

Assassin's Creed IV- Drunken Sailor


 

Comments

Michael117

03/07/2014 at 06:35 PM

Best selections of music for an episode ever. I like all of them, especially The Islander, that's one of my favorites from Dark Passion Play.

I never pirated games but I pirated ass loads of music back in the Morpheus and Kazaa days. I still have tons of mix cd's in a big binder from back in those days. Most of it is late 90s early 00's pop punk and angsty teen music that I can't get into anymore but I loved it as a teen.

Do people consider listening to music in your browser on youtube piracy? If so I pirate all the time, I think there's certainly a pirate aspect to it. I listen to so many kinds of music and I'm interested in so many bands there's no way I could ever pay to support all of them. I only buy albums from my favorite few bands like Within Temptation, Nightwish, and a couple others. Whenever I'm at home I listen to music on youtube because most of the music I like can be found in copious amounts on youtube in decent quality. Youtube is the chief place where I find new music as well. I can't go without music and I like finding new music, but there's so much out there and so much that I'm into, I can't ever support them all. I can barely even support the top couple bands I love most. It's a shitty situation with no winner but me since I get free music on tap and can't give money to the people I like, but I don't see any other way to do it, aside from a fantasy where I just have hundreds of dollars in entertainment specific disposable income each month to dish out support to artists I appreciate.

Julian Titus Senior Editor

03/07/2014 at 10:03 PM

So, I rarely use YouTube the way you're describing, but I wouldn't beat yourself up over it. If anything, it's like using the radio. There was plenty of music that I jammed out to on the radio but never went out and bought the albums for. I think it's a great way to discover music though. I wouldn't be the rabid fan of Within Temptation and Nightwish if it wasn't for YouTube. I watched the music video for The Howling and was hooked instantly.

I've also ended up buying songs or getting turned on to artists because someone made a music video with their song. That's why I always cringe when I hear about videos getting taken down for copyright infringement, because it's a clear example of old men not understanding that free publicity is lucrative publicity.

Michael117

03/08/2014 at 03:38 PM

I remember you turning me onto that one gothic rock radio station online a couple months back was it? What was the name of that place again? I spent a few days tuning into it whenever I was online and I thought it was really cool that a station like that exists. I should tune back into that.

Julian Titus Senior Editor

03/08/2014 at 03:46 PM

BrokenH

03/07/2014 at 07:34 PM

Funny but the "big spectacle" approach results in one-hit-wonder-syndrome for both games & pinball machines. Strangely I find most games with huge set piece moments don't pull me back in later. I cannot entirely explain why either. Undecided

Julian Titus Senior Editor

03/07/2014 at 10:05 PM

It depends on the game for me. Things like a Call of Duty are basically one and done experiences, but a lot of the big, event-filled triple A titles I own I plan on revisiting. I was still impressed with the first two God of War games when I played the HD versions, for example.

BrokenH

03/07/2014 at 11:14 PM

I guess I went back to RE6. Not so much to re-experience the cheesy story but to simply unlock more guns and skills. RE Revelations was the same. I also usually revisit Dynasty Warriors just because each game in that series has so many hidden characters,unlockable skills, and new loot to discover!

 However, I only went through Enslaved,Tombraider, Binary Domain, and Alan Wake once. (Which is a shame because visual pageantry aside, they are all also good games in my opinion.)

Angelo Grant Staff Writer

03/11/2014 at 08:59 PM

I think all those games are excellent candidates for Backloggers honestly. I've wanted to do Alan Wake and Binary Domain at some point. Tomb Raider might be a bit too AAA for the show, but I'll play that on my own for sure.

Angelo Grant Staff Writer

03/11/2014 at 08:58 PM

I prefer older pinball tables for this reason. Most of the newer ones, as elaborate as they look, really boil down to the player managing a very tiny playfield. Once you get a ball on a ramp, you just watch a show for a second. Missions are kind of a neat idea, but I like the idea of building up a multiplier than slamming home a big old pile of points when you finally drain the ball. I'm just old school I guess. Nothing wrong with newer tables, but I can't see myself owning (and ESPECIALLY maintaining) one.

The Big Guns table has a gimmick sure, but the game itself actually looked extremely interesting and fun, and I loved the subject matter. Tron also looked good, but not as deep honestly. I'd still love to play it though.

transmet2033

03/09/2014 at 03:26 PM

As I am thinking about it right now.  Because of the features of the Vita, I think that version of Rayman Legumes is probably pretty close to the Wii U's version.  The only issue is that there is no multiplayer as far as I know.

Julian Titus Senior Editor

03/09/2014 at 04:18 PM

I would totally play Rayman Legumes.

transmet2033

03/09/2014 at 08:38 PM

From the handful of levels that I played, Legumes is way better than Oranges.

transmet2033

03/09/2014 at 10:17 PM

At the end of the day, I find it to be too much of a hassle to mess around with any media of questionable legality.  I messed around with emulators in my naive youth, but have since outgrown them.  So, I stick with paying for my media and feel good about it.

As far as Doctor Who.  I just get the season passes through Itunes because I don't want to pay for cable, but don't want to be a year and a half behind waiting for netflix to finally update their library.  I think that season 7 was split in two and the first 5 episodes were 12 bucks and the second half was 20-24.

If my entire videogame collection went up in flames there are a couple of games/series that I would definitely replace right away.  I would definitely go after the entire Metroid series.  I would need to replace A Link to the Past as well with an SNES cartridge, a GBA cartridge and VC copy.  I love the game that damn much.   

TheMart22

03/10/2014 at 05:03 PM

Cheers for the shout out guys! I just finished listening and it most certainly made my Monday. 

daftman

03/12/2014 at 10:12 AM

Good show, guys! I've never pirated a new game but I've emulated my share of old ones. I tried out games like Commander Keen, Rise of the Triad, and the original WarCraft (man, have RTSes come a long way!). I probably still have a folder with games like that on my computer somewhere but I have done anything like that since college. I never did get into emulating consoles, even though I prefer console games. Never felt right without a controller. I think emulation is really important for historical and preservation purposes, but it gets pretty shady if you just play for fun. I love physcal media anyway, so I'd rather play on the original consoles.

But speaking of pirate games, don't forget to play Pirate Code! It's a great turn-based strategy game and has such wonderful music Wink You can download it here.

Angelo Grant Staff Writer

03/12/2014 at 03:21 PM

Yes, that music is quite good. Wink

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