It’s been a little while since we Idle Weekended, but for good reason! Your fearless hosts have been going through some *life stuff* and playing games that help us cope. Get ready for some talk about comfort games, the place of challenge and difficulty, and getting our brains into better spaces. Welcome back to the weekend!

Discussed: Into the Breach, World of Warcraft, Total War, mental health, Sonic Mania, Animal Crossing, health, Assassin’s Creed: Origins, State of Decay 2, Dishonored 2, The Americans, The Last Jedi, Blade Runner 2049, biases in media, New Girl, Party Down, GLOW

We consider a favorite archetype of ours in sci-fi: the sensitive badass! Rob and Danielle talk gender in sci-fi, the ways in which Farscape and the Expanse rock our socks, and why Thor is a whole lot more awesome than Guardians of the Galaxy. Discussed: The Expanse, John Wick, Farscape, Thor: Ragnarok, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2, Black Panther, Edge of Tomorrow, Sicario, Uncharted series, Uncharted 2, Uncharted: Lost Legacy, Hitman, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

It’s been too long, friends. But we have a solid, meaty Idle Weekend for you, ripe with discussions of long-running franchises we have a long relationship with, our trials in not ruining games for ourselves, and the utterly bananas part time work experiences gained by working for weirdos. It’s Idle Weekend all right!

Discussed: Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, Total War Rome II, Total War: Medieval, Into the Breach, The Evil Within 2, Kitchen Confidential, SuperStore

On this belated episode of Idle Weekend (Danielle is sorry for the wait), we discuss the things that really just do it for us—and the alternative, the games that leave us cold. It’s a very hot and cold weekend here, just like real life! Sort of!

Discussed: The Division, Surviving Mars, Black Maps: The American Landscape and the Apocalyptic Sublime, Into the Breach, The Martian, Tropico, Star Trek, Dude Watching with the Brontes - Hark, a Vagrant!, Daniel Ortberg’s Texts from Jane Eyre, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Goodfellas, The Punisher, Bringing Out the Dead, Legion

Rob and Danielle take some time from playing the latest and greatest to do things they enjoy even more: play old games that actually scratch the right itches. It’s like 2007 all over again in here! Discussed: BioShock, BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite, Warcraft 3, The Hour, War Thunder, Don’t Starve, The Hour, Mindhunter

Rob and Danielle regale one another with tales of TV shows (and movies, and books, and games!) that they weren't too keen on at first, but those frowns turned upside down with a little persistence.

Discussed: Brooklyn 99, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Altered Carbon, Game of Thrones, Tombs of Atuan, The Expanse novels, The 100, 2312, Rubicon, All Our Asias

This week, we welcome freelance writer Dia Lacina to the Idle Weekend world in order to discuss lesser entries in franchises or series that everyone shits on, but we love them. There’s a whole lot of Star Trek Talk in this one, a serious appreciation for Michael Mann’s Manhunter, and a slew of delicious trashcan eclairs.

Discussed: Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, The Bourne Legacy, Manhunter, Banjo-Tooie, BioShock 2, Dark Souls 2, Jupiter Ascending, Guardians of the Galaxy, Legend of Galactic Heroes, Bloodborne, Forever Knight, The City in the City by China Mieville, Dark Matter

What dark depths lie under bright futures we like to imagine? That, and other lofty questions, are addressed on this episode, where we look at the authoritarian side of the sci-fi we love, the colonialism of games we’re enjoying, and the very difficult question of what on earth to do with David Cage Games.

Quick content warning: this episode contains discussion of sexual harassment and abuse in media.

Discussed: They are Billions, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Roadside Picnic, Battlestar Galactica, Dark Matter, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Black Mirror, Cory Doctorow’s Piece on Cold Equations and Moral Hazards, Quantic Dream and David Cage, Louie CK, James Franco, Person of Interest, Thimbleweed Park

with copy! Idle Weekend 1/21/18 It’s Back, Baby! This weekend, we talk about what it takes to make a game come back into the conversation, even if it’s just our little corner of the internet. It’s because we have a little Bloodborne on the brain, and a little Darkest Dungeon in the hands. And Strangers Things afoot. Note! Rob’s audio is a little funky in this episode, but he’ll have his proper mic back next week.

Discussed: Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Darkest Dungeon, Stardew Valley, LA Noire, Night in the Woods, GTA V, BioShock: Infinite, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Quantic Dream, Battlestar Galactica (with spoilers!), Counting Crows, Star Wars, Blade Runner: 2049, Stranger Things, The Shape of Water

This weekend, we extol the virtues of consoles and games that change our relationship to games, in honor of Rob’s newfound love of the Nintendo Switch. We also get into some good questions about gender stereotypes and game preferences, and profess a deep love of 20s gangster period pieces.

Discussed: Nintendo Switch, Breath of the Wild, Stardew Valley, LA Noire, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Peaky Blinders, Boardwalk Empire

In the extreme(ly bad) weather, it’s important to note one thing: we all have to work together to survive. Hence, we recount our favorite games and movies with extreme weather, from the comfort of our snowed-in houses.

Discussed: Max Payne, The Grey, The Long Dark, Kona, The Division, Super Mario 3D World, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nightwing, Grayson, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex