January 14, 2016 You soar over a Mediterranean villa and find it so thrilling you think, "Hey, I'll build myself a new computer so this looks nicer." In the time it takes you to have this experience and this thought, a plastic robot toy built in 1985 completes Super Mario World. You remember throwing out the unused cables from your old power supply and curse. The plastic robot toy effortlessly re-programs the old Nintendo game, unlocking secrets not seen in Mario World's 25 year lifetime. The third CPU re-seat fails. As you wipe the thermal paste from your hands and start again, the robot turns off and is carried from the stage to rapturous applause.

Games Discussed: Just Cause 3, Super Mario World (Tool-Assisted Speedeun), Step Mania, Bushido Blade, Spelunky

January 7, 2016 Jake Rodkin has vanished. In his absence, we discuss Bushido Blade, Yakuza 5, Rainbow Six: Siege, and the obscure Japanese open-world game Mizzurna Falls. Which can mean only one thing: Steve "Hot Scoops" Gaynor has returned.

Discussed: Rainbow Six Siege, Mizzurna Falls, Bushido Blade, Yakuza 5, Spintires, Phantasy Star Online, Google Street View, Bigger Luke

December 31, 2015 The new year should be treated as a time of opportunity. A time to seek out fresh experiences, to get motivated to try some things you normally wouldn't. It's also a time to collapse in a tired heap and take a break to recharge. It is for both these reasons that we're bringing you an Idle Thumbs Network Sampler this week: You get a taste of the other great shows we host here at Idle Thumbs, and we get a quick breather to rest our weak old bones. We'll be back next week with a full new episode!

Discussion by: Three Moves Ahead, Esports Today, Idle Weekend, Terminal7, Designer Notes, The Idle Book Club, Chris, Jake

December 24, 2015 For many, this is the season of cheer and joviality, a time best spent close to family and loved ones. For others (like Nick Breckon), its the perfect time to dip a first toe into Dwarf Fortress and disappear from this world altogether. Plus, Chris shares his experiences with the top-down shooter Helldivers, and we take a look back at Star Wars games of the 1990s.

Games Discussed: Helldivers, Dwarf Fortress, Star Wars Rebellion, Star Wars: X-Wing

December 17, 2015 Your favorite creators are coming back, they've brought your favorite games, and to play them all you have to step into this skintight vibrating body suit. Plus, Nick returns to Crusader Kings 2 with disastrous (if unsurprising) results, and we stare straight into the surreal heart of the Frog Fractions 2 ARG.

Games Discussed: Rez Infinite, System Shock 3, Crusader Kings 2, Frog Fractions 2, Don't Starve Together

December 9, 2015 Come in, come in… Ah, I'm surprised to see YOU wearing that hat. But welcome. My name is Dr. Caligari. I mean Dr. Strangelove. Actually, call me Dr. Langeskov. Sit back and let's take a look into your history. Boy, there are a lot of murders, aren't there? Very…densely packed. And more tweets than I expected. Still, we'll see if we can't find some gems… Just a little puzzle game joke there, ha ha. I know you love your companion apps. Hmm. It appears your original family name is "Bredon." Well, you know what they say: It all starts with a doctor and ends with an emerald.

Games Discussed: Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist, Beglitched, Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Battlefront Companion: Base Command, Ancestry.com, Untitled Shinji Mikami cockroach game

December 3, 2015 It seems like whenever you move, she moves. Whatever drives her, she sees to know a lot about you, but you don't know where she came from, where she's going, or how you can see more of her. You sit alone in your settlement and hope she comes by again.

Games Discussed: Fallout 4, SUPERHOT, Cibele, Emily is Away, Icon Architect 1.0, Deck Building: The Deck Building Game, Grand Theft Auto: Moonbeaming

November 26, 2015 Now that the mobile companion apps to our favorite hardcore economic simulators and open world roleplaying games have sucked all the time out of our lives, we take a deep dip into the Idle Thumbs mailbag.

Games Discussed: Anno 2205, Anno 2205: Asteroid Miner, Fallout 4, Fallout Shelter, Agricola (iOS), TouchTone, Noby Noby Boy, Grand Theft Auto (the first one)

November 18, 2015 Fallout 4 has us in its thrall, but we still have questions. What would a Fallout sequel be like if it was set in the Middle East, or South America? If you're a Raider and your parents immigrated from Tuscany, does that make you a Tuscan Raider, or a Tuscan-American Raider? Why do you have to hold the shift key to navigate menus with WASD? What's "tatoes?" Plus, we talk about the lost Fallout sequel "Van Buren," and Chris' experience with Kero Blaster.

Games Discussed: Fallout 4, Kero Blaster, Downwell, Van Buren, Fallout New Vegas

November 12, 2015 This house survived three wars, countless natural disasters, and the end of civilization as we know it. If these walls could talk, the stories they could tell might change your life. Unfortunately for these walls, they'd look pretty great lining my settlement's new basketball court. Sorry, walls, Fallout 4 is here.

Games Discussed: Fallout 4, Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2, Anno 2205: Asteroid Miner, World of Warships

November 5, 2015 Our attention is split three ways this week, all thanks to Anno 2205. Jake sits in his island city patiently awaiting the new Super Mario Maker update. Nick spends his time on the moon, never sleeping, launching missiles until there's nothing left to nuke. Spaff sits alone in the arctic, huddled for warmth. Meanwhile, buried deep beneath the earth in a recently unearthed fortress of his own design, Chris sits down in a barber chair. "Give me an Erich Schaefer," he says. His barber knows exactly what he means.

Games Discussed: Anno 2205, Rebel Galaxy, Downwell, Super Mario Maker, Fallout Shelter

October 29, 2015 Mister Neighbor has something great in store for you this week, once he's changed into some comfortable shoes. All he has to do is walk out of frame and suddenly you're somewhere new. You hope Mister Neighbor takes you to the factory to show you how the machines put together your favorite things, but it could be anywhere. Maybe you're on a spaceship, traveling from port to port trying to broadside a merchant ship. Maybe you're still falling down that infinite pit of blackness you find you return to in quiet moments. Maybe you're on hold forever with technical support. When you tell your mom about Mister Neighbor, she looks concerned, and tells you that's not his name.

Games Discussed: Rebel Galaxy, Torchlight, The Sequence, Operator, Downwell, Nuclear Throne, Resident Evil

Notable Js Discussed: J Allard, J. Rodkin, J. Breckon, J. Peterman, J.R.R. Tolkein, J.K. Rowling, J.G. Edwards, Joseph "J.G.L." Gordon-Levitt

October 22, 2015 When walking through a place you've walked many times before, you see a small hole in the ground, decide to climb in, and now you're falling forever and ever and ever, unable to stop, unable to return to the life you had before you found the hole. This is the video game Downwell and this is Chris Remo's life after finding the video game Downwell. Elsewhere, Nick Breckon has gained control of an aircraft carrier.

Games Discussed: Downwell, Star Wars Battlefront, Spelunky, Daddy Long Legs, World of Tanks, World of Warships, World of Warplanes

October 15, 2015 Not so long ago, on a night not unlike this very night, the people braved the sewers of rats, donned their nice masks, and celebrated the first Dishonored Halloween. You should have been there. Now, three years later, Dishonored Halloween's gone corporate—a sold-out shell of itself that's not even about the same things.

Games Discussed: Sublevel Zero, 80 Days, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Daddy Long Legs Holidays Discussed: Dishonored Halloween

October 8, 2015 Using this custom-built glimmering console of knobs and sliders, we have calibrated the podcast to be perfectly suited to your taste. The sliders have also been tuned to provide you with incredibly fat bass, a catchy counter-melody, and a breathtaking view. The view initially featured twelve cavemen stabbing a mammoth to death with a bunch of spears, and some possible hints at greater lore, but we turned that off with one of the knobs.

Games Discussed: Far Cry: Primal, Panoramical, World of Warships, C.P.U. Bach, Super Metroid, Super Mario 64