Idle Thumbs say Ken Levine is a drunk?

<p>In the April 10th episode of Idle Thumbs podcast there was a weird moment. During their buoshock infinite discussion, a member days this game seems like Columbia was a product of a self loathing drunkard, and then after a pause saying Booker is who he meant.. Now, I initially thought they were talking about the game, but with the awkward laughter, and the way people urged the conversation to continue differently (with Idle Thumb members being previous Irrational workers) it made me think they were talking about Ken Levine. Further cemented by the fact that an idle thumbs host favorited a tweet saying "self loathing, drunk...uhhh booker!...good save, man," I think there's something to this. I know people have demons or whatever, but with the veracity that Idle Thumbs trashed this game, and seemingly outed its creator, is Ken Levine that much of an asshole?</p>

I listened to it, as well. Pretty sure it was all jokes, dude.

I think they were worried people would think they were referring to Levine but not because he's actually a drunk they just dont wanna be perceived as slandering the man to that extent

Also, this.

if he's a drunk then he's a functioning one, so let the man live his life. he's clearly not being negatively effected by it professionally. personally? well thats not my concern so i dont care.

Does Diet Coke have alcohol in it?

I don't have any inside info, but isn't Ken Levine known for being controlling? Through interviews with him he's given the idea that because he is committed to his personal vision he not afraid to cut (others) work if he thinks it doesn't fit. That could easily create a lot of angry former employees, regardless of the results his method creates.

I wish i was a drunk like him then.

@bigjeffrey said:

People keep forgetting that he took five years to make a game. If he is a drunk then that might be an explanation for such a long development cycle.

However, Bioshock Infinite does not come across as the work of a man who stumbles into the office occasionally and gives a few slurred orders, and he seems like a pretty sober fellow in interviews and stuff. I really doubt that Ken Levine is a drunk.

I can only wish to be half the drunk he is.

No, they were jokin around, jeez. Have you ever listened to the show before? Chris would never talk straight shit about someone he worked with, they're nice guys.

I haven't heard that episode, but Idle Thumbs are pretty light-hearted guys who joke around a lot, it doesn't sound like them to say something like this in a serious context. Are you really sure they weren't joking?

If he's able to do all that he does while being a raging alcoholic, I might just have to start drinking alcohol again.

You can be a functional alcoholic, as long as the degree of alcohol intake is more clinical/societies perceptions, than a wake up and start slugging a quart down. Do 6- 8 beers a night, you are a stone cold alkie, though one may still wake up most every morning raring to put another 14-16 hours into Bioshock Infinite. If alcohol consumption was so absolutely debilitating, western culture(from the time beer was brewed at least) would have never arisen. And hard alcohol, yeah that was pretty evil and significant, but still the Industrial revolution rolled on.

Being into alcohol is nothing to be proud of, and yet seems to be ground into our western historical fabric. Beer, wine, and finally spirits, thank gawd there are other things..or nothing at all, to give balance.

Mine does.

If he has to get wasted to write such awesome stuff then chug it! But nah sounds like jokes.

Although he does record the circus of value lines while completely fucking wasted, that's a well-known fact. It's not supposed to be a clown-voice, that's just how he sounds.

EDIT-- Listening now. They're talking about THE ENDING, and summarising the plot, and Sean (who has never worked at Irrational, he wrote The Walking Dead at tellTale) says:

So thanks for makin a fuckin' Kotaku headline out o that

You know, a lot of great authors have been known for their alcoholism; so, hey, that could work...

Though, yeah, sounds like jokes. Or just a reference to Levine's earlier comments about how they made the game accessible to "psychopathic" and "alcoholic" players. ha.

Exactly what i thought when i saw the title from the o.p.

It's the video game industry. Everyone's a fuckin' drunk. It mind as well be a collection of aging ex-cops.

Also the pause between the comment and the clarification was exactly 666 millisecond which I think is a clear indication that the Idle Thumbs are all devil worshipers and my friends friend told me that her friend played episode 66 backwards once and drunk Ken Levine came to her in an holographic form and told a story about his fishing trip with the ghost of Epicurus who was a pretty nice dude but a pretty bad fisher and a huge believer in chemtrails. I don't want to read into anything but isn't that pretty amazing?

I wish he was. He could become so much better.

Dude makes a damn good game. If he is a drunk, he's a functioning alcoholic, and as everyone knows there's nothing wrong with that.

The Metacritic would have been a 98 if Ken wasn't a raging alcoholic. Such a shame.

Excellent point this. Want to make sure people don't miss this gem.

Yeah, I was really tired when I made this thread. Been up for 24 hours doing school work. Went back and listened again, sounds like they're joking. Sorry guys!

i didnt know thumbs could talk

Apparently idle ones can.

the real question is why would anyone listen to Idle Thumbs?

I mean really. It's shite.