Idle Thumbs

Without a lot of concrete Kickstarter news for you, we fall back on old habits and decide to talk about games for the entirely of this week's Progresscast. We hope you don't mind.

Join us, readers, for this public Progresscast as we descend into the dark bowels of Minecraft servers and secret holes, only to find the quietest place in the world. (That place is absolutely guaranteed not to be the Idle Thumbs office in its current state.) It has been over a week since the last Progresscast, and so in an attempt to secure your forgiveness we have cast an extra-long pod. We hope it pleases you, with a depth that might surprise you. You would do well to read this fascinating article on a particularly silent room ( http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/5/2927823/orfield-laboratories-worlds-quietest-place ) before listening to this cast, as we entirely neglected to explain what it's actually about before launching into a related discussion. Finally, thanks for your patience! We're starting to get increasingly exciting evidence of progress on rewards, and we can't wait to show you. Vincent's painting is essentially complete, and we got some early test samples of the gold foil The Wizard shirt, both of which have exceeded our expectations. Things are happening!

Picture a podcast which is itself made up of a series of smaller podcasts. Now, stop picturing, and start listening to our GDC wrap-up episode, featuring a series of quick interviews with Christina Norman (Riot Games), Tom Francis (PC Gamer/Suspicious Developments), Derek Yu (independent), and Bennett Foddy (independent), as well as our closing thoughts on GDC 2012. Support our Kickstarter campaign: http://idlethumbs.net/kickstarter

Idle Thumbs starts to wake up, both literally and figuratively, with our first special episode from GDC 2012. We attended some sessions, we played some games, and we made up excuses to talk about all sorts of things together for the first time in years. With special guests all of us, and all of you. Support our Kickstarter campaign: http://idlethumbs.net/kickstarter

Idle Thumbs is back! Sort of. All signs point to Idle Thumbs soon being back soon. Because we launched a Kickstarter campaign, and it seems to be working. Go to idlethumbs.net/kickstarter to pitch in!

Another GDC come and gone, another Conf Grenade rolls down a hill. We're joined by bonus guest, Media Molecule's James Spafford. In the tradition of GDC episodes, this one has some slight audio wonkiness in places, so get ready for that.

Game developers confer, and we are there. Chris, Jake, and Sean discuss video games in these dynamics cast.

Recorded in front of a live audience at PAX 2010's Wolfman Theater, Idle Thumbs presents what is either its third "final episode," or its first "reunion episode," available to the public for the first time in MP3 form. Hear us intermittently forget the audience exists as we share impressions of PAX's finest offerings, fear an exploding microphone, sing songs, and tell the tale of handling Germany's finest wines. With special guests Sean Vanaman and Steve Gaynor.

As Chris packs for Boston and we switch off the lights, the Idle Thumbs Podcast finishes up with a bunch of talk about video games, interspersed with loosely related distractions and stories. Thanks for listening!

Don the Silken Goku. Enthusiastically pore over our collection of galactic maps, carefully curated battle decks, and lushly rendered hexagonal tiles, while we try to tell you about game development, girls, and sports.

In this far-flung cyborg future of video game discussion, nobody known where the cast ends and the break begins, when your last shred of humanity gives way to a robot soul, or why you're full of ants. One thing is for sure, though: you will pay to click a cow.

Though the above choices may seem limiting, we feel they'll be sufficient. Also discussed: space marines, branching narratives, childhood and the human condition. With special guest Sean Vanaman.

In video games, you can trust no one. Everyone is in on it, everyone but you. In video games nothing is real. Or, if it is, we're pretty sure you're seeing it via the visions of a comatose police officer, through the projection of genetic memories hurtled into your brain through time at tremendous speed, or in the dreams of a sleeping cartoon dog. With special guest Sean Vanaman.

Idle Thumbs is going to PAX 2010 in Seattle, and instead of an informal meet-up, this year we've scored our very own official panel. Tell your friends, mark your calendar, and buy your tickets soon--they're going fast. Nick Breckon will return.

As E3 approaches, as the music genre splits to offer the ultimate fantasy or the ultimate reality, as the future of games prepares to descend in a storm of cameras and holographic children, we talk about a bunch of things with little to no bearing on E3. For now, at least. With special guests Sean Vanaman, and a tape recording of Nick Breckon.