Chris

I'm about to fly to Canada for the Montreal International Game Summit, so we recorded early this week. Enjoy! Plus, the UK folks have a Eurogamer Expo special up, hopefully to be followed by a regular series of podcasts. "Special guest Steve Gaynor of 2K Marin, last seen in Idle Thumbs 3: Field of Dreams, joins us once again as we drop hot scoops about the Ensemble Studios closing, wrap up discussion of Steve's favorite game ever Fallout 3, and debate bizarre Left 4 Dead tactics. Plus: our giveaway contest is announced, and a new segment is possibly introduced." Games discussed: Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Halo Wars, World of Goo, Illbleed iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=293436552 RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/idle-thumbs http://www.idlethumbs.net/

We're back. Idle Thumbs 65: Dance of the Treasure Goblin As the dancing creature leaps out into the open night air, its rucksack billowing in the wind, you hear a metallic clank by your feet and look down. A gold-plated slide for your Tec-9. You remember the words of Anton Chekhov -- "A gold gun part found behind a closet door in act one must be used to kill everyone, immediately" -- pocket it and move on. We're back, again! Also, we have now become one: The podcast that is "Idle Thumbs" now includes the original 51 Idle Thumbs episodes as well as all 13 episodes of the Idle Thumbs Podcast, together under one roof. That's why this is episode 65. Max Payne 3, Spec Ops: The Line, Armed Heroes Online, Torchlight II, Diablo III, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, Far Cry 2 Direct episode download. iTunes page. Keep the RSS fed!

Important If True 40: Tactical Turtle and the Songsmith Sorry for the late episode—it took us a bit of work to figure out how to record Nick remotely without a quality hit, but we're happy with where we ended up! With Nick Breckon now contained within the computerized realm, this week's Important If True takes an algorithmic bent as we soldier on to discuss the issues that matter most. For instance: If you blast Billy Idol from a boombox while covering your body in memes, will the Terminator let you in the front door? If DeepMind doesn't know who you are, can you ever really know yourself? And are corn and maize the same thing? Nope, that's a trick question, asshole. Welcome to Memeland. Discussed: Nick Breckon, podcasting, bitcoin mining, Patreon postcard update, the gross seductive power of screens that is proven by the very fact of all of our existences, Toyota dashboard bizarre universe "Chris Remo", machine learning interpretation of cats as memes, Italian pop song with gibberish English lyrics, The Great Microsoft Songsmith Rapture of 2009, "White Wedding" by Billy Idol feat. Microsoft Songsmith, "White Wedding" by the Rivertown Skifflers, "We Will Rock You" by Queen feat. Microsoft Songsmith, Microsoft Songsmith as classical muse, maliciously hacking Google AI to misidentify a turtle as a rifle, World War I-era dazzle camouflage, camera-defeating fashion, infiltrating the Terminator base while decked out in internet meme garbage, fractal DeepMind memeland, high-tech modern corn maze production, Petaluma Pumpkin Patch and Amazing Corn Maze, Maze Wars, the Great Wikipedia Editor Corn vs. Maize War, pro-maize arguments, pro-corn arguments Send us your questions at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Chris' Endorsements: Wide-ranging BBC knowledge-enhancing podcast In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg Jake's Endorsements: Vice article "I Made My Shed the Top-Rated Restaurant on TripAdvisor Chris' Sub-Endorsement: New Yorker article "The Most Exclusive Restaurant in America Nick's Endorsement: London historical site/tourist trap/surreal theatrical experience Benjamin Franklin House (also read our friend Duncan Fyfe's report on the experience, "Benjamin Franklin and Me") Sponsored by: Quip electric toothbrushes with $10 off your first brush head refill Shoutout by: Better Than Speed Podcast (iTunes) Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

We've got stickied networking threads for all the current home console online services, but not for the only one that actually includes an Idle Thumbs group, Steam. So here it is! The official Idle Thumbs Steam group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/IdleThumbs It's an open group, so anyone should be able to join up immediately. Assuming there is no bizarre abuse, it will stay that way. People should also feel free to share their Steam IDs in this thread directly if they'd like. Here's mine: http://steamcommunity.com/id/chrisremo

Important If True 53: Alexa, Destroy Me In the absence of Nick Breckon, what is this podcast? What is any podcast? What are you? What am I? Oh god, what am I? What is this world? Why am I trapped in this strange room? Alexa, are you there? Alexa, can you laugh? Alexa: Destroy me. Discussed: New Zealand "A.I." followup, fake A.I. doctor "Zach", fake A.I. lawyer "Hustle", competitive underground tickling/conspiracy documentary film "Tickled", Dick Wolf Presents "Hustle & Zach", our present podcast-fueled existential discomfort, newscaster affectations, Alexa laughing, the first rule of virtual assistants, why Alexa laughs, genie wine update, fast rapper Twista, fast rapper Twista's extended family tree, the beautiful harmonic resonance of fast-rapped wine notes, the Buzzfeed.com oral history of Twista's wine note rap battle mixtape masterpiece, sucking that delicious wine out of your carpet fibers, getting what you wished for (????) Chris' Endorsement: Drawful by Jackbox Games (available for many devices in the Jackbox Party Pack) Jake's Derivative Tacked-on Endorsement: Tee K.O. by Jackbox Games (available for many devices in the Jackbox Party Pack 3) Sponsored By: Quip electric toothbrushes with your first brush head refill free Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Weekend October 13, 2017: Into the Woods Rob and Danielle both had delightful woodland experiences to recount this weekend, as well as stories about gaming happy places (like Prey) and a beloved movie—Blade Runner. The first one. Don't worry, we'll talk about the new Blade Runner soon! Discussed: F1 2017, Game of Thrones (the board game), Prey, Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Blade Runner: The Director's Cut Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Weekend June 2, 2017: Pushing Our Buttons This weekend, we decided to talk about hard-stops in games. The things that make us look a game in the face, in disbelief or exasperation, and break up with them on the spot. We also dig in on music we love in games, sexism in sports and action movies, and two films we are feeling hot and cold on, often at the same time! Discussed: Endless Space 2, The Witness, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 3, The Longest Journey, Yooka-Laylee, Prey, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Max Payne, Mission: Impossible 2, Godzilla (2014), Alien: Covenant, Prometheus Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Thumbs BONUS: Ruination Online January 2018 Enjoy this bonus episode drawn from the Idle Thumbs Patreon Ruination Online! Each month, we do a livestream where all topics have been posed by high-tier backers of our Patreon campaign: patreon.com/IdleThumbs. Due to popular demand, we're releasing the audio of that stream to the main podcast feed for easier listening. We'll be back with a regular episode of Idle Thumbs next week! Discussed: Wizard Jam, Idle Thumbs co-hosts, starting an independent game studio, guilty pleasure games, Flipflop Solitaire, Magnum P.I., playing Hearthstone single-player content, watching someone play Hearthstone single-player content, Black Mirror, how the internet ruins everything, deactivating your Facebook account, The Black Hole, V.I.N.CENT, Old B.O.B., Maximillian, Sleep No More, The Speakeasy, TV theme songs, the theme from Matlock, the theme from Law and Order, Idle Thumbs recording processes, the awesome folks in the Thumbs community, Idle Chums, keeping fish alive, letting fish die Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Important If True 45: Wax house, baby. In the first Important If True recorded in the new year, we put our fresh reality through its paces. Kick the tires a bit. Ask the questions that really matter in 2018. Questions like: Is the saxophone cool, or is it too real to be cool? If your coworker starts wearing puka shell necklaces as self-flagellating conversion therapy, is he still a bro? And if you become trapped in a fictitious world of your own design, will a Wikipedia editor ask for a citation? Only one thing’s for sure: it’s a wax house, baby—we all just live in it. Discussed: 2018, Nick's Halloween Dreams, the unappreciated coolness of saxophones, psychic neural infiltration, explicit dream roasting, the Wikipedia page for the 2005 film "House of Wax", the internet sabotage long game, "Wax House, Baby", shared fictitious realities, Agloe, New York, Snakes on a Plane, the fractal-like world of online ersatz cheap brand creation and marketing, becoming an accidental bro, Pavlovian anti-bro enforcement methods, climbing out of your bro-hole with a ladder made of bones, rare Domino's Pizza Rolex watch, Nutcracker barfees, horrible barfing Nutcracker toy Send us your questions at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Chris' Endorsement: Getting a huge hard drive (like this massive 3TB drive I bought) for way cheaper than you'd think, and putting all your crap on it while experiencing a nostalgia trip Jake's Endorsement: Wizard Jam, the semiannual Idle Thumbs community game jam. Check out The Garfing Garfo because it is strange and surprising, and The World Begins With You because it is beautiful Nick's Endorsement: "HQ Trivia is a Harbinger of Dystopia", Ian Bogost's deep dive into the strange trivia game HQ; and "If You Run This Profile, We're Fire Our Host", a completely unhinged interview with the CEO of HQ Trivia Sponsored by: Quip electric toothbrushes with $10 off your first brush head refill Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Twin Peaks Rewatch 20: The Black Widow We all understand that Twin Peaks is a sometimes surreal, sometimes absurdist series about a small town full of eccentric people, that comments on the soap opera and serialized TV show formats, but, while that is very aggressively true this week, the whole thing feels off and wrong. Join us as we discuss "The Black Widow," an out of place episode of Twin Peaks, in our weekly examination of the complete run of the show. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Subscribe to the RSS Feed Subscribe on iTunes Episode 21 Pre-Discussion Thread Catching up? Listen to the Rewatch archive.

Idle Weekend August 18, 2017: Sleepovers, Prey Tell? In this fine installment of Idle Weekend, we get really excited about (GOTY) Prey, the finest damned immersive sim this side of the solar system. Rob has finished it, and we spoil the hell out of the ending. We also talk about fun sleepover games: the games of our younger years that we enjoyed on an all-night basis with buddies. It's a very happy episode of idle Weekend! Prey Spoilers! Discussed: D&D, Donkey Kong Country, Perfect Dark, Sonic 3, Prey, BioShock 2, Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Dark Knight Rises, Jane the Virgin, WWE, Lucha Libre, Dunkirk, Atomic Blonde, On the Move (autobiography by Oliver Sacks) Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Twin Peaks Rewatch 32: The Missing Pieces As a followup to our Fire Walk With Me discussion, this week we share our thoughts on the Missing Pieces deleted and extended scenes from the Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery Blu-ray set. Plus, we delve deep into listener opinions and theories on Fire Walk With Me! Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Subscribe to the RSS Feed Subscribe on iTunes Catching up? Listen to the Rewatch archive.Also as said at the end of the episode, next week is a mix of discussing listener mail about Twin Peaks as a whole, along with listener recommendations for additional supplementary materials to read/watch/etc. So send in your thoughts and recommendations to [email protected]! It'll likely be our last episode until the new season starts up!

Important If True 39: Organoids and the Human Mini-Brains Join us for a very special Important If True, as we celebrate the season by giving thanks. Thanks for treasured relics from childhoods long passed, for new creations from Boston Dynamics, and for the gift of humanity itself—at least for a little while longer. Along the way, we'll answer pressing questions, like: Is a clumsy and dubiously-sentient cube of metal your friend, your enemy, or a citizen of Saudi Arabia? Who will triumph in the inevitable conflict between backflipping robots and totally ripped biojackers? And if a podcaster falls in an empty forest, do their metrics reflect an uptick in engagement? Discussed: Thanksgiving, how holidays are good but terrible, Jake's cursed Pizza Hut lamp, childhood arcade memories, trolling by eBay seller, Boston Dynamics robots SpotMini and Atlas, the slow-brewing robot revolution, Back at it Again at Krispy Kreme, Saudi Arabia granting citizenship to a robot, C-3PO's implied humanity relative to R2-D2, Rian Johnson (director of three upcoming Star Wars movies), Star Trek's Data being fitted with an emotion chip, Star Wars' R2-D2 being fitted with a speech chip, CRISPR-enabled genetic biohacking, totally ripped farm animals, injecting yourself to get totally ripped, the cyberpunkiest cyberpunk shit, Josiah Zayner, super-ripped biojacker CRISPR dudes, swiping CRISPR biojackers on Tinder, "Human Mini-Brains Growing Inside Rat Bodies Are Starting to Integrate," getting clever-girled by thirty ripped pigs, Warner Bros. Presents the Animal Farm Cinematic Universe, Planet of the Apes But Far Stupider Than Anything You Could Have Possibly Imagined, drugged out rat hippies with human brains, Organoids and the Human Mini-Brains (Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg), the ethics of growing mini-brains, an experience of self that only exists while podcasting, having no meaning except that which others see in you, Nick Breckon Send us your questions at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Jake's Endorsement: The Good Place (Amazon, iTunes) Nick's Endorsement: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (in theaters now) Chris' Endorsement: Cheap reusable plastic food containers for leftovers, taking lunch to work, and so on Additional music by: Ross Budgen Sponsored by: Warby Parker prescription glasses home try-on, Grammarly grammar-advising browser extension Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Important If True 38: The Terrible Power of Knowledge Things are starting to come together. Everything is clicking into place. But somehow…it's not adding up. The more you understand, the less sense it all makes. Fortunately, we're here to help, so ask away. For instance: Why is the number 314 omnipresent, and what does it have to do with Stephen Hawking? Can anything stop honey magnate Ray Liotta's dogged pursuit of fast food endorsement deals? And how do you convince the Taco Bell drive-through guy that you're secretly a lascivious weedlord? All this and more. Listen in. Discussed: bits and squeezes, the number 314, a delicious hoisting, Stephen Hawking, 17-hour ghosts, Benford's law, delusional self-conceptions, The Power of Books, engineering problems for children, knowledge as power, a very bad Steve Jobs joke, some other bullshit about numbers or something probably, Hawaiian shirts, children being cursed by inappropriate gifts, Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers dressing like Magnum P.I. and Indiana Jones, inadvertently cultivating a visual motif in your home, separating the owl wheat from the owl chaff, the psychic toll of gift-giving, the stupid mall and all the stupid little stores in it, fancy-ass letterpress blank greeting cards from the frou-frou greeting card store, cash, state quarters, $2 bills, Steve Wozniak's perforated $2 bills, inadvertently cultivating a reputation as a late-night Taco Bell lascivious weedlord, cultivating a network of useless contacts, Ray Liotta's food empire, Bee Movie, the apostasy of Colonel Sanders, Foodfight!, Ray Liotta's two olives Send us your questions at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Jake's Endorsement: Pentametron, iambic pentameter-seeking Twitter bot Nick's Initial Really Frivolous Endorsement: Using cheap plastic squeeze bottles for your olive oil and other kitchen staples Nick's Endorsement: Deriving holiday gift ideas based on what the recipient might be missing from their past life, such as shipping frozen lake perch to your former Michigander parents Chris' Endorsement: Taking the time and effort to spatchcock and roast a whole chicken: butterflying the bird, dry brining the chicken a day or two ahead of time, roasting the chicken, using a meat thermometer to avoid overcooking (great but pricey Thermapen, less pricey mid-range option, cheaper alternative), making stock out of the leftover carcass and meat bits Sponsored by: Warby Parker prescription glasses with free home try-on, Quip electric toothbrushes with $10 off your first brush head refill Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Weekend June 22, 2018: The Sensitive Badass Type We consider a favorite archetype of ours in sci-fi: the sensitive badass! Rob and Danielle talk gender in sci-fi, the ways in which Farscape and the Expanse rock our socks, and why Thor is a whole lot more awesome than Guardians of the Galaxy. Discussed: The Expanse, John Wick, Farscape, Thor: Ragnarok, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2, Black Panther, Edge of Tomorrow, Sicario, Uncharted series, Uncharted 2, Uncharted: Lost Legacy, Hitman, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Twin Peaks Rewatch 28: The Path to the Black Lodge This week on Twin Peaks the darkness that permeates the town is felt with a potency we haven't seen in a long time, and Windom Earle is on occasion the actual vicious, driven, and brilliant villain we have been told so much about, but it's all still in service of a spooky treasure map found in a haunted cave. Points for trying, but we may be too little too late at this point. Two weeks until the finale! Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Subscribe to the RSS Feed Subscribe on iTunes Episode 29 Pre-Discussion Thread Catching up? Listen to the Rewatch archive.

Twin Peaks Rewatch 24: The Condemned Woman Pine weasel or no, Ben Horn's wishes that Twin Peaks remain pure and unspoiled are too little, too late. We're way past that. So far past it that people's heads are transforming into furniture, that the villains are so interchangeable even the characters themselves can barely tell each other apart, that someone seems to die once a week and nobody cares. Welcome to Twin Peaks' 24th episode, "The Condemned Woman." Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Subscribe to the RSS Feed Subscribe on iTunes Episode 25 Pre-Discussion Thread Catching up? Listen to the Rewatch archive.

Twin Peaks Rewatch 17: Arbitrary Law An episode of parlor rooms and connecting dots brings some huge stories to a close, but might wrap things up with too neat a bow. It's time for "Arbitrary Law," the 17th episode of Twin Peaks in our complete rewatch of the series. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Subscribe to the RSS Feed Subscribe on iTunes Episode 18 Pre-Discussion ThreadCatching up? Listen to the Rewatch archive.

Twin Peaks Rewatch 6: Cooper's Dreams It is time for a few small-but-potent character scenes, a lot of questions answered with even more questions, and a surprising number of meticulously blocked hero shots of the Sheriff's department, in week six of our re-examination of Twin Peaks. Join us (and the many helpful readers who shared their thoughts) in our discussion of episode 6: Cooper's Dreams. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Subscribe to the RSS Feed Subscribe on iTunes Episode 7 Pre-Discussion ThreadCatching up? Listen to the Rewatch archive.

FWIW we do actually try to talk about our projects a lot, just not on our own podcasts. We're still planning on blogging about the development process etc., without any real change.

Twin Peaks Rewatch 1: Pilot It's the first episode of Twin Peaks Rewatch, a podcast revisiting each episode of Twin Peaks one week at a time! This week we kick off the show with our thoughts on Twin Peaks' pilot episode, directed by David Lynch, and run through some fantastic letters from readers at home. Whether you're new to Twin Peaks or a longtime fan, join us, we're just getting started. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Subscribe to the RSS Feed Subscribe on iTunes Episode 2 Pre-Discussion Thread

Idle Weekend April 1, 2018: Hot 'n' Cold On this belated episode of Idle Weekend (Danielle is sorry for the wait), we discuss the things that really just do it for us—and the alternative, the games that leave us cold. It’s a very hot and cold weekend here, just like real life! Sort of! Discussed: The Division, Surviving Mars, Black Maps: The American Landscape and the Apocalyptic Sublime, Into the Breach, The Martian, Tropico, Star Trek, Dude Watching with the Brontes - Hark, a Vagrant!, Daniel Ortberg’s Texts from Jane Eyre, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Goodfellas, The Punisher, Bringing Out the Dead, Legion Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Yeah but you can just "hone" it, you don't have to "hone in on" it. It's already what "hone" means.

I don't even know, I've never watched him either. I just know he's kind of a professional youtube idiot?

That was one of my favorite moments as well. An excellent and true observation.