Jake

I can't write a forum post without reiterating most points at least twice. I don't mean to but i almost always say things two or sometimes three times. Can't resist doing it.

Coming soon: Video

How is it even up for debate whether or not that footage is captured out of the game engine, when it so clearly is? There are some nice environmental effects going on, lots of well executed things, but there is no single visual element in there that is on its own surprising as a realtime thing. It seems like a lot of that video is on rails or at least "very convincingly performed" -- heavily reliant on NPCs and whoever is driving the player "hitting their marks" -- but it's clearly a thing taking place in realtime in a video game engine. I don't know that anyone will have a gameplay experience like that video, as it seems like a huge stack of moneyshots more than an actual level, but I also don't know that that was the point. It you pull it apart to look at the individual elements it was showing off (the world itself, the return of Bioshock style interplay between weapons and magic, the skyhook system, the shifts in mood from indoor to out, the questionable combat with bar patrons, the chain attacks with your NPC buddy, crazy environment/elemental/weather effects, etc), it seems incredibly promising and interesting to me, even if the "holy shit per minute" ratio is way lower in the actual game. I wouldn't want a Bioshock game with that madcap a pace, but I don't think that video was designed to imply that; they wanted to give a very condensed back to back to back dose of the sorts of things one will see in the game. Maybe that's obvious and I'm posting a ton of words for nothing...

Hopefully, if they come back, what they reveal is that they had a legitimate crisis or reason for closing, and this isn't a PR stunt to launch the non-beta "1.0" version or whatever. That would depress me.

Wall of terror. Even the huge odds are scary.

I basically just woke up, got out of my chair, and left. About 45 seconds after waking up, I did post a tweet which said "lol teeth murder success. Good day." so I clearly wasn't entirely awake for a little bit. Idle Thumbs ep 51 was crazy, huh?

Ive had a few other dental procedures including two (weirdly extra) teeth pulled and a root canal and I do find it fascinating, but I'd never been put under before and wanted to try it out (fear of dying while chemically unconscious is for me a way greater than fear of a professional dude drilling holes in and splinterin up my teeth from within my mouth). Verdict: goddamn luxurious, and awesome to just not have to bother with that45 minutes of my life, but not nearly as interesting, so I probably won't do it again when given the option, at least on dental-level surgeries like that. Also I'm stillnot at all into the idea of a chemical turning my body off. Hopefully though I won't ever be back for any more of this stuff so its moot...

I own three and they're all comin out. Bottom left, both tops. And now you know!

We'll see how it goes, haha.

wisdom teeth removal

This weekend I will be sitting at home unable to leave so I'll be videoing it up.

Given baldness/hair configurations, Chris and I tend to get the poses backwards, but yeah.

It's the presence of a microphone that screws it up. Chris Remo is the cure for the presence of a microphone.

Building a PC from parts is stupidly easy these days, Marek. You can slap the whole thing together in an hour (and then sit and watch Windows 7 install for another hour or two). You will love it probably.

I just beat it! Yes that's right I beat a thing. Verdict: Steve: you made a sweet DLC.

If a wizard, the best.

I'm sure people in Germany horribly butcher English words in an attempt to sound like a drawling hick from the USA, so I hope it's forgivable.

Yeah that follows pretty well. Also we said "The Wizard" in that room at PAX, into the microphones. It was just before anyone was in the room.

Panels are only allowed an hour!

Hahaha Nick did in fact burn down the wolf man in this episode.

Whoops that name is far less sweet so I forgot it. Also this is Idle Thumbs not The Idle Thumbs Podcast so this episode predates that name.

The fifth character at the table is actually an unlockable "you won" bikini trophy girl video sprite from Cruisin USA, so you can sleep soundly knowing that.

"Why did it have to be autonomous robot snakes?" - Indiana Jones

Very little editing occurred other than some level adjustment. I cut out the dead time when I went to hand Chris his guitar pick, because nobody was on mic so it was literally empty room for 10 seconds. Also apologies in advance, but Chris' lapel mic somehow got buried inside his shirt during the opening so Wuxtry: Let The Games Begin! (Love Theme From Idle Thumbs) is fucked up. The rest of the recording is surprisingly clean, though.

Haha I don't think the crowd or the thumbs knew what to expect or to do at a live show. We didn't address the crowd right away which was a mistake and started like a regular episode. Oh well! Everyone caught on eventually and by the end I wished we could go on for another session's worth of time. Also we'll be editing and posting the MP3 tonight, pending surprise failures.