Chris

I'm very surprised you think that. I suppose it depends what you mean by "a desire to do so and a sufficient amount of time." Given broad enough parameters, that could certainly be true, but I think for most people, especially given how few people actually complete ANY given game, no matter how much easier than Cuphead, I would definitely not share your expectation.

I think one reason people consider Cuphead's difficulty worthy of frequent mention is because of the KIND of difficulty it is. It's difficult in an old-school platformer way--games like Spelunky or Dark Souls are "hard" but when you understand the system very well, you can adapt to new difficulties you haven't yet encountered in a fairly intuitive way. That's true to some extent with Cuphead, as with any game with repeating systems, but a lot of it really comes down to learning specific patterns and practicing specific reactions to specific bosses again and again until you get it right. Some people love this but I think to a lot of people (including myself to a large extent) the part of it that's "hard" looms larger than the part of it that is "interestingly challenging." I do not consider Cuphead to be "interestingly challenging" for the most part, so when I'm talking about its difficulty, the "difficult" part is what's emphasized more than the depth or whatever else.

It is very difficult. I totally appreciate that for some people it might not be, but I think by any reasonable standard relative to most video games, it's very hard. I'm pretty good at games like this and I found it often to be exhaustingly tough. I'm sure there are plenty of people for whom no version of this game would present much challenge (you may be such a person!) but I would never tell a random person that this isn't a difficult game, because I imagine that statistically, that would probably not be true in their case.

There are definitely a lot of online sketch group people who have gone on to pretty robust television careers, just not in literally transferring to a televised sketch show. Donald Glover is a big example of that; I first knew him years ago because he was part of the Derrick online comedy sketch group. And Rachel Bloom made her name on YouTube before getting to make Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Yeah that tracks, but exists outside of the context of Cuphead specifically. That's totally fair!

That's really great. I wish though that the article were somewhat more specific about the preferable ugly reality he would rather the game (or other similar modern works) exhibit. I'm not saying this because I think it's his responsibility to have to figure that out, only because he says a few times in the article that it would be better to admit the flawed past than to sanitize it. I assume that doesn't mean he would rather Cuphead traffick in historically accurate racial stereotypes, but it's not entirely clear to me what the specific alternative he's calling for is.

Yeah the number of times this has happened is crushing. Similarly, we talked a bunch about Kevin Spacey's character in The Usual Suspects on the previous episode, which was recorded several days before the news came out about him. Every time it's a bummer as our episode goes out right as the big news is breaking.

Haha, thank you. This was a fun edit for sure.

Something True 2: Class Clowns What is history's greatest prank? There's the intimate—perching a bucket of water over the door. And the grandly ambitious—say, humiliating an entire navy. These are some good pranks indeed. But history's greatest prank was something much stranger... and much darker. Read a full transcript of this episode on the Something True website. Follow Something true on Twitter @atruepodcast. (Or just follow Duncan and Alex.) Music on this week’s episode: Jahzzar – Roads that Burned our Boots* Jahzzar – Railroad’s Whiskey Co* Josh Woodward – Water in the Creek* Alialujah Choir – After All* Abunai! – Dreaming of Light* Josh Woodward – Crazy Glue* *modified for the podcast. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

FWIW in my case at least it wasn’t physical strain, I just think anything in a game that is so frequent it’s essentially constant, but still requires ongoing player input, is basically redundant and maybe should be rethought.

Yeah lots of them do! Slippers and robes. Most hotels understandably prohibit you from taking the robe because those are laundered and reused, but slippers are generally discarded anyway and considered expendible. Since my wife likes them, I’m always sure to take them home. They’re a fun souvenir of the places I or we have been. Because they're disposable, they generally only last a few months before falling apart, so it’s handy to have extra lying around.

Important If True 34: This is Celebrity Explainer Can cold spaghetti enable your rise as a charismatic cult leader? How do you outrun your own 17-hour-tape-delayed ghost? How do you fight your homeowner's association? The world is confusing. Fortunately, each week, there's one source to which you can turn: WikiHow. Discussed: Botnik Writer, Celebrity Explainer, eating cold spaghetti, mundane perception-alternate events, becoming a highly captivating charismatic cult leader, Roy Batty in Blade Runner, modern technology enabling you to relive your boring life forever, Mom's Spaghetti, a very well-known meme, encountering your own ghost, avoiding your own ghost, l'esprit de l'escalier, watching your own failures forever, Disney Channel Original Film "Me and My Ghost Pal", your own stupid subjective myopic experience, cutting parsley, generating associative memories, X-Acto knives, freeing yourself from bad associations, excellent WikiHow illustrations: How to Fight Your Homeowner Association, How to Break a Habit, How to Prepare Parsley, How to Escape a 17-and-a-half Hour Time Loop, Crown Records Management: The Power of Memory, The Truman Show but with a weird ghost version of you, The Game but the point is to make you eat McDonald's, Jones Pontiac Oldsmobile & Plymouth of Topeka, How to Avoid Encounters with Ghosts and the Paranormal, dreams Send us your questions at questions@importantiftrue.com. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Nick's Endorsement: Exercising with a pull-up bar in your home, and not doing crunches because they hurt your terrible old back Chris' Endorsement: The underappreciated Martin Scorsese dark comedy The King of Comedy (Amazon, iTunes) Jake's Endorsement: The dark Garfield art spiral of famed illustrator Olly Moss 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 Thumbs BONUS: Ruination Online October 2017 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 the first week of November! Discussed: Curb Your Enthusiasm, what we're doing with our lives, our favorite robot friend, memorable convention experiences, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, gaming peripherals, video game packaging, The Mystery of the Druids' amazing cover art, Dishonored Halloween, old-timey costumes, F/M/K, systemically-generated narrative, Firewatch, questions we won't answer, well-known movies we haven't seen, autotuned karaoke, living in Maryland, dealing with consumers, Jeff Goldblum, considering your unquestioned poisonous views 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

I have, and I remember the general sensation of being overpowered by the labyrinthine complexities of time travel as presented in the film, but I don't remember a lot of detailed specifics.

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

Wow, that is one hell of an unprestigious award.

Windows 95, I think. It's definitely one of the classic 90s-era Windows startup sounds made by Brian Eno, as I recall.

Idle Thumbs BONUS: Ruination Online September 2017 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 this very week! Discussed: virtual reality, augmented reality, being replaced by androids, traveling, candy, the Kit Kat for assholes, moving, choice moist hoistings, bad apartments, inscrutable communication, funny domain names, imposter syndrome, video game sophistication distinctions, Idle Thumbs Patreon postcard update, Kraft products, keeping journals, The West Wing: The Video Game, The Shitty Wizard: The Video Game, inadvertent hoistings by way of generosity Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Nope, that entire park didn’t even exist when Nick was that age!

Omg, amazing

It's an appliance; I've never bought any large appliance when I've rented an apartment. In addition to never buying a fridge, I've never bought an oven or a dishwasher or a garbage disposal or a washing machine or anything else like that. All of those things could suck. I don't really have a good answer for what happens if they do, I guess. If they're actually busted though, I'd contact the landlord.

Idle Weekend September 15, 2017: Use It or Lose It Idle Weekend is back! After a too-long lapse where PAX happened and we all worked too much, Rob and Danielle return to what they know best: talking about Star Trek, Farscape, and immersive sims. After a riveting discussion of criminally under-utilized licenses in games and the new Dishonored, they open a heavy mailbag and an especially exciting discussion of weekend projects. Discussed: Battlestar Galactica Deadlock, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek (TOS), Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Farscape, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Guy Fieri, Wonder Woman, Vienna Blood: A Max Lieberman novel, The Sheriff of Babylon, Starfighter (comic) Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Same. Over the years, Thumbs has gotten more challenging in that regard for me as, despite being s video game developer, I’m definitely less generally immersed in and aware of everything going on in games, so I have to try a lot harder to maintain those connections. That said, IIT is easily the most difficult podcast I’ve ever done. (Which I know is ridiculous because it’s so stupid.) Although Thumbs being so hyper focused one one topic presents its own challenges, those limits do simplify things. With IIT, on the other hand, every topic can theoretically be connected to any other topic, which can be paralyzing. I actually have to prep a bit for IIT, which I never have for Thumbs (aside from making sure I’ve played something). The show always turns out better when we each have some ideas in mind, even though we don’t share them with each other ahead of time. Not bringing up video games isn’t a challenge because I just don’t think about it either way—if it comes up, great; if not, great. The challenge is thinking of unexpected shit across all axes as much as possible. Also same.

Important If True 28: It Will Not Be Reused You probably think you're pretty smart. Well, Einstein, chew on this: If a tree falls in an empty forest in an empty universe, does it make a virtual sound? Is Colonel Sanders really a powerful sorcerer? And, if so, can he bid Chuck E. Cheese robots carry out his every whim? Open your mind, and destroy all your preconceptions. They will not be reused. Discussed: KFC virtual reality training program, Burger King Subservient Chicken, "Keep fucking that chicken", real magic, Chuck E. Cheese Concept Unification video, Chuck E. Cheese animatronic eradication, living robots imbued with life by a malevolent stage magician, immortal Colonel Sanders, The Giant Children's Food Brand Wars of the 1970s, ketchup, catsup (ugh), your every decision being constantly questioned, your constantly-questioning AI monitor reinforcing your stupid self-absorbed worldview, the eternal questioner Colonel Sanders ruling your consciousness, the creation of a perfect universe simulation, infinite universe recursion, dying within the machine, a tree falling in an empty forest in an empty universe, the most hubristic hoisting of all, the end of Men in Black, The Matrix 2, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl Send us your questions at questions@importantiftrue.com. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Nick's Endorsement: "The Katering Show" YouTube series Jake's Endorsement: Keeping the wiring in your entertainment center or computer desk clean with double-sided velcro and a cable zipper Chris' Endorsement: Getting a decent point and shoot camera (I got a Canon G9X and like it), and learning a bit about how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO work to help take better photos and understand your camera Jake's Extra Post-Chris Endorsement: Apps to help take better phone photos, like Halide for iOS Sponsored by: Warby Parker prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses home try-on, Tales of Miir weekly fantasy saga Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes