James

Speaking of Rebel FM, I'll listen to the Game Club episodes if they're on something I'm interested in. It was quite interesting to hear some impressions on Half-Life 2 and the episodes in that format. I generally don't bother with the main show any more, though.

They're all pretty good, and I particularly like The Wizard, but my favourite has to be A Letter to Edge, if only for the brilliant ending. It may be a silly pun, but in such an unexpected musical context it affects me in a weird way I can't properly express. That's probably tragic.

I second the suggestion that we arrange some sort of prior method of identification for the pre-Show and Yell thing. I find it awkward enough looking for friends I've known for most of my life in a pub, let alone STRANGE INTERFOLK. Also, I've put in a silly amount of extra hours this week, which either means I'll be able to leave early and get there in good time, or my workload is horrible and unrealistic and I'll have to stay late and miss the whole bloody thing. Anyway, should we be exchanging phone numbers to aid location or am I overthinking this? Possibly no-one. When will you be getting there? I'll try to get in pretty early to make the most of it, but I make no promises. But yeah, anyone else who wants to meet up on Saturday please speak up or send someone a PM or something. Nevsky seems to be around but without a ticket for the day (if I understand his earlier post correctly), so perhaps we could meet him in a pub for a bit if he so desires. Is there any formally planned Thumb activity that day?

Nick Bethesdon Nick Bregone

It's set to go from 21:00 - 23:00 British time, adjusting for daylight savings (so BST in the summer and GMT in the winter). It should also determine the DST status of all the other selectable cities, so it should still be accurate, but I'm relying entirely on in-built (or at least pre-built) functions so I can't vouch for their accuracy. Then again, they're probably more reliable than anything I could throw together. I say we stick with 21:00 - 23:00 UK time for L4D and GTA, since other timezones seem to adjust for DST at roughly the same time, give or take a couple of weeks. Then again, I'm sure we're all open to any objections anyone might have.

It's funny, for ages I'd assumed you were a Thumb and I just didn't remember what your board name was. Evidently I don't keep track of things very well.

Idle Thumbs has lengthened my lifespan by two years but lowered my average quality of life by 70%.

It's missing "Rod King" (and "Breckong" and "Remog", but that's forgiveable).

I will electronically befriend ANY THUMB. It's always a good idea to include some sort of indication of how you know a person before requesting e-friendship, of course. I occasionally get blank friend requests on my PS3 and it is AWKWARD and AWFUL. Generally that's a case of mistaken identify, though. DON'T WORRY, I STILL LOVE YOU Concerning L4D2 demo on Tuesday: I am very up for this, but what is the policy on feeling bad about all the collateral damage to our regular GTA session? I want to regulate myself to the officially sanctioned level of guilt.

CONCERNING THE LAST BOSS: I prefer to think of as the last boss. That might not make much sense, but it seems more in keeping with the feel of the game as a whole, while being a bit different and dramatic maybe. NOT CONCERNING THE LAST BOSS: How many times do they do that birds-eye-view of a character nearly falling down a big hole? Of those, how many involve another person grabbing and-or pulling the first person up? It kind of loses some of the drama after a while.

But where do I get my conscience-sating free points? I want a wizard posse, dammit!

It turns out my real-life friends left getting tickets TOO LATE and as such won't be able to come, so if anyone wants to hang around with some bloody Internet guy on the Saturday IN AN EXTENDED CAPACITY perhaps they should let me know and we can have a day of horrible awkwardness. Or I can just go around on my own and not have to worry about other people's interests. Either is fine.

Don't forget the awesome trailer. That trailer is the absolute best.

On the Saturday, sure, but it sounds like everyone is going on the Friday, when I'm working during the day.

If I remember correctly, I went right because that guy seemed the nearest, and possibly more well-lit than the guys on the left. Not that the latter should be a deciding factor, but I think it may have been. Incidentally, the Fistful of Thumbs suggestion reminded me of the title of an early Edgar Wright film I've never seen.

;(CATASTROPHIC SUCK;( Was it those Borderlands forums guys? Did they intimidate you into hiding? DON'T GO! In all seriousness, you guys are great, and are HARMING THE WORLD BY TAKING THIS AWAY. Have fun making peace with that. (That wasn't actually all seriousness.) CONGRATULATIONS to Nick for the new job, and CONGRATULATIONS to all of you for having been awesome. Whether you will continue to be awesome remains to be seen. Know that I will always be judging you, you cold gaze assessing your every action. Actually I won't, because I don't really read much games stuff so if you don't find yourselves some audiovisual content to be in I'll probably do the exact opposite of following what you're up to. Fuck it, I can't write posts. Thanks for what you did, sorry to miss what you will no longer. Also, perhaps they can't continue because Nick is moving or something. That sometimes happens. Or maybe he'll be busy. Maybe that's why H. Scoops doesn't join them more often, and couldn't be a permanent replacement. Maybe baboo. EDIT: a) Murdoc said a bunch of that last stuff. Whilst long-distance podcasts can be good, they're never as good, and I think a lot of what I personally enjoy about Idle Thumbs seems like it would depend on the immediacy of being in the same room. I sound like I'm trying to discourage continued Thumbsing, which is ridiculous, but I do understand that sometimes things change, and sometimes that causes other things to change, or to end. I must be some sort of superhuman genius to work that one out.

I made a thing! I've just noticed that it's not behaving how I expected it too, though. It's meant to stop saying "game in progress" at 11 pm. Weird.

Grand Thumbs Auto sessions would never be the same again. Jesus, it would be the absolute best.

They had a next-gen filter in the original too, except I think it put bloom into overdrive. I may be mis-remembering that.

Brilliant!

Hey, since you're in charge or some sort of content bollocks now, can you fast-track Nazi Drew and the Case of the Missing Jews?

Because each side is so much stupider than the other.

Yeah, I'm really liking this game (even more than the first), but the cover system is still a bit fiddly. There have been several moments where I've sworn at Drake for taking cover in ridiculous places rather than sensible ones, or refusing to take cover somewhere apparently identical to other places where he can. On the whole it's good, though. Dear Santa, For Christmas all I want is not to suck at all games any more. You don't even have to get me any toys or anything. Lots of love, Jake

Shit. If it were free I would have proposed a wizard posse.

Shit, my condolences. Hopefully it's not terminal.