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[jdl]

Nice episode. I dig the guest appearances. We need more Gaynor in the cast. I find it hard to believe he doesn't have an hour a week to speakerphone some game speakage.

 

[Fredescu]

Thumbs have always been pretty picky about their audio quality. They wouldn't have him on unless he could be in the room with them. I do wish he could be on more often though, for sure.

 

[jdl]

sometimes it's worth taking a hit on audio quality. gaynor is the mostly absent fourth pillar.

 

[dekjo]

I didn't realize Kohler guested on a Thumbs cast. Which episode was it?

Episode 16: The Sources' Duel: Confidential informants collide and megatons are dropped in this week's high-speed episode. We talk about gaming narrative as a pastiche of tone and suggestion, but you just want your damn cutscenes. Plus: Wired's Chris Kohler joins us to dismember your naked form with a samurai sword. Replayability: 3.7.

Games Discussed: Afro Samurai, Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, Assassin's Creed, Mirror's Edge, Full Throttle


I don't know if I've said this before elsewhere, but I like this episode. I also like pretty much every Idle Thumbs episode.

 

[Jake]

sometimes it's worth taking a hit on audio quality. gaynor is the mostly absent fourth pillar.

It's not the audio quality, it's the style of conversation. I'd love it if Steve could be on more, though. Buy lots of copies of Gone Home when it comes out.

 

[Sloane]

sometimes it's worth taking a hit on audio quality. gaynor is the mostly absent fourth pillar.

Yes.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

What was the waking mars eurogamer greenlight article they mentioned? Was listening at work and made a note on my hand but now that I'm home can't find it.

 

[xenist]

Far Cry 3 is shit.

Halo 4 is shit.

Greenlight is shit.

Chris Remo.

Joking aside though, I still don't get you guys' problems with Greenlight. Prior to it every month we had a "Why isn't Game A on Steam? The vetting process sucks!" thing. Now we get a "Why isn't Game B on Steam? Greenlight sucks!" Is this a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't for Valve?

 

[Shaneus]

Man, that thing mentioned by the guys about repeating sections of games, repeating, rehearsing etc... that's something I *love* but never realised I did until it was actually put into words.

I'm pretty sure that's why I like driving games. Even ones that don't have opponents (in most cases, *especially*), you're always trying to perfect that lap and push the limits of every controllable variable to get the best time (physics, steering, acceleration/brake, car placement going into corners...). Once you do, there's that satisfaction that you've become the master of the environment that the game has setup for you. The fact that doing things like time trials basically have an instant auto-restart (once you finish the lap) adds to the addictiveness.

Guys, thanks SO MUCH for vocalising exactly what I've been trying to find what I love about those particular games (and a lot of other types of games in general). Fucking awesome.

 

[PsychoSoldier]

Chris Remo.

Joking aside though, I still don't get you guys' problems with Greenlight. Prior to it every month we had a "Why isn't Game A on Steam? The vetting process sucks!" thing. Now we get a "Why isn't Game B on Steam? Greenlight sucks!" Is this a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't for Valve?

If I remember right, I think they wanted them to do more manual vetting of items and that Greenlight was symptomatic of Valve being somewhat overly fascinated by automating things.

If anything, their concerns about making everyone go through Greenlight a bit ago have been somewhat prophetic in terms of what's actually happened.

Also, Waking Mars is pretty great so far. Glad the Thumbs mentioned it.

 

[Jintor]

Chris Remo.

Joking aside though, I still don't get you guys' problems with Greenlight. Prior to it every month we had a "Why isn't Game A on Steam? The vetting process sucks!" thing. Now we get a "Why isn't Game B on Steam? Greenlight sucks!" Is this a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't for Valve?

It's more a case of Developer 1 who made Game A that was already on Steam has to go through Greenlight for Game B for no apparent reason, despite the fact that they can utilise their already existent fanbase to jumpstep the whole process anyway

I also think it's kind of dumb anyway, I'd rather trust Valve with moderating games that go on Steam than the public, which is in aggregate dumb unless actual dollars are involved

 

[Antiwhippy]

On something kinda on-topic to idle thumbs, I'm actually starting up far cry 2 today.

The only thing that's really jumping out at me now is "the voice-acting is fucking terrible."

 

[border]

I bought Far Cry 2 on Steam almost 2 years ago, thanks to all the Idle Thumbs discussion. I still haven't even installed it.

 

[demidar]

The big sticking point is Wadjet Eye games having to go through Greenlight for no reason whatsoever. They should've been grandfathered in to the list of "people who have done the legwork to get their stuff onto Steam".

 

[Corky]

I bought Far Cry 2 on Steam almost 2 years ago, thanks to all the Idle Thumbs discussion. I still haven't even installed it.

It's the thought of that grenade rolling down the hill that counts.

 

[xenist]

I also think it's kind of dumb anyway, I'd rather trust Valve with moderating games that go on Steam than the public, which is in aggregate dumb unless actual dollars are involved

I'd rather be familiar with the people doing the vetting. Or in this case with press or enthusiasts advocating for cool games so I can go and vote for them. I'd much rather have Chris or **insert name here** tell me about a game they've found so I can support it than some dudes over at Valve deciding if I ever get to see it at all.

 

[TTG]

I the thought of that grenade rolling down the hill that counts.

It's pretty damn good.

Speaking of off beat first person shooters, I'm forgetting, did Idle Thumbs ever weigh in on Metro 2033? Because that's also excellent and it's the sort of game they would like.

Admittedly, there are no grenades rolling down hills, but it does feature a try to buy some action from a prostitute only to get mugged and robbed... mechanic. There are also a bunch of systems like the gas mask/air filter stuff.

 

[flowsnake]

I'd rather be familiar with the people doing the vetting. Or in this case with press or enthusiasts advocating for cool games so I can go and vote for them. I'd much rather have Chris or **insert name here** tell me about a game they've found so I can support it than some dudes over at Valve deciding if I ever get to see it at all.

There's room for both, which is the way it worked before Valve went 100% Greenlight. Except that obviously isn't how it works with the big publishers, conveniently...

 

[Atruvius]

I bought Far Cry 2 on Steam almost 2 years ago, thanks to all the Idle Thumbs discussion. I still haven't even installed it.

Play it it's still a great game. I just played while listening to this episode of Thumbs. Download SweetFX for this game and turn off HDR, which looks really awful. Gets rid of the murky brown colour filter. http://www.moddb.com/mods/sproyds-s...oyds-sweetfx-graphical-enhancement-config-v10

If you get some weird stuttering in DX10 mode write "gfx_maxfps 60" in to console".

 

[xenist]

If I had found a mod to make enemies not respawn at checkpoints Far Cry 2 would have been a top 5 all time FPS for me. Even with the malaria and the ridiculously accelerated weapon wear.

 

[TheShampion]

I agree with Mr. Remo that Halo would have a better story if it relied on more "pull" than "push" (as in, relying on the player to investigate terminals and such instead of being forced to watch cutscenes). Though I imagine what the Halo devs are trying to do is attach background and meaning to their combat that the player can relate to, like how Real Life 2012 (or whatever) attaches meaning to its random dice rolls. Though where Real Life gets away with it because of how authentic it is, Halo fails to really have any power just because of how ridiculous it is. The fact that many game stories think they can get away with having "Mature" rated games and then have stories that are barely relatable to any adult I can imagine is crazy to me.

 

[Atruvius]

If I had found a mod to make enemies not respawn at checkpoints Far Cry 2 would have been a top 5 all time FPS for me. Even with the malaria and the ridiculously accelerated weapon wear.

There's a mod that makes enemies less likely to chase, have you and the enemies have much less health, decreases weapon wear and malaria and adjusts recoil + many other tweaks. It also includes some sort of a modding program for you to use. I just downloaded it so I don't know how it is.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/dylans-far-cry-2-realism-mod/downloads/dylans-far-cry-2-realism-mod-v13

 

[Klendathu Club Owner]

Joking aside though, I still don't get you guys' problems with Greenlight. Prior to it every month we had a "Why isn't Game A on Steam? The vetting process sucks!" thing. Now we get a "Why isn't Game B on Steam? Greenlight sucks!" Is this a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't for Valve?

In addition to what was already said it's too much of a popularity contest for my taste. Who can build the biggest following gets a release on Steam. I think that leads to games being overlooked because they don't belong to a poupular genre or something like that. I think handpicking the games leads to a more diverse slection of games that are released on Steam.

Moreover, aren't there some games greenlit even though they aren't even half-way finished and release-ready games end up in Greenlight-hell?

 

[Rufus]

^ There's that and the example of further Wadjet Eye games not getting automatically published despite the fact that they already have a game on the store. I liked Greenlight a lot more when I thought that it would supplement, not supplant the usual process.

If I had found a mod to make enemies not respawn at checkpoints Far Cry 2 would have been a top 5 all time FPS for me. Even with the malaria and the ridiculously accelerated weapon wear.

Thing is, you can avoid all of that, Kirk hinted at this as well. You learn how it ticks and then you pick which aspect you want to make irrelevant. The simulation isn't deep and often nonsensical, but it's easy to keep on top of. Technically that makes it not as 'good' a game, I suppose, but I suspect that's why I found it more enjoyable than similar games.

In conclusion: I have no idea why I like Far Cry 2 so much (and say, Stalker, not as much). That said, Far Cry 3 sounds good, even though I suspect it will end up feeling more like Stalker.

 

[xenist]

Thing is, you can avoid all of that, Kirk hinted at this as well. You learn how it ticks and then you pick which aspect you want to make irrelevant. The simulation isn't deep and often nonsensical, but it's easy to keep on top of. Technically that makes it not as 'good' a game, I suppose, but I suspect that's why I found it more enjoyable than similar games.

In conclusion: I have no idea why I like Far Cry 2 so much (and say, Stalker, not as much). That said, Far Cry 3 sounds good, even though I suspect it will end up feeling more like Stalker.

I have no desire to dance around irritating game mechanics. Either way I have spent about twenty hours on Far Cry 2. I don't "owe" it any more effort.

 

[Rufus]

I would call it "defusing" instead of "dancing", but hey, do as you like. I'm not trying to persuade you.

 

[Traumahound]

Just wanted to say thank you to Jake for opining that The Dig felt like LucasArts's answer to Myst. All these years, I thought I was alone in thinking that.

 

[jdl]

It's not the audio quality, it's the style of conversation. I'd love it if Steve could be on more, though. Buy lots of copies of Gone Home when it comes out.

Fair enough. Speaker/skype/facephone is indeed pretty much garbage. Allow me to suggest the more realistic alternative of kidnapping him, locking him in the storage room and compensating him with lunch meats.

 

[Shaneus]

Fair enough. Speaker/skype/facephone is indeed pretty much garbage. Allow me to suggest the more realistic alternative of kidnapping him, locking him in the storage room and compensating him with lunch meats.

Needs to be locked inside one of the Halo/Mirror's Edge/Deus Ex crates.

 

[StevePharma]

Fair enough. Speaker/skype/facephone is indeed pretty much garbage. Allow me to suggest the more realistic alternative of kidnapping him, locking him in the storage room and compensating him with lunch meats.

It could be the ARG for Gone Home.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Watching the GB quick look of Miasmata, anyone here interested in that game? You have to use a compass and a map to triangulate your position on the map like a Boy Scout. Its all done through landmarks. There's also some interesting alchemy-looking plant synthesis part of the game. The setting definitely seems LOST inspired. There are little outposts everywhere with sciency equipment inside. The game itself looks like a pretty wicked slow paced simulation, you can even trip and fall if you run down a hill too fast. Oh, and supposedly there's a horrible monster tracking you, but you can play for a few hours without ever even knowing he's there.

This game looks sweet. I want to play it.

 

[mooooose]

Haven't listened to this podcast since The Idle Thumbs ended, and was SUPER DUPER sad about it because I think it is my favorite podcast of all time and one of the funniest things I've ever experienced, but I haven't listened since it came back. Will it kill my nostalgiac memories? My expectations are unbelievably high.

 

[Rufus]

Haven't listened to this podcast since The Idle Thumbs ended, and was SUPER DUPER sad about it because I think it is my favorite podcast of all time and one of the funniest things I've ever experienced, but I haven't listened since it came back. Will it kill my nostalgiac memories? My expectations are unbelievably high.

Nothing's changed as far as I'm concerned, so no. Though you've announced unbelievably high (and vague) expectations, so what the hell do I know. Tell you what though: It's the worst reason not to listen to it and you should feel bad.

 

[Shaneus]

Just finished Hotline Miami. So fucking rad.

Everyone here should play it.

 

[jdl]

Haven't listened to this podcast since The Idle Thumbs ended, and was SUPER DUPER sad about it because I think it is my favorite podcast of all time and one of the funniest things I've ever experienced, but I haven't listened since it came back. Will it kill my nostalgiac memories? My expectations are unbelievably high.

It's been good. I'd like to see some more of that Salacious Crumb blend of madness, but the quality overall is consistent with the past. And the weekend streams are worth checking out.

 

[demidar]

I could always use more Jeff gone gold game gold gate fold blum Jeff gold.

 

[Rahk]

Watching the GB quick look of Miasmata, anyone here interested in that game? You have to use a compass and a map to triangulate your position on the map like a Boy Scout. Its all done through landmarks. There's also some interesting alchemy-looking plant synthesis part of the game. The setting definitely seems LOST inspired. There are little outposts everywhere with sciency equipment inside. The game itself looks like a pretty wicked slow paced simulation, you can even trip and fall if you run down a hill too fast. Oh, and supposedly there's a horrible monster tracking you, but you can play for a few hours without ever even knowing he's there.

This game looks sweet. I want to play it.

I voted for it on Greenlight a while back. Will probably get it during the Christmas sale.

 

[Nappuccino]

It's pretty damn good.

Speaking of off beat first person shooters, I'm forgetting, did Idle Thumbs ever weigh in on Metro 2033? Because that's also excellent and it's the sort of game they would like.

Admittedly, there are no grenades rolling down hills, but it does feature a try to buy some action from a prostitute only to get mugged and robbed... mechanic. There are also a bunch of systems like the gas mask/air filter stuff.

I forget the episode, but there is at least one really good Metro 2033 game play story about air filters.

Or the lack thereof.

 

[Ledsen]

Yep, they talked about it at length, but I think only Chris played it. As I can recall, he loved the atmosphere and immersion.

 

[commissar]

Yep, they talked about it at length, but I think only Chris played it. As I can recall, he loved the atmosphere and immersion.

i also seem to remember a conversation this year about wiping mask splatter in the sequel :]


Oh and while you're here, how are you finding Far Cry 3?
edit: nm saw you posted some thougts in the ot :]

 

[Ledsen]

i also seem to remember a conversation this year about wiping mask splatter in the sequel :]


Oh and while you're here, how are you finding Far Cry 3?
edit: nm saw you posted some thougts in the ot :]

Yeah, I don't know quite what to make of it yet. and I would be very interested to hear Chris and/or the other Thumbs input on this:

You're right, and I'm having a hard time expressing why it still strikes me as extremely repetitive. I guess it's a combination of the intrusive UI, the overt display of the content structure (as in everything being numbered, named and distinctly categorized), and the copy-paste nature of the actual objectives. If they don't show me all that stuff up front, it's much easier to maintain the suspension of disbelief.

Even if you haven't played the game, I think there's an interesting discussion to be had regarding restraint in how much and what type of information you present to the player. Chris, do you have any thoughts on the subject?

 

[Jex]

While this may be only be BookClub related I found it pretty funny that when I ordered Evidence of Things Unseen I got these recommendations:

The Idle Thumbs effect?

 

[Deleted member 59090]

Yay, Waking Mars got greenlit.

 

[Ashitaka]

New episode up:
EPISODE 86:
Always Support the Danger Layer
December 6, 2012 Though the lens turns inward as Amnesia Fortnight consumes Chris' life and Sean leaves the country for adventures abroad, we discover that the real Secret of Monkey Island is to play it with some little kids from Bermuda. Jake continues to exist.

Games Discussed: The Secret of Monkey Island, Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight, Far Cry 3, The Walking Dead

Looking forward to the Far Cry 3 discussion.

 

[jdl]

New episode up:
EPISODE 86:
Always Support the Danger Layer
December 6, 2012 Though the lens turns inward as Amnesia Fortnight consumes Chris' life and Sean leaves the country for adventures abroad, we discover that the real Secret of Monkey Island is to play it with some little kids from Bermuda. Jake continues to exist.

Games Discussed: The Secret of Monkey Island, Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight, Far Cry 3, The Walking Dead

Looking forward to the Far Cry 3 discussion.

Sweet. This will help pass the time tomorrow.

 

[Lijik]

New episode up:
EPISODE 86:
Always Support the Danger Layer
December 6, 2012 Though the lens turns inward as Amnesia Fortnight consumes Chris' life and Sean leaves the country for adventures abroad, we discover that the real Secret of Monkey Island is to play it with some little kids from Bermuda. Jake continues to exist.

Games Discussed: The Secret of Monkey Island, Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight, Far Cry 3, The Walking Dead

Looking forward to the Far Cry 3 discussion.

Thought something was missing today but couldnt place what
Will listen to in a bit

 

[Shaneus]

Anyone want to do me the honour of uploading the latest to mediafire? If not, I can wait

 

[Lijik]

I got your weekly mediafire hookup right here Shaneus

 

[Shaneus]

I got your weekly mediafire hookup right here Shaneus

You're worth your weight in goldblum.

 

[Jintor]

Return of music: ace

Non-prepared music: slightly less ace