Idle Thumbs 34: The First Age of Extreme

[Jake]

Super early, giant-size episode for you to enjoy.

"The First Age of Extreme"

Thumbs accidentally travels back in time to an age where the beard ruled supreme in this arcade- and strategy-flavored episode.

Games Discussed: Dawn of Discovery/Anno 1404, Battlefield 1943, Klax, Amusing Educational Telequiz, Major Havoc, Tank 8, Stronghold Crusader Extreme, Castles, Castles II, The Three Stooges in Brides is Brides, Slappers! 64, King's Bounty: The Legend, Mega Man 9, Far Cry Instincts: Paradise Lost, The Act, Street Fighter IV

Edited July 15, 2009 by Chris

[Alex P]

Super early is right! These are never online before I go to bed the night before.

[Cheetohands]

My frothing demand for Idle Thumbs 34 is about to be satisfied!

[n0wak]

Will listen tomorrow, but for now I have to say that your games mentioned list is getting increasingly esoteric with each passing episode. Where else can you hear "The Three Stooges in Brides is Brides", "Mega Man 9", "Amusing Educational Telequiz" and "Far Cry" mentioned in the span of an hour?

[Jake]

  n0wak said:

Will listen tomorrow, but for now I have to say that your games mentioned list is getting increasingly esoteric with each passing episode. Where else can you hear "The Three Stooges in Brides is Brides", "Mega Man 9", "Amusing Educational Telequiz" and "Far Cry" mentioned in the span of an hour?

Haha insanity has been reigning lately. As Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec approach I imagine we'll start reigning it in? Maybe we won't, but that's when big old big names tend to start stomping around again.

[Chris]

  Jake said:

Haha insanity has been reigning lately. As Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec approach I imagine we'll start reigning it in? Maybe we won't, but that's when big old big names tend to start stomping around again.

Lots of reigning in this post and the description

[Jake]

Reigning is the new Trine.

[Vorlonesque]

I was just about to send an email with a couple video game dreams I've had (including one that was in my college rec center/lunch room...except it was CO-OP DOOM with DOOM enemies and the walls were all pixelated DOOM textures but the windows outside looked out on the normal scenery usually outside those windows)...but as I was getting ready to do it I loaded up idlethumbs.net and saw that you had already cast a pod of manlyness into my whimpering face...so I've instead decided to go to bed so I can be awake when I get up tommorow for work @ 6:00AM Eastern Time to work a loooong ass day that likley awaits me tommorow. I'm downloading the podcast overnight though (I'm on satellite internet, which means that I'm limited to 500MB a day, except between 2:00AM and 7:00AM...and I have 1000+ms of latency...and I pay ~150 bucks a month for this priveledge because its better than 26.4k dialup out here in hell's asscrack: a broadband blackhole).

Also, as to the gatling gun comments from last week...while I agree that a turret sequence has no place in a game like CoJ...I imagine it was an attempt to have an homage to the classic scene in the movie The Outlaw Jose Wales where Clint Eastwood uses a gatling gun to mow down a large group of Union soldiers. As an aside there is some debate about the extent of the use of gatling guns in the civil war...as in one case a dozen of the guns were privately obtained by a general who used them in the siege of St Petersburg...and there are, I believe, other accounts of such instances. I think the confederates also had some sort of rapid fire equivalent if memory serves...but I'm not certain if they were ever actually used in combat (where the gatling gun actually was). An interesting side note is that toward the end of the war, the beginnings of trench warfare started to materialize in a manner that foreshadowed World War I (though no one paid attention to these trends in light of the quick Prussian victory over Emperor Napolean III in the Franco Prussian war of the 1870s which resulted in most military experts falsely assuming the next war would end in days rather than the years that WWI encompassed).

[elmuerte]

Fun!

I belong to that group that actually wants to finish games. I want to see what the ending is. But it is usually a disappointment. I get the feeling that quite some game devs don't put much work into creating an ending because they know the vast majority will never see it.

[Chuckpebble]

Haha, slappers on the N64!

Chris, I believe you were thinking of the "Marquis of Queensbury Rules" cheat from either Perfect Dark or Goldeneye. Can't remember which game exactly, so long ago, but basically it forced you to only use your melee attack. Funny thing, I think this actually predates the term "melee attack", at least in the video game context. I remember the mode being quite enjoyable, as every character had the same "judo chop" move and that was it. I don't think you could even see your opponent's arm moving.

Ah. The good 'ol days. When 15 fps didn't matter much, and all of your opponents were within arms reach.

[Shakesbeard]

I never played much perfect dark but in Goldeneye it wasn't even a cheat, just a weapons setting called "Slappers Only" that you could set before the match. The sound of a karate chop and the ensuing *GASP* that the character would emit is still fresh in my mind...

edit: wasn't sure if I should post this here or in the dlc thread

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doubleedit: I like where this is headed...

Edited July 15, 2009 by Shakesbeard

[n0wak]

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This one's my favourite. Seeing Balrog kick is weird. Seeing him super-deform to do the Ultra is just wacky.

[Shakesbeard]

  n0wak said:

This one's my favourite. Seeing Balrog kick is weird. Seeing him super-deform to do the Ultra is just wacky.

You jolt out of a deep sleep, awoken by some unseen force, a sound unlike anything you've heard before resonates in your mind but you can't tell if it was real or imaginary. You sit, frozen in your bed, waiting for a sign. You can feel someone, something, watching you. Staring. Thoughts of Big Bird's bones and Pyramid Head racing through your brain...

...you turn around.

[Erkki]

Thief > Wizard

[Chris]

  Erkki said:

Thief > Wizard

Wizard > Wizard

[blackboxme]

Well done Jake, that was a really interesting discussion about finishing games.

When I was little, I didn't finish any games at all, which made me feel like a jerk.

It's interesting, some of the only games that I finished growing up were JRPGs. It's like JRPGs were the first genre that said, "we should make it so the player can finish the game, even if they aren't super skilled or dedicated." I think people are really grateful for that.

Now that most games can be beaten by normal people, the big problem is the "padding out the game" problem, where they put 3 times more content in than the mechanics justify, to appease gamers who want "value for their money." I hate those "value for money" people.

[toblix]

Great podcast. You know, for the first time today it really struck me how pleasant Jake's voice is. He has this soothing tone and timbre, I can't believe I didn't notice before!

[syntheticgerbil]

  blackboxme said:

Now that most games can be beaten by normal people, the big problem is the "padding out the game" problem, where they put 3 times more content in than the mechanics justify, to appease gamers who want "value for their money." I hate those "value for money" people.

Yep, I think a lot of developers need to pay attention to the point when the game turns into more of a chore than fun.

I don't usually play games like that and try to find out ahead of time what may become a chore the best I can. But everyone once and a while I'll find myself gritting my teeth through a good game that's just a tad too long. It makes you not want to play it again later. Not that I have time to do that anymore or ever again.

[Commodore75]

I just assumed it has two (extra) [cameras,sensors] that triangulate where you are. But that's probably because I missed all of this years E3 (coverage), bar podcasts.

(Job situation has been wacky lately. Thus this link-n-run.)

Also, Natal everywhere! -Bill

[Erkki]

WTF? There several new Wizardly named programming languages have popped up recently: http://mythryl.org/ http://hackety.org/potion/

Potion looks rather interesting actually.

[vimes]

The discussion about European games is funny, because most people here would describe these as German : the Settlers, the Witcher, the Anno series ... are (like adventure games) mainly done and supported by our friendly neighbours, ze germans.

[Erkki]

  vimes said:

The discussion about European games is funny, because most people here would describe these as German : the Settlers, the Witcher, the Anno series ... are (like adventure games) mainly done and supported by our friendly neighbours, ze germans.

The Witcher was developed in Poland.

[vimes]

Well, I meant "developed and/or supported by blahblahblah". Though, I didn't know it was from Poland, so thanks for the info.

[T-Matt]

I'm somebody that quite enjoys pinball and I was trying to think of what about it I like. It's a simple game, shoot the ball and then flip it.

I don't know what it is exactly that draws me in..shiny lights, the sounds, the themes, beating my high score? I played pinball before I played video games so maybe the nostalgia is part of it. Basically I'm a child.

TL/DR

I don't know how people manage to beat a lot of games. Even in high school when I had tons of free time it would take me months to beat games.

And the only games I remember beating when I was younger was the mario games.

I beat super ghouls and ghosts recently and that was satisfying. Never playing that again.

In short, thanks for the podcast guys. Entertaining as always.

[miffy495]

  Vorlonesque said:

...while I agree that a turret sequence has no place in a game like CoJ...I imagine it was an attempt to have an homage to the classic scene in the movie The Outlaw Jose Wales where Clint Eastwood uses a gatling gun to mow down a large group of Union soldiers.

You reference The Outlaw Jose Wales but not The Wild Bunch? If I'm thinking of iconic western scenes involving a mounted gun, that's the one right there.

Anyway, I'm another player who's always trying to finish games. I don't really know why, honestly, as it often isn't really worth it, but I keep on doing it. Finally, your talk about Joust 2 has convinced me that there needs to be a song called "Midway 'tween the Fittest and the Blues." I'm actually taking a stab at it myself, but lack any kind of recording equipment/talent. Just a basic 12 bar blues song. The bit I'm proudest of right now (after about 15 minutes of trying to think up stuff) is:

"Tried to fight my way through Pewter Gym

with a team of six Pikachus

I'm midway 'tween the Fittest and the Blues"

There's a bunch more too, but honestly it's pretty dumb. Who knows though, I may actually write a thing.