Back with a bang!
The Nerds Without Pants are back and starting 2018 off strong! We are joined by Ryan Higgins from The Geekbox and The Comic Conspiracy to talk about our top 5 games we played in 2017, and we’re pretty sure you’re going to be surprised at the selections, so let’s get started!
One of us didn't follow directions. Can you guess who?
Welcome, lovely listeners! The Nerds Without Pants are taking a break to play some more of the excellent games released in 2017, but that doesn't mean we are leaving you in the lurch. Far from it! Before break we each recorded a little something to highlight some of our favorite music from the year in games. So sit back and enjoy an eclectic mix of gaming tunes as unique as our three hosts.
Come for the 80s homage, stay for the Saints Row shenanigans.
It’s no secret to the people at PixlBit that I am a huge fan of the Saints Row series. The last two games are among my favorite games from the last generation, and I eagerly await the next chapter in the increasingly bonkers tale of the Third Street Saints. In the interim, I am certainly interested in Agents of Mayhem, a spinoff of Saints Row that seeks to blend the over the top humor and gameplay from that franchise with the character and special powers of squad based shooters like Overwatch. After playing the game at E3 I am still interested, but I also have some concerns.
Kame...hame...
I got into Dragon Ball Z at the age of 15 thanks to some bootleg VHS tapes I found at a collector’s show in town. I was hooked right away, and as someone who was already obsessed with fighting games I would often dream of Capcom developing a DBZ game. Instead of that happening, I had to contend with sluggish, unresponsive Dragon Ball fighters that ranged from terrible to decent, but failed to capture the magic of the anime in total. Now we have the upcoming Dragon Ball FighterZ from Guilty Gear developer Arc System Works, and if my time with the game at E3 is any indication, my dream is finally going to come true.
Trippy doesn't begin to cover it.
One of the stand out games for me at the Microsoft E3 press conference was a unique little indie game called The Artful Escape. The papercraft graphics and emphasis on jamming on an electric guitar made me think of some heady melding of Gitaroo Man from the PlayStation 2 and last generation’s indie darling Journey. I knew it was one to watch, and I was happy to be able to try it out on the show floor.
I made a terrible mistake coming here.
Welcome to our next (an likely final) special from E3 2017! Angelo steps out of the woods and hasn't heard a speck of E3 news, so the bulk of the show is Julian filling him in on everything he's missed. Enjoy the hilarity as Angelo reacts in real time to the Xbox One X, that odd Shadow of the Colossus remake, and the announcement of not one, but two new Metroid games.
Not much new at E3 2017, but maybe we didn't need it.
Let’s face it: while Microsoft has plenty of lost ground to make up for, Sony has been sitting pretty since the beginning of the 8th console generation. Even with the waves being made by the Nintendo Switch, there probably isn’t much that Sony needs to do to keep their position in the market secure. So their E3 presentation this year was a deliberate, measured, and comprehensive volley of games, even if there was little to surprise viewers.
Remember when E3 started on Tuesdays? I do...
Welcome to the first Nerds Without Pants E3 special of the year! It's just Julian and Patrick tonight, and we've got a lot to say about the EA, Microsoft, and Bethesda press conferences!
Those sure are some pretty looking games...
There is no doubt that Microsoft has had a rough, uphill battle since they first showed the Xbox One at E3 2013. Between a misguided push towards an all-digital future and a higher launch price point than the PlayStation 4, the market penetration that MS had with the Xbox 360 seemed to vanish in just a couple short years. With Sony continuing to win with their console and so much positive feedback on the Nintendo Switch, all eyes were on Microsoft for their E3 2017 press conference. Would their widely hyped Project Scorpio hardware be enough to put them back into competition? Only history will tell, but for now, it may be a case of too little, too late.
Or: Cave Johnson: We Hardly Knew Ye
In the final Nerds Without Pants before E3, the Pantsless Ones get together for a slightly modified episode. We’ve still got our Stage Select and Chrono Crossing segments, but Consumption Junction is replaced with our E3 hopes and predictions. This is a fun episode with lots of surprises, so let’s get to it!
