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[Lijik]

This week is sponsored by The Phaedrus Group.biz - Please visit with the code 'Wizard' for your free orientation

Note that you're probably better off listening before visiting this week's sponsor. Or, do whatever you want.

Episode 92: "The Mind-Tech Contingency"

• We come up for air from the fantastic SimCity beta to find ourselves in another place, lost in a world where firing a gun in a video game is a complex and specific act, an unfortunate world where there is cyberpunk crap everywhere. With special guest Steve "Hot Scoops" Gaynor.
• Games Discussed: Receiver, SimCity, SimCity: The City Simulator, Escape from the Haunted Ship, Hundreds

Listen on Idlethumbs.net
Direct MP3 download
Mediafire Mirror

About Idle Thumbs
Idle Thumbs is a podcast - about video games! Running since 2008, Idle Thumbs is currently a weekly podcast in which three friends who work in the industry talk about games, things tangentially related to games, and things not at all related to games. Readers can expect in-depth enthusiastic discussions, equally enthusiastic riffs on tangential silliness, and anything in between.
Recently Idle Thumbs has expanded into a network which includes 3 Moves Ahead and the Idle Book Club. Additionally the Thumbs ocassionally stream themselves playing games Saturdays on their TwitchTV account.

About Steve "Hot Scoops" Gaynor
A former cast member of the show, Steve Gaynor is currently the co-founder of The Fullbright Company, where he is hard at work on their first game Gone Home. Steve has also worked as a level designer at Irrational Games and 2K Marin, and was the writer/designer of the Bioshock 2 expansion Minerva's Den

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goty.cx

 

[dekjo]

goty.cx

Any word if they're going to do 2012 gotys?

 

[Hot Coldman]

Oh boy, another delicious plate of hot scoops

 

[Jake]

Note that you're probably better off listening before visiting this week's sponsor. Or, do whatever you want.

 

[Rickenslacker]

Gimme those hot scoops. Lay them all on me.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

Gaynor is on the cast? Nice.

 

[dekjo]

Note that you're probably better off listening before visiting this week's sponsor. Or, do whatever you want.

I listened to it first.

Sometimes I wish I could rewind time.

 

[Shaneus]

Mediafire mirror! <3

goty.cx

:/

 

[Lijik]

Hearing Chris' plans for the new SimCity has me so hyped for SimCity. Im probably going to drop 80 bucks on the collectors edition as well. Need my French buildings

:/

Weird! Just tried the site for myself in Chrome and it worked fine

 

[spindrift]

"Steve why are you so ... terrible" - Chris

 

[Shaneus]

Weird! Just tried the site for myself in Chrome and it worked fine

Nah, that's just because I'm at work. I'm sure once I'm at home I can goty all the way to the bank.

 

[aeolist]

I just bought Proteus after hearing these guys talk about it but still without knowing really anything about it

It blew me away IGN.com

Spoiler

seriously it's pretty great

 

[Kade]

I finally got my post card from the Kickstarter yesterday and one of the corners was wet.

 

[Shaneus]

I just bought Proteus after hearing these guys talk about it but still without knowing really anything about it

It blew me away IGN.com

Spoiler

seriously it's pretty great

I bought it a few days ago after seeing screenshots (and the odd anigif) in the PC screenshots thread. But I've been capped since so I haven't been able to download it :/

 

[aeolist]

I bought it a few days ago after seeing screenshots (and the odd anigif) in the PC screenshots thread. But I've been capped since so I haven't been able to download it :/

Even gifs don't do it justice, the visuals and audio mesh so perfectly it has to be experienced as a whole

 

[commissar]

Downloading now, huzzah thumbs

 

[firehawk12]

Spycraft is on GOG.com and worth checking out inasmuch as it tried to do the whole mundane espionage thing with some attention to verisimilitude.

What's interesting is that it has a torture scene - you basically electrocute a prisoner in order to obtain information from them - but that scene is entirely avoidable. In fact, IIRC, the game asks you if you even want the possibility to see the scene the first time you start up the game (sort of like how the recent CoD games have a "mature content" option when you first boot them up). Funny enough, the way to avoid torturing the suspect is to play through a very touchy Photoshopping mini-game... so, talk about mundane actions.

There are a lot of horribly clunky parts to the game though. One puzzle requires you to play American Mahjong (that silly tile matching game that is free with all copies of windows) and another sequence features what can only be described as a turn-based first person shooter. lol

The only other thing I remember about it is that it had cameos by both a former CIA director and a KGB director. Their names were plastered over the box as consultants (sort of like "Daryl F Gates' Police Quest 4/SWAT"). They were really trying to push that authenticity angle I suppose.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Gun Simulator 2013 sounds awesome.

 

[Gomu Gomu]

Aw shit, Steve is in this one? Sweet.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

Burst out laughing a lot this time. One of the most funny episodes in a while.

 

[Lijik]

Funny enough, the way to avoid torturing the suspect is to play through a very touchy Photoshopping mini-game.

This bit in particular sounds like the absolute worst thing ever, and yet I extremely want to play it

 

[firehawk12]

This bit in particular sounds like the absolute worst thing ever, and yet I extremely want to play it

I remember being stuck on the puzzle for hours. I even went to the bookstore to look at the guide to see if I was missing something and it just turns out that I didn't place one of the objects in the "right" place. I was so fucking mad.

At the very least, I don't think I've played a game quite like it since... whether that's a good thing or not... lol

Ah, here's someone doing it: http://youtu.be/eN6dp8lHkNg?t=5m38s

 

[Shaneus]

Well, it seems like the screen grabs don't do SimCity justice at all, because from what I saw in the PC screen grabs thread, it looked like arse. Also, was the beta just a US-only thing? Because even though I entered, I didn't get accepted at all :/


BTW, I don't know what the music in the game itself is like, but does anyone else think that the Adlib/OPL2 (specifically NOT the MT32... needs to be cheesy) music from Jones in the Fast Lane would be *perfect* for a game like SimCity?
For some reason, I can really just picture myself kinda rocking out to it while watching my Sims do their thing and managing budgets and stuff.

 

[Chris Remo]

"Jones in the Fast Lane" remains one of the great video game names of all time.

 

[Shaneus]

I have an unusual fondness for that game. It may be because when I was in primary school and into drawing video game characters (as you do) it was one of the few I could draw well because of the straight lines of Jones. Hawaiian shirts, business attire... you name it.

God damn it, I just realised I'm weird.

 

[reptilescorpio]

Mediafire mirror in OP? I love you GAF

 

[Shaneus]

I know, right? I think it was my ongoing requests for it that might've done it

 

[firehawk12]

I have an unusual fondness for that game. It may be because when I was in primary school and into drawing video game characters (as you do) it was one of the few I could draw well because of the straight lines of Jones. Hawaiian shirts, business attire... you name it.
God damn it, I just realised I'm weird.

Wow, I remember this game too. It's weird to think that Activision owns this hot IP now.

 

[eot]

The podcast is on a roll, so many good episodes in a row :d

 

[Rahk]

I've been wanting to play Receiver, but have been waiting for a Steam release. Just realised I can download it for free since I preordered Overgrowth. Will check it out.

 

[StevePharma]

This felt like a classic Idle Thumbs episode. Steve really brought that old skool flavour. HE HE HE


#FightForFreeman

 

[Shaneus]

Technically, it actually felt like a classic The Idle Thumbs Podcast episode.

Technically.