A Voiced Appreciation

My latest geek obsession has been The Venture Bros! This Adult Swim show parodies classic cartoons - such as Johnny Quest, Scooby-Doo, The Hardy Boys and G.I. Joe - in a hilarious story about a father, his twin sons, their bodyguard, and their adventures across the globe. (Perhaps, that's putting it too simply...)

I could spend a day geeking-out about how much I love this show! All of the characters are twisted versions of classic cartoon characters. The level of continuity in this complicated storyline is amazing. Every episode is absolute hilarity.

However, the two aspects that make The Venture Bros. one of my favorite shows of all time are:

Creators Jackson Publick & Doc Hammer

Not only are they the brains behind this fantastic show, but they're many of the voices in the show, too! Many adult animated television shows (like Family Guy & South Park) feature a ton of characters performed by a small handful of voice actors. It's amazing how one person can provide voice to many beloved personalities.

In my opinion, voice acting is one of many underrated creative gigs. Sure, voice actors aren't the richest, but it's fun and quite rewarding. With very little physical acting involved, voice actors can be a wide range of different characters making each experience new and exciting. (Not to mention lessening the likelihood of typecasting.)

In a Comic-Con panel, Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer talked about how straining certain voices are to perform. Sometimes, a character's voice is not so easy to produce. It takes skill and practice to be a great voice actor. It's an art that, if done poorly, can ruin the entire experience...

Who does your favorite cartoon voice?

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The Beauty of Being In The Same Room

Nowadays, video games are all about multiplayer. Even games that have been single-player for many years now have multiplayer capabilities. This is mostly because no plot imaginable could compete with playing with real people. Interestingly, the word "multiplayer" has evolved into something completely different in the gaming world...


When I was growing up, "multiplayer" looked something like this:

One console. Multiple controllers. Split screens.

Now multiplayer looks more like this:

One player. One controller. One Headset.

Online multiplayer has completely changed gaming. Instead of gathering all of your friends together in your living room (and creating a wire jungle with your controllers), you can play with people from around the world via the Internet. Online multiplayer is undoubtedly an incredible innovation that has improved the gaming experience.

However, it has almost completely eliminated co-opt gameplay! In my opinion, there is still something irreplaceable about having friends and family in the same location playing a game (without strangers). Not only playing video games; when was the last time anyone played a board/card game?

A few familiar faces in the geek world have YouTube series featuring games like these, and they're certainly worth watching. Check out a couple of my favorite episodes below! I guarantee they will make you want to get your friends together for a game night.

There's just so much fun to be had in this pile.

The Guild's Felicia Day & her brother Ryon have a hilarious web series, called Co-optitude, on the Geek & Sundry channel. On the show, Felicia and Ryon play the old school video games their mom never let them play as children. 

The frustration, Day-sibling-hilariousness, and nostalgia make each episode a side-splitting joy. It also makes me want to a get a Super Nintendo and play video games with my best friend. 

(Fun Fact: You can order a brand new Super NES on Amazon for $350!)

On The Nerdist channel, Wil Wheaton (of just-about-everything fame: Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory, Eureka, etc.) hosts a table-top gaming show called... Table Top.

The Haunt starts in Part 2

Until I came upon this show, I thought they'd stopped making table-top games. It's always fun to get a bunch of geeks together for a game. Whether it's D&D or something you've never heard of, there's nothing like basking in the boundless creativity no game design studio could muster.

These are my favorite episodes of Co-optitude & Table Top. I hope you've found them thoroughly entertaining. More so, I hope you've been inspired to gather some friends together and create some hilarity of your own!

Happy Gaming!