Idle Thumbs 39

[Jake]

I didn't know this was going up. Here it is!

[elmuerte]

Wtf was that sound from that computer that "upset" Nick? I thought it was intended. The sound of reaching the next level, or receiving a lot of XP. Because it sounded like a lot of coins dropping.

Anyway... it was one of the best moments in IdleThumbs pod cast history.

Also, what was the issue with fighting in Mass Effect? I don't recall my team mates being serious cannon fodder. And for me the fights weren't a walk in the park, because I really had to watch out with weapon over heating (quite often it wouldn't cool down during fights).

[syntheticgerbil]

I was sick most of this week, but this thing really cheered me up. I too would like to know what's going on with Chris' computer.

I'm happy my call appeared. It took me being in a sleepy haze after a long drive last week to work up the courage to leave that message.

[UncleSpaggles]

baby

[toblix]

I love that they eschewed reading poignant reader mail in favor of listening to drunkards calling up a answering machine at four in the morning.

[Chuckpebble]

11:42 "Chris is photographing this and I'm really sad."

I liked SSX3 more than tricky. It was just a much bigger game. I seem to remember being able to just hop right to those new challenges by going into your PDA thingy. I didn't mind that, it just became too difficult for me to complete. I remember having to reach insane point levels and not having the brain power to keep each trick unique through the course of an entire run.

Thinking back, RUNDMC did make Tricky pretty much awesome.

Edited August 21, 2009 by Chuckpebble

[BigJKO]

Run DMC makes everything awesome.

[gdf]

I disagree with Chris' opinion of Fuel. I think he's being a bit of a whore's baby.

Is that right?

[elmuerte]

I played the demo of Fuel and also found it boring. There is nothing interesting in that world... nothing...

[fallout]

I played the demo of Fuel and also found it boring. There is nothing interesting in that world... nothing...

From here:

After downloading the demo, I began free drive mode and picked a direction and took off– and drove and drove, through the scrub and the dirt. The sun began to set; my bike’s headlight came on automatically. I drove. Suddenly wondering what the hell I was doing, I quit and deleted the demo, intending never to return to it, but later that evening I was seized by the idea that perhaps Fuel had unintentionally created the first game that dove into the depths of existential absurdity, a disguised meditation on the ultimate pointlessness of everything. Might Fuel actually be a game that explores the place of mankind in the cosmos by placing him in this ludicrously illogical, staggeringly gigantic world for no apparent reason? Was Fuel the secret Waiting for Godot of video games?

[dpp]

I'm still heartbroken after hearing their take on Heroes of Newerth... but that said, I haven't played League of Legends yet.

I wasn't a DotA player and I'm completely addicted to HoN. It has a ridiculously steep learning curve, but after a while you start to appreciate how deep the game is. I usually play Single Draft games where you get to choose one out of 3 random heroes and it is incredibly satisfying to learn how to play a new hero. And more importantly, when you learn the basics of a hero, you're also more effective when playing against him.

But yeah, in the end of the day, this game isn't for everyone. Maybe for the slightly masochistic

[Horticulture Tycoon]

11:42 "Chris is photographing this and I'm really sad."

It took about 15 seconds of staring at this picture for me to figure out that's a microphone shield I'm looking at, and not a big black handlebar moustache.

[syntheticgerbil]

It took about 15 seconds of staring at this picture for me to figure out that's a microphone shield I'm looking at, and not a big black handlebar moustache.

Ahaha, you mean that's a microphone and not a stick on handlebar mustache?!

[Horticulture Tycoon]

Apparently. But on the other hand...

[castorp]

The gay-senator-loop was brilliant.

Thanks for the episode.

[blackboxme]

About Mass Effect, what kind of skills did your team have Chris? Having people with force push, weapon overheat and or singularity really helps.

Maybe being a sniper screws you over in those situations because you don't have those crowd control skills.

I do agree with you that Mass Effect's difficulty was poorly balanced, too hard sometimes and too easy at others.

Also the comment about those dumb boss battles that were pointless difficulty spikes, especially one that I'm thinking of now that I don't want to spoil for people.

[miffy495]

Dude,

that's why we have spoiler tags.

[Wurtsi]

The gay-senator-loop was brilliant.

Thanks for the episode.

I thought I got stuck in an infinite time loop.

[Nappi]

I downloaded Fuel demo (mistaking it for Blur, Grid, Switch, Edge or whatever) and had one of the most boring experiences I have had with a video game for a long time. After I realized that there wasn't a specific track to follow all I had to do after reaching a checkpoint was to steer the vehicle towards the next one and throttle. I would have won easily if I hadn't hit a solitary object and gotten stuck. I still would have won pretty easily but at that point I decided that I didn't want to play anymore.

Excellent episode, again. Jake should be deprived of his sleep and Nick scared by voices more.

[Erkki]

Fuel demo was indeed boring. I only took me 15 minutes to realize that.

[gdf]

Wow, looks like I'm the only one who had (and am still having) an awesome experience with that game. I saw a mountain range in the distance and drove all the way to it and to the top of the massive central peak, discovering a weird base and radar dish at the top. Then I shot down the side on a motorbike and watched the weather and colours radically shift about six times before reaching the immense valley at the foot of the range.

I'll admit that early on it's pretty slow, but as you get faster vehicles and just venture into the world it can be incredible. Depends how much you're willing to put in for that payoff I guess. I just seem to discover an amazing new environment and terrain every time I play it, and though I accept the central conceit is almost inherently flawed, the ambition has borne some pretty sweet fruit for some of us.

And don't worry, I'm not going to rag on anyone for only playing the demo, after all, they're a viable way of judging games. I'm usually at the wrong end of that stick and it's not pleasant.

[Also, Asobo, who developed Fuel, were also behind the amazing multiplayer game Super Farm for PS2.]

[Chuckpebble]

Apparently. But on the other hand...

Apparently, all ten of my fingers were idle this morning.

Its funny, because the image originally conjured the same handlebar mustache, but I didn't think of the Beastie Boys until I realized what I was looking at and that he was "rockin' the mic with the panty hose" so to speak.

[elmuerte]

[Craigaleg]

I was walking to class when the computer "attacked" Nick, and people had to look at me like I was a crazy person as I was dying laughing. Are we forever referring to this as the "involuntary baboo"?

The Mass Effect speech seemed dead on to me. I also traveled to the ice planet first, which actually turns out to be the most difficult of the 3 choices. Very unfortunate that they made it so damn hard, and killed the great feeling I initially had with the game.

[Jake]

Hahaha, oh shit!