Chris

Idle Thumbs XI: Extremes

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This is a weird one. It was recorded last Thursday because I'm out of town this week. Next week's is even weirder, since we recorded it directly after recording this week's.

"Last week, Thumbs invited 2K Marin's Steve Gaynor to help pre-record a low- key cast on nuclear plant sims, traffic sims, sewage construction sims, bus sims, boat sims, and ghosts. Riveting stuff."

Games discussed: Persona 4, Minotaur China Shop, Hitman: Blood Money, The Last Express, Penumbra, SimCity iPhone, Retro/Grade, Cities XL, Sonic & the Black Knight, Three Mile Island, Energy Czar, Ship Simulator 2010: Extremes

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'He is black'. Oh god, I was jogging and I just doubled over at that one, there was someone sitting in a car who did watch strangely :tup:

Do you have a link to that guy's blog that is archiving those old games? Sounds really interesting.

Great show once again. I just find the countless interruptions sometimes irritating when someone is explaining something, but these are far and few between, and mostly the interruptions are hilarious so that compensates :yep:

Merry Christmas to all the podcasters!

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Totally agree about Hitman - Blood Money : I hadn't played the previous installments and it turned out to be, even to this day, the last masterpiece I've played. It's like the perfect RPG/puzzle/shooter game and also the only game in which I felt that the NPCs just knew what I was up to ... and it's true that each session creates a valid and full story, even when you fuck up and die. Damn, I want to play it again, now!

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Oh man, I remember than scene from Hitman with the winch, I tried to ghost that level, but that particular spot must have taken me 30 attempts or so. In the end I went for a different route I think.

I think I'm going to play it again after I finish Far Cry 2.

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Are there really people who are offended by the terms slave/master disk? It's insane to think that the concepts of slaves and masters are never applicable in any situation.:tdown:

Anyway, I've got a Hitman triple pack on my shelf but I couldn't get it to run on vista so it just collects dust. Hearing people gush about it just makes me sad :(

The insight into the development of Retro/Grade was really interesting and I love the idea of people working on a bus driving sim as their 9-5 grind. It's weird but for some reason it had never really clicked in my head that somebody has to make these games as a job:tup:

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Don't know about the other "realism" sim games. But for example Ship Simulator 2008 is actually a spin-off from a real simulator/instruction thingy. The company behind it usually makes "serious games" and simulators: http://www.vstep.nl/

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Hitman: bloodmoney is indeed one of the very best games I've ever played. I love the freedom it gives you. Basically it's like: Here's an area. kill this guy. And that's all the rules they give you. You're completely free how violent you want it to be. Haven't seen it's equal yet.

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Hitman: bloodmoney is indeed one of the very best games I've ever played. I love the freedom it gives you. Basically it's like: Here's an area. kill this guy. And that's all the rules they give you. You're completely free how violent you want it to be. Haven't seen it's equal yet.

I kind of agree, but... Blood Money is perhaps the best in the series, but being the fourth game, it didn't really feel as great to me as it could have. They got the mechanics pretty much fleshed out and nearly perfected with Hitman 2 already, although the later ones added improvements as well. And I'd buy a new Hitman game any day just for the missions if nothing else changed.

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That online SimCity-esque game sounds like something that existed very early around 2000,2001 and so. I forget what it was called but it was by an Ottawa company and it seemed to exist in perpetual beta, but I think it was actually released at some point. it was basically a SimCity MMO but instead of making a city on your own and interacting with other cities, everyone built within the same city. There was a whole economic system so you had to be careful what businesses or whatever you built and where you built them. They had all these complex economic and social systems. I think even in-game mayors, that had to be voted in (with campaigns and everything) which could then zone land and so on. It was hugely ambitious and I know it was working but it never seemed to catch on. This was years before EVE Online.

For all I know, that game's still going on somewhere. Can't remember what it's called though. Star something. I don't know.

Also: eXistenZ is ten years old now.

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PS. Not all moves in Minotaur China Shop are destruction based. There's the one that lets you shake off arrows and the calm-down, zen one.

Also, the charge is quite useful for serving customers as it gets you a nice speed burst (as long as you're careful). :tup:

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I tried Blood Money. Really I did. I appreciated what it did, but man did I ever get sick of the game kicking my ass so frequently. In the end, I quite in frustration. You're making me want to go back and give it another go now. I dedicate the undoubted weeks of cursing at my xbox that will follow to your podcast.

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Exciting, fun podcast, this one! Jake being tired to the point of death added to it, because I was tired as well. There seemed to be a more than usual amount of comraderie, which lead to some truly hilarious bits ^_^

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I remember getting an erection on the Mardi Gras level because of all the people. Also, doesn't the game force you to play each mission in one sitting? I remember the save/checkpoint system being super assy. Anyway, I gave up on the wheelboat mission, but I sort of regret it. Maybe I'll buy it on Steam-- oh wait, it's probably a million euros.

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Crowds give you erections? Agoraphilia?

Edit: holy shit I googled that and it's an actual thing.

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Awesome. Although I've always heard "male camel toe" referred to by the much more concise "moose knuckle."

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Awesome. Although I've always heard "male camel toe" referred to by the much more concise "moose knuckle."

That's the Canadian way.

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In this episode Steve Gaynor basically describes what will become Gone Home as a type of game he'd like to play. Weird!

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