Idle F***in' Thumbs Podcast

oilypenguin wrote:

My whole life I've been a batman.

When I heard that portion of the podcast I wanted to ask them to google Batman and Birmingham, Alabama for something really unexpected.

I grew up in Birmingham and remember that guy driving around town stopping to help people. As you can see it was easy to pick him out on the road. If you did see him you'd mention it to other people that you did.

Gandalves & Sarumen.

Last two episodes have been great. Makes me feel less weird for thinking they've been in a slump. Chris and Jake not talking with Nick just going on all by himself was the best.

I was secretly hoping Sean was there the whole time too and not talking.

Did anyone notice that Chris stopped talking before Jake brought it up?

UCRC wrote:

Did anyone notice that Chris stopped talking before Jake brought it up?

Definitely noticed early on that he was going through with it, not sure if I would have if they hadn't joked about it beforehand though. It was fun to feel like we were in on the joke.

Correct Answer is always more Jake.

I really like those 'old' influences. I remember Chris talking about that interesting time in the first 'season' where he had watched a ton of Flying Circus and cut the episodes together with bonkers sh*t. I really like that bonkers stuff. :>

A bit behind, but someone really needs to get one of the Thumbs a Wii U. After all the talk about Mario 3D Land, I'm really interested to hear what they think of Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101.

Another Idle Thumbs prediction made real.

(at 41:29)

Thats awesome:)
They are standing at the top of the gaming industry and using everyone as poppets. Just pulling strings:)

Kr7stof wrote:

Thats awesome:)
They are standing at the top of the gaming industry and using everyone as poppets. Just pulling strings:)

I assume you mean The Phaedrus Group right?

shoptroll wrote:
Kr7stof wrote:

Thats awesome:)
They are standing at the top of the gaming industry and using everyone as poppets. Just pulling strings:)

I assume you mean The Phaedrus Group right?

Yeah. That's the cruelest joke of all. The Thumbs crew is controlled by The Phaedrus Group and made to believe they have the power. They joke about Phaedrus and don't even know.

UCRC wrote:

Games Discussed: Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle.

Looks like classic Rodking* material.

*anyone still remember that stupid reader mail?

Yeah...

shoptroll wrote:
Kr7stof wrote:

Thats awesome:)
They are standing at the top of the gaming industry and using everyone as poppets. Just pulling strings:)

I assume you mean The Phaedrus Group right?

I there any other group that resembles the same importance?:)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/VUay033.gif)

kilanash wrote:
UCRC wrote:

Games Discussed: Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle.

Looks like classic Rodking* material.

*anyone still remember that stupid reader mail?

Yeah...

Oh man, there it is! That was such a good episode, by the way.

Bonus_Eruptus wrote:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/VUay033.gif)

Why's he wearing a shirt?

When the show came back I think it took some time for them to find a groove again. I think it also took some time for me to figure out who they are and what I wanted from them years after the initial run. Now, I love this podcast as much as I ever did.

They do come across a bit snooty about AAA vs indie, but that's who they are and I dig the conversations they're having.

Really just digging the cast.

demonbox wrote:

When the show came back I think it took some time for them to find a groove again. I think it also took some time for me to figure out who they are and what I wanted from them years after the initial run. Now, I love this podcast as much as I ever did.

They do come across a bit snooty about AAA vs indie, but that's who they are and I dig the conversations they're having.

Really just digging the cast.

Honestly I think this is always who they were. The difference is that Chris was covering AAA games in the original iteration of the podcast. On top of that the Indie scene has just exploded recently. I think the types of games they love in the Indie scene make complete sense given their previous tastes.

Back in 2008 AAA games weren't quite as worn out as they are now either. Cover based shooting was still kind of novel and more games were trying more new things.

kyrieee wrote:

Back in 2008 AAA games weren't quite as worn out as they are now either. Cover based shooting was still kind of novel and more games were trying more new things.

Plenty of larger games are trying new things now if you look beyond a narrow subset. Problem is people aren't buying them, something which speaks more of the game consuming public then those making the games if you ask me. They only tend to play the larger games that people are buying and then paint that whole space with that brush. Nothing wrong with preferring indie games over AAA and hey, I still listen to the show every week but I think how they approach their criticism of it is a bit unfair. That said, they seem to have largely stopped discussing that space entirely the last while so enh.

I picked up Stanley Parable after Idle Thumbs. I haven't been disappointed, it's great!

Before that I picked up Spelunky for the same reason and love it.

Idle Thumbs has definitely been skewed towards indie games for a long time and I've liked it because I have similar interests. FarCry 2 was a while ago but I think they'd talk about another AAA game that gave them similar emergent gameplay if there were any.

Dishonored has gotten a good amount of love on the 'cast. It's too bad that Deus Ex happened to come out during the hiatus—I imagine it would have gotten a lot more discussion had they been 'casting while they were playing it.

Gravey wrote:

Dishonored has gotten a good amount of love on the 'cast. It's too bad that Deus Ex happened to come out during the hiatus—I imagine it would have gotten a lot more discussion had they been 'casting while they were playing it.

Indeed, DEHR was even their GOTY.

gore wrote:
Gravey wrote:

Dishonored has gotten a good amount of love on the 'cast. It's too bad that Deus Ex happened to come out during the hiatus—I imagine it would have gotten a lot more discussion had they been 'casting while they were playing it.

Indeed, DEHR was even their GOTY.

Indeed.

Even in 2008 there was a fair bit of indie love by the Thumbs. Braid, World of Goo, and Minotaur China Shop were given GOTY or Honorable Mention.

They always had a deep love for the indie, and a some strong dislike for AAA- which couldn't be more than fine. I find that I probably live in equal space between the two. I agree with pxa, that I sometimes find their view on some titles to be less equitable in terms of equal barriers of comparison- much less quarter is provided for games that have larger budgets and expectations. That may be fair- even if at times I wish that some titles were given more scrutiny, etc. I've complained about that in this thread before.

I've come to a place where i just don't care though. I really dig their voice, and the array of topics, games. I've come to realize I don't care what I wish they were saying, or how I think they should evaluate individual games. I just really appreciate them for who they are, and the perspective they provide. I've come to appreciate the show as much as I did before the break- and I've stopped getting in the way of enjoying them.

Same. If anything I own / have played a large number of games I never would have considered without their lean. Papers, Please, CK2, Prison Architect and many others. I would say that I wish they appreciated Dark Souls or handheld gaming more, but I get enough of those opinions here and elsewhere.

I just found an Idle Thumbs reference in Kingdom of Loathing. The circle is now complete.

This old-style tin billboard reads: Puffin' Wizard Cigars. They're not for babies.

I like how on bios page under Nick it only says "Congrats, Nick!".