Man, I’m a dork. Well, about Frakin’ time is what you’re probably saying! Sorry for the delay, but the stars just weren’t aligned properly. Fear not, weary traveler, your Shots in the Dark goodness is here! So click the link and listen to us chat about geek news, rock out to this week’s featured artist Optimus Rhyme, talk about a classic fighting game, and of course, have a riveting conversation with Skottie Young of New X-Men and Mike Norton of All New Atom! Click it! NOW! NOWWWWWW!!!!!

And Remember, you can always Right-click and choose “Save Target As…” or something similar depending on the browser you use if you’d like to take your episodes with you on your iPod!

 

 Launch Party! Mike Norton and Skottie Young!: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (293)

Hey all- the new show will be up later this afternoon- We had a blast with Tim, Mike, Skottie, and the Hero Headquarters crew, and can’t wait for you to hear all about it. So stay tuned, it’ll be up soon!

If you’re anything like me, you may find rather appealing those wonderful fantasy worlds depicted in video games, comics, TV and film that bend and twist what we humans call reality. More often then not, these fantasy worlds are more appealing then the real world itself. Some more salient examples of the most popular fantasy worlds at present are the virtual lives we live online via IM, myriad social networking sites and those downright addictive MMORPG’s. These worlds can prove so immersive, that some of those immersed forget to attend to the basic maintenance needs that these rather fragile bodies we inhabit require. The rash of deaths from MMORPG players in Asia over the last few years is a notable example of this. Even single player games, like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, create a world that is so incredibly detailed and immersive, it can be difficult to get up the nerve to turn it off.

Fortunately for those who are helplessly addicted to virtual or fantasy worlds, the real world may not be as mundane as we think. In the past two weeks, scientists have made some startling discoveries that prove the lines between our worlds of fantasy and reality are starting to blur. I submit the following examples for your review.

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Alright, for those of you who will be attending the Shots in the Dark Launch Party tomorrow, first don’t forget, it’s at 1530 W. Lake Cook Road in Wheeling, IL! Mapquest may not show it, but it’s there, right by the corner of Weiland and Lake Cook, behind TGI Fridays!

Second, we thought you might like an itinerary of what exactly will be going on and when!

10am - We’ll be kicking off the party in high style! Drop in and check out Hero Headquarter’s new digs, chat us up, and hang out! We’ll be recording the news segment of our show during this time so if you want to say hi this is the time to do it!

10am until 9pm - We’ll be playing video games all day long! All the games we have we chose so that anyone can drop in and play a round, so don’t be shy!

12pm (noon) until 4pm - Skottie Young and Mike Norton will be arriving, ready to sign anything you desire… errr… maybe! Don’t forget some cash for sketches, 100% of the proceeds from the sketches will be donated to the Hero Initiative!

12pm (noon) until the end of time - Also when we’ll kick off the raffles! Not only do we have signed stuff from creators like Brian K. Vaughan, Sean McKeever, and Robert Richardson, but we also have a signed copy of MC Lars’ CD, The Graduate! Every hour on the hour from noon until we’re out of stuff we’ll be raffling something off!

2pm until 4pm - Heroclix! If you’re a tabletop gamer, this is the time to be there by!!

5pm until 6pm - Play Name That Video Game Tune with us! Our favorite game!

5pm until the end - Tim Demeter will be checking in to do sketches and hang out with us! Sketch proceeds still go to Hero Initiative!

7pm until night’s end - Munchkin! If you’re not into Heroclix but you love table top, join The Viceroy from some Munchkin action…. ummm…

8pm - Bidding on the Nightwing page pencilled by Phil Hester and inked by Ande Parks ENDS! Be sure to get there before 8 if you want to place a bid!!

9pm - Get out! Party’s over!

Last diary entry (I can’t believe how fast a week goes by!) I mentioned that the current game I’m working on is in Alpha. I’d like to talk a bit more about that.

First off, it almost always means Crunch Mode in some form or another. That’s kinda why this blog is a bit later than I’d like to post it. Time seems to disappear on you. And what that means is you don’t have much time left to clean up the game. For what is considered a conventional game these days, usually levels are worked on one at a time throughout production. So by the time you’re at Alpha, you’ve only got a week or two to clean up everything that’s broken or not quite finished in every level of the game. Sure, some stuff will slip into Beta, you can’t help it. Beta should only be used to fix stuff where testers are able to break the game by purposely trying to break it. Basically, by the time you are done with Aloha, a player should be able to play the game through all the way from front to back conventionally without any problems. Sounds simple enough, but it can be a tuff thing to do.

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Chicago, IL (April 17, 2007) - The April 28th episode of Shots in the Dark will be recorded at the Shots in the Dark Launch Party at Hero Headquarters! The episode will include the usual geek news, as well as interviews with Tim Demeter, Mike Norton, and Skottie Young. You can participate in this week’s show just by attending the party and saying hi! The party will be from 10am - 9pm on Saturday, April 28th at Hero Headquarters, 1530 W. Lake Cook Rd. in Wheeling, IL.

Other activities at the launch party include gaming of many different kinds including Heroclix, raffles and auctions of signed goods from Brian K. Vaughan, Robert Richardson, Sean McKeever, Eric Wight, and Geoff Johns, as well as original sketches and pages by creators such as Phil Hester and Ande Parks. Half of the proceeds from the auctions and raffles, as well as 100% of the proceeds from any sketches done at the event will be donated to the Hero Initiative ( www.heroinitiative.org). The Shots in the Dark launch party also kicks off the Grand Re-Opening Week of Hero Headquarters which will culminate in their own celebration on May 5th!

Don’t forget there are now THREE great Shots in the Dark episodes available for download on the Shots in the Dark website, including the gang’s interview with comics legend Jeph Loeb!

Has it been 7 days since our amazing talk with Jeph Loeb already? It sure has! And that means you get to hear us talk about everything Geek Culture once again! All the Geek News you can use in the Geek Gauntlet, a review of Battle Pope by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, a review of the OEL Manga Boys of Summer by *gasp* Chuck Austen, a tech review of the Logitech Harmony Remote for XBOX360, some killer new tracks by MC Frontalot, and loads of other geek talk, hijinks, and maybe a sound effect or two, just for our Irish friend The Guvnor! So click the link, listen to the show, and then click on Forum and tell us what you think!

 

 It's over 9000!!!: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (310)

OK, so last time I blabbed about general topics & tangents relating to what I’d like to talk about in this blog. This time I’m gonna talk about an actual topic.

As a game goes through the development process, there are various stages along the way. A decent number of gamers and posers these days claim to know what these phases are, and throw these terms around in various forums & blogs like they know what they mean. I’ll attempt to give a brief synopsis of what the different phases mean to me:

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 Jeph Loeb talks with Shots in the Dark: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (311)

This time around, Shots in the Dark does some geek news talk in another round of the Gatling Geek, talks Star Wars books with JB, listens to some killer tunes by rising stars Treaty of Paris, and of course chats with the amazing, the talented, JEPH LOEB! So whether you just need to catch up on what’s happening in the worlds of gaming, comics, and tech, or you want to hear some nuggets of truth, wisdom, and comedy from the Co-Executive Producer of Heroes and one of today’s PREMIER comic writers, click the link and download this episode now!

A new genre of hip-hop has aimed itself at breathing life back into the genre that has been drowned in crunk and hyphy juice. The leaders of the revolution are not who most would expect, however, because they’re nerds.
Hip-hop used to be about smooth spoken verse over a mish-mash of genre, and that’s what Nerdcore hopes to bring back. Whether it’s a punk rock riff, a funky full band, or just some beats on a laptop, these guys are bringing hip-hop not just to an old level of greatness, but to new heights altogether.
To edumucate you the masses about this new breed of musicians, I’ll be presenting a four part series, reviewing the latest releases from four acts that played a show in Chicago April 10th. The Former Fat Boys, Optimus Rhyme, MC Lars, and MC Frontalot each bring a unique flare to this sub-genre, leading the way in the Nerdcore revolution.

So look forward to a Nerdcore retrospective. The Former Fat Boys will be first up to bat, roaring like dinosauruses later tonight.