Jake Posted October 22, 2014 Idle Thumbs 181: Rumors & Hearsay The Fiver! Chris, Jake, Sean, Danielle and Nick bring you all the rapid-fire hot gossip you desire, from our hellmouths to your ears. This week's scandals hot off the press: Nick's latest Lords Management misstep leads to the product's erasure, leaving onlookers agog. Woman swoons at news, resuscitated by podcast host Danielle Riendeau. Famous explorer Remo circumnavigates globe in record time; bests noted horn smuggler Breckon. Vanaman reads novel. Jake present at podcast recording. That's it for this week's Idle Thumbs Fiver: All of the rumors, all of the hearsay, none of the scoops. Things Discussed: Dota 2, 80 Days, Alien: Isolation, The Evil Within, Wolf in White Van, Chex Quest Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes Subscribe to the RSS Feed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Badfinger Posted October 22, 2014 It's like Christmas come early, except instead of Christmas it's Wednesday! The Fiver excites. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zerofiftyone Posted October 22, 2014 On 10/22/2014 at 5:03 AM, Jake said: this week's Idle Thumbs Fiver: All of the rumors, all of the hearsay, none of the scoops. I miss Steve after reading this! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuperBiasedMan Posted October 22, 2014 Episode 181 - Rumors and Hearsays Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DaveC Posted October 22, 2014 I can't find the article at the moment, but I remember reading a piece about the origins of the word ''Xenomorph''. As far as I remember, it went into how the word ''Xenomorph'' is more of a fan creation than something explicitly outlined by the filmmakers. I believe Aliens introduced the term itself, but that was meant to refer to any alien being, and not the species of the Alien itself. Or something like that. Maybe somebody else has more info. Edit: Found it: http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2014/08/the-throwaway-line-in-aliens-that-spawned-decades-of-confusion/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gritfish Posted October 22, 2014 oh man, all I could think about while Chris was describing his childhood nightmares was the ad for Gotham at the moment (we might be behind the states by a week): Horrifying. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tberton Posted October 22, 2014 "Jake present at podcast recording." Sweet! All my favourite episodes are the ones where Jake is present at podcast recording! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justin Leego Posted October 22, 2014 blueberrynomnoms.nom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuperBiasedMan Posted October 22, 2014 Every time Nick reappears on the podcast he has an amazing story. This week's DotA deduction did not disappoint. I was already eagerly awaiting an Android version of 80 Days and now I'm even more interested. Having done research, it's on the way for some unannounced date. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nappi Posted October 22, 2014 I strongly disagree with Idle Thumbs people coming across as ironic in the podcast. In fact, their unironic enjoyment of video games is one of the main reasons I love the podcast. I wonder if the reader was being ironic with the hipster email. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DaveC Posted October 22, 2014 Yeah I don't get it either. I guess it could be that mainstream/AAA games get a lot of critique on Idle Thumbs, and the easy thing is just to throw ''hipsters!'' at them like some kind of lazy labeling maybe? it's such an amorphous, meaningless word. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tberton Posted October 22, 2014 Danielle describing The Evil Within as "batshit" made me want to catalogue the meanings we assign to different types of shit in English. Batshit: (adv.) ridiculously "Batshit insane" (adj.) unbelievable, in a ridiculous or entertaining way "This game is batshit." Dogshit: (n.) something of very poor quality "This game is dogshit." Bullshit: (n.) lies, often completely disassociated from the truth. "This essay was bullshit" (n.) something that's unfair "This level is bullshit" (adj.) unfair "I hate this bullshit level" Horseshit: (n.) lies, often completely disassociated from the truth. "This essay was horseshit" (n.) something that's unfair "This level is horseshit" (n.) something of very poor quality "This game is horseshit." Anybody got any others? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuperBiasedMan Posted October 22, 2014 I think the whole hipster label works if you're not saying that the Thumbs are ironically enjoying a work but are just not of the same opinion as mainstream media. The Thumbs devoted as much time to 80 Days as they did to the Evil Within. It's definitely an angle to the Thumbs that I enjoy. A good example is actually Viscera Cleanup Detail. Another gaming podcast I listened to was repeatedly making fun of the idea while one of them explained why it was compelling. It felt half like they just didn't have any interest in something so weird but also half like they felt obligated to mock how ungamey it was, as a gaming podcast. Idle Thumbs always feel like you're just willing to engage with how you felt about something, the good, the bad and the goofy. That means you'll both laugh at the AAA stuff when it's due and then also discuss smaller, weirder or obscure things because they might give you some new experience that you found noteworthy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tberton Posted October 22, 2014 Man, this episode was great. I love the Fiver. Also, when talking about video games branded by snacks, you forgot to mention the skittles game that game out for Gamecube. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Patrick R Posted October 22, 2014 On 10/22/2014 at 1:10 PM, tberton said: Danielle describing The Evil Within as "batshit" made me want to catalogue the meanings we assign to different types of shit in English. Batshit: (adv.) ridiculously "Batshit insane" (adj.) unbelievable, in a ridiculous or entertaining way "This game is batshit." Dogshit: (n.) something of very poor quality "This game is dogshit." Bullshit: (n.) lies, often completely disassociated from the truth. "This essay was bullshit" (n.) something that's unfair "This level is bullshit" (adj.) unfair "I hate this bullshit level" Horseshit: (n.) lies, often completely disassociated from the truth. "This essay was horseshit" (n.) something that's unfair "This level is horseshit" (n.) something of very poor quality "This game is horseshit." Anybody got any others? Apeshit (adj.) ridiculously angry "He went apeshit." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikemariano Posted October 22, 2014 Quote SEAN: Jake would make a Nerds game. JAKE: I would make a Nerds game... You Have To Burn The Nerds Rope Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikemariano Posted October 22, 2014 Regarding Chris's dislike of the term "xenomorph," as far as I can recall, the Alien is only referred in this way by Lieutenant Gorman in Aliens—trying to turn an alien invasion into dull military jargon. He's immediately mocked for this by his troops, and the word "xenomorph" isn't used in an Alien movie ever again. But the word lives on in thousands of message board posts by Alien superfans! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikemariano Posted October 22, 2014 Sorry; gonna triple-post because the Olly Moss Titanic Sonic comic mentioned on the podcast is so disturbing: Reveal hidden contents Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Professor Video Games Posted October 22, 2014 Relevant article on the naming of the Alien: http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2014/08/the-throwaway-line-in-aliens-that-spawned-decades-of-confusion/ Quick summary is that when the term xenomorph was used (by Gorman, as mikemariano mentions) it's probably just a generic term for alien life. Which is good because the name xenomorph is pretty dumb. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
metuk Posted October 22, 2014 On 10/22/2014 at 9:18 AM, DaveC said: As far as I remember, it went into how the word ''Xenomorph'' is more of a fan creation than something explicitly outlined by the filmmakers. I believe Aliens introduced the term itself, but that was meant to refer to any alien being, and not the species of the Alien itself. Or something like that. Maybe somebody else has more info. I'm surprised that "Necronom" rarely get's a mention in fan circles, given the Giger inspiration. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Salacious Snake Posted October 22, 2014 It's funny how terms like "facehugger" and "chestburster" entered the fan lexicon (and probably spin-off shit like games and comics). I think they only came about because the VFX people needed names for the puppets they were building; they were never meant to be "in-universe" terms. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
metuk Posted October 22, 2014 On 10/22/2014 at 1:10 PM, tberton said: Danielle describing The Evil Within as "batshit" made me want to catalogue the meanings we assign to different types of shit in English. Batshit: (adv.) ridiculously "Batshit insane" (adj.) unbelievable, in a ridiculous or entertaining way "This game is batshit." Dogshit: (n.) something of very poor quality "This game is dogshit." Bullshit: (n.) lies, often completely disassociated from the truth. "This essay was bullshit" (n.) something that's unfair "This level is bullshit" (adj.) unfair "I hate this bullshit level" Horseshit: (n.) lies, often completely disassociated from the truth. "This essay was horseshit" (n.) something that's unfair "This level is horseshit" (n.) something of very poor quality "This game is horseshit." Anybody got any others? Chickenshit: (adj.) worthless or contemptible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DaveC Posted October 22, 2014 Well, I guess it's better than Linguafoeda acheronsis. Ugh. ''The Alien'' Is fine! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Korax Posted October 22, 2014 CHEX QUEST I played a lot of Chex Quest when it first came out (on a CD-ROM with an AOL trial installer). It's been quite a while since then, but I don't think it's that bad. It's just a weird, branded Doom mod. It had an opening CG movie that looked okay at the time, but is incredibly dated now. The Flemoids were absorbing nutrients from the rocks in some sort of cereal mine and then rapidly reproducing, overrunning the mining facility. As explained in the opening, the weapons you used - "zorchers" - were re-tuned to the frequency used by teleporters, harmlessly sending the Flemoids back to their home dimension. Those weapons were of course just reskins of the existing Doom weapons and behaved in the same way. The pistol zorcher and the chaingun zorcher used the same ammo pool, and the shotgun zorcher retained an element of the pump action - an apparently single-use battery that was ejected and replaced after every shot. That was a strange touch that I liked even at the time. You can download all three Chex Quest games set up in a ZDOOM wrapper right here - http://www.chucktropolis.com/gamers.htm That package has been sitting on my hard drive waiting for me to play more than the first level for quite a while now, but the memory is strong enough that I noticed a few small changes even at the start: I don't think that intro movie is there, and a few portraits of people on the walls that were based on renders from that intro have been replaced with pixel art drawings. My thought is that maybe the creator was worried about character likeness rights or something and didn't want to risk having them in there. Also, instead of a punch, you have a spoon that you stab at enemies with, and the chainsaw is replaced with a whirring "boot spork." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
