Nerd Corp by Joseph Halboth

Issue #42

The Ultimate answer

Noob to Leet

Bad Company 2 and

b at t l e f i e l d 3

Fire in the Sky

A short story for you vault boys Interview with author

Packed with so much content we could barely fit it on our 32mb flash drive

NERDCORP

What are ya buyin’? Le Content

NOOB TO LEET

WINNING IN BC2 AND BF3

FIRE IN THE SKY A short story in a postapocalypitic world

INTERVIEW

Our editor in chief interviews the writer fire in the sky

Zelda Rupee’s 400 Page 4

Zelda Rupee’s 600 Page 6

Zelda Rupee’s 1,000 Page

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Joseph Halboth Level 85 Elite Attack: Noob Tube

What he says when he kills you: “Wheres my loot?” Boss info:

Joseph is an epic-editor-in-chief. He is a random encounter that can usually be found in between his office and the fridge. Your most likely to draw ‘AGRRO’ if your carry a Monster or KFC. To question the Lord and Editor-In-Chief is to incur the wrath of Seven Super Sayians’ with the badassery of five Duke Nukems. That is equal to one-fifth of a Honey Badger.

NERDCORP

What is a BATTLEFIELD?

So unless you have been living under of rock of non-gaming then you should know that the holiday season of 2011 shall be contested by two dominating FPS’s. It’s no secret to anyone that this years Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the eleventh title in the franchise will dominate sales, but one Developer plans to change that with a game that is superior in scope and scale. Dice Entertainment, a game developer working along with EA Studios will be bringing Battlefield 3 to the hands of gamers everywhere on October 25. That is just two weeks before the release of Modern Warfare 3. Now some gamers will be sticking with more familiar gaming territory and wait the two weeks for MW3. While some others who may be tired of the Call of Duty series, or those who want to play both will most definitely make the change and purchase BF3. That’s why for the month of September, your Editor will be bring an article to help those of you who are making the change from Call of Duty to Battlefield. The first thing you must know about the Battlefield series is that your not simply playing multiplayer maps on Death Match, Team Death Match, Capture the Flag, or Free-For-All. Battlefield plays their games on a more objective based perspective. You have Rush, a game type where players switch between offensive and defensive. The Attackers must push for through enemy lines to destroy two objectives multiple time throughout a map, the defenders must stop them and decrease the number of tickets (total amount of respawns available) they have available. The second game type, Conquest, is somewhat similar King of the Hill; the map has several control points that will spawn vehicles periodically when under control from a faction. The vehicles can then be used to press forward into other areas of the maps to gain more control points that will bring down the available reinforcements for the other teams faster. A single match in conquest can last up to thirty minutes. The last game type, Squad Death Match, pits four teams made up of four players against each other. At the center of the map lies a Light Tank or Assault Vehicle, which any squad can use against the oth-

ers. These are the three game types of Battlefield, while it may seem like there is a lack of selection. The way you can play each game types can greatly vary thanks to the classes and vehicles available. The bread and butter of Battlefield have always been the ability to use different vehicles to affect the course of the game. Tanks, Jeeps, APC’s, Helicopters, and Jets will all be returning for Battlefield 3. Most of the vehicles will be available for each map, granting the map is big enough for them to be usable. Couple this with a Class system, which more or less, forces that player to utilize all his equipment for the good of the team. There will be four classes in BF3, these classes are taken from the previous game in the series, Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The classes are Assault, Engineer, Medic, and Recon. Are NerdCORP artists have drawn a pretty info graphic for you to quickly learn what each class does, and how they’ll change between the two games. Now that you know most of the ins and outs of what makes Battlefield, we will now educate you in how the game greatly differs from COD. This piece will be based off Bad Company 2’s gameplay so there will be some differences between BC2 and BF3. Because of this we will just stick to what you need to know to help your team instead of running around with a target painted on your back. First off, you play a class of soldier, this means once you select the class to play as, you may only select weapons available to that class type, or certain weapons that will be available to all classes, i.e. shotguns. Classes differ in how they play. The Assault class is supposed to be the back bone of any squad, equipped with an assault rifle, he drops ammo packs to refuel his blitz on the enemy and packs a grenade launcher to fire off 40mm explosive or smoke rounds. Engineers are pro/ anti-vehicle, they use rocket launchers to disable enemy vehicles, and use can use a repair tool to help or disable vehicles, he also carries a suppressed SMG. Medics play a core role with keeping their team alive. Dropping med kits to heal friendlies, and using a defibrillator to revive recently killed players, or even killing some. A good Medic keeps his team up and running, while also making full uses of the Light Machinegun he carries. Re-

cons are our last members to any squad, the carry longrange sniper rifles, and medium-range battle rifles. They can be eyes of the battlefield and help his squad spot targets from afar, or he can equip a shotgun or a battle rifle and move with his squad being there ears with the use of motion mines. Add in his ghillie suit and the ability to plant C4 or call in Mortar strikes and you have a class that take experience to use but with the high-payoff of being the teams pathfinder at times.

What you need to know Now that you know the classes of BF, you now need to know how to help your team. On your controller for XBOX 360 and PS3 there is a button on the opposite side of the ‘START’ button, when you see and enemy, press this button. This will put an inverted triangle just above his head that will mark his position wherever he may be or move to for the next few seconds. This mark will be available for your entire team to see, not just your squad, so this means if your sneaking into an enemy base and see a squad moving into position for the attack or defense, do your team a favor and ‘spot’ so you can give them a heads up. This can be very help-

Anti-Infantry, can drop ammo packs, carries 40mm grenade launcher Ammo pack swapped with Health pack

Rifle sway added, scope glares randomly Bolt or semi-auto rifle, C4 and mortar strike, motion mines

Their are four classes to Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3, this info-graphic shows the difference between each class BC2 to BF3

ful for trying to find snipers or “bush-wookies” as there called and letting the entire team see exactly where he is. Recon classes have a special item that can be equipped to there weapon called a spotter scope which will mark enemies automatically as long as there not obscured.

gun they are slow and therefore will not be able to dodge even a tenth of the rockets that the enemy will happily shoot at you if you happen to drive right into the middle of their base, and helicopters, while being more agile than tanks by far, have very little armor, most will be taken down by a single rocket when fired by a skilled player. The same will undoubtedly go for jets when they appear in BF3. If you are going to use a vehicle you must think out the best way to strategically use that vehicle.

A tank shell can reach the other side of the map easily.

Spotting can help identify hidden threats.

The next piece we shall is re-spawning your squad. When you are in any game-type for Battlefield and you have squad, your character will work as a mobile spawn point for your team members. This can work wonders as quickly backing up squad-mates who are in trouble, but this also a double-edge sword. The last thing your team needs at a crucial point in defense or offense is for you to mindlessly spawn in on them when there out from cover being shot at, you are no good to your squad if you tell Scotty to beam you up next to a teammate standing in the sights of a tank. The last piece of this is the ninja spawn. Ninja-spawning is when you or one of you teammates sneaks inside the enemy base for the specific purpose of spawning his squad right behind the enemy. Next we shall bestow upon you is the info of how to efficiently kill your enemy. Now I’m sure we have all played Call of Duty where aiming down the sights and holding that trigger down can spell doom to the guy on the other end most of the time. Battlefield is not so easy like that, every weapon in the game --aside from semiautos—has a substantial amount of recoil no matter what the stats say about accuracy. To hit an enemy that’s even just across the street will require you to pulse the trigger. That means squeezing your trigger for just a few shots then letting off, this will allow your gun to reset just enough to be accurate for most of your shots. Pulsing the trigger will be even more important when the time comes for you to attach a scope to your weapon so that you can remain as accurate as possible. Lastly we shall go over vehicles. Yes Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 give players quite the arsenal when it comes to vehicles. From ATV’s and tanks, to boats and helicopters. New players can think they can jump in most vehicles and become a force of nature. Sadly that just isn’t true. While tanks have a very big

I will summarize the best strategies for newer players to consider when playing BF. ATV’s and jeeps have the least amount of armor, but they are the fastest land vehicles making them perfect for skirmishing but that’s it. Heavy and Light Tanks are armored and slow, but do carry a big gun that has a considerable amount of range. Placing your tank across the map from the enemy base and firing warheads off into said base is always a good way to start a fight. Just watch out for mortar strikes and guided missiles. Helicopters come in two flavors for Battlefield, attack and transport. Attack helicopters come with missiles to the pilot to fire off and

a turret for the co-pilot to play with. Transport choppers defending on the faction will differ, but all differences aside they will come with turrets and extra space to carry other troops who can parachute into the battle. However the same rule goes for pilot of both helicopter types. Choppers have low armor when it comes to rockets and stationary turrets. You will not last long if you fly in a straight line, therefore you should be brushing up on your skills in strafing a target. Lastly for vehicles, Jets will finally make their return in Battlefield 3, this can mean devastation for some and opportunity for others. While Jets will have a large advantage against Land and Air vehicles, and any unlucky player whose standing in the fire when they drop a bomb. Pilot of jets will have to watch out for Heat-seeking rockets and other jets, yes, other jets. In certain maps both teams will have and airfield will jets available, that means full-on dogfighting in the skies in Battlefield 3. These were just some tips and info to help you know what to expect when Battlefield 3 is released on October 25th, they only way to actually see if you are good is to purchase the game when it comes out, or better yet, purchase Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and start having fun with the insane multiplayer fun online. Either way, plenty of gamers will be having many sleepless nights leading up to the release, and post release of DICE’s award winning franchise. Move out.

NERD DATABASE Don’t fly in a predicatable path. An enemy can use any mounted machine gun to play duck hunt. Flying straight path is never a good idea when attacking.

Flying in a circle over your enemies position is tough to master on the account of having to constantly angle to nose down so you can use your rockets. However this is a safe technique for an intermediate to use.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360 Released: March 2nd, 2010, North America Beta Release: No Beta Developer: DICE Entertainment Publisher: Electronic Arts NERDCORP Review Score: 9.1, Issue #24

Battlefield 3 Flying in a figure eight like pattern is often the safest bet. Circle their position from afar so your gunner can have clean shots. Then close in let loose on them with your rockets.

Flight in Battlefield requires finesse and skill, but nothings better than humminng Flight of the Valkyries while your enemies rage quit.

Platforms: PC, PS3, XBOX 360 Release: October 25th, 2011, North America Beta Release: TBD Developer: DICE Entertainment Publisher: Electronic Arts NERDCORP Review: Issue 43

NERDCORP

FIRE IN THE SKY A Story by Joseph Halboth

a note from nerdcorp We here at NERDCORP love games and all things tech. But once in a while we love to indulge ourselves with literature. Lit� erature that fully embraces the style of games that we play. This piece was writ� ten by a Young-Adult reader of ours who loves the setting of the fallout franchise. However this read said he would love to see the games employ a more calamity like aspect to thier games. This piece stars a young wanderer who must survive alone in the frozen city of chicago after a postapocalyptic calamity changes our very world. now have a seat and enjoy the bleak story of fire in the sky.

The air is still and stagnant, but somehow the dust still manages to dance in the light penetrating through the broken blinds. This is the first sight that I’m attracted to when I awaken, dust seemingly full of life as it dances across the beams of light. The dry air attacks my lungs and I begin to cough horridly. It’s hard to believe that the sulfur inside the room can be as bad as it is in the world outside. Sitting up my bodies muscles resist with stiffness, still too sore from yesterday. Raising my hand to meet the beam of light cutting through the darkened room I feel no heat from it, such is to be expected during winter. I stand up and remove the blinds from the window and look into the outside world. It’s cold and barren; the once tall skyscrapers of Chicago are now just twisted steel like skeletons trying desperately to stand tall as one of few relics left by humanity. This is the world I traverse; this is the world I defy with continuing to live. This world as it is now, a raw form of anti-genesis.

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NERDCORP

Lowering the blinds so I can shield myself from the cold light, I try to regain my composure from the view that was once a vast cityscape. I sit back down on the old dusty bed, tying my boots back on and pulling the snow-pants onto my legs. If the circumstance were different I would be considered crazy for putting such a piece of attire on during the summer. However now after the apocalypse most of the warmth from the sun could only penetrate the thickly polluted atmosphere near the equator; not that that was any better in the first place. The last conversation I had with an individual who knew more of the Central American climate said that the daily temperature never rose above low sixties; luckily for me it doesn’t get much colder than usual northward. That was almost a year ago now. His name was Jonathan; an accountant living in Miami; he was on a business trip when the event happened. He witnessed the event in a way similar to my own; Jonathan had just returned to his hotel room after celebrating the closing of a major business deal. Falling into his bed and drifting into a drunken sleep, he never would’ve thought that the next time he opened his eyes would awakening to purgatory of those left. After awaking and reuniting with his fellow businessmen

he decided that instead of waiting for answers that would never come, he would instead make his way back home. So middle age Jonathan trekked all the way from South Carolina back to Miami Florida. I remember the few stories he told me from the trip. One of such that involved the most disturbing of discoveries to be made, he was walking across an extensive valley that was covered in what seemed to be broken glass. Everywhere for miles around there had been shards of glass. What was once buildings had now been morphed into melted towers that could have be mistaken for stalagmites. Instead the field he thought had come from another world was actually that after effects of the calamity, for when exiting the valley he walked onto a highway. When he looked back to see what he had just passed, he couldn’t believe it, the sign he saw read ‘Jacksonville next exit’. The night after he spoke of his return to Miami, how like Jacksonville there was nothing, but instead of another world laid out before him there was instead a new extension to the Atlantic. Miami had been covered in water that never receded. From the information he could gather afterword he pieced together that the event had somehow triggered a tsu-

nami that rampaged across all of every shoreline erasing everything in its wake. With no place left to call home Jonathan decided to turn around and head wherever the road in front of him went. It was three months later that we met, just happening to merge in our paths, walking next to each other at the merging of 57th and 94th Bishop Ford Freeway. You see, the reason I had come to Chicago was to witness these lights in the sky that were only seen at night. The survivors quickly realized that stepping outside during the night when inside the city was unsafe. That anyone caught outside during the night would disappear; first the lights would shine on you, then the next moment there would be nothing, just a black shadow imprinted on the ground of where you stood. Jonathan and I discussed the topic deeply for weeks after witnessing for the first time. A young child had run outside one evening, his mother frantically chasing after him. They were both caught in the light and vanished, just shadows remained. Every survivor had an opinion such as Aliens or God, but no one seemed to care too much any-

more. I didn’t care too much about where they came from; I just wondered if it would ever leave. Jonathan however, Jonathan believed that maybe it was God, or something like God. He never explained what he meant. I never thought that it was bothering him; that was until a cold night in September. Jonathan and I were staying in an old convenience store. The sun had just set as we were eating dinner; we weren’t conversing during our meal, however that was nothing out of the usual. Until he stood up and handed me his portion of the food we gather that day, turning around he left. He walked until he stood in the middle of the street; Jonathon looked back to me as I watch from the stores entrance. “I want to take one last look at the stars before I die”, that was the last thing he said. Then he was gone, like others he was bathed in a bright light and then he was gone, the only sign left that he had ever existed was his shadow. The sight of that shadow haunts me still, I avoid that place

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NERDCORP

now. I could never understand why he had just given up. Jonathan had never been a mystery; he was very open about himself before the event. He was an only child, graduated at MSU, loved to read; there was no sign of depression before it happened. Maybe he had decided to make peace with God and get his demise over with. I guess it doesn’t matter to question now. It wasn’t long after that when most people left inside the city had migrated south with the increasingly cold temperatures of the coming winter. Not one of them ever returned to this city. I’m sure that those who left spread word of the lights, the danger of the fire in the sky. I finish getting ready and descend the stairs of Willis Tower. Stepping outside into the freezing daylight, I begin my daily routine of checking more of the nearby suburbs for any food left behind. While wandering the streets I look up into the sky, the thick black clouds wane for a moment in front of my eyes. For just a second, they open long enough for me to see a blue sky. Through the doctors mask that I now wore to protect myself from the sulfur I breathed in a deep as I could. Closing my eyes I imagine the sun hitting my face warming the clean air entering my lungs. I wonder if the light he felt was anything like the sun.

NERD: What inspired you to tell such a bleak story about a nameless man remarking about his time with his only friend after such a calamity?

PHotography and artwork by writer- Joseph halboth

NERD: So what exactly happened with Florida and Chicago in your story?

After one of our slave interns brought this email to my attention I hastily replied to Joseph. After consulting our Over Lords here at NERD I was given the go ahead to e-mail Joseph for an interview into his inspiration for his short story and what he believes could be a great game in term of story telling. It was only several minutes later that I had recieved his reply where he greatly accepted NERD’s offer.

NERDCORP: So Joseph, can you tell our readers more about yourself. Joseph Halboth: Sure, my name is Joseph. I live in Chicago, and I attend Robert Morris University for Graphic Design. My hope is that one day I’ll be able to work along side game developers creating cinematics that propel a games story forward.

NERD: Can you tell me what caused you to write this story in the first place? Joseph: This story was actually an assignment for my English 111 class. Our Instructor asked us to write a short story ofcourse.

Joseph: Well the initial inspiration came from a combination of things. At the time I was gaming with two titles. One being Fall Out: New Vegas, and the other Metro 2033. I was so taken by Metros’ bleak setting and other worldly sci-fi setting that I decided I wanted to not tell a story, but describe a bleak future through the eyes of the surviviors who live in the world that was caused by both human and ‘other’ forces.

NERD: “Others” meaning the “aliens of the story? Joseph: Well aliens was just one interpretation of the lights over Chicago. I never actually decided what this force should be. I couldn’t decide over aliens similar to that of Fall Out, green men with big eyes, or the ‘Dark Ones’ from Metro, *SPOILER* beings that are the next stage in evolution.

Joseph: Well when thinking of the setting I didn’t want to stay along the lines of nuclear war. Dont get me wrong some nukes did go off irradiating other landscapes across the globe. However I decided that this un-named force attacked the planet via the enviroment, such as the tsunami larger enough to wipe half of florida off the map. As for the cold thats a combination of the forces and the nuclear fallout You see the force wanted this planet for whatever reason. Changing the climate would have allowed them to do this easily, however the fallout rising into the atmosphere added to this effect causing what the force had done to be multiplied making the effect of the cold worse.

So I take it that the “Forces” wanted to slow down humanities ability to survive in a steady climate? Yes, you see if you if you change the climate into one that only you can survive but your enemy can’t, you’ve already won the battle. Even if a half the populaton had survived by living near the equator. The force would just have to wait out the the eventual disolution of whatever goverment was left and for the last

of the population to fall into a new dark age. as for technology being rendered useless, the force did that to hinder our ability to re-organize after the calamity.

Would technology be usable again, or is it gone for good? That really wasn’t something I thought for use in the story, but I’m sure someone can pull a Tom Cruise and change the solenoid for the family van. But seriously, if I had been able to make this longer I might have thought more about that then lets go commando.

Your character, a nameless wanderer travel the remnants of the US piecing together what happend. During the first third of the game you slowly piece together the facts and discover the truth about the force. traveling south enough to ensure the information will make it to the last remnants of humanity your character being the long travel to the other side of the globe to encounter the force. Whether you go with the intent to destroy or consult is up to the player. In the end though a final conflict will ensue that will see either side being wiped out, or in some way saved by your actions.

Sounds likes Mass Effect crossed with Metro 2033 for sure. That would be quite So were running out of time here, but i a journey for the player to experience. wanted to indulge our readers for what Though the scope of the story would need you believe would be a great setting for a a duology or a trilogy to complete it. game that uses your story. Well thats kinda the idea, most trilogies, except Well, for the most part I would keep the bleakness intact. As for the force maybe i would side with an alien based life infecting the worlds populace and slowly changing them, causing them to sub-conciously gather in one part fo the world. The military knowing what wa happening decides to strike before the force has a chance to do it first. While the bombs are falling, the force, working as a single conciousness realizes they’re under attack and through telekinesis immedialtely alters the course of the nukes causing them to hit other populations of the globe. While this is happening over night the worlds military forces believing that they are under attack quickly evaluate that their only option is retaliation. Sleeper cells communicating with their populace inform the force of the strike. Realizing that this means the end for their civilization as well, the force use their power cause a world wide emp stopping any such attempt. The world goes into panic and is consumed in panic and large scale border warfare around the globe. Seeing that the human population will leave this planet desolate and destroyed even without the use of nuclear weapons. The force then changes the climate of the planet causing the world to suffering an immense global cooling forcing the rest of the population to seek warmer weather at the equator, and hopefully for them, destroy each other. However humanity is able to make a shaking peace in the aftermath of the events and life slowly continues on, seeing that not all technology was rendered useless they are able to slowly rebuild.

for a few, are planned form the beginning, But the developers have publishers backing them because they have proved themselves in thier ability to craft a game that will surely be a winner. If i could see this happening I think the developers I could see making it happen would be Bethesda, and Imsoniac. Mainly due to both have experience with this type of setting and story. However its just a dream.

That it may be, but the people who work as Developers and Publishers frequently read these magazines. So you never know who might see this and might want to try pitching the idea. Anyway I believe I have enough for our interview. To be added to NERDCORP. And I know you can’t wait to see it appear. On behalf of NERDCORP and myself I would like to thank you for the interview and story. Live long and prosper. Thank you for interviewing me, cant wait to see it next month. Live long and prosper.

NERDCORP

WE go to war in BATTLEFIELD 3 But first we rev up our chainsaw bayonets with our review of GEARS OF WAR 3 Plus we go into the wild with a BADGER honestly, what could make #43 more LEGENDARY we really dont give a s4!t