Chris

Idle Thumbs 164: The Seed of a Sneeze

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I have a lot of trouble falling asleep without noise / people talking (or all all, really), so I almost always listen to podcasts before before falling asleep. At this point I've probably run through the entirety of the thumbs' back catalogue about four times, and I still absolutely love the old stuff.

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The old Joystiq podcast with Justin, Ludwig and Chris is what got me into listening to gaming podcasts, and I remember them as being some of my favorite podcasts ever.  Of course that was years ago, and trying to listen to them now might feel radically different.  At the time they were new, they didn't stand out to me as being terrible though.

By episode 60 or so it stops being incredibly boring and Justin stops being a weird goon. It's really not anything like McElroy makes today after he was well refined his presentation and comedy.

 

And besides, Idlethumbs podcast is the best video games podcast, I imagine the old episodes are still pretty good. The only parts I hated was when there was a good 10 episode period where it was an hour of baboo every week.

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I bought Capsule back when Chris tweeted about it, got to the final stretch, and put it down because I kept running out of fuel. Still felt like I got my money's worth though from what I did play.

 

Finding out if was on Steam, I got a key off the Humble Store and tried it again. Right away looking at the Steam Achievements clued me into ways to get fuel and air I didn't know were possible. Turns out when you run out of fuel you can jump-start the engine to get a little bit back; something that's hinted at in-game but I didn't realize was possible for the player. I thought that if you ran out of fuel before air you just had to wait to die, which seemed appropriate but got really frustrating on that last stretch.

 

As for what the environment is, I didn't think it was space or water because the very first base you reach talks about detecting seismic disturbances, erratic movement, and sonic emissions — it's talking about the player's capsule. Then there's the lichens and cycads and immobile arrangements of pylons and crates. I pictured it taking place on solid ground but on a planet with little visibility, or deep underground. Finding out it was made for the Venus Patrol kickstarter makes me think Venus' atmosphere was some of the inspiration.

 

I'm glad I listened to this episode, it was totally worth revisiting this one.

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It's terrifying to listen to old Idle Thumbs. We used to recommend starting at the start, and I would never ever recommend that now.

 

But hearing all the songs in context is awesome! Also at one point Nick talks about a Gauss Rifle when discussing a game that doesn't have a Gauss Rifle and it's hilarious. Ditto for remembering airfields.

 

I like listening to old casts when I'm otherwise occupied and old Thumbs discourse holds up pretty well, I think, even disregarding the funny bits I enjoyed.

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To go back to the idea of diplomatic wording, I think the podcast got way better once everyone on it were developers. It definitely made you have to reach to not say "this game fucking sucked", which in turn (I think) made you focus more only on games you really liked or felt you had a lot of interesting things to say.

 

Of course, given the time gap between the second and third Age of Thumbs, it could be more that you just got burnt out on playing AAA games, or no longer felt obligated to. But still, even with something like Bioshock: Infinite, your inability to just say "this aspect was fucking garbage" forced you to be more specific and constructive.

 

Definitely influenced the way I talk about film on my film podcast.

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All this talk of older Idle Thumbs reminds me of the episode when Nick was just on this war path of saying every game he played for that episode being bad, culminating with a "And Fat Princess was terrible too." Just this huge shotgun of "pffffffffffffffffffft." Loved it.

 

Also I miss Nick. And Steve needs to make more appearances.

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I do miss the songs from Old Idle Thumbs but I've been thinking about where new players should start because my housemate has finally taken the plunge. He is particularly picky with his podcasts, and I basically kept telling him that if he wanted a video game podcast he should try the best one, GIANTBO-- I mean Idle Thumbs.

 

Anyway, the week he started with contained the Ode to Waluigi so that was well timed, thanks guys.

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All this talk of older Idle Thumbs reminds me of the episode when Nick was just on this war path of saying every game he played for that episode being bad, culminating with a "And Fat Princess was terrible too." Just this huge shotgun of "pffffffffffffffffffft." Loved it.

 

Also I miss Nick. And Steve needs to make more appearances.

 

Yeah, I miss Nick, too. He's the cranky bastard of the podcast, which is kind of voice upon which I tend to center myself. He also ratchets up Sean really well sometimes, which makes for good chemistry.

 

To echo what everyone else is saying here, as well as what was being said in the "Anyone Remember?" thread, I enjoy the energy of the old episodes, especially the willingness to piss away minutes upon minutes on some worthless tangent without anyone even thinking to say that they should get back on topic, but I also like the focus of the new episodes, especially the tendency to resort less to old memes at random moments. If there was one thing I wanted, I'd like some sharper and more assertively stated opinions, which is not so much about everybody being bigger assholes and more about just having more people to provide the kind of diversity that drives constructive conversation.

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I like classic Nick because he's the one most likely to drive the podcast toward ridiculous shit.

 

I feel like the modern Thumbs moment that most captures the feel of the very early episodes was Nick talking about playing games with his girlfriend at Disneyland.

 

I notice Nick hasn't mentioned his girlfriend since then, and I like to imagine that she dumped him after learning that he cheated at Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters.

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I'm not decided on whether or not I like the rarity we hear about the significant other Thumbs. On the one hand it makes it more of a treat. On the other, I listen to talk radio and consider that standard.

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I just like that, since I decided to listen to the old episodes, I finally get to understand a lot of the in-jokes that have developed over the years.

 

For instance, the first time I saw "F Nick" in the forums I was very confused because I thought he was a beloved member of the podcast, and that maybe there was a beef between him and some users or something. I was very happy to find that that wasn't (quite) the case.

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created an account just to reply about star citizen. i understand the direction your show went since you admittedly said you dont know much about the game.

this is a fully funded game without a publisher. that is the best part of this game. the developer is listening to what we want.

i started and everyone can start with a single ship package for 40-60 bucks. same price as any pc game. all ships are purchasable in game with money you make in game. make sure you buy a package not an addon ship (doesnt include the game-for those that already have the game).

if you want to learn more start with "tales of citizens" cast by bridger on youtube.

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the developer is listening to what we want.

 

I'm decently excited about the game, but somehow I doubt a majority of players are clamoring for elaborate insurance schemes and hundreds of dollars of ships for purchase.

 

It's true they're available for in-game currency, but that's what's claimed with shitty free to play iphone games too. Whether the star citizen version is non-shitty is something nobody knows at this point, no matter how many company/fan videos you watch.

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I hope that someone else will come along a steal a bit of star citizens thunder

For example, the Star Wars free to play game that was cancelled.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/23/5746444/disney-scraps-star-wars-attack-squadrons-dogfighting-game

Is there hope that they cancelled it to actually flesh it out as something more substantial? Surely who ever owns the rights to starwars games (EA?) most be looking at star citizen and thinking lets get in on that action. Give me Star Wars star citizen with no mans sky real time flying on and off of planets and I'll do a dance like this kid

UnlawfulWillingAntbear.gif

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I don't think I've ever heard the word 'inugial' before and google isn't turning anything up

 

I'd guess it's the american pronunciation of inguinal, but if so, what are 'groinal' mechanics?

 

heard at 1:22:40

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I accidentally rated this thread 2 stars. The window was in the background and I clicked on it and the part I clicked on was a rate for two stars. It was an accident and I can't rerate for a different number of stars. I suspect now that this is how threads usually get rated. I didn't actually hate this thread. Pls don't ban me for accidentally rating your thread two stars. :getmecoat

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...what are 'groinal' mechanics?

 

Well, when one person really likes another...

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I don't think I've ever heard the word 'inugial' before and google isn't turning anything up

 

I'd guess it's the american pronunciation of inguinal, but if so, what are 'groinal' mechanics?

 

heard at 1:22:40

He's saying "individual" again.

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Only managed to listen to the episode now:

 

"And I'm Danielle Riendeau"  = :tup:  :tup:  :tup:  :tup: 

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From everything I've heard about Star Citizen, particularly the process of actually getting into a ship, it sounds like it follows a PC game design philosophy that's rare these days. It sounds a lot like how PC developers used to throw as many systems into their games as possible for the sake of making the most complex and "functional" worlds possible, and with almost no regard to accessibility or who might be able to run the game. I only played Ultima Underworld recently, but that's how that game must have felt in 1992 -- just one system put on top of another to try to create the most "real" world. The only other modern game I can think of that feels like this is ArmA. That game tries to give you as many options and as much functionality as possible for tactical combat, but as a result it uses pretty much every goddamn key on the keyboard.

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Is there any chance Danielle will become almost a member or just member of the podcast? She always has a lot of in depth game talk to bring to the table and touches on games that other members wouldn't necessarily play. I like the mix.

 

I sort of considered Steve Gaynor a member of the podcast even though he really isn't anymore. Is that canon? It's always nice when he comes back on though.

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