Rod and Karen discuss listener feedback, entertainment, Microsoft Scales Back AI Goals Because Almost Nobody Is Using Copilot, Amazon Pulls AI-Powered Fallout Recap After Getting Key Story Details Wrong, Instagram Wants Your Living Room Next With a New Reels TV App, Esports Gamer Reportedly Leaves Hotel Room A Horrible Mess After Two-Year Stay, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Loses Indie Game Awards After Being Accused Of Lying About AI Use, GACHIAKUTA Black-face controversy, RAM Price Increases Could See Next-Generation Console Releases Delayed, Developer of New Postal Game Shuts Down Studio After Game Was Announced, Then Canceled Over Gen AI Allegations, Downey Land, Beau De Mayo back, Zootopia 2 becomes Disney’s highest-grossing animated film ever and they finish with their PlayStation and Xbox stats and some quirky awards.
The Nerd Off: (Protected Content)
Debbie Allen kicks
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3w
Thank you both for your perspectives on dubbing, subtitling, and closed captions.
[indistinct chatter]
I originally brought up dubbing imperfections as a side note to the AI voice believability convo, then immediately went down a subtitle rabbit hole.
To add: not every word is translatable depending on language or phrasing—1:1 is impossible. Even with a limited pool of voice talent, the work still gets done. I remember when listening options were limited, if not nonexistent—gratitude, me up, Scottie. Inconsistencies are expected for all the reasons y’all mentioned. Mostly, it’s just fun to think about.
[melancholy music ]
Shin Godzilla (an isolated situation) didn’t have an English dub, so I read the entire film—not the end of the world. Still, “I could barely take in all of Tokyo. I feel left out,” said no kaiju ever. “Welcome to the club,” replied a visually/audibly-impaired bystander.
“My Young Auntie” has a character that returns from Hong Kong so there are moments where he teaches his aunt English and other western influences. This was done purposefully to emphasize culture shock between traditional and modern day China. I still wish for a dubbed version but it’s limited the amount of times I’ve watched it, keeping its allure. Lau Kar-leung (a Kung fu purist) who’s arguably the most influential person in kung fu cinema, worked for Shaw Brothers studio. That studio created specifically high quality movies and birthed the genre. Fun fact, kung fu movies started out as musicals. Then all of a sudden, we get these incomplete, piece meal movies from smaller studios (low budget, problematic dubbing) with missing scripts and like you said improvised story filling dubbed. I think you two would enjoy this movie in particular based on the comedy and commentary alone, the action is a bonus but woven into the story. The lead actress who plays Auntie got the first Honk Kong movie award for best FEMALE actress. I can’t recommend this movie enough. Prime has got you covered. The director is also the action choreographer. Without him, there’s no WuTang.
This was a playful ponderance. We’ve come a long way—choices now match preferences and viewing needs, which is genuinely beautiful. Great point on the uncanny valley. Curious to see where AI voiceovers land.
[scattered laughter]
The perpetually angry media-consumer shtick is exhausting and unfun (you know the camps). Anyway—touching grass shortly.
– Happy New Year & stay dope.
How it going Nerds
RIP to Bruce Leung who was The Beast in Kung Fu Hustle. Love that movie.
That He-Man trailer has the characters looking better then the old movie. My nerd nitpick is he said I have the power I bit too quick. But it having Jared Leto in it, I’m still hesitant
Been playing this supermarket simulator game since someone mentioned it a couple of Nerd Off eps ago & just have a few store upgrades to go till I’ll be done with that & get back in to the two point museum & power washing
But some of these online order customers in this game are interesting. I added a couple of pics of their names
have a good 1
Wonga
What it do Nerd Off Crew,
I hope all is well.
When I first heard how long Cyberpunk 2077 had spent years in the game development shadow realm and released full of bugs and legit incomplete coding problems, I said it’d be a cold day hell before I played it. I was there for Fallout 76’s release! Yeah fast forward a couple years after the Phantom Liberty DLC and 117 hours, I fucks with Cyberpunk 2077 and grimey-ass Night City! The story and characters are dope and the combat was fun; lotta possible play styles and they fixed a lot of issues with the game. It ain’t Fallout New Vegas, but it’s pretty good.
But you know what *is* on that Fallout New Vegas? That Outer Worlds 2! Obsidian took all the dope shit (dynamic characters, wild varied choice mechanics, etc) from Outer Worlds and super sized all of it! The zero sum faction system and companions made for such an engaging and fucking fun as hell story.
Hades 2 been out but it’s a lotta fucking fun and is definitely gonna be why I need to buy a new controller soon (I be wearing that Y button *out*!)
Jujutsu Kaisen is back (subs are, anyway) and they getting active! But I know I’m locked in cuz I will rewatch the dubs like it’s a whole new show. I know I’m old cuz one episode is just explaining this season’s plot and I appreciated the straightforward explanation and that it looked like a Square Enix game menu. If any of y’all like horror stories, there is an anime on Netflix called “The Summer Hickaru Died” (subs and dubs). It has horror elements but seems like coming of age story.
And this Fallout show? As a nigga that plays New Vegas like twice a year, I think they’re doing an excellent job pulling together the distinct lore spheres and honestly their portrayal of the Brotherhood of Steel epitomizes that. Hats off to them.
Stay safe, stay warm but most importantly, stay nerdy y’all!
Peace,
Dough
Howdy Awesometastic Nerds,
Just coming to you fresh from the He-Man trailer (all my little one wanted to know is if she’d see She-Ra? I directed her to her Mama after I gave up on trying to explain) but that’s not why I’m here. I know that this is a safe space, so here’s my question: I just caught up to all the episodes of Demon Slayer on Netflix (literally this morning), and I was curious if the season finale with the Hashira about to take on Muzan Kibutsuji = the movie that dropped last year? Or was that a totally different story?
Thanks Awesometastic Nerds
Hello Rod, Karen & Esteemed Guests.
So, I did the thing & hooked up the PS2, recently. I also added to my already loaded library by buying four 007 games that you cannot play on modern hardware (Everything or Nothing, Nightfire, Quantum of Solace & From Russia With Love), Van Helsing (based on the ’04 Stephen Sommers flick w/Hugh Jackman), NFS: Most Wanted & Xenosaga: Episode 2. Games I should’ve purchased back in the day, I just didn’t. And I think the reason I’m backtracking to my favorite era in gaming, is because I missed when games were less about how great a game looked or its draw distance & just how the product played. I never played NFS: Most Wanted during its heyday, but even in our wayward lord 2026, I’m actually impressed. Thankfully, I’m not using wired controllers for it, since I planned ahead & bought Logitech wireless controllers way back when, before you had to go to a Mercari or an antique store. And, I admit I’m crazy by saying this: I missed load times.
Yes, an insane admission, but await for a game to load before partaking in the next segment made me appreciate transitions. Maybe this weekend, if I have time, I’ll give Van Helsing a spin. It looks like a Devil May Cry-knock off, but it always looked like a fun time.
Now, in the present. Played some of 2016 Doom, inexplicably & it’s quite good. It’s metal AF, though. Moreso than its original incarnations from the 90s. And I got back to GoW ’18 for PS5 & I finally know what I’m doing with the game, which was admittedly intimidating, at first. I’ll keep y’all updated with that one on a future episode. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s pretty good, so far. Can’t really give an opinion on whether it’s as forgiving as the latest Shinobi game, but it does the side-scrolling 2D stuff well.
Support 28 Years Later – The Bone Temple. It’s Nia DaCosta’s best film (Hedda’s great too; it’s on Amazon Prime) & a great follow-up to a film that audiences didn’t really connect with in 28YL (which I loved, but it is what it is). It’s emotional beats are sublime, Ralph Fiennes’s incredible & the themes of religion are extremely well done. Can’t wait for part 3, but for a January film, well done.
Take it easy, y’all.
Hello nerds, just writing in in regards to accent work.
There’s a book series I found on my local libraries audiobook section. I won’t say the name as to not spoil stuff, but there’s a black cat character that’s non-verbal in book one and gains the ability to speak in book – and it starts talking jive!! I cringed and laughed every time I heard it.
The first time we heard it speak in book three it stated in with a high-English accent. I rewound a few times and it was the same character. I did my googles and sure enough there was enough backlash to the voice that by book three the narrator got themselves together. That’s honestly made it even funnier.
Thanks for another year of great nerd content.