Xeneth

Does anybody else get a weird disjointed prerecorded female voice saying random numbers and generic error phrases when they call 55WIZARDNO? Is that just a sound byte you guys put up to dissuade those not in the know? If so, well played Thumbs. I allowed my suede to be dissed!

I wasn't kidding at all when I said my MIND EXPLODED. I found out about that through some random Kotaku or DToid link to an article on Nintendo Everything at work and I couldn't TALK for several minutes. Took a lot cajoling from my coworkers to get in on it, (thank God for working at game companies) I imagine I had some sort of Miyamoto look pasted on my face the whole time:

Agreed that they seem to trend toward "realistic" interpretations of their earlier designs when given higher fidelity toys to play with... Wasn't there a Yoshi's Island follow-up on the N64 that was supposed to be like a giant pop-up book? I never got around to playing that one... On the subject of Nintendo being like an amazing secret society of Geniuses with almost Illuminati-level secret crap going on: You all know the sounds the GameCube made on the boot menu, right? Someone went and sped that up... A LOT... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yERFiXhqX9A It's the fucking song from the famicom disk drive boot screen WTF MIND BLOWN!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_q_CydI_Jw&feature=related What really gets me is that they don't really talk about this kind of stuff. Some audio engineer or team had enough unilateral control over something to just DO IT, and they were perfectly content to just smile to themselves about it for years... Unbelievable. What other gems have they slipped by us?! Those Iwata Asks articles are perhaps our best bet for finding more amazing shite out, need to keep an eye on those.

I tend to enjoy Manga with a bit more depth than the anime that tends to be based on it, but your mileage may vary... I think the sense of time and timing works so much better on the page, where the ambiguity of "panel space" works so much better in the stories the Japanese media industry likes to tell. Best example I can think of would be the way a LOT of introspection can take place in a split second of "panel space", as opposed to the internal monologues taking a few minutes on the screen lending to a sense of "Are they really just standing there talking to themselves in between blows"? I'd actually be very interested to hear about more anime projects that AREN'T based directly on a manga actually. The only thing that springs to mind is Evangelion (Manga offerings are based on anime, inverse relationship). Any debate on this score can be compared to the novels vs. Hollywood movie debate, the parity is fairly high. Smart partakers probably find ways to enjoy both interpretations of a story for their own strengths. That said, the manga that I am consistently mocked for enjoying was Chobits... CLAMP's stuff is blindingly girl and romance-centric, but I feel like Chobits really stood out with it's male protagonist that wasn't hyper effeminate and technology/sci-fi themes. Usually CLAMP stuff is very fantasy and their male characters are all Bishonen. I wish they'd do more in the vein, because their linework and toning is really quite nice.

Gawker knows better than to eff with the Idle Thumbs community. Glad they got that sorted!

Yeah, the issue is definitely not with sensing movement so much as keeping the LRF support intact. (Leetle teflon feets daaaaw)

I can attest to the various mentions of Razer being quality with regards to a gaming mouse, I've been using a Lachesis for about a year now and I know a lot of PC gamers that swear by this or that iteration of their lineup. They seem to have a model that fits just about everyone's needs at this point. I've heard some less enthusiastic stuff about Razer's other, non-mouse products though... Had to chime in regarding Logitech- They seem to be really hit and miss these days with regards to longevity. I used to have an old MX500 gaming mouse that survived for years with no problems, but prior to getting my current mouse the Logitech MXRevolution died twice on me in six months. Some other Logitech peripherals at work and belonging to friends and coworkers have been breaking down surprisingly quickly too. Logitech is always really good about replacing these things when they die, mind you... But the survivability seems to be getting lower. Logitech mice have always performed well for me functionality-wise, they just break more easily than Razer mice.

I disagree with the tone and metaphysics, but I'm always surprised that most people didn't notice these themes:

Aha! You're so right... Any "game" that's more than 50% CREATING STUFF doesn't have a "player's guide" so much as a freaking advanced tutorial/manual. As against hint books as I tend to be, you'd better believe I had the Mario Paint Player's Guide! ...Does anyone else remember the section of that guide that showed you how to time and dub your own Mario Paint visuals over music videos onto VHS using two VCRs? Holy hell, I had forgotten about that.

Is my primary reason for wanting to slap that second guy kinda weird? Here, lemme lay some Xeneth-vision on ya: There's something that just GETS ME about picking the player's guide up alongside the game... On a logical level I know that: You get a discount on the guide for doing that There's multiplayer/strategy stuff in there that's less hint/map/cheat and more experiential Sometimes there's good concept art or development notes in there too Some developers hide easter eggs so well that it's unreasonable to try and find them without a guide (here's looking at you, SquEnix!) A guy with willpower could refer to it only on the second playthrough or as needed ...But, on some emotional gamer level I can't help but nerd rage: "You're not even going to TRY to figure anything about the game out on your own? Are you playing those or are they playing YOU?!"

Keep at it! It IS a large, amorphous area to cover and you could take it in a lot of different directions, but this is just the sort of thing we need more of in the world- Examples of the effect gaming has on people translating into more tangible accounts and reports the likes of which non-gamers and future generations could potentially cite or reference. I worry sometimes that our whole sub-sub culture could easily be a generational "fad" if we fail to document the elements of it in ways that are relevant to people outside of the phenomenon... Encouraging words aside, I have strong early memories of blocking out entirely new Mario levels on huge pieces of butcher paper laid across our living room floor. When friends would try to join in, I would allow it... And inevitably chastise them for drawing things out of alignment with the existing blocks or adding a ton of one-off block types that don't repeat enough for them to realistically be in the tileset. As a kid I had already started to mentally break down how games are delivered to the screen just by observing patterns. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I feel like the TYPE of fandom that gaming generates in people seems to teach and pull them into the creative loop. Even if it's just WYSIWYG fiddling like the Halo 3 forge mode or create-a-track in excite bike... Think about how many people love reading novels, but have never tried to write one. Think about how few movie lovers attempt to make indie films. Music is the only type of media that I feel approaches a similar level of attempted audience participation in the process, and even then in my (admittedly biased) experience, gamers still manage to top musicians in pure per capita attempts at crossing the line between consumer and creator. This is amazing when you think about how complex game making is- It's pretty challenging, and involves many more cross-disciplinary skills than other forms of media. (The aforementioned musicians easily cross over into game makers when fandom inspires remixes of video game music, etc.)

Saw this in Game Informer the other day... Interesting. Way back when my Uncle and I were playing GTA 3 for the first time, I recall him saying that he'd really like to see something similar, only setting-shifted into an era of tommy guns and prohibition. It's nice to see developers driving toward intuitively appropriate settings. Is it just me, or does this sound a lot more linear than your average Rockstar-published product? Personally, I'd be down for that- The sheer number of random unrelated things to do daunted the hell out of me in GTA: San Andreas, and oftentimes the "mission option fan out and collapse" cycle of narrative gating that goes into these open world games feels quite disconnected to me. I'm intrigued by the talk of adventure game elements... For all the work that has been done lately to seamlessly integrate RPG elements into just about every other genre, I feel like it's high time to look at other "Grandfather" genres we can learn important design lessons from. I second the desire for a less "Realistic" and more "Noire" look to the art direction. I think this would be fantastic with some more expressive shaders and texturing. Picture Borderlands with all the manga and "ill-mannered whimsy" influence replaced with more of a pulp aesthetic and see how that strikes you. On the other hand, it sounds like the amount of research that went into accurately recreating LA was MASSIVE, and the way they're doing facial animation scanning sounds really groundbreaking, so I can totally understand shooting for realism given the circumstances. Painting over all that detail in the name of style would feel an awful lot like throwing away source material to some artists.

YES... Some of my favorite episodes feature Two Hot Scoops of Steve. He lends such a palpable sense of sass to the 'cast. I applaud this and any anything else you choose to cast into our grinning, upturned faces. ...yes.

Certainly experiencing withdrawals... I'll try listening from the top again, has that curbed your cravings, or does it just make you sadder? Total testament to what that podcast meant to us- That's why I did the cross-stitch, to communicate our addiction to Jake, ha ha! I had a particularly ferocious "Internal Thumbs Voice" phenomenon today when I saw this article... http://kotaku.com/5441732/mad-catz-rats-out-premium-cyborg-gaming-mice Especially considering Breckon's rat-heavy online handle!

I feel like I should be SUPER excited about this, but I fear I'm not going to have anyone to play it with... Maybe it has solo chops too? Seems like a waste if I'm just going to solo it, there are so few amazing co-op experiences... Even in this little co-op renaissance the industry seems to be having, most of the really solid multiplayer still seems to be versus-based, (or cooperate with others to beat up on another co-op team, etc.)

No PS3 socks yet? Oh well, have a Nintendo Horsebag instead I guess...

I have yet to get enchantment ganked, but then again I'm only down to floor eight or so, and I've only used the Shitty Wizard about ten times... had some misfires (Nothing happened) but no wipes yet... I'll remember what you guys said and keep backup gear on hand. I'm still on the fence when it comes to the imminent modding tools... I'm not exactly a modding wizard, but I have some ideas that I'd love to see implemented. We'll see. For me, playing this game is like putting on clothes that are still warm from the dryer for some reason, and I was never THAT deep into the Diablo games. I mean, I completed and enjoyed them, but I never really went online or drilled into it for sets or anything... Maybe the "warm fuzzy" feeling is clouding my judgment on this, but I like the story (what little of it there is) thus far. I'm not convinced that I'd react any differently to "Please vanquish these crazed creatures that threaten our way of life!" than I currently do to "Please vanquish these vile creatures that our realm might be free of evil!". So, sure- if the former would get you more into it, I'm down! I'm also down with the cliched story as it exists now though, wrapped as it is in a (masterfully) cliched fantasy steampunk world married to (brilliantly) cliched gameplay, heh heh!

I've yet to be invited to the beta, but I agree that it'll make more sense when the access isn't so limited and it's in the hands of the community at large. Personally, I plan to use it for game design documentation, provided I can restrict who can see and edit things, like GoogleDocs (My current solution). I'm assuming it'll be an option for now. I'm also hoping it handles things like images in a way that's easier to mess with, having trouble integrating concepting into the current documentation pipeline...

Idle Thumbs has subtly altered the way I speak and think... I've infected a couple of my coworkers with it at this point, and they tell me that occasionally my cadence and choice of words is sort of informed by what they know of Remo's phrasing. I've hit people over the head with Thumbs memes hard enough that they think they're Xeneth memes until I correct the situation with a link or something. I've got the internal Idle monologue effect going every time something happens to me that I think would be labeled as "funny" "amazing" or "that happened". I literally cannot hear certain words or phrases without internally hilarious side effects. ...Now that the sporadicast pacing is in effect, some of these "symptoms" may subside with time, but I felt like cementing just how compelling this endeavor can be if you're afflicted with meme sensitivity. (I've done that constant reiteration of a single thought into madness and oblivion since long before I ever lost it to "Jeff-gold-got-game-gold-bloom-game-etc.")

!!! ...!!! I keep freaking out every time I see it on the main page... So bizzare. Jake or someone said "that would make an awesome cross-stitch" in episode 47 I think, and I made it while listening to the subsequent couple of episodes, so I guess I stared at it long enough that it's some sort of pan-dimensional shock to see it in this context, like watching your grandma on YouTube or something... Huzzah for long casts, and SO glad to be spoiled on the good news! Looking forward to it- I fear a world that doesn't have at least a little thumbs in it. Now, to bask in the cast...

Sweet! I thought you'd get a kick out of that sirs!

[Glances at title] "Bargo Busters..." "Oh, awesome! I wonder, what... hey, yeah- What could they be dropping info about at THIS point in the season?" "Let's find out..." [Looks at episode description] "Aah, come on! I.T. stands for Idle TEASE!" P.S. Jake, did you get that cross-stitch I tried to send you in the mail? I had to fire it off to Telltale, lacking any other address details to go on... My hope was for you guys to get your mitts on that prior to your final episode!

Given that I never managed to finish Mass Effect, marketing materials like these are eating away at my desire to play this game at an alarming rate...

"I just had the strangest dreamcast... and you were there, [points to Chris] and you, [points to Nick] and you too... [points to Jake] there was a Wizard, and..."

As ordered, uh... hello! [Attempts to look harmless and not at all insane] ...VIDEO GAM-oh balls the jig is up! [Runs away]