2018 in geek

It's a good year to be nerd! Actually, it's a good year every year. 2018 has a lot of things in store for us nerds, from movies to games, so strap yourselves in. Let's get ready for a whole year of intense fanboying/fangirling!

TECH

With the rapidly growing landscape of technology, it's hard to concretely say what's going to be happening in 2018. Apple and Samsung may be releasing new stuff this year which levels down our current gadgets. CES 2018, which stands for Consumer Electronics Show, has given us a glimpse of what we can expect. The trend of "smart houses" has been on the rise and apparently there's a push to make it better, with Samsung and LG specifically mentioning it. Lenovo and Google have also announced their Smart Display, a response to devices like Apple's HomePod and the Amazon Echo. Samsung, meanwhile, has integrated their AI assistant Bixby into their refrigerator and the "smart appliances" trend could be on the rise. There's still no sight of that Black & Decker Hydrator that enlarges the pizza from Back To The Future though, nor is there an actual for-everyday-use hoverboard yet.

MOVIES

There's no shortage of films to be excited about this year. We're less than a month away from Marvel's first film of the year, Black Panther, and in true Marvel fashion, everything we've been seeing so far has been epic. The Ant-Man And The Wasp, the sequel to the 2015 movie, also releases later this year on July 6. The Merc with a Mouth also returns this year in Deadpool 2 on May 18 and the stand-alone Venom movie comes out on Oct 5. Additionally, X-Men: Dark Phoenix is set to be released on Nov 2. But it's no question what Marvel's highlight of the year is: the long awaited Avengers: Infinity War, which premieres on May 4. On the other side of the fence, the DC Extended Universe is releasing Aquaman's stand-alone film in December.

There are other films to nerd about aside superhero films. There's been a new Star Wars movie every year for the last couple of years and 2018 is no different: Solo: A Star Wars Story comes out May 25. Lara Croft makes her comeback on the silver screen on March 16 in Tomb Raider and we sincerely hope it's a good movie. Jaegers and Kaijus return on March 23 in Pacific Rim: Uprising starring none other than the Rebel scum himself, John Boyega. Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of Alita: Battle Angel comes out on July 20. Tom Cruise is on another impossible mission in sixth instalment of Mission Impossible on July 27. A fourth Predator movie comes out in August. But the film we're most excited for? The Incredibles 2, set to be released in June. We've been waiting more than 10 years for this!

GAMES

The titles being released this year make us fear for our wallets. Far Cry 5, the latest instalment in the free-roaming FPS franchise, drops on March 17. The long-awaited sequel to Red Dead Redemption is being released this year, although no specific date has been announced. Another awaited sequel, The Last of Us: Part II, will also reportedly be released sometime this year. The god-slaughtering Ghost of Sparta comes back to our consoles in the brand new God of War some time in the next few months. While unconfirmed, we are crossing our fingers really, really hard that Final Fantasy VII: Remake is going to be released this year. We can dream, right?

Sequels aside, a number of promising new titles are set to drop this year. Hideo Kojima's first game ever since the Konami debacle, Death Stranding, is set to be released this year. The zombie apocalypse free-roam Days Gone from the same studio that created Syphon Filter will be released this year. Spider-Man returns to our consoles this year. EA's Anthem, their Destiny-esque game, also drops some time this 2018. Ubisoft is also releasing Skull and Bones, an open-world pirate game for you to finally realise your dream of conquering the seven seas.

CONS

Cons have become a big part of nerd culture and as such they're in full-force once again this year. The mother of all cons, the venerated San Diego Comic Con, is being held from July 19-22, so expect a whole lot of game and film announcements to fanboy/fangirl over. On the gaming side, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, otherwise known as E3, is being held in LA from June 12-14. If you can't fly all the way to the US but do have the budget to fly somewhere nearby, Comic Con Asia takes place from March 24-25 at Pasay City Philippines, and get this -- Stan Lee, the legend, is going to be in attendance! However, if you really aren't able to get out of the city, fret not. Bangkok Comic Con and Thailand Comic Con have teamed up to bring us Bangkokians the con we deserve from April 27-29 at the Royal Paragon Hall. Additionally, it's been announced that Marvel Experience Thailand is set to open sometime this year so us Bangkokians will actually get to be in the middle of the action with Cap and Iron Man.