A #Nerd Rant! American McGee’s Alice

#Talk Nerdy To Me Lover’s Aaron Fitzgerald

Designed by American McGee and using the Quake game engine, “Alice”, is an enjoyable romp through an insane world.  Alice is being kept at an insane asylum and dreaming of a world inside her warped mind.  Along the way she meets an array bizarre characters and villains as she journeys through Wonderland in hopes of defeating the Red Queen and restoring peace to her world and her mind.  A twisted take on the popular book, “American McGee’s Alice”, should be delightful fun for any avid gamer.

The game play is pretty straightforward.  The maps are strictly linear in nature and there is no roaming around as in games such as, “Everquest”, and, “World Of Warcraft.”  Instead of health Alice has sanity and magic instead of mana.  As you journey through the levels you find weapons which are referred to as toys.  There’s a knife, cards, croquet mallet, jacks and ice wand to name a few.  My personal favorite is the ice wand, which unfortunately needs magic to work.

The boss fights have different strategies and are all pretty challenging.  I found the Jabberwocky to be the most difficult.  You travel through some pretty amazing and unique levels throughout the game.  From a demented school to a wooded area and an ice cavern.  The artwork is probably the game’s best attribute.  It has incredible three dimensional art and beautiful texturing.  The cut scenes are long enough to get a sense of the story and short enough so you don’t get bored.

A sequel to the game is due out in 2011 and it’ll be interesting to see how Alice gets thrown back into Wonderland for a second time.  If anything the new one will be gorgeous to look at and a joy to play.  Check out Amazon to purchase a copy of the original.  I believe used copies go for around thirty five bucks and an unopened version is in the two hundred range.  Give it a spin and enjoy your journey through a twisted Wonderland.



Jen Knows Stuff ...

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's Awesome Applesauce: Charles Quevedo

More words of wisdom from our nerd queen, @JenFriel.

"Life is an adventure.  I just keep showing up for life everyday."

TNTML heads to #ControlTV today!

Control TV's @TristanCouvares I've been doing these little skype nerdy dates with Control TV over the last week, but to be honest, I had no effin clue what it was about. One of my very very very dear friends in LA, Alex, called me and told me she was working on this new web show documenting a lifecaster, and she told me I needed to be on it. If you LV peeps remember, Alex was in a couple of the VERYYYYY early LiveVideo episodes on my channel, PhotoJeNic. It is our mutual friend, Vega that actually gave me that nickname in the first place. HAHAAH!! Dude, the FIRST night we went live on LiveVideo, I remember the producers calling us and telling us to tone it down. We were all dancing around the apartment drinking wine and apparently having TOO good of a time. Brad Greenspan, el nerderino running it, was afraid we'd upset advertisers or something ... which is pretty damn funny if you think about it. Most people just sat there staring at their little screens, and I took my unit to a party. (insert: that's what she said ... OOHHH!!) You guys have to remember, this is back in 2007. My friends were just pretty convinced I was doing porn. NOOOOO ONNEEEE was lifecasting at that point. Let alone using this weird janky prototype technology. I'm still peeling velcro off various things in my car, btw!

EITHER WAY!!! I massively digress ... so, Alex got me on this thing - and I had NO idea there were so many people behind it.

Per Media Week:

Comic actor Seth Green has partnered with the Web video firm Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG) to launch ControlTV, an ambitious new reality series which will allow viewers to make a series of life decisions for a young 20-something man.

The idea behind the series is to marry the Web’s crowd sourcing phenomenon and its interactive capabilities with live entertainment. Starting this October ControlTV will follow its young male subject for six weeks, during which viewers will be encouraged to vote on a myriad of decisions—ranging from what he should eat to who he should date—which the man will then go through with.

Viewers will be able to watch ControlTV live at a yet to be determined Web site, where they can immediately vote to direct the show’s Truman Show-esque subject in real time. According to Rick Kleczkowski, DBG’s COO, viewers will be able to watch the show’s subject roughly 18 hours a day, seven days a week—with the number of audience-voting occasions varying by the day.

In addition, DBG will produce a daily ControlTV Webisode featuring edited highlights from that day’s events, which will be distributed across multiple male-oriented sites represented by DBG. At the conclusion of those daily Webisodes viewers will have another opportunity to vote and influence the show’s subject’s actions during the following day.

Kleczkowski sees those aspects of the show as providing ControlTV with breakout audience potential. “This is innovation at its best in terms of leveraging the digital experience,” he said. “The interactive component is what really hits it out the park here.”

To get ControlTV off the ground, Green (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Austin Powers) has recruited an impressive lineup of production partners, including Matthew Senreich—one of the brains behind Green’s Cartoon Network's series Robot Chicken--Richard Saperstein, former president of Dimension Films, Bachelor and Bachelorette director Ken Fuchs, as well as the commercial director Stephen Kessler.

Meanwhile DBG is handling both distribution and ad sales for ControlTV. Already, the company has lined up Ford Motor Company and Sprint Nextel as sponsors who are set to receive the branded entertainment treatment. For example, during episodes of ControlTV, the show’s subject will be seen driving 2011 Ford Fiesta and using Sprint’s new HTC EVOtm 4G phone.

“There is an opportunity for brands to have extended dialogue with consumers,” said Kleczkowski.

Insane balls. I'm loving it. I'll be there around 2pm PST, so check it out if you're around.

And don't forget to follow Tristan on Twitter!

Super stoked to be hanging out at their loft today, I'm SOOOOOOOO excited to see how they document it, and what their nerd gear looks like. This is the future, man! We've connected all these people, have access into lives like we've never been able to experience before - we now have the money and marketing behind it .... OMG! Greatest time to be alive.

#ThatIsAll

#Fame Monster Status Update #Emoticon

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @craig_church

I wish I could get this excited over nothing...

"Page 73 - Johnson, Navin R.! I’m somebody now! Millions of people look at this book everyday! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity - your name in print - that makes people. I’m in print!

Things are going to start happening to me now."

(See more of Craig's work by following his blog and Twitter account)

That Nerdy Chick: #Blogworld in A Nerd Shell

OOHHH Vegas, sweet vegas! What a trip ... first, let me preface this by saying I can't stand conferences. Like for real, I think we are pioneers in this space right now, and sort of navigating as we go ... a lot of peeps just get up on their high horse and say this is the way it is and why and blah blah blah versus even just sharing best practices ... just SOMETHING. I don't ever take that much away from conferences - just FYI. I went to BlogWorld because of Kodak, thanks again, and to go and hang out with you fabulous TNTML readers.

I have to admit though, Friday night in Vegas was a complete trip. First, I got to hang out with TNTML friend John - who has been getting his nerd on with us from almost day 1. I saw him checkin on FourSquare at the MGM Grand while I was over at the Luxor. I hop, skipped, and jumped on the tram and went by to say hi. Literally, I hopped on over a couple of drunks, skipped over some cracks, as I didn't want to break my mama's back, and jumped onto the tram.

We grabbed a couple of drinks, shot the shit, and got our nerd on. Super bad ass, and dude, I am totally convinced that is Vince Vaughn that does the announcement at the Lion cages.

I digress ... I then left, and met up with one of my favorite buddies from the Playboy Mansion, Fern, and his friend Zach and my friend who works at the Wynn, Price. We had a table at Tryst, and oh.my.gatos. that place was off the walls bananas. After many a shots, and SF Red bull and vodkas, I was feeling saucier than a martian from Uranus.

The details are a bit spotty, but somehow - I got from the Wynn to the Palazzo, where I then went to my car to grab my sock monkey PJs, and wound up grabbing my Facebook/ Twitter carpool buddy's cookie monster tee instead. I am just going to assume that I got changed in my car, as that is my MO ... yep, 4 chan - I was naked on camera somewhere ... go fetch. Then I proceeded to walk around the Palazzo in my flip flops, men's cookie monster tee, and leggings. Yep, I was a popular nerd. HAHA!! Friends were made, laughs were shared, and nerds got it on ... it was pretty funny. I then ended back up in Fern and Zach's room, but was smart enough to have called and texted my carpool buddy to remind him to meet me at the Wynn at 8am, as we had to take off early to get him back to LA for this lunch. Apparently, I called him as well to confirm, so nice to know that drunken Jen Jen is still pretty responsible. However, I do NOT want to hear that message - hahahahaha!!!

I also remembered to set my alarm somehow ... and then proceeded to pass the fuck out. Then, someone woke up and said what's that buzzing? I was all, holy crapsicles, that's me! I passed out on my actual phone ... and overslept by a half hour. Apparently at 8 when the alarm did go off, it was a rooster - and I couldn't figure out how to turn it off because I was literally dead asleep still ... so Fern kept saying, but how can YOU of all people not figure this out. OMG to have been a fly on that wall ... hahahaahaha!!!

I DASHED out the door, and started running down the hall to get to the elevator to start to head over to the Wynn. I guess I dashed so far that I wound up missing the sign for the elevator - so I went through this double door, and was then locked into a stairwell. Yep, you needed a room key to get back in, which was something that I did not have. There I was on the 24th floor, cookie monster tee, flip flops and all. I proceeded to dart down the stairs ... all 24 flights of them. I got to the final level, and apparently opened another wrong door, and wound up in this little enclave by the pool. It was just this little nook that was covered by this tree, that I'm sure man kind has never even been exposed to. I emerged from the nook and the pool lady was like where did you come from? Are you ok? I literally could not stop laughing, and just asked how to get to Las Vegas Blvd. She showed me the way, and away I went ...

I met up with my carpool buddy, and literally cannot remember a time I have had more fun in Vegas. I had no solid plans for anything, just 36 hours, gas money, and a desire to want to get my nerd on. Yeah ... epic. =)

#NerdsUnite