Sean

Idle Thumbs 146: Osama's Dog

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Replace your computer desk chair with a bowflex.

Haha! The dark future of gaming is apparently people awkwardly strapped in to a bunch of exercise equipment.

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I'm just waiting for oculus rift games where it literally just simulates the gym experience while you actually lift weights.

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Gritfish or anyone that's tried gaming on a treadmill, have any tips?  I've played while on a stair climber but my feet were relatively locked in place so I was never concerned or had any trouble.  I'm a bit more worried after having recently acquired a treadmill though.  I don't want to lean into a corner in Forza Horizon and tear an ACL or something silly.

 

Do you throw it on a lower speed or just generally try to stick to certain games or genres that are a bit more menu based or less action oriented?

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I haven't read this subforum for a while, but just came here to say that finally a normal length episode! Liked it :tup:

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Man, when I heard her say gender equality in reference to a cartoon monkey game I almost couldn't believe anything was real any more.

 

As far as Ken Levine's message goes, it seems to me that the most well drawn characters in his games are tyrannical villians, who present themselves as visionary heros through the use of grand propaganda campaigns.  He writes what he knows.

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Your discussion on Cranky/Donkey Kong reminded me of Jojo's Bizzare Adventure. Each arc has a character called 'Jojo', but they all have different names. The first Arc's Jojo is Joseph, 2nd's Jonathan, 3rd's Josuke. The respective Jojo's are then only called Jojo in their respective arc too, and when older Jojo's appear in later arcs, they are referred to as their actual name, not Jojo. All Jojo's are also in the same family tree too. Until the 7th arc.

 

Maybe when Diddy Kong takes over the Donkey Kong title, There'll be Cranky Kong and the Hilariously old Donkey Kong Jr.?

 

Also I swear Cranky's dead in DK64. What's up with this story line Nintendo?

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Ugh. Is there anything quite so obnoxious as "reviewers" that try to analyze vidya in terms of feminism or whatever social justice is flavor of the month

 

Man, when I heard her say gender equality in reference to a cartoon monkey game I almost couldn't believe anything was real any more.

 

Damn. Where did all these gamers come from all of a sudden?

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We3 is great. I was reminded of it too.

 

"There's a Newbery award-winning children's book about him." Best. I disproportionately enjoyed this.

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As interesting as they seem, I find it hard to get into stuff like the twitchplayspokemon and saltybet.  I love the SomethingAwful let's play threads and love watching fighting game tournaments, but so much of that is tied to humour and effort in the first case and the human element of triumph and skill in the second case. Then these things come out that are essentially procedurally produced  content and they get these huge followings. Even the interaction aspect of let's plays was featured in those SA threads, where you're choosing names, voting on big decisions and it felt meaningful (the Spec Ops: The Line thread is a good example of this). I don't mean to take anything away from the people who set up the streams, it's pretty clear that figuring out the pokemon twitch chat control system and saltybet system took thought, creativity and skill, and I get that a lot of it is the human experiment aspect, it just seems that what you're watching from moment to moment is so empty.

 

As for bravely default, it's funny Greg mentioned the belts going away, because that's one of the only things I remember seeing when that censorship story cropped up.  ilHICKiUhzRWd.jpg

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I agree with you about the actual watchability of twitchplayspokemon. I can only stand about 90 seconds before I'm bored out of my skull.

 

But I'm grateful for the large number of people who DO get something out of it, because I enjoy being told about transcendent moments and other weird stories that come out of it. 

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Man, when I heard her say gender equality in reference to a cartoon monkey game I almost couldn't believe anything was real any more.

 

It seems to me that lack of gender parity is even less excusable in fantastical stories because there are no real-world excuses (like no women in combat in WW2) that could even possibly come to bear.

 

Yes, it's a cartoon monkey game, so isn't it that much easier to conjure up some female characters? 

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So I listened a couple times and i still don't know what Danielle Riendeau actually said that sounded like "Osama's dog."

 

And keeping with his 90s aesthetic I think that Donkey Kong should go on to be known as Radical Kong or Dewd Kong.

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So I listened a couple times and i still don't know what Danielle Riendeau actually said that sounded like "Osama's dog."

 

I believe it was Samus dog, as in Samus Aran, the female power armor wearing protagonist of the Metroid series.

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Wait? You like that he implies Ken Levine is a murderer?

 

Joking aside, I like how he points out the overlap between how Levine writes his villains and how Levine presents himself in that recent statement. I think it's a salient point about how Levine seems to perceive leadership and power, albeit overshadowed by knee-jerk misogyny.

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That Primary Colors comparison in the last podcast is insanely adequate - if you're a dev your relation to the gratification and dread of gamedev probably fit one of the main character's stance toward politics.

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I was kinda relieved to hear that this episode's hosts all took issue with how Ken Levine went about what he did, because since it happened I was getting convinced that I was a crazy person by all the people who were okay with it. I hate second-guessing myself.

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Joking aside, I like how he points out the overlap between how Levine writes his villains and how Levine presents himself in that recent statement. I think it's a salient point about how Levine seems to perceive leadership and power, albeit overshadowed by knee-jerk misogyny.

I guess my mind went to a dark place because I was thinking of another game he worked on: SWAT 4.

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Ugh. Is there anything quite so obnoxious as "reviewers" that try to analyze vidya in terms of feminism or whatever social justice is flavor of the month

Strange thing to say from a guy who made this post. It seems like you can identify in one specific case, but not in whatever you deem to be the "flavor of the month" social justice? Weird.

 

Totally identify with the icky feeling for shooting Indians. My friends got totally into a shooter that happened during the Vietnam War once and I just couldn't do it. I was like, this wasn't a good or fun war

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I think the reason the original Donkey Kong became so Cranky was because he realized he and all of his descendants have rapid aging disorder. That dude used to stand toe-to-toe with Mario but he quickly aged to the point where he could barely move while Mario just continued to get more nimble. It appears that the current Donkey Kong has also had this genetic disorder passed down to him and he wears his tie as a symbol to promote rapid aging disorder awareness.

 

God I'm so stupid.

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Also I swear Cranky's dead in DK64. What's up with this story line Nintendo?

 

on the segway of story line where does this guy come into play? or possibly some bizzaro world / earth 2 in the Donkey Kongaverse

 

ngbbs52d1afd75a8b7.jpg 

 

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