This week! Game talk, game talk and more game talk. And not much Modern Warfare 2 this week since we've kind of exhausted that in the last two episodes. But  we've got a little New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Madden NFL Arcade, Phantasy Star Zero, LEGO Indiana Jones 2 and plenty more.

Own an iPhone/iPod touch? We've got an app for that--the Player One Podcast player app is available now. Play shows new and old, read show notes, access the show Twitter, website, email, voicemail line and more! Plus, you'll be able to access bonus audio and video content (soon, once we figure out what that is). Click here to download.

Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Player One Podcast iPhone App
The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks Commercial

This week! First up, voicemails from listeners where we talk about Ratchet & Clank spoilers, the airport scene from Modern Warfare 2, the difficulty in adventure games, and more. Then, we go into the games we've played this week, including Modern Warfare 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, God of War Collection, Phantasy Star Zero, Excitebike World Rally, LEGO Indiana Jones 2, Pokémon Rumble, Left 4 Dead 2, Forza III, Beatles Rock Band and Adhoc Party.

Own an iPhone/iPod touch? We've got an app for that--the Player One Podcast player app is available now. Play shows new and old, read show notes, access the show Twitter, website, email, voicemail line and more! Plus, you'll be able to access bonus audio and video content (soon, once we figure out what that is). Click here to download.

Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Player One Podcast iPhone App
Siskel & Ebert - Showgirls

This week! Everyone's back and talkin' games. Topics include Activision's next music game, New Super Mario Bros.' lack of online play, flawed games we love, the PSPgo's effect on the platform and Project Natal. Then we move into games and talk about Modern Warfare 2, LEGO Rock Band, Excitebike World Rally, Rabbids Go Home, Pinball Heroes and Ratchet & Clank A Crack in Time, among others.

Own an iPhone/iPod touch? We've got an app for that--the Player One Podcast player app is available now. Play shows new and old, read show notes, access the show Twitter, website, email, voicemail line and more! Plus, you'll be able to access bonus audio and video content (soon, once we figure out what that is). Click here to download.

Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Player One Podcast iPhone App
Bleeps, Sweeps, Creeps
Wagon Wheels blog post
Sega CD: The Animals

This week! CJ is missing! We've got a new theme song! Also, some more talk on Modern Warfare 2 (listen for the spoiler alert)! Other games discussed in this episode include Forza Motorsport III, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Ratchet & Clank Future: Crack in Time, The San Diego Zoo Presents: The Animals, and more!

Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week! A packed show! We've got Modern Warfare 2 leaked footage (if you're trying to remain a MW2 virgin it's between 12:45-29:35), Nintendo's DSi LL/XL announcement, a Game Club segment on Luigi's Mansion for GameCube, then we launch into the games of the week before playing through the finalists in our theme song contest. Games discussed in this episode include Tekken 6, Loco Roco Midnight Carnival, Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 4, Uncharted 2, Ratchet & Clank A Crack in Time, DJ Hero, GTA IV: Lost and Damned and Ballad of Gay Tony and more!

As mentioned we played the finalists in our theme song contest. You have until Friday, November 6 to get your vote in on songs 1, 2, 3 or 4. Email your selection to playeronepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Red Eye Blog: Original DJ Heroes
Original GameCube demo reel w/Luigi's Mansion
Super Mario 128 demo video
DJ Hero educational video

This week! Topics of conversation in tweets include the first/worst game we've imported, Modern Warfare 2 dedicated servers, internet anger, Dead Space Wii's lackluster sales, paying extra to get games early, and which big-name game between now and March will be the biggest commercial failure. Then we get along to games of the week, which include Space Invaders Extreme 2, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo, Beatles Rock Band (Abbey Road DLC), Guitar Hero: World Tour, DJ Hero, Rock Band iPhone, Borderlands, Lips Number One Hits, and Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.

Also, we're (still) running a contest for a new theme song. Deadline for entries is now Friday, October 30. Details can be found here. Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
CJ's Best Buy blog post
The Yakyuken Special
Ranma 1/2 Battle Renaissance
Blue Seed Saturn
The Beatles Rock Band Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Steve Martin's Maxwell's Silver Hammer
cyberhadji's etsy store
"Don't Stop Believin'" by Kkrusty

It's been three years since we started this podcast and what better way to ring it in than to do exactly what we've been doing for most of those three years. Talk tweets, talk games, talk some behind the scenes. It's over two hours of what has made us the second best video game podcast hosted by four ex-magazine editors over Skype. Games discussed include Uncharted 2, Brutal Legend, Ratchet & Clank Future Tools of Destruction, A Boy and His Blob, Giana Sisters DS and Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon.

Also, we're (still) running a contest for a new theme song. Deadline for entries is now Friday, October 30. Details can be found here. Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Boy and His Blob Box art for DS

This week! It's the episode before our three-year anniversary, so we do…well, pretty much what we normally do every week. That includes tweets, then game talk. Titles we discuss include Halo ODST, Katamari Forever, Arkedo Series 01 - JUMP, Critter Crunch, South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play, Need for Speed Shift, Mega Man 9, and more.

Also, we're running a contest for a new theme song. Deadline for entries is Friday, October 16. Details can be found here. Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
JK Wedding Entrance Dance
Giana Sisters remake thread (NeoGAF)
Arkedo Studios

This week! We discuss the PSPgo (CJ bought one), game review hyperbole, free hotel porn, vibrating beds, Super Street Fighter IV, and things we thought were innovations but were really non-innovations in driving games. Oh and we also talk about games, including UmJammer Lammy, Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe, Fieldrunners, Motorstorm Arctic Edge, Beatles Rock Band, Pinball Hall of Fame The Williams Collection, Rock Band Unplugged Lite Edition, Halo 3 ODST, Need for Speed Shift, Madworld, Wii Sports Resort, Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3 and Jumping Flash 2, among others.

Also, we're running a contest for a new theme song. Deadline for entries is Friday, October 16. Details can be found here. Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
CJ's PSPgo blog post
ANNcast with CJ
Details on theme song contest

On this week's podcast we discuss multitudinous things, like the highs and lows of multiplayer Halo, the PSP Go, Halo 3 ODST, Mario & Luigi Bower's Inside Story, Pinball Hall of Fame The Williams Collection, Cake Mania, Forza 3, Brutal Legend, Katamari Forever, Beatles Rock Band, Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2, Dead Space and so, so much more.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already! You can discuss this very episode right here.

This week's link:
Lazy town REMIX feat. Lil' Jon

This week! Games! Tweets! issues! Celebrity chatter! Internet Memes! Four hosts! And much more. Games discussed on this episode include Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Scribblenauts, Beatles Rock Band, Batman: Arkham Asylum, 1 vs. 100 Beta, Wii Sports Resort, Retro Game Challenge, Contra ReBirth, and more.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already! You can discuss this very episode right here.

This week's link:
Anthony Rapp
"Poker Face" by microchip
"The Raven," read by John Astin
Mr Boogedy Part 1
"John Astin is a confused male chauvinist!" (Freaky Friday trailer)

It's a three-man podcast this week with CJ, Phil and Greg (Sewart). We talk a little bit about Penny Arcade Expo (and the flu/sickness that struck many of its attendees), The Beatles Rock Band, Batman Arkham Asylum, Uncharted, Mr. Driller W, Muramasa, Guitar Hero 5, Contra ReBirth, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Sonic the Hedgehog Project Needlemouse and much, much more. Like we filled up nearly two hours there.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already! You can discuss this very episode right here.

This week's link:
Plastic Axe

This week! Only one host and a bunch of guests. CJ goes to Penny Arcade Expo, brings his pocket recorder and records conversations with a couple people. That includes Patrick Klepek, David Ellis, Andrew Pfister, Jeremy Parish, Shane Bettenhausen and Kholdstare. Plus a bonus PAX-related voicemail from Bill Mudron, whose awesome EGM/1UP tribute piece and other artwork can be found at www.excelsiorstudios.net. Thanks again to everyone I ran into at PAX and/or played The Beatles Rock Band with. We will return to our regularly scheduled lineup and podcast next week.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already! You can discuss this very episode right here.

This week's links:
CJ's PAX Twitterings
Excelsior Studios
Jonathan Coulton performs "The Future Soon" at Rock Band Network panel
"Hot N Cold (8-bit cover!)" by PlayItLoud!
G4's The Feed blog
Ignition Entertainment
Jeremy Parish's 1UP.com blog
David Ellis' 1UP.com blog

This week! Voicemails, tweets and whatcha been playingses. In the first segment we cover a lot of ground, from favorite platformers and Sony's new ad campaign to utter disappointment at Best Buy's The Beatles Rock Band demo day. Games discussed during this 149th show include Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2, Batman Arkham Asylum, Uncharter, Shadow Complex, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Warriors Orochi 2 (PSP), Madden 10 and Peggle.

Beware potential spoilers for the first hour or so of Batman Arkham Asylum from 1:03:25-1:13:00.

And that, friends, is this week's episode. Note, although this episode is called Diabolical Boxes, we barely talk about the sequel to Professor Layton that came out last week.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already! You can discuss this very episode right here.

This week's links:
PlayStation ads: It Only Does Everything
"Sweet Chip O' Mine" by 486 at 8bitcollective

This week two Gregs, a Phil and a CJ discuss many topics from the last week in gaming. Among them, the issues regarding the release of Shadow Complex, the slim PS3, PSP Mini games and more. Also, discussion on hot new game tapes like Splosion Man, Trials HD, Flipnote Studio, Dirt 2 and...there are a few others mixed in there I think.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Opinion: The Complex Question
Phil's Flipnote Studio movie

We're a man down this week, and not talking about too much new stuff. Games discussed include Madden 10, The Bigs 2, Wii Sports Resort, Peggle, Hammerin' Harry, Arkham Asylum, Splosion Man and Flipnote Studio, amongst others.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week! All four hosts are back to talk about games. Voicemails, tweets, what'cha been playin'--this episode is packed. It's also a bit late to publish, and in the rush it's not as carefully edited as usual. Since Greg Ford hit his mute button about 35 minutes in for about 10 minutes you may hear some silent patches there when he would normally be speaking--feel free to add your own dialogue in for fun (kind of like an audio Mad Libs). Some of the games discussed in this episode include Wii Sports Resort, Prototype, Monkey Island, the NXE update, Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, Fat Princess, Call of Juarez and more. Enjoy.

On July 26, 2009, Andy Baran, former EGM/EGM/Expert Gamer editor passed away from pancreatic cancer. He was 35 years old. This episode of the podcast is filled with stories about working with and knowing Andy from CJ, Phil and Greg, as well as voicemails from other past colleagues. Thanks again to all who helped contribute to this episode: Terry Minnich, Ken Williams, Dan Hsu, Kraig Kujawa, Dan Leahy, Mark Hain, Jennifer Whitesides Gavigan, Crispin Boyer, Chris Baker, David Siller, Jeanne Kim Trais, James Mielke, Joe Funk, Mike Vallas and Tracy Baran.

Andy Baran's 1UP blog
Bitmob: RIP EGM's Andy Baran
VGEvo: R.I.P. Andy Baran of EGM
The Early Days of EGM Part 1
The Early Days of EGM Part 2
Kotaku: EGM Writer Passes Away
Bitmob: In Memory of Andy Baran
"Double Dragon" by The Minibosses

This week! Tweets, Wii Sports Resort, Starfy, Monkeys on Islands, kids and games, game movies, and plenty more.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week we talk about some game-related stuff, including the CoD MW2 Collector's Edition, video game t-shirts, introducing your kids to games, controllers and a bunch of other topics. Then we go into the game tapes we've been playing this week, which includes Monkey Island (Special Edition and Tales of), Box Life, Power Pro Baseball iPhone, Tour De France XBLA, EA Sports Active, Pulseman and Base 10.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Dr. Zilog's 8bitcollective.com profile (interstitial music)
Pulseman
Power Pro Baseball iPhone
Schooner is a Sailboat

This week! We talk all about our Game Club game, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker for the Sega Genesis. Plus a whole lot about Transformers 2 (the movie) and some PC game talk including the recent LucasArts rereleases on Steam and Telltale Games' latest, Tales of Monkey Island. Interspersed in there as well is some InFamous, Uncharted, Blaz Blue, Xbox Live woes, Tomb Raider, some iPhone stuff and a whole lot more. It's a long show this week, over 2 hours.

We normally don't do this but since this episode is so long, here's an approximate rundown of what we talk about:

0:00-3:00: Intro
3:00-19:15: Transformers 2
19:16-54:41: Game Club: Moonwalker
54:42-1:36:49: CJ and Phil WBP (LucasArts PC/Telltale talk)
1:36:50-1:59:04: Gregs Ford and Sewart WBP
1:59:05-2:05:44: Talk about next Game Club and Ending

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Moonwalker (Genesis)
Moonwalker (Arcade)
Moonwalker commercial
Tales of Monkey Island trailer
Megatron vs. Starscream
Bebot
Galaxyquest

This week! We talk about games and movies and Turbo Touch control pads and everything in between. Topics of discussion include movie games, game movies, Saturday morning cartoons, Ghostbusters, InFamous, Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires, The Adventures of Willy Beamish, The Bigs 2, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Bubble Bobble, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Mega Man Star Force 3, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, Blaz Blue Calamity Trigger and more.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Strongbad reversible cover
Saturday Supercade opening
Yahtzee's InFamous / Prototype Challenge

This week! Games! Including Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta, Castlevanias on the DS, The Conduit, Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires, Ghostbusters The Video Game, InFamous, Red Faction Guerilla, Castle of Magic, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and much, much more. Plus, we've decided to do the Genesis version of Moonwalker for our next Game Club game (so get playin').

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week! Game Club about Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus, plus Ghostbusters, InFamous, The Maw, Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta, and more.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

Once again, we've put off doing our Sly Cooper game club to talk about other stuff (Sly will be talked about next week, we swear). This week! Post-E3 thoughts, Project Natal, Angry Barry, Lost Planet 2, Beatles Rock Band, InFamous, The Legendary Starfy, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, Scribblenauts, DJ Hero, Invisible Tiger, Assassin's Creed 2, Lips, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Saw, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Punch-Out and more.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

It's an early show this week but it still counts as Monday's episode. This week CJ, Phil and Greg (Sewart) discuss the press conferences from the big three hardware manufacturers. From Project Natal to Project M and everything in between.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

We talk about many things in this episode, but not Sly Cooper. That's right, this was supposed to be our Game Club episode on Sucker Punch's first PS2 endeavor but instead we rambled on about other things for an hour and a half so we decided to push it two more weeks. But we did talk about InFamous, Buzz Quiz TV, Wallace & Gromit Episode 1, Penny Arcade Episode 2, Punch Out, Prince of Persia, Sonic the Hedgehog iPhone and Pokemon Platinum, among others. (Prince of Persia spoilers start at 56:30 and run through 1:01:40.)

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week the usual suspects discuss: Punch-Out!!, Raiden Fighters Aces, Dead Space, Zen Pinball, Demon's Soul, Super Stardust HD, Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars, Peggle Dual Shot, Klonoa, ART STYLE: Pictobits, and Metroid Prime Trilogy, amongst other things.

Next Game Club game is Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus for the PlayStation 2 Computer Entertainment System. Used copies are available cheaply (five bucks) at Gamestop locations nationwide. Start playing now! We'll be discussing the game NEXT WEEK on Episode 136.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Castmedium / Podcasters’ Favorite Podcasts (Player One)
NES Punch-Out Commercial
ART STYLE: Pictobits

In this week's exciting episode of the Player One Podcast the usual suspects discuss many video game tapes. Such as Space Invaders Extreme, Star Trek D•A•C, Peggle Dual Shot (and iPhone), Burnout Paradise, Fat Princess, Ragdoll Kung-Fu, Valkyria Chronicles, Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2, and the 1 vs. 100 (beta). Plus: Redesigned PS3, Duke Nukem Forever, Clay Fighter and more.

Next Game Club game is Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus for the PlayStation 2 Computer Entertainment System. Used copies are available cheaply (five bucks) at Gamestop locations nationwide. Start playing now! We'll be discussing the game on Episode 136.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus trailer
Chasing Ghosts trailer
Dialing Wand

This week! It's the usual lineup of CJ, Phil, and Gregs both Sewart and Ford as we talk about games, games, and more games. Which titles, you ask? Topics of conversation in this episode include the InFamous demo, iPhone games, an Apple home console, Xbox Live Community Games, Killzone 2, Resident Evil 5, Far Cry 2, X-Men Origins Wolverine, Patapon 2, Arkanoid Live, Space Invaders Extreme, Prince of Persia, Burnout Paradise, Outrun Arcade, Klonoa and Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars.

Spoilers for Killzone 2 starting at 50:50 and ending at approximately 56:45. Spoilers for Resident Evil 5 start at 56:50 and end at 1:00:55.

Next Game Club game is Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus for the PlayStation 2 Computer Entertainment System. Used copies are available cheaply (five bucks) at Gamestop locations nationwide. Start playing now!

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Gamasutra: Opinion: 5 Ways To Make Your Xbox Live Community Game Better
Bug in Outrun Arcade
The Limits of Science

This week it's the usual lineup talking about such things as Resident Evil 5, Killzone 2, PSP Go rumors, Rock Revolution, Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars, Space sims/shooters, 360 repairs, Perfect Dark remakes, Space Invaders Get Even, Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce, Sonic Unleashed, Incredible Hulk and Ed Norton voiceovers, national tragedies, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Wolverine, Dead Rising 2 trailers, Pokémon, DSi battery life, and more.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week! Games, tangents, and a game club on Ys Book I & II. Plus, we have a special guest this week, 8-4's John Ricciardi. Games we talk about this week include Outrun Online Arcade, Final Fantasy XIII, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, Monster Hunter 3, Dynasty Warriors Gundam and PlayStation Home.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
John Ricciardi's Twitter
www.8-4.jp
YouTube: Ys I & II
CJ's Twitter
Sewart's Twitter

This week! We talk about Tomcat Alley, full-motion video games, Patapon 2, digital downloads, Stewy's 360 repair problems, Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars sales, and what one game CJ will finish this year. Plus Outrun Online Arcade, Galaga Legions, Killzone 2, Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure and Noby Noby Boy.

Plus, in the NEXT episode we're doing Ys Book I & II for our Game Club. You can find all the information here.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
CJ's Twitter
Giuseppe Contelli What-Ifs on Twitter
Kotaku: 6-year-old buys porn-infested PSP from Wal-Mart
Mr. Show: Pre-taped Call-in Show

It's a tangent-filled, thunderstorm of gaming discussion this week. CJ, Phil, Stewy and half an episode of Greg Ford. In this episode we talk about Rhythm Heaven, Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars, Noby Noby Boy, DSi Ware, ART STYLE Aquia, PuzzleQuest Galactrix, Flock and probably a couple others in there too. Plus a long, tangent-filled first segment where we talk about a lot of other things. The next generation, digital downloads, etc.

Plus, in an upcoming episode we're doing Ys Book I & II for our Game Club. You can find all the information here.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
CJ's Twitter
Halifax Hockey Fight
The Room Trailer
Lion Man Part 1
Gymkata: Best Fight Scene Ever
Mr. Show Lie Detector Sketch

This week: CJ, Phil, two Gregs talk about gaming, games, and game-related things. Oh, and this week only (hopefully): cats! Games we talk about include Rhythm Heaven, Killzone 2, Super Punch-Out!!, Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars, Suikoden Tierkreis, Pokémon Platinum and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time.

Plus, in an upcoming episode we're doing Ys Book I & II for our Game Club. You can find all the information here.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
CJ's Twitter
X360 Community Devs Talk Successes, Failures, What They Want

It's a live episode straight from San Francisco with regulars CJ, Phil and Greg Ford plus guest Shane Bettenhausen and another mystery guest who pops in halfway through. This week we chat about GDC, Nintendo and what we've been playing, which includes Punch-Out, Excitebots, Batman Arkham Asylum, Terminator Salvation, Henry Hatsworth, Noby Noby Boy and much more. You'll just have to listen and find out.

Plus, in an upcoming episode we're doing Ys Book I & II for our Game Club. You can find all the information here.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Pikachu bitch slap (FF to 2:45)
Ghostbusters/Pac-Man shirt

This week! Format change! We switch things up a bit and do feedback (including playing a voicemail line call--GASP!), news and the tried-and-true What'cha Been Playing segment. Games we talk about include Resident Evil 5, Killzone 2, Street Fighter IV, Gears of War 2, Metal Gear Solid Touch, Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure, Phantasy Star Portable, Final Fantasy III DS and Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
YouTube: MLB 09 The Show commercial
YouTube: Lisa Kudrow Professor Layton commercial

In this episode! Games! Games! Games! But not really much talk of Resident Evil 5 and Killzone 2 (sorry). No, instead we've got Peggle, Gradius ReBirth, Street Fighter IV, GTA IV Lost and the Damned, Kameo, Major League Baseball 2K9, Phantasy Star Portable and more!

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

It's a long episode this week, but hopefully you'll find it entertaining. Kenneth "Slim" Miller joins the lineup of CJ, Phil and Greg Sewart this week to talk about Street Fighter, arcades, Watchmen and video games. More specifically, we discuss game tapes like Street Fighter IV, Bomberman Live, House of the Dead Overkill, Peggle DS, Top Trumps: Doctor Who, Watchmen The End is Nigh, Legacy of Ys Books I & II, Mass Effect, Star Ocean 4, Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop, Phantasy Star Portable (or more specifically, the PS3's AdHoc Party app) and more! Plus we've got a Game Club segment all about Beyond Oasis.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's music:
"There Are Only 152 Pokémon" by PlayItLoud!
"Leviathan" by Falco Lombardi
".....Its OK You're Safe Now" by Falco Lombardi
"The Dine and Dash" by morgieporgie

This week! Games! It's a CJ-Phil-Greg-Greg show, and the games discussed include Street Fighter IV, Race Pro, Retro Game Challenge, NASCAR Kart Racing, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, Noby Noby Boy, Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop, Star Ocean The Last Hope and House of the Dead Overkill.

Also, our next Game Club game is Beyond Oasis (Genesis). It's available on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection on PS3/360 as well as Virtual Console on the Wii. We'll be discussing it on Episode 124, so get your comments in via this forum thread, this blog post, or by calling our voicemail line by March 6.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's music:
"Equi" by Hurrigame Boy

This week! CJ, Phil and Greg (Ford) talk about the last week's worth of games. Including Noby Noby Boy and Street Fighter IV. In fact those are the main two things we talk about in this episode. Yeah there are a couple other games mentioned like Retro Game Challenge, GTA IV: Lost and Damned, Banjo-Kazooie, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (naturally). But it's mostly Street Fighter and Noby Noby. Oh and DSi in America. But that's about it.

Also, our next Game Club game is Beyond Oasis (Genesis). It's available on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection on PS3/360 as well as Virtual Console on the Wii. We'll be discussing it on Episode 124, so get your comments in via this forum thread, this blog post, or by calling our voicemail line by March 6.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Iwata Asks: Nintendo DSi
Noby Noby Boy merch on Panic.com
Indestructible
How Street Fighter IV Could Make Other XBL (or PSN) Games Better

This week's music (from 8bitcollective.com)
"In Vega" by Fighter X
"retardation!" by zabutom
"DEMO - DANGER LIMIT" by PDF format

This week CJ, Phil and Greg Ford (Sewart's away having a baby) discuss the following game tapes: Far Cry 2, Banjo-Kazooie, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, Retro Game Challenge, Lit, Flower, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Onechanbara Bikini Samurai Squad and Loco Roco 2, among others.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Mario Kart game night thread

Game Club returns in this episode and we spend the last segment talking about Rare's original Banjo-Kazooie game for the Nintendo 64/Xbox Live Arcade. CJ and Phil and joined once again by Gregs Sewart and Ford for that plus a discussion of the game tapes that took up our free time in the last week. Those include R-Type Dimensions, Dead Space, 3 on 3 NHL Arcade, Fable II, Killzone 2 (demo), Halo Wars (demo), Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, Burnout Paradise, Far Cry 2, Donkey Kong JENGA, DJ Max Fever and Phantasy Star Portable, among others.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Our forum topic on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
MTV Multiplayer: Halo Wars feels like a Diablo RTS

This week! CJ & Phil! Plus intermittent Greg flurries! We start the podcast with two Gregs, then go down to one, then back up to two for a short while before finishing it off again with just one. Yet we still manage to somehow discuss a slew of games including Resident Evil 5 (demo), Far Cry 2, Gravity Bone, Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels, Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce, Ratchet & Clank Future Tools of Destruction, Ratchet & Clank Quest For Booty, Prince of Persia, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, The Maw, Fable II, and Perfect Dark Zero (ah-yep).

Quick spoiler warnings during this week's episode:

The Maw (between 46:20-46:56)
Fable II (between 1:30:00-1:37:10)

Next week's episode will feature a Game Club segment on Rare's Banjo-Kazooie, available on the Nintendo 64 or Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). Drop by our forum to discuss the game with us or leave a message about it on our voicemail. Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Gravity Bone
Closure

In this episode of the Player One Podcast you will hear not one, not two, but FOUR people talking about the games they played this week. Once again it's CJ, Phil and Gregs Sewart and Ford, discussing games such as: Fable II, Final Fantasy III, Half-Life/Half-Life 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Gears of War 2 and The Maw.

In addition, in this episode we announce the opening of our real website at playeronepodcast.com and the return of the Game Club -- which this time will be Banjo-Kazooie (N64). It's also available on your Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft points. Share your comments with us via our site or voicemail line by Feb. 6 and we'll read/play 'em during the segment on the game in that week's show.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week Gregs Ford and Sewart join CJ and Phil to talk about games! In this action-packed episode you'll hear us talk about Guitar Hero Aerosmith, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Street Fighter IV, Grand Theft Auto IV, Fable II, Half-Life 2, F1 2001, Rock Band 2, Burnout Paradise, Loco Roco 2 (demo), Pirate Booty (bootleg NES cart), Prince of Persia and Fusion Fall, among others.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Greg Ford's page on 1UP.com
Greg Sewart's Wordpress blog
Mudron's EGM art
Excelsior Studios
1UP.com: Street Fighter IV Live Stream
Phil's birthday gift: New Anticipation box art
Retrozone
Chris "CJ" Johnston's Twitter
Greg Sewart's Twitter
Phil Theobald's page on 1UP.com
YouTube: Dolemite trailer
YouTube: The Dark Knight 8-bit

No game talk this week. Instead, we dedicate the whole episode to talking about EGM's closure and the 1UP layoffs in the wake of Hearst/UGO's purchase of 1UP.com. In addition to regular hosts Chris "CJ" Johnston (ex-EGM News Editor) and Phil Theobald (ex-EGM editor and former GameNow Reviews Editor), we welcome a couple more ex-Ziff guests to the program: Kevin Gifford (ex-1UP editor and gaming magazine expert/Magweasel), Greg Sewart (ex-EGM Previews and Reviews Editor), Greg Ford (EGM Managing Editor), and Andrew "Skip" Pfister (ex-EGMer, GMRer and 1UP.com Reviews Editor/Podcast Producer).

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Andrew "Skip" Pfister on Twitter
Andrew "Skip" Pfister's page on 1UP.com
Greg Ford's page on 1UP.com
RebelFM
Eat-Sleep-Game.com (RebelFM folks)
Talking Orange (ex-1UP Show folks)
Magweasel
GSW: Opinion: Print Game Media - [Still] Not Dead, [Maybe] Getting Better
GSW: Game Mag Weaseling
Greg Sewart's Wordpress blog
Chris "CJ" Johnston's Twitter
Phil Theobald's page on 1UP.com
Joystiq: Future Publishing experiences increase in gaming mag sales
PaidContent.org - Ziff Davis Gets Out Of The Game
NeoGAF: Listing of 1UP/EGM folks' blogs and Twitters

It's just CJ and Phil this week in a low-key episode to start off the new year. In it we talk games, our new years', iPhone games, and lots of other stuff. Not so much talk about new games since nothing new's come out. But we discuss a little Pac-Man CE, Katamari iPhone, Rolando, Picross DS, Game & Watch Collection and Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, among some others.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

It's a special show this week (in STEREO) live from a Giordano's restaurant in the Chicago suburbs. Special guests abound including Phil's fiancée Dana, Phil's Mom, and Chris Baker. We talk about what we've been playing, our games of the year, holiday memories and oh so much more. Check it out.

Don't forget to donate to the Child's Play charity through Cheap Ass Gamer for a chance to win a prize in their raffle.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
C-Bake's blog: How I Got My Sega Genesis: Remembering Christmas 1992

Don't forget to donate to the Child's Play charity through Cheap Ass Gamer for a chance to win a prize in their raffle.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Chris Baker's 1UP blog
AllGame.com
Marvel

This week special guest Anthony Vaughn joins Phil and CJ to talk games, CompuServe, sushi and Back to the Future. Games discussed this week include Mirror's Edge, Left 4 Dead, Fable II, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels, Prince of Persia, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Namco Museum Virtual Arcade, Rock Band 2, Meteos Wars, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, LEGO Batman, 1942 Join Strike and Amateur Surgeon.

Don't forget to donate to the Child's Play charity through Cheap Ass Gamer for a chance to win a prize in their raffle.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week! Lots and lots of games, plus some talk about gaming magazines and ferrets with special guest Kevin Gifford. Games we discuss in this episode include Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1, Neutopia, Animal Crossing City Folk, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection (PSP), Soul Bubbles (DS), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Chrono Trigger, Prince of Persia, Left 4 Dead, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Rock Band 2.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Magweasel
GameSetWatch's Game Mag Weaseling
N-Revolution Beach Ball
Cheap Ass Gamer Child's Play 2008 Charity Raffle

We actually recorded this show last week, mere days after the recording of Episode 109. So you'll have to excuse the fact we really don't talk about anything new and the show quickly devolves into discussion of DVDs and The Real Ghostbusters. But we do get some talk in about Animal Crossing City Folk, Sonic Unleashed and Rock Band 2. Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We'll be back with a "real" show next week!

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week! Games! And more games! We welcome guest Kirbutashi to talk about the last week's worth of game-playing. What titles do we talk about, you ask? Mirror's Edge, Quantum of Solace, Left 4 Dead, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Sam & Max Season One. Plus, the NXE and Ziff-Davis closes another magazine.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Mega Man Perler Beads

It's that time of year again. Where there are too many great games and not enough time to play them. That means, of course, that with each new release we're just adding to the backlog. But that won't keep us from playing a level or two and discussing them. This week! We're joined by Sega producer Ethan Einhorn to talk about the games we've been playing in the last seven days. That includes: Fallout 3, Little Big Planet, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Mega Man III, Gears of War 2, Valkyria Chronicles, Resistance 2, Left 4 Dead, Pinball FX, Banjo-Kazooie XBLA, Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts and...we probably mentioned a couple other games in there too but you'll just have to listen and find out.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Sega
Wii "most expensive board game on earth" (GamesIndustry.biz interview)

This week: We discuss game tapes new and old with special guest Cameron Davis (Lead Designer at Krome Studios). Specifically, Burnout Paradise, Picross DS, Castlevania Order of Ecclesia, Alien Crush Returns, Sam & Max Season 1 (Wii), Dragon Ball Origins, Fallout 3, Little Big Planet, Resistance 2 and Rotohex. Plus, various gabbing about the Commodore 64, Mega Drive, game development, growing up gaming in Australia, and more.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Krome Studios
Young Einstein movie trailer
Jacko Energizer commercial

This week: mik from The Fanboys Lunchcast joins CJ and Phil to talk about interactive electronic entertainment, and discuss the game tapes we are all currently imbibing. Those include Dead Space, Motorstorm Pacific Rift, Fallout 3, Little Big Planet, Ninjatown, Guitar Hero World Tour, Rock Band 2, Singstar Vol. 2, Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts (demo), Mirror's Edge (demo), Valkyria Chronicles (demo), Resistance 2 (beta) and Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
The Fanboys Lunchcast
Francois Bertrand (Fight for Life)

Due to technical difficulties (explained at the end of this week's podcast, if you're interested), we're publishing this episode a wee bit late. But we talk about a lot of games. Among them--Dragon Quest IV, Speed Racer, Portal: Still Alive, Snoopy DS, Transformers Animated, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, Dead Space, Fable II, Guitar Hero World Tour and Little Big Planet. Yes there's some spoiler talk about Dead Space. No CJ didn't like Fable II much. And we spend the last 20 minutes of the podcast not talking about games at all. But there you have it. Episode 105, people!

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week: It's our two-year anniversary extravaganza. We've got guests! We talk games! Which games, you ask? How about Dead Space, Buzz Quiz TV, Mega Man 9, SOCOM Confrontation, NHL 09, Lego Batman, Macross Ace Frontier, Kirby Super Star Ultra, My Japanese Coach, Mother 3 and Little Big Planet. Also, don't forget to change your gamerpic to something Nacho Libre on October 20 (that's today as this episode comes out, so act fast).

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week: We welcome special guest Wombat (of the CAGcast) to the show to 'shoot the bull' and talk games. Amongst them are Mega Man 9, Orbient, Lego Batman, PURE, Valhalla Knights 2, Every Extend Extra, Little Big Planet, Rock Band 2, The Club, and Beat n' Groovy. Plus we discuss some of the bigger stories out of the Tokyo Game Show, Sega CD, Night Trap, Jake Lloyd, Action Max...and more. Also, don't forget to change your Xbox 360 gamerpic to you-know-what on October 20. *wink wink nudge nudge*

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
CAGcast
Cheap Ass Gamer
UGO Games Blog
bit Generations
Art Style: Orbient
Wikipedia: Action Max
Youtube: Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future
Youtube: Altered Beast in 5:53

This week: We welcome special guest Dan "Shoe" Hsu to the podcast. This extra-long episode covers a lot of ground -- the EGM of old (and new), the state of print versus web, Nintendo's announcements from last week (except Club Nintendo...how'd we forget to talk about that?), the games we played and another installment of the review game. Games discussed in this episode include Mercenaries 2, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Warriors Orochi 2, Mega Man 9, Wipeout HD, Rock Band 2, and Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Sore Thumbs Blog
Nintendo DSi
Gamevideos.com: Punch Out Wii

This week on the Player One Podcast we welcome 1UP.com's Jeremy Parish and talk about the virtual worlds we've been immersed in lately. That includes Mega Man 9, Little Big Planet (beta), WipEout HD, Kirby Super Star Ultra, Away Shuffle Dungeon, Chrono Trigger DS, Wario Land: Shake It, Duke Nukem 3D, Samba de Amigo, LEGO Batman and (naturally) Rock Band 2.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
1UP.com: Retronauts
Jeremy Parish's 1UP blog
Wired Game Life: Nikkei: New Nintendo DS Model Adds Camera, Music Playback
1UP.com blog: Mega Man 9: totally badical

It's our 100th episode! Which is not that much different than the other 99! Except, of course, that we have a special guest along for the ride -- EGM alum Crispin Boyer. On this week's show we talk blogs picking up fake stories from message boards, Mega Man 9, Peter Moore dissing Rare, Tron, Rock Band 2, Force Unleashed and more. Plus, we play guess the game based on the review text of some of Crispin's past reviews.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Sore Thumbs Blog
Crispin Boyer's 1UP blog
Kotaku reports fake story as real
CAG: Heard Any Good Rumors Lately?
The Guardian's Peter Moore interviews

Who would've thought two years ago that when we started this podcast thing that we'd still be going 100 episodes later. Yet here we are, and thanks to listener probune and some of the fine people on our forum (thanks to Mudron for the sweet art!) we have a clip show for you this week featuring some of the finest moments of those past episodes. Whether you're new to the podcast or a longtime listener, you might get some larfs out of this 90-or-so-minute stroll down memory lane.

And yes, a regular episode is still coming today in addition to this. Stay tuned.

This week! CJ and Phil tackle Rock Band 2, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, Speed Racer DS, Cho Aniki, Y's Book I&II and Final Soldier. Plus -- a segment that we recorded at PAX, the EGM review game, where we guess the score we gave a game in the past based on portions of our review text. If you're playing along at home, the issues being used are September 2003 (#170) and June 2000 (#131).

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Hardcore Gaming 101: Cho Aniki
Broken Pixels: Cho Aniki
Wikipedia: Cho Aniki

This week on the show we talk about the very first Mega Man for the NES. Also: Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction / Quest for Booty, Castle Crashers, Shred Nebula, Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball, PURE, Too Human, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, Rock Band and Tales of Vesperia. Plus one of the hosts says goodbye.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
LevityNYC's Mega Man video
Phil's Mega Man response video

Direct from the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, Washington--a super-sized episode of the Player One Podcast. This week: Thoughts and/or Impressions of games at PAX including Resistance 2, Wipeout HD, Rhythm Heaven, Guitar Hero World Tour, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Ninjatown, Dragon Ball Origins, Wii Music, Tales of Vesperia, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Rock Band 2, Little Big Planet, Motorstorm Pacific Rift and Need for Speed Undercover.

Plus, a number of segments featuring special guests Shawn Smith (of Shawnimals/Ninjatown), Patrick Klepek (of MTV Multiplayer), Bryan Intihar (of Insomniac Games) and Shane Bettenhausen (of 1UP/EGM). Many thanks to everyone who agreed to spend a little time recording with us.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Penny Arcade Expo
Ninjatown
MTV Multiplayer
Insomniac Games
1UP
Joystiq: Darth Vader and Stormtroopers Rock to Alanis
PAX in a buttshell

The regular episode is coming tomorrow, but for now here's a quick tease on some of the things we saw on the third day of Penny Arcade Expo and some of the interviews/audio you'll be hearing when Episode 97 does hit tomorrow night (once CJ is back home and can upload the show without dealing with slow hotel internet). Episode 97 contents subject to change.

We did a couple short PodFasts from the show, you can check those out here and here.

This week, we discuss Too Human, The Force Unleashed (demo), Galaga Legions, Geometry Wars 2, Ratchet & Clank Quest for Booty and Final Fantasy III DS. Plus: death to quick time events, Phil's new computer and E3 strip clubs.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

Player One Podcast Facebook group
Penny Arcade Expo

This week on the Player One Podcast -- Bionic Commando Rearmed, Bangai-O Spirits, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: Episode 1, Star Parodier, Geometry Wars 2, SimCity Creator, Harry Potter, Braid and Super Monkey Ball iPhone. Plus, RoboDyack (thanks to listener Fahrenhype).

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Bangai-O Spirits levels
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
Player One Podcast Facebook group
Penny Arcade Expo

In this episode we talk about a little video game called Alex Kidd in Miracle World, one of the flagship titles for the 8-bit Sega Master System back in the day. But before that, we talk about what we've been playing this week, including Burnout Paradise (Cagney update), Geometry Wars Evolved 2, Soul Calibur IV, Eternal Sonata, Braid, Final Fantasy II, DiRT and Go Go Break Steady

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Community Video (Monkey Boy in Tragedy World)
Last Room of Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Night Trap
Eyeshield 21 Fifth opening
Urotsukidoji English dub (includes the line mentioned on the show)
Heat Vision and Jack
Barbara Walters interviews the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Star Wars song

It's an episode full of tangents. Somewhere in between we talk about Soul Calibur IV, Geometry Wars Evolved 2, Go! Go! Break Steady, 1942: Joint Strike, NASCAR 09, Final Fantasy IV DS, Final Fantasy II, Hot Shots Golf Open Tee 2, Disgaea Afternoon of Darkness, PixelJunk Eden and PixelJunk Monsters.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week we talk about E3; going down the press conferences of the big three and discussing their announcements and lineups. Also: the Too Human demo, Chocobo's Dungeon and Guitar Hero Aerosmith.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Jeremy Parish's 1UP Blog
Hyadain - Super Mario World Western Show (subtitled)

In this episode of the Player One Podcast we talk about Super Mario Bros. 2 (the USA version), our 13th Game Club selection. But before that, we discuss some of the other games we played this week, including Song Summoner, Soul Calibur (XBLA), Speed Racer (Wii), Super Monkey Ball (iPhone), Ms. Pac-Man (iPhone), Bomberman (iPhone), Ticket to Ride, Chocobo's Dungeon (Wii), Final Fantasy II (PSP), Guitar Hero On Tour and Beijing Olympics 2008.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Guitar Hero On Tour: How to Rock Out
Super Mario Bros. 2 commercial
SMB2 ending
SMB2 Wart fight and ending (SNES version)
Doki Doki Panic

It's a quickie this week. We talk about the PlayStation 3's system update 2.40, Rock Band 2, EGM adding PC gaming coverage, Burnout Paradise, Ticket to Ride, Wall-E and Soul Calibur. The Game Club game for next week's episode is Super Mario Bros. 2: Mario Madness.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Monsters of Megaphone

In the first half of this episode, we talk (mostly) new games. Mega Man 9, Metal Gear Solid 4 (spoiler talk begins at approximately 12:00 and end at 29:30), Snatcher, Battlefield Bad Company, Air Zonk, Burnout Paradise, Ticket to Ride, Mega Man Star Force II, the Nintendo World Championship 1990 reproduction cartridge and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

In the second half, we switch gears and talk about Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1/XBLA/PSN/PSP). We did this section of the episode live on TalkShoe to experiment with a little more listener participation. Depending on how well it's received we may do future episodes like this too -- share your thoughts here.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Retro Zone NWC 1990 Reproduction cartridge product page

This week: Space Invaders Extreme (PSP and DS), Arkanoid DS and Metal Gear Solid 4. (Yep, that's it.) Starting at approximately 41 minutes in, this episode features MGS4 spoilers through the beginning of Act 4. Once again, we have postponed the Game Club segment on Symphony of the Night until next week.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week: Metal Gear Solid 4 (don't worry, we don't talk about anything past 1/2 of the way through Act 1), NASCAR '09, GRID, Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, LEGO Indiana Jones, Dig Dug, Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa, My Pokemon Ranch. We've also postponed our Game Club segment on Castlevania Symphony of the Night to NEXT week, so you've got a little more time to play and comment either on our forums or by calling our voicemail line.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

No Greg this week, so it's just CJ and Phil for a little over an hour. This week's games: Aces of the Galaxy, Roo Goo, Singstar, LEGO Indiana Jones, Wii Fit. Plus we talk iPhone and cell phone gaming, Itagaki's departure from Tecmo, Crispin's departure from EGM, Sony's Qore and Nintendo DS commercials.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

In this week's game club we talk about Metal Gear Solid (PS1). But before that, we discuss Wii Fit, Singstar, Mr. Driller Online, Penny Arcade Adventures, Dr. Mario Online RX and LEGO Indiana Jones.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

A slightly late episode due to the Memorial Day holiday in the US and a few aggravating technical difficulties. This week! We talk about games. Stuff like Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One, Haze, Wii Fit, NASCAR '09, Rock Band, Assault Heroes 2, Mercury Meltdown Revolution and more. Stay tuned after the show for a very...strange...voicemail message.

Next week's Game Club game: Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation 1).

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week: Kid Icarus (Game Club #10). Plus we talk about Boom Blox, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles My Life as a King, GTA IV, Haze, Mario Kart, Rock Band, Defend Your Castle, Lost Winds, Castle of Shikigami III and the Sega/Konami press events.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week: It's our longest episode ever by seven seconds, and with good reason -- special guest Trickman Terry Minnich joins the 'cast to talk about what he's been playing and share some old-school EGM memories. Some of the games we talk about this week: R-Type Command, GTA IV, Mario Kart Wii, Taiko no Tatsujin 2 DS, Iron Man, Battle of the Bands, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time, SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1, Army of Two, Namco Museum DS and the Nintendo Channel.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Video Game Evolution
The Trickman Times

For the ninth installment in our Game Club series we set our electromechanical limbs on one of the NES era's greatest action games: Capcom's Bionic Commando.  Join us in the second (well, third really) segment where we talk all about it. Also: GTA IV, Mario Kart, and a very special audio unboxing. It's powerful enough to make your head explode!

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

When every other podcast is likely talking about Grand Theft Auto IV, we talk about...everything but. Games we talk about this week include Mario Kart Wii, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, GT5 Prologue, Sega Superstars Tennis, Lost Cities, Army of Two, NBA Ballers: Chosen One, Rock Band, FlatOut Ultimate Carnage and Sega Ages: Monster World Complete Collection.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already! Next week's Game Club: Bionic Commando (NES).

This week's link:
Hardcore Gaming 101: Wonder Boy

Games discussed this week include: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Bully, Battlezone, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Fantasy Zone, Dream Pinball 3D, Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends and (of course, 'cuz when do we not?) Rock Band.

**Special thanks to The Fanboys for the intro to this week's show.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

Last week, two bombshells came out of Ziff-Davis. First, the closing of the Games For Windows magazine--leaving EGM as the company's sole gaming magazine; and Dan Hsu's departure as Editorial Director. Not a good week for print, surely. We discuss that plus talk Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Ikaruga, Rock Band, Sam & Max, Mr. Driller Online, Donkey Kong Country 2 and Army of Two.

Next week we will be discussing Legend of the Mystical Ninja for the Super Nintendo. Check out the Game Club area of our messageboard for more info on that.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

We hope this episode makes up for last week's little April Fools shenanigans. Almost two hours of show this week with an XL What'cha Been Playing and a discussion on Donkey Kong Country (our seventh Game Club title). Games we also get around to talking about in this episode include Rock Band, Blue Dragon, Crisis Core, Hot Shots Golf Out of Bounds, Mr. Driller Online, Opoona, Smash Bros. Brawl and Heavenly Guardian, amongst others.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

Oops, wormhole. April fools.

This week -- Soleil Moon Frye's breasts! Gate of Thunder! And a whole bunch of other things, I just wanted to start the description off in a titillating fashion. Other games we discuss: Ratchet & Clank Size Matters PS2, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Impossible Mission, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection, Magical DoReMi, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates and NASCAR 08.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Impossible Mission
Magical DoReMi Fantasy
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection
Soleil Moon Frye on Fun House
Gate of Thunder
The Johnny Turbo Story

This week we welcome back Ethan Einhorn, Associate Producer at Sega to talk about how he got into the industry, working at EGM/GameNow and his transition into PR and game production. Also -- we spend the first part of the show discussing just one of the games we played this past week, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week we're joined by another former co-worker of the crew, Ethan Einhorn--who's currently a producer at Sega and was in the news last week after the presentation of Super Monkey Ball for iPhone at Apple's iPhone SDK press conference. He joins us to talk a little Condemned 2 and Devil May Cry 4 in our What'cha Been Playing segment, which also includes discussion of Bully, Patapon, Burnout Paradise, Viva Pinata Party Animals, N+, FlatOut: Head On and Audiosurf.

And in our second segment, we tackle our fifth Game Club game, Kirby's Adventure for the NES--one of the best NES games, and also one of Nintendo's last 8-bit releases.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Sega
iPhone - Super Monkey Ball
Kirby's Adventure commercial
Kirby's Adventure gameplay
Kirby Right Back at Ya intro

With Greg Sewart away this week, we welcome EGM's Managing Editor Greg Ford to the program to chat about games. Those we discuss this week include N+, Rock Band, God of War: Chains of Olympus, Burnout Paradise, Triggerheart Exelica, Lost Odyssey, Patapon and Chessmaster Live, among others. We also spend some time talking with Greg about how he got into the industry, his extremely powerful handshake, the new 1UP/EGM review scale and more.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
EGM
EGM Live
Greg Ford's 1UP blog
YouTube: Mappy Kids
YouTube: NiGHTS PS2 import trailer
Bonus Audio - POP Ep00 test

You hear a lot of talk these days about games with open worlds, co-op gameplay, where exploration is key. Those three very buzz-worthy concepts of today also came into play in our fourth Game Club game, ToeJam & Earl for the Sega Genesis. One of the era's few co-op games, its emphasis was not on combat unlike so many of the other games it shared the shelf with. It was about avoiding enemies, managing your items, and (if you had a buddy to play with) teamwork. In the second segment we talk all about TJ&E and our experiences with it.

But of course we also discuss the games we played this week, which include N+, Dragon Quest Swords, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, The Club, Rock Band, Dynasty Warriors 6 and Lost Odyssey.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's link:
Gametrailers - Space Invaders Extreme

It's a different kind of podcast this week. Greg is absent, CJ and Phil are LIVE from San Francisco. It's the first time we've recorded an episode where any of us were in the same room. We talk about the Game Developers Conference and seeing it from two angles (press and industry), as well as some of the bigger news of the week (NPD numbers, oh boy!).

But we spend most of the show talking about the games we've been playing over the past week. And that includes Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, PixelJunk Monsters, Team Fortress 2, Poker Smash, Discs of TRON, LEGO Star Wars TCS, Endless Ocean and Warriors Orochi.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

Dolphins may be warm-blooded, but Sega's Genesis hit Ecco the Dolphin...cold-blooded. One of the company's most experimental and renowned releases from the 16-bit era is P1P Game Club game #3, so we spend the second half of the show discussing it. A breakthrough game at the time, its age exposes the cracks of its control and gameplay mechanics.

But if fish talk isn't your speed we spend the first half of the show shootin' the bull with Patrick Klepek of MTV Multiplayer and talk about the games we've been playin' over the week -- Rock Band, Kingdom Hearts II, Kim Possible: What's the Switch, Chessmaster Live, Poker Smash, Twisted Metal Head-On, Puzzle Quest and Burnout Paradise.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
MTV Multiplayer
Void Star Creations
YouTube: Poker Smash
YouTube: Zanthue is Coming!
YouTube: Ecco the Dolphin
YouTube: Ecco the Dolphin: Enter the Machine

Step back in time nearly 15 years to a time when, if you believed the hype, the number of bits your system had mattered. And for Atari, it was the only card they had to play against industry bigwigs Sega, Sony and Nintendo. Certainly the software wasn't doing the talking... The worst "major" video game console ever made? We think so.

Also this week: Rez HD, PixelJunk Monsters, Burnout Paradise (PS3), One Piece Unlimited Adventure and Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
YouTube: Atari Jaguar 1994 Promotional Tape (Part 1/5)
YouTube: Tempest 2000 footage
YouTube: Cybermorph footage
Atari Jaguar...dental camera? (PDF)

This week we spend most of our time talking about last week's release of Burnout Paradise. Plus Rock Band, Samurai Warriors Katana, Sonic & Mario at the Olympics, DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and more. And of course, Game Club #2: Ninja Gaiden for NES.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
YouTube: The ending of Ninja Gaiden NES
YouTube: Ninja Gaiden Speedrun, Part 1

Burnout Paradise hits the 360 and PS3 on Tuesday, so we spend some time talking about the series' history and its journey from being an Acclaim-published title that no one paid attention to to one of the biggest game franchises around.

Also this week, we talk about some of the games we've been playing, including Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Rock Band, Boogie Bunnies, Metal Slug 3, Omega Five, Bonk 2 and Just Cause. Next week's game club game is Ninja Gaiden (NES). If you'd like to participate in the fun, play it, discuss it on our forum, call our voicemail and tell us your memories/thoughts on the regular 8-bit NES version.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

In a clever scheme to tie the episode number into the content of the show, this week we spend some time talking about the Nintendo 64. From Project Reality to the limitations of the cartridge format to the system as a turning point for Nintendo's position in the industry, we talk about it all. Also, the first installment of a new segment where we pick a retro game and break it apart. We start with Star Tropics, and if you're a fan...you might not like what you hear.

We also discuss the games we played this week, which includes Tron, NFL Tour and Omega Five.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week, we take a few moments to ponder the year ahead with some predictions and issues that the big three need to address. But not before we get Dan's Top 5 of '07, talk Dormerbot for a few, and catch up on the games everyone's been playing this week. Oh, and a CJ vs GJ gamerscore update, of course.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week -- a look-back on the year that was 2007. A little rundown of the big headlines, a little discussion of our personal Top Fives for the year, and your calls on gaming highs and lows of the year. Oh, there's also a What'cha Been Playing segment in there, and the first appearance of a new fourth host.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's link:
Phil's Flickr account (Portal cake pics)

This week, we talk Mega Man (whose 20th birthday was last week). A little about the highs, the lows, the undiscovered games in the MM canon. We spend a little time reminiscing about the blue bomber and his many adventures against nefarious robot oppressors. But before that we talk about the games we've been playin' this week, including: NiGHTS, Sonic the Hedgehog (360/iPod)Just Cause, Unreal Tournament III, Everyday Shooter, PSP/PS3 Remote Play, Dirt, Peggle (iPod) and Mega Man ZX Advent.

Next week being our year-end spectacular, we'd like to hear from you guys on what your gaming high/low was for the year. Give our voicemail a call at 713-893-8069 (or Skype us at playeronepodcast) before Friday, December 28 and tell us all about it. We'll play those on next week's 'cast.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week Greg, Phil and Dan pick up CJ's slack. The boys suffer some early holiday blues as they realize most of the big game releases for '07 have come and gone. That doesn't shorten the Whatcha Been Playin' segment, however. Thrill to discussions about Super Mario Galaxy, The Orange Box, Zack & Wiki, Burnout Paradise, and the unlicensed version of Tengen's Gauntlet for the NES.

After all that, Phil tells everyone how he really feels about NPD discussions while Dan uses a lot of flowery prose and $10 words to explain away the Wii's holiday woes.

hanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week, we dust off our FZ-1s and take 'em for a cruise down memory lane. That's right, we're talkin' the 3DO REAL Interactive Multiplayer. Way of the Warrior, Gex, Samurai Shodown, Twisted, Zhadnost, Total Eclipse, Crash N' Burn and more. Trade in your entire game collection, plunk down your $700 and join the club.

Other games we talk about this week -- Rock Band, Halo 3, Catan, Avatar, Scene It, Uncharted, Xbox 360 Dashboard Update, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z, Godzilla, Cooking Mama 2 and more.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week, we talk a little bit about the implications of Gamespot supposedly firing Jeff Gerstmann over his review of Kane & Lynch. Also: we talk about some of the games we've been spending time with in the last week. Rock Band, Avatar: The Burning Earth, Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe, Super Mario Galaxy, Shrek n' Roll, MLB Power Pros, Impossible Mission, Halo 3, Front Mission DS and Victorious Boxers Revolution.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Gamespot: Kane & Lynch review
YouTube: Kane & Lynch video review
Valleywag: Gamespot editor (?) on fired reviewer
GameSetWatch: Numerals, Game Reviews, and the Game Media
Joystiq: GameSpot issues short comment on Gerstmann firing

You're not hearing things, the audio quality on three of the four hosts in the first 40 minutes of this week's podcast is messed up. But there is a reason for it, which you'll soon find out about. Nevertheless, we soldiered on and ended up with an hour-fifteen's worth of talk on the big games of the last few weeks. That includes discussion of Mass Effect, Rock Band, Assassin's Creed, Contra 4, Trauma Center: New Blood, Uncharted, Super Mario Galaxy (with spoiler warning), Call of Duty 4, Viva Pinata Party Animals and Beautiful Katamari.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
YouTube: 1000 achievement points in two minutes

This week we talk Xbox Live. The beginning, the middle, and its glorious refinement into the service we now have on the Xbox 360. From XSN Sports to Xbox Originals, we discuss various points in Live's history and go over our favorite/least-liked Xbox Live Arcade games.

Not only that, but we mull over the games we played this week, including Super Mario Galaxy, Call of Duty 4, Blue Dragon, BioShock, The Simpsons Game DS, Kane & Lynch, Mario & Sonic at the Olympics, Halo 3 and Cars: Mater-National.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

In honor of this week's release of Mario Galaxy, we spend the second segment of this episode talking about Mario games. From Super Mario Bros. on the NES to his latest adventure in space, Mario has been a mainstay in gaming since the '80s--and one of the few video game mascots to star in million-selling games across multiple console generations.

But we begin the show as we always do, talking about the games we've been playing over the last week. In this case the discussion includes Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga, Switchball, Word Puzzle, Phase, Airball, Halo 3, Puzzle Quest, Blue Dragon, Guitar Hero III, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, Need For Speed Pro Street, and the Uncharted demo.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Child's Play Charity
Airball
YouTube: Mario series commercial
YouTube: Super Mario 2 ending
YouTube: Super Mario 3 ending
YouTube: Super Mario Bros Super Show intro

Two segments this week. The first is a rather long (nearly an hour) discussion on the games we played this week. That includes such games as Guitar Hero III, Viva Pinata Party Animals, The Simpsons Game, Ratchet & Clank Future, Portal, Bleach (Wii and DS), Zack & Wiki, Rock Band, Mega Man ZX Advent, Mutant Storm Empire and Namco Museum Remix. We also managed to squeeze in talk about a Kotaku editorial called "Video Game Reviews Are Broken, Please Fix"...that didn't offer any possible fixes but reveled in pointing out the broken points. Way to be.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Kotaku: Reviews Are Broken, Please Fix
Kotaku: Reviewer Response To...

This week we turn our eyes towards Nintendo's original, black and white (or is that green and...lighter green) Game Boy. The portable that was too large for a pocket may not have had the graphical oomph of its competition, but the Game Boy sure wedged its way into our hearts. And with the rumor last week that Nintendo may soon begin offering downloadable GB games for play on the DS via flash cartridge, it seemed the right time to talk about our fave handheld and its pea-soup screen.

Also: The games we've been playing this week include The Simpsons Game, Ratchet & Clank Future, Exit, Beautiful Katamari, Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles, Mega Man ZX Advent, Battlestar Galactica, Prism, Puzzle Quest, and the Guitar Hero III and Scene It demos.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

It's a special One-Year Anniversary episode of the Player One Podcast this week. We've got all the usual plus an extended chat about Capcom's slate of retro remakes, a rundown of the news that caught our eyes last week, and lots and lot of other stuff. Plus, all the greetings and salutations we could stuff into a single episode. Some of the games we discuss in the What'cha Been Playin' this week--Beautiful Katamari, Flash Focus, Thrillville, E4, Puzzle Quest and more.

Thanks for listening to the past year of shows! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

There's a fine line between a good game and complete crap. Last week saw the release of Yaris on Xbox Live Arcade. Our stance on it...pretty clear. Game of the YEAR. OK, not really. It's not even terribly effective as an advergame. Take a listen to this episode and you'll hear our opinions of Yaris, The Orange Box, Puzzle Quest, Hot PXL, Rock Band, MLB Power Pros, Ratchet & Clank Future (demo), Warriors Orochi, Phantom Hourglass and Halo 3. Plus we discuss a few of the news stories that caught our eyes over the last week.

Next week is our One-Year Anniversary Extravaganza. We'll be playing lots of voicemails, most likely. So call, email us an MP3 message, leave us an Odeo message via our blogpage. Whatever you'd like. The voicemail number is 713-893-8069, our email addy is playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Oh, and don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Yaris
Castaway Entertainment
GameLife: Interview with Perrin Kaplan
GamePro gets rid of pseudonyms

Here it is, our 50th episode. Amazed that we've lasted this long on such a regular basis? So are we. This week we've got a super-sized Game Tape Impressions segment where we talk about such new releases as The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, Project Gotham Racing 4, Halo 3 and MLB Power Pros. We also quickly tackle a couple of news headlines (including two rumors that turned true last week) and take a few calls from listeners.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week is the episode of flubbed/bombed segues, mispronunciations and Game Fuel buildup. Oh, and Halo 3. Yes, we talk about that a little bit too. No story spoilers here, so fear not (we didn't play much single player or co-op this week). And if Halo 3's not your thing, worry not -- we've thrown that segment at the end of the podcast. You're welcome.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
CJ's Bungie.net File Share
Halo 3
Skate
Persona 3
Soltrio Solitaire
Mario Strikers Charged
Metroid Prime 3
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
Blue Dragon
Jam Sessions
Sonic Rush Adventure
BioShock
MTV Multiplayer: "Rock Band" Price, Date
Wii Fanboy: Link's Crossbow Screening
Joystiq: New Xbox 360 bundle, Core this holiday
Bizarre Creations: Hello Activision!
Gamerscore blog: MGS Committed to Project Gotham Racing
Mercury News: Nintendo exec: 'We're working very hard' on Wii supply
Gametrailers: T2/Sega Menacer commercial

Don't worry, there are no Halo 3 spoilers in this episode (in case you were wondering). Actually there's barely any Halo talk in this episode at all. In the run-up to Tuesday's mega-launch of the most anticipated game of the year, we spend this episode talking about other, less Master Chief-y games, go over some Tokyo Game Show news, and Dan gives one listener a verbal thrashing...over Halo.

BTW, we're going to do another Player One Podcast Game Night this Friday, September 28. If you've been unable to find decent, non-griefing people to play with this could be your chance. Click here to go to our forums, register, and you'll see a thread about the Game Night in our Online Gaming area.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

This week's links:
Persona 3
.skate
Blue Dragon
Bomberman Live
Viva Pinata Party Animals
PixelJunk Racers
BioShock
Joystiq: Grade-grubbing Gamestop manager gets suspended
Future US doing Nintendo Power magazine
Smash Bros. Brawl has online play
Bloomberg: Sega Sammy Says Sonic and Mario Game Sales May Reach 4 Million
GamesIndustry.biz: Thompson: Home delay is "disappointing"
Gametrailers: Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer
Joystiq: Hands-on with NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams

This week we welcome ex-Electronic Gaming Monthly editor and Shawnimals creator Shawn Smith to the program for 90 minutes of chatting about games, ye olden days of EGM, and what it's like to leave a video game magazine, start a line of designer plush and then turn that work into a video game—Southpeak Interactive's recently announced Ninjatown for Nintendo DS.

Plus we talk about the games we've been playing in the past week and go over a few of last week's big headlines. Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums!

This week's links:
Shawnimals
Ninjatown
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron
Sudoku 2007 NES
Donkey Kong Jungle Climber
Heavenly Sword
Persona 3
Blue Dragon
PixelJunk Racers
Spider-Man Friend or Foe

Admit it. You're biased. You have likes, dislikes, loves, hates, etc. And we jump into that a bit this week as we talk about fanboy logic -- the propensity to defend something you own/like even when that position is indefensible or seemingly illogical. We go through a few of the previous system wars and even fess up to our own personal biases. Maybe you'll be able to do the same after listening. Thanks go to Declivity Man on our forum for suggesting the topic.

But that's not all, we also discuss the games we've been playing this week, including Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Blue Dragon -- two titles which have had very different reactions from the gaming community at large (that, for the most part, don't gel with our own).

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums!

This week's links:
Blue Dragon
Metroid Prime 3
Donkey Kong Jungle Climber
BioShock
Dynasty Warriors Gundam
Crazy Taxi PSP
NHL 08
Fatal Inertia

This week the boys spend the entire podcast talking about all the boffo games they've been playing over the past week. Thrill as they go toe-to-toe on whether Metroid Prime 3 is "the tits" or yet another GameCube game with gimmicky controls. Witness them talk up Blue Dragon like it's not just another average RPG. Groan as Greg calls out Folklore for being a warmed-over turd.

Plus! Be sure to take part in Player One's first game giveaway!

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums!

This week it's BioShock, BioShock, BioShock...and some Space Giraffe. And some other games. But mostly, BioShock. We suppose we should say before you listen that if you don't want to hear minor BioShock gameplay spoilers, you may want to skip from around the 28-minute mark to around the one-hour-and-20-second area. The spoilers are fairly minor, and if you've played up to Arcadia Hills (think "trees") they're nothing big.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums!

This week's links:
NASCAR 08
Heroes of Mana
Stuntman Ignition
Dead Head Fred
Space Giraffe
BioShock
Llamasoft

Madden last week, BioShock this week. The evidence is all around us -- we've started into the fall gaming season where players will part with exorbitant amounts of cash to play the games they've been waiting all year for. And we're gonna like it, damnit! In this episode, we run down the releases month by month and discuss what we'll buy, what we'll skip, and what we'll wait till it's half-off to pick up sometime next year. To wrap it up, we limit ourselves to just five games -- the ones we absolutely have to pick up this fall and list them for you. What's your list look like?

But of course we begin the show by talking about the games we played this week, including plenty of Madden and BioShock talk with a couple other things thrown in there as well. Possible spoiler warning: CJ talks about the retail version of BioShock during his segment. It's not particularly spoilery but if you want to remain completely untainted you may want to skip ahead.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums!

This week's links:
Formula One Championship Edition
Mega Man Star Force
Madden NFL 08
BioShock
Hexic 2
Ecco the Dolphin
Beautiful Katamari (demo)
Stranglehold (demo)
Picture: Using BioShock as a coaster

Are Public Relations representatives really the secret evil behind all that is wrong with videogame journalism? Or are they just another necessary evil in the giant game of game media? The boys discuss a recent article over at Gamasutra regarding this very subject, as well as wax nostalgic about some of their run-ins with over-zealous PR folks and publishing CEOs.

But first they talk about what's been gracing the disc-trays of their various consoles this past week. Games ranging from the original Tomb Raider to Picross DS to Persona 3 and more are all included. Numan Athletics even gets a mention! Finally, the boys listen to (and mock) your feedback. There were some great calls this week.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums!

This week's link:
Gamasutra: PR and the Game Media

Twenty years ago, gaming began and ended with the Nintendo Entertainment System. You either owned one or desperately wanted to. It's been nearly 20 years since that time for most of us, and we spend a good portion of this episode telling tales of the NES -- reminiscing about our first experiences with the system, our favorite games, and the highs and lows of relying solely on allowances and birthdays for new games.

That's not all though. Thanks in part to a little blow-up on 1UP.com, we also spend a little time talking about the effect price should/should not have on review scores. And we discuss the GTA IV delay, Halo 3 online co-op and the games we played this week.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums!

BONUS AUDIO: Phil's NES Collection Reading.

* Special thanks to mik @ thefanboys for the post-zinger audio.

This week's links:
Picross DS
Marathon Durandal
Spyglass Board Games
Parappa the Rapper PSP
1UP.com: How Will Sony Price Warhawk?
Sam Kennedy blog: Price Does Matter
PlayStation.blog: Warhawk Goes Gold
Cover art of Anticipation

This week the boys spend a lengthy amount of time talking about what they’ve been playing. Titles like Super Contra, Wing Commander Arena, Alien Syndrome, Overlord, Heavenly Sword, Project Sylpheed and more. And Phil has a total "Shane" moment in the process.

Then, thrill to the story of how young Dan Dormer got his first break in the videogame industry, and get a bit of advice on how you, too, could do the same.

Finally, we field some calls from our awesome listeners, and find out just how much Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 are going to suck. Oh, and just how little CJ knows about sports games.

We open this episode by talking a little bit about which outlet we thought had the better E3 show coverage (or, rather, whose coverage we looked at most). But E3 is but a distant memory for the remainder. While we chat about what games we've been playing and rap for a little while about the Jeff Bell Internet drama (full story at links in the show notes) and game developer Dave Perry's comment about the Wii's fad factor, we spend most of this episode on more of the crew's "Tales of How I Got Into the Industry."

This time it's CJ and Phil, whose stories about breaking into the industry run parallel at one point (thus why we did them at the same time, aside from it also generally being a slow news week). No Greg this week and no feedback section, though if we get enough calls on the voicemail line that'll return next time.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums! Thanks to all who participated in our Bomberman Live game night last Friday.

* BTW, "Playing like Derek" is a reference to an Easter Egg in Bomberman Live for Xbox 360.

This week's links:
Kotaku: Just Doing Our Job: AP Interrupts Our Miyamoto Interview
Picross DS
Bomberman Live
NCAA '08
Sonic the Hedgehog
Super Stardust HD
1UP.com: Microsoft's Jeff Bell Calls Out Message Board Poster
Joystiq: Jeff Bell asks message board user: "And your contribution to society is...what?"
Next-gen.biz: In Defense of Jeff Bell
CJ's blog: Three and a half months later, the dream is over
Magweasel: Phil's first issue of EGM
Magweasel: CJ's first issue of EGM

It's the happiest time of the year for game companies. A time when they take precious manpower from their development cycle and cobble together an E3 demo in the hopes that some unwashed game journalist won't pass judgement on their product based on a five-minute demonstration and a press release.

This week four of your favourite unwashed game journalists pick apart the three big press conferences as seen from the sidelines. Who did well? Who did poorly? Who the hell wrote Reggie's "Zap A Zombie" line and do they still have a job?

Along the way the boys tackle issues like the imminent death of the Guitar Hero franchise, Nintendo's apparent lack of "real" games, the Sega Vintage line of Live Arcade games, and CJ's refusal to acknowledge any of our fine forum members on the show. Thank goodness our three other hosts do it for him.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums!

We began recording this episode on Sunday with really just one thought in mind--talking about E3. And in the second segment we do that, mostly focusing on E3s passed and how the show changed during the time we (well, minus Dan) were actively involved in gaming magazine publishing. We share a few stories, a few yarns, a few fun anecdotes. The perfect thing in case any of you are heading down to the "new" E3, which takes place this week (none of us are, btw -- though two of us were invited).

Other topics briefly touched upon including Microsoft's admission of defects with the 360 and the new warranty/repair program they've got going for anyone who's experienced red rings past, present and future. Unfortunately too late for those who just up and bought new systems. And we talk about the PS3 price cut coming this week, which was confirmed in between the time we recorded this and the time the finished episode was posted. Unfortunately it's just a temporary price cut in lieu of another $599 PS3 hardware SKU coming in August. What the heck is Sony doing?

And naturally we begin the show by talking about what we played this week. Which isn't much, but there's some good stuff in here. If you like Moist Hollows, and awesome segues.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums!

This week's links
Overlord
The Darkness
Transformers
Missile Command
Final Fantasy
Super Mario Bros. 2
Miyamoto Mario Pictochat
Open Letter From Peter Moore
PlayStation.blog: New PS3, New Price Drop & More News Coming

Two members of our cast are total Harry Potter geeks. In fact, the only passion that outstrips their love of the bespectacled wizard has to do with the Transformers. So you can guess what most of this episode is about. Who has the better game -- Harry or Optimus?

Along with the two biggies, the boys tackle Carcassonne and Final Fantasy this week. Plus a look at some of the latest headlines in the gaming industry. And finally, they talk a bit about the licensed movie game genre.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums!

This week: A continuation of last week's discussion about game pricing. This time 'round we tackle the price of portable gaming, downloadable content, Xbox Live Arcade game price drops (or nonexistence of any) and more. Plus, we go over what we've been playing this week and play a couple voicemails.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums!

This week's links:
Planet Puzzle League
Pac-Man Championship Edition
Band of Bugs
Transformers
Hot Brain
Time Ace
DiRT
Tenchu Z

Whether it's Microsoft having to publicly justify the $10 price tag of Pac-Man Championship Edition and explain the reason why Shadowrun on 360 is $10 more than it is on PC, or news the Sony is "studying" PS3 price cuts...the price of gaming is a big topic of discussion these days. In the second segment we kick off a conversation about game/console pricing that will continue in next week's cast. Have $60 games changed the way you decide what to buy? Have you jumped ship to Gamefly and other rental services to continue enjoying your hobby? And we'd actually like to hear your opinions on it as well, so call that voicemail line and leave us a message--we'll be playing a few of them in part two next week.

As always we begin the 'cast by talking about what we're playing (not much, really) and finish it out by going over some of the feedback from the last few episodes.

Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums!

This week's links:
Planet Puzzle League
Prince of Persia
Puzzle Quest
Virtual Console: Punch Out
Final Fantasy IX
Pac-Man Championship Edition
YouTube: Pac-Man C.E.
Gamerscore blog: Lunchtime Conversation (Pac-Man and Pricing)
Level-Up: Disparity from Microsoft Game Studios: Priceless
PS3 price drop only a matter of time
Joystiq: May NPD: Nintendo still on top, industry sales up 49%

To celebrate the release of Tomb Raider Anniversary (or, depending on who you ask, Pac-Man Championship Edition) the boys tackle the topic of retro remakes this week. Do we like �em? Do we hate �em? Should Square Enix just give up on the Final Fantasy remakes already? You�ll have to listen to find out.

And after that, we take some listener calls (Dan likes to call them �reader� calls�he�s so cute) and discuss the current state of game magazines, the reaction to the most recent EGM redesign, and why dudes are so compelled to call us when they�re drunk.

Of course, before all that the guys talk about the games they�ve played in the last week, and somehow manage not to mention Catan or World of Warcraft�at least no more than a passing mention.

So listen already!

This week's links:
Planet Puzzle League
Youtube: Tetris Attack
Pac-Man Championship Edition
Puzzle Quest
Tomb Raider Anniversary
Shadowrun
C.R.U.S.H.

This is the episode that almost didn't happen. Or, rather, it's the episode that happened three times and we still didn't make it out alive. Either way you look at it, here it is and let's all just be glad it's over. The first two tries at recording this  over the weekend were foiled by CJ's laptop teetering on the brink of obsolescence. The third time was the charm, except that halfway through Dan's Internet went wonky and his recording software crashed, leaving us with only a rough backup track of his contributions to this episode. If you're wondering why Dan sounds like he's broadcasting from a dark cave somewhere, this is why.

But there are bright spots in this episode. It's not all bad (we swear). Thanks to Forza 2, Mad Tracks and the DIRT demo, we decided to spend the second segment talking about racing games. And despite Dan being disconnected during it and Phil's near complete lack of interest in the genre, we think it turned out OK. You be the judge.

Thanks for listening and for hanging in there during our technical difficulties! Leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums!

This week's links:
Forza 2
Shadowrun
Ouendan 2
Planet Puzzle League
Catan
DIRT demo
Mad Tracks
Youtube: Speed Devils Online

It's Memorial Day weekend in the USA, generally thought of as the "official" start of the summer movie season (though more and more films are opening well beforehand every year). This weekend it's Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End. But 30 years ago it was Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. To commemorate the occasion, we spend the second half of this episode talking about Star Wars as the series has appeared in video games. From the original 1980s arcade game to Masters of Teras Kasi and KOTOR, join us for a walk down memory lane.

Thanks for listening! Leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums! Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.

This week's links:
Halo 3 Beta
Catan
Aegis Wing
World of Warcraft
Guitar Hero II
Wii Sports
Guitar Hero III songlist preview
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Xevious
Ouendan 2
Taito Legends 2 / Power Up
Soltrio Solitaire
Famicom Star Wars
Masters of Teras Kasi

Last week the rumor hit the Internet that Nintendo was planning to shutter their Nintendo Power magazine. Sad news for those of us in the "Nintendo generation" that grew up reading it religiously. So we invited Kevin Gifford of magweasel.com and GameSetWatch's weekly Game Mag Weaseling column to talk about it. We not only discuss the rumored shutdown of Nintendo Power but also about the current state of video game magazines in the US and UK and the changing nature of print publishing.

Thanks for listening! Leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums! Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.

This week's links:
Magweasel.com
Game Mag Weaseling
IGN: Rumor: Nintendo Power Shutting Down
Youtube: Nintendo Power commercial
The (Unofficial) Ace Ebb Fan Club
Edge Presents File
Crackdown
Halo 3 Beta
Ristar
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
Catan
Ouendan 2
Odin Sphere
Lunar Knights

This week we take a minute (OK, more like 30) to talk about the ill-fated 32-bit Sega Saturn system. But we're not just doing it because we like to shoot the bull about classic game hardware--May 11 marked 12 years since the system launched in North America, the first (and last) time a game console has been stealth-surprise launched. Maybe our discussion of the system and its games will spark a few memories in your mind (and if it does, pick up the phone and tell 'em to our voicemail line so we can play them on the air).

While that's the main focus this week we also do a super-sized What'cha Been Playing that includes talk about the 360 Spring Dashboard Update, discuss whether we think Guitar Hero 3 or Rock Band will be better, and ponder which gaming genre will "die" next.

Thanks for listening! Leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums! Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.

This week's links:
Puzzle Quest
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl
Catan
Calling All Cars
Super Paper Mario
Double Dragon XBLA
Legend of the Mystical Ninja Virtual Console
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS
1UP Yours: May 4, 2007 episode
1UP Boards: Did you ever overreact to a game's low score...
EGM Review: Star Fox Adventures (Shane)
EGM Review: Star Fox Adventures (CJ)
Joystiq: Is Catan changing Xbox Live?
Youtube: Sega Saturn promo video
Youtube: Sega Saturn commercial
Youtube: Freaky Sega Saturn commercial
Youtube: Segata Sanshiro commercial
Youtube: Dragon Force
Youtube: NiGHTS
Youtube: Winter Heat
Youtube: Radiant Silvergun
Youtube: Keio Yugekitai
Youtube: Burning Rangers Promotion Video
Youtube: Segata Sanshiro final commercial

The title of this episode is a choice piece of advice on how to get into the industry from this week's special guest, 1UP.com's Patrick Klepek. If you've always wondered how to get your foot in the door, you'll want to stick around for the last part of this episode where Patrick and co-host Greg Sewart share their stories of how they got started. (We'll get to the rest of the crew and other guests in the next few weeks.)

Two other big topics this week -- First, David Jaffe's blog blow-up against game reviewers and gaming blogs (Joystiq in particular). We discuss reviewers taking the price/distribution model of a game in mind, developers versus journalists, fixing bugs after reviews have been printed, and the importance of playing a game so reliant on the quality of the online community "in the wild." Then we switch gears a little and discuss Microsoft's new territory controls built around the Xbox Live Marketplace.

One more thing, if you've seen Spider-Man 3 or don't mind hearing spoilers, stick around after the ending theme music for 10 minutes or so of talk about the movie.

Thanks for listening! Leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums! Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.

This week's links:
Guest Patrick Klepek's blog and 1UP blog
Lord of the Rings Online
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl
The Red Star
Raiden III
Odin Sphere
Spider-Man 3
Catan
Centipede/Millipede
Super Rub-a-Dub
Castlevania
Boom Boom Rocket
David Jaffe's blog: Comments on first Calling All Cars reviews
Joystiq on Calling All Cars delay
David Jaffe's blog: That's it for now...see you soon
Andrew Pfister's 1UP.com blog: Reviewing Reviewers of Reviews
Gamerscore blog: Xbox 360 Marketplace Territory Controls Strengthened
Gamerscore blog: More on Xbox LIVE Marketplace Content

Ken Kutaragi. He wasn't just the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, he was also the father of the PlayStation. Without him, Sony never would've gotten into the gaming business to begin with. So it seems a bit odd that on the eve of what should be their triumph, he's retiring. While it's debatable as to whether he should've ascended to the heights he did within Sony (and his rambling, eccentric speeches at various press conferences point directly at this), it does seem like his stepping down is in response to the PSP's lackluster performance and the PS3's rocky launch. Join us as we talk a little bit about this and Sony's future steps.

Naturally, that's not all we talk about in this episode. There's lots of Pokemon talk (so be prepared), as well as discussions about the use of webcams in console gaming, the anniversary of the Wii name, the analyst that thinks Wii/DS success is bad for the industry, and much much more. Join us, won't you?

Thanks for listening! Leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums! Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.

This week's links:
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl
Guitar Hero II
Pinball FX
Eets Chowdown
Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Planet Earth Blu-Ray
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Wonder Boy in Monster World
Oblivion
Pac-Man (1982 cartoon)
YouTube: Pac-Man intro
NextGen.biz: Kutaragi to Retire in June
GameDaily: Analysts Weigh in on Kutaragi's Departure
1UP.com: Celebrate the Past with Ken Kutaragi's Greatest Hits!
Joystiq: Wii name celebrates first anniversary
Next-Gen.biz: Analyst: Wii, DS Success a Bad Thing
Kotaku: PS3 EyeToy Dated For US (Too)
Pikachu: "Bitches Love Me"
Seaman 2

To mark the glorious occasion of the release of a brand-new Pokemon game, we take a look back on the series as a whole -- the ups, the downs, the seizure-inducing TV show, all of it. Is it wrong that grown adults love the Pokemon games too? Certainly not -- after all, they're just plain ol' RPGs with 400 cute characters to capture. At the end of the segment we issue a challenge to any Pokerapping listeners we might have out there. Any takers?

Before all that we talk about what we've been playing and briefly go over the March NPD sales numbers. Not so hot of a month for Sony, strange since Motorstorm was considered a potential system-seller and Casino Royale hit Blu-Ray, figuring that it would've helped sell a few systems too.

Thanks for listening! Leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums! Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.

This week's links:
Lego Star Wars II
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl
Guitar Hero II
3D Ultra Minigolf
Gyruss
Viva Pinata
Punch-Out!!!
Jetpac Refuelled
Halo 2 (new maps)
Xbox 360 backward compatibility update
Joystiq: NPD: March belongs to DS, PS2
PS3 System Update
Pokemon: Legend of Dratini (banned episode)
Pokemon: James' Boobs (banned episode)
Pokemon: Porygon clip (seizure episode)
Pokerap (not the real one)
Pokemon theme song live

Warning: Depending on your stance on game spoilers, you'll either love or hate this episode of the Player One Podcast. Because Gamestop locations are running a video in-store that shows the ending of Zelda: Twilight Princess, we thought it would be the perfect time to talk about spoilers. What is and is not a game spoiler? Is watching the first 10 minutes of a highly anticipated game via a webcast spoiling the experience? When is the statute of limitations up, making it OK to spoil? After all, Twilight Princess has been out for a few months -- but is it still too early? Join us as we discuss these questions and more. (But if you care about spoilers for Metal Gear Solid 2, Halo 2 and Super Paper Mario you may want to skip it to keep yourself pure.)

Also this week we discuss Activision's Guitar Hero II microtransaction buzzkill. We were all ready (as some of you probably were too) to buy tracks from Guitar Hero 1 to play on our 360s. What we weren't prepared for was the cost of  the privilege. And because it wouldn't be a show without talking about Sony, we spend a segment talking about Sony officially killing off the 20GB PS3 in North America. Good idea, or bad idea?

Thanks for listening! Leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums! Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.

This week's links:
Super Paper Mario Wii
Boom Boom Rocket Xbox 360
MLB 2k7 Xbox 360
World of Warcraft PC
Beyond the Red Line PC
Singstar Pop PS2
Guitar Hero II Xbox 360
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl DS
Oblivion Xbox 360
Joystiq: Major Nelson talks Guitar Hero II microtransactions
Andrew Pfister 1UP blog: Guitar Hero sells out
1UP.com: Sony officially dropping 20GB PS3 in North America
Joystiq: Gamestop spoils Twilight Princess ending in stores

We kick off this episode on a bit of a sour note -- Phil's Xbox 360 was visited by the system-killing three red lights just two weeks after CJ's died. Clearly, Greg and Dan's systems are next. But we quickly move into greener topics, discussing Super Paper Mario (which CJ got to play a bunch of this week) and Guitar Hero II at length in our first segment.

We also discuss the recent PSP price drop. Is it enough? Can the PSP be saved by adding a second analog stick or getting rid of UMD? And finally, following the announcement of Rock Band -- EA/MTV/Harmonix's new all-encompassing music game -- we discuss the advancement of the genre, from PaRappa to Dance Dance Revolution to Taiko Drum Master and Guitar Hero.

Thanks for listening! Leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums! Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.

This week's links:
Meet the Robinsons
Guitar Hero II
Xbox 360 Three Red Lights
Xbox Domain: Towel Trick
Episode 11: The Dead Pool
Super Paper Mario
Jetpac Refuelled
Sony PSP hardware drops to $169.99
Variety.com: MTV, Harmonix Form Rock Band

This week all four regulars are back, and just in time too for a rousing discussion of the pros and cons of the newly announced Xbox 360 Elite. With its 120GB hard drive, HDMI port (plus included cable--take that, Sony!) and sleek black curves, you'd think it'd be everything you'd ever want in a 360. Only, it's not. Let the complaining commence.

Our other big discussion in this episode is about Sega's NiGHTS sequel and the screenshots/info that were revealed via several European sources last week. Is it going to be a Sega fan's wet dream or do Sonic Team's recent weak efforts hint at it being utterly underwhelming? The majority consensus here is that Sega and Sonic Team have an uphill battle.

Thanks for listening! Leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums! Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.

This week's links:
EGM April Fools Jokes
Xbox 360 Three Red Lights
Tetris Evolution
Jetpac Refuelled
Castlevania Symphony of the Night
GameLife: Jobs: Run Nintendo's Virtual Console
Policenauts.net
Oblivion: Shivering Isles
World of Warcraft
Custom Robo Arena
Burnout Dominator
Puzzle Quest
TMNT
Gamevideos.com: Grand Theft Auto IV trailer
Xbox 360 Elite
Kotaku: Sony working on PS3 "Elite" model?
GamesIndustry.biz: 360 Elite validates Sony's hi-def focus - analyst
360-Gamer: The Xbox 360 Hardware Failure Survey
Joystiq: NiGHTS Wii screens, interview found in Portuguese game mag
Sonic and Mario at the Olympics
Hype: Mario and Sonic Come Together in the Spirit of Friendship for the 2008 Olympics

CJ's away in San Francisco, which means Phil and Greg are taking over this week and spending way too much time talking about one of their favorite systems--the Sega CD. Thrill to stories of the Sega CD launch; the greatest pack-in software bundle of all time; the synergy of Hollywood and Silicon Valley; and an in-depth review of the greatest Sega CD game you've never played. Dan even says two or three words during the segment!

Of course, we begin things this week with Whatcha-been playin'? Here we talk about everything from God of War II and sucking less than CJ to Tetris Evolution on 360 and everything in between. Oh, there's some Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Earth Defense Force 2017 in there as well. And in the following segment we tackle Jack Thompson's latest frivolous lawsuit, 2K Games' tendency to stick their heads in the sand, and Dan gets really angry about the European PS3 launch. Plus, is the third-party exclusive dead? You'll have to listen to find out.

Leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog page or join our forums! Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.

Tetris Evolution 360
God of War 2 PS2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 360
Castlevania Symphony of the Night 360
Earth Defense Force 2017 360
World of Warcraft
Call of Duty PSP
1UP.com: Devil May Cry 4 heads to 360, PC
Gamespot: Thompson countersues Take-Two
Jeremy Parish 1UP blog: Why there won't be a System Shock Retronauts
EngadgetHD: London's crime-free PS3 launch results in free HDTVs / cab rides
Wikipedia: Sega CD
LunarNET (Lunar series fansite)
YouTube: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Sega CD
Snatcher
Good Deal Games (new or recovered Sega CD games)
YouTube: Penn & Teller: Smoke & Mirrors

Welcome to a very special edition of the Player One Podcast. This is not a regular episode. It's a fan commentary for Episode 1 of Captain N: The Game Master (available now on DVD from Shout Factory). Note: You must have a copy of the set for most of the audio in this podcast to make any sense whatsoever.

Here's how it works: Load up Disc 1, and go into the Episode Selection menu. Start listening to this episode, and when you hear the Mario "pipe" sound effect press enter on your DVD remote to start playing Episode 1 "Kevin in Videoland." Or, if your iPod/iTunes/media player plays enhanced podcasts and you downloaded the AAC version of this podcast, you can skip to the second chapter marker just after the three-minute mark and begin playing from there.

We hope you enjoy this, our first fan commentary track. Go to www.playeronepodcast.com, tell us what you thought, and let us know if you have an idea for a show we should do another commentary on. Or call us on our voice mail line at 713-893-8069. Thank you for listening!

Show Links:
Shout Factory
Shout Factory: Captain N The Game Master
Amazon.com: Captain N The Game Master

Welcome to a very special edition of the Player One Podcast. This is not a regular episode. It's a fan commentary for Episode 1 of Captain N: The Game Master (available now on DVD from Shout Factory). Note: You must have a copy of the set for most of the audio in this podcast to make any sense whatsoever.

Here's how it works: Load up Disc 1, and go into the Episode Selection menu. Start listening to this episode, and when you hear the Mario "pipe" sound effect press enter on your DVD remote to start playing Episode 1 "Kevin in Videoland." Or, if your iPod/iTunes/media player plays enhanced podcasts and you downloaded the AAC version of this podcast, you can skip to the second chapter marker just after the three-minute mark and begin playing from there.

We hope you enjoy this, our first fan commentary track. Go to www.playeronepodcast.com, tell us what you thought, and let us know if you have an idea for a show we should do another commentary on. Or call us on our voice mail line at 713-893-8069. Thank you for listening!

Show Links:
Shout Factory
Shout Factory: Captain N The Game Master
Amazon.com: Captain N The Game Master

The February NPD numbers are out, and we take the opportunity to talk about each company's strategy or lack thereof for the upcoming months. Is Nintendo's continued success with the Wii going to peter out at some point soon as PS3 gets its sea legs? What does Sony need to do to emerge from its sales pit? When Game Boy Advance is outselling you, there's a problem.

Next up, we tackle an issue that recently bubbled back to the surface when Silicon Knights' Denis Dyack appeared on EGM Live: How review-y should previews be? Is there a line at which it stops being a preview and starts being a judgement on a game that may be a year-plus away from release? In today's blog/podcast/multimedia culture anyone with a keyboard and an internet connection can share their opinion on a game, and the PR departments of many big publishers will continue struggling to control the message.

Keep leaving us comments (via e-mail, comments on our web site, the forum thread for this episode, reviews on iTunes, giving us Diggs, Skype us at playeronepodcast) or leave us a voice mail by calling 713-893-8069, long distance charges apply. Thanks for listening, tell your friends, and we'll be back next week. Don't forget to join our forums!

Big Bumpin' (Xbox 360)
Burnout Revenge (Xbox 360)
God of War II (PS2)
Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Worms (XBLA)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Arcade (XBLA)
World of Warcraft (PC)
Motorstorm (PS3)
Virtua Fighter 5 (PS3)
Def Jam Icon (PS3)
Next-gen.biz: NPD: February Software Sales Up 28%
Kotaku: February NPD Madness
EGM Live: Denis Dyack interview
TooHuman.net: Why Denis Dyack is Right (And Why Shane Bettenhausen Isn't Wrong)
Gamevideos.com: E3: Too Human Hands-On

The 2007 Game Developers Conference was held last week in San Francisco. While Greg, Chris and Phil did not attend, the "magic" of the Internet allowed us to keep tabs on the goings on. The major news? Sony's formal announcement of PlayStation Home -- your Home away from home that you can log onto from home. Is this the light at the end of the tunnel to the streak of bad press that Sony's been getting? And is it what Sony needed to match Microsoft's Xbox Live service? Listen in as we talk about PS Home and its proposed features.

That's not where the news stops, however. We also discuss Little Big Planet, the PlayStation 3 game that may benefit the most from Sony's Home community. It could also help usher in a new era of user-created content, one the likes of which has never been seen before. In three words: we like it. And continuing with the GDC-fueled content, our last discussion covers quotes from three game developers that got the most attention at the show--one from Warren Spector, one from Keiji Inafune and the infamous "the Wii is a piece of shit" quote from Maxis' Chris Hecker. He's never gonna live that one down.

Keep leaving us comments (via e-mail, comments on our web site, the forum thread for this episode, reviews on iTunes, giving us Diggs, Skype us at playeronepodcast) or leave us a voice mail by calling 713-893-8069, long distance charges apply. Thanks for listening, tell your friends, and we'll be back next week. Don't forget to join our forums!

This week's links:
Worms (Xbox Live Arcade)
Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (Nintendo DS)
Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Crackdown video: Climbing the Agency tower with the SUV
Crackdown video: Explosion!
Dance Dance Revolution Universe (Xbox 360)
Motorstorm (PS3)
Def Jam Icon (360/PS3)
Wario: Master of Disguise (Nintendo DS)
Game Developers Conference
PlayStation Home promo video
PlayStation Home FAQ
Gamevideos.com: PlayStation Home full demo
Little Big Planet level creation video
Little Big Planet demo
Little Big Planet level creation demo
GamePro.com: Are Next-Gen Graphics A Bad Thing?
Kotaku: Capcom's Inafune Slams Clover Producer
1UP.com: Game Publishers Rant About Industry
Kotaku: Spore Developer Chris Hecker Apologizes For Calling the Wii a "Piece of Shit"

Outside of the first segment, this week's episode is all about the latest news surrounding the PS3. Some good, some bad, but we haven't talked about PS3 much lately so we decided to devote the whole episode to it. Last week Sony and Immersion kissed and made up, which could mean the return of rumble to the Sixaxis controller (hurray!)--question is, how soon? Then there's the infamous rumor that Sony introducing a Mii/Achievements hybrid called PlayStation Home this week. Not only is the concept itself intriguing, but the way it hit the Internet also made some waves--listen as we discuss all aspects of this issue. Lastly, it came out that European PS3s won't be as backwardly compatible as the US and Japanese systems. What effect will this have on the rest of the world, and where are the 20GB systems?

Things start off with the usual segment on what we've been playing, and since it's been two weeks since our last regular show there's lots to talk about. Crackdown, mainly, but there's plenty more as well. Then we end the show by going over some of the comments we got about last week's Al Lowe interview.

Keep leaving us comments (via e-mail, comments on our web site, the forum thread for this episode, reviews on iTunes, giving us Diggs, Skype us at playeronepodcast) or leave us a voice mail by calling 713-893-8069, long distance charges apply. Thanks for listening, tell your friends, and we'll be back next week. Don't forget to join our forums!

This week's links:
Crackdown
UNO
Alien Hominid HD
Cars
Superman Returns
Captain N: The Game Master
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 Multiplayer Demo
Dance Dance Revolution Universe
Q*bert
flOw
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Virtua Fighter 5
Formula 1
Next-Gen.biz: Suit Settled: Sixaxis Could Get Vibes
Kotaku: Rumor: Sony To Unveil PlayStation Home
Eurogamer.net: Europe gets new PS3 hardware

This week we present to you a very special episode of the Player One Podcast. Greg and Phil sit down with Al Lowe, creator of the Leisure Suit Larry series (not including the recent and craptacular Magna Cum Laude) and other classic Sierra On-Line graphic adventures. Listen as we pick Al's brain about everything from game design in the old days to the fall of Sierra to his opinions on the current state of games for adults.
 
Caution: There might be some bald jokes and at least one major error by our interviewers in there, too.

Keep leaving us comments (via e-mail, comments on our web site, the forum thread for this episode, review us on iTunes, Digg us, Skype us at playeronepodcast) or leave us a voice mail by calling 713-893-8069, long distance charges apply. Thanks for listening, tell your friends, and we'll be back next week with a regular episode and the return of all the usual players. Don't forget to join our forums!

This week's links:
Al Lowe's Humor Site!
Mobygames' Leisure Suit Larry series page
Sierra Gamers

This week there's no one overarching segment. Instead, we talk about a few little things, starting with the top 10 entries in Next-Gen.biz's list of the Top 100 games people played in 2006 (though the list does not include three very important entries, at least in Phil's mind). We also discuss retailer Gamestop's new program where their Aeris automated call system dials you up to ask if you want to trade in a game you bought two months ago. And we thought Aeris was six feet under. We go off on a few other tangents as well, including talking about Microsoft's comments to 1UP that Viva Pinata on DS "just makes sense" and this week's mini-avalanche of new titles for each next-gen console. It's like November in February.

But as always we start the show by talking about the games we've played in the last week. And we end it by going over some of the feedback and questions we've received in the last seven days. Don't forget to visit our newly opened forums at www.playeronepodcast.com/forum.

Keep leaving us comments (via e-mail, comments on our web site, the forum thread for this episode, iTunes, Digg us, Skype us at playeronepodcast) or leave us a voice mail by calling 713-893-8069, long distance charges apply. Thanks for listening, tell your friends, and we'll be back next week!

This week's links:
Phoenix Wright: And Justice For All (DS)
World of Warcraft (PC)
Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Paperboy (Xbox Live Arcade)
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (PSP)
The Warriors (PSP)
New Ghostbusters II (NES)
Next-Gen.biz: The Games People Buy (Top 10)
Next-Gen.biz: The Games People Buy (the top of the list)
Joystiq: Gamestop reaching out for your Twilight Princess
1UP.com: Microsoft: 'Viva Pinata on the DS makes sense'

There's no more controversial figure in console role-playing game fandom than Ted Woolsey. During the '90s he worked at Squaresoft and was responsible for the English translations of games like Final Fantasy III and Chrono Trigger. His work is either loved or totally reviled by fans on the Internet, with FF III's translation taking the brunt of that criticism. Nintendo and Square Enix re-released the game last week on Game Boy Advance under its original Japanese title, Final Fantasy VI, with a brand-new English script. In the last half of the show, Chris and Greg talk with Ted (who now works at Real Networks) about the translation process for the Super NES Final Fantasy III and some of the challenges he faced as he tried to get an English translation of this epic RPG to fit on a cartridge.

But of course, we begin the episode talking about what we've been playing in the past week, including Root Beer Tapper (360), Lunar Knights (DS) and Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA). We also discuss Microsoft's newly announced Rewards program for the Xbox 360 and Doug Lowenstein's keynote at DICE. Then of course we answer some questions and go over some of the feedback we received from last week's show. Don't forget to visit our newly opened forums at www.playeronepodcast.com/forum.

Keep leaving us comments (via e-mail, comments on our web site, forum, iTunes page, Digg us, Skype us at playeronepodcast) or leave us a voice mail by calling 713-893-8069, long distance charges apply. Thanks for listening, tell your friends, and we'll be back next week!

This week's links:
Root Beer Tapper
Picross DS
Cloning Clyde
Samurai Warriors 2: Empires
Lunar Knights
Virtual Console
Super Castlevania IV
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario 64
Final Fantasy VI Advance
Xbox.com: Xbox Rewards
Kotaku: ESA Prez Goes All Out On Final DICE Speech
Video Game Voters
Wikipedia: Ted Woolsey
Wikipedia: Final Fantasy VI
Real Arcade

Virtua Calamity?

Should a game reviewer be allowed to review a product when they were involved in its development, however little? Last week this question came to the forefront as word came that characters with attributes selected by editors from IGN, Ziff-Davis, Wired's GameLife (and others as well) will be included in Sega's upcoming Virtua Fighter 5, and that some of these same editors will be the ones reviewing the product. But it's not an isolated incident -- game journalists are sometimes listed in the credits and special magazine/website unlockables have been included in finished games before. How do these effect the review process and now that the VF5 incident has come to light, is it being handled correctly?

As usual this week we begin the show by talking about the games we've been playing. This time that includes discussion on Viva Pinata (Xbox 360), The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), Parodius Portable (PSP), Salamander Portable (PSP), Picross DS, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade (PC), Phoenix Wright (DS) and Fuzion Frenzy 2 (Xbox 360).

We also go into a few topics that've been in the news lately -- the leakage of the Dead or Alive movie on YouTube, Uwe Boll's Postal movie trailer, Microsoft's new rules for Achievement points and downloadable content, and the remake of Dracula X on PSP, which also leads to a short talk on how Sony's positioning the PSP ("It's a babe-tracking system that also plays Parodius").

And of course we finish out this episode discussing some of the feedback we received from last week's show. Keep leaving us comments (via e-mail, comments on our web site, iTunes, Digg us, Skype us at playeronepodcast) or leave us a voice mail by calling 713-893-8069, long distance charges apply. Thanks for listening, tell your friends, and we'll be back next week!

Links:
Viva Pinata
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Parodius Portable (Japanese)
Salamander Portable (Japanese)
Picross DS game page (Japanese)
GameSetWatch: Mario's Picross
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
Phoenix Wright: And Justice For All
Fuzion Frenzy 2
DOA: Dead or Alive movie
1UP.com: Postal trailer debuts
New rules for Achievement points
Dracula X Chronicles game page
PSP commercial, where're the games?
Joystiq: IGN developing content for Sega? 1UP contributing too?
1UP.com blog: If you've ever wanted to kick my ass, now you sort of can. Meet: Milky Pai.
1UP.com blog: Full disclosure
Game|Life: Virtua Figher 5: My character
The Cover Project

It was supposed to be a nice little segment about Zelda...

...But oh how it derailed. Yes, it's true -- in this episode we spend a fair amount of time talking about Nintendo's beloved Legend of Zelda series. From the 8-bit NES games to the current Wii (and GameCube) installment, we talk about it all. The highs, the lows, and all the heartfelt nostalgia we all feel for the series.

Of course that's not all we talk about this week. A short (because no one seems to have played anything) what'cha been playing segment kicks things off with talk of Lumines Live (360), Phoenix Wright: Justice for All (DS) and the Crackdown demo (360). Plus we spend a little bit of time talking about the Wii's News Channel, the PS3 price and the lack of marketing for Nintendo's Hotel Dusk Room 215.

The last segment this week covers some of the feedback we've gotten in the last seven days. Keep leaving us comments (e-mail, via the comments on our web site, iTunes, Digg us, Skype us at playeronepodcast) or leave us a voice mail by calling 713-893-8069, long distance charges apply. Thanks for listening, tell your friends, and we'll be back next week!

Links:
Nintendo: Hotel Dusk Room 215
Engadget: No PS2-like price cuts for the PS3, sez Sony
Next-Gen: Xbox 360 Price Cut 'Unlikely'
Next-Gen: The End for 'Artistic' Games
Edge
Edge Presents File
CES2k7 Live Anywhere UNO demonstration
The Fanboys

World of Dreamcast

It's a special podcast this week, and not only because it's very long (and what you have here is still the result of quite a bit of editing). In Episode Lucky 13 we talk about Sega's Dreamcast, the system that became Sega's last hope as a hardware manufacturer, ultimately sending them reeling into the world of third-party publishing for competing hardware platforms. Join us as we talk about the highs, the lows and everything in between. After listening to this segment you may want to check out these links:

Mega 64's Shenmue -  http://www.mega64.com/shenmue.htm

One of Sega's Hidekazu Yukawa (we got his name wrong on the 'cast) ads - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DzwwViKJN4

Chu Chu Rocket commercial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiA7mCzQqu0

Also on this week's show, we discuss what we've been playing -- World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade (PC), Wario Ware: Smooth Moves (Wii), Lost Planet (Xbox 360), Heavy Weapon (360), Phoenix Wright: Justice for All (DS), Samurai Warriors 2 (Xbox 360) and oh so much more. Actually that might be it, I'm not sure and it's past my bedtime.

Blink and you could miss it, but this week we also discuss Kyle Orland's analysis of EGM's Quartermann rumors as seen on GameDaily.

Rumor Report Ratings - http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/media/?id=14936

For our final segment in this week's show, we go over some of the feedback we've received in the last week -- keep it coming. And that's it for this week! Remember to visit our MySpace page, Digg us, review us on iTunes, leave a comment on the blog page, send us an e-mail at playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Or if you want to call and leave us voicemail, dial 713-893-8069 (long distance charges apply). Thanks for listening!

Tackling Difficulty

This week we take on the question of difficulty in games. Discussion includes talk of how game difficulty has changed in the past 20 years, the hardest games we've ever played, and what it's like to have to review or write a strategy guide on an extremely difficult game under the deadline crunch of a print magazine. Sometimes, it's not pretty.

Our What'cha Been Playin' discussion this week centers on Capcom's new Xbox 360 game Lost Planet. We have trudged through frozen tundra, lit up Akrid hives with Gatling Guns, scored Secret Achievements and killed each other in multiplayer. It's been a fun-filled weekend. Also: Ms. Pac-Man (360), Pimp My Ride (PS2), Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS) and New Rally-X (360).

For our final segment in this week's short show, we go over some of the feedback we've received in the last two weeks -- keep it coming. And that's it for this week! Remember to visit our MySpace page, Digg us, review us on iTunes, leave a comment on the blog page, send us an e-mail at playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Thanks for listening! Or if you want to call and leave us voicemail, dial 713-893-8069 (long distance charges apply). Thanks for listening!

The Dead Pool

This is an episode you may want to keep around to reference later. Why? Because it's our first-annual 2007 Dead Pool episode, where we go 'round the circle and choose three games each we think (using absolutely no scientific means other than a "feeling") will either be canceled outright or delayed into 2008. Who will be right, who will be wrong? We'll just have to see what 2007 brings us. But rest assured there are a few interesting predictions here. We probably should've put some money on the table.

But before we get to that, we talk about a lot of other things. Kicking it off, our completely and totally original What'cha Been Playing segment: CJ gets a PS3 (shock!), Resistance (PS3), Castlevania Portrait of Ruin (DS), Viva Pinata (360), Phantasy Star Universe (360), Wii Sports, Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), Karaoke Revolution: American Idol (PS2). What we will be playing next week: Lost Planet...and only one of us won't have access to the cool extra-awesome multiplayer map that comes with the $70 collector's edition.

Next we talk about the Halo 3 beta and the new ways the general public can get into it -- which now includes buying a copy of Microsoft's next 360 release, Crackdown. Now the question becomes: is it worth buying a $60 game you might not be interested in to be guaranteed a spot in the Halo 3 beta? Is it fair to Crackdown's developers to hitch its star to such an established and hotly anticipated franchise as Halo?

Then we take a moment to talk about the newly announced E For All event, the new consumer-friendly face of the now-dead E3. But will gamers pay $100 to get a glimpse of new product, will the major publishers attend, and will this event be canceled even before it starts?

Finally, we discuss the leap from gaming journalism to game development in honor of GameSpot editor in chief Greg Kasavin's recent announcement. Two of our hosts have previously made this jump, and they relate their experiences and we talk about others that've done the same.

And that's it for this week! Remember to visit our MySpace page, Digg us, review us on iTunes, leave a comment on the blog page, send us an e-mail at playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

Player One's Shiny New Year

Happy New Year everyone! While other podcasts have settled in for a long winter's nap, we hopped in the studio yet again for one more episode before all the Auld Lang Synes were sung.

In this episode, Phil and Dan become "series regulars," and join Greg and CJ to talk about such things as what we'd like to see happen in 2007 (though we tried to avoid predictions outright, we stray into that territory too). Here's a trend for '07--most of the discussion in this episode seemed to revolve around downloadable content. We like it, we hate it, we'd like to see Microsoft step in and referee, we'd like Nintendo and Sony to do more of it. But fear not, that's not all we talk about.

Next up we talk about our Gaming Origins. You know, the story everyone has of how they got into gaming. We go from oldest to youngest and recount tales of Atari 2600s, NESes and Super NESes, calling around a snowfilled province to find the one remaining system and the games that cemented our undying love of gaming. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you probably have an "origin" story of your own. Please feel free to share it in the comments here.

As a bonus, we also get into the story behind why we rib CJ so much about that Bubsy 3D thing and talk about other quotes of ours that've been immortalized on boxes and in ads.

But of course first up we talk about what we've been playing. In this episode that's games like Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS), Gears of War (360), Viva Pinata (360), Gran Turismo HD (PS3), Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), Pokémon Ruby and more.

As always, drop us a comment on the blog page or send us an e-mail comment to playeronepodcast@gmail.com.

A Festivus for the rest of us!

Although our crew are traveling to various parts of the globe for the holidays, that didn't stop us from getting together earlier in the week and recording a special episode for you, dear listener, on this most busy of holidays. Special thanks to Phil Theobald and Dan Dormer, who join CJ and I once again for the final episode of the year.

In lieu of our regular "whatcha been playin'" segment, we hop right into our probably-longer-than-it-should-be year in review, where we dissect the year that was month by month, discussing the most important and happenings that shaped our beloved hobby throughout 2006.

Then we move on to the First Annual Player One Podcast Memorial Games of the Year Awards, where we name our fave titles on every console, ending with the best game of the year, and which piece of hardware we feel owned 2006.

Finally, in celebration of the holiday, we reveal our super-secret Christmas shopping lists for various industry personalities. What would we wrap in festive paper and place under Ken Kutaragi's tree? What would Reggie find in his stocking? Listen up and find out.

Thanks for listening! Drop a comment or send us an audio comment and we'll read some/play some on next week's show. Send us feedback to playeronepodcast@gmail.com or leave a comment on the blog page.

The shame in our game

This week we return to a topic brought up in the last 'cast: our greatest gaming shames. In the final segment of the podcast we share some things we're not proud of. And joining in the fun is this episode's special guest, freelance writer Dan Dormer, who shares an inexplicable shame -- playing a bad/painful game not only to the end, but over and over again to see its multiple endings, sinking at least 100 hours into it. Why?

Also this week, we continue our retrospective on the last generation of consoles by talking about the Xbox, Microsoft's first entry into the console gaming biz. From the launch to Xbox Live to the purchase of Rare and everything in between. Have our memories of the Bear Claw/Duke controller been washed away by the sands of time? Hells no. We'll miss you, Xbox, even though you live on in limited backward compatibility.

But we begin the podcast the way we always do, by discussing what we've been playing: Viva Pinata (360), Wii Sports (Wii), Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), Phantasy Star Universe (360), Bionicle Heroes (360), Tomb Raider Legend (DS) and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS). And because we're topical, we devote a segment to the Square Enix announcement of Dragon Quest IX for Nintendo DS.

Thanks for listening! Drop a comment or send us an audio comment and we'll read some/play some on next week's show. Send us feedback to playeronepodcast@gmail.com or leave a comment on the blog page.

It's a Cube, not Box nor Station

This week we take a look back at an old friend called GameCube as he gasps his final breath on Tuesday with the release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Phil Theobald joins us as we talk about third party support, Nintendo's own lack of great games, farming out of the classics to second-party developers, the lack of a "real" Mario game and more. Also in this segment, CJ reveals one of his greatest gaming shames.

But we start this week (of course) by talking about what we've been playing, with chatter about such games as Kirby Squeak Squad (DS), Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS), Phantasy Star Universe (360), Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), Sonic the Hedgehog (virtual console), Crash Bandicoot (PS1 on PSP via PS3), Lemmings (PS3), Resistance: FoM (PS3) and Roboblitz (360).

And after the GameCube portion of the program we go into another Topic Of Interest: Series reboots. With Bond's recent successful reset with Casino Royale, we pontificate about which of gaming's great series could use a 'boot. It's not that hard to think of one...we bet you're already thinking of one right now. The conversation also strays into series that've had successful reboots and which legacy hits need to be dusted off for a new generation. So if nothing else, you will want to stick around to listen to Greg bash Kid Icarus.

Our question to you this week is what series you would like to see rebooted and in what way -- what type of game? Drop a comment or send us an audio comment and we'll read some/play some on next week's show. Send us feedback to playeronepodcast@gmail.com or leave a comment on the blog page.

This week marks our return to a regular posting schedule. In this episode's first segment, we discuss Zelda (Wii), F.E.A.R (360), the Wii Virtual Console versions of Solomon's Key, Sonic, Bonk and Mario 64, Red Steel (Wii), Call of Duty 3 (Wii), and we get a brief update on Greg's adventures with the PS3.

Next up we talk about the Wii. It's only two weeks old and they've sold over a million units between the US and Japan (and releases in other areas of the world later this week). What do Nintendo and third parties have to do to be successful on Wii? (Answer: original IP, not so many ports.) Is the high cost of development for PS3 games going to benefit Wii? Also, we touch on Wii mishaps and the pictures/video that have been posted on www.wiihaveaproblem.com.

Segment three is all about Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade. Why haven't more third-party publishers taken advantage of these downloadable services with original content? Why do we rely on Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony for this content when there are third parties that could be doing stuff but AREN'T?

Wrapping it up is a final segment where we reminisce about the PlayStation 2. Now that the next generation has debuted, it's time to look back on the leader of the last gen.

This week it's all about Xbox 360: Year One. The ups, downs, and everywhere in between. We talk about microtransactions, Xbox Live Arcade, the January-March game drought, the digital distribution model, achievements, online play, everything Xbox 360.

Naturally we also do a What'cha Been Playing segment at the beginning where we discuss Elite Beat Agents, Zelda on Wii, Resistance and Ridge Racer on PS3, and Bonk's Adventure. And sandwiched in at the end of this episode is a section where we read back some of your feedback. Be sure to send us e-mail or an audio comment, leave a comment on our blog page or Skype voicemail. We'll talk about and play some of that on future shows.

Episode 04, 11/20/06

This week we talk all about the system launches, PlayStation 3 and Wii. Ex-GameNOW and GameSpy editor Phil Theobald joins Chris & Greg for the discussion, where we discuss the lines, the shortages, getting the systems home, the games, and more. So much more that this is a much longer show that normal.

Also interspersed within the show are various interviews CJ did with people who lined up in Houston for the systems, both PS3 and Wii. You probably won't be all that shocked to hear that most of the folks waiting for PS3 had just one thing in mind: making money on eBay. The Nintendo crowd was a much more gamer-centric bunch.

We also say goodbye to the awesome folks at the Official US PlayStation Magazine, whose January 2007 issue will be their last. We will miss you guys, thanks for making a great magazine. Be sure to download their last podcast if you haven't already.

Send comments to playeronepodcast@gmail.com, leave them on our blog page at playerone.libsyn.com or leave us an audio comment via Skype at username playeronepodcast. Tell your friends, leave us a review on iTunes, tell us what we're doing right/wrong.

It's a crazy-stuffed episode for an insanity-filled hardware launch week. In this episode, we:

- Talk about what we've been playing, mainly Gears of War and Wii since CJ got some extended playtime with Zelda and Excite Truck this weekend.

- Talk about PlayStation 3 launch games being delayed/canceled in the last week and what that could mean for the system's short-term future.

- After a quick musical interlude we discuss Nolan Bushnell's comments that Sony could fail with PS3. Could one of the industry's founders have something there?

- SPECIAL GUEST: This week we have a special interview with John Lee, Director of Marketing for Hudson Entertainment where we talk about the company's plans on Wii's Virtual Console and even get a tidbit in there about Xbox Live Arcade support. Visit www.hudsonent.com to get a glimpse of their offerings.

- Finally, we close this week's 'cast by talking about Microsoft's new initiative to sell video content  (TV shows and movies) via Xbox Live Marketplace. Are any of us really gonna use this service regularly?

Leave us your feedback, give us a review on iTunes, whatever you like. We may even read some of the feedback on a future show.

In this episode ex-video game journo Chris and freelancer extraordinaire Greg:

- Blatantly thieve the "what'cha been playin'" segment popular in many podcasts and use it to talk about Final Fantasy XII, Sam & Max, Phantasy Star Universe, Elite Beat Agents, DDR and Strawberry Shortcake(!).

- Talk about preorders. Gears of War, the various Halo 3 editions, and Gamestop's ability to sell you slips of paper that say you have a game on reserve a year before it's due out.

- Talk about microtransactions (again). EA being a repeat offender with Need For Speed Carbon. We also take some time to talk about the pricing of Nintendo/Sega/TG-16 virtual console stuff. Somewhere in there we also stray into talking about the failures of Xbox Live Arcade.

- ...and in the last segment we reminisce a little bit with stories of system launches / launch windows past from the perspective of working at a video game magazine.

Enjoy! Post comments here on our blog page (playerone.libsyn.com) or e-mail us at playeronepodcast@gmail.com.

This episode of the Player One Podcast comes in four sections: Phantasy Star Universe, the Rainbow Six Vegas demo and region-locked content, the 6th anniversary of the PlayStation 2's launch, and games that are "scary."

Enjoy!

Here are the pictures from the PS2 launch in 2000.

Hear! A Canadian speak at a low volume, a guy who lives in Texas breathe heavily into the microphone, and discussion of some of the big topics in video gaming in between. Keep in mind we're really just working out the bugs with this episode...we know there are problems. So be kind when commenting on this one.

In this week's episode:

Segment 1: We shoot the breeze about Rockstar's latest, Bully (PS2). A fantastic school daze simulator that lets you relive getting picked on but gives you the cojones to fight back.

Segment 2: We talk system launches, starting with Sony's PS3.

Segment 3: Greg says the Wii is too much at $249, Chris says $249 is a fine price (even if it's the ceiling of what Nintendo can charge).

Segment 4: Microtransactions! We talk about Tiger Woods, Madden, and Lumines.