Idle Thumbs
361 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 6 years ago - ★★★★★ - 866 ratingsIdle Thumbs is a video game podcast full of in-depth discussion and absurdity. Between overly-enthusiastic dissections of their latest media experiences and baffling phonological explorations of Jeff Goldblum's name, the cast has managed to find a regular audience of dedicated readers. Scoop up the latest episode and hear us extol the virtues of whatever we've just watched, played, or read—then attempt to answer reader mail before getting sidetracked about robots.
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Episodes
Idle Thumbs 86: Always Support the Danger Layer
December 06, 2012 01:08 - 1 hour - 65.4 MBThough 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.
Idle Thumbs 85: "An Indulgent Dateline" or "An Indulgent Episode Title"
November 28, 2012 20:36 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBCall 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!
Idle Thumbs 84: Nineties Cockpit Freakout
November 21, 2012 05:30 - 1 hour - 81.3 MBYou'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.
Idle Thumbs 83: Free Macintosh Warez
November 15, 2012 21:27 - 1 hour - 62.7 MBDay 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.
Idle Thumbs 82: An Ancient Evil Awakens
November 07, 2012 20:15 - 1 hour - 54 MBWe'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.
Idle Thumbs 81: Happy Halloween
October 31, 2012 21:09 - 1 hour - 44 MBIn this spooktacular special episode, which is haunted, we discuss video games. The cast is coming from inside the pod.
Idle Thumbs 80: Happy Dishonored Halloween
October 24, 2012 23:58 - 1 hour - 62.6 MBGrab your goblin, and keep your mitts off my last hits. And remember: always pack a parachute. 'Tis the season for video games.
Idle Thumbs 79: Most Memorable Maid
October 17, 2012 23:35 - 1 hour - 70.3 MBWhen 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.
Idle Thumbs 78: The Ruinationcast
October 10, 2012 21:51 - 4 hours - 141 MBAs 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.
Idle Thumbs 77: Our Neighbor Scoops
October 03, 2012 08:00 - 1 hour - 52.9 MBA 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
Idle Thumbs 76: The Three Antidotes
September 27, 2012 00:07 - 1 hour - 56.7 MBNeon lights flash. Boxes and controllers of games gone unplayed tumble off of your clumsy finger-tips. Turn by turn your affliction goes unchecked and games go unplayed. Before it all goes black Lao Che slams something down on to a table. "What's that?" you ask. "The anecdote, Dr. Jones" "To what?" He laughs aloud. "Video games."
Idle Thumbs 75: Save the Razzin'
September 19, 2012 18:40 - 1 hour - 57.8 MBIn Sean Vanaman's absence, our co-hosts are joined by Double Fine's JP LeBreton for a discussion of the X-COM series, some ruminating on your DOS CD-ROM drivers, and time dilation versus just being drunk.
Idle Thumbs 74: That Meat Boy Sat Me Down
September 12, 2012 22:14 - 1 hour - 58.8 MBPC Gamer Executive Editor Evan Lahti joins us as we pore over maps and documents in preparation to tail our mark. As we take one step out of line -- as giant circles of sound radiate from our feet for the world to see -- only then do we realize we were killed by the best.
Idle Thumbs 73: Pegasus Launch
September 05, 2012 22:32 - 59 minutes - 40.6 MBChris, Jake, and Sean are reunited with Steve and Nick live at PAX 2012 to discuss the mechanical virtues of aesthetics and scale, and also video games. Doug Tabacco escapes throngs of adoring Walking Dead fans to launch a new website live under the hot lights of the Pegasus Theater. Recorded with regrettably substandard audio quality. It won't happen again.
Idle Thumbs 72: Crazy Crane's Deceit
August 29, 2012 08:21 - 53 minutes - 36.7 MBAs you contemplate the vast chamber's terrible sense-deadening magnitude, clawed machines grasp uselessly at your limbs, the distant hum of starship engines recede into the distance, and a dispassionate god enacts his ineffable plan. Please attend our PAX panel.
Idle Thumbs 71: Nothing's as Good as Ya Eat 'Em
August 22, 2012 19:21 - 1 hour - 56.4 MBIn which Chris and Sean take a ride through a verdant countryside with the Daisy Lord and Jake attempts an analogy he ultimately regrets.
Idle Thumbs 70: An Angry God
August 15, 2012 06:18 - 1 hour - 57.6 MBSoaring through the infinite blackness, observing all that is, was, and will be, he is displeased. Endless turns of the asynchronous wheel, amounting to what? Nothing. He sees them erecting a tower. It must fall. He sees a tiny ship pass through the sky. It must burn. Heretics must burn. Crew must burn. Cast must burn.
Idle Thumbs 69: I Had a Gleam
August 10, 2012 05:17 - 1 hour - 47.9 MBYou lower your virtual vis-visor from your face -- the fate of your shipmates will have to wait. On the dusty crust of a distant alien planet, a faraway rumble grows to an inescapable roar and the discarded shell of a heroic jet-pack robot platform plummets towards your face. This is your seven minutes of terror.
Idle Thumbs 68: That's the Stuff
August 06, 2012 00:14 - 58 minutes - 40.4 MBIdle Thumbs traveled to QuakeCon 2012 for the express purpose of casting a pod at you live in real time (and also to check out Dishonored). With special guests Nick Breckon and Steve Gaynor. (You can watch a video of the live recording at http://twitch.tv/idlethumbs.)
Idle Thumbs 67: Dot Gobbler
August 01, 2012 06:28 - 1 hour - 58.8 MBIdle Thumbs spends a day at the video arcade, or more specifically at the California Extreme arcade expo, for an opportunity to relive some nonexistent kid's slowly fading memories of destroying castles, marbles with human faces, and the worst Halloween of his life.
Idle Thumbs 66: It's Broadcast Jones!
July 25, 2012 17:56 - 1 hour - 62.3 MBPlease firmly affix your paperboard keyboard overlay (included) for an easy overview of all options made available during this podcast. Q: Witness Chris experience Dota 2 for the first time, W: Discover which games secretly co-exist in the Silent Scope universe, A: Wrestle with what makes games exciting as a medium, S: Toggle shield configuration (forward, rear, or balanced).
Idle Thumbs 65: Dance of the Treasure Goblin
July 18, 2012 21:27 - 1 hour - 57.5 MBAs the dancing creature leaps out into the open night air, its rucksack billowing in the wind, you hear a metallic clank by your feet and look down. A gold-plated slide for your Tec-9. You remember the words of Anton Chekhov -- "A gold gun part found behind a closet door in act one must be used to kill everyone, immediately" -- pocket it and move on. We're back, again! Also, we have now become one: The podcast that is "Idle Thumbs" now includes the original 51 Idle Thumbs episodes as well a...
GDC '12: With Blasts
March 13, 2012 17:57 - 1 hour - 56.5 MBPicture 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
GDC '12: The Death of Nick Breckon
March 06, 2012 20:29 - 1 hour - 53.7 MBIdle 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 Kickstarter Update
February 22, 2012 00:07 - 3 minutes - 2.47 MBIdle 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!
GDC '11: Games Kasavin
March 10, 2011 06:00 - 58 minutes - 40 MBAnother 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.
GDC 2011: Hold On To Your B.U.T.T.O.N.
March 05, 2011 06:00 - 1 hour - 45.2 MBGame developers confer, and we are there. Chris, Jake, and Sean discuss video games in these dynamics cast.
Idle Thumbs 64: Fifty-One: Burnin' Down the Wolfman
September 08, 2010 05:00 - 1 hour - 35.2 MBRecorded 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.
Idle Thumbs 63: Day One Perch
August 26, 2010 05:00 - 1 hour - 75.8 MBAs 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!
Idle Thumbs 62: The Silken Goku
August 09, 2010 05:00 - 1 hour - 73.7 MBDon 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.
Idle Thumbs 61: Diplomatic Pouch
July 31, 2010 05:00 - 1 hour - 68.9 MBIn 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.
Idle Thumbs 60: Nasty/Good/Badass
July 24, 2010 05:00 - 1 hour - 70.1 MBThough 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.
Idle Thumbs 59: Rolling With the Pope
July 15, 2010 05:00 - 1 hour - 71.5 MBIn 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.
Announcement: PAX Panel 2010
July 13, 2010 05:00 - 1 minute - 1.2 MBIdle 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.
Idle Thumbs 58: A Castro Situation
June 14, 2010 05:00 - 1 hour - 61.4 MBAs 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.
Idle Thumbs 57: Remember The Airfield
April 30, 2010 05:00 - 49 minutes - 34.2 MBA minicast of rambling awaits you within. Activision continues to cut its baffling path through the industry, as Chris and Steve discover that an enemy never forgets. With special guest star Video Games.
Idle Thumbs 56: Shoveling Your Hat and Crow
April 15, 2010 05:00 - 1 hour - 65.4 MBSpecial guest Sean Vanaman joins us on a slow motion journey through strategy and space as we talk about the Infinity Ward kerfuffle, the most honest week in StarCraft history, and how from the outside, bullet time looks really fast, and dumb. We think it will pique your magic, in an interesting way.
Idle Thumbs 55: His Cyborg Familiar
April 08, 2010 05:00 - 1 hour - 71.2 MBThumbs returns from its whirlwind tour of every convention and expo one could reasonably cram into two weeks, to ruminate on the rise of connectivity, the future of "real games," and whether or not Nicolas Cage will ever leave the bathroom. Also lots of games.
Idle Thumbs 54: Super Expert Pro
March 25, 2010 05:00 - 1 hour - 68.8 MBIn a daring escape accompanied by expert commentary, The Idle Thumbs Podcast crew managed to narrowly evade being overrun by a rampaging army of BigDogs flying the Sony flag, aided only by a pneumatic rifle and a an infinite supply of parachutes. Video games.
GDC 2010: Phaedrus 2010
March 15, 2010 05:00 - 1 hour - 69.3 MBGDC 2010 ends and we emerge, stumbling through our sleep-deprived, Will Wright-fueled mental haze, to bring you this podcast. We're joined by special guest Sean Vanaman of Telltale Games. 2010.
Idle Thumbs 53: "Your Buddy, Space Marine" or "The Capper"
March 03, 2010 06:00 - 1 hour - 60.1 MBVideo game news explodes, as two unrelated sentient robots -- one good, one evil, both out of control -- battle to the death for headline dominance. Amidst the wash of corporate power-plays, decapitations, and ASCII art, we also talk about the Indie Fund, and play some games.
Idle Thumbs 52: Scoops Horn
February 24, 2010 06:00 - 1 hour - 57.1 MBThis week the past returns, distilled to its core and a little prettier. And on a hex grid, most likely. Also discussed: Scoops horn. If video games made you fly, that would probably be really scary.
Idle Thumbs 51: THE GREAT GATLING-GUNSBY
February 12, 2010 06:00 - 1 hour - 54.5 MBIdle Thumbs is dead. Long live The Idle Thumbs Podcast. It took a little longer than we thought, but we're here. Chris, Jake, and Steve catch up on the last few months, talk about video games a lot. Welcome back!
Idle Thumbs 50: "Farewell, Video Games" or "The Shitty Wizard"
November 06, 2009 06:00 - 2 hours - 106 MBIdle Thumbs goes out with some attempt at a bang, by way of a two and a half hour mega episode. The unrelenting Dragon Age revokes Nick's gamer card, Chris can't stop playing Torchlight, and Jake keeps spinning around on the floor. Also featuring farewells aplenty, Dreamcast 2, exclusive Steve Ballmer DLC, and good news.
Idle Thumbs 49: Bargo Busters
October 28, 2009 05:00 - 1 hour - 63.1 MBFor all your bustin' needs, we present: video games. We create a scale and proceed to visit both ends, taking gentle, guided adventures with famed explorers and robot pals, while our asses are gingerly handed to us by murderous hoards and off-brand knockoff platformers. Note: No bargos were busted in the making of this episode.
Idle News Podblast - 10/27/10: With Max Schaefer
October 27, 2009 05:00 - 1 hour - 44 MBAfter putting the finishing touches on Torchlight, Runic Games co-founders and Diablo co-creators Max and Erich Schaefer did what game industry luminaries always do after wrapping a project: drive over to the Idle Thumbs podcast. We chat at length with Max about the new action RPG, the Blizzard North days, and unreleased football games. And Erich pipes in at the end.
Idle Thumbs 48: In Space
October 21, 2009 05:00 - 1 hour - 65 MBAs the darkness draws in and the last days creep ever closer, we're joined by 2K Marin's Steve Gaynor for a rousing discussion of video games in the outer reaches of space. While there, we discuss the PS3's recent trips to polar opposites of the hand-holding spectrum, lament the disappearance of Modern Warfare 2's dedicated servers, and are paid a surprise visit by an asshole.
Idle Thumbs 47: The Lord of the Donk
October 14, 2009 05:00 - 1 hour - 56.3 MBAll rise. At his command, Chris and Jake play a bunch of Brutal Legend, while Nick frantically stockpiles gas cans to make it through Left 4 Dead 2's Scavenger mode, all the while trying to come to grips with his feelings on Borderlands. Plus a song about video games, but probably not what you're thinking.
Idle Thumbs 46: First Annual Year
October 07, 2009 05:00 - 1 hour - 57.8 MBThe Idle Thumbs podcast turns one year old on Saturday, and to celebrate we bring you a regular episode. This week we wipe a curmudgeonly tear from our classic PC gaming eye, and find yet again that making fun of something we thought could never exist only seems to bring it to life. Plus: "Video game stories are serious business," says madly hopping, car-flipping, building-smashing man.
Idle Thumbs 45: Episode Forty-Five
September 30, 2009 05:00 - 1 hour - 48.5 MBBred in a top secret government lab, or maybe an orphan or a robot or something, this episode hopes to punch you in the face and call you a bitch. Our marketing research shows that this appeals to you. Really, though, we talk about some games.