Idle Thumbs

With Nick Breckon out on assignment, things go a little bit wrong. 2K Marin's Steve Gaynor joins us for this week's descent into a tempest of hard-boiled corruption and deceit, where no one knows who to trust or where to turn. We're pretty sure ODST is like a film noir, so we took some cues from that.

This week Chris and Nick don some custom callsigns to check out Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer, become terrified by the high definition frog face of Zuma's Revenge, and almost steal Jeff Goldblum's shoes. As for Jake? He is only good at keeping people focused on the deep depression.

For just one night, into your face we cast not pods, but dreams. Our dreams are powered by robot hands with pistol grips, three part harmonies and too many microphones, but we're thinking you'll find something you like.

Idle Thumbs brings its PAX 2009 coverage to a close with a quick talk with Mass Effect 2's lead writer, Mac Walters. In Space.

Nestled amongst rowdy board game players, the Idle Thumbs crew pins down Chet Faliszek of Valve to discuss Left 4 Dead 2 and how Madden offers but small comfort to Browns fans.

Idle Thumbs kicks off its PAX coverage and continues its trend of interviewing Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert on a bidecennial basis with this hastily-edited affair. Enjoy.

We play catch-up this week, clearing out both our backlog of nearly-current games, and our overflowing bag of reader mail.

We're back from BlizzCon, abuzz with the latest biz from the Blizz. Also sampled: The Monk, The Wiz(ard).

Following a double-barreled podblast assault, this week's baffling episode sees the Idle Thumbs valiantly but vainly struggle to stay on topic and discuss a new video game, despite dubious double entendres and threatening voice mails. How's our driving? Take a wild guess.

With fleeting, ghostly visions of long- decommissioned Dragoons still haunting their minds, the Thumbs crew attempts to discuss StarCraft II while staving off the effects of sleep deprivation. Jake draws pictures. Plus, rumor has it Far Cry 2 makes its triumphant return--and there's only one way to find out. (Read the games discussed list.)

Chris and Nick got a chance to sit down with the multiplayer component of Double Fine Productions' upcoming Brutal Legend and are ready to share their hands-on impressions with you. Will Chris describe it in terms of Pikmin 2's versus mode? Will Full Throttle be mentioned? Grab your axe, your axe, and probably your axe, and listen in.

This week on the Thumb we dive into the many meanings of Nintendo's mysterious inflatable horse peripheral, reel at how many GameCubes are turned on right now, and debate whether "Castroid" is a game genre or horrible medical condition.

A 386 perfectly captures his slam dunk. Looking down from space, you see the Earth and smile. Mid-swing, the game asks you to recalibrate, and you do it just this once. Sometimes, you gotta.

Sometimes a podcast goes off the rails and is killed for the betterment of mankind. People occasionally ask why. Hopefully this provides an answer. Freshly exhumed from the lot out behind Chris' apartment, enjoy the moist wreckage of the Idle Thumbs Episode 36 that wasn't. Won't titillate or offend, but might.

After an earlier attempt to record goes down in flames, we bring you this tale of mice and mods and Miyamoto, of nerds, their noises and Neo Tokyo, of DOTA clones and questions asked, of adventures past and pods cast. Enjoy.

Join us as we take a safely-secured look at Wii Sports Resort, and spoil exclusive food news. A connection to the Internet is required to listen to this episode.

Thumbs accidentally traveled back in time to an age when beards reigned, in this arcade- and strategy-flavored episode.

Lengthy discussions abound in this cast-and-a-half. We go off on the experiences unique to shorter, tighter games, the dying art of an equal player vs CPU ruleset, the American Civil War, and what it really feels like being the king. Plus: More video game dreams.

Ingredients: Co-op grappling-based wizard platforming, never-ending falling blocks, Peter Molyneux, Pyramid Head. Season to taste or until awakened screaming.

Special Report! Nick's back from Blizzard's preview event, ready to offer up his hands-on impressions of the StarCraft II multiplayer beta. Also, lots of side topics and diversions you can't do without. But mostly StarCraft II. And a gay pride parade.