Can Retro Studios reignite the Prime series after such a long hiatus?

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen an entry in the Metroid Prime series - 18 years, in fact. It was 8 years ago that Metroid Prime 4 was originally announced and its development was more than a little turbulent. Initially developed by Bandai Namco, it was later scrapped completely and development was shifted back to Retro Studios to start the project over. In the end, Retro has delivered a solid new entry in the series, but one that doesn’t totally capture what originally made the series so compelling.

It’s hard to exist in a media vacuum in this day and age, and no doubt, I saw the countless criticisms pre-release about the annoying talking NPC. I watched clips and worried about what they’d done to the series. Having completed the game, I didn’t really find these NPC interactions to be wholly bad or a major detractor from the experience. For those who have played and remember Metroid Prime 3, this falls in line with the expected trajectory of the series, and barely interrupts the majority of your playthrough.

Without him, PixlBit wouldn't be the place it is today.

When 1up started the process of shutting down, there was one person who seemed to lead to charge to congregate the community in a single place. After his first visit here, it wasn't long before a slew of new members arrived. The site came alive and the real story of PixlBit began - the one that involves all of you. The person I'm referring to is, of course, Michael Alvarado, otherwise known as Michael117.

Sadly, I learned today that Michael died by his own hand early last month. I know that as time has gone on, the PixlBit community has also scattered in the wind, but some of you out there likely remember and interacted with him, especially in those early days. He's someone I spoke with and interacted with often, though I too lost touch with him over the years.

It's a new dawn!

All good things come to and end, and by now you know that Nerds Without Pants has ended after over 11 years of pantsless podcasting. But that doesn’t mean Julian and Justin are done. Far from it! Introducing The Stage Select, a video game variety podcast launching in 2024. What we have for you here is a repost of the pilot episode, in case you don’t follow us on social media and didn’t know the show has had its soft launch.

We hope you enjoy this little taste, and find The Stage Select on your podcatcher of choice and subscribe. In the meantime, reach out! And thank you once again for the years of support. It means the world to us!

Episode 282 of a 4 episode limited series!

Welcome to the final Nerds Without Pants of 2023! It’s that time again, time to talk about the state of the generation! This is a really great episode that has some deep discussion on where the games industry is at the end of an amazing and terrible year for it at the same time.

We start with how we feel about the generation as a whole, and Justin’s ascension to the PC snob class. Then we talk about what games we’re looking forward to next year, a quick rumor rodeo (yee ha), and then cover some of the big news stories of the year. We close out with something really special, so be sure to listen all the way to the end!

That's a Texas-sized 10-4, good buddy!

Welcome to the penultimate episode of Nerds Without Pants for 2023! It’s a pretty chill and low-key show, as we talk about a small handful of games and then hop on the Email Banana Boat one more time before the end of the year. Enjoy!

Twitter: @NWPcast

...dang!

Welcome to the annual Nerds Without Pants music special, which is also the LONGEST EPISODE OF NWP EVER. Sorry (not sorry). Yeah…nothing else to say; but please enjoy some fantastic music!

FEATURED MUSIC:

Time to wrap it up, B!

Welcome to the final Headlines Edition of Nerds Without Pants for 2023! This was a fun experiment, going weekly and getting to talk about news every other week, but we’ll probably do something different for 2024. This time it’s all about that Grand Theft Auto VI reveal and everything Game Awards related, so sit back and enjoy!

00:00 – 9:09 Justin wants you to stop this

I love NWP. It's so bad.

Welcome to the final listener interactive episode of Nerds Without Pants of 2023! It’s a fun discussion about our favorite third party accessories. This is a wild ride you’re about to embark on. We also have an NWP Video Game Cage Match Championship bout between Winter Heat and Elden Ring. Elden Ring has been a strong champ. Can it retain as we go into the new year? Listen and find out!

00:00 – 13:32 Friar Jaques and having a GED in Faerun

We are pleased to announce our new project with the Quad City DJs

Oh no, it’s a news edition of Nerds Without Pants with not a lot of news! Whatever shall we do? Er, talk about games, I guess. And Justin READ A BOOK.

00:00- 11:57 Introducing the Locomotivation Podcast

Book the Quad City DJs for your event now!

Wow, we’re really coasting into hiatus without a care, aren’t we? We didn’t even realize that this is the penultimate listener interactive episode of the year, but here we are! At least it’s a fun little discussion, plus lots of games, including a dedicated spoiler conversation about Spider-Man 2 (check the show notes if you need to skip that). Enjoy!

00:00 – 18:54 Detlef Schrempf and the Quad City DJs

Ohio is less bad than we thought!

Welcome back to a games-packed edition of Nerds Without Pants! We have most of the big recent releases to talk about, some smaller ones that may or may not be up your alley, and even a little movie talk. Plus, headlines and your emails! Well, email, singular. Should the Banana Boat be drydocked?

00:00 – 11:45 Transhumanism

Yup.

Welcome back to Nerds Without Pants! Julian is in a weird place with time, since he has continued to upload our old episodes to YouTube, so it’s hard to even say what we did this week. Pretty sure we talked about stuff, though!

00:00 – 17:43 They have pizza bagels now

My name is Alan Wake. I'm a writer.

Welcome back to Nerds Without Pants! Julian has a big announcement this week: the beginning of a project to upload and archive the entirety of NWP’s 11 year history on our channel! Then we talk about a ton of games before getting into some light headlines.

00:00 – 18:39 Nerds Without Pants: Now on YouTube

But really, how did it happen?!

And lo, a Deadly Alliance formed in the background of Nerds Without Pants. Could Julian withstand a dual assault from Rob Ottone and Mike Fallek? Tune in to find out! It’s not quite a Halloween Havoc, but it’s certainly scary!

We recorded this at an odd time, so Justin couldn’t make it, and the discussion is shorter than usual, but it’s still pretty fun, probably. Julian has one burning question: how did Rob and Mike end up getting together? Does he get that answer? You decide! We talk a little about Rob’s writing, Poultrygeist, and…an oddly large amount of time spent on the work of Hideo Kojima.

I don't know a single person who plays Candy Crush, but they clearly exist.

Nerds Without Pants is back a wee bit late with some of the biggest news of the year. What a whopper! Can you tell I don’t remember what we talked about? Shh! It’s a secret to everybody.

00:00 - 13:18 Food trucks

Always be there for your chooms.

It’s yet another episode of Nerds Without Pants! Is anyone even reading this? I doubt it. Purple monkey dishwasher.

00:00- 23:08 Snacks

I....don't remember what we talked about here.

It’s another newsie edition of Nerds Without Pants! You know the drill by now.

00:00 -10:17 The Roman Empire

Yeah, you read that right.

Well lookie here: it’s another episode of that there Nerds Without Pants podcast, y’all! I recon we should have a listen and see what them boys have to say about that there new Mortal Kombat game. You know, the first one!

 00:00 – 14:48 Flags are boring

UNITYYYY!

Julian’s exhausted, so there’s not a lot of time to welcome you to this episode of Nerds Without Pants. We talk some more Starfield and a ton of news, plus your emails. It’s fun!

00:00 – 14:33 Asking the important questions about Damocles

The Elder Stars: New Vegas

Welcome back! On this episode of Nerds Without Pants we are joined by Xavier Kreiger and we talk about SO MUCH BALDUR’S GATE. Also, game characters we love to hate, and some Starfield for good measure. Enjoy!

00:00 – 20:22 Workshopping Justin’s stand-up act

So much news!

Welcome to Nerds Without Pants! No time for a lengthy intro, because Julian got carried away playing games on the holiday weekend. Enjoy some really fantastic discussions around the news!

00:00 – 11:54 Guys. Not Five Guys, Just Guys.

Roll for initiative!

Welcome back to Nerds Without Pants! Julian totally forgot to come up with a Stage Select this week, so we just have a beefy Consumption Junction for you, and another Video Game Cage Match that rhymes. We hope you enjoy it!

00:00 – 17:42 Saying goodbye to wrestlers

A podcast by people who love Final Fantasy talking about a game made by people who hate Final Fantasy.

Well, here we are at last! It’s the special episode of Nerds Without Pants that no one asked for, but Julian and Justin needed to record. We’re joined by special guest Xavier Kreiger to talk all about Final Fantasy XVI from beginning to end. This is a spoilercast that reveals the ending in the first ten seconds of the show. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

We begin by asking Xavier about his overall thoughts about the game, especially the mechanics since we already covered our thoughts about that at length in the main show over the past few weeks. After that we go through the story point by point. While we’re all pretty down on the story overall we definitely take the time to highlight the moments and characters that really work for us. This is all punctuated with a myriad of clips and songs from the game to drive the bigger points home. We hope you enjoy, because this was a ton of work to put together!

We need to deal with the goblin problem.

Well hi there! Friend of the Show John Gholson returns to Nerds Without Pants for a meaty discussion about side quests that hearkens back to the old days of NWP. It’s weird to think about this podcast having “old days”, but when you’ve been doing it for a decade it’s bound to happen. We also talk about SO MANY GAMES (And Baldur’s Gate 3, natch).

00:00 – 24:27 Talkin’ comics with John Gholson

Abstract!

Welcome to the next Headlines edition of Nerds Without Pants! Julian and Justin are both in holding patterns waiting on bigger games, so this episode has us checking out some different stuff in the meantime, as well as some eclectic news stories that we hope you’ll enjoy. All that, and your emails!

00:00 – 20:57 Parental words of wisdom?

We sangs it!

Welcome to a Nerds Without Pants episode that’s actually a reasonable length for once! We know our listeners are a bunch of size queens, but you’ll just have to make do as we talk about the games we’re looking forward to the most between now and the end of the year. And some other stuff.

00:00 – 11:54 Shout out to some returning podcast friends

Gang gang!

 It's a Headlines edition of Nerds Without Pants, coming in hot, because Julian feels like death warmed over. Enjoy!

00:00 – 13:07 Ice cream so good!

It's doesn't count when you're a druid in bear form.

 Hey, welcome back to Nerds Without Pants! Not a lot of time for show notes this time, so please enjoy the show! We, uh, talk about some video games and such.

Eventually the Grimace shake comes for us all.

Welcome to another jam-packed edition of Nerds Without Pants! This week, we sweat the small stuff and talk about our favorite little details in video games, as well as a lot of AEW Fight Forever and Final Fantasy XVI. Yep, MORE Final Fantasy XVI.

00:00 – 16:47 The Grimace shake

The legacy of the crystals, blah, blah, blah

Welcome to a big edition of Nerds Without Pants! It’s a slow news week, but that’s okay, because we have a lot to say about Final Fantasy XVI, and a good amount of emails. Enjoy!

CONSUMPTION JUNCTION: Final Fantasy XVI (no spoilers), F1 23, Street Fighter 6, Exo Primal