gaming

5 Geeky Deals to Help You Cope With the Holidays

December 2, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Thanksgiving and Black Friday (it’s a weekend now?) are over and we have all had a taste of our crazy families and crazy sales. With that over and done with, we can now move on to look forward to the holidays…which leads us to more time dealing with our crazy families…and more crazy sales.

Because today is Cyber Monday I thought I would bring you all a short list of awesome deals to help the nerds in our lives (or ourselves) escape from the anxiety provoking days to come.

1. Steam Autumn Sale

(Image via Steam)

For your gamer friends, the Steam Autumn Sale is going on until tomorrow, with new deals every day. There’s a little something for everyone, with many popular games dropping in price by 60%. The Skyrim Legendary Edition is only $35.99 and Civilization 5 is $7.49.

Personally, I’ve been playing Borderlands 2 like crazy with my roommate, and wanted to make sure my fiance could join in on the fun. So I bought it for her for Hannukah ($7.49)….and the DLC for myself for dirt cheap.

Playing games is a great way to escape into another reality…one in which the holidays may not exist. Yay Steam Sale!

2. Comixology

(Image via Comixology)

Comic loving geeks will love this deal, especially if they are of the DC fan variety! Comixology brought us comics on our phones and tablets, so of course they would get in on the Cyber Monday train! Their deal for the day is New 52 graphic novels collections for $4.99. I may have to take this time to get into Superman or catch up on some Batman lore.

I wonder how they would deal with being trampled at a Black Friday Sale…

3. Legend of Korra Blu-ray

(Image via Amazon)

Amazon has had some amazing deals for Black Friday, and they’re keeping it steady with Cyber Monday. Just shop around for a bit if you’re looking for ideas. The one thing I wanted to bring your attention is the Legend of Korra Book One Blu-ray set.

I was upset when I missed out on the premiere of the show, so I was excited to see that I now have a chance to catch up…for under $20! Bam! That went on my Amazon wishlist fast.

I love to binge watch shows in order to distract myself from anxiety provoking things. Dealing with others’ problems can help you relax…and become more ready to tackle your own.

4. X-Box Live Gold Membership

Larger Front

(Image via Best Buy)

Normally a year X-Box Live subscription costs $79.99. Best Buy has dropped the price for Cyber Monday to $59.99, making it that much easier to play online with friends, or call strangers names. Better you fight with them, than your family, right?

5. iBUYPOWER Desktop and Laptop Deals

(Image via iBUYPOWER)

iBUYPOWER makes some insanely good gaming towers and laptops. I used to have a desktop, which lasted me until I didn’t have room for it anymore. It was easily upgradable, and high powered.

Currently, I use one of their laptops (which I am using to write this post!) and I’m glad I chose them. I can handle most games at high quality, and the ones I can’t still look beautiful. On top of that, many of their models include features such as a fingerprint scanner.

What does this have to do with deals? On any given day, they have great deals (my laptop came with a free memory upgrade, laptop case, gaming mouse, and gaming headset). For Cyber Monday, I feel as though they’ve pulled out the stops.

Many models are at reduced price, but the free upgrades are killer. Upgrade a 1 terrabyte hard drive to 2 terrabytes for free. Free gaming headset. Free upgrade to Blu-ray reader from a DVDRW drive. Oh, and did I mention free shipping on laptops?

Hopefully your friends and family will understand not seeing you for a month because of your new toy.

The holidays can be tricky. They bring out the best and the worst of us. Luckily, nerds have plenty of outlets to distract themselves. I hope this list helps you find something new to use to de-stress.

Extra-Life…Extra Long

November 4, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Yesterday was Extra-Life, the 25 hour gaming marathon to benefit Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. I participated…and I’m still feeling the effects.

Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing! I loved doing it, and I’ll do it again next year. But…I need some time to sleep. Writing a blog when you’re exhausted is not the smartest idea. We could end up with something like:

First, I played Batman Arkham Origins….pink banana…my back hurts…one fish, blue fish….dragon, dragon, dragon fire. We don’t want that.

So as soon as I’m all rested up, I’ll start writing about my 25 hour gaming adventure. Check it out Thursday. It’ll be a doozy.

Spoiler alert! My team raised just shy of $2,000! Rare Candy, you rock. I’m so proud of you guys.

Time to dream of batarangs and Deckard Cain.

Amazon Wish List: Geek Therapy Essentials

September 23, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

With my birthday being today, I was tasked over the past few weeks with creating an Amazon wishlist of all the things I wanted. On the list went a bunch of video games, some camping supplies, a LEGO Millennium Falcon set, and a bunch of books. (As if I didn’t have enough to read!)

I was surprised to find in my stroll through Amazon, a bountiful amount of geek x psych. The idea of doing geek therapy just truly became apparent to me this past summer and the Geek Therapy podcast had just begun last summer. I wanted to share my “discovery” in the hopes that the existence of these tomes becomes less surprising and more well read:

Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight by Travis Langley, Dennis O’Neil and Michael Uslan

The now Walmart Best Seller (I’m not kidding, look it up) has everyone wondering who is the Bat, really. The book promises to answer what seems like more obvious questions like “Does Batman have PTSD?” to more mysterious ones like “Why does this superhero without superpowers fascinate us?” and “What does that fascination say about us?” I’m looking forward to finding out what it means about my bat-obsessed fiance before I get myself in too deep. (j/k)

(Image via GoodReads)

Using Superheroes in Counseling and Play Therapy by Lawrence Rubin PhD

Rubin’s book covers a couple of different tropes from Batman to Star Wars, the Incredible Hulk and back around to Superman. What I am looking forward to is the theory that he believes that, “not only can superheroes assist in clinical work with children, but Rubin demonstrates how they can facilitate growth and change with teen[s] and adults.” Play therapy is often defined as allowing younger clients to act and play out the thoughts and emotions that they can’t put words to. In reality the practice of using our actions to tell more than words is something that has no age limit.

Diagnosis and Treatment Planning Skills for Mental Health Professionals: A Popular Culture Casebook Approach by Alan Schwitzer and Lawrence Rubin

I’m really looking forward to having some guidelines for how to actually apply all of my musings about therapeutic geekery to my future practice. This larger tome is not for the faint of heart. It’s a legit text book. Rubin goes much broader to discuss in depth both a wider range of skill sets for practicing therapists including,“diagnosis, case conceptualization, and treatment planning.” Being able to translate geek therapy through these skill sets is absolutely essential to running your own practice as a geek therapist. Unfortunately I may have to wait until after I’m done with school to devour this book during my internships.

Reset: Psychotherapy and Video Games, 2nd Edition by Mike Langlois

Both the most targeted towards my personal interests as well as the least expensive, this e-book only text is actually the first up to bat on my personal reading list. It reveals some pretty significant findings like that the “military has discovered that video games decrease symptoms of PTSD in veterans” and others. I don’t have a kindle, but I do have the kindle app on my phone and will be sneaking in a few pages…er…screens between client work, school work and vigilante-ing…er…gaming…er…house cleaning.

(Image via GamePolitics.com)

If you’ve read, or heard rumour of any of these books please leave your thoughts about them in the comments on the individual page for this post! Thanks.