Irishjohn

For video games, I really like the Giant Bombcast and the extremely awesome Retronauts at 1up.com. If you like sports outside the major American pastimes but don't live in England, listen to the Fighting Talk podcast. It's like an audio version of Around The Horn, except it's really good. Funny stuff.

I once attended a mostly legal house party in Sheffield that was cut short by an angry middle aged Irishman with what appeared to be a large tree branch. He then used said tree branch to attack the Metallica-inspired band that had set up shop in the living room. It was a really entertaining moment.

I was in stitches listening to this story in the podcast, and it actually hurts to watch it because it's so funny. Also, car defence. Sir, could you please back up! I guess the "I am punching a dude" sound effects are a vital part of kung fu technique.

Hello Thumbs, I'm looking for a little advice. My girlfriend has a DS but is a good example of what marketing types see as a "casual gamer". She really likes the Brain Age games and New Super Mario Bros, but that's the limit of her experience with video games. She commented recently that she hasn't played her DS in a while and I was thinking of getting her one of the Professor Layton games. I haven't touched them but I've heard mostly good things. What do you guys think, an appropriate present? In the interest of making this more interesting as a thread, what games in general do you guys think are good for introducing to people that don't play all that much?

I traded my PSP in with a ton of games, and it helped me get enough scratch together to buy a PS3! I hadn't even touched it in forever. If you can get one cheap, there are cool games out there. Ultimately I stopped playing my PSP because I couldn't afford to get games for it after I'd bought games for other consoles. Also, the battery life (though improved these days) is iffy and the load times (on certain games) will drive you mad. Might drive you mad. After saying ALL of that... if I had the cash I could be talked into owning one again. Decent system.

I started playing Dungeons and Dragons 4E over the summer. I'd never played a tabletop game before. Lots of fun. 4E is clearly video game influenced anyway though.

The first game provides some of my fonder memories of once owning a PSP. This second one seems like it could be a bunch of fun, even to relatively Marvel-ignorant people like myself. The first one was, and I knew even less then!

Thanks lads, good advice from everyone! I'm going to go ahead and get her the first game. Sounds like I'll be looking to play it when she's done.

I was always tempted to go out and grab a copy of Steel Battalion, insane controller and all (probably because of the insane controller). I kind of wish I'd had your crazy arcade installation experiences, but I can't even get my head around the finer points of Chromehounds.

If I made a list it would be short. Which is a bit depressing. I just finished Batman: Arkham Asylum. I spent the entire game wondering what the big deal was all about. I was having fun, but my mind wasn't being blown away IGN.com or anything. On reflection, now that it's over, I realise that the game involved a lot of elements from different game types and did all of them very well. The game was really exceptional in its execution. The story was pretty good too; I imagine if I was a Batman fan I would have gone nuts, though for all I know the game could be rubbish in the eyes of fans up on the fiction. I play games so frequently that are fun at the time but fade from memory exceptionally quickly (both Gears of War games did this for me). It's a rare and cool experience to look back on a game and realise after the event just how much you enjoyed it.

I agree, Steam is wonderful. I agree, Steam is a curse. GOG offers a similarly troubling service. Here's a very truncated backlog of mine: Far Cry 2 Knights of the Old Republic Tales of Monkey Island, Episodes One AND Two Mount and Blade Fallout (original) Messiah Resident Evil 5 Mirror's Edge and.... S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (I played quite a bit of it, but want to go back) Saint's Row 2. Same deal as STALKER. I get sick of typing full stops.

Ah well, in my defence I got sidetracked, I didn't quite quit it. So, I'm more like the heartless jerk who fools around behind his wife's back with other games, always planning to come back. Kinda.

I played STALKER for a couple of weeks almost a year ago. I love that game. LOVE it. I got to a point where I was stuck though, and didn't really get any further. Got sidetracked by other games. I made very little inroads into the main storyline actually, just did a whole bunch of side quest stuff. I've never had as much fun with side quests as I had with STALKER.

I have re-downloaded/re-installed Far Cry 2 yet again and will probably actually play it this time. I can see how the game would be annoying but I really want to get into the open world nature of it all. I really liked S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Games with a reputation for being intensely difficult fill me with horror. I bought and paid for Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox years ago and didn't play it for two days.

I am extremely happy this post exists. I have a similar craving for more Caped Crusader reading material.

It seems the meet-up was really fantastic! More meet-ups is an awesome idea. I want to meet more Thumbs in person!

It's a too obvious answer perhaps, but I'd offer Ninja Gaiden. It's probably the only game I've stuck with to try and learn my way through. While saying that, there is a bit of a "knack" to it. Maybe knacks rule games out of this discussion.

Magic missile... I started playing D&D a few weeks ago and I continuously call out "the wizard". The guy that plays the wizard doesn't listen to Idle Thumbs, nor does anyone else in the group.

Argh, my ignorance of a world beyond philosophy and history is exposed once again! I assumed that the book wasn't a reference to Michel Foucault, but I didn't realise it was an actual thing.

Yes, sir. The Commodore 64 was awesome.

I have great memories of playing the original King's Quest with my dad, and branching out to Space Quest. My first experience though was playing the various games available on the Atari 2600 with my uncles. Particularly Combat.

I had a kind of negative reaction to the title of the book. Anyone who has spent longer than a couple of weeks in graduate school studying a humanities topic has in one way been exposed to Foucault, and develops strong feelings about him one way or the other. I can't stand him. Nothing to do with the novels though. I might check one out. I also want to read that interview where he answers the question on Dan Brown, that was pretty funny.

The MIDI Star Wars music in the first minute of that video alone makes it worth watching!

Hey Chris, what about the loyal listeners who actually turned up (i.e. miraculously had phone service in the convention centre) at Blizzcon? Where are our PC codes? Eh, joking aside, this is the year I should have gone to PAX. I know the thumbs will have fantastic fun. I hope there are more meet-ups in the future. I started reading the forums after the small meet-up in Blizzcon, and it's a cool way for everyone to get to know each other better.