The Care and Feeding of Nerds: Upcoming Awesomeness in 2014!

A very happy 2014 to everyone! Here's hoping that your holidays were awesome and that the year has gotten off to a great start. 2013 was chock-full of nerdy goodness and 2014 looks as though it's set to deliver more of the same. Love it. In the spirit of good-things-to-come, we're going to kick off the new year on the Care and Feeding of Nerds in the same way we ushered in last year: with a rundown of all the geeky brilliance that's scheduled to come our way in the next 12 months.

Original image by Silver Gryphon Games

This year's offerings are categorized below by media type and have only been listed if they have a definitive release date during 2014. Those titles with potential debuts or vague "sometime in the second half of the year" timetables (like the 5th and final season of Warehouse 13) can be featured later on when they have at least a specific month for release.

Helix (Syfy) - A team of infectious disease specialists travel to the Arctic to investigate a potential outbreak of a novel virus but their inquiry may have consequences for the entire human species. The show is guaranteed to run at least 13 episodes and will premiere on January 10th.

Archer (FX) - Season 5 of the misadventures of Sterling Archer and the rest of the ISIS crew will hit the airwaves on January 13th.

The Walking Dead: Season 4, Part 2 (AMC) - The mid-season finale saw once tight-knit group of survivors cast to the winds and left to very uncertain fates. The zombies will shamble again beginning February 9th.

The Venture Brothers - We waited 2 years for Season 5, but thankfully only have to wait a fraction of that to be able to watch the episodes at our leisure. The season will be available on both DVD and Blu-Ray on March 4th.

Movies

Despite the fact that the lion's share of cinematic chatter flitting about at present pertains to films that we won't see until 2015 at the very earliest, the movie lineup of 2014 is nothing to sniff at. In keeping with the trend of the past several years, sequels and reboots (and even sequel-reboots) make up the majority of 2014's movie fodder, but there are a handful of novel titles in the mix. The year in geeky films is as follows:

January	I, Frankenstein - Dr. Frankenstein's infamous creation has likely never seen this much action as he finds himself caught in the midst of a centuries old war.
February	The LEGO Movie - Will Farrell, Channing Tatum, and Elizabeth Banks lend their voices to this animated tribute to the greatest of all building blocks. Robocop - The first of 2014's reboots; Detroit's newest enforcer of justice. Vampire Academy - The world is riddled with various vampire species, some friendly to humans and others less so. A specialized school trains dhampir to maintain the blood-sucking, immortal balance. Winter's Tale - A burglar falls in love with an heiress just as she dies in his arms. When he later learns the secrets of reincarnation, he sets off to alter the past and save her. The Wind Rises - The newest offering from Hayao Miyazaki tells the tale of a man who designed fighter planes during World War Two. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt voice the English-language version of the film. Welcome to Yesterday - A group of teens stumble across plans to build a time machine. Teenaged hijinks ensue.
March	300: Rise of an Empire - The death of Leonidas' soldiers at the hands of Xerxes' horde rallies all of Greece to the defensive. Mr. Peabody & Sherman - The adventures of world's smartest dog and his loyal boy. Muppets Most Wanted - Tom Hiddleston and Salma Hayek comprise part of the ensemble cast of this latest installation in the Muppets menagerie. Divergent - Beatrice Prior has a very unique mind; that makes her dangerous and a viable threat in the futuristic dystopia she inhabits.
April	Captain America: Winter Soldier - Everyone's favorite shield-wielder returns to grapple with his place in modern society and in S.H.I.E.L.D.s self-styled mandate to protect humanity. Transcendence - Johnny Depp plays a terminally ill scientist who doffs his mortal coil and uploads his consciousness into a computer.
May	The Amazing Spider Man 2 - Peter Parker faces all new threats, not least of which is his discomfort with being a superhero. Godzilla - The Kaiju response to last year's Pacific Rim? Perhaps. X-Men: Days of Futures Past - Wolverine is sent through the past in a desperate attempt to prevent calamity for both mutants and humans. Maleficent - Angelina Jolie stars in this film about the greatest of all Disney villains
June	Edge of Tomorrow - Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt repeatedly relive the last day of an epic battle to save humanity from invading aliens. How to Train Your Dragon 2 - Five years have passed in the dragon-addled land of Berk and two dear friends find themselves on opposing sides of a conflict that threatens the nascent interspecies peace. Transformers: Age of Extinction - Michael Bay loves him some giant form-changing robots in this fourth installment (yes, fourth) of the franchise.
July	Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Watch the trailer. Enough said. Jupiter Ascending - Mila Kunis plays Jupiter, a remarkable human in a universe where humans are the lowest of the sentient species.
August	Guardians of the Galaxy - A jet pilot is stranded in space and must bring together a diverse team of highly specialized aliens to combat new cosmic threats. Also, Rocket Raccoon! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Michael Bay continues to manhandle our childhoods. Ugh. The Giver - Long considered 'unfilmbable', this classic young adult book about adolescence in an ostensibly perfect community is slated to get the Hollywood treatment. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For - Six years after our first visit, we return to the eponymous urban den of ill repute.
September	The Maze Runner - In a post-apocalyptic world, a boy has his memories erased and must try to piece together his past in order to bolster his chances to escape a colossal maze.
October	Dracula Untold - A merging of vampire mythos and historical account of Vlad Dracul.
November	Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 - The 75th Hunger Games ended in chaos and Panem is plunged into bedlam. Katniss struggles with the role she is given in the new Rebellion.
December	The Hobbit: There and Back Again - Dragon, Orcs, Laketown, attempted Dwarven reclamation of sacred homelands and Sauron's shadow continues to darken Middle Earth.

Board Games/RPGs

Most board game publications gain formal traction during the second and third quarters of a given year, but there's still much to look forward to! Every single one of the independently designed games featured in last year's SPIEL post successfully funded their respective Kickstarters and are set to become physical, playable games as soon as March!

Asmadi - 2014 is slated to be a very busy year for the publisher. Consequential, Innovation: No Place Like Home, Equinox, and Impulse should all be hitting store shelves in the very near future. You can still order the "final draft" version of Impulse here.

PC/Video Games

Transistor - The star of last year's PAX East is presently in a fully playable alpha and is on track to make its exclusive PS4 release date in March (it will release to PC later in 2014).

Dark Souls 2 - The sequel to the original ARPG will be available on PC, XBox 360, and PS3 in mid-March.

Titanfall - The creators of Call of Duty attempt to bolster their signature format by adding giant robots to the mix (because giant robots make everything better). This title is an Xbox 360 exclusive.

Infamous: Second Son - Set seven years after the events of Infamous 2, this open world ARPG is coming exclusively to the PS4 on March 21.

And this is just the beginning! On to an excellent year ahead!