Spring just arrived recently and winter has finally come to a close. So far in 2017 we’ve already seen quite a few great releases, the most recent being the Legend of Zelda machine, the Nintendo Switch, and the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda. As much as I’ve enjoyed Nintendo’s past offerings and felt the nostalgic pull of Zelda and since I’ve never actually played a Mass Effect game, they just weren’t on my list of upcoming things I’m looking forward to. However, on my list are other games, tech, events, and some are just random nerdiness.
In no real particular order, as they say, let’s get some 2017 HYPE!!
Sentio Superbook
I love me a good piece of tech. Who doesn’t really? In my tech arsenal, among other things, I have a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, and a desktop PC. My smartphone I use all the time and my PC handles everything my smartphone can’t. The tablet and laptop though, I find gather quite a bit of dust. The tablet I only bring out when there’s an app that I would just like on a little bigger screen than my smartphone, and the laptop only when my main PC is down and I still need to perform desktop-like tasks. Those times are far and few between and every time I turn them on they have hundreds of updates waiting.
This is where the Sentio Superbook comes in. Using an Android app that turns the Android OS more desktop-friendly, the Superbook is essentially a laptop shell that uses your smartphone for the processing power. According to the Kickstarter, the Superbook “provides a large screen, keyboard and multi-touch trackpad, 8+ hours of battery, and phone charging capabilities”. Always up to date, and never falls behind your Android’s tech. This I can see completely replacing my tablet, fitting usefully between my phone and desktop.
Release: Pushed back from February until June for initial Kickstarter orders.
Return of Mystery Science Theatre 3000
Fun fact: I’m an original card-carrying member of the MST3K fan club. I remember having Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house, eating myself silly, and then relaxing watching the Turkey Day marathon. I didn’t have cable growing up, which is how I’m easily able to live without cable today, but MST3K was a treat. When they announced they were Kickstarting a new season, I legit threw money at my screen. Got myself the t-shirt to match my older MST3K t-shirt, a couple nice prints, a keychain (I think… don’t tell me I’ve already lost it…), and the satisfaction that I’ll be able to watch brand new episodes. To answer your burning question, I think Joel was better than Mike. Fight me.
Release: April 14th, 2017! So close I can taste the movie sign.
Cook, Serve, Delicious 2
I’d like to think that when I game on PC, the games I play are complex and deep. However, I’ve never wanted that complexity on my phone. For mobile gaming I like keeping it light and in small increments, hence why the Switch was never a draw. Cook, Serve, Delicious is quite possibly one of the best mobile games I have ever played. It’s light, tricky, takes a bit of skill, never felt like the phone hardware ever got in the way, and had entertaining graphics to match. You don’t have to play it on mobile, you can play it on other systems, but it shines on mobile. So when they announced CSD 2 at the end of 2016, I was giddy. Giddy.
Release: “Available on Steam and PS4 in 2017“. Not specific, and no mention of mobile, but their alpha trailer was released in Dec 2016, so hopefully soon.
Star Trek: Discovery
CBS announced in November 2015 that following the 50th anniversary of the original series of Star Trek, and 12 years after the last official Star Trek: Enterprise episode aired, they would be opening a new chapter in the Star Trek Prime universe. Yes, the Kelvin timeline exists, and while I personally really enjoyed Beyond and what the reboot has brought to the series, it’s no Prime Universe goodness.
Set 10 years before Captain Kirk started his famous 5 year mission, they’ve announced the main protagonist will be Lieutenant Commander Rainsford, played by Sonequa Martin-Green, and referenced in the show as “Number One”. Star Trek: Discovery will revolve around the USS Discovery, although they’ve announced casting decisions for a second ship, the Shenzhou, and a number of Klingons. This, and other rumors, hints that the plot may revolve around the Klingon-Federation scrap-up at Donatu V, mentioned in the episode The Trouble with Tribbles which led to a Cold War between the two factions.
The show will initially air in the US on CBS, after with episodes airing on CBS All-Access shortly after. Outside of the US, episodes will air on Netflix. I personally don’t care how they air it, I’m just psyched for new Star Trek!
Release: As of this writing, it appears to have been pushed back until late summer/early fall, with possibilities of being pushed back further. Blech.
Vampyr
If you haven’t yet played Life Is Strange by DontNod Entertainment, by god what are you waiting for?! Go play one of the most fresh and stunning games you’ve ever played! If you have played it, then you probably understand why Vampyr, another game in production by DontNod Entertainment, has me so excited. Action-oriented with a sort of Assassin’s Creed meets the episodic genre vibe, set in 1918 London? Sign me up. I don’t play brand new games often, but with this setting and story potential, I’ll play.
Release: This site is suggesting Q4 2017, maybe just in time for Halloween?
Disney World’s EPCOT Big Changes Announcement
I’m a Disney World nerd. What can I say, I’ve visited the parks quite a few times and each time have had some amazing experiences. Nothing beats having fun all day with family and friends, seeing all the sights, riding the rides, and sitting down for one of the best meals you’ve ever had in your life. Cap it all off with a phenomenal show and fireworks every night you’re there! I wasn’t so much a fan before I met my wife, but now that she has shown me what I was missing, I’m a big fan.
So when Disney makes changes to their parks, which happens all the time, it just makes me excited for the next time that we’ll visit. At this point, it may be a few years before the next trip, but by then hopefully the big EPCOT changes announced at the D23 Expo last November will have come to fruition. When the Chairman, Bob Chapek, tells the Imagineers to “dream big” and to expect a “major transformation,” I’ll lap up any news like I’m dying of thirst. I mean, shoot, they’re adding hanging gondolas to their transportation roster. Gondolas! How cool is that?!
Release: Changes won’t happen for a few years, but hopefully we’ll hear what they will be at the next D23 Expo July 14th-16th 2017.
Shroud of the Avatar Launch
All the way back in May of 2013, one of computer gaming’s legends, Richard Garriott, started a Kickstarter campaign with his company Portalarium to bring back a “spiritual successor” to one of the most influential game series of all time, Ultima, called Shroud of the Avatar. Since I’m a huge fan of the Ultima games to this day, I backed it to a non-ridiculous degree. To say that it’s been a long journey since the Kickstarter launch is quite an understatement. Like most Kickstarted projects, the feature creep has been quite extreme, to the point that the game still hasn’t been completed yet in full. Posing primarily as an MMO, the features they want to add are story mode with content delivered in episodes, written by Garriott and Tracy Hickman, a single player offline mode, different multiplayer modes, a vast classless character system, PvP, player housing, a crafting-based economy, full guild systems, player owned towns, and all the other accoutrements one would expect with MMOs these days.
As of right now, Shroud of the Avatar is still in a beta state and they stopped issuing character wipes in July of 2016, but still has not officially “launched.” I’m not one to play incomplete games though, so if they don’t consider the first big chapter complete yet, I have no issues waiting. I’ll finally jump in once they start officially calling it “launched.”
Release: 2017, or so the FAQ says.
More Google Home Updates
Near the end of last year, I took the plunge into home automation and bought a Google Home while it was on sale. To say the least, my wife and I have been enjoying it quite thoroughly. I quickly discovered that home automation is a deep rabbit hole, with Google Home itself being the gateway drug. It started with one Google Home, then a second, and then a Chromecast Audio to sync all of the speakers together to form a whole-house audio system. A Philips Hue starter kit later and we had voice-controllable lights. Ten more bulbs later and we rarely touch our lightswitches anymore.
We bought it early on in its development because we expected more functionality to come, and so far they haven’t disappointed. More, though… we want more.
Release: Ongoing, since Google Home has already been released in 2016.
Welcome to Night Vale‘s 2nd Novel: It Devours!
If you’ve never heard of the quirky podcast Welcome to Night Vale, you are sorely missing out. Based around the community radio station of a fictional, and quite strange, desert town located somewhere in the southwestern US, Welcome to Night Vale has been chronicling the town’s oft-bizarre happenings since June of 2012.
In 2015, WTNV’s creators Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor released their first novel, Welcome to Night Vale, based on the town. More heartfelt and personal than I was expecting, I enjoyed it, so I was excited when during the episode “After 3327,” they announced a second novel! Finally, around mid-March they announced the title and a release date of October 17th, 2017.
Release: According to Joseph Fink, they handed in the final manuscript on January 17th and in Mid-March they announced a release date of October 17th, 2017.
The MMO The Secret World‘s Relaunch
Finally, the last thing I’m excited about for 2017 is the “relaunch” of the MMO The Secret World, a personal favorite game of mine. The news of Funcom’s plans to relaunch it’s 5-year-old title came as a bit of a surprise, having been “announced” on Funcom’s 4th Quarter 2016 financial reports. Boasting changes from a redesigned new player experience, a “major improvement” to gameplay and combat, new player retention systems, and changes to the game’s business model, a lot of players are simultaneously nervous and excited for the upcoming changes. Funcom’s community team has been silent on the subject, focusing first on PAX East and Conan Exiles before making any big announcements about The Secret World.
Release: We’ll most likely hear more about the relaunch by the end of March, and see some changes before the end of June.
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Readers, I won’t lie. My favorite Baldwin isn’t Alec or Stephen and it certainly isn’t Adam. No, my favorite Baldwin is Welcome to Night Vale‘s own Cecil Baldwin.
I’ve been a fan of listening to podcasts for a couple years now. There is something zen-like about heading out to shovel snow, going for a nice long walk, setting in to clean the house, or going for a long drive and at the same time listening to others talk about a topic you’re passionate about with the same amount of passion that you have, if not more. It says “Hey, you know that thing that others think you’re a little weird for liking? Well here’s a place where others are just as weird as you, and proud of it”. A nerd’s dream, if you will.
One of the podcasts that I never fail to miss an episode for is Welcome to Night Vale.
If you’ve never been introduced, then bare with me as I try to awkwardly describe it for you in an attempt to do it justice. Welcome to Night Vale is a recording of the community radio station of a small fictitious southwestern US desert town. One that has a Lovecraftian horror bend, but in ways that instead of triggering the fear reflex of your brain triggers the humorous. It pulls at that part of you that wants to laugh at horror movies instead of cringe from them. The sometimes disturbing imagery, but presented in a way that makes it relatable, entertaining, and thoughtful. It’s a subtle genius.
At the forefront of the show is its host Cecil Palmer, played by the silken-tongued Cecil Baldwin. This is not a euphemism. His tongue is actual silk.
The historic Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA.
But now imagine that instead of thin black wires directly connecting your head to your smartphone, imagine having the ability to see this sublime crossroads of horror and humor live, on stage, with a drink you may have overpaid for but you know the proceeds are going to keep a beautiful historic theatre in the black so you don’t mind. Awesome, right? I was lucky enough to do so, and it was certainly awesome.
On April 24th, 2016, this past Sunday, I and a good friend of mine made the easy trek out to Glenside, Pennsylvania, to the historic Keswick Theatre, where we had pretty good seats for Welcome to Night Vale‘s latest live show “Ghost Stories”. Wearing a shirt to honor the show, my Night Vale Spiderwolves baseball tee, we had no idea what to expect. I’ve listened to every episode and every live performance they had put out up to that point, but wondered how it would all be put together live. Was it going to be as good? Better?
In the end, it was exactly what I expected it to be, which made me very happy. It was an episode in format, like all the others, with it’s humorous asides, fantastic one-liners, entertaining weather, and poignant monologues. Although it was made all the more special because, like the beauty of live theatre, the audience was an integral part of the performance. So integral that when they tell you to silence your cell phones, you better do it. You don’t want it making any noise and possibly ruining any good moments. Trust me.
Blurry Cecil and Blurry Disparition. So my camera isn’t that good at low light images. Being Faceless is sort of a Night Vale homage, though.
The show opened with the show’s musical guests, Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin, a couple from Austin who had quite a few thought provoking and moving songs to share with the audience. My favorite of the bunch was easily Danny Schmidt’s “Standard Deviation”, a song which has inspirations in quantum entanglement. His “This Too Shall Pass” was also quite moving, and you really should give it a listen.
After the opening act came Meg Bashwiner to introduce the show proper, followed by the star and host Cecil Baldwin. “Ghost Stories”, without giving too much away, is about Night Vale’s annual creative writing competition where the citizens submit a ghost story to be judged by the powers that be. It mainly focused on Cecil’s entry, but also included interviews with Deb, the advertising sentient patch of haze played by Bashwiner; Steve Carlsberg, Cecil’s not-so-favorite brother-in-law played by Philadelphia’s own Hal Lublin; and Melony Pennington, the town’s talkative computer programmer played by Molly Quinn. The show’s prolific creators also made their own appearances with Joseph Fink portraying Dr. Teddy Williams, manager of the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex, and Jeffrey Cranor as Station Intern Jeffrey Cranor. Surprisingly, Intern Cranor lived until the end of the show. All of this was underscored by the phenomenal Disparition, with weather by Schmidt & Elkin.
Along the way Cecil also brought fan favorites such as the Children’s Fun Fact Science Corner and the ever popular Horoscopes. Intern Cranor may have lived to see the end, but it wouldn’t be a live episode without some station intern not making it, now would it? All this, and only a minimum of New Jersey bashing. When seeing any show in Philadelphia, a little Jersey bashing is mandatory.
Overall, if you have a passing interest in podcasts, I heavily suggest looking up Welcome to Night Vale. If you have an interest in Welcome to Night Vale, I highly suggest looking up a live performance. And if you have an interest in Welcome to Night Vale‘s live performances, then… well, I don’t have much else to suggest. Good job, I guess.
“When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true. But, because of distance, not for millions of years.” – Proverb, Episode 66.
// Ocho
P.S. – Danny & Carrie, Congratulations! If you ever read this, might I suggest Tamika if it’s a girl or Dylan if a boy. :)
P.P.S. – “Ghost Stories” has another round to go in the United States in July and Europe in October. Hopefully, if there’s a show by you, tickets are still available.
P.P.S – Full disclosure, I support Welcome to Night Vale financially with a small donation every month. I am a “Weird Scout”. I also suggest supporting the art that you love as well, if you can. We need more great art in this world.
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You may have heard of Night Vale. Strange images of a three-eyed man or a threatening, yet merciful, glow cloud have popped up in your social media streams, and you don’t know what it’s about or why. Who is that Carlos guy, anyway? Or maybe you’re well aware that Welcome to Night Vale is one of the best podcasts being produced right now. You’re also one of the chosen who think that it’s an ingenious blend of comedy, scifi, and horror (as well as dope music), the likes of which have not been seen since Courage the Cowardly Dog went off the air. If you, gentle reader, are in the know, well…good for you. Enjoy.
For anyone who isn’t familiar with the radio show, host Cecil Baldwin broadcasts over the local radio station on town events and local residents. Some of the best parts of the fandom come from the artistic representations of the characters and town, which obviously are up to a lot of interpretation. There has been a lot of in-fighting between fans of the series revolving around how artists choose to represent the characters on the show. Should Cecil be white? How old? Is it wrong if people choose to depict Carlos as someone without hispanic characteristics?
I have very little opinion how other people participate in their fandom, so I included a lot of different representations of Night Vale, mostly because I think it’s cool that fans have so many different interpretations of the universe, yet agree on theories like Cecil’s third eye or tentacle tattoos. Scary raging fandom atmospheres are sometimes why I avoid a book/movie/show/podcast type thing, so if you’re not about the tense fan love/hate, stick around this page for a while. It’s warm and cozy.
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- Welcome to Night Vale: Subterranean Metropolis by adlibber
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- Welcome to Night Vale by aerettberg
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- Angels of Night Vale by sweetlynumb63
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- Night Vale: under arbys by Petitecreme
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- Walking the Dog by dontevenknow-anymore
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