Xeneth

Juuuust finished and decided to drop by for a look at some of the thumb reactions- I'm sort of surprised this one ended up being so polarizing, honestly. Erkki is completely correct that this is neither a movie nor a game... It's purely a story that you walk through. I'm actually sort of glad that it wasn't trying to be something that it's not in terms of puzzles and interactivity- Even without 'use', 'run', and 'jump' I still before mentally slapping the QA tester in me down and getting back to enjoying the atmosphere. I'm glad that it's available on Steam because I'm always pleased to see strange and interesting things get exposure and do well, but some of the reactions are making me wish it signposted its true nature a bit better... I wouldn't recommend this to most longtime gamers I know any more than I'd sit my grandmother down in front of Bulletstorm. (I'm actually hatching a plan to get her some time with Dear Esther as I write this, and am really looking forward to her reaction. As someone who reads books and avoids games, I think this might just fall into a space she'd enjoy!) Anyway, just about every dead end I found myself at contained a little vignette of some sort that added to the symbolism- Are a lot of people just impatient and not into it enough to catch the , etc. or did they not feel like adequate explorational rewards? How else would one know that ? Like Kuchera, I was also disappointed in , and it's not completely "my kind of game", but I'm glad I supported and experienced it and am looking forward to parsing different reactions and exposing some traditionally game-phobic individuals to Dear Esther.

Just pledged! SO looking forward to having the 'cast back in my life- Thanks, everyone backing alongside for making this happen.

Since I am always behind when it comes to the playing of the video gams, I am JUST NOW getting around to this... The above effect appears to be diminished somewhat from Mysterious Village, (even though they did explain ) and thus far I'm enjoying the story more as a result. I can really tell that Level 5 has made a greater effort to connect the puzzles to the story and environment this time around, and the result is even more endearing. So far the puzzles seem a bit too easy, but I'm only 20 or so in, and I have the experience from the first game under my belt, so my perspective might be a little off. I also found the way they marketed the game to women more directly this time around interesting. RAMPANT SPECULATION I'm worried about a potential sequel on the 3DS... I really hope the technology doesn't gimmick it's way into the puzzles very much, thus watering them down. Think about what tilt and motion controls did to the WarioWare series for a while there if you need a couple of examples of how this can happen. Level 5 seems a bit more sensitive to what the audience wants though, so I could be worrying for nothing. Thoughts?

...Darkspore is EA Maxis' new project. It's an "action-RPG with the DNA of Spore". Sounds like they invested so much tech into the dynamic animation and user-customization systems that they'd be fools not to stick them into some other genres. No idea if Will Wright's new thinktank is involved in any way, but I'm guessing NOT. Here's hoping the infusion of gameplay systems makes it hold gamers attention for a bit longer than Spore seemed to. Preview on 1up - http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3180462 gtLK7UrGa5A

Aw here we go with the damn adbots again... They're getting dumber though, didn't we have one that was good enough to realize that it was a video game forum and tried to initiate stilted conversation about "mario game" while linking us to enhancement drugs? Anyway, now that Double Fine is making smaller games I feel like they're really hitting their stride as a developer- The big multi-year blockbuster title pattern really wasn't working for them, (especially the business/publishing end) and I hope the downloadable game model will allow them to adopt the more "When it's done" attitude afforded to more financially explosive studios. Also mechanical gameplay polish hasn't really been their strong suit (When compared to their art direction, worldBuilding, and writing) so it's cool to see them shooting for simpler but still fun designs that showcase their strengths.

Awesome! Love the feeling of spreading good games/recommendations around like some kind of benevolent virus.

Threw down for both the bundles even though I participated last time to get the SWEET STEAM CODES for all the games in the first bundle and most of the ones in the second. (Two aren't actually ON Steam yet, but if they get there thsy're saying they'll try to work up some codes for those too!) I think I only ended up playing one or two games in the first humble bundle in part because after some time I was lazy and couldn't be arsed to dig up my confirmation email and custom link for the downloads. There's something blissfully, lazily grand about just ordering Steam around- "I'd like to play THIS game now, go install that crap for meh!" Is it horrible knowing that the games being in the Steam list will increase the chances I'll play them all month from now?

Saw the movie last weekend. Before going into it, am I even posting in the right thread?

Never heard of it! Sat and watched it play itself in demo mode for a bit, as I'm not really that interested in controlling simulations that much. (The Sims was a great concept for me that actually ended up being ruined by the design changes that were made to increase player engagement. My ideal Sims would have retained the supposedly more autonomous AI and left me to play architect and watch them enjoy it with as little maintenance by me as possible.) Looks incomprehensible and charming. Very amusing use of photography and cheesy voice acting to set the (silly) mood.

I remember reading about some of the puzzle design/environmental hinting of that ages ago when it was called Boryokudan Rue, glad to see it's almost upon us.

I don't either, I really was joking. ...Though "An Idle Thumbcast" has a certain ring to it, heh.

Will miss the cast, and likely will get "phantom thumb" syndrome haunting my game playing once again... (The effect where you imagine the hilarious crap they'd be saying in response to things happening around you.) Anyway, begin the guessing! I'm guessing that Chris is either going to Irrational, Firaxis, or Harmonix- Hopefully to do something audio or design related. Or who knows, maybe Nick gave him an in at Bethesda! And a remote skypecast wouldn't work for reasons beyond individual members not being as into it- The timing and energy of the 'cast is sort of dependent on them all being in the same room. It's one of the things that set it apart from a lot of other gaming podcasts that I don't enjoy quite as much. That being said, I'd certainly listen to a skype-created offering, I just know it wouldn't feel the same for them and that would translate through, making it not the same for me either. Hey, Vanaman! Become a sound wizard and start "The New Idle Thumbs Podcast" with Jake and Steve!

...I am apparently weird. Games make me cry all the time. For what it's worth, I cry a little bit when I'm really angry, happy, frustrated, etc. Sometimes just trying to describe a game I love playing to someone causes a little tear to form... Yeah, I'm pretty much the biggest wuss ever. Awesome.

"You sir, have all the presence of a cardboard cut-out." ...Ouch. Thumbs cut to the bone, baby.

I was feeling some "narrowing" in my play habits last year, so I agreed with Chris that industry attention seems to be trending toward a certain melding of action with RPG elements where the main conflicts are direct and violent, but I think this thread really is more "perspective based" than either of you are making it out to be. The question was "Have the type of games you play changed", so some of the reasoning behind WHY you feel they've changed is bound to come up. Whether or not the industry at large is trending this or that way isn't really the subject. The subject is how have industry trends affected our play habits from each of our unique positions. I made a deliberate attempt to shift my perspective on these matters of genre, with the most recent change being my not getting/playing Starcraft 2 (VERY weird for someone whose first RTS was SC). My viewing angle of which genres are "important" right now and which aren't has changed recently enough that I can see both of your perspectives... they're just different. Chris gets exposed to a lot of game related stuff through work that isn't voluntary, it's his job, so it makes sense that he'd have a certain (perhaps slightly jaded) angle on what developers are focusing on right now. I sort of feel like adventure games are having a mini-renaissance right now too, but that probably has more to do with me personally paying more attention to Telltale's products these days. If Gamasutra sent Remo to interview every developer at Telltale and that were his only task for a month, he might come away feeling like adventure games are a bigger deal this year than if he'd been making the rounds at Epic.

MY GOD YES... and not for the better... But this story has a happy ending, thankfully. So, I was enamored with scrolling shooters like R-Type and 1943 as a kid in the arcade, but was too scared to play them for abstract childish financial reasons as you'll recall... Well, 1942 and other shmups I played on the NES wouldn't begin to approach the speed or amazing visuals of the arcade for a few years, so in the meantime I became a platformer aficionado! I devoured platformers, HARD ones when I was a child. After creaming Mega Man 1 and 2 in rentals, I lined up the third game as a sweet christmas gift and recall being disappointed at how easy it was... Hah! Mega man 9 and 10 are eating me alive in the present day! What happened?! I'll tell you what happened, or rather Chris Remo did. The industry has sort of found it's bread and butter. Much as I loved Mario 64, it and other games like Grand Theft Auto 3 and Gears of War have sort of plotted a course that as consumers we've more or less followed. "I used to play Mechwarrior and Unreal Tournament against others online, now I'm scared to go back to TF2?" "I reveled in the first three Final Fantasies, (That made it to the states) when was the last time I enjoyed a JRPG?" ...And so on... these were the questions I was asking myself around the end of 2009 as I played yet another single player scripted FPS, cover based shooter, or open world missionfest. I started to realize that I missed a lot of the variety I used to experience in game types. The excuses were piling up- "My reflexes aren't as fast as they used to be, I can't handle hard platformers any more" "I'm not good enough at competitive games to have a chance of beating other gamers online" Well, as a new years resolution I shut the hell up and am enjoying one of my most fulfilling years as a gamer to date. Spelunky showed me that I still have mad platforming chops, League of Legends showed me that I can still kick ass sometimes if I practice and keep a cool head, and Dragon Quest IX is currently showing me that I didn't abandon JRPGs, THEY ABANDONED ME. (Seriously, if you're put off by the pretentious self important presentation, the cutscenes being the point of the game, and the insertion of a billion minigames and dating sims and time sink design flotsam in modern JRPGs... try DQ. Apparently the series has been in 1989 stasis waiting for us this whole time.) I've returned to adventure games, discovering that there's life after Riven, and all sorts of other gaming experiments that I'm probably forgetting at the moment because I've been so much more active. I'm glad this thread is encouraging us to look back and trace the patterns of play we've followed. I plan to keep branching out and trying both new genres and old ones I haven't touched in years. My only worry at this point is that resolution 2011 will be something to do with finishing my OWN projects... Oh crap...

Oh yeeeaah, they DID send me a code for that DLC. I'll have to check that out once I manage to pry myself away from Dragon Quest IX and League of Legends...

Crickets indeed. Heck, I'm unfamiliar with Spiderweb Software... Perhaps some more commonly experienced touchstones are required here. What else does it play like?

I really, really hope that a PSN or PC version is on the way- I want as many people to be able to experience Limbo as possible. I've become some kind of Danish art game pusher, trying to get everyone I know to play it, ha ha! Oh good lord yes... Though it'd likely have to be in sections, I don't think the entire game makes spacial contiguous sense,

So... As I was thinking about my reply to the question of "How has your taste in game types/genres changed over time" in the excellent gaming background thread, I realized that I haven't fully enjoyed a JRPG in a long time... I plan to elaborate on the hows and whys of that another time, but for now I just wanted to point out what an amazing sway this man holds over me. When he said that... ...I became compelled to get Dragon Quest IX. Damn his colorful prose and rapier witticisms! So wish me luck, gang- I played the original on the NES at some point (Fun Fact: I asked a sales clerk if they had any copies of "Dragon Warrior Nine" *forehead slap*) and haven't touched the series since! Here's hoping this is a neat time and place to find out if my abandoning the Final Fantasy-like JRPGS was indeed wise. Who knows, maybe I should have been a Dragon Quest guy all along.

Looks really interesting and I'll probably get it when I'm on contract again. Seems like the sort of sandbox where you sort of make your own fun. If you like your games to have concrete goals and flow or if you have a tough time creating your own self-imposed challenges, it might not be for you. Just looking at the free component, if I had to sum it up in a single sentence I'd say it's Spelunky meets Dwarf Fortress in 3D.

Meaty, solid episode with lots of glorious game content! Limbo is looking like a potential Xeneth GOTY as well. Agreed, Famous is to The Idle Thumbs Podcast as Steve was to Idle Thumbs. A guest so good he's destined to be integrated! A peek into Snoogle's audio work environment, ooo... Not sure why, but I love seeing other people's setups for doing the neat things they do. I have no idea what I'm looking at there beyond a timeline with multiple tracks, but what's wrong with those bottom ones that bears MS Painting?

You don't need to justify or qualify anything of the sort on this forum! How you manage your time is your business, and I'm sure a lot of us are intimately acquainted with how gaming to the exclusion of other important life activities can be a huge detriment. I once failed at something important seriously enough due to excess gaming that I unplugged everything in the house in an rage, scrawling a sort of ad-hoc warning logo I made up on the spot onto a series of post-its and slapping them on everything electronic in sight... It was a skull-like symbol with a stylized arrow for an eye pointing downward to signify where I'd fall if I didn't control myself. Look up and to the left a little bit... The meaning may have sort of evolved over time, but I'm still making use of that "downfall" logo. As for operation side-thread: Type of game tending history, I'll have to think a bit and post again after reading a few more of your replies in this really stellar thread!

Thanks for sharing in more detail Chris, and everyone really- Some great stories and memories. It's funny how your family's financial state when you're growing up has such a big bearing on your gaming experience. I hadn't really thought that much before about how this stuff takes place on hardware... Who gets it and how has a really big formative impact. I guess what I'm trying to say is I really like this thread. I'm totally aware of how atypical my experience was, and I can confirm that it was the rich kids on the block that had the console games in spades and the poor ones that had Commodores or IBMs to play around with. What was weird about the experience I outlined above was that my family didn't really have money for EITHER, but my parents felt like their hand was forced at that one crucial point. I imagine we also would have had some sort of PC if only my parents had any reason to have one in the house. My Dad used computers at work sometimes, but not in any capacities that would ever send one home. I think one of the reasons I'm as big of a PC gamer now as I am despite the console-only upbringing was that when I finally saved up enough to bring a powerful machine into the house, it was beast of my own design. I remember being so chafed that my Dad wanted to use it for email and stuff... I probably shouldn't be revealing this, but to this day I'm fairly neurotic about PCs. I kinda freak out about other people using my computer, or even my workstation... Anyway, even though I was a "Nintendo Kid", the money thing made it so that I got between 2 to 4 games a year- The Birthday and Christmas waypoints for this were HUGE, and I'd spend MONTHS poring over screenshots and articles in Nintendo Power figuring out which game I could conceivably be satisfied with for 6 months. (Fun fact: I stopped celebrating my birthday entirely once I was in control of my own gaming purchases. The holiday literally meant nothing to me beyond having one more game to play.) Those few games I had got learned and beaten in ways that I dream of today. I actually have some pretty serious backlog problems now that I don't have artificial caps on how many games I can own. The play habits I formed as a kid are proving to be weirdly detrimental as I pump hours into something like Spelunky or League of Legends, trying to learn every corner of games that have no real limits on that aspect due to random design or elements of play, when I should be getting more finite experiences out of the way.

Morning-WHAT? Who the hell would change the name of their company from "badass wizard name" to "weaksauce morning glory pussywillow douchebag name"?!