Can you run a computer simulation to see if you should fight one horse sized duck or 100 duck sized horses?

I have trained my entire life for this moment. You will not be disappoint.

I think this is the best summary of the horse-sized-duck vs. duck-sized-horses scenario I have ever read.

tl;dr: the giant Dorse wins it by a mile.

Thanks for the reply! Now run a simulation of 1000 battles against the giant Dorse and let us know the outcome. If you can have any weapons from a Pre-1800's deadliest warrior, but only one warrior's weapons to choose from, who's would they be and why?

New rule: if you ask me about x vs y in this thread, you've just gotta take my word for it, no questions. ;)

Re: weapon: To own or to have to actually use in some scenario?

A black powder gun, hands down, would be the most useful weapon for killing a thing. If I had to fight a dude with a bladed weapon right now, I'd take a spear or a halberd, as I'm basically the ancient warrior equivalent of an out of shape peasant. So yeah, simple gun all the way.

we care less about the actual results... just show us the simulation and we'll be happy.

I'm gonna need $15 and some papier mache.

Hi Computer Whiz Max Geiger!
Deadliest warrior really went downhill after you left; at least I thought so (and it was subsequently cancelled). Do you attribute that to you leaving, or the fact that they replaced you with Mack, who isn't very entertaining in the tongue in cheek way DW was the first two seasons?
Also, a ninja would totally kill a spartan.

It's not really my place to speculate on changes that happened after I left.

I know that season 2 was a rocky ride. DW's crew "flipped" or unionized, which, while good for them was rough for the production company. The original show runner, a man I greatly respect, was replaced under nebulous circumstances (I never got a straight answer as to why).

I imagine season 3 was even more tumultuous as Spike changed production companies entirely, and I suppose that brought on a whole slew of other issues.

edit: Killed a run-on sentence. Just one though.

Season three was garbage for two reasons:

1. That lying fuck was an ignorant prick
2. They did you guys wrong

It's important to remember that this was just television and it was like, 3 years ago.

is your sister the best person to currently exist on earth or the greatest person ever?

I'd die in a fire for her, but she's no Archimedes.

I'd give her gold for that comment, but she's no Archimedes, so I'll just give her silver with a gold plating.

Pro tip: My sister is familiar with the concept of density.

How "real" or produced was Deadliest Warrior? How was the behind-the-scenes different from what we saw on TV?

'Sup Tanner?! Hi from Twitter!

Can you give me more specifics on what you're looking for here?

Hello! Nice to speak to you! I was just wondering if there were things that went on behind the scenes that weren't apparent to the viewers. Not necessarily drama-related things, just sort of asking how the tests and simulations really ran, aside from what we saw in the final cut of an episode.

Oh my... things were much more "controlled" behind the scenes.

Any time something was exploded it wasn't a care-free exercise. Besides hosts and experts, there was an entire film crew to keep safe, so it could take a long time to set up an explosive test.

Also, lots of producers walking around making comments about how we looked tired and needed more energy and excitement. Season 1, there was a Spike exec who was really interested in making sure we always had red bull.

What was the coolest weapon demonstration on the show?

Based on the picture of me making a face that almost meme'd, I guess the Kilij?

It was fun to see the shaolin stuff in action. The Tommy Gun always hit a nice sweet spot between theatricality and destructive power.

Where is this picture. I must know blah blah blah science

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h--tGuEQ3Co/THLWf-8rZnI/AAAAAAAAABI/w3oQCFiqCS0/s1600/scaredmax.png

I just wrapped up all 3 of DW seasons on Netflix, and I gotta, say, the show was much better with you.

Was there ever a matchup that you wanted to see that wasn't done?

Thank you for watching!

There were-- I'd love to have seen a Roman Legionary set against his Chinese counterpart from the era when Rome/China had limited contact with one another. For shits and giggles, it would have been staged in the middle of the Parthian desert.

[deleted]

Nothing comes to mind. I've only been recognized once in public, and that was by a very polite high school student who dressed like he was fully capturing the spirit of YOLO with his mad swagger. It was... unexpected.

Enjoy this boring truth, but please don't take it as an invitation to try and shock me.

Was there a simulation that really surprised you? Also, despite some exceptions (spetznaz beating green berets) do you think the show had pressure to produce outcomes that the audience would prefer?

it's been long enough now, that I don't really remember the surprise of any particular matchup. I also don't remember what my opinions were at the time (so I'm going to potentially contradict 2009-2010 on-camera self). I wasn't expecting Comanche Warrior vs. Mongol Warrior to break the way it did.

I don't think there was a pressure to have certain outcomes in the seasons I was there. Maybe there was? The point was to always have a contentious fight, so the audience would pay attention, and I'm sure the "controversy" generated by a simulated American loss would help pull eyeballs. Shit, we're still talking about it 3-4 years later.

So, hypothetically, in a simulated battle between Conan (Arnold version) and Dar from the Beastmaster, who do you think would have the upper hand? Naturally, this would have to be in ideal conditions, i.e. no black lotus effects, recovered from crucifixion and Jun horde attacks, respectively, etc. This is assuming your level of nerdy fandom is caught up on both (technically three, but we shan't discuss CtheDestroyer) classics. Also, what does the future hold in store for Computer-WHiz-Max-Geiger?

I don't know shit about Beastmaster, but the original Arnold Conan is one of the greatest movies of all time. Conan all the way.

Follow-up: Atlantean sword or Father's Sword?

Atlantean.

I think you mean the running Arnold DVD Commentary is the greatest of all time.

This too. WHAT IS HE WEARING, LIPSTICK OR SOMETHING?

What is/was your favorite episode of Deadliest Warrior?

I honestly don't remember. I preferred the ancient battles to the modern ones. Mostly I remember which experts were a lot of fun to work with, and that wasn't limited to any particular episode.

Which is your favorite episode? What did you like about it?

I thought the Mongolian expert was awesome. I couldn't understand him at all but he was great at crushing skulls.

Munkhtur! Hire that dude: http://www.munkhtur.com/

so... the Mongol expert was an artist? Was that the only Mongolian the show could find in the US?

maybe?

Woah woah woah... Hire him?

The skull crushing guy? for what?

Well.... I guess I could request an assassination on...

Oh, right, open channels. Shouldn't say it here.

I think he mostly works in caricature, not skull crushing, but there you go.

Love all the stuff that you do! My brother loves deadliest warrior with a burning passion and was very upset when you left the show, and that leads to 2 questions: (you don't have to answer this one if you don't want to) why did you leave the show? Second: could you say say hi to my brother who loves deadliest warrior? Thanks!

Like it says at the top, I left to go work on The Unfinished Swan at Giant Sparrow. Check it out if you have a PS3! My first love has always been video games.

To paraphrase Andy Samberg playing Mark Wahlberg: "Say hi to your brother for me!"

Yo Max! Thanks again for doing this. Deadliest Warrior is a favorite among my friends and I. We even play a version where we pit people we know against each other and enter the values into a spreadsheet.

Let's say you are a warrior on the show, what are your 3 weapons and why?

Haha, you should post your other questions.

If I had my choice of modern weapons, then I'd choose actual fire arms. If you're talking about the character of "Max Geiger" on Deadliest Warrior, probably my unmanageable hair, sweet blazer, and the ability to rig the simulation in my favor at any time.

"What does god need with a starship?" and all that, but in reverse in the context of the show.

Man, that blazer looked deadly!

Ask and ye shall receive:

1.What are your technical qualifications?

2.How did you land your roll on Deadliest Warrior?

3.How exactly did you quantify the combat values of the various warriors weapons?

4.Were the combat experts coached to be dickbags?

5.What can we expect in the future from Max Geiger?

1) I have no formal qualifications.

2) I cold answered an email casting call that began:

"Seeking an ON CAMERA computer wizard to explain and manage an existing computer program. Our show is centered around scientific testing that will obtain real world values that our computer wizard will scale and load into the program so that multiple simuations can be run. Some experience in game programming and architecture would be ideal; as this will facilitate the use of a scenario editor and data files to help create an accurate output. The game engine that our programmer will be utilizing (no source code editing) is similar to that used in 2D combat strategy games such as Age of Empires, Battle of Middle Earth etc.

Our perfect candidate should be enthusiastic, interesting, intelligent and very comfortable being on camera. A great performance will never be as effective as a great personality. Experience or interest in martial arts or historic combat would be a plus. We're also looking for someone who can help guide our systems for getting the most from the program, scenario editor and data files. "

3) Seeekrit.

4) Nope.

5) Eggsbath.

You're best, you know that. Can we be internet best friends?

I'm not, I've just got a lot of time today.

Tell you what, we can be reddit friends.

Step 1: Eggsbath.

Step 2: Eggsbath creme brule.

Step 3: I have diabetus.

Quadribeetus.

Critical question: In-n-out or Zankou?

Depends on how long it's been since my last garlic sauce fix.

Who is your favorite warrior that you had on the show or in general?

In all of history? Either Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great.

I'm sure Barry Jacobsen would give me shit for not saying Egil Skalligrimson or Miyamoto Mushashi.

Chesty Puller.

Was the development of The Unfinished Swan too Playstation-y to make a port to other platforms a possibility? It looked pretty cool, but not quite enough for me to go make a new console purchase unfortunately.

No, we used Gamebryo as our engine. Ports would be technically feasible, but we took Sony's money to make the game, so they own the IP.

Borrow a friend's console? Hell, you could play it on mine if you live in LA.

Thanks - figured it was worth asking. Anyway, with the next-gen consoles coming out, hopefully PS3 will get nice and dirt cheap and people like me can pick one up and play some of the cool exclusives we've missed out on. Hope the game was successful enough to encourage future "different"/indie-style titles.

I too hope it cheapens up nicely, and encourages the development of future weird titles.

HEy there, I just wanted to say really liked your game...well, what I saw of it. I played the demo. I like any game that feels artsy and out there to me. Unfortunately, the overwhelming brightness really screwed with my eyes and left me with a headache. When I get home I think I will turn the brightness waaaaay down and try it again!

Thanks for giving it a second chance!

What did the computer simulation actually consist of, tech wise?

Secrets, based off of a licensed video game and the infamous "excel" (actually Open Office) spreadsheet.

Isn't the spreadsheet the reason this AMA got started?

Don't knock the 'sheet man.

The simulation was all fakery right?

the preferred term is "TV Magic"

What is next up for Giant Sparrow now that Unfinished Swan is published?

A secret. Stay tuned to Giant Sparrow's blog. http://giantsparrow.com/blog/

As someone with no computer training but an interest in computers, programming, and a big fan of your simulations, what do you think a good jumping off point is to learn programming? What did you start with/what kick-started your eventual career in computers?

I should clarify that I'm a terrible programmer.

Start with something simple and useful. I hear a lot of people get great mileage out of playing around with Python for just a little bit, that seems like it might be as good a place as any to start.

I'm much more of a dilettante than you think. I just grew up around computers and wanted to make games, so that, but as I've said elsewhere in the thread, you don't want me writing your code.

Ask yourself what you actually want to do on a computer, and then try and acquire those skills.

This is so awesome! :D What ultimately made you decide to produce The Unfinished Swan? Do you particularly agree/disagree with any changes between the tech demo and the finished project?

When Ian first showed the prototype for TUS in one of the labs at school, I was completely blown away. When he asked me to join Giant Sparrow as a producer, it was a no brainer for me.

I agree with all the changes 100%. From the get-go we were trying to make a much larger game than what the tech demo hinted at, and even though we couldn't make all of that, I'm proud that we shipped.

Are you very much a post-structuralist?

jesus, no. I think he's doing a lot better these days, he seems a lot happier according to facebook.

Am I missing something or is this reply to the wrong person?

you're missing an inside joke.

idk if u have answered this but how exactly does your simulation produce acurate results like i dont understand how u put in lets say 1000 mongolian horse back archers vs 1000 chinese spear men how can it posibly come up with the outcome when the enviorment can play a huge factor on a fight along with weather?

I could be hazy on the details but I may or may not have been told to discount such matters entirely. You'll remember we conducted very few tests with an eye towards terrain or weather, and yet the environment of any conflict is key to determining the outcome. Make of that what you will.

Also, Alexander the Great: ten times more awesome than Caesar or too far ahead to even include in the debate. Discuss.

Don't include in the debate, but then discuss? You're loco.

How can Deadliest Warrior be the worst show that I can't stop watching? I heard about it and figured "I'll watch it on Netlfix and see." Then like half way into the first episode I wanted to stop watching it.

Then I watched the rest of the season.

Remember that as an individual you have control over your actions in all but those most extreme circumstances.

Did u use an Alienware

Only for the camera.

I actually did the real behind the scenes work at home.

why the hell did you guys fill the targets with so much fake blood on deadliest warrior? i mean if you re-watch some of those episodes they are just ridiculous

Because it made for good imagery.

I didn't see any blood effects like ours until Django Unchained.

There's also a surprising amount of blood inside the human body: http://www.cockeyed.com/inside/blood/blood.html

In your opinion, who were the most deadly warriors featured on Deadliest Warrior? Like of all the warriors on the show, who do you think would win no matter who their opponent is?

Navy SEAL, given the chance to familiarize himself with whatever the local weapon was.

Literal, historical answer? Mongols.

Rob Roy looked like he could give Geoff a run for his money.

You have the best username.

How realistic are the test that you run? I can image that they are accurate but would you call it reliable?

What do you mean by reliable, like the scientific definitions of accuracy vs. precision? This would be a great question for Geoff, since he helped design the tests.

I can confirm though that all the explosions, etc, were very realistic, to the point of being worrisome at times.

You had to be the best part of DW so it's an honor to post on the same page as you. I was just wondering if the producers ever came to you with an idea for a battle that you found hilarious or terrible. If so, what was it?

Probably? There was always a struggle to determine what the matchups for a season would be, as those conflicts are the heart of the show and the crux of both the experimental and dramatic interest we were hoping to mine. I got asked for my $0.02 and gave it as honestly I could, but had no say or control over which matchups we actually featured.

Were it up to me, I would have avoided the obvious controversy seeking in such distasteful conflicts like IRA/Taliban. I still regret that there's footage of me laughing at a flamethrower test out there in the world.

If you had carte blanche to make a game, what would it be?

Probably Half-Life 3, LMNO, or Bioshock Infinite. Oh wait...

Eric, ask me about "Stark's Armada," "The Quiet Rider," or "The Quest for Mantlantis" sometime.

Who is this Eric you speak of? Follow up question. Do you have a zombie apocalypse plan? If it involves a firearm or melee weapon, what are they?

Ladies and Gentlemen from the rest of the thread, /u/EchoHotelFoxtrot is, in my reasonable estimation, Eric H. Fong, the associate producer at Sony who helped Giant Sparrow ship TUS. Dude is stone cold one of the most solid human beings out there. He's going to deny both this positive identification and that he's awesome. Don't let him.

Zombopocalypse: no, because that ain't happening. If it did, probably a Remington 870, because you made me read "Patriots," and some sort of polearm. Halberd? Maybe a long sword, like a Claymore. Something that is good for lopping.

Has anyone ever told you you look like Matt Mulholland (post weight loss)?

If I shave my terrible ginger neckbeard, I look like Matt Mulholland pre-weight loss.

Tons of people sent me his O Holy Night video joking it was me. I'd be down to do a Geiger/Mulholland duet or double feature any time. Dude seems like he's got much comedy bravery.

How accurate do you think the findings were? If there were any shortcomings of the software, what were they?

All software has fundamental shortcomings. We did the best we could with the tools we had and time allotted to make an entertaining show, hopefully with some scientific and historical relevance.

Thanks. Best of luck on all future projects.

I just actually read your username. Good luck to you in all your... future endeavors.

ಠ_ಠ

What is the name of the simulation you ran and is it available for sale/download to the general public? I tried finding it for hours after watching the show but I could never find it. It looked like it was based on spreadsheets like MS Excel though.

It was modified from a pre-release version of this: http://www.slitherine.com/gbm_overview

I am now pleasantly surprised to see they've released it with mod tools!

We used Excel/open office calc to hold the data Geoff derived from his tests.

We never had something sexy to show on screen while we were working on set. Shoulda faked it with Hacker Typer.

That's awesome. I've always been a military/simulation geek and was wondering if there was a program that you plug in a bunch of random variables into to get a psuedo-realistic result of what would happen if 2 military forces from different eras or areas battled with one another. Currently I'm just stuck with simulating the modern USMC/US Army versus the WW2 German army in Arma 2 with some mods.

We never had something sexy to show on screen while we were working on set. Shoulda faked it with Hacker Typer.

That sounds like one of my favorite stories from /g/

I'd be curious to know how those mods are going. Can you share or talk about your process?

Hi Max!

1. Do you feel that the simulation you used gave you realistic answers? Did you ever try testing it on actual battles from history to see if it gave you a correct answer?

2. Sometimes the experts seemed to act very rudely; one that sticks out in my mind was a young ninja advocate in the Spartan vs. Ninja episode (which I thought was rather silly to begin with), who was confident almost to the point of insanity. Did they continue to act like that off-camera, or was it all just show?

• I think it gave fun answers. That would have been great error checking, and I'm actually interested in the uses of video game simulations to recreate historical battles, but unfortunately we didn't have the time or money to do this.

• http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18tuur/i_am_max_geiger_the_computer_whiz_on_deadliest/c8i0sj9

Why wasn't the program used on the show ever made for the public?

There was a version of it-- for season 1 & 2, Morningstar Entertainment, the production company, had actually licensed in-development versions of Great Battles Medieval (I think that was the name, can't find it on their website) from Slitherine (who I always flubbed if they were Slitherine Strategies or Studios). I wish those guys got a bigger boost from the show, and a chance to share in the success. No one really cared about working with them, which is why I tried to give them credit by saying their name as much as possible.

What kind of education did you have that lent itself to being a history/computer whiz/game designer?

I always knew I wanted to make games. In high school I had an interest in the Dismal Science, and wanted to try and repeat what Edward Castronova had done in his career, which was be an economist who studied games (if memory serves, he was the one who figured out the GDP of Norrath (Everquest)).

I went to USC since it seemed to me they had the strongest game development program (their Interactive Media Division! Interactive.usc.edu) of any accredited 4 year university, even though at the time they were offering an undergraduate minor in game development.

About a year in at USC, the IMD announced they were offering Interactive Entertainment ("game design") as a BA, so I switched to that and minored in Classics, because SOLA LINGUA BONA LINGUA MORTUA EST.

I just gotta say season 1and 2 of DW were so awesome, it was my favorite show on tv. Then season 3 everything just fell apart. I think you were the glue man, I really do.

Just like horse hooves. Thanks man!

Absolutely loved the Deadliest Warrior and you on it! my question: What was your favorite episode of the deadliest warrior to make, and what test weapons did you enjoy the most ?

No one episode really stands above the rest. Spartan vs Ninja was fun because that was the pilot and I took 3 days off to school to shoot this crazy thing in Valencia without the expectation that anything would come of it.

Now to directly contradict that-- I thought we had a chance to make really great edutainment whenever we featured a warrior the typical 12 year old hasn't heard of yet, like Shaka Zulu, the Rajput warriors, the Maori warriors, the Zande warriors, etc... the idea of broadening someone's horizons was far more fun than talking about the warriors everyone knows (Spartans, Knights, Ninjas, etc).

Did you have any influence on the design or production of the Deadliest Warrior video games?

Nope! I expressed an interest in it from the very beginning, but not hard enough I guess. In the end, not being involved was probably a good thing, between how hard Pipeworks was made to work and the Robert Daly controversy.

Why does Deadliest Warrior feel like every single analysis made is a steaming pile of crap? It seems so overly unscientific and under-analysed I cannot watch it.

I don't know. I didn't have any control over the edit, but I think a large part of that was how aggressively Spike sought to cater to the perceived tastes of their supposed audience.

I felt like Zach Weiner really hit it on the head with this SMBC: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1804#comic

Hey, Max! I gotta say, Deadliest Warrior is amazing. It was way better with you on it. Do you have any intention of returning to the show? Do you think the new program is an improvement on the old one?

Show's cancelled son, it ain't never coming back, not that I know.

I didn't watch much of Season 3. DW was more fun for me to make than to watch.

Is that computer simulation program actually real? If so will it ever be released , because that would be sick.

See this related question: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18tuur/i_am_max_geiger_the_computer_whiz_on_deadliest/c8hxg7f

What games are you playing right now? What are some of your favorites from the past year or so?

I fell down the FTL hole again last week, so obviously that.

In the past week I've tried Legend of Grimrock, Warhammer 40K Space Marine, and Dear Esther.

Last year, I liked, in no particular order: TUS, of course. Journey, FTL, Spelunky, Dishonored, X-Com, Hotline Miami.

I'm really struggling to have fun in Borderlands 2, I'm worried that there's a part of me that just doesn't get it/is bad at it.

I also lost a lot of time to Civ V, but that was from 2010.

I thought Spec Ops was interesting, especially if you play it as Nathan Drake gets PTSD (thanks, Nolan North).

edit: I can't believe I forgot Skulls of the Shogun, which just came out and is great. Get it if you have an Xbox, Windows phone, or Win 8 computer.

On the show you seemed to cover alot of different soldiers, warriors, whatever, were there any warriors that you wanted to do, but could not due to the in ability to find a fair match up for them? also, the show saw the Spartan as the best (pre firearms) of season 1 any from season 2 that you think would give the Spartan a run for its money?

I would have loved to have seen more warriors from the Middle East: Janissaries and Mamluks spring to mind. Maybe some Goths or Saxons? Scythians. Macedonians.

For named warriors, El Cid "El Campeador", Timur/Tamerlane, Charlemagne, Clovis, Odacer, Alaric.

Haha, I think a Knight would have given a Spartan a run for his Money.

First question:what's your favorite video game. Second question:who would win between a ninja and a samurai. Third and final question:were the Yakuza guys and mafia guys really going to fight eachother on the set or was it only for show.

I really like DW. You were my favorite

1: It's been too long since I've played it, so this answer is mostly nostalgia, but Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. I grew up on a diet of Starcraft and Counter Strike. Now I feel old.

2: Depends who gets the drop. Samurai, in open combat.

3: For the show. You can look all those guysup-- Joseph Ferrante is shooting a pilot with Paul Sorvino called "Paulie" which you should all be very excited for, and Zero Kazama is still kicking ass doing his thing too.

So what you are saying is that most of the fights depend ob the enviroment. Okay. Lets say a triple threat,a monk,a ninja(i really like ninjas),and a samurai in a big-ish room.and another one in an open field. Edit:another question. What game are you most excited for this year.

Right now, Bioshock Infinite.

O god, the covergirl on that box brings back so many memories

Feel those feels, son. Feels them deep.

If one horse sized duck and 100 duck sized horses were to fight, (assuming you still have the simulation program) what would the outcome be? Of course having a rough estimate for the data.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18tuur/i_am_max_geiger_the_computer_whiz_on_deadliest/c8hwwxm

So... whenever you ran your 'advanced computer program' it would just show you sitting there with an excel spreadsheet open. Did this ever bother you? I mean, I'm sure there's more to it than that, but the way it looks is like you're just inputting numbers into a spreadsheet.

C'est la guerre.

There honestly weren't a whole lot of options for making numbers look sexy on set. Season 2 they had an animator whip up a looping video of a better looking interface.

I'm about to head out for lunch and I don't know what to get. What did you have for lunch?

Coffee.

What exactly is your program doing? I never understood that. EDIT: To add, how did you represent attributes? I'm not really a programmer myself, so that shit looks like magic.

Simulating a fight?

Perhaps this will help? http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18tuur/i_am_max_geiger_the_computer_whiz_on_deadliest/c8hz6zu

I hear you're a big fan of FTL. Are you playing it right now?

No. I unlocked two new ships yesterday, and then had to ask what I was doing with my life. Hi Josh. :) Send me your steam ID and I'll send you a copy-- it's $5 right now, and it also runs on Mac!

Hey, thanks for doing this!

Which of the weapons experts were the most fun to work with? Also, did the producers encourage them to trash talk their opponents, or is that just the sort of person who becomes a historical weapons expert?

Most everyone was super cool.

Anthony De Longis from the William Wallace episode is a gentleman badass. He returned to help coordinate many of the stunts in later episodes, along with Luke Lafontaine. Plus Anthony's horses were the best animals I've ever worked with, despite being the only animals I've worked with.

The man who really made the whole show work though was Dave Baker, the man in the shop who built most of the weapons. He showed up a bit in Season 2. He's got a twinkle in his eye that makes you think he's Santa Claus' younger brother with a shop full of mayhem.

The producers wanted conflict and tension that would be relatable to a "bro" audience. Often times, not being experienced performers, this came out as trash talk (I'm as guilty as anyone of saying stupid things while the camera was rolling. Thank you, editors), but everyone was friendly when the cameras weren't rolling. Either jocular or professional, but all good to work with.

What is your favorite movie, and off the top of your head can you count the number of people who die in it?

There are too many good movies to have one favorite, but if you're watching them for kill counts, you might be watching for the wrong reason.

Try watching Redbelt, it's the only film I've seen in the last few years where the violence actually mattered and wasn't just choreography with blood. I think 1 dude dies in it, and his death is off camera.

Kill counts are definitely not the most important part of movies, far from it.

I figured one of your favorites might involve some number of them. If I'm wrong in that thought then I happily admit my ignorance.

Can I try again and ask what are some of your favorite movies?

I dunno, there are movies I have seen that have changed my life, but I'd not like to watch them again. Looking at you, Andrei Rublev Favorite is such a hard term.

It's a short, embarrassing list, but here are some films I could watch over and over again, and find something new to love in them each time: Die Hard. Conan the Barbarian. The Big Lebowski. Patton. Robocop.

I'm a sucker for anything where there is a character who pays a terrible personal cost to do what they think is the right thing.

What are some of yours?

I definitely agree with Die Hard, seeing as it's a christmas tradition now.

I dont know if you've ever seen The Fall, but I highly recommend it. It's a bit opposite of a person paying a personal cost, but it's fascinating, endearing, thought-provoking, and very emotional at times.

My favorite movies are mostly action films but for reasons other than the amount of action/violence in them. I love Starship Troopers because it's a great satirization of fascism and fascist propaganda that is politically charged and always enjoyable. I find something new that I love about it each time I watch it. The original Red Dawn captures the fears of the United States in a very blunt and direct way. It's another example of a movie that's much better than it ought to be.

And of course, The Empire Strikes Back.

I saw The Fall in theaters. Visually worth it, but I felt the plotting didn't hold up. I'd see it again though.

Verhoeven is a satirical genius. Even Showgirls is palatable if you work with it.

You should also check out the films of Peter Watkins, he's got a lot to say about media, documentary, violence, and history.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

any limits on this? Is there a monkey's paw style twist?

I'd take the ability to understand and communicate to someone what they most need rather than what they most want. I'd probably use it on myself first.

Did you guys ever give an edge to a weapon just to make the match a little more even? I remember seeing the Molotov Cocktail vs. the Ceramic Grenade from Mafia vs. Yakuza and I couldn't believe the molotov lost the edge.

I oftentimes was tempted to give the edge to one weapon instead of another just to disagree with Geoff and the Doc if they formed a majority, just to play Devil's Advocate.

What was the match up on the show that you had the most fun with?

such a hard call. For most of the modern warrior episodes in Season 2 we went out to Nevada in order to be able to use automatic weapons more easily and explode things in a desert. That was pretty cool, because it was all of the explosive bits of one season all crammed together. It was tough though, the desert's cold in the morning.

Probably got to kid around the most off camera for CIA/KGB, so that was fun. Vlad/Sun Tzu got silly, too.

Any Cosby parties planned in the future? Always room for Jell-o and more Leonard Part VI...

Hang in there, big fella.

Currently no. The future is all about R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet parties.

Do you happen to need any interns related in the film/production world during the summer?

If I start a company, will you work as an unpaid intern this summer? We'll only do cool projects.

unpaid is completely fine with me. I would just love to get some experience in that world as I just graduated from school. Helping out would be a fantastic venture for me!

I'm probably not the best dude to learn from.

How were the weapons acquired for the Deadliest Warrior? Did you guys have to get special licenses or permission from the government to use AK47's?

There were special "master armorers", and I forget the title here, but these are people who professionally own, maintain, and keep the licenses for guns that are used in film and television productions. They were contracted by the production company. For instance, we worked a lot with Mike Tristano when we shot in So. Cal.: http://www.moviegunguy.com/

How does it feel to have one of the coolest names of all time?

Like my parents chose... wisely.

Is there any chance that the DW simulator could eventually be open-sourced, even in a stripped down version?

Naw dogg, it's all hella NDA'd and owned by the production companies.

It looks like Slitherine made the base program the DW sim was based off of easily modifiable:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18tuur/i_am_max_geiger_the_computer_whiz_on_deadliest/c8hz6zu

I'm probably really late, but this question has been bugging me for a while

In the Back-for-Blood special (Finding the best of the best for Season 1) in the 'Ancient' category; do you believe the results could have been changed had the knight actually participated?

Yes.

Did the producers tell you to click the enter button dramatically, or was that just a spur of the moment kind of thing?

It started as a joke, and then we just went with it. I tried to do some of my on camera bits while doing bicep curls, but they nixed it. So much for "power coding."

Are you related to Hans Geiger, inventor of the Geiger counter?

No. Nor am I descended from Abraham Geiger, the 19th century reform rabbi.

Go back far enough, and we're all related though. If you're of Western European descent, by some estimates, your most recent common ancestor with other Western Europeans was walking around about 1,000 years ago. We're all a lot closer than we think.

Dear Deadliest warrior,

Who would win between a bear and a tiger, my brother thinks a tiger would win because if its superior jumping and stealth powers, I think that the bear (Grizzly.. of course) would win because of its powerful crushing arms and superior height.

Kind Regards, Zombiegodzilla, Brisbane, Australia, 29.

The discovery channel had a show called Animal Face-Off that was like Deadliest Warrior but with animals. They did a Siberian Tiger vs. a Grizzly Bear. Here's the result:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBfjMfnIZ14

With all due respect sir, a lot of the time I feel like you guys just bullshit and flip a coin when the cameras aren't on.

Sir? This isn't the letters section of The Economist.

Fair enough, that's probably how most of the world works.

I know you have been asked about your favorite video games in general and stuff like that but can you tell me these things?

1. What is your favorite video game for Ps3 (that isn't The Unfinished Swan)

2. what are some Ps3 games that you play regularly

3.what games are you looking forward to?

Probably Journey.

I'm a regular PS3 user of Netflix or Amazon Video. That said, I've played every GoW...

...and am looking forward to Ascension very much. Last Guardian if it ever comes out. Ni No Kuni when I can get it on the cheaps.

Edit: formatting futz

I just want to say if Max Geiger is your real name; that is awesome. I have thought so when I first saw Deadliest Warrior. That is all, I guess I should just phrase it as a question. Is Max Geiger your real name?

Yes. Talk to /u/kgeiger about it. It's 1/2 his fault.

Will there be more to The unfinished Swan? An expansion or something? Please?

I'm not at liberty to say, but I wouldn't hold out hope were I you. The game is meant to be replayed and enjoyed for what it is in each chapter.

I too love your works everything is gold. I was wondering what was your favorite game growing up, like you were like that's why I want to make games. Also who is your favorite Pokemon?

check the other comments, about old favorites. Probably Warcraft II as a kid, Starcraft and CS after that. Starsiege: TRIBES.

Bitches don't know about my Wigglytuff (I don't actually have a favorite).

add my gamertag, towel_bandini.

no thanks. Sorry man.

Phaggot, Do you even Lift? I swear on my mums life I will wreck you m8

Check yourself before you Shrek yourself.