Jake

Idle Thumbs !!: With Bagblast

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The desire to change formats is understandable. I hadn't noticed a drop off in episode quality - you guys are pros- but why keep grinding when you'd like to try something new? Go for it!!!

 

I'd just like to say thanks for helping stoke my enthusiasm for games on an almost weekly basis --all the more so as I realize your having to play constantly to inform the podcast grew stale and might have developed into a bummer.

 

I don't play games every week - let alone new games - and I can certainly see how exhausting that would be, year in and year out on top of other jobs and commitments.

 

Looking forward to the new show!

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I haven't listened to the newest episode yet. I just want to say that Idle Thumbs was the first, and for several year the only, podcast I listened to, and that I have enjoyed every episode immensely. I still play regularly but games have become less and less of a "passion" for me and in thought and discussion they occupy the same space as book, films, TV, series, cultural phenomena and robot news, which is why I didn't really pay attention to the podcast's subtle move away from games in favor of other topics before it was pointed out explicitly. I understand that moving away from gaming might be a deal-breaker for some, but for me it is not an issue at all. Nevertheless, I can see the point in creating a new podcast and reserving Idle Thumbs for game related discussion. While I don't really differentiate between game, movie, music, etc. related discussions, I can appreciate the point that as you all have worked in game industry for years, you have a somewhat unique perspective on that particular subject.

 

No matter how you decide to continue, I will be happy to listen to 3 friends talk about subjects that they are passionate about in a relaxed, non-rigid form. So I personally hope you don't change the form too much even if the focus is going to change a bit.

 

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I pretty much agree with Nappi's statement above.  Video games as a topic are what got me to start listening to Idle Thumbs in the first place but it was the geniality, comradery, and overall quality of the hosts that kept me coming back.  I once described the podcast to a friend of mine as the perfect balance between interesting intelligent discussion and poopy fart jokes.  In truth I don't share a lot of gaming taste with the Thumbs but hearing you all talk is so engrossing that I want to listen anyway.  I admit I've occasionally tuned out for a bit when the topic is something I'm not especially interested in or knowledgeable about, but that doesn't detract from the overall quality in my mind.  I will miss the central topic being games as I don't consume much TV, movies, or books.  That said, as long as the personality of the show is preserved, I'll follow along with pretty much any topic.

 

And rest assured, candy will follow along too.

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11 hours ago, Twig said:

PS Nick shouting FUCK CHRIS vindictively was also good.

It's funny how inappropriate "Fuck Chris" sounded to me, while "F.uck Nick" to me is completely normal. Congrats Nick.

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I like the idea of starting a new show, and will definitely give it a listen.

 

I am not really enjoying podcasts which are 100% about games. Idle Thumbs had the right mix for me, and so does Idle Weekend. Even Three Moves Ahead is not exclusively about gaming, and sometimes the discussions about actual history and warfare are more interesting than the game talk. I listened a bit to the Bombcast, which is 100% gaming, and some Shall We Play a Game episodes (also pretty much 100%), but they didn't do it for me. There is one German gaming podcast I listen to (Stay Forever), but it is about old games and the hosts spend a lot of time putting the games into different contexts.

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Relatedly, my first memory when I think back on the Idle Thumbs Minecraft servers is always the giant "EFF Nick" signs that got constructed in some central location.

 

Nick, you're the greatest.

Edited by dium
i like the autocorrect but my point must be made

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I will be instantly subscribing to your new podcast, but I'm beyond distraught that Idle Thumbs is ending. Since pre-kickstarter times, this is a community that I've never once had a regret about being part of or sharing with others. I've learned about so many games I'd have never heard of or sought out, I've learned about the games industry, I have enjoyed myself playing along side you all, and I've become a better person (I strive to be as empathetic as Sean is, but I will never get there). I do think, as you said in the cast during the discussion, that starting a new cast is a more internally honest decision. It's the same people and the same microphones, but if you take out the premise it becomes something different.

 

I'll also say that for not playing any games, this was a hell of a blast. The pc's mascot being a muddy desk in 1997 is the insight I (genuinely) come to seek out from Thumbs. So you still got it, guys. Good luck, I'll miss you, I'm with you. Love you and the thumbs community.

 

 

To comment on an actual thing said in the cast, the Amazon thing is actually massively more straightforward than conjecture. If you are an Amazon Prime subscriber, when you preorder retail copies of physical games you just straight up get 20% off and release day delivery. It may be after release too, dunno? I also WILL miss the logistics discussion, even if most of it is incorrect, or correct accidentally. ;)

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13 minutes ago, Badfinger said:

I will be instantly subscribing to your new podcast, but I'm beyond distraught that Idle Thumbs is ending. Since pre-kickstarter times, this is a community that I've never once had a regret about being part of or sharing with others. I've learned about so many games I'd have never heard of or sought out, I've learned about the games industry, I have enjoyed myself playing along side you all, and I've become a better person (I strive to be as empathetic as Sean is, but I will never get there). I do think, as you said in the cast during the discussion, that starting a new cast is a more internally honest decision. It's the same people and the same microphones, but if you take out the premise it becomes something different.

 

I'll also say that for not playing any games, this was a hell of a blast. The pc's mascot being a muddy desk in 1997 is the insight I (genuinely) come to seek out from Thumbs. So you still got it, guys. Good luck, I'll miss you, I'm with you. Love you and the thumbs community.

 

 

To comment on an actual thing said in the cast, the Amazon thing is actually massively more straightforward than conjecture. If you are an Amazon Prime subscriber, when you preorder retail copies of physical games you just straight up get 20% off and release day delivery. It may be after release too, dunno? I also WILL miss the logistics discussion, even if most of it is incorrect, or correct accidentally. ;)

 

Ah that's interesting to know that's a perk of Prime. I don't think that one perk somehow invalidates the other things we said (including how Amazon generally works) as you have implied it does here? ;)

 

Glad you will be instantly subbing to our new podcast, Accurate Industry Logistics :D

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18 minutes ago, Jake said:

 

Ah that's interesting to know that's a perk of Prime. I don't think that one perk somehow invalidates the other things we said (including how Amazon generally works) as you have implied it does here? ;)

 

Glad you will be instantly subbing to our new podcast, Accurate Industry Logistics :D

 

Oh no, I'm mostly just taking the piss. You said most of what I understand to be true about Amazon re: loss leaders, A/B testing, acceptably low profit margins due to huge sell through, etc but the conspiracy theorying of how Amazon might not want to sell CHRIS the game for $48 was funny. I appreciated the conjecture about purely digital goods and how you sell those.

 

I'm sitting with my elbows in piles of shipping close outs and receiving packing lists for the pallets we just sent overseas so it's fun to hear someone put their logistics pants on.

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I said something in a tweet to the Thumbs after Chris' request for input Re: the subject matter of the cast on episode 299, but I remembered my password to the forums so figured I'd come weigh in here in a slightly longer form. 

I've been listening since 2009, and yes I of course started listening to the podcast because it was video game related, but I also immediately could relate to the relationship of the hosts and enjoyed the banter IMMENSELY. The fact that the guys are serious about discussion, but also had some absurd wackiness, really resonated with me. I actually had really been enjoying the casts as of late because I feel like some of that has been creeping back in... While I definitely understand the desire to move to be a bit more serious I will always love episodes like A Silken Goku or whichever one it was where the Thumbs tried to talk like NPR radio personalities and broke down laughing. Stuff like that didn't necessarily have anything to do with games, but it was still entertaining and fun to listen to.

 

All that to say, sign me up for whatever you're casting! 

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18 minutes ago, RyanCConnelly said:

While I definitely understand the desire to move to be a bit more serious

 

I think we fucked up if we created this impression!

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15 hours ago, TinKelp said:

In response to Clyde Bink's email about playing a different version of The Sad Story of a Modern Idiot; it sounds to me that he did in fact download the wrong game. The game he describes sounds exactly like Memory of a Broken Dimension. A super cool game everyone should check out. The version currently on itch is a prototype/proof-of-concept and the full game is expect to drop sometime this year.

 

When I read your comment initially I figured there was a good chance you were right. I went back and played MoaBD again though, for the first time in a few years, and it doesn't actually start with a DOS prompt, it starts with a Windows '95-style OS. The game itself has a glitch aesthetic, but not on the OS section. Mythalore suggested that maybe the game was Duskers, which does seem a lot more likely aesthetically and thematically. There's one problem with this, though: The game isn't available on itch.io, so there's very little chance of him accidentally downloading it instead of The Sad Story of a Modern Idiot.

 

EDIT: I found Clyde's posts about his issues in the game's Wizard Jam thread.

 

I'm really perplexed! Clyde, if you're around, could you post images of the game?

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I'm looking forward to the new podcast, ive kinda got video game malaise lately and stopped listening to video game podcasts. I kept up with idle thumbs though because I enjoy being listening to you boys talk. So if it's moving from nice boys talking about video games to nice boys talking about whatever is interesting them( I'm sure that's right) that's great!

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Good luck with your new podcast I will not listen to it because it is not about computer games! :D So I appreciate your separating it out into a new thing, as it won't mess with my completionist desire to make sure I've listened to every episode of the Idle Thumbs flagship internet talk show (though that completionism is already somewhat marred by the fact that I was only able to find hyperlinks of questionable legitimiacy for MOST of the progresscasts).

 

P.S. If your new podcast is a ploddingly chronological and meticulously researched podcast about the entire history of a nation or empire, I take back that first thing I said. ^_^

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27 minutes ago, Berzee said:

Good luck with your new podcast I will not listen to it because it is not about computer games! :D So I appreciate your separating it out into a new thing, as it won't mess with my completionist desire to make sure I've listened to every episode of the Idle Thumbs flagship internet talk show (though that completionism is already somewhat marred by the fact that I was only able to find hyperlinks of questionable legitimiacy for MOST of the progresscasts).

 

P.S. If your new podcast is a ploddingly chronological and meticulously researched podcast about the entire history of a nation or empire, I take back that first thing I said. ^_^

 

Posting the progresscasts as an archived show is on my long-term to do list. 

 

Re: your P.S.: We do have a new show show coming up, separate to the new Chris/Nick/Jake show, that you might at least enjoy a little bit. Not sure though!

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3 hours ago, Chris said:

 

I think we fucked up if we created this impression!

Hahaha! I more meant in the transition way back when. There seemed to be a definite minute where the cast reached peak absurdity, with cut-in audio gags and a lot of really off the wall stuff, and then it stopped pretty abruptly. A good example is the Baboo (what an odd statement that is) - It used to find its way in to a lot of casts, but hasn't popped up much lately. Clearly jokes run their course, which is a thing of life in a group of friends as well (which is another thing I like about the cast, it is a great representation of some close friends hanging out and chatting). Maybe I was inserting meaning where there was none, but it seemed that there was a definite movement of "oh wait, we grew up a bit and now we're going to act like it". Which was kind of nice! However, for example, one of the first times there was some silliness again was the little Wizard Jam remix at the end of one of the somewhat recent casts, and that to me totally hearkened back to Thumbs of old. I welcome the jokes with open... thumbs!

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23 hours ago, Kyir said:

It's interesting that Nick came away from all the streams thinking that people's "favorite boss" picks are based on mechanics. It might just be who I talk to about this stuff, but I've generally found the lore, music, character design, etc. to be much more important factors in people's picks. 

 

I wonder if this is chat's fault.

I definitely do primarily judge bosses on mechanics. Obviously aesthetic plays some role, but I enjoyed my fight with the Dragonslayer Armour than against Yhorm, even though I think putting an Ornstein clone in every sequel has been kind of lame while the story of the giant-king who accidentally incinerates his people in the very act of trying to save them is cool as hell. My favorites generally end up being whatever bosses I had the hardest time fighting, along the same lines of Nick's explanation of the value of Dark Souls being in falling into the pit and climbing your way out.

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Given that I documented the creation of Modern Idiot, just about every step except the upload I did the next morning, well, it would be really impressive if I could sneak a secret game in there.

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35 minutes ago, Spenny said:

Given that I documented the creation of Modern Idiot, just about every step except the upload I did the next morning, well, it would be really impressive if I could sneak a secret game in there.

 

...this isn't a denial...

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2 hours ago, Jake said:

Posting the progresscasts as an archived show is on my long-term to do list. 

 

Excellent! I'm sure we can count on you for a clever omnibus title, too.

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I started listening at about ep 20 and the reason why I've stayed with it is because I think you guys have the very rare gift of being both thoughtful and articulate, regardless of the subject you talk about. 

 

I was very pleased when you first announced that you were looking to broaden the remit of the podcast, and I'm now really pleased to hear you're doubling down on that and creating a new podcast. 

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