Listen, dear readers, and I will tell you wondrous tales of a strange world—a world not so different to our own. A world of media conglomerates run rampant, of cavernous pulsing synthesizers, of long-buried digital treasure. Of legendary heroes and notorious agitators, and epic contests of three-laned skill. A world where nobody has time to play video games.

The lights dim and the curtains rise on the two competing teams. The players, who cannot hear the deafening crowd from their sound-proof booths, tense and untense their hands in anticipation, their fingers dancing over the keys and mouse. The buzzer. They snap on their work gloves, some pick up mops and buckets, and spread out, ready to work -- this docking bay won't clean itself. In the audience a father leans over to his son and says, "See, this is how it's done. You should do this." His son clutches his Meepo figurine tighter, deliberately ignoring him.

It is the present. John Q. Video Games comes home from a hard day at work making video games, ready to kick back. He turns on the latest console, in which he plays a video game developer who turns on a PC and plays a video game. He wakes up screaming and rates the experience four out of five stars; his rating is duly recorded. With Nick Breckon as Video Games.

It is the future. Robots have rolled their way into our office, taken our faces for their own, bested us at our own mobile phone games, and declared victory. Mankind's only recourse, its one hope, is to sit together with some microphones and discuss video games for two hours. Enjoy our latest podcast, robots.

A transmedia romp through news, media and literacy. What does it mean to be a child? What power lies within a joke? Weaving in and out of cast and criticism, we explore the true fourth dimension of video games: ourselves. With friend, fighter, reviewer and cast regular Danielle Riendeau.

Perched upon a slender neck of expertly machined titanium, our new telepresence robot peers into the studio. Chris compulsively manipulates an ever-evolving Doge. Jake obsesses over a perfectly orchestrated techno-heist. Sean daydreams of a professional gaming life forever out of reach. Three hosts, blind to the broadcast of their lives into the socially-connected Oculus Rifts of our shared future, lost, forever, to video games. (Photo credit: Norman Chan)

Following Tom Francis' recent Idle Thumbs network appearance on Tone Control, we've invited him up to the big leagues to headline as a guest on the network's flagship podcast: this one. In the wake of a Big Dog rampage, we convene to reminisce on the week's conferring.

Nick can't give up Hearthstone, Chris is still playing Spelunky, Sean has handcuffed himself to a MAME cabinet and Jake makes some comments about video games. Next week: Idle Thumbs 150.

Sean's in the room by himself, uh, talking to himself. But he's not alone. He is in the virtual battlefield of DayZ, where via an on-line connection to the world-wide network known as the Internet, he is able to meet up with fellow e-soldiers and scour the synthesized apocalyptic wasteland for prey. While hundreds watch, rooting from their video terminals at home, he and his band hunt a man from the United Kingdom and kill him. Also Nick Breckon's here!

2014. R. 1hr 30min

When Lt. Todd Titan returns home from the nine-hundred-years wars to bury his terminally ill uncle, he is forced into one last battle with his true life-long enemy: himself. Based upon the award winning two-act play by Cormac McCarthy.