Idle Thumbs

Idle Thumbs is a small independent podcast network with a focus on video games and television. Our shows include the Idle Thumbs Podcast, Three Moves Ahead, Esports Today, True Detective Weekly, Designer Notes, Twin Peaks Rewatch, and more.

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Greetings, Idle Thumbs listeners! 

We've just launched a new show on the Idle Thumbs network called Esports Today, and we wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves and our mission with the show. 

We are Andrew Groen, a former journalist at Wired and the Penny Arcade Report (currently working on a history book about EVE Online), and Rob Zacny, whom you know as the host of Three Moves Ahead but who has also been an esports journalist for a few years.

There are two major reasons we're starting Esports Today. First, if we're going to spend all our time watching esports and talking about them to each other, we might as well put that passion into something useful. Second, we think the existing esports landscape has a glaring absence: it offers almost nothing to the casual fan.

We're starting Esports Today because we believe there should be esports coverage that helps new people understand complex subjects and appreciate the hidden nuances of the games, rather than assuming everybody is a 10-year veteran of competitive gaming. We think you shouldn't be estranged from your favorite games just because you can't stay up until 4:30 AM watching a tournament final in Korea. Following esports shouldn't have to be a full-time job.

We're also allergic to scene drama. We think there's a way to enjoy esports by focusing on the art and science of professional gaming, and making it accessible to everyone. We love the strategy and high drama of a great competitive game, but we're intensely disinterested in the cult of personality that has developed around certain esports stars and the reality TV-style melodrama that often comes with that.

Finally, Esports Today is a work in progress. We're still working out our format, and we want to hear from you about features and segments you'd be interested in. We are launching this podcast because we sensed a need, but it will be up to you to help us find how we can best fulfill it. Send any and all feedback to [email protected].

Thanks for your time, and we hope you'll check out the show!

—Rob and Andrew

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We’ve got a new podcast! True Detective Weekly is following Season 2 of HBO’s crime anthology drama each week as new episodes air. We’ll follow that up with a weekly rewatch of Season 1.

Our discussion of the Season 2 premiere just released, so if you’re watching the show, join in!

True Detective Weekly 1: The Western Book of the Dead

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And send in your thoughts on True Detective or our podcast to [email protected]!

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Before you is a glimpse of Wizard Jam. What is Wizard Jam, you ask? It is two things: Wizard Jam is a two week long game jam, themed around Idle Thumbs episode titles, created and run by the Idle Forum community. Wizard Jam is also one of the most insane things I think we’ve ever seen.

The forums are only three days into the jam but what’s come out of it is already incredible! Do you want to contribute to Wizard Jam? Stop by the Team Building Thread to see if anyone is looking for help, or start your own game! 

Just want to browse? You can look around the Wizard Jam forums to see what’s going on in way more depth (many participants are running dev log threads which they’re keeping updated with in progress images and builds so you can follow along) but here is a quick tour of the images above, in order of left to right, top to bottom:

“Robot News” by dinosaursss, looks like a Paperboy-inspired game in which a BigDog delivers the news of humanity’s demise. (One of two Robot News-inspired games on the forums.)

“A Grave Ghost” by Twig. The contents of this game are as mysterious as the ghost in its title.

“The Legend of Big Bird’s Bones” by BigJKO, is also a mystery but involves many Idle Thumbs hosts, an explorable world with openable chests, and possibly the bones of a popular children’s mascot. (TBD)

The startup screen to “Shoot That Pizza” by RubixsQube (one of at least two “Shoot That Pizza” games being made!), a rhythm game about shooting or not shooting that pizza.

The “The Holo-Violator” mini-game within atte’s “Introduction To Video Games” game. Check out that Dot Gobbler art while you’re there too!

“(I Know You’re Having Fun But) I’m Still Working,” by a wooden leg named smith and Symbiotik, a visual novel about someone who just wants to get some work done. 

... the logo for Wizard Jam. Check out the official Wizard Jam thread!

“Pause Theme From BattleToads” by z_bill is also an unknown commodity, but you’ve got to love taking the sprites from BattleToads and deliberately misinterpreting them as other characters, following recent Reader Mail trends.

Fhnuzoag has taken The Wizard and Sports and combined them to create “WIZARD SPORTS,” an all-wizard game of soccer in which you can freeze time to enter a more tactical space where you can summon spells.

“Mayday Mayday - Cockpit Freakout” by hedgefield is one of a few “90s Cockpit Freakout” inspired games being worked on. 

This is just a small sample of what people are working on in there, and it admittedly skews towards the visual. There are TON of great looking Twine concepts, visual novels, and things so abstract or early-on that they don’t have any associated art yet. 

Wizard Jam is a two week jam so it runs until April 24, so there is plenty of time to join in, and plenty of time to watch and be excited! Though it’s headquartered at the Wizard Jam forums on the Idle Forums, you can also follow #WizardJam on Twitter, and find some more resources for starting your game at the Wizard Jam itch.io page.

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We have a new podcast covering the final episodes of Mad Men! Join us as we bid a fond farewell to Matthew Weiner and AMC’s outstanding drama—and send us your thoughts on each episode to [email protected]!

You can find us on iTunes, or subscribe via your favorite podcast app! 

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endofmadmen.com

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Nick and Sean are transfixed by the supple, majestic fur of Far Cry 4, Chris crosses a road better than anyone in the room (but not better than his friends), and Jake stares at a real brain on a real plate.

Games Discussed: Far Cry 4, Jumanji, Far Cry 2, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Crossy Road, Street Fighter 2, Super Smash Bros for Wii U

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The Idle Thumbs Network is looking for an intern!

If you listen to one of more of our podcasts, you live in the San Francisco Bay Area (these are both important requirements), you think you have skills that might be helpful to us, and you're looking for a paid internship, submit yourself to our dehumanizing evaluation robot.

And if this isn't your bag, but you have friends who seem like they'd be a lock, point them that way!

Cheers!

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This week the 90s are back, but what if they came back wrong? Holiday reviewing season has Danielle in its grasp, but that may mean she has just been playing a ton of upcoming Nintendo and Sega games. That and Advanced Warfare. As the old saying goes, "Behind every Dorito is a gross, super-ripped and inexplicably triangular echidna, but you cannot see him, as he is perfectly hidden behind the Dorito."

Games Discussed: Super Smash Bros. (Wii U), Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Ultimate NES Remix, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., Costume Quest 2, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Grand Theft Auto V, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, 720°, Klax

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The Fiver! Chris, Jake, Sean, Danielle and Nick bring you all the rapid-fire hot gossip you desire, from our hellmouths to your ears. This week's scandals hot off the press: Nick's latest Lords Management misstep leads to the product's erasure, leaving onlookers agog. Woman swoons at news, resuscitated by podcast host Danielle Riendeau. Famous explorer Remo circumnavigates globe in record time; bests noted horn smuggler Breckon. Vanaman reads novel. Jake present at podcast recording. That's it for this week's Idle Thumbs Fiver: All of the rumors, all of the hearsay, none of the scoops.

Things Discussed: Dota 2, 80 Days, Alien: Isolation, The Evil Within, Wolf in White Van, Chex Quest

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Idle Thumbs 180: Wars and Pieces

Through examining the clues laid before us, interrogating everyone in sight, and making mental leaps heretofore unperformed by man, we deduce that no matter what they tell you, in video games you'll never be the Sherlock Holmes of the story; you're always Watson, and you always have been. Plus, Danielle attends IndieCade and takes two side trips: one to an incredible haunted house, and one to Hell.

Things Discussed: Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, IndieCade, Vietnam Romance, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Murdered: Sole Suspect, Desert Golfing, Desert Bus, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Los Angeles International Airport, Universal Studios Halloween Horror Night

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Idle Thumbs 179: Shadow of Something

We all live in the shadow of something. We all have our daemons. When Chris set foot in the world of Alien: Isolation, all he could think about was the time he killed a billion Orcs who never forgot him. When Danielle played Alien: Isolation, all she could think of was how the love affair would inevitably end, no matter how nicely designed the posters on the wall looked. Jake downloaded Alien: Isolation, but spent the weekend playing Smash Bros on his 3DS.

Things Discussed: Alien: Isolation, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Team Fortress 2: Shadow of the Machines, No One Lives Forever: Shadow of H.A.R.M., Super Smash Bros (3DS), Human Resources, Worms: Armageddon

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If you haven't checked out the Idle Thumbs Store in a while, you probably missed our latest shirt. We're pretty happy about how it turned out. And we think it might just remind you of something.

The Wizard: Midnight blue with green logo design, 100% cotton in Men's and Women's sizes, screen printed in San Francisco.

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Join us as we all embark on our own personal trips through the dusty dunes. After 15 years clean, Sean gets a taste of Counter-Strike and is feared lost, Chris embarks on a journey of the mind on Desert Golfing's back 1500 and comes out changed, Jake falls through a time hole into his past, and Danielle is trapped on a deserted island with Carl Sagan and Terry Gross after facing off against one of gaming history's most controversial figures. Nick Breckon hasn't been seen for weeks.

Games Discussed: CS:Go, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Desert Golfing, Road Redemption, Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, Uwe Boll

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Humans of your own choosing have meticulously picked the contents of this episode from over three thousand podcast segments. Following the curation process, they will be algorithmically suited to your tastes by a robot. When the system does its job, you're happy. You get exactly what you want. You get the good ones

Games Discussed: The Steam Discovery Update, Donkey Kong Doom, Super Smash Bros (3DS), Sunless Sea, Gang Beasts

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We sit in a dark room, split into factions by our actions or perhaps fate, conspiring to destroy each other for reasons unknown. We steal food from each other's mouths. We eye our friends' chosen partners jealously, vying to make them our own. Yes, we have been playing board games, so get ready for that. We're joined by special guest Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency for a trip through the board and video games of this year's XOXO festival in Portland.

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Idle Thumbs 174: Live from the Metropolitan Ballroom

We went to PAX and recorded an episode live in front of a bunch of wonderful people who could all hear us, though we could not hear one another. That didn't stop us from trying to communicate, and we think the results speak for themselves. This episode was rated 3 out of 5 hosts by all in attendance; we hope it finds an audience in you.

Things Discussed: Screencheat, Screensheet, Screamsheet, Pikmin 2, Sentris, The Behemoth's Fourth Game, Michael Crichton's Orb, Firewatch

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Idle Thumbs 173: Ridonkulous Rift

I heard that social justice war has changed But I'd always heard social justice war never changes In the end it doesn't matter anyway Because this is the dawning of a brand new day Where it doesn't matter what you've heard Cause I'm the social justice wizard. 

Things Discussed: Alien: Isolation (Oculus Rift), Invisible Inc., Donkey Kong Country

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I heard that social justice war has changed But I'd always heard social justice war never changes In the end it doesn't matter anyway Because this is the dawning of a brand new day Where it doesn't matter what you've heard Cause I'm the social justice wizard