GTA:V... In Vinewood!

Hello Nerdmania! D.S. here again with a quick blog update about the previous blog. So if you're as big a fan of GTA as I am, you've no doubt seen the trailer in glorious 720p already. You also, no doubt, know that it's going to be in LA again, more specifically, Vinewood. 

Personally, I'm a little disappointed that we aren't getting the UK as I predicted which also let me say, I was wrong. The bright side, we still might see the horse racing or casinos, so I'm still upbeat about that. Still, here's what I noticed.

Planes. Please oh please let that jet fighter that was screaming through town be flyable. One can only assume Rockstar got an earful when planes were mostly vacant in the GTA:IV installment. I'm one of those.

Cars. They look wonderful. The Aston wannabe in the beginning, the R8 that was blazing through town, bikes are a mainstay, the van which leads to a bank heist. Rockstar, check and mate.

Vinewood. While I said I wasn't crazy that it's not in the UK, the fact that they made Liberty City go from boring in GTA:III to pretty epic in GTA:IV makes me feel good that they get one more crack at Los Santos. 

CJ's not the playable? I suppose just from the voice, we can tell it's not CJ. My hopes are that they'll bring Claude back from the GTA:III. After all, we never truly heard his voice. We mostly heard grunts, moans, and groans. 

The landscape. No doubt we'll get seamless, no loading screens between maps. Those mountains were awesome. I sure hope we can get to run through them in some nice cars. 

All in all, the trailer did exactly what it was intended to do. It got me, a loyal fan, super excited about the future of the GTA franchise. I suppose we just wait and see what's yet to come.

This is D.S. from Nerdware, signing out.

GTA: V

Hello my nerdlings, D.S. back with another 5th installment of pure electronic bliss. I'm talking about Grand Theft Auto: V. Boy am I excited. Here's my rundown of things I'd like to see, things I could do without, and what I predict it will be.

So to begin, if you just fell onto the globe known as Playstation, (I won't be talking about the XBox because face it, this game was born, bred, and thrived on the PS network) then perhaps you have almost zero clue what I'm on about. Grand Theft Auto, ever since it's earlier top view days on the original Playstation (now dubbed the PSOne) was a brilliant game. It broke a lot of boundaries including being one of the games that caused us to have the current video game rating systems we deal with today. You had free will to go about the town as you pleased. You could steal cars, pick up weapons, kill prostitutes, drive rigged tanker trucks into orphanages… ok… so that last one does make me cringe a little bit but it's all part of the game and thus cannot be ignored. Much like the airport scene in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

Fast Forward to GTA:III. Holy crap, Liberty City. This game I still remember picking up and unwrapping. I was in shock the minute I turned the PS2 on. The folks at the now well known Rockstar Games hit it and hit it hard. The first time the GTA series has seen a 3D platform, and it was glorious. Much like the ill-fated Driver on the PSOne, you could get out, walk around behind the character, and interact with your surroundings. However, where Driver failed, GTA arose like an eagle soaring over a mountain… there was nothing better. I still remember getting my first hooker in the car, watching the camera pan down below the bumper, and seeing the car shake. I knew he was finished when the controller shook. I'll admit, I go back and play this game now, and it feels archaic, but not in that Atari 8-bit way. You can't even swim. Oh well, it wasn't perfect. 

GTA: Vice City. The best got better. You were now Tommy Versetti and you had a music soundtrack that was simply superb. You still couldn't swim, however, you can actually fly the plane they supply you with in the game (I later found out that the reason the Dodo became essentially useless was the 9/11 effect). We now had a helicopter, Lamborghini… I mean… Infernus, and a slew of cool looking cars and bikes. 

GTA: San Andreas, how do they do it? NYC to Miami to the Southwest? You know this series is huge now that we have Chris Penn and Samuel L. Jackson to name just some of the voices we recognize. Car modification, character modification (which affects gameplay… like stamina), and being able to go gamble in-game! Complete with jetpacks, a slew of more flyable planes including a Harrier jet and Boeing 747, and get this… CJ can swim! About time. Still, the gameplay felt more refined and offered no loading time between cities. This was also a very non-linear game, offering you the ability to play the game differently every time but ultimately resulting in the same ending.

(For time sake)

GTA:IV. I skip Liberty City/Vice City stories (as well as I will skip The Lost and Damned, Chinatown Wars, and The Ballad of Gay Tony) for time reasons, plus, they weren't major titles, just updates to old versions in my opinion and those titles didn't generate the same to-do as the ones I'm mentioning. GTA:IV was glorious. I still play this one today. Niko Bellic, an immigrant in Liberty City. The maps are simply ridiculous in size, the amount of playable pieces throughout the city are many, car customization is gone but you just feel so much more into this game. The graphics are sublime. Clearly supposed to be the varying areas of NYC. We get Times Square, The Statue of Liberty (holding a cup of coffee instead of a torch), and the use of Metrocards (well not really but we do get to ride the subway anyhow). The storyline drips with depth. Rockstar definitely weeded out the unnecessary and left a perfect game for us to play.

After much await, we have (duh-duh-dunnnnn!!!!!) GTA:V. Now, immediately, not much is known. The specifics of this game are as secret as the location of Jimmy Hoffa and as predicted as the ending to The World Series. I'll admit, I have zero clue as to where the game will be placed and who we'll see in the game but I'll tell you what I'd like to see and what I can do without. 

I want to see real cars. I love that GTA is able to create cars that look like spitting images of real cars but I want real cars without having to mod the game. Furthermore, I would like to see the return of aircraft as it was in San Andreas. I understand planes being flown around Liberty City might've caused some mixed feelings but Niko should've been able to fly more than just copters. 

I also would love to see a return of a venue we've come to know and love. Much like they did with GTA:III and GTA:IV. Perhaps, as much speculation dictates, we return to SoCal. However, you know what I'd like to see? A return to London. Those of us who played EARLY iterations, know that GTA was in London at one point. It's time for a return and my prediction is in fact that we will return to London for the newest installment. I know the "V" in the title shows a US Dollar styled print but I'm not fooled by Rockstar's clever trickery. I bet you are going to be laundering US currency into London. That's how I see them swinging that little hidden gem.

Bring back casinos. Not much needed to be said here. Also, with my prediction being about laundering money, what better segway than a casino? (Speaking of Segway, it'd be humorous to see Rockstar add that people mover into the game somehow)

What I could do without? All the girlfriends. Having to continually date girlfriends to keep perks, simply put, annoyed me. Maybe just two big love interests that don't mind if you don't call for a while. I mean, you're busy stealing cars. I'm also glad they took out the character modifications. Not having to worry if my pecks are in shape was a much loved subtraction. 

With the trailer coming out tomorrow, I'll no doubt have a list of questions and further predictions as to what the GTA franchise has in store for us. I'm not expecting a Titanic budgeted trailer by any means (though it'd be nice), but I definitely want to see the game. I don't want an early CoD:MW3 type trailer (all green lasery and such), I want to see things about the game that will make me salivate. I want to be drawn so hard into this trailer that I make a quick stop to the stock market, and shell out cash for thousands of shares of stock in Rockstar Games while on my way home, getting a prostitute and killing her afterward in anticipation (ok not really but you see where I'm going). Simply put, Rockstar… deliver on your promises and don't fail us who've been with you since the humble beginnings.

Thanks for reading. I know it's long and drawn out but I had to get you all up to speed with where I am and how I felt about the history of this gaming colossus. Please leave comments about what you'd like to see and what you think might happen below. If you feel I made an error somewhere, be sure to let me know. 

This is D.S. from Nerdware, signing out!

iOS 5

Hello fellow nerds! D.S. here to talk today about the new iOS 5 for iPhone that's gained so much talk over the past few months. I have it, and I'm here to give you my pair of pennies on it.

So to start, I've only had iOS 5 for a few days now and I must say I'm not overly impressed right off the bat. That's not to say I don't like it, but I feel like the hype may have not been worth it. Those who know me, know I'm an Apple fanboy through and through (I have a Macbook Pro as well). However, I also know how to be non-biased when it comes to constructive criticism which is why I say I'm not so impressed.

So initially, I was hesitant which is why I waited a week or so before getting the iOS 5. I'm not one to immediately jump on a bandwagon simply to say I did. I heard talk of people having their whole memory wiped from the phone and they had a hard task of retrieving everything. I'm not a huge fan of drastic change so this made me pull back and contemplate what to do. I'm not sure if Apple fixed the glitch or if it's because they weren't using Apple computers to update to iOS 5 but in either case, I was and had absolutely ZERO trouble with it. The two Apple devices worked hand in hand by backing up all my files, downloading the new iOS, installing it, and reloading all my info. The whole process took just over an hour. I have the 32 gig white iPhone 4 and it's about 50% full so I can assume if you have less stuff on your phone, it'll take significantly less time.

The new "Notification Center." I knew it existed but was a little confused by it at first. Swipe from top? What do I swipe? There's no arrows or marker to signify it's there. So I just gave it a shot (feeling sort of stupid mind you) and voila! There it is. Complete with weather for my area, rolling stock ticker, and any notifications I haven't checked. Interesting. Now I know all the anti-Apple freaks out there are saying "Droid/Windows/etc already has that." Touché. While that's true, Apple has never really "invented" any new technology, but they do make what's there, easier. 

Notifications on the lock screen. This I like. Again, Apple isn't the first on this front but yet again, it's so easy and liquid smooth. Unlock the specific notification and you're taken directly to it. Love that! Moving on…

The camera. So much was added to the camera and being that I have a Macbook Pro, I'm not sure I needed some of it. Like editing on the phone. Sure, I suppose on the go it's good to have a little bit of editing there but it's just enough editing to piss you off. Red eye, crop, and auto-enhance. That's it. I feel like Apple fell just a wee bit flat on this. So, for me, I'll stick to using photoshop and just continue posting pictures I've taken directly to Facebook or what have you with the assumption that most of my "mobile uploads" are unedited. Using the volume button to snap a pic I love! Because it makes the iPhone feel more like an actual camera. When trying to "MySpace" the photo, it's easier to click a button (more natural feeling) than touching the screen in my opinion. Pinch for zoom should've been a no-brainer from the beginning, but whatever, it's still cool.

iMessage. Not much to say about it really. It's just a "free" way to message people without using your minutes. I was lucky to be grandfathered in on the unlimited plan before it became a "well… you have to pay more" nonsense. So iMessage is cool but doesn't really concern me one bit.

Newstand. I don't like digital copies of magazines. Not sure why but I just like being able to flip through it with my actual hands and not my finger. Call me old fashioned on this one but I might just be deleting this icon altogether. 

Videos and music are now separated. I dislike this… a lot. It's one of those things I was so comfortable with and now they're in two locations. Why the change? I was happy with it right there. 

Siri! The talk of the town. The technology that's older than the phone itself and now proprietary to Apple iPhone 4s! You've heard all the rave and the hype and it's now here… and I don't have it so I can't really comment on it. I know, lame right? Well, fact is, Apple (in all their infinite wisdom) have made it such that  Siri is ONLY available on the iPhone 4S. Silly but it's going to sell more 4S's for them so a pat on the back for them for making their products desirable for certain features. I'm self-convinced that Siri will make it to iPhone 4 based iOS 5 and the lower tiered products soon enough. I give it 6 months tops before I'll have the ability. "But you need the A5 processor chip to make it run." Well… not really. Apple says that because they want you to buy their latest and greatest phone. Truth is, before Apple acquired the Siri name, it was available on any platform and they were developing it for Android and Windows phones. However, once acquisition was in place, that was halted. So don't blame Apple, Siri had a price and Apple found that price. 

That's pretty much it for now. As mentioned, I've only had the new iOS for all of 2 days so I really haven't been able to get much use of the new system. Perhaps in a month I'll report back with any new things I've found or love/hate. For now, though, that's really all I have to say about it. If you feel like I missed something huge and need to add it, feel free to comment! 

This is D.S. from Nerdware, signing out!

Casual Heroes!

Throughout this week, NerdWare is going to be introducing a series of tee shirts that we've dubbed our Casual Heroes line. These tees will be some of our least expensive items!

Each one will feature a UNIQUE print across the front. These prints are obviously and charmingly inspired by the traditional superhero "chest emblem".

The Casual Heroes shirts let you, the customer, feel like your own hero. Why be a second-hand version of someone else's heroic ideas? Instead, set yourself apart from the legion of Supermen and Batmen and Spider-Men this Halloween!
Try our Casual Heroes line and become a D-I-Y superhero!

NerdWare 1101!

As NerdWare start to gain popularity, we your humble admins, thought it would behoove us to give a little Q-and-A style introduction to who we are and what we offer!