Friday 5 collects links and videos spanning all of nerd culture – collating bits of news, fun, and other noteworthy offerings that you might have missed in the hustle and bustle of the week.
Nerd Culture Highlights for the Week of July 31, 2016.
1. Telltale released a Batman video game for every platform, and it looks flippin’ sweet.
Telltale games typically value story and roleplaying over combat, and judging by the review of the first episode, entitled “Realm of Shadows,” by polygon.com, this game is no exception. Which is super smart given that Rocksteady has the more combat-centric Batman game on lock. It appears to have a pretty cool detective mechanic; allowing you to study clues individually and then literally draw lines between them to establish connections.
“Realm of Shadows” can be yours for $4.99. Check out the 2 minutes preview below.
via polygon.com
2. Did you know your gaming dice are both art and mathematical wonders?
I sure didn’t, but according to this article their symmetry has long been aesthetically pleasing to the artist’s eye. The shape of the d4, d6, d8, d12, and d20 qualifies them as platonic solids. There are only five of them in three dimensional space, and we use them to slay orcs, pick locks, and seduce tavern wenches.
Next time you roll one of these die around in your hand or send them shooting down a dice tower, take a moment to marvel at their beauty and wonder!
From multiverse.world
3. A group of DC fans created a petition to shut down rottentomatoes.com after Suicide Squad 
received a rotten score.
This is just plain funny, guys. The creators of this petition clearly have no idea how Rotten Tomatoes works. I understand their beef: They’re primarily concerned that the low score (currently 34%) will discourage people from seeing it. And there might be truth in that, I suppose, but there is also a large population of folks (myself included) who are going to see it regardless.
I retain a positive attitude towards the movie despite the low score. But what happens if I see it – as the petitioners desire – and find it deserving of the low score? Am I a bag guy with an anti-DC movie agenda? Not necessarily, but that’s exactly the brush they’re using to paint Rotten Tomatoes.
Bonus: I found this tweet on Geek Tyrant’s timeline that made me laugh out loud. Even if I think Suicide Squad is a solid movie, this will still be funny.
via comicbook.com
4. What happens when you blast a flamethrower with a freeze-ray?
The Backyard Scientist reveals all! His backyard experiment verifies this scene from X-Men: The Last Stand (maybe the only thing this movie got right) between Iceman and Pyro (you only need to watch the first 60 seconds).
5. Overwatch has a new game mode and skins in celebration of this year’s Olympic Summer Games.
You can unlock skins for your heroes that reflect your country’s colors and play a (presumably) limited brawl called Lucio Ball that looks like Rocket League and Halo’s Griffball had a baby. And the best part: It’s 100% free content. I hope Blizzard sticks to its guns when it comes to free content for this game!
We’ll see you next Friday for five more highlights from nerd culture. Until then, feel free to share a highlight in the comments if we missed something!
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