Valentine’s Cards: Video Games Edition

Posted on February 14, 2016 by cueplotdevice

By Dr. G

Marketing comes in many forms. Companies latch on to anything that will make you think about there product. This Valentine’s Day is no different. The outcomes of this are varied. Lets take a look at some of the best and worst Valentine’s Day cards video game companies have to offer this year.

Nintendo:

Play Nintendo

In elementary school Valentine’s Day is an excuse to have candy and secretly market your favored toy, game, movie, cartoon, and such to your friends. As a kid you never realize this is what you are doing. Nintendo has latched onto this and made some great printable cards. These are light-hearted and silly. I don’t think they should feature Tingle in anything associated with children but I guess he just really left a bad first impression. And a second. And basically every impression ever.(Side note I know I am bias but Ganon is the best dressed person in Hyrule).

Nintendo is not limited to there old standbys. Splatoon is one of their newest IPs so it seems all the kids will want to give heart shaped chalk(some claim it is candy) do there friends attached to these cards. The obvious winner here is Jud the Cat. In fact he should have had two entries because no one, I mean no one, wants a Captain Cuttlefish card. Crabby Cakes!? Really? The only other weird card is Ink-credible. Later on we will see worse examples of this but if you aiming for kids cards do we really want angry looking pictures?

Animal Crossings makes the most sense for these kinds of cards. Everyone says cute, sorta nonsensical things in the game all the time. Still Nook would only say this at the start of a date night where he up sold you into a triple mortgage.

EA:

EA Valentine’s Day

EA’s strategy was similar to Nintendo. Take some of there (sorta) current games and make cute little cards. Here this works very well for Unravle which was released just a few days ago. Who wouldn’t like this cute little yarn guy.

After that there cards just get weird. Who associates positive feelings with an Inquisition?

Then we have this gem. The original Mirror’s Edge came out over 6 years ago. Even if you know the game you also have to remember the main characters name is Faith. A squeal is coming out soon but still this seems kinda week. An more importantly in this game you jump off buildings and do crazy parkour stuff. How they couldn’t spend a little more time to come up with something like “You make my heart beat faster than a 100 story drop”(That was also terrible but I am not being paid)

And then we have this guy. I actually think the words here are clever and the heart drawing is pretty cool. On the other hand this misses the whole point. This card has to already exist. EA does not own Soccer(Football for our international readers). The point of these print cards is the store doesn’t have anything like these. I am positive there is a soccer card out there and now I think I need to go hunt it down. Also this might be the most boring pose they could have picked for this guy.

Bungie:

Destiny Twitter

The last set of cards we are looking at today are from Bungie. I really like Bungie and enjoy there games so these cards should be right up my ally. This first card works well because they have a Valentine’s Day event going on where you have to work with one other person you know.

Then we get into the craziness. “I’m Burning for you” That seems on par with other cards but why is this guy throwing a hammer at the reader? Is this a good burning or a consult your doctor burning? This potential violence seems out of place. But it must be the only one right?

Nope it just gets worse. “I’ve got you in my sights, Valentine!” What? This could be taken badly on so many levels. Most cards as if you want to be somone’s Valentine. Also this isn’t just a figurative “sights” it is literal. “I’m watching you. And may kill you.”

And last but not least we have this. Again the words are fine but look at the picture. This is obviously a bad relationship. I have a feeling that after handing you the card as you read it the giver will shoot you with a taser gun.

So as you decide to pic cards for your loved ones(or fellow classmates) this year try and remember Valentine’s Day is about love not war.

Roomba for The Road – Episode 31

Posted on February 6, 2016 by cueplotdevice

Oh man! It has been months since we have made a post on our website. Life just gets in the way sometimes. We will continue to do our best to keep all our mediums updated, but our first priority will always be getting a full length episode out to our listeners.

BRILLIANT!

This week’s brilliant is brought to you by Harvard student Robert Flitsch who invented “road repairing” robots called Addibots. These things are basically robots with a 3D printer attached that have the ability to scan holes in an environment and deposit material to fill that hole. Flitsch’s ambition is to design them to repair potholes in roads autonomously. Quite the ambition Robby F! But we here at Cue Plot Device like to say “Go Big Or Go Home” so why don’t you just skip the Roving Robot part and go straight to road repairing drones? Just give us a 40% cut will ya?

NERD NEWS

In this episode we have lots of Nerdworthy News from Yosh the Scientist. Amazon has plans for physical location stores to pop up all over the country. The Captain thinks these will double as base stations for launching their drone empire. The Power Rangers are getting a reboot, will the ‘Heisenberg’ be back to reprise a role? Watching football on a Hololens may sound like a good idea, but then you think about it… and we all know a new Star Wars Lego video game is ALWAYS a good idea.

PLOT DEVICE

Do you remember WAYBACK when Mr. Peabody and Sherman was a tv show? Then they made the movie that came out over a year ago and now Netflix is giving new life to the once-popular kids show! With their newly announced roll out of original content, Netflix is carving a new place for itself in the digital world. The show is absolutely worth the watch, and because it’s on Netflix, we can all watch it the way we love most; binge watching!

ESCAPE ROOM GAMES

This last weekend Captain, Yosh, Dr. G, and a few other friends surprised Chief for his birthday. Part of the birthday surprise was to visit Count Down Live LA to give one of their escape rooms a shot. If you have never played an escape room game before, do it, do it , do it. It’s super fun especially if you like puzzles and adventure games. We chose the Space Ship room which surprised us all with the creativity that went into making us feel like we were in a science fiction story.

Here’s how the game works: You and your crew get locked in a room and have 60 minutes to escape. You all work together to solve puzzles and codes and find hidden objects that allow you to open doors, safes, panels to advance through the room until eventually you are able to escape. It was 60 minutes of non-stop fun that we would all recommend to anyone!

These kinds of games have been popping up in major cities everywhere and we HIGHLY recommend going to one. Just google search “Escape Room Games” and you are sure to find something. They tend to range from $25-$30 per person and usually have more than one story/room to choose from. So what are you waiting for! Get your crew together, and go become detectives for an hour!

We want to thank you for listening to our podcast and visiting our website. We do this stuff for you guys! We don’t want your money, just a review or two. Head over to iTunes and leave us some love! Thanks!

Halloween Special Verbal Adventure

Posted on November 1, 2015 by cueplotdevice

Happy Halloween! We decided to try something new and fun as a 3-part Halloween Special. Dr. G, Chief, and Yosh become role playing characters in a world of The Captain’s creation. They are given a quest and the tools to complete it. It is a dangerous mission. Will they survive? Find out in our 3-part series. Also, please bare with us, it’s our first attempt at anything like this, it was fun to do and we hope you enjoy it! Check out the inspiration for their character costumes below!

DR.G as Agent Venom

YOSH as Agent P

CHIEF as Bro Lantern

Follow their epic adventure! Let us know what you think! And if you send us fan art from the adventure the Captain WILL send you fizzy Bottlecap candies. It’s a promise! Keep listening and spread the word to your fellow nerds!

Episode 25 – OUTATIME

Posted on October 22, 2015 by cueplotdevice

It’s here! October 21st 2015! The day Marty McFly went Back to the Future! Fans have waited for this day for a long time and the hosts of Cue Plot Device are certainly among them. This episode gives a great shout out to the Back to The Future trilogy.

But we’ll get to that.

BRILLIANT!

It’s such a good time to be an American and to be alive. It’s probably safe to say that the majority of humans like pizza. It’s just a fact of life. And it’s also safe to say the majority of humans (especially us Americans) like convenience. One modern convenience that we hold dear is food delivery services, ESPECIALLY pizza delivery. Well say goodbye to that thermal pizza warmer bag and say hello to…..

THE DOMINOES DXP!!

Oh it’s beautiful. You can say it. Complete with 80-pie capacity pizza warmer, this 2015 Chevy Spark has gotten the update of a life time. It’s now a one-passenger, sauce-toting, soda-packing, TMNT turtle-feeding, pizza delivery machine! In the next 3 months, major U.S. cities will be getting them! Listen to Episode 25 to learn more about it!

PLOT DEVICE

Dr.G gives us a good rundown on a recent Audible release: Locke and Key. Based on the award-winning graphic novel series of the same name, this “audio play” is quite entertaining. Complete with amazing voice actors, great narration, and fantastic foley, this radio-drama-like adaptation is action packed and spooky enough to listen to right before Halloween. Even better, its free for a limited time. So get it now off Audible.com. Creators Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez bring you into a mysterious magical world of keys… and Lockes… though the Lockes are people not actual locks…. just give it a listen will ya?!

DEEP IN PLOT

“Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads…” – Doc Brown

We purposefully recorded this Episode AND released it on October 21st, 2015 in honor of the day that Marty McFly went back to the future. Good times were had in this segment of the episode where we reminisce about the fantastic Back to The Future trilogy, and ultimately, lay down the cars WE think should/would be used in a Back to The Future reboot. Not that it should ever happen…

Yosh’s Pick
1992 Mitsubishi 3000GT

Not too old, not too new. A good likeness to the “Delorean-eske” obscurity of the original time machine but with more power and style.

Chief’s Pick
Classic Volkswagen Beetle

Sturdy, steel-built frame, a “timeless” feel, and style to boot. Hard to beat this pick.

Dr. G’s Pick
Tesla Model X

Hard to imagine drifting through desert plains in this piece of sweet tech but with science comes beauty. Complete with the gull-wing doors that the Delorean sports, this baby will do well over 88mph and you don’t need 1.21 gigawatts, just 120V power plug will do.

The Captain’s Pick
1990 Nissan 300ZX Turbo (with scissor doors)

Although not standard, this model has a modern take on the gull-wing doors sporting some sweet scissor-doors, picked as an homage to the Delorean we all have come to love. It’s not lacking in power or style either. Doc Brown would love this great time period upgrade.

Your Pick

What car would you pick to replace, or at least follow the iconic Delorean from Back to the Future? Email answers to cueplotdevice@gmail.com or tweet us @cueplotdevice!

PARTING SHOT

Chief wants to know what “deals” or special promotions you’ve totally taken advantage of and abused. We want you to beat our buy one get one free no limit Dariy Queen promotion where for a full year we got two ice-cream cakes for the price of one without shame. Let us know of some of your favorite deals-of-a-lifetime by emailing or tweeting us!

Thanks for listening!

Ragnarok ‘N Roll – Episode 23

Posted on October 13, 2015 by cueplotdevice

Woo! What a great episode! Dr. G talked about the super-cool Twin Galaxies Arcade Expo where he got to get his hands on some truly classic and vintage arcade games! The rest of the crew is quite jealous. Then we honored Breast Cancer Awareness Month by talking about our favorite female superheroes/comic book characters. Give episode 23 a listen and we’ll tell you all about them, but here are our top picks!

YOSH

Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) and Alana (From Saga)

THE CAPTAIN

Cindy Moon (Silk) and Shiera Hall (Hawk Girl)

CHIEF

Susan Storm (Invisible Woman) and Kara Zor-El (Super Girl)

DR. G

Anna Maria Marconi (Superior Spiderman) and Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel)

What are your favorite female superhero’s / comic book characters? We want to hear from you! You can comment below, e-mail cueplotdevice@gmail.com or tweet us @cueplotdevice. Also, Chief asked what you would do with a third awesome hand/arm. Listen to our answers on Episode 23! Then tell us yours! Thanks for listening! Spread the word to your fellow nerds and shoot us some reviews! – The CPD Crew

Dat Dem Dare Adventure Games – Episode 22

Posted on October 3, 2015 by cueplotdevice

In this episode of Cue Plot Device Chief starts off the show with some hillbilly “mumbojumbo”, we discover Yosh has never been to a Disney Park, The Captain agrees to watch Steven Universe, and Dr. G just about looses it. It’s another all around great time with the crew of Cue Plot Device!

SYM-BIONIC TITAN

Ilana, Lance and Octus are far from ordinary teenagers. In fact, they are aliens of a very important nature. Lance is a soldier and Octus a bio-cybernetic robot whose duty is to protect llana who is actually the princess of their home planet Galaluna! They are on Earth masquerading as teenagers because they crash landed there while escaping the evil General Modula. When things get rough, Octus activates the sym-bionic defense program joining all three of them into the unstoppable, gigantor-robo, SYM-BIONIC TITAN!

All four of us agree that this show should never have been canceled. Yet another of Gennadiy Tartakovsky’s fine, yet under appreciated works. If you can get your hands on this cartoon gold, do it!

ADVENTURE GAMES

Yosh’s Pick: Myst Series

Adventure games rarely reach the difficulty and time-consuming complexity that the Myst game series did. Without getting too in-depth, the story revolves around an ancient race of people called the D’ni who have a special ability to write books that serve as portals between the ages. These ages are essentially different worlds of D’ni creation. You are caught between the ages tasked with uncovering a story and finding a path through the “mystical” ages.

Long nights were spent tag-teaming on this game and if you decide to pick one up (which you absolutely should) be sure to keep a journal of your exploits. “You’re gonna need it”.

Dr. G’s Pick: The Starship Damrey

You awake in a cryogenic stasis pod. A mechanical voice tells you to “remain calm”. From here, your task is to figure out a way to escape the stasis pod, then, uncover the mystery of the spooky abandoned starship you’ve been stranded on. And lastly… survive.

The Captain’s Pick: The Secret of Monkey Island

You are Gybrush Threepwood, a young newcomer on Mêlée Island^TM . Your sole desire? To become a pirate! To make it there the island’s pirate leaders give you three trials to complete: 1- Beat the island’s sword master in a duel, 2- Find buried treasure, and 3- Steal a valuable idol from the Governor’s Mansion. However, if you think it’s that crisp, cut and dry you would be mistaken. This game is packed with puzzles, humor and a whole lot of fun.

If you get the chance, nab this 1990’s point-and-click Lucasarts gem up. In fact, you can get the remastered edition on steam!

Chief’s Pick: King’s Quest

Well as we discovered, Chief hasn’t exactly finished many adventure games but he settled on a new one that all of us have played. King’s Quest! In this modern reboot of the old school computer game, you play out the past of the Kingdom of Daventry through a series of flashbacks as the young spunky boy named Graham. So far Sierra games has released the first of 5 quests. In Chapter One, your goal is to become a valiant knight. How you get there is up to you but one thing is for certain, you will meet many fantastical characters and solve a great many puzzles to make it there.

This lighthearted adventure game is a fun, story-book style, puzzle-based game that makes an interesting leap away from point-and-click and to a more interactive gaming interface. Good for kids and adults alike. Our only hope is that the puzzles get a little more difficult as the game progresses.

Thanks for visiting our website! We hope you take some time to listen to our podcast. It’s not scripted, it’s not forced, and best of all, it’s not for any monetary gain. We are just 4 friends talking about things we love. We release full-length (about 60 minute) episodes weekly along with minisodes on various fun subjects from time to time. It’s more than likely you’ll find something you enjoy! To our listeners: “Keep spreading the word to your fellow nerds!”.

-Cue Plot Device Crew

How Star Wars Fans Killed The EU – Episode 21

Posted on October 1, 2015 by cueplotdevice

Wowiee! What a title. Can some one say Click Bait? And it worked! We’ve had responses from listeners expecting to be really mad at the crew of Cue Plot Device but changing their minds upon listening to our podcast. If you listened to the episode, you know that Doctor G was, of course, trolling you even though he made a very valid point. Yosh and The Captain defended the fans of Star Wars very well and I think all parties can agree on two things:

1 The old Star Wars Expanded Universe was amazing

2 We want more Star Wars

We can’t change what happened but hopefully this episode helped you see things from “a certain point of view” that might help you understand the controversy and allow fans to more easily accept the decannonization. Let’s all put our faith in J. J. Abrams and grab some popcorn in the lobby of your local theater on December 18. Do what you will with your Star Wars Legends books. Ours continue to be re-read and continue to have a place on our shelves no less important than any new Star Wars books from here on out. Here’s to all the authors, writers, artists, creators, readers, viewers, and fans out there. You created something truly phenomenal.