Idle Thumbs

Like good games on the DS, we are back. With GDC a fond and distant memory, we tackle the surprising stack of good new titles for Nintendo's handheld, learn some new moves from a hobo, see the latest from BioWare and Double Fine, and shed a tear as Wander goes Hollywood.

The final Conf Grenade pops and fizzles its way into your ear, offering our closing thoughts on the Game Developers Conference. Join us for some last words before the GDC book slams closed for another 51 weeks.

Steve Gaynor and Duncan Fyfe join us for the penultimate Conf Grenade, blasting through GDC's midsection at a rate so fast, you might not survive the trip. Put on your game designer hat and buckle up.

Partake in a virtual luncheon with a pantheon of gaming greats. Witness the changing of Will Wright's mind. Scream as you are wholly seared into the fourth dimension of experimental gaming. We're joined by guests Alex Ashby, Lawrence Bishop, and B. M. Bronstring.

I don't even know what to say.

GDC is warming up, and so are we. Idle Thumbs alums Marek Bronstring, Duncan Fyfe, and Lawrence Bishop join in for an look at GDC's first days of Indie-focused content, our anticipated panels, fabricated sex scandals and more. We love GDC this much.

You lie on the ground, the last breaths leaving your body as you look up into the glowing, burlap sack-wrapped eyeholes of the man who ended your life. As voices recede and the world drifts away, you realize your dying thought will be "I wish I'd spent the 99 cents on that rocket launcher," and are disappointed.

Sometimes a game blows up in your face, 106 moves in. Sometimes a tutorial man tells you the controls backwards, just because. Sometimes, no matter what you try, the old man just can't kill that snake. When the world's got you feeling down, do what we do, and put on the top ghost.

Five years ago, prophecies by Steven Spielberg and EALA's Neil Young charted a course of new, untold emotional resonance, and the future of video games was irrevocably changed. As Game Developers Conference 2009 approaches, the clock ticks ever closer to the video game singularity: Prepare for the countdown to tears. Games discussed: Steven Spielberg, Neil Young, the crying game.

Virtual worlds fall around you. Objectives appear before your eyes, cluttering your vision. Everything falls silent. As tears stream down your space visor you realize, too late, that it has you. Welcome to The Hypersonic Effect.

Special Report! Awesome robot robot robot; actually, he's a cyborg, and he comes bearing contests. Saitek Cyborg, at your service.

Has your desire to explore and investigate given way to a guided experience that just wants to hold your hand? Find out at the next waypoint. Join us as we offer up impressions from the DICE Summit, discuss this week's surprise assault of great games, and eat our own butt.

Special guest Steve Gaynor joins us as we sail over grassy dewswept mountains resplendent with gaming's bounty, then crash-land into an F-bomb laden cutscene. Plus: Watch your cursor drift towards the "buy" button as Nick fills us in on the Dawn of War II single-player.

Following modern trends, this episode eschews its core gameplay for a series of scattered but crowd-pleasing showpieces. Hop in a Big Stompin' Mech with F.E.A.R. 2, use a mandatory turret to defend your favorite FPS titles, and perform an overly-animated finishing move on "opinions."

Special Report! Duck for cover, commandeer a Jeep, and man a turret: Resident Evil is back, and Idle Thumbs is blasting through the gates of a midnight embargo. With Joe Pesci. Sometimes something comes up mid-week that we want to talk about. This time we actually did. We may do more of these in the future.