#NerdsUnite: Dishonored E3 Presentation Revealed

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Sean. He has a really rad site called Violent Gamer, and he's here today to talk about some of the latest and greatest in the gaming industry. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT SEAN !!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @violent_gamer

One of my largest posts from E3 was about the Dishonored presentation and demo, seen here, and now they are showing off everything that we experienced except for the demo level. The presentation is a little bit different and more smooth, which actually made it less interesting to me because the player seems to make it all look too easy, but it is the same level and a very similar developer commentary. If you don't know Dishonored let me give you a brief overview. It is a sci-fi game that puts you in control of a supernatural assassin who is trying to get revenge on a whole ton of people who framed him for the death of The Empress. It is a mix of Bioshock and Assassin's Creed, but it still feels unique due to its first person melee combat and non-linear approach to level design. It is also very violent and has a focus on giving the player choices in every level. It is being made by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It will be coming out on October 9th for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Arkane Studios broke up their Dishonored E3 presentation into two videos. If you read my lengthy preview before then you will recognize a lot in the videos and the commentary may be a bit redundant, but for everyone else this information is pretty fresh and wasn't revealed prior to E3. The first video has the player going through a level with stealth in mind. He is trying his best not to alert guards or kill innocents. As a result this video is a bit longer than the second playthrough and is about fourteen minutes long.I must warn that both of these videos make the game look very easy, but they are cheating a bit and have everything unlocked, plus whoever is demoing the level intimately knows it. Check out the Golden Cat and see how the player can use the level and his powers to make stealth a viable option.

The second video has the player taking a different approach, a more direct approach. In this one they are displaying the many ways you can go through that same level, the Golden Cat, and how many different ways you can approach combat. Normally you wouldn't have so many different weapons and powers to kill your enemies with, but like I said earlier they everything unlocked for this demo and they do try to show off many of the different weapons. This playthrough is very brutal, but you may also notice that it is a lot tougher to play the game this way. The player is fighting through the Golden Cat killing everyone he sees, but with that he also has use to a lot of healing and power stims. The second part of this second video is a short section showing off the Tallboys (seen in the first screenshot way up there). Here is part 2 of the E3 gameplay walkthrough.

Now you all have seen everything we saw at E3, except we did of course get to play a short demo that is not shown in either of these videos. I talked about the demo at the end of my E3 post, but let's just say it wasn't quite as open or polished as the presentation. It was still pretty fun though and some sections did have quite a few options presented to the player. It was also a bit tough and both Adam and I made some serious mistakes going through it. Thanks for checking out the videos and if you want to know more about Dishonored take a look at the their website below. 

Main Website: http://www.dishonored.com/#/home

-Written by Sean Cargle

#nerdsunite

click here to follow Sean on the twittah!

#NerdsUnite: Pursue with Courage (one nerd's journey through chemo & cancer)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Serena. She was one of my only friends growing up as we were play buddies at the lake in NH and I found out via Facebook while I was en route to a conference that Serena has cancer. She is here today to talk about her side of things and the journey this disease is taking her on. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT SERENA!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's Serena Neff

Aloha!

No sadness, but it appears as though my noggin hairs are shedding at a much faster rate than normal.

In the world of cancer reasoning, we take this as a good sign: if the chemo is powerful enough to kill my hair cells then surely it must be powerful enough to kill the cancer remnants!

Pretty soon, I will go through the styling/sheering routine, which will likely be done all at once with photos for future reference.

Step 1: Bangs.  I haven’t had them since high school so why not see what it looks like these days!

Step 2: Mullet?  Sure, why not!  Sean’s request.

Step 3: Mohawk!  Bad ass.

Step 4: Shave it off bye-bye.  Bald is beautiful as my friend says!

This is my opportunity to exercise a little control over my treatment; I decide when my hair goes once and for all even if chemo is easing it out.  Plus, I’ve always wondered what my skull looks like.  And my hair is two-tone colored so now I don’t have to worry about dying it to all one color.  Lastly, when it grows back it could be a different color and texture; fun, exciting, mystery.  We’re looking at new hair in about 4 months, as the final round of drugs should let it grow back.  So that means new hair for Christmas!  Thanks, Santa, you have my request and I got it in real early this year!

You have a little homework too:

1. Have you done a boob check lately?  Have you checked in with your Doctor about that weird symptom you’re not too sure about?  Yes, there is a calming effect in the blissful ignorance of not knowing but if you have an opportunity to improve your health and experience more out of life, why not take a stab at it?

2. Be on the look out for cool head wraps for me!  I live in Hawaii, it’s summer and it’s hot so I do not think at this point that I am into wigs.  But scarves and hats sound good.  Pretty teal and blue and purple things, things with whales and ocean stuff, maritime and sailing scarves.  Whatever you find, and only if you want to, send it my way!  This is voluntary but your homework above is mandatory!

#nerdsunite

click here to check out Serena's blog. Very powerful stuff.

#NerdsUnite: Are you making people smile?

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Jordan; he's a dating coach. Wait, not like "a" dating coach ... lemme rephrase that, he is THE dating coach. He has a show on SiriusXM called "Game On" and he's a super smarty pants when it comes to examining social dynamics. No ... like for real. HIT IT JORDAN!!!  </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's Jordan Harbinger

Smiling is one of the basic fundamentals of a happy life. Putting a smile on someone’s face is one of the easiest things that you can do as a part of your everyday routine. It’s funny how the littlest things can have the biggest affects in your life. If you can wake up every day and make people smile, the battle is half over. You have achieved some social value.

It has been proven that smiling projects the same emotion in every culture. You cannot be angry and be smiling at the same time. Try it some time. You will most likely find that even the act of smiling while angry, can make you feel happier. You can influence how you feel by controlling your body, and vise versa. Therefore, if you smile, you will begin to feel good, and if you feel good, you will begin to smile. It’s very infectious. You can make others smile just by shooting a quick little smirk. Since it’s contagious, you are actually making others feel good by showing your pearly whites! You will be spreading good vibes throughout your daily journey. If you make someone feel good while they are in their normal daily routine, the good feelings you brought to them will be attached to you. The next time they see you, they will feel good even if they can’t remember why.

It’s not just the mouth that makes a smile successful. It’s the whole face. Have you heard of the expression, “Smiling with your eyes?” When you are really happy and have a huge smile on your face, you get little crinkles around your eyes. A great grin also makes everyone appear more youthful, attractive and healthy. I have seen studies that state that we can become at least 10 times more attractive when we smile. If you want meeting people to be easy, why put people on the defensive right from the beginning? Would you want to approach and talk to someone who looks sad, grim, or pissed off? I sure wouldn’t! In a perfect world, you would be able to spread cheer to everyone. This really isn’t the case. If you are trying to make someone’s day but they are just not having it, move on. You will just have to make someone else’s day!

Here is a quote that best sums up the benefits of smiling:

“A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.”  ~Author Unknown

#nerdsunite

Jordan Harbinger is a Wall Street lawyer turned Social Dynamics expert.  He is the owner and co-founder of The Art of Charm, a dating and relationships coaching company, as well as the co-host of 'Go Legendary', a men's lifestyle & social dynamics talk show.  If you dig this and want to learn more from Jordan and The Art of Charm Team, then visit http://www.theartofcharm.com

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician (Vet Tech Facepalm)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

This happened to me a few weeks ago at work and I didn't want to share it immediately because I wasn't really sure if it was "post-worthy"-- well now I think it is!!

A client came in to purchase heartworm prevention for her dog but I informed her that the heartworm test was past due and we really needed to do it ASAP. I discussed the prices and several different prevention options with her as she just wanted to get the medication. I assume most pet owners know what heartworms are but if you don't: heartworm larva are transmitted to our pets (not us!) by infected mosquitoes (so even an "inside only" dog can get them because I've been bitten inside my home by one before) and when the larva gets into the bloodstream it travels through the vessels to the heart where it lives and grows into an adult heartworm. These worms can wreak havoc on our poor pets heart and lungs--they can even die from this nasty parasite. Symptoms include: coughing, exercise intolerance, shortness of breath, heart disease and even bacterial infections from the adult heartworms. The saving grace with this awful bug is that with an inexpensive once a month medication you can prevent this horrible disease. The medication is used to kill off baby heartworms that mosquitoes inject into our pets--this way they never grow up into adult heartworms and cause all the above problems. Starting prevention at a young age of 8 weeks is the best way to ensure your pet never has to deal with this disease. We recommend using a monthly preventative because 1. there is no cure treatment for cats, you just have to wait for the adult worms to die off and hope the heart (in cats they affect the lungs more) can handle the stress  and 2. the treatment for dogs its extremely expensive and you have to be very careful as it can be harmful if not administered properly and without the proper precautions.

If you've ever been to a vet (a good vet) they should be asking you if your pets are on heartworm and flea medications. If the pets aren't they should be trying to get you to put them on it. Heartworm disease can be fatal and it is just so heartbreaking to lose a pet to this disease since it can so easily be prevented.

That being said, after I discussed all the options and prices with the client, she stopped to think for a moment and then these words came out of her mouth: "Is heartworms really a serious thing or is that something you guys just exaggerate?"

For a second I just looked back at her completely confused and thought, did she really just ask me that? What the hell???

Quickly I collected myself and replied back very politely, "It absolutely is a serious thing! It can also be fatal and that is why we make such a big deal about it." I explained to her we would never exaggerate something just to get her to purchase medication. We pride ourselves on being a very progressive small animal clinic, there are some vaccines we don't recommend depending on the pet/owner lifestyle and risk status...why would we recommend medication that is unnecessary? I discussed the disease with her and gave her a few handouts to read over. I'm pretty sure she still doesn't believe me but she purchased the heartworm and flea combo chewable tablet (trifexis). After she left I looked just like the polar bear in the photo.

Now don't get me wrong, if you don't know about heartworms that's ok. I'm not ragging on her for not knowing that much about them but for thinking we would ever try to get her to do something unnecessary. But the thing that got me was I'm trying to help you protect your pet and you are asking me if I'm exaggerating. I take my job very seriously, especially stuff like this. I hope I wasn't being a jerk, I never said anything negatively to her, just educated her on the information.

However I don't think she believed me either way.

PLEASE!!! Keep your pets on heartworm prevention!!

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!

#Fact: My father, the comedian

God do I love my dad. Seriously, not only is he like Buddha in his perspective on life - but on an otherwise dull Saturday afternoon he sends me things like this ...

Oh father, father, father.

click here to read my review of Magic Mike

#thatisall