Henroid

Just blame Jake, it's the easiest explanation.

I didn't actually think it was. Just saying if it were, whatever. Video games. Computer games even.

I wouldn't mind the funds being spent for that. Because now we get to hear more of Sean's input on computer games. Assuming he buys some to use the computer for.

The thing is, the actual composition of your deck is part of the strategy. It's like playing the odds. You can either build a steady deck or a deck that has like two trump cards that require elaborate setups. I use to play the Star Wars CCG (the first one), and I use to play to the latter strategy. And I would constantly get my ass kicked. Meanwhile, my brother was building decks that were capable of covering several different strategies, and while not super strong or swift, it was like assured victory unless I managed to get the right card draws to decimate my opponent with my "fuck you" two or three cards. But I dunno, overall I still agree with the randomization being an awful component of the game.

Oh man, I thought that was some goofy thing happening just on my computer / browser.

At least you're doing it right. I registered when the podcast was dead for a second time because I am odd.

Are you sure Jake and Chris weren't at a BMX event or something like that? Also gonna go out on a limb and say that if a thread doesn't exist for a podcast episode yet, they will get to it. It'll feel weird of regular users start making the threads for some reason.

I was watching the video and had to pause for a sec, but unfortunately did that thing where you pause at a moment where someone is making a face / gesture that is, ah, weird. The bottom line is I have a screen cap and don't know if I should post it. Edit - I left a comment on the video but I had to turn to World of Warcraft (my Far Cry 2, until I eventually play Far Cry 2 itself) to have my own example of understanding the point. Basically, when the game came out, you weren't told where to go to quest or level, you weren't told about all trade skill recipes available (some crucial to skilling up), you weren't told about how to acquire some items needed for crafting, and you weren't told how to engage bosses in dungeons and raids. I know it's an MMO and a totally different context than singleplayer games but the finger details can carry over back and forth. Nowadays in WoW, everything I mentioned above has the game pretty much making it hard to miss on all that.

I hate to be 'that guy' but you can still do this y'know.

This is pretty much the best summary of where I stand. I don't play WoW because it's me getting to explore Warcraft more in-depth. I play WoW because of the mechanics and tuning of the game. Which is why, as soon as my new PC is complete (the setbacks I'm suffering on that are killing me), I'm going to play TOR. WoW with a new face? Okay, that's fine with me. But really, Metzen doesn't have people telling him, "No, try harder. No, that's a shit idea." It's George Lucas' Disease. I've never been outspoken about the writing in Warcraft, usually shrugging off the bad points and tolerating things in general. But Cataclysm, the end of it at least, brought about something that finally made me change my mind. Let me explain briefly: The event, the Cataclysm, was originally something that occurred when Deathwing came out of hiding back into the world. It was so mega-ton that it broke the world. Fast forward to the fight with Deathwing; throughout the fight, the dragons assisting you occasionally shout for you to interrupt Deathwing, because, "HE'S CASTING ANOTHER CATACLYSM." I'm not extrapolating. The line is literally, "Deathwing is casting another Cataclysm!" Suddenly, it went from being a unique event to some goddamn spell he could just cast at whim. I'll play Pandaland most likely, though I'm really just waiting to see how the 'race revamp' (which is a vague term at the moment, it could either be the greatest thing we imagine or it could just be higher-res textures) pans out. The only thing that has me into WoW is routine "I'll play this when I'm bored of everything else."

It was a lot of production work he was doing into making that podcast happen as it was. It was less a podcast and more of... well, like an audio-only version of those one / two hour specials you see on TV. If Idle Thumbs does grow into some mega-site, it would be rad to see ALWW on it.

So if we attach a camcorder to a big dog as its head, it'll pretty much ruin Jake's life? Edit - It just occurred to me that the big dog looks like two of those GECKO things from MGS4, attached together.

I was going to be a smartass and link this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_people But then it redirected to poverty.

Oh my god you guys. Idle Thumbs has a Wikipedia article and it hasn't been deleted yet due to "relevance" bullshit!

That subject of that article kinda freaks me out. I'm curious to experience it first hand, but I worry that it is actually that disorienting.

This kinda solidifies the new era for me, by some margin. Also welcome to the people who hopefully migrate over!

Idle Thumbs in 3D.

I listened to the Religion episode a couple days ago and I am throwing down my endorsement on this podcast based on it alone. It wasn't what I was expecting at all from the subject matter (though it did eventually get to it a bit in the later portion; just wasn't the focus thankfully), was real good food for thought. It wasn't all that hard to extrapolate what was said to fit other genres of games too.

I'd read Shay Pierce's story over on Gamasutra and figured, "Well, kudos to him, he wanted to maintain some integrity and money wasn't that important to him." And I guess now that makes him selfish, for turning down a lot of money? What a dick. In all seriousness though, this Dan Porter guy sounds like he was personally ribbed by Shay Pierce not coming along with them. And he lashed out in the worst way - like a highschool airhead.

My mother owned a Commodore 64 too, and incidentally I had a dream about it last night for some reason (in my dream, the C64 secretly had a way to run modern Windows OS' and I had a super fast cable internet connection and stuff on it - totally weird and probably beside the point). I don't know which came first; the C64 or the Atari 2600. My mother worked in the payroll department of Atari back in the 80's so that's how we got the Atari in the first place. I definitely experienced playing both when I was about 4 years old back in '89. Then we got an NES in 1990. Video games have always been present in my life pretty much. Also I'm jealous of Rodi.

After listening to this episode I have a question and a statement. First the question: Regarding the forum community thing, when you say that TMA will have a separate community still, do you mean it'll be like another section of the forum or an actual different site still? What I imagine in my head is the former, like how there's an Episodes section for Idle Thumbs there will be a section for TMA content (or possibly whatever other needs they have). As for my statement, horf, this is gonna be sorta weird but stay with me here. So I pretty much outed myself already as a Howard Stern listener and people can think of that what they will, but something that I admire about the guy is that he has a lot of personal investment in what he does. Moreso than what most people are aware of. In his career he's been very careful about how his name gets marketed and has turned down offers for money / cross-promotions because it otherwise would've damaged the brand he was building up (and there's been instances where staff on his show have screwed him over in that regard). And he doesn't set any sort of standard, his success is a freak rare occurrence because usually show hosts don't get to call the shots regarding sponsorship, marketing, etc. To use probably a closer-to-video-games example, Penny Arcade also has the rare occurrence of getting to pick their advertisers rather than having it pushed on them. The bottom line is, in both cases, the people behind the product care about the integrity of the product. So during this podcast episode, Sean (representing Chris and Jake, and since they didn't object to anything he said I'm taking it as being accurate) and Troy talked about the personal investments behind Idle Thumbs and TMA. And hearing it really filled me with a lot of confidence in being a fan of Idle Thumbs (and so far so good with TMA, I like what I've heard so far). It's really reassuring to know that you guys care about what you're doing, beyond the idea of fame or recognition. The key word used was sustainability. I really admire all you guys for this, not that the opinion of one guy could have any weight. But just putting it out there. Edit - Now with less poor writing skill.

I found the hidden Idle Thumbs title for this episode. 'What's your bed-wetting game?'

Whoa, lots of new people as of late! Welcome welcome! Special note to Tim-E: congrats on the newborn!

Downloading right now, but I had to show my appreciation for the title of the episode. So good. By the way I did listen to the 'Religion' episode that was linked over in the TMA announcement thread, and it pretty much wasn't what I was expecting in a good way.