NERCDULTURE SMACKDOWN! POKÉMON OF THE WEEK! AUG. 17-23/2013!

#538 THROH & #539 SAWK

This week we're looking at Hitmonchan & Hitmonlee 2.0 with the Fighting fellas from Generation 5's Black & White games. This is a real marker for the nostalgia seeking attempts to have similarities to the original 150 in the newest generation. The question that comes to mind whenever they're compared? Does it work?

LAST WEEK'S POKÉMON: #127 PINSIR & #214 HERACROSS

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/17/13!

capital punishment [kap-it-uhl-puhn-ish-ment]
noun
1. Punishment by death for a crime; death penalty.

EX. Ya'll remember VG Cats? I think that anyone who stands in the way of producing new comics should be a victim of capital punishment. Or a good scalding. On this Pikachu, execution... it's not very effective.

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! 8/5-8/11/13!

WEEKLY ROUND-UP PRESENTS

WAITING ON THE CATBUS WEEK!

7. NSFW. EFFED UP FRIDAY! SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE DUCKS VS. PONIES VS. TURTLES!

Ducks and turtles are terrible. Just terrible.

6. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/10/13! Mega.

By this point, we're all mega-excited for the mega-release of mega-Pokémon X & Y coming out this Fall on the Nintendo 3DS. My question is, knowing what we know, what're you guys most excited about with the 6th Generation of Pokémon games?

5. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/6/13! Bandwagon.

Along with all the Pokénews, comes lots of nostalgia for the simpler times of our youth when all we wanted to be was a Pokémon master.

4. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/9/13! Parallel Universe.

I think I convinced my parents to get Pokémon Blue around my sister's birthday because, as a kid, I normally didn't just ask for stuff like that...

3. MUSIC MON! YORDLE & POKÉMON ATTACK ON THE NAUGHTILUS ZONE!

DON'T. LET. ME. GET. IN. MY. ZONE. PLEASE. THANK YOU. BYE BYE. NOT. EVEN. CLOSE. BABY. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. GOOD GAME.WELL PLAYED.

2. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/11/13! Sport.

On a related note, since I was kind of just spouting off LoL speak, what's the deal with the champion release schedule? I've been waiting to buy and play Lucien for over a month. Each Tuesday, I sign in, hoping to see an update and hoping to download a new character/skin. I have gotten none.

1. NERCDULTURE SMACKDOWN! POKÉMON OF THE WEEK! #127 PINSIR & #214 HERACROSS!

That's all folks.

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/16/13!

space aids [spehys-ehydz]
noun
1. League of Legends Slang. Malazahar's E ability, Malefic Visions, that deals magic damage over a period of four second and if it kills the afflicted target, spreads to the nearest enemy target available, repeating the process until either an afflicted target doesn't die or there are no more targets in range of a dying afflicted target, and gaining Malazahar mana.
2. AIDS from or acquired in space.

EX. Malazahar is my favorite mid character. He is the first character I ever achieved a PENTAKILL with in League of Legends. This is thanks, mostly, to his incredibly powerful E finishing off target after target in a team fight with space aids, and the rest of his powerful kit. He is still one of my best champs and, thanks to NuFu, he was one of the first champs recommended to me.

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/15/13!

JONTRON: STATE OF AFFAIRS

state of affairs [stehyt-uhv-uh-fehrs]
noun
1. The general situation, condition, or circumstances of a things/things.

EX. This rambling state of affairs probably won't change the world, but it certainly gotten my attention.Something has happened to Jon Tron. I don't know if it's good or bad, but it is certainly beautiful. Just listen to that singing...

WTF WED! KIM JONG-UN PRESENTS EGORAPTOR VS. PUPPYCAT!

WTF WEDNESDAY PRESENTS

KIM JONG-UN GOES BACK TO SCHOOL

Making your way in the People's Democratic Republic of Korea takes everything you got it.
 Taking a break from the back breaking labor camps & gingko farms, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn't you like to escape

To somewhere they don't know your name
And they're probably glad that you came?
You wanna be where you won't starve,
Even if you're sick or lame.
You wanna be in the United States of A.

You wanna be where you won't starve,
Even if you're sick or lame.
You wanna be in the United States of A.

HOT PEPPER GAME REVIEW FEAT. EGORAPTOR

Meanwhile, if you ever wanted to watch Egoraptor nearly die while trying to review a video game, here is your opportunity. The things that man will do in the name of entertainment...

BEE & PUPPY CAT PT. 1

BEE & PUPPY CAT PT. 2

Do you love Hayao Miyzaki, pixie girls, and Adventure Time? Have you ever wondered what would happen if Cartoon Hangover, Frederator's too hot for TV alternate alias and makers of Pendleton Ward's (Adventure Time) Bravest Warriors, animated it and began putting out the adventure of a derpy girl named Bee who stumbles upon a Puppycat that is more than he seems? This is the coolest, weirdest, and whimsiest thing I've seen in a while on youtube and I encourage everyone to check this out and share it. ASAP.

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/14/13!

self-preservation [self-prez-er-vehy-shun]
noun
1. Preservation of oneself from harm or destruction. 

EX. Seriously, the animal/enemy AI has no sense of self-preservation in Skyrim. They see a dragon? They're gonna fight it. They see a dragonborn badass who just killed said dragon? They're gonna fight it. Just once I'd like to see somebody run after you display your badassery. If I beat a dragon to death with my fists, you should probably assume you don't want what I'm gonna dish out.

SKYRIM: BEAR

SKYRIM: DOVAHBEAR

SKYRIM: DOVAHBEAR 3: MOUNTAIN OF PAIN

WORDS OF THE DAY! 8/13/13!

merchant [mur-chent]
noun
1. Elder Scrolls Series. While sometimes they are individuals you purchase commodities and crafting items, most of the time you use them as places to dump surplus loot in exchange for gold, despite the fact that it is inconceivable that they can manage to sell off their inventory.

EX. I think all good Skyrim players try to balance the following process: picking up loot from containers (including the dozens of corpses you encounter during your average adventure) so that you can get the most gold per pound of weight carried, even going so far to use magical items/perks to increase carrying weight, then taking that loot to several merchants in order to get them to buy as much of your useless gear as possible so you basically bankrupt them (I often buy crafting items from them so that I can sell them useless stuff), and then repeat the process ad nauseum.

Pro Tip #3,105: Make sure to pick up arrows that are worth any amount of gold. They have no weight, so you can carry a practically limitless amount, are always useful (archery has and will continue to be broken in the Elder Scrolls series), and are often worth a good chunk of change.

FOR THE REST OF THIS COMIC CHECK OUT AWKWARD ZOMBIE

MEGA MONDAY! NERDCULTURE SMACKDOWN! POKÉMON X & Y UPDATE! #2

 MEGA EVOLUTIONS TRAILER FOR X & Y

MEGA-EVOLUTIONS W/ MEGA GUITAR RIFF!

Mega evolutions? MEGA evolutions...? MEGA EVOLUTION?!? What is- what am I- what even- what do you even do?!

There hasn't been a big shake-up in the Pokémon scene in a while, but Pokémon X & Y are taking big risks with inclusions like: horde mode, a new Pokémon type, since Fairy is the first new type since they added Steel and Dark in Gen II, a more proactive inclusion of EV training  in the game, and a simultaneous world-wide release of both games in all regions. But today's news isn't just big... IT'S MEGA!

That's just MegaMewtwo fighting MegaLucario. Nothing badass to be seen here or in the trailers linked at the top of the article.

So here is the skinny; certain Pokémon, including Kangaskhan, Mewtwo, Ampharos, Blaziken (pictured above in it's Mega Evolution form), Mawile, Absol, Lucario and, hopefully, if there is an Arceus, many more to come. They achieve their forms by holding a special hold-item and transform during battle, changing their stats, types, abilities, etc. This is a welcome addition to the games as it is one of the biggest change-ups in years.

Let's see what I think... (we're gonna skip the new Mewtwo form since I talked about it here and here).

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/12/13!

lasers a gogo [lehy-zers-uh-goh-goh]
noun
1. In-Joke League of Legends NuFu slang. The terminology used by members of the NuFu clan to describe Lux's use of her ult and similar laser based skills.

EX. I love playing Lux and playing with a Lux on my team because a well-done lasers a gogo sets up kills and finishes off fleeing foes.

BONUS: WEO WEO LUX STARRING VIDEOGAMEDUNKEY

And, for those of you confused, NuFu is the clan that me and my gamer friends have been rocking for a few years and, over the years, we've developed a lot of in-jokes, catch phrases, and observations that help us bond. I hope by sharing a few examples of this sillyness I can document the fraternity we've found in gaming.

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/11/13!

SHIPHTUR: LEAGUE OF LEGENDS PLAYER GETS US SPORTS VISA!

sport [sport]
noun
1. An athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess, of a competitive nature, such as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, competitive gaming etc.

EX. eSports are still sports. I've had to make the argument several times that competitive gaming is as much a sport as any other or, at the very least, is as much a sport as darts, bowling, etc. People underestimate the finger agility, hand-eye coordination, and snap decision making that is required to be good at competitive video games.

Furthermore, and this is hardly in debate, the amount of knowledge, skill, and cooperation needed to perform, especially at more competitive levels, has a lot of depth. In a game, like League of Legends, where you're juggling your knowledge of all the characters, your inventory of items, paying attention to the map, completing objectives, and keeping your opponents in check, and so much more, you have to be focused to overcome your opponents. Much like any sport, one big play can change the momentum of the game and set your team on the path for victory. With so many objectives to be accomplished and maintained, the gameplay is constantly shifting from early to mid to late game with various phases, strategies, and a deep metagame as people attempt to find the most efficient ways to outplay the competition.

League of Legends is my preferred poison, as of late, for blowing away hours of times with friends in the quest for success. The fact that the US government has acknowledged my preferred game as a sport by granting an athletic VISA to a pro-player is somewhat validating that I'm not "merely playing a game" no more than any traditional sport is "merely playing a game" (though I won't argue those aren't more physically involved).

NERCDULTURE SMACKDOWN! POKÉMON OF THE WEEK! AUG. 10-16/2013!

#127 PINSIR & #214 HERACROSS

So, I've talked about Mega-Evolutions, which seem to open up even more possibilities for Pokémon from earlier generations getting a leg-up in battle but, for the subject of today's Pokémon of the Week article, I want to see pre-evolutions and demands evolutions for these two beetle Pokémon, that represent the strongest inspiration for the franchise, Pinsir and Heracross.

LAST WEEK'S POKÉMON: CHIMCHAR, MONFERNO, & INFERNAPE