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Jake

Idle Thumbs 104: Emblematic of the Dissonance

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Dude, I'm right there with you. Our group hired 2 guys within the last year and a half that play games but before that there was literally noone besides me, despite the fact that we do software development. Our cubes are all adjacent to each other now (the kind with super short cube walls) so we have established what we call 'The Daily Standup' where we all just stand up and talk about what video games we are playing or looking forward to for a half hour. Nothing beats being able to share what you're passionate about with other people.

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Re: Monaco.

For me, at least have the fun in Monaco is getting caught. When that old-timey piano chase music starts going, and everyone is running around chaotically bumping into each other the game is really at its most hilarious and best.

The game also inspired me to hook my PC up to my TV, which turns out to have been a great idea. Couch co-op is a natural Monaco fit, but I've also been inspired to break out some of my old gamecube games. It turns out that many of them completely hold up, especially when run through an emulator. Mariokart Doubledash looks really great in high-def on a huge screen, and is just as fun as it ever was.

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It's a funny thing, growing up. When I was little, the popular thing (oft referenced 'round these parts) was the relative who "worked at Nintendo" who could hook you up with non-broken copies of Battletoads. Then the thought that you would run a game company one day. Then perhaps that you'd get a job at a game company. Then maybe I'd just work at a regular company, but have contemporaries who I could hang out and game with. Now I live in a world where my reality is that it would be really nice if someone where I worked played games, at all. I don't even need to play with them, or have a massive company wide conspiracy game insanityfest. Just knowing they're there would be enough.

 

I feel your pain.  Many of the people I work with have been working here longer than I've even been alive.  Trying to engage any of them in video game talk (much less play) is less than futile.

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Let's be fair, the accolades, fame and recognition aren't where satisfaction comes from. Being at a company that implicitly encourages the life-breaking experience of playing Neptune's Pride while at work? That's the life.

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Good cast. That Kickstarter bit at the end nailed my biggest problem with a lot of those «we're like a little cosy Apple» videos, and it did so by making me want to back and be a part of an undefined nothing. I guess it just goes to show how music can manipulate our feelings.

 

Sleeping Dogs is fun, and does some stuff really well, like looking god damn amazing and having great radio stations. Remember to keep left and get the high-resolution texture pack!

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My wife has no interest in video games and could care less about this podcast. I made her listen to the last 2 minutes of this one and she was absolutely captivated by that kickstarter piece. Her face lit up when Sean started describing the exact emotional response she was having right as she was having it. Now she's upstairs watching Little Miss Sunshine.

 

I have a request Sean: please use your magical powers of emotional manipulation to make my wife like video games.

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I have to be honest: AFK players in Neptune's Pride are starting to anger me a little. They leave a vacuum of power in whichever section of the universe they occupy... and the current match I'm playing has seen 5 of the 8 players AFK, so I might be a little biased.

GTA IV (which I've started playing recently after all the talk of GTA V) really feels like the ridiculous parts don't fit in. In, say, Vice City, it felt like it all worked together to make a cohesive, insane experience, but there's such a large disconnect between the main storyline and what happens if you just run around doing whatever. And that's actually affected how I play the game: In other GTAs I had no problem running around gathering weapons, going on rampages, and doing crazy car chases. But in GTAIV, I always try to get missions, and I try my best to be a reasonable driver and stuff. I limit myself in game, to try and make something a bit more like a serious gangster movie and less like a GTA game...

 

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I always thought it'd be amazing if someone did a novelization of an actual playthrough of a GTA game. CJ would arrive in Los Santos, kill 5 people, run over an old lady, get the FBI chasing after him, and then meet his brother who would say that CJ had gone soft and wasn't about that life anymore.

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Geez, Chris, let some dudes talk about Dota for an hour five minutes, you power-mad fiend!

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that kickstarter bit was goddamn amazing.

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Sweet! My first child is not even born yet, but as soon as I found out my wife is pregnant I started making stupid zany jokes (I guess it's a biological impulse), but I'm not very good at it. Gonna read up on these. FOR THE CHILDREN.

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I love the way Idle Thumbs will have an intelligent, insightful discussion of the dissonance in GTA4 between Nico's story and the dong jokes, interrupted by a bunch of dong jokes.

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