Just a quick FYI, in case you were expecting the episode to hit...well, now.

Due to everyone's holiday schedules and changing travel plans Episode 62 is gonna be late. It will be out the evening of the 1st.

You've still got another 24 hours or so to email an MP3 of your high/low for '07 to playeronepodcast@gmail.com, Skype it to playeronepodcast *or* call 713-893-8069 and leave it on the voicemail.

Happy New Year!

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!

Next week is our 52nd episode. And to celebrate this momentous occasion we're looking to get "Happy Anniversary" / "Congratulations" / "Thanks for the podcasts you beautiful bunch of douchebags"-style messages from our listeners (and other podcasters!) to play on the show. Yes, we're just that shameless. There are multiple ways you can do this:


If you do any of these by the end of the day Friday, October 19, you're likely to hear yourself on Episode 52. Just be sure to say who you are and where you're calling from and all that noise. Hope to hear from YOU before Friday. Thank you!

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!

Hello radio listeners!

We will record a mega E3-themed show this weekend (likely on Saturday). And we're looking for your opinions about the show. The press conferences, the games, the coverage websites are doing, any comment or question on E3 you'd care to leave us. If we get any (and that's a big "if") we'll probably play them on the show. So call 713-893-8069 on your telephone thingamajigs, or Skype us at username playeronepodcast and leave us a comment.

Please? 'Cuz otherwise you'll hear us...bitching about Sony, bitching about Nintendo, bitching about Microsoft and their Halo 3 Xbox 360, and bitching about bitching about all of these things. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that your phone calls would make our show so much nicer. Unless, that is, you're calling to bitch.

Call before Saturday morning or we can't use ya. :'(

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

Sometimes, technology is against you. Episode 32 is delayed -- and will be posted on Tuesday, June 5, instead of the usual Monday.

CJ spent the last few days in Chicago and we tried, twice, to record Episode 32 while he was on the road. Unfortunately, the iBook he'd purchased back in 2002 wasn't powerful enough to handle Skype and recording via Audacity without crashing multiple times or resetting its settings to record via the laptop's internal microphone instead of the headset.

The lesson here is that CJ needs to buy a new laptop before we try to do a show while he's on the road again.

UPDATE: Well, we recorded it a third time. And of course ran head-on into two more technical problems that have prevented this one from going smoothly. So the episode will be out Tuesday night, hopefully before midnight. Here's a tease -- we discuss racing games.

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

The thought occurred to me that a few of you stopping by might never've been here before. So first, let me encourage you to hit this link and subscribe to our 'cast via iTunes. Next, allow me to tell you what the heck you've signed up for:

It was mid-October and Greg Sewart and I (Chris Johnston) were chatting over Xbox Live while playing some rounds of UNO or somesuch. We were discussing some big gaming news that'd happened that week or something when Greg said, "we should be recording this. We're interesting, right?" Though neither of us knew a damn thing about podcasting at the time outside of listening to a bunch of them, after some research, some brainstorming, and some money spent on equipment, the podcast and the page you've arrived at was born. Yes we're still working out the kinks some 22 weeks later, but the important part is it's amazing we've continued doing a show a week so far without stopping (even for holidays).

Three of the four regular hosts of the podcast are ex-game magazine editors, which probably gives us at least some sort of unique perspective on the headlines that come out of the industry these days. Greg was EGM's previews editor for a number of years and still freelances for various game magazines and web sites. I worked at EGM for around 10 years (though not consecutively) and was the magazine's news editor for...well, a long time. And Phil worked at EGM back in the day and later worked on Expert Gamer before he became GameNow's reviews editor. Along for the ride as well is Dan Dormer, freelancer for 1UP and other sites and also the keeper of the Video Game Media Watch site.

As of this writing we've done 22 shows and 1 "commentary" track. You may want to sample some of our past wares to get an idea of what we do here. You could go back and download/listen to all of them, but in case 24+ hours of podcast is too much for you to think about, here are five in particular that are nicely representative:

Lost in translation (Episode 16, 2/12/07) - Our interview with Ted Woolsey, translator for many of Square's 16-bit RPGs including Final Fantasy VI.

Home invasion (Episode 20, 3/12/07) - We did a little post GDC talking about Sony's PS3 Home service the week after it was announced at GDC '07 and chatted about Little Big Planet.

Shame in our game (Episode 08, 12/18/06) - The main topic in this episode was to reveal our greatest gaming shames. The first step to healing was admitting we have a problem...

Tackling difficulty (Episode 12, 1/15/07) - We talked about the fun of playing hard games as a game reviewer where you don't have the luxury of "taking your time."

Festivus for the rest of us (Episode 09, 12/25/06) - Our Festivus episode is a big wrap-up of the big headlines from 2006.

May I also encourage you to join our discussion forums. And if you have a comment you want to share with us or want to pose a question to the group, you can give our voicemail a call at 713-893-8069 or drop us an e-mail at playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Take care, and enjoy your stay...hope you enjoy the show. Thanks for dropping by!

- CJ

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'

If you didn't get a chance to listen to it yet, we interviewed Ted Woolsey (translator for many of Square's 16-bit hits including Final Fantasy VI) in Episode 16. Get  it--Episode 16, 16-bit Final Fantasy? Yes? No? We totally planned it that way.

Now you can read the full transcript of the interview here. In it Ted reveals such things as the genesis of the US-flavored Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, the original intention to release Final Fantasy V on the SNES in North America, and he speculates on why the spell "Holy" might've been changed to "Pearl." Plus he talks about the difficulties of fitting a coherent English translation into the size constraints of a cartridge and the time constraints of the manufacturing process. Here's a taste:








More at the jump...

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

The rumors are true -- indeed we are opening a forum this weekend. In fact, it's open right now at www.playeronepodcast.com/forum. Go there, claim your username, and post away. It's got some very interesting community features to it and I'm curious to see how people are going to use it. If you have any trouble there's a forum for problems (of which there were many earlier today).

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

We are already looking into putting up a forum (though I am still not convinced it is necessary yet). So whoever's just hitting the MP3 file repeatedly thinking they can make it go faster, you can STOP. Please. It's not going to make it happen any faster. Besides, we can see that it's just one or two people hitting it repeatedly. Thanks for the support though!

For the rest of you, you might have seen the news from Nintendo Power's latest issue that Super Paper Mario is back on for the Wii and is coming out in April. That means Phil is teetering very close to being left behind in the Dead Pool pack. We'll be talking about that some more on next Monday's episode.

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.