Jake

Idle Thumbs 154: Super Good

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It's funny actually, like because of how ingrained the term "race" is in fantasy settings you will sometimes here people talk about the different factions in a game like Master of Orion as different races* despite the shift to a science fiction setting. I have always very consciously referred to them as different species.

 

* Pretty sure the 3MA cast is guilty of this in their Simtex episode!

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I also find myself saying "super good".

 

That's pretty super, dude.

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Jake's comment about robots and buttons gave me this amazing flash of the robot future where using a finger to push a button or an optical sensor to interpret a screen or sitting in chairs or whatever is their version of skeuomorphism.  (And then all of the robots in favor of it are immediately deleted and replaced by those that are able to handle the new direct interfaces.)

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Re: the second screen app. There actually is one for Black flag. It shows you the map of the area you're exploring. Complete with guards and everything. And while at sea it will show you a map of the part of the ocean you're in. It's also used to manage your fleet and make a bunch of extra cash.

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Re: the second screen app. There actually is one for Black flag. It shows you the map of the area you're exploring. Complete with guards and everything. And while at sea it will show you a map of the part of the ocean you're in. It's also used to manage your fleet and make a bunch of extra cash.

 

Wow, the fleet command thing is like a really rough version of a play-and-wait game!  Playing it now and it's makes 1 million times more sense on mobile.  This'll prolly break the economy a bit...

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Sean popping up at the end of the podcast startled the hell out of me! Also, I was wondering if ya'll would discuss the Bioshock Infinite DLC next week maybe? I was really looking forward to that, but Sean's absence seems to have interrupted that. Still, super good pod, I dare say.

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It bums me out more than it should that you didn't have a discount code for Brave Wave stuff until the second time they sponsored you. Not because I want a measly dollar back, but because I like to think I help Idle Thumbs when I buy things from sponsors and without using discount code "video_games" HOW WILL THEY KNOW?!?!

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The code (and all future Brave Wave ads) was added because they were excited at the response to the first ad actually. So you helped a lot.

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Does anyone have the Civ V trailer mash up mentioned in the episode? I was unable to find it.

 

I think this is it:

 

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I'm torn on how I want Civilization to feel. I am completely with Chris' on how on an instinctual level it feels rad it is to have a game that celebrates human achievement. I also remember Alpha Centauri as being my favorite Civ game precisely because it taught me that while history arcs towards justice along the way we make many mistakes and often become far too enamored with our own cleverness. Finding some space between those two would be ideal.

Hearing how Jake was the nexus of Chris' current life makes me think of my own experiences with friendships. It's always best to be bold with your friendships, you never know where they will lead. 

This episode and last has made me awfully curious about how the podcast is put together. Maybe Chris could enlighten us on some of the work that happens behind the scenes to bring us a super good episode like this one?

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During all the talk about that Civ cinematic compilation, my mind went to Dan Bull's rap version. His videos for other games are pretty hit or miss, but this one does a good job at narrating all the horrible shit humanity has done, as well as the triumphant gorgeous stuff. Kind of catchy, too.

 

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I'm torn on how I want Civilization to feel. I am completely with Chris' on how on an instinctual level it feels rad it is to have a game that celebrates human achievement. I also remember Alpha Centauri as being my favorite Civ game precisely because it taught me that while history arcs towards justice along the way we make many mistakes and often become far too enamored with our own cleverness. Finding some space between those two would be ideal.

 

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: the Cloud Atlas of video games.

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Who else was super freaked out by Sean's voice coming in at the end?

 

For a split second I was convinced that I had somehow blocked out Sean's presence for the previous ninety minutes of podcast.

My brain was (super) destroyed. 

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In Assassin's Creed 4 you're a beta tester, and also literally every desk has an animus (and you hack into people's animii). You (THE PLAYER) are extremely good at pulling Cool Memories out of the Animus. If you're following the story or care, that seems like a relatively important part of it. It IS extremely ~META~.

 

 

To answer Chris's question, in this fictional universe AC: Liberation is the ONLY game this company has released. Also the name of the game is Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. e: this has been sussed out 90 seconds later.

 

I really wish Charlie Kaufman's AC4 was a thing. Then again:

 

They do imply that the Templars are twisting the story to create their own version of history through the games, which sort of puts Ubisoft in the position of being the antagonist of the games and setting up the meta-conspiracy of the game, which is both super dumb and kind of fun. Not quite as cool as if a marketing guy pitched the ending of the game and then it happened, but not that far off.

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Fun show! Notes:

 

- Alongside every person who got a degree of some sort in the University of California system while Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of the state, my masters degree (but unfortunately, not my PhD, which was received after he finished his terms) has his signature on the bottom. It's kind of nice that an official document indicating that I am a "Master of Astronomy" is signed by The Terminator.

 

- My copy of the the Idle Thumbs record came, and it sounds great. I've never had to switch my turntable over to 45 rpm mode! Thanks for making those available. 

 

- My favorite single moment of this week's show was how,

, Nick's only response was a very Nick Breckon "eh." It made me laugh a lot. 

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I really wish Charlie Kaufman's AC4 was a thing. Then again:

 

They do imply that the Templars are twisting the story to create their own version of history through the games, which sort of puts Ubisoft in the position of being the antagonist of the games and setting up the meta-conspiracy of the game, which is both super dumb and kind of fun. Not quite as cool as if a marketing guy pitched the ending of the game and then it happened, but not that far off.

 

The trailer for Devils of the Caribbean was pretty great. It kinda breaks down with Freedom Cry because one would suspect that the message of Freedom Cry runs contrary to the goals of the Templars, they don't even attempt to tie any of that DLC back to Abstergo Entertainment with any out of the animus sections though. I think the DLC would've been stronger if they did try to add a similar layer of meta as justification for the 'slaves as an upgrade resource' part of the game.

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Fun cast. Loved all the Civilization talk, and will probably fall into another hole of playing it nonstop!

 

For a split second I was convinced that I had somehow blocked out Sean's presence for the previous ninety minutes of podcast.


My brain was (super) destroyed

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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: the Cloud Atlas of video games.

 

Disclaimer: I have never played a Civ game, despite owning IV and V. But it's interesting that you make this connection with Cloud Atlas. One of the things that has stopped me from booting up Civ, besides the sheer intimidation factor, is the idea that, as Dualhammers said, they present history as a "progressive" force, constantly moving towards bigger and better things. While I understand the appeal of that metaphor, I think it's a fundamentally misleading characterization of history that people fall into far too easily. Cloud Atlas, in my opinion, brilliantly sidesteps this issue through its structure and its stories. The message of Cloud Atlas is not "we move toward good things but a lot of bad stuff happens along the way," but rather "good and bad things constantly happen in tandem, no matter when in history they occur." That to me is a far more nuanced and realistic look at history and I wish there was a game that made that its thrust.

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When I was a tiny child I loved Flintstones Vitamins and somehow conspired to eat several handfuls when no one was looking, whereupon I was rushed to the ER and vomiting was induced.

 

^ thanks for sharing

 

 

Actually, and I know you're joking, but it's Tom Senior at PC Gamer using "race" instead of "faction" in a question to David McDonough and Will Miller on page two of this interview. They both carefully reassert the use of "faction" in their response, probably to avoid the exact scenario about which you're joking.

 

Maybe I am just bad at web-browsing, but I didn't find either of them using the word "faction" in the entire interview. Tom Senior uses it several times though.

 

The culture boundary stuff from Civ IV seems great and I wish it was in other games; but I only played Civ IV for a few minutes because when I ran into the entirely-interchangeable religion system Nick mentioned, it was so silly to me that it spoiled everything else! I like the choice of different governments with noticeable impact on strategy, and I was hoping the religions would offer another level of customization. Plus it's weird to play a system that is essentially a serious implementation of the quotation, "A man's opinion on tramcars matters; his opinion on Botticelli matters; his opinion on all things does not matter." ^_o I'm sure they had a number of reasons and didn't make the decision thoughtlessly; but it's always there in the background, slightly bugging me. Knowing Civ IV though there is probably a mod somewhere* that makes religion the most important part of the game.

 

* ok yes Fall From Heaven 2 I know =P

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You can count me in the ranks of people who say "super cool" a lot after discovering your podcast, though I became aware of it after a few occurrences and made a deliberate choice to continue.

 

I heard about Idle Thumbs after the Kickstarter relaunch and quickly listened to the whole backlog of episodes on my commutes, during which time the atmosphere of the show seeped into my bones and subtly changed me. When I finally caught up with those, I started with the first episode of 3MA and started listening to two hours of that every day, which as you may imagine effected a markedly different transformation. Basically I was Michael Keaton from Multiplicity until I exhausted my supply of old podcasts.

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Fun Fact: Singapore has (or had, until recently) what is basically a President Emeritus system. Well, kind of.

 

Lee Kwan Yew was the first Prime minister of Singapore. He's kind of like their George Washington. So, when he stepped down after 30 years, they invented a new position for him: Senior Minister.


The new Prime Minister (Goh Chok Tong) ruled for a while, but when he decided to step down, they had a problem: nobody gave a shit if he stuck around because he was just some dude, not George Washington. But in order to maintain the appearance of an actual succession (the new PM, Lee Hsien Loong, is Lee Kwan Yew's son - they had Goh in there to pretend that it wasn't just a dynasty), they had to make Goh the Senior Minister. So, they invented ANOTHER new position for Lee Kwan Yew: Minister Mentor.

 

After a while, I guess Lee Kwan Yew realized he is super old (plus his son is now in charge, so, yeah), so he decided to retire completely. So, in 2011, he abolished the Minister Mentor position. However, Goh Chok Tong also abolished the Senior Minister position at the same time! He totally wasn't a stuffed shirt placeholder, see. Because, uh...reasons.

 

Anyways, I guess they felt bad for Goh Chok Tong, because they invented another new position as a consolation prize. The new position is, wait for it, Emeritus Senior Minister!

 

Long story short: The Lee family are totally the emperors / dictators of Singapore, but put a patsy in between to pretend they weren't, which literally nobody believed, but everybody pretended to play along anyways.

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Thanks for the Async Corp recommendation. I've heard recommendations before, but Jake's mention came at the right time for me. I spent a few hours yesterday getting the fourth color in async mode (eat it) and introduced the game to Capt. Hastings last night who responded with "Were you trying to make me lose sleep? Because I'm going to play this all night."

Also.. I hope Chris is ok with being called a hipster, because nothing says hipster like responding to a recommendation of a game with "Oh I was invited to a bar in New York City by someone on Twitter and they showed me this game... whilst in development."

It's the hipster-curse. I have often had moments where I ask myself "Do I want to tell them how I know about this? Or should I just nod because they won't believe me and they'll think I'm just trying to impress them with what (understandably) sounds like braggart-lies?"

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Goh Chok Tong also abolished the Senior Minister position...they invented another new position as a consolation prize. The new position is, wait for it, Emeritus Senior Minister!

 

This is a fun fact! Emeritus Senior Minister: Emeritus Emeritus Prime Minister (deprecated).

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The trailer for Devils of the Caribbean was pretty great. It kinda breaks down with Freedom Cry because one would suspect that the message of Freedom Cry runs contrary to the goals of the Templars, they don't even attempt to tie any of that DLC back to Abstergo Entertainment with any out of the animus sections though. I think the DLC would've been stronger if they did try to add a similar layer of meta as justification for the 'slaves as an upgrade resource' part of the game.

 

I didn't play any Freedom Cry. While that makes sense from a meta perspective it's a bit sad. This is a minor spoiler with regard to how AC4 built its world around Abstergo making a game company:

 

In the course of your hacking, you see the focus tests for all the other protagonists of the AC games. if I recall correctly, Altair was too brooding, Ezio was too much of a flamboyant womanizer, and they really liked Connor but he was too boring (SICK BURN). They really liked Aveline because she was raised by a Templar lady, and thus that was their first Historical-Fiction video game they made from memories.

 

 

I think it's pretty funny and fascinating. AC games are some of the few where I've been intrigued enough to search out all the extra bits and pieces. They also make it worth your while. 

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