Welcome back to another episode of The Week in Geek, your weekly geekly rundown of all things nerdy, family-friendly, and just a little chaotic. I'm Nerd Pastor Nate, the IRL digital pastor at Checkpoint Church, where we care about nerds, geeks, and gamers enough to talk about Jesus and JRPGs in the same breath.
This week? Weāre unpacking everything from resurrected dire wolves (seriously) to Nintendoās spicy new price tags, and chatting about what happens when summer camp meets LAN party. Oh, and yesāwe play everyone's favorite game, Cryptic Critiques.
Letās dive in.
š„ What We've Been Watching, Playing & Reading
Our guest this week is Rev. David Petty of Crossfire Faith and Gaming, and heās been deep-diving into:
šŗ The Last of Us (HBO) ā Rewatching in prep for Season 2.
šŗ Shrinking on Apple TV ā Not exactly nerdy, but heartfelt.
šŗ Parks and Rec ā Because we all need some Ron Swanson.
š® Rocket League ā His go-to for a quick dopamine fix.
š® Subnautica ā Heās nearly doneā¦ but the grind is real.
š® Eco ā A real-time, 30-day-long game where you must save Earth before a meteor hits.
š® Pacific Drive ā Just starting, but vibing.
š A Man Called Ove ā A quiet emotional rollercoaster that slaps way harder than expected.
š TMNT: IDW Collection ā The tome staring longingly from his desk.
Me? Iāve been:
š® Playing Atomfall (British Fallout?) and watching Phantom Pain Letās Plays.
š® Beating the incredibly silly A Game About Digging a Hole (yep, thatās the actual game).
š® Obsessing over Blue Prince, a new puzzle roguelike thatās basically Outer Wilds meets Gone Home with none of the controller frustration.
š Reading The Will of the Many (Checkpoint Book Club!) and catching up on One Piece.
š Plus some mysticism reads and the usual ministry stuff. You know, light reading.
š¹ļø Nintendo: $80 for Mario Kart World?
Letās talk Switch 2. Specifically: Nintendo is defending the $80 price tag for Mario Kart World. Yikes?
Hereās the gist:
Nintendo says itās a value-based pricing strategy.
$80 is ānot the new normalāā¦ but Mario Kart World is just that big.
A Switch 2 bundle deal drops the price by $30ābut only for a limited time.
Fans are anxious, especially with U.S. tariffs in flux.
Is it worth it? Maybe. Depends on if the open-world Mario Kart is as ambitious as it sounds. Still, the sting is realāespecially for those of us used to grabbing gems on Steam for $5 during a seasonal sale.
Davidās take: Itās coming eventually. Wait and see.
My take: Iāll pre-order anyway. Iām weak for blue shells.
š§ Chris Perkins Retires from D&D
After nearly three decades at Wizards of the Coast, Chris Perkinsāa legend of Dungeons & Dragonsāhas officially stepped away. From Curse of Strahd to Dice, Camera, Action, the man shaped modern D&D in ways most players donāt even realize.
Weāre watching closely to see what he does nextāour bets are on him founding something new and nerdy.
šŗ Dire Wolves Areā¦ Back?
Colossal Biosciences has "resurrected" dire wolvesāor something like them. Meet Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi: three pups made via CRISPR-style gene editing of gray wolves with ancient DNA.
But here's the kicker: theyāre only 15% dire wolf. So, technically not Jurassic Park, but the vibes are strong.
Ethical questions? Oh, plenty. From āwhy not bring back recently extinct animalsā to ādo we really want predators with Game of Thrones names roaming free?ā
Also, we demand a teacup woolly mammoth.
āŖ Main Segment: Camps, Consoles, and Community
David Petty joins us to talk about Crossfire Faith & Gamingās gamer summer campsāwhere the kids still gather, but for Smash Bros instead of smores.
Quick hits:
š® It started with a Facebook group. Now it's camps in six cities.
šļø It's not just games. It's embodied community.
āļø Ministry is built into everything, from Minecraft to Overcooked.
š Some kids have their first positive church experiences at camp.
Real talk? These camps are creating sacred spaces for kids whoād never walk into a steepled buildingābut will gladly show up to a LAN party with Scripture.
Learn more: crossfire.camp
š Upcoming Nerdy Releases Weāre Hyped For
š¬ Psychotherapy ā Retired serial killer becomes a struggling writerās therapist. Yeah, weāre watching that.
š¬ Drop ā A horror flick about anonymous phone messages. Feels very Black Mirror meets Scream.
šŗ The Last of Us Season 2 ā Can it top Season 1?
š® Blue Prince ā Already a contender for Game of the Year in puzzle circles.
š® Subnautica 2 ā Maybe 2025? Maybe never? Weāre watching.
š® Crossfire Camps ā Starts in June. Bring your Xbox and your heart.
š Meme of the Week
āNobody else's opinion of you mattersāexcept the kind of song the Muppets would sing about you as you stroll through town.ā
Hard facts. If Gonzo aināt crooning a ballad about your life, what are we even doing?
š Final Shoutouts
Huge thanks to Rev. David Petty and Crossfire Faith & Gaming!
Join our Discord and drop your memes to be featured next week.
Support the show on Twitch or YouTube, and thanks to our amazing subscribers!
š§” Until Next Timeā¦
No TWIG next weekāweāre taking a family breakābut weāll be back with a vengeance after spring break with a returning guest and more nerdy goodness.
Remember:
God loves you.
We love you.
You matter.