Monday, February 15, 2010

Revenge of the Nerds


It didn’t take too long. The nerds have taken over.

When I was young, most kids had a Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis or just the plain old Nintendo. They were fun, we thought, but most people outgrew them as they grew older. Video games were no longer that cool. Sure, they were popular. Loads of people upgraded to the PlayStation and later systems, but it wasn’t something you talked about in public. It wasn’t something you’d see celebrities doing unless you were watching Fred Savage in The Wizard.

My peers loved watching the X-Men and Batman cartoons on Saturday morning, though the love affair didn’t last for most. Comic books, after all, weren’t all that cool. The same could be said about sci-fi films. The Star Wars series (both new and old movies) transcended gender and age barriers, but god forbid you were one of those losers that watched Star Trek or any other television show.

Now, video games are as mainstream as they can possibly be, with games like Madden and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare have become the new pastime for kids. Non-traditional gamers play the Wii. You can see that any senior home.  Comic book movies – even ultraviolent “niche” ones like Sin City make tons of money. The Dark Knight, a faithful representation of the absolute best Batman can be, is the third highest-grossing film of all time. Last year, one of the biggest movies was a reboot of the Star Trek franchise featured an aged, wrinkly Leonard Nimoy telling audiences to “live long and prosper.” Just this month, Titanic was overthrown as the highest-grossing film of all time. The new king, Avatar, is about a race of blue creatures who have sex onscreen. It was almost too nerdy for me.

I have to give credit to my best friend Wadleigh for first noticing just how damn cool it is to be a nerd these days. It’s a golden age for sci-fi nerds who are into video games and comic books. I was just years ahead of the curve.

As I was flipping through comic books in elementary school, I never would have guessed that my beloved Wolverine and Spider-Man would become mainstream icons to old people, young people, girls, boys and all the other demographics. It’s gotten to the point where I’m often out-geeked by others when it comes to video games. I’m the senior staff writer at a gaming Web site, yet my nerdom doesn’t hold a candle to the millions of fanatical World of Warcraft players throughout the world.

Still, I know I’m one of them. At this point of my life, the thought of episodes of Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica waiting for me at home is more appealing than the thought of a wife, kids and hot dinner. Wait – let me rephrase something. I’m not one of them. I’m one of us. All of us.

The nerds have taken over.

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