Sam Posted January 21, 2014 This thread makes me very happy. Ha now I want to hear this episode... When stewmull mentioned that PC Gamer podcast I remembered it too and discovered I still had it downloaded on iTunes. Here's the bit where they talk about Tales of Monkey Island and accost a certain someone for poor UI design: http://soundcloud.com/sam_crisp/pc-gamer-uk-podcast-extract Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James Posted January 22, 2014 I just happened to check Brad Shoemaker's profile page on Giant Bomb (which is not something I do with any frequency whatsoever) right after he guested on episode 6 ("Explode Mode"). I checked the podcast out on a whim and was instantly hooked. I guess I would have encountered the Thumbs at some point through their appearances on GB and Tested, but it was a total fluke that I happened on the podcast relatively early in its run. It's also weird that I've apparently had an account on the forums for about half the history of Idle Thumbs; I still feel like a bit of a newcomer, somehow. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jake Posted January 22, 2014 When stewmull mentioned that PC Gamer podcast I remembered it too and discovered I still had it downloaded on iTunes. Here's the bit where they talk about Tales of Monkey Island and accost a certain someone for poor UI design: http://soundcloud.com/sam_crisp/pc-gamer-uk-podcast-extract Ha! Well, those decisions came from a level above any of the names mentioned, including Nick Breckon's mine. Oh well. I actually didn't have trouble with the movement once I got used to it but it's definitely not as elegant as pointing and clicking. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sno Posted January 22, 2014 I simply had Idle Thumbs recommended to me by a friend during a time when i was looking for new listening material because a lot of my favorite podcasts were winding down and coming to an end. (It's been kind of weird seeing the Idle Thumbs and Whiskey Media podcasts gradually encroach on eachother, having started listening to both line-ups completely independent of eachother.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toblix Posted January 22, 2014 FUN fact: Though I do enjoy the Idle Thumbs podcast, I've only ever laughed out loud and re-listened to a part of it once, and that was when they were discussing (I think it was) Far Cry Instincts, and someone described very briefly how it would destroy your speakers or something. I found that extraordinarily hilarious and made the choice to listen to that part once more some time later. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted January 22, 2014 I had heard about the thumbs during their hiatus, but didn't want to start listening to a "dead" podcast. Then the Kickstarter happened. I didn't contribute, but that got me into listening to a couple of early episodes, which got me hooked on listening once they started back up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dibs Posted January 22, 2014 I started listening caus i thought it was the Jeff Goldcast. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coods Posted January 22, 2014 This is stupid (yet fitting), but I found Idle Thumbs by being bored and googling "video games podcast". I think at some point Chris mentioned Queen's 'Night At The Opera' as something he would listen to over and over in high school. The same goes with me and the original 50 episodes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
David Posted January 22, 2014 I'm really happy that Idle Thumbs was 3 or 4 different things but the community stayed up and active through all the different phases, even/especially the parts where nothing was really happening. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Erkki Posted January 22, 2014 I think that's because this is one of the few places on the internet where people are intelligent and actually treat each other like human beings. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. I mainly participated on the AdventureGamers.com forums and a bit less on TTLG forums before/during when IdleThumbs started, but the Idle Thumbs forums has been my definite favourite place on the internet for the past 10 years, even if I was away now and then. Lately I don't even listen to the podcast very often, but I hope to correct that... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stewmull Posted January 22, 2014 When stewmull mentioned that PC Gamer podcast I remembered it too and discovered I still had it downloaded on iTunes. Here's the bit where they talk about Tales of Monkey Island and accost a certain someone for poor UI design: http://soundcloud.com/sam_crisp/pc-gamer-uk-podcast-extract Ha! Well, those decisions came from a level above any of the names mentioned, including Nick Breckon's mine. Oh well. I actually didn't have trouble with the movement once I got used to it but it's definitely not as elegant as pointing and clicking. I am so glad this was found! thanks Sam! really miss John Walker, Tom Francis and Tim Edwards podcasting together... The crate and crowbar is a good substitute though Also jake we all know you are better than that Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marek Posted January 23, 2014 Alright, I'll do mine: I first heard about Idle Thumbs before it actually existed and before it had a name. It was on a flight to E3 that Spaff began to talk excitedly to me about doing a different kind of games website... one that was about the culture of gaming and that embraced subjectivity and that had second opinions underneath each review. We then had a brilliant little brainstorm fueled by probably a few too many gin & tonics. After landing we met up with Jake and talked a bunch with him about it and that's how the ball started rolling. Chris got involved because he wrote for Adventure Gamers briefly at the time, and a bunch of other people got involved as they were doing stuff for Mixnmojo or worked with Spaff at the same company. It wasn't long until we had a little web forum where we began planning Idle Thumbs: The Site. I guess it then took us a year to launch the site as it was launched at E3 200....3? I think? Then on the first day of that subsequent E3 we spent hours in the press room just typing up a horribly judged press release that we sent out to a giant mailinglist of game journalists that we'd somehow obtained. The email headline said something about nailing your penis to the wall. Idle Thumbs was born. My memory of that time is a little hazy but it's probably close enough. As far as Idle Thumbs: The Podcast Rebirth goes, I became a huge fan of it pretty much instantly. The first series actually often cheered me up during a pretty tough time in my life. I had just had all my hopes/dreams/etc. crushed to a pulp in a shitty redundancy process at NCsoft and was now working for a supposedly 'rebooted' Atari that, as I soon found out, was going nowhere as well. I had to commute every day between Brighton and London which was soul destroying. The cast actually kept my passion for gaming alive and made my commute much less horrible whenever there was a new episode to listen to. (And, of course, I continue to enjoy the cast to this day!) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Posted January 23, 2014 We were "working" on it through most of 2003 as I recall but it didn't actually launch until E3 2004. (That's why 2014 is the 10-year anniversary.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stuart Posted January 23, 2014 We were "working" on it through most of 2003 as I recall but it didn't actually launch until E3 2004. (That's why 2014 is the 10-year anniversary.) In Dishonored years, 2003 counted, so its the 11th anniversary. Anyway, I heard about this podcast through another podcast/community called 4PlayerNetwork (formerly known as 4PlayerPodcast) that I used to hang out at, mostly in the forums. Unfortunately, as much as the people behind 4PN grew up and began to be more ambitious, it's community and fanbase grew more and more entitled and vitriolic. Currently, their forum is a dead zone, no one posts there anymore, and before that, in retrospection, their community was mostly full of jerks (got to know some awesome people there who I still keep in touch though). Anyway, Brad Simmons, one the 4PN crew, is an avid listener of the pod, so I started listening since the end of 2012. I was completely enraptured by what these guys talked about. They were funny and ridiculously smart. Each episode I listened to felt like I had just accomplished something productive. I'd learn so much more about this medium that I so want to be a part of while also laughing along the way. Listening to Idle Thumbs also cheered me up during a time of great distress, since I was setting up to move somewhere else for college and was scared of the road ahead. But just listening to you guys talking about games and making each other laugh was enough to appease my mood. Then I joined the forums! In less than three months, I got to befriend and know many awesome people from this community, and have engaged in more productive conversations than during my time at the previous forum I was at. It's amazing how this community stacks up to other internet communities, specially the one I had just come from. Granted, this is the second forum I've signed up to ever (never been on 4chan, Neogaf, Reditt, or any other forum/community except 4PP/4PN), but I feel this community is the exact opposite of what I imagine most collective internet communities are like. It's humble, charismatic, progressive, and intelligent, while also being goofy at times. Just like the podcast that helped create it! Here's to another 10 years of Idle Thumbs, and may many more years come after! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shammack Posted January 23, 2014 I think I first heard about Idle Thumbs when Chris Kohler was a guest on the podcast and posted about it on his blog. I didn't listen to it. But then a few weeks later a friend tweeted something like "Idle Thumbs is a pretty good video game podcast," so then I listened to the current episode at the time (I think it was "Put On the Top Ghost"), then went back and listened to the Chris Kohler episode, and finally listened to the whole back catalog. Idle Thumbs is also pretty directly responsible for my having a job in video games, due to my hearing the reader mail where Jake talked about what a choreographer does at Telltale and thinking that I could do that. Thanks, Thumbs! (Thumbs.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
subbes Posted January 23, 2014 In the spring of 2010, my Dad was diagnosed with a nasty kind of dementia. I found it impossible to relax, sleep, or stop my brain from going round and around in circles, endlessly thinking about it. The only thing that allowed me to get some qiuet (and, by extension, sleep) was listening to old episodes of Idle Thumbs. I remember visiting my parents a week after the diagnosis and lying in my old bed, headphones on, focusing so hard on Nick's complaints about turret sections in order to keep myself from sobbing. So thanks, Thumbs, for keeping me sane during a bad time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coods Posted January 23, 2014 The only thing that allowed me to get some qiuet (and, by extension, sleep) was listening to old episodes of Idle Thumbs. There's something incredibly calming about listening to outdated video game news. If I were to describe why the old episodes are so perpetually entertaining, I'd say the actual discussion (being old and outdated) becomes the comfortable radio feedback and the sound of genuine friendly discourse is the actual easy listening. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gormongous Posted January 23, 2014 There's something incredibly calming about listening to outdated video game news. If I were to describe why the old episodes are so perpetually entertaining, I'd say the actual discussion (being old and outdated) becomes the comfortable radio feedback and the sound of genuine friendly discourse is the actual easy listening. I thought the exact same thing! It seems like, when the news is current, you have to listen to the news and digest the opinions, but when you already know the outcome of the Tony Hawk franchise or Bungie leaving Microsoft, you can just focus on the personalities or even the voices. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James Posted January 23, 2014 In Dishonored years, 2003 counted, so its the 11th anniversary. A Dishonored decade? Thanks, Thumbs! (Thumbs.)Ha! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
subbes Posted January 23, 2014 I thought the exact same thing! It seems like, when the news is current, you have to listen to the news and digest the opinions, but when you already know the outcome of the Tony Hawk franchise or Bungie leaving Microsoft, you can just focus on the personalities or even the voices. Relax, safe in the knowledge that there will always be a nightmarish future of games. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
David Posted January 23, 2014 Idle Thumbs is also pretty directly responsible for my having a job in video games, due to my hearing the reader mail where Jake talked about what a choreographer does at Telltale and thinking that I could do that. Thanks, Thumbs! (Thumbs.) Wow! Idle Thumbs: gettin' people industry jobs since like 2005, probably. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marek Posted January 23, 2014 (That's why 2014 is the 10-year anniversary.) My brain wasn't on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
melmer Posted January 23, 2014 I started reading about 3 years ago, I can't remember how or why. I think I as duped In fact I think I've always been here, pulsing away, slowly growing, becoming more aware. It was 3 of your earth years ago that I learnt how to interact with my surroundings... So I started posting shit on this forum Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
feelthedarkness Posted January 23, 2014 Chris Avellone posted a link to an IT episode talking about Alpha Protocol, so I think the first episode I heard was either Rolling with the Pope or A Castro Situation. I was immediately taken, and then hugely bummed because RIGHT when I discovered it, it was ending, and those last few episodes, like Silken Goku, and Diplomatic Pouch are some of my favorites. The show just scratched every itch. I also really appreciate the forum communities intelligence, camaraderie, and progressive attitude, especially in light of the usual gamer dross. (My primary 10+ year forum is a bunch of ultra left diy punx.) Hooray for everyone. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stewmull Posted January 23, 2014 God... I was 10 in 2003... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
