• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Idle thumbs IS BACK (Kickstarter ended) -- Funded in 3 hours

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
To be fair: despite all the insanity, the brodeo had very deep discussions on game design and the industry. I remember a particular episode where they dissected the level design of HL2: ep 2 which was pretty brilliant.

I agree with this. GFW Radio and Shawn Elliott in particular were probably my first experience listening to anyone talk about game design in any thoughtful way. Idle Thumbs appealed for the same reason. They both make other (popular) game podcasts feel shallow and rote by comparison.

That said, The Bombcast is pretty damn entertaining, even if I don't feel like I get very much out of their game-focused discussions.
 

Chuck

Still without luck
Started listening yesterday starting at episode 1. On episode 8 now and I'm loving it. The songs are amazing.
 

FStop7

Banned
Thanks for that stream of consciousness post.

Idle Thumbs is multiple levels of quality above Weekend Confirmed. It very good when it was Garnett/Leahy/Cannata, but the quality took a nosedive once Leahy left. That show is unbearable now.

I would donate to a Garnett/Mangod/Luke podcast. Basically the return of 1UP Yours.

But Thumbs is another level. I still re-listen to random episodes and they still make me laugh.
 

Mar

Member
The page updated and says 'NAN' days to go. I hope they don't stop this before I get a chance to pledge. I'm on holidays damnit!
 
The page updated and says 'NAN' days to go. I hope they don't stop this before I get a chance to pledge. I'm on holidays damnit!

After listening to a few of their podcast, I think I'll contribute. However, the money doesn't get withdrawn until the day the project is funded, right? So the end of next month?
 

El Sloth

Banned
To be fair: despite all the insanity, the brodeo had very deep discussions on game design and the industry. I remember a particular episode where they dissected the level design of HL2: ep 2 which was pretty brilliant.
My interest in design can be traced back to an episode where Shawn Elliott was going in on some shooter's shitty monster closet and how the experience would just break itself with the never ending spawning soldiers. I never really thought about that kind of stuff before then.

Man, now I really miss The Brodeo.
 
My interest in design can be traced back to an episode where Shawn Elliott was going in on some shooter's shitty monster closet and how the experience would just break itself with the never ending spawning soldiers. I never really thought about that kind of stuff before then.

Man, now I really miss The Brodeo.

I believe he was talking about Call of Duty and the little sheds that apparently hold hundreds of guys.
 

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
They just published a 3m36s nod to the Kickstarter thing through the good ol' Thumbs RSS (iTunes subbers should have noticed).
 

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
Someone did a graph of the DF donations that found the same thing. The donations were larger on average at the start, and got smaller as time went on.

Edit: Here 'tis: http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/02/13/graphing-double-fines-kickstarter-adventure-at-1-6-million/

That's cool. I had assumed as much about the trajectory of donations. I'd really like to see a graph of total donations per hour for all 30 days. Does Kickstarter provide metric feedback like that to clients?

The fact that it's that high is insane. What's the median?
EDIT: Probably $30.

I'd guess between 30 and 50 as well.
 

Mar

Member
I got nervous and pledged my dollarydoos while on holiday. Doing that on a mobile phone wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

And now feel I must end on a quote: "you Brad Rapstars?!"
 
Median pledge is $30, but it's almost $50. For all of yesterday, there were more $50 pledges than $10 or $30 pledges, which blew our minds. This morning, $10 edged out $50.
 

Gilgamesh

Member
I found this at the grocery store yesterday:

8wwn7.jpg


I just thought you should all know.
 

kadotsu

Banned
People paying for podcasts..I just don't get it.

For me it's all about karma. Since I pledged, I've found 2€ on the street, a retailer finally shipped an item that was on backorder for 2 months and I purchased the PSN version of Uncharted: GA for 0.99€. Coincidence?
 

Jintor

Member
People paying for podcasts..I just don't get it.

I hate to say it, but your mentality might be at fault here, not ours.

I think it's a reasonable thing to say that content-producers should be compensated for their efforts.
That won't stop me taking free stuff though if it's offered

On a side note, does anybody have the giant Idle Thumbs mag-ad image? I'd like to use it as a desktop wallpaper, it's been a while since I changed it.
 

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
For me it's all about karma. Since I pledged, I've found 2€ on the street, a retailer finally shipped an item that was on backorder for 2 months and I purchased the PSN version of Uncharted: GA for 0.99€. Coincidence?

Yes.


I hate to say it, but your mentality might be at fault here, not ours.

I think it's a reasonable thing to say that content-producers should be compensated for their efforts.
That won't stop me taking free stuff though if it's offered

On a side note, does anybody have the giant Idle Thumbs mag-ad image? I'd like to use it as a desktop wallpaper, it's been a while since I changed it.

People can spend their money how they wish, but as someone who has produced a (non-gaming related) podcast, it's something hard for me to get. I'd never expect anything from any of our listeners and it certainly wasn't needed. If these guys want amazing equipment, hosting costs covered, an office (wut), well more power to them but anyone with a built-in mic on a laptop can make a podcast. Donating as a fan I totally understand, but this kickstarter thing is making me see people pay for things that really leave my scratching my head.
 

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
You, a video gamer, are having difficulty with the concept of people giving their money to get digital content?

This comment is..interesting. A gaming-related podcast is essentially listening to a bunch of fans vocalize their opinions. It's the same as if you and me recorded our conversation and posted it in the internet. That's what a podcast is. To actually produce such a thing requires nothing more than a microphone and a computer. Hosting isn't even an issue with iTunes. Again, people donating their money as fans is one thing, but equating buying an original work of entertainment such as a game to downloading a podcast is absurd.
 
This comment is..interesting. A gaming-related podcast is essentially listening to a bunch of fans vocalize their opinions. It's the same as if you and me recorded our conversation and posted it in the internet. That's what a podcast is. To actually produce such a thing requires nothing more than a microphone and a computer. Hosting isn't even an issue with iTunes. Again, people donating their money as fans is one thing, but equating buying an original work of entertainment such as a game to downloading a podcast is absurd.
iTunes doesn't host podcasts; it only points to externally-hosted podcasts. A podcast is a piece of entertainment.


This is the updated one featuring Goldblum article:
http://www.idlethumbs.net/assets/img/magazine/zinegold_magblum.jpg
 

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
This comment is..interesting. A gaming-related podcast is essentially listening to a bunch of fans vocalize their opinions. It's the same as if you and me recorded our conversation and posted it in the internet. That's what a podcast is. To actually produce such a thing requires nothing more than a microphone and a computer. Hosting isn't even an issue with iTunes. Again, people donating their money as fans is one thing, but equating buying an original work of entertainment such as a game to downloading a podcast is absurd.

iTunes doesn't host podcasts. It's just an RSS feeds directory, people then download from the producers' servers.
 

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
iTunes doesn't host podcasts. It's just an RSS feeds directory, people then download from the producers' servers.

You guys are 100% correct. I never deat with the hosting so shows what I know about my own podcast.

Agh..nevermind..I'm playing SSF4 while responding to this thread and doing a shitty job at both so I'm going to quit both.
 

kadotsu

Banned
This comment is..interesting. A gaming-related podcast is essentially listening to a bunch of fans vocalize their opinions. It's the same as if you and me recorded our conversation and posted it in the internet. That's what a podcast is. To actually produce such a thing requires nothing more than a microphone and a computer. Hosting isn't even an issue with iTunes. Again, people donating their money as fans is one thing, but equating buying an original work of entertainment such as a game to downloading a podcast is absurd.

damienhirst_skull.jpg


So according to you this is the pinnacle of art. Damien Hirst did, after all, use 8601 diamonds to complete the work.
 

Jintor

Member
People can spend their money how they wish, but as someone who has produced a (non-gaming related) podcast, it's something hard for me to get. I'd never expect anything from any of our listeners and it certainly wasn't needed. If these guys want amazing equipment, hosting costs covered, an office (wut), well more power to them but anyone with a built-in mic on a laptop can make a podcast. Donating as a fan I totally understand, but this kickstarter thing is making me see people pay for things that really leave my scratching my head.

They started a company. This is probably going to be Remo's living for a while. There are different tiers of dedication towards podcasting, and your podcasting experience may not - in fact, probably will not - equal that of the Idle Thumbs crew.

Idle Thumbs was a garage operation (well, an apartment operation) for a long time and it wasn't feasible to continue in that manner. So now they're doing something different.

The "anybody with a ____" argument is absurd because of the underlying implication that people should only ever be working with baseline equipment.

Boost said:
This is the updated one featuring Goldblum article:
http://www.idlethumbs.net/assets/img...ld_magblum.jpg

Thanks Chris!
 

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
They started a company. This is probably going to be Remo's living for a while. There are different tiers of dedication towards podcasting, and your podcasting experience may not - in fact, probably will not - equal that of the Idle Thumbs crew.

Idle Thumbs was a garage operation (well, an apartment operation) for a long time and it wasn't feasible to continue in that manner. So now they're doing something different.

That I did not know, that they planned to make a living from this (but without charging for the show?). Anyway, seriously, I'm wording my opinions terribly and forgetting iTunes doesn't host stuff was the icing on the cake so I'll be out. Luckily I just beat an A rank Sakura so that feels good. Good luck with the podcast.
 

Jintor

Member
I'd be interested in a subscription tier model similar to GiantBomb, myself, but I don't know if they'll produce enough additional content for that (that and the ads are mainly what I pay for on GB).

Though the underlying guilt of enjoying like 2-3 hours a week of completely free audio content is probably also a major factor.

Goddamnit now I'm tempted to give Jon Oliver my money for the Bugle...
 
That I did not know, that they planned to make a living from this (but without charging for the show?). Anyway, seriously, I'm wording my opinions terribly and forgetting iTunes doesn't host stuff was the icing on the cake so I'll be out. Luckily I just beat an A rank Sakura so that feels good. Good luck with the podcast.

Even assuming they could literally do what they want to do at zero cost, is there really anything wrong with fans donating some money to them as a show of appreciation for hours and hours of entertainment?
 

elektrixx

Banned
This comment is..interesting. A gaming-related podcast is essentially listening to a bunch of fans vocalize their opinions. It's the same as if you and me recorded our conversation and posted it in the internet. That's what a podcast is. To actually produce such a thing requires nothing more than a microphone and a computer. Hosting isn't even an issue with iTunes. Again, people donating their money as fans is one thing, but equating buying an original work of entertainment such as a game to downloading a podcast is absurd.

As far as I'm concerned I'm returning the favour for being entertained. It's like the free to play model.
 
Man you jackholes talking about the Brodeo... I'd managed to shove that completely out of my mind until now. I'd totally kickstart a Brodeo sequel. Too bad that's not gonna happen. ):
 
Top Bottom