Idle Thumbs

PC Gamer Executive Editor Evan Lahti joins us as we pore over maps and documents in preparation to tail our mark. As we take one step out of line -- as giant circles of sound radiate from our feet for the world to see -- only then do we realize we were killed by the best.

Chris, Jake, and Sean are reunited with Steve and Nick live at PAX 2012 to discuss the mechanical virtues of aesthetics and scale, and also video games. Doug Tabacco escapes throngs of adoring Walking Dead fans to launch a new website live under the hot lights of the Pegasus Theater. Recorded with regrettably substandard audio quality. It won't happen again.

As you contemplate the vast chamber's terrible sense-deadening magnitude, clawed machines grasp uselessly at your limbs, the distant hum of starship engines recede into the distance, and a dispassionate god enacts his ineffable plan. Please attend our PAX panel.

In which Chris and Sean take a ride through a verdant countryside with the Daisy Lord and Jake attempts an analogy he ultimately regrets.

Soaring through the infinite blackness, observing all that is, was, and will be, he is displeased. Endless turns of the asynchronous wheel, amounting to what? Nothing. He sees them erecting a tower. It must fall. He sees a tiny ship pass through the sky. It must burn. Heretics must burn. Crew must burn. Cast must burn.

You lower your virtual vis-visor from your face -- the fate of your shipmates will have to wait. On the dusty crust of a distant alien planet, a faraway rumble grows to an inescapable roar and the discarded shell of a heroic jet-pack robot platform plummets towards your face. This is your seven minutes of terror.

Idle Thumbs traveled to QuakeCon 2012 for the express purpose of casting a pod at you live in real time (and also to check out Dishonored). With special guests Nick Breckon and Steve Gaynor. (You can watch a video of the live recording at http://twitch.tv/idlethumbs.)

Idle Thumbs spends a day at the video arcade, or more specifically at the California Extreme arcade expo, for an opportunity to relive some nonexistent kid's slowly fading memories of destroying castles, marbles with human faces, and the worst Halloween of his life.

Please firmly affix your paperboard keyboard overlay (included) for an easy overview of all options made available during this podcast. Q: Witness Chris experience Dota 2 for the first time, W: Discover which games secretly co-exist in the Silent Scope universe, A: Wrestle with what makes games exciting as a medium, S: Toggle shield configuration (forward, rear, or balanced).

As the dancing creature leaps out into the open night air, its rucksack billowing in the wind, you hear a metallic clank by your feet and look down. A gold-plated slide for your Tec-9. You remember the words of Anton Chekhov -- "A gold gun part found behind a closet door in act one must be used to kill everyone, immediately" -- pocket it and move on. We're back, again! Also, we have now become one: The podcast that is "Idle Thumbs" now includes the original 51 Idle Thumbs episodes as well as all 13 episodes of the Idle Thumbs Podcast, together under one roof. That's why this is episode 65.

In this, the final Progresscast we talk about our plans for the site, the blog, our appearance at PAX and QuakeCon, and a bunch of video games; Jake has a spell; and we reminisce about the career of an American treasure.

Did you know you can play a game of Civ V: Gods & Kings with a slow enough clock and a big enough map that it replaces real life? Also discussed: What happened to sim games as hardware got better: A lament for Super Black Bass, Sports Games versus eSports Games, combo breakers and sick half-nelsons.

Chris has started progressing through Civilization V: Gods & Kings, and we discuss his progress in this Progresscast. There's some Kickstarter news in it, too.

Two thousand years in the future, the world has collapsed into a nightmare of destruction and despair. Only Idle Thumbs remains. We won't take so long next time. In the meantime, wander through the wasteland with us as we discuss video games, the web, and progress.

The Progresscast goes one-time, rule-breakingly meta, as we discuss recent events in our own day jobs. Sean and Jake talk about The Walking Dead, Chris talks about his new digs at Double Fine Productions, and we're joined by special guest Steve Gaynor to talk about his new endeavor The Fullbright Company and their game, Gone Home.