How Are You Geeking Out?

Just thought I'd call for a shout out from everybody on what it is they are currently geeking out about in their geeky free time and what is awesome about it!

For me lately it's all about Neverwinter Nights and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

The former is like playing D&D without all the clunky rules and math. Endless looting and upgrading, starting from nothing and becoming an epic hero(or villain)!

The latter is like a fantasy board game without having to work out scheduling with friends or worry about setting up and tearing down a crazy complex setup.

So how are YOU geeking, and why?

My son got an xbox 360 for Christmas, so I've kinda taken over it!!! Got me Skyrim Legendary edition......be back online in a few months!

Board games! Lots of stuff, but my favorite right now is Legendary: Marvel. I've also been playing 1775: Rebellion, 7 Wonders, Agents of SMERSH, Summoner Wars, and lots more. Check out the picture in my signature for what I've been playing lately.

CreatorsPixels wrote:My son got an xbox 360 for Christmas, so I've kinda taken over it!!!  Got me Skyrim Legendary edition......be back online in a few months!

Sweet! Much awesomeness ahead of you. I could certainly go on for hours about what I like about the game. But what are YOU most enjoying about it right now?

WhiteBoy wrote:Board games!  Lots of stuff, but my favorite right now is Legendary: Marvel.

So what are you enjoying about Marvel Legendary? Is it the Marvel property, the game play? I'm also curious what you like about Summoner Wars. I'm not a competitive kinda guy, but I've heard great things about it!

Paeter wrote:So what are you enjoying about Marvel Legendary? Is it the Marvel property, the game play?

I like the balance of the system. The original game was a little easy (though there are ways to increase the difficulty), but the Dark City expansion bumped up the difficulty to make it challenging. The cards are good about being thematic and keeping that aligned with the character. For example, Daredevil does a lot of "blindly" guessing what the value of the next card in your deck is; Hulk gets stronger when he takes wounds, etc.

I like theme and the theme is strong. I do have slight preference to Marvel over DC, but I would not say that's a significant factor at all.

The pairing of the mastermind and the scheme allow for TONS of combinations. And one mastermind might be easy with one scheme but then kick your tail next time because of his synergy with the scheme.

Paeter wrote:I'm also curious what you like about Summoner Wars. I'm not a competitive kinda guy, but I've heard great things about it!

I'm also not that competitive of a player (one reason I like Legendary), but Summoner Wars is still a favorite of mine. My sons and I have a lot of fun with it. The craftsmanship that has gone into the game is amazing. Everything from balance of the factions to artwork is top notch. Each of the factions have a different flavor and different strengths and weaknesses. I think learning to play to your strengths and the other faction's weaknesses is the best challenge of this game.

Paeter wrote:So how are YOU geeking, and why?

I'm using the rare geek time that I have mostly for catching up on comics. I just read two recent Marvel events in one Big Comics Reading Binge: Infinity (totally AWEsome, I've become an instant Hickman fan. Suffering from Hickmania!!!) and Battle of the Atom. The first is an Avengers event (covering multiple books and tie-ins), the second is an X-Men event. Battle of the Atom is also quite cool, with Brian Michael Bendis as one of the main writers, though I find myself more of an Avengers girl than an X-fan.

Also, I'm still continuing my quest through the Valiant universe. I'm now reading not only Archer & Armstrong - which I reviewed on my blog and of course on Spirit Blade Underground Podcast ep. 300 (yea!) - but also:
Quantum & Woody (which is genuinely hilarious)
X-O Manowar (awesome)
Bloodshot (very very good!)
I'm about to start reading Eternal Warrior.
Last but not least: I'm hoping hoping hoping that the character Ninjak will get his own book. He played a part in a couple of X-O issues, and I'm willing to drop all other titles just to read his!  
(Man, I am so digging Valiant comics! I think I'm in love…)

I'm still reading some DC as well, but have dropped several titles. Found an unexpected new title to follow in Constantine though, really liking that one. My vote is still out on the new Green Lantern team. I'm really liking Robert Venditti on X-O Manowar (see above), which is why I'm giving him a chance on GL, but I'm not sure he "gets" the character of Hal Jordan. Although I have to say, when I heard his interview on Podcast of Oa (ep. 54) on writing Hal Jordan and his thoughts about the character, I'm willing to give it some more time and see how things develop. Especially since he read Geoff Johns's entire GL run to prepare for his own take on the book! Which earns him some definite creds.
I heard Venditti will take over the Flash book as well, so I guess he is Geoff Johns's crown prince...

As for some non-comics geek action, I'm watching the Arrow and Agents of SHIELD tv shows.
Okay, crossing out NON-comics, I guess. 

I am currently geeking out primarily by running my Dresden Files RPG campaign (as a first time GM) every other monday night since September. It's kinda turned into a Supernatural version of Burn Notice and I've introduced a lot of House Rules Mechanics that takes what I like about (at least my listening of) Dungeons & Dragons [I've listened to the Penny Arcade Acquistitions Inc. games] and merges them with the FATE system, which, once you've played with Aspects (as a writer at least) I can't see going back.

Also been doing a lot of drawing lately. Mostly for a certain comic strip idea I have...its pretty Underground right now...and also drawing my PCs from the Dresden Files Campaign (which I've titled Crescent City Casket, bc it takes place in my home turf on New Orleans)

Also, not really sure if this is possible, but I'm geeking out A LOT about being Married, which is FREAKING AWESOME!! I love my wife.

Other than that, geeking out about watching Arrow, Almost Human, Being Human, Community, Grimm, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, Teen Wolf and Tomorrow People.

Tim wrote:
Also, not really sure if this is possible, but I'm geeking out A LOT about being Married, which is FREAKING AWESOME!! I love my wife.

Soon after we got married, Holly and I started saying, "We must be married" or "we're totally married" anytime one of us would say something the other was thinking, as if the mere fact of being married granted us some kind of telepathic link. 12+ years later we still lay claim to these powers once or twice a week. So sure! Marriage can be a very geeky experience!

I'm loving Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. and Almost Human. 

Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.: Fun, funny, exciting, and definitely on an uphill slope.

Almost Human: love the dynamic between the characters and they keep throwing out cool sci-fi ideas and technology


I'm also digging the Superior Spider-Man, The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, All-New X-men, Uncanny X-Men, Superman/Wonder Woman and The Amazing X-Men!


I'm also geeking out about the upcoming DLC for The Last of Us! (Does that count since it's not out yet?) It comes out on Valentines Day and it's going to fill in some back story and everything I hear about it is good!  

I'm geeking out about obstacle racing. I've already done one race this year there are 5 more races i want to this year and i'm already planning on 2015 being the the year i do my first Tough Mudder and Spartan and i want to do the Spartan trifecta (even though i don't like the new medal design)

I'm also playing Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and trying to get all the trophies i also bought the God of War saga game (5 games and it was on sale for $10) so after i finish kingdom hearts i'm going to go through those games

I just recently reconnected my TV, sound system, PS3, and 360 to electricity after a tragic encounter between a space heater and my surge protector.

I just finished the Spartan Ops on Halo 4 and now I've been messing around on multiplayer.

Also I've been doing some writing and just started a new story that is a military-action-almost-dark comedy based loosely (or not at all) on part of my first deployment.

tmorrill wrote:I just finished the Spartan Ops on Halo 4 and now I've been messing around on multiplayer.

Man, I haven't even gotten all the way thru the single player campaign much less Spartan Ops. I would love to get thru that but I keep waiting on some of my friends to coop with me.

I love playing games coop, but i rarely find people to play them with. My best friend lives in California now and he no longer has an xbox. We played thru all 3 Gears of War campaigns together along with Halo 1 and part of 3.

Anyone have Splinter Cell: Blacklist? I'd love to play coop or XBL multiplayer with someone. Should I make a separate thread?

tmorrill wrote:Also I've been doing some writing and just started a new story that is a military-action-almost-dark comedy based loosely (or not at all) on part of my first deployment.

That sounds awesome! I would definitely read that. I've got more than a few story projects in the works, but I can't figure out which one to pursue first. The one that is the easiest to start is the one i'm least interested in and the one I'm most interested in is the one that is gonna take the most pre-work and world building to get to the actual writing.

Tim, shoot me a friend request on XBL, my gamertag is Ubegopher. Any time you see me on I'll more than likely (90% of the time) be up for a coop game or Spartan Ops.

Maybe getting a CGC coop going? I'd enjoy doing that.

Managed to get in on last weekends beta test of Titanfall on xbox one.  Was kinda cool!!  Graphics and all were good but I'm new to the more recent FPS so it wasn't as great for me as it apparently was for everyone else!  I mean you have to wait 80 seconds every 4 or 5 min and then it seemed like everyone else was 10 levels ahead of me and I'd no sooner walk around a corner and I was sniped by some dude on a roof 7 miles away or I'm trying to sneek up to a window and not get blown away only to be run up on from behind and have my head twisted around!  I spent 70% of my time dying!  Anyway, I stuck with it and it started to get better.  But since is always and only online play it was odd.  One time a few foreign guys were on going on and on about something but I had no clue what!! then you've got people saying all sorts of stuff and my kids walking in and out!!  I really felt like I couldn't play if they were even around.  For me its a no buy.  I mean if you could play single player, probably but you have to a live subscription and then still pay $60 for the game!  I guess if you already were on live but I'm not, I just had a free month code I blew.  Maybe even if you could turn off the other people talking but if you could I couldn't get it.  I'd play online with my friends or people i know, like a CGC group, but a free for all w/ the world just isn't me.  Guess I'll just let the xbox sit there and do nothing for a while longer!  Its back to Skyrim for me!

A friend and I are starting to get into the card game Android: Netrunner. Anyone else play this?

Never heard of it. Give us a review for the forum or the podcast. Sounds like it could be fun.

Drew.Rub wrote:Never heard of it.  Give us a review for the forum or the podcast. Sounds like it could be fun.

I'll second that!

So I just got a Raspberry Pi for my birthday - possibly a bad move by Mrs UKSteve, as I haven't really had my computer geek on since I mothballed my Amiga about a decade ago. Now I'm preparing to get my brain around Linux and thinking about what exciting hardware and software projects I might attempt...

Hmm, let's see.

Books
Currently reading A Cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr which is great.

Movies
Just saw Gravity - wow how cool was that! An interesting thought occurred to me as I was watching it though, you really can't call this movie sci-fi because this is all just real world stuff.

Games
Recently played Broken Age by Tim Schaffer which brought back some wonderful memories of the old Lucasarts adventures games I played in the 90s. Great story.

I'm also testing my detective skills with L.A Noir on the PS3. I gotta say though, you Americans have some "interesting" road rules. Very different to Australia, and I'm not just talking about driving on a different side of the road.

TV
I'm eagerly awaiting the return of Doctor Who in August. In the meantime, my wife picked up the first season of Walking Dead the other day. Wasn't particularly aware of it before, but saw the first episode last night. A bit gory for my taste (didn't bother my wife, she's a student nurse) but very compelling story and characters.

I'm geeking out on tv show marathons. Just finished marathon BS:G, still working my way through Sliders, and recently kicked off a marathon of SW:TCW on Netflix. Yes, I want to see season 6.

AdamCollings wrote:Movies
Just saw Gravity - wow how cool was that! An interesting thought occurred to me as I was watching it though, you really can't call this movie sci-fi because this is all just real world stuff.

I haven't seen it yet, but judging it from everything I've seen and heard I have no idea why people call this sci-fi. It just seems like a thriller to me.

Drew.Rub wrote:I'm geeking out on tv show marathons.  Just finished marathon BS:G, still working my way through Sliders, and recently kicked off a marathon of SW:TCW on Netflix.  Yes, I want to see season 6.

That reminds me! I'm hoping to get either the Green Lantern Animated Series or Farscape Complete Series Bluray for my birthday in a couple of weeks. You better believe some geeky marathoning will be going on soon after that!

DNArington wrote:
I haven't seen it yet, but judging it from everything I've seen and heard I have no idea why people call this sci-fi. It just seems like a thriller to me.

Maybe some NASA guys petitioned that it be considered sci-FI because they would never allow crazy mishaps to happen in space. Got to preserve the integrity of the "rocket scientist" myth, right?

Comics from the cheap bins.