Idle Thumbs

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.

Your jet ski lies outside, beached and on fire. Cassowaries peck at the glass door, firmly latched. In one hand, C4; the other, a detonator. As your eyes adjust, before you can make out the faces of the patrons and tellers turning your way, you realize you're already speaking. "Give me all your gift codes to The Ship and nobody has to get hurt."

This week we get into the weeds a bit when discussing Far Cry 3 and are subsequently asked to return to the mission area. Plus: immigrant stories in gaming, and the realization that Cart Life is amazing.

Execute commands to survive. Assemble Spaceteam. Alert Sportsfriends. Shoot sad snake. Spray Spin-grill.

Though the lens turns inward as Amnesia Fortnight consumes Chris' life and Sean leaves the country for adventures abroad, we discover that the real Secret of Monkey Island is to play it with some little kids from The Bahamas. Jake continues to exist.

Call me Halo. With Sean away, Idle Thumbs is accompanied by Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton for a long walk in the first person perspective through jungles and space stations and all sorts of places. Join us!

You've been through this mess before, your view-cone ever narrowing, but you like the challenge. Then, it all goes wide. Silence. You drift free, frozen; the infinite vastness of space envelops you, strangles you. You feel upholstery. Twin petals at your feet. The glass comes down, securing the seal as displays tink and blip to life, shielding the endless blackness from sight. You grip your SideWinder and you are home.

Day four and you're almost there. Coins pile up, infrastructure is laid down. You miss your friends, even if you never knew their names. You wanted to kill everyone on earth, but the person you killed was yourself. Welcome to real life.

We're joined by special guest, designer JP LeBreton, to talk about hidden content, haunted content, and contextualizing your playthrough with a lot of post-game stats. We heard an ancient evil was awakening but it turned out to be a skull that comes out of a face.

In this spooktacular special episode, which is haunted, we discuss video games. The cast is coming from inside the pod.

Grab your goblin, and keep your mitts off my last hits. And remember: always pack a parachute. 'Tis the season for video games.

When two of the best games of the year land on the same day, we have little choice but to call in reinforcements. With special guest Steve Gaynor. Nice mask.

As part of our Kickstarter campaign, backers were given the chance to help us ruin an episode by giving us a list of topics we had to discuss. The following four and a half hours is the result of that list. Enjoy.

A fun outing to the city takes a turn once Jake and Sean run out of food. Chris gets more than he bargained for when he brings home a new pet. TV-MA