Idle Thumbs Megathread | Indepth discussion inbetween horsebags and birdsounds

StevePharma said:
Nick and Steve are the reason why for me Episode 1-51 + 52-64 > everything else. So many highlights.

Call it rose-tinted glasses but those are my personal feelings. Once in a while we do get a great episode, especially with guests (Danielle is one I like because she always brings topical discussion on games because she reviews them) or when Nick is around.

Steve's podcast is wonderful but I really miss the interaction with Jake and Chris.

Don't worry Sean I like you too! ;)
when you don't talk about DotA or Day-Z
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I actually agree, but Sean is still good too. Someone needs to talk about Dota 2.
 
StevePharma said:
Nick and Steve are the reason why for me Episode 1-51 + 52-64 > everything else. So many highlights.

Call it rose-tinted glasses but those are my personal feelings. Once in a while we do get a great episode, especially with guests (Danielle is one I like because she always brings topical discussion on games because she reviews them) or when Nick is around.

Steve's podcast is wonderful but I really miss the interaction with Jake and Chris.

Don't worry Sean I like you too! ;)
when you don't talk about DotA or Day-Z
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While I agree somewhat, Sean does bring his own weird-laugh flavour to things, and I don't enjoy it any less when Nick or Steve aren't there. it really depends more on how into whatever they're talking about (even if it's themselves).

I of course hold out for an All Thumbs on Deck podcast with all North American and Brit thumbs in one show.
 
With Sean being the resident DayZ buff, I wish he were in this episode to lend a voice to the survival genre discussion. A lot of the points brought up about The Forest felt like issues practically inherent to the genre at this point rather than anything peculiar about the game's execution.

Do people actually enter these games at this point wondering "what is the point of the game, really" or expecting an explicit tutorialization of what's expressly needed? Between DayZ, Minecraft, and Don't Starve, they proudly wear that middle finger on their sleeves. I would wager the completely hands off/player emergent discovery of core mechanical systems (as opposed to the explicit, logical flow of actual survival skills) is the draw, not unlike the obscurity of a Dark Souls game.

Ironically it seems like the other issues stem from the game simply bookending narrative set pieces and then getting caught up as a player to the dissonance of trying to make sense of it. For as much time as was spent about some assets thrown around and lack of interactivity, the idea that conversely, it being solved by removing them almost makes it evident why these games always take the shape of a sandbox game.
 
NoPiece said:
I don't know if you guys are making a lot of money with the ads, but personally, I'd rather pay/donate and have an ad free podcast. I know you have a loyal audience, and if you used something like Patreon, I think you'd do well.
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Nah. Without ads Nick has no way of knowing what people are NOT listening to the podcast. :D

I dont really mind the ads.
 
xyzzy said:
Did you not hear any of the Dante's Inferno stuff? That's some of the best casting. If anything I miss the adverse criticism that came with Chris or Nick being more exposed to abhorrent mainstream games outside of their interests due their old press jobs, but change is inevitable and good.
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That was great, I have to go back and listen to that again.
 
jediyoshi said:
Do people actually enter these games at this point wondering "what is the point of the game, really" or expecting an explicit tutorialization of what's expressly needed? Between DayZ, Minecraft, and Don't Starve, they proudly wear that middle finger on their sleeves. I would wager the completely hands off/player emergent discovery of core mechanical systems (as opposed to the explicit, logical flow of actual survival skills) is the draw, not unlike the obscurity of a Dark Souls game.
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That wasn't how I interpreted what he said. To some extent, "the point of the game" is discovering new things. If the game is alpha, it won't have much content to find. Why build a boat if you're fairly sure they haven't implemented anything substantial to do with it yet?

Maybe I'm just projecting though.
 
I think Nick or whoever was referring to the fact that this game starts with an opening cutscene where your child is kidnapped. That is in heavy contrast to DayZ, Don't Starve, Minecraft, etc, which just say "here you are, deal with it," and plop you into a running sim in media res. The Forest opens in a way that implies meaning ("you're a father looking for/protecting your son" usually comes with more thematic baggage than "you are an anonymous anybody character") and finality (it has an explicit beginning so that implies an ending exists or will exist or CAN exist right?) using methods uncommon in its genre.
 
You can tell the thumbs didn't watch the Nintendo conference or any of the associated media because otherwise we would have gotten Chris' baffled reaction to the cult of personality Nintendo has recently really been digging into

God I'd love to hear some of that on the cast.
 
Nick and/or Steve casts were generally awesome because they tended to play more games. They also seem a lot less precious about their "personal player narrative story" which balances out the talk a lot.

Chris played a bunch more when he was in press, which was great, it consistently gave him something new to talk about. Also, it seemed like he was occasionally force fed stuff he hated, which gave ample opportunity to get analytical (and humorous) in that area too.

Now everyone has real lives to deal with, so less games seem to get played in general by the crew. I think that's why we get so much zeitgeist talk now.

That, and Chris and Sean seem to have found their respective WoW-like games, which just push everything else to the wayside.

Still love the podcast though.
 
I liked how they just blasted the exclusivity talk of console makers at e3 for the expensive banality it is. They are totally right that it is about temporarily excluding the other console players, and generally the stuff comes to PC straight away. For the players, indeed.
 
Developers huffing their own farts about their game's themes or whatever is directly related to the number in the title and how much money is being spent. People try to match big projects with reverence, especially when budgets reach nine digit numbers. And since games of that caliber are mostly nothing but refined sequels, there's nothing much to talk about that would fit an event like the E3 press conference. They're not going to repeat points from the initial announcement, so they grasp for the next best thing that hopefully a lot of people can relate to. Circumstances conspire to make those people look like idiots, even if they're intimately connected to the 'message', it's going to ring hollow when they're one of 1500 people to touch the game and productions realities make more decisions for them, overriding whatever artistic intent they had.

The solution: Be Rockstar and communicate through trailers and the odd interview and leave game journalists to embarrass themselves by treating games like the second coming.

PS: I forget whose press conference it was (someone here will remember, I'm sure), but Ubisoft (surprise) had a guy do a whole spiel about surveillance for Watch Dogs, complete with hilariously put on sad face about the state of the world post Snowden revelations. I almost crumpled into dust trying to watch it and had to emergency mute it lest my self-awareness glands implode.
 
Rufus said:
PS: I forget whose press conference it was (someone here will remember, I'm sure), but Ubisoft (surprise) had a guy do a whole spiel about surveillance for Watch Dogs, complete with hilariously put on sad face about the state of the world post Snowden revelations. I almost crumpled into dust trying to watch it and had to emergency mute it lest my self-awareness glands implode.
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I think you've got Watch Dogs mixed up with the reveal for Infamous Second Son based on that line
jbSQng3.png
 
Teeth said:
That, and Chris and Sean seem to have found their respective WoW-like games, which just push everything else to the wayside.

Still love the podcast though.
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I can't deny that this has often been true but I haven't played Spelunky in a month or so at this point!
 
Can some of the more literary-minded and intelligent Idle Thumbs listeners please explain the references or significance of each of the fictional book covers posted on the Campo Santo developer blog? Obviously the bottom one is a nod to Gone Home, but the rest of them I cannot identify. One book looks like they want it to have a bit of an Ayn Rand vibe......but the back cover is all in Latin so I'm not sure what that means.

http://blog.camposanto.com/post/862...ed-myself-with-drawing-some#livefyre-comments

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There's no specific significance, they are just attempts at creating plausible book covers from the 60s to mid 80s. Although Jonas Allard is a reference to J Allard.
 
Speaking of books, any plans on recording the book club for The Sun Also Rises? I realize you guys have been incredibly busy as of late, but I really enjoy your book club podcast and would love to hear you guys discuss my favorite Hemingway novel.
 
Chris Remo said:
There's no specific significance, they are just attempts at creating plausible book covers from the 60s to mid 80s. Although Jonas Allard is a reference to J Allard.
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I didn't think it would have that much significane to Firewatch.....more like I was just hoping to track the references in each one.

For instance, Michelle McManus is a UK Pop Idol winner and would have been familiar to Olly Moss, since he is a Brit. I assume something about that book cover ties into her work or career (about which I know nothing).

"Dick Sturgeon" sounds like a ridiculous name that may have come up and been chuckled about during a Thumbs episode....
 
border said:
I didn't think it would have that much significane to Firewatch.....more like I was just hoping to track the references in each one.

For instance, Michelle McManus is a UK Pop Idol winner and would have been familiar to Olly Moss, since he is a Brit. I assume something about that book cover ties into her work or career (about which I know nothing).
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Haha whoops, I have no idea if that was the intention.

"Dick Sturgeon" sounds like a ridiculous name that may have come up and been chuckled about during a Thumbs episode....
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That one was just a dumb name I thought up.
 
border said:
Can some of the more literary-minded and intelligent Idle Thumbs listeners please explain the references or significance of each of the fictional book covers posted on the Campo Santo developer blog? Obviously the bottom one is a nod to Gone Home, but the rest of them I cannot identify. One book looks like they want it to have a bit of an Ayn Rand vibe......but the back cover is all in Latin so I'm not sure what that means.

http://blog.camposanto.com/post/862...ed-myself-with-drawing-some#livefyre-comments
tumblr_n5tzr9nJXs1sikueao6_400.jpg
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Introducci%C3%B3n_-_MGS_-_Donald_Anderson.png
 
Those books all have back of jacket copy, too, but we didnt want to post everything.

Well done on the Donald Anderson.
 
I finally finished last week's podcast, and I just can't imagine Grim Fandango ending up like they said. It could be re-released as a lowest possible effort job on Steam, maybe even on consoles if we're stretching a bit, but if it was it wouldn't be brought up at an E3 conference of all places. There has to be some money changing hands here.

Something like System Shock 2 (only released on PC) at least has modding going for it, I can replace every texture I want and run the game at native resolution.
 
Listening to the last podcast I remember my wife was annoyed by loud music being played in the lobby at her work. Turns out the company hired the band "Train" to perform there. "You Had a Bad day" song felt perfect she said.
 
Anyone else completely sick of podcast ads? I honestly couldn't dislike any brands more than hulu+, lootcrate, and audible at this point, and coming up on it is nature box. It's probably because I listen to a few different casts with the same disruptive advertising, but man I've just started to skip the bits.

I saw they did the survey thing to try to get some different and more interesting ads, but I'd love the option to pay for an adless cast.
 
I love the bombcast ads. The trials and tribulations of the small business man is truly a tale for the ages.

But I don't really mind ads since they only take a couple of minutes, max.
 
Jake said:
We generally play them pretty straight. I guess we could get weirder. I'd rather we just get briefer.
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Briefer plz.

The canned audible ones sometimes read at the beginning are the least irritating. I don't think I could take another five minute Chris digression about how cool strawberries or nuts are.

/edit I wouldn't have predicted that Danielle didn't like the aesthetic of Pushmo or Splatoon. Weird! At least she can see the gameplay potential
 
I don't like ad reads that are: 1 - really canned, AND 2 - really long.
One or the other is fine. Long unscripted digressions are fine. Canned is fine. But long, canned ad reads are the worst.

I have zero problems with the way thumbs have been doing it so far.
 
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