Idle Thumbs

This week on the Thumb, all is laid bare in the weeks-long game of Neptune's Pride, Sean and Jake break out of jail, rob an embassy, and learn something about themselves, and a person is killed inside a video game and it is surprising and meaningful.

In the darkness of space it becomes hard to tell friend from foe. It seems landing a crew safely in unknown territory is harder than you thought. You realize your mistake: "I'm low on fuel; need to load up." Without getting up, a simple gesture is recognized and your display flickers to life. "One 16-pocket crazy crust cheese pizza, please. Extra olives." Satisfied, you lean back and wait.

After an engineering malfunction left our first recording attempt dead on the launchpad, we strip off all the weird bits, hard reset the equipment and try again. We disclose this only in the spirit of early-access game development.

There's an old saying in video games that when one door opens, there's probably another door inside of that one that looks sort of the same, and you have to open it, too. We complete BioShock Infinite, Nick and Chris take their first delicious bite of StarCraft 2 in a long while, and Jake's intro stock plummets.

Break out the fireworks, giant creepy parade floats, and ominous presidential statuary: it's the Idle Thumbs centennial! In honor of this, our 100th episode, we talk about one game for the duration. But how could you not when that game is the new BioShock?

In this knock down drag out episode, we get in each other's face over competition and learning in Dota, and dive deep enough into SimCity that we kind of run out. Odds are high that you'll be blown away.

Out with the old and in with the old! Say goodbye to Dishonored jokes and say hello to the past. With citizen demand for current hosts dwindling, you better zone some residential because a hip new family is moving back to Cool Town.

Jake and Sean are joined by Olly Moss and the rest of the population of England during their merry jaunt to the Baftas. Chris was left behind in San Francisco, where he's probably still playing Zuma.

This week, Giant Bomb's Brad Shoemaker stopped by the Fancy Space to talk Tomb Raider looping back on itself, witness the culmination of Chris' Zuma addiction, and wonder what the PlayStation 4 means for gaming's past.

Your first choice runs ahead, sliding over the embankment and out of your sight, lost to the sparkling dunes. Your second choice is fine, but seems preoccupied with aesthetic decisions made by architects of the future, and he too fails you with time. Resigned, you accept your fate. Your third choice. The worst choice. Video Games.

DICE was attended, and games were played, but the bulk of this subdued episode dives into the Idle Thumbs mailbag for questions from you, the readers.

This week on Idle Thumbs Sean incessantly burns things, Chris gets lost in a world of bespoke puzzles, and Jake talks about a video game he's played. Plus we talk about all the stuff Gabe Newell's been talking about.

We come up for air from the fantastic SimCity beta to find ourselves in another place, lost in a world where firing a gun in a video game is a complex and specific act, an unfortunate world where there is cyberpunk crap everywhere. With special guest Steve "Hot Scoops" Gaynor.

Hundreds of tanks surround the place, murderers around every turn. With no games in sight and nowhere to run, all hope was lost until we were saved by a trip to podcasting school by special guest Shawn Elliott.

Triangulated coordinates. An esoteric puzzle. An impossible cipher. The door opens to reveal your captor: a beard; mirrored shades; the infallible dictator of a banana republic. But upon second glance you realize it's not a fearsome generalissmo -- it's just Nick Breckon.