In this era of social games and cheap iOS apps, do dedicated portable systems like Vita and 3DS stand a fighting chance? Jeremy, Jose, and Matt discuss.

Jeremy, Bob, and Jose reconvene in the studio to field listener write-ins about the year ahead. Eventually, Thierry wanders in and every shares their own aspirations for 2012. It's an episode brimming with expectation! And stuff.

Jeremy, Bob, and Jose reconvene in the studio to field listener write-ins about the year ahead. Eventually, Thierry wanders in and every shares their own aspirations for 2012. It's an episode brimming with expectation! And stuff.

With 2011 about to be yanked off life support, your friendly neighborhood 1UP crew gathers to reflect on the year's rad haps. And the bad ones, too. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you (or talk at you) in the new year.

In this mercifully brief episode, Jeremy Parish, Matt Leone, and Thierry Nguyen go free-form to discuss holiday gaming memories and realize they have none. Well, except for a really heartbreaking one belonging to Matt.

Game music! What's up with that? Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and Marty Sliva do their best Seinfeld routines while discussing the past, present, and future (OK, just the past and present) of the medium. Genre. Whatever. P.S., if you hate hearing music in podcasts, you should probably just hit "delete" now.

In light of this year's glut of sequels and three-peats, Jeremy Parish wonders aloud if creativity in game design is dead. Then Thierry Nguyen and Ryan Winterhalter tell him why he's dumb for an hour.

Jeremy Parish, Jose Otero, and Bob Mackey discuss their mixed feelings on the latest Legend of Zelda, the role and expectations of reviewers and readers, Nintendo's challenges, and the madness of iterative sequels.

Jeremy Parish, Thierry Nguyen, and Marty Sliva shatter the Internet chat paradigm by talking about the good and bad of Assassin's Creed instead of Skyrim. Daring! Specific talk about Revelations is balanced by general franchise contemplation.

Our Friday podcast gets a reset with this week's episode. Jeremy Parish, Thierry Nguyen, and Ryan Winterhalter dive into the mechanics, lore, and history of Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls.

Ryan Winterhalter kicks Matt out of his usual seat to regale Thierry and Jose with tales of The Old Republic. Meanwhile, Jeremy's back from NYCC but keeps talking about food instead of Skyrim like he promised.

Jose Otero slips into the hosting chair this week and is joined by Bob Mackey, Matt Leone, and Mike Nelson. Get ready for 90 minutes of games and news discussions ranging from Forza 4 to Ghost Trick, and bid farewell to a 1UP veteran.

Jeremy Parish, Thierry Nguyen, Jose Otero, and Bob Mackey discuss junket food, Evangelion, and prison survival in this riveting episode. Also, there's some stuff about Dark Souls and PS Vita or whatever.

Jose Otero returns from Las Vegas to bring Matt Leone and Thierry Nguyen the lowdown on EA's Syndicate reboot, while a still-jetlagged Jeremy Parish struggles to stay awake long enough to discuss his 8-hour session with the latest Legend of Zelda.

Tokyo Game Show! It happened. It made our host very sleepy from jet lag. And by golly, we talked about it, from Monster Hunter to Mommy Tummy.

To those that said this day would never come. What are they to say now? Since team 1UP Japan couldn't record a Games, Dammit! from the Tokyo city streets, Jose Otero, Bob Mackey, Mike Nelson, and Marty Sliva rush to the scene to discuss a bunch of stories from TGS 2011. Topic include: Resident Evil 6 (and a bit of RE4 HD talk), Frankenstick and the list of games that support it, Steel Battallion: Heavy Armor and how it won't let you slap women, Halo CE Anniversary Kinect support, the top 10 trailers to come out of TGS, Vita Battery life, Project Draco, and your reactions and comments.

Welcome to the "Let's Bring Back The 1UP Tradition of Drinking During a Podcast" episode. Scooter, Matt, Jose, and Bob knock back some beers while talking about games like: Dead Island, Star Fox 64 3D, Rise of Nightmares, Crimson Alliance, BloodRayne Betrayal, Leedmees, and Resistance 3. There's also lots of random digressions in-between games, which is how this podcast is 96 minutes of nonsense.

Jeremy is out being a boss, so that leave Scooter, Matt, Jose, and Bob Mackey left to talk about such things as: The OC, Spelunky, Persona, counting the hours we spent playing games, Rise of Nightmares, Kinect gaming in general, Jose feeding Matt a hamburger, rampant misogyny, and Labor Day weekend plans.

With Jeremy away at PAX, Ryan takes over to chat with Mike Nelson, Matt Leone and IGN's Destin Legarie about Gamestop's Deus Ex/OnLive debacle, Wing Commander, the delay of Kinect Star Wars, Steve Jobs' resignation, and the 20th anniversary of the SNES.

A week of dreary gaming news deserves a deary podcast! After talking about delicious food for a moment, we delve into the hard times that have befallen Nintendo, THQ, and Team Bondi lately. A little Descendents of Erdrick music helps pep things up, tho.

The guard shifts this week, as Jeremy takes over hosting duties for Games, Dammit. Since Jeremy was too busy being in meetings, he didn't prepare show notes, so he, Scooter, Jose Otero, and Ryan Winterhalter talk about a bunch of random stuff. Here's a list to illustrate how off-topic this episode gets: Mario Kart 7, a hypothetical Star Dracula Kart, PlayStation Vita and a Black Eyed Pea, the big stick robbery, "Rage guy", James Bond, Superman, Yuji Naka's fishing game, Japanese vacation games, incompetent Ziff-Davis executives, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online, the FFV Four Job Fiesta, FF Tactics for iOS, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Tune in next week for either normal games podcasting or more off-topic shenanigans.

Besides the sudden 3DS price drop, it's been a bit of a slow news week. So we decided to pretty much throw most of the main editorial staff into the podcast studio for this episode. Our roster this week includes Scooter, Jeremy, Matt, and Ryan; then Jose and Bob bring a special guest from 1UP's past into the studio for a seven man podcastravaganza. Stuff we talk about include the aforementioned price drop, Aliens: Infestation, Catherine, Ghost Trick, MGS 3 Snake Eater 3DS, and how amazingly racist we all are. Also, we get special live demos of Groove Coaster and Jubeat. Until next week!

It's San Diego Comic-Con, so naturally we talk about...E3! With Jeremy out at SDCC, and Jose and Bob on Mario Kart duty this week's lineup is Scooter, Matt, Ryan, and Cheats intern Marty Sliva (who sounds like Andrew Pfister to us). We talk about all the fighting game news, professional conduct during E3 interviews, Star Fox 64 3D's water effects, water and beaches in games, and how we personally don't pay attention to ESRB ratings. Enjoy!

On this week's Dammit, we start off tackling such topics as Netflix on 3DS, Call of Duty Elite and XP, EA purchasing Popcap, strategy games in regards to XCOM, television depictions of video games, and the heady issue of proper crediting (focused on LA Noire). Games-wise, we chat a bit about older Zelda titles, Deus Ex Human Revolution, LA Noire, and what Matt Leone would change about Bayonetta. We then answer reader queries about our feelings on QTEs, the supposed resurgence of 2D games, "what's the deal with Japan," and the Xbox Live Summer of Arcade lineup. Also, Bob Mackey repeatedly pushes his Marxist agenda onto both the podcast crew and the games industry as a whole (when he's not discussing "the week of hedgehogs").

This week, we talk about the brief highs, and the many lows, of EA Studio Showcase (where does Burnout Crash fit in?!?!?). Games-wise, we chat up more BioShock Infinite now that EVERYONE has seen it, some Journey, and hit upon the newly revealed Dishonored. Then, we feel the curse of being part of a big company with a lot of podcasts, as just when we’re about to do voicemails and reader questions, we get kicked off due to another podcast needing the studio. DOH.

It’s our first week in the IGN office! This show sounds a bit wonkier than usual, tech-wise, because we’re using the IGN podcast setup -- in fact, it has more chairs, so we had 1UP features duder Bob Mackey sit in too. At some point, we will have things fixed. Until then, oh well! That doesn’t stop us from talking about Jeremy’s promotion to 1UP Editor-in-Chief and his overall goal for the site, the Supreme Court decision, the truth behind Bungie Aerospace, Call of Duty XP and Respawn Entertainment’s site launch, and even some news about Tactics Ogre’s Yasumi Matsuno and Ubisoft’s I Am Alive! We also talk a bit about Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, the Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta, and Deus Ex Human Revolution. Have a great July 4 weekend, and do the homework that Jeremy assigns!

The end of an era! Sorta! We're moving to IGN offices next week, so this is the last episode in the "1UP Admiral's Club." In it, we talk about gaming's love of celebrations (specifically Sonic, Quake, and Bungie), Jeff Green's return to EA (via the rumored Popcap purchase), how Gaikai and Wal-Mart have a nifty demo system, Kinect ads and Halo Anniversary support, and the weird "celebrity" appearances in the Duke Nukem Forever multiplayer trailer. Plus, we chat about Shadows of the Damned and discuss a listener's query about the appropriateness of attacking NYC in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Finally, while there is no official sponsorship, you'll agree that this episode should have been endorsed by Cake Boss. Until the first podcast from the IGN office!

Before jumping into more Wii U and E3 discussion, Scooter, Matt, Jose, and Jeremy talk about that whole Duke Nukem Forever release-plus-negative-review deal this week. Then we properly continue the E3-centric podcast discussion that we kinda-sorta started last week. More ruminations about the Wii U, a random tangent about Ghost Recon Future Soldier, some Star Trek, the preponderance of QTEs in modern games, and even more Ninja Gaiden 3. Plus, we rank the "take something from the big screen and put it on the small screen" methods of Transfarring, Wii U, and PS3-to-Vita. We'll resume with text and voicemail questions next week -- enjoy!

Wait, this episode of Games, Dammit! is either a little too early, or way late. Either way, it's also short. We (meaning Scooter, Matt, Jeremy, and Jose) recorded this right after our last appointment(s) at E3, and before taking off for a staff dinner. So it's 26 minutes of raw, in-the-moment E3 discussion. What we liked at the show, what we wanted more of, and most importantly: why Jose likes Ninja Gaiden 3 while Matt doesn't. Stay tuned later this week for a full E3 decompression/discussion episode.

This was supposed to go up right on Tuesday noon Pacific. But some technical issues cropped up and we end up not able to post this until E3 is over. So even though E3 passed, we recorded this before heading down to LA and thus really don't know what happened in the (now past) press conferences. Pretend this came out a few days ago, and get psyched for our full E3 blowout podcast next week.

Matt and Scooter return from Pre-E3/Judges Week to talk about games with Tina and Jose. We talk a lot about Modern Warfare 3 and BioShock Infinite, while also touching on titles like Bastion, Renegade Ops, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Ghost Recon Online, and more. We also talk about our favorite quotes from videogames, running speeds in FPS games, and a whole lot of inside-the-sausage-factory style stuff about reviews. Also, the random Inception noise comes up because we didn't want to name a specific company during one discussion. Until next week!

With Scooter and Matt out, it falls to Jeremy Parish, Jose Otero, Tina Sanchez, and Mike Nelson to stoke the home fires. The time has come to talk of many things: PSN, Modern Warfare 3, a new 1UP project... and, of course, sealing wax and kings.

Besides talking a bit more about the PSN outage, we hit games like Starhawk, Dragon Quest Anniversary, Soulcalibur V, Dark Souls, Ocarina of Time 3D, Dark Souls, and even Cars 2. Questions-wise, we answer voicemails about PSN and game updates, our own weird retail experiences, and get further digressed with Ranma 1/2 and chicken paprikash. Then we tackle some text questions about mute protagonists in FPS games, the nature of open-world games, games we wanted to play but couldn't, and game trades.

Welcome to "IGN Dammit!" Kinda. In response to this week's big news, we had Scooter, Jeremy, Matt, and Sam sit down and gab a bit about games like Portal 2, Dragon Quest VI, Outland, and Guardian Heroes. Then we finally get around to the whole IGN acquiring 1UP topic, along with some live call-in questions. Listen for guest stars like new co-worker Greg Miller, former co-worker Alan Johnson, and former-but-now-new-again-co-worker Mike Cruz. Also, Ballsrog makes an appearance! Then Tina sits in for Sam as we talk some more about the future of 1UP.

Welcome to the split episode this week! In the first half of this podcast, Scooter, Matt Leone, Jeremy Parish, and Jose Otero talk about the whole Sony PSN debacle, a random story about Beyonce cancelling a game, and more ruminations about Nintendo's Project Café. Games-wise, we talk about Driver: San Francisco, Dead or Alive 3DS, Square Enix remakes, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution's version of a hyper-competent and powerful FEMA. After answering some questions about chicken'n'waffles and console generations, we switch to the second half, the Portal-cast with Scooter, Jose, Tina Sanchez, and Mike Nelson. That latter half is an hour full of Portal 2 spoilers and random free associations. And Portal 2 voice samples. Enjoy!

If the previous episode was All About Frank Cifaldi Because He's Leaving, then today is All About Jeremy Parish Because He's Back. With most of the games and question/answer stuff being taken care of with the Monday episode, we have a shorter (about an hour) chat about stuff like 1UP E3 Blogger Contest, Sony's woes of late, and Jeremy's take on the rumored Nintendo system. We also talk a bit about Mega Man Legends 3: Prototype, Super Mario 3DS, and the Law & Order embargo. All that, plus a random segment about television, and a perplexed Retronauts call-in. Leave us a message at 415-547-8713, and join our long spoiler-filled Portal 2 discussion next week!

It's the life and times of Frank Cifaldi-cast! This week, Scooter, Matt, and Tina (Jeremy is somewhere in southern California) bid a fond adieu to Frank, as he goes freelance. Games-wise, we chat about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Prey 2, Sonic Generations, Rage, Uncharted 3, and a lightning-round style rundown of a whole bunch of other games. Then we answer questions about franchise makeovers, seasonal gaming, shocking moments, and our personal job histories. Then we cry some more about Frank. G'bye Frank!

Frank is taking the day off, so the Games, Dammit! foursome consists of Thierry Nguyen, Matt Leone, Jeremy Parish, and his subordinate, Tina Sanchez. This week, we talk about the rash of cancellations, the pronunciation of "Weinstein," and lawsuits. Games-wise, we chat about "Halo Dance Central," educate Tina about Choplifter HD, let Jeremy espouse about Monster Tale and Grand Knights History, and figure out what other Caucasian developers have made a Resident Evil game. Questions we tackle include ones about licensed music in games, the overexposure of Kevin Butler, the Street Fighter 2 control scheme, and a bizarre apology that Jeremy doesn't understand. Also, we ask for people to call us and sing songs. Enjoy!

With Jeremy out working on our big Nintendo 3DS scorecard, we rope in 1UP community manager Tina Sanchez as our Jeremy-for-the-week. We chat about the upcoming 3DS launch and some of its games, the GBA's anniversary, and Resident Evil's anniversary. Other game-talk include Duke Nukem, Crank the Weasel, and the next David Cage game. Questions-wise, we talk about gaming-related injuries, Catherine coming to the U.S., and some book recommendations. Oh yea, and we call this the "Sworcery-cast" because we get Matt Leone to talk about how Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery EP.

The usual Games Dammit crew has been re-assembled for full Podcast Voltron goodness. This week, we let Frank and Jeremy regale us with their PAX East highlight (hint, it's food), and we talk about stuff like Doug Church going to Valve, the rumored NGP price point, the power of Metacritic, and the Nintendo 3DS tether girls. Games-wise, we talk up Fallen Frontier, Batman Arkham City, Thor, Captain America, X-Men Destiny, and Prey 2. Also, the whole time, Jeremy plays Pilotwings Resort for review. Enjoy!

Okay, you want games? We got games. With Jeremy and Frank out at PAX East, we wrangle Justin Haywald and Mike Cruz into the studio to talk about nothing but games (and nonsense). No news items or voicemail questions this time -- we talk about: Dead Island, El Shaddai, Uncharted 3, Mortal Kombat, Shoot Many Robots, Shadows of the Damned, Darkness 2, Alice: Madness Returns, Hawken, Trenched, and more (that was only half the list, listen for the rest!). We still get sidetracked along the way, but seriously, this time, it's about games, dammit.

In part one of our GDC Special Series, Dammit, the Table of Four features Thierry Nguyen, Matt Leone, Justin Haywald, and special guest Peter Molyneux. We chat about his own gaming habits, and what's been going on at the Game Developer's Conference so far. It's a quick 45-minute show, but we blaze through such topics as the iPad 2, the Nintendo keynote (and its accompanying announcements about Netflix, Mario, and Zelda), Yu Suzuki's career, The Last Guardian, inFamous 2, and Battlefield 3. Oh, and Molyneux occasionally makes fun of Justin. Thanks, and stay tuned for some other quick episodes featuring other guests!

With Scooter showing the downside of having children and shivering under the covers like a tired soup-craving old man, Frank takes the reins with guest Tina Sanchez to talk about Microsoft's pre-GDC press event featuring such games as Batman: Arkham City, Child of Eden, The Gunstringer, and Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster. Then we cover the Battlefield and Skyrim trailers, and think all the way back to last week when we saw Telltale's Jurassic Park. Then Frank talks about sandwiches.

The Games, Dammit foursome are reunited now that Matt Leone and Scooter are back from Las Vegas. Topics for the week include follow-through from the Duke Nukem Titty City discussion, the Dead Island trailer that everyone else talks about, the Smithsonian's game exhibit (and how Frank and Scooter ended up being on the advisory board for a different museum), the fame of Felicia Day, Double Fine's Once Upon A Monster, and the non-development of Mirror's Edge 2. Then we tackle questions about the review process, whether we want to truly see Mass Effect's Tali unmasked, and what sci-fi books would make good adventure games. Also, we briefly break an embargo, but rather than delete the conversation altogether, we edited it to feature dinosaurs in its place. Enjoy until next week!

Special guest Tim Rogers fills in for Matt and Scooter as Frank and Jeremy run the show and try not to break anything. Tim brought cookies but don't worry: they're chewy, you don't have to hear us crunching. Topics include: which real-world cities have the best level design, the sad state of nothingbut.net, and videogames.

We welcome back Matt Leone and get him to deliver some final details on his experience with the Sony NGP (and how Japanese KFCs have a "Krusher" beverage). After that, we talk a bit about Namco's announcements -- ranging from the new Dark Souls and Armored Core titles to the role of the Power Rangers and whether "Unbounded" is a word. Afterwards, we deliver some thoughts on whether we should attend "Duke Nukem's Titty City" next week. Other topics include the new zombie MMO Class3/Class4 from Undead Labs and Microsoft, the rise of Hiphopgamer, a passionate (and lyrical) defense of Gamefan, the price of downloadable versions of retail games, and why Call of Duty isn't like Meet The Fokkers. Because of so many events and things, the show is a bit shorter, and we still haven't figured out what's going on next week due to the DICE Summit, but until we get our act together, keep listening!

For this week, since Matt Leone is out in Japan, we invite Reviews Editor Justin Haywald to be his stand-in. Despite the one guy who saw and played with the Sony NGP not being present, we still manage to talk some thirty-odd minutes about Sony's new portable, and how it's a miracle that no one else had done a rear-facing touchpad before. Besides the NGP, other topics include: comic books we recommend, racial diversity in videogames, our memories of the Atari Lynx, more storytelling in games, the trouble with doors, and violence in games. Oh, and we finally declare the end of the Elevator Action joke, so don't leave any more messages on that topic. If you wanted one hour and forty minutes of lovable nonsense, this is the episode for you!

It's Nintendo 3DS madness this week, as we get Jeremy to dish out a whole lotta details about the Nintendo 3DS event in New York City earlier this week. We also talk up rumors about a Walking Dead game, a pair of twos (Portal and Final Fantasy XIII), and Frank delivers his final thoughts on Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money. We go through even more Elevator Action calls, and answer questions about how we do list features, how to vote with your dollar, the fate of Daily 1Update, storytelling in games, and more. Oh yea, and we have a totally different "cold open" for this show -- so yes, Frank just rambling on in the beginning is what you're supposed to hear. And yes, we even talk about food for quite a while.

It's the return of the traditional Games, Dammit! crew! Since Frank Cifaldi rejoins Scooter, Matt, and Jeremy in the studio and we all talk about Fallout: New Vegas' Dead Money DLC, Swarm, our musings about CES and Nintendo World, and the PSP2 (along with its "feel-y nipples"). Questions-wise, we tackle topics such as handholding in games, horseriding in Red Dead Redemption versus sailing in Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, a special boardgame from Brenda Braithwaite, M-rated sports games, and way too many voicemails about Elevator Action. Frank gives a special shoutout to the excellent video series Chrontendo, and we even conduct a live conversation with special guest/Oddcast contributor BallsRog. Enjoy!

What happens when one podcaster goes to CES, you have a new office with a podcast studio that lacks headphones, and you bring in guests from Double Fine? You get this Work-In-Progress-Sounding version of "Games, Dammit!" for the first week of 2011! Subbing in for Frank Cifaldi, we invited Tim Schafer (studio founder) and Lee Petty (project director) from Double Fine to sit and jabber with us. As a result, we have about an hour-and-a-half's hour of talk about games like Minotaur Rescue, Enslaved, Limbo, Dead Space 2, Heavy Rain, and, of course, Double Fine's Stacking. We also have Tim and Lee tackle questions about writing, the funniest thing that's happened to them, and CES memories. Unfortunately, as we recorded this without headphones (still setting up our new office space), we didn't know how our podcast actually sounded until post-production. So unfortunately, while you can get the essence of jokes about Weekend At Bernie's and how it relates to games, the definition of a "scotch nipple," or Lee's office antics at previous studios he's worked at, the reality is that sometimes, we all fade in and out of the podcast depending on how close we're leaning towards the microphone while talking. Oops. Our sincerest apologies for our un-optimal setup this week, enjoy what you can, and we'll have the podcast studio finalized and kinks ironed out for next week.

It's a Games, Dammit! holiday miracle! We start out thinking that because we're recording early in a short week before heading out for the holidays, that we'd have a short show, but nope, we still fill your ears with nonsense for nearly two hours. Games-wise, we talk about Stacking and Back to the Future -- in addition to each cast member detailing his personal Game of the Year (and the one 2011 he's looking forward to). You also learn that Scooter has a frankly irrational association with the number 12. Besides that, we tackle listener questions about elevator action pitches, time travel paradoxes, whether a game can address a heady issue like the Holocaust, and what is worth a dollar nowadays. And just like your uncle who keeps on ranting long after he's no longer relevant to your conversation, we close out the year by reminiscing about our Ziff-Davis days for way too long. Happy holidays,and we'll be back in 2011!

Nearly two hours of lovable nonsense this week! Games-wise, we chat a bit about Killzone 3, Intellivision Lives, and Jeremy's disappointment with Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary Limited Edition. Plus, we learn all about the Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer game via Amazon reviews (and Frank also attempts to buy Rudolph on-air), and Jeremy and Frank discuss the merits of the original TRON movie. After a very magical appearance from a "special guest," we get into listener queries about seasonal games, gaming guilty pleasures, elevator action, the state of survival horror games, Europeans and embargoes, and how Jeremy can play Vagrant Story on his PSP. All this, and a special offer from one Jeremy Parish to one lucky listener.

Frank Cifaldi's absence doesn't affect our ability to talk about games, dammit! With a quick substitution of Justin Haywald, we blaze though a somewhat games-packed, with talk about Journey, Uncharted 3, Tomb Raider, Catherine, Final Fantasy XIV, Demon's Souls, and Ni No Kuni (Another World -- which Justin and Jeremy go absolutely nuts over). We tackle questions about the disparity between preview and review coverage, our opinion on videogame music concerts, foreign boxarts, and our favorite JRPGs. All this, plus lots of lovable nonsense such as how much we hate the movie Eat Pray Love or what kind of concerts Matt Leone would attend.

Just because most of the big blockbuster titles have shipped doesn't mean there's not enough lovable nonsense to podcast about this week. The big thing occupying our minds is our imminent office move, and how our prepwork for said mode has unearthed some awesome treasure from the glory days of print magazines. Games-wise, we talk up Darkstar (and how it features, in Frank's words, "the memory of handsome"), Infinity Blade, Binary Domain, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, and even more Splatterhouse. Then we chat a bit about Matt's venture to Los Angeles, and our digressions include going from Uncharted to Lethal Weapon, and whether or not there's a massage in Punch-Out!! Questions lead to topics like: NES-era difficulty, why Xbox Live Indies aren't in all countries, how Mass Effect is like Grindhouse, Game of the Year nominations, and how Scooter handles gaming with his kids.

It's a Games, Dammit! Thanksgiving/Black Friday special! Well, we talk a bit about our sad lives, Thanksgiving plans, and gaming backlogs. Other topics include the casting of Marky Mark in Uncharted, and how Frank still plays OnLive. If you just want games, we talk up Disney Epic Mickey, Stacking, and Splatterhouse. Finally, we answer listener questions about embargoes, RSS feeds, and holiday release schedules. Enjoy Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

Welcome to Version 2.0 of our first official episode as "Games, Dammit!" Due to a combination of user error, technical non-know-how, and Jeremy leaving for vacation, this week's episode is at 75% strength with Scooter, Matt, and Frank. There will be lots of references to the "lost" version of this episode (which sounded like Matt and Scooter talking to a mute Jeremy while Frank weaves in and out of the show depending on his excitement and volume), but overall, we cover the same ground. We talk up OnLive, Shenmue City, L.A. Noire, and the goodness of Desert Bus. For reader questions, we discuss plagiarism, why you shouldn't drive and talk at the same time, and the Spike VGAs (don't say "Spike VGA Awards"). Until next week!

Welcome to the podcast formerly known as In This Thread/4 Guys 1UP/1UP Yours, and now currently being called either "Burger Time" or "USS 1UP Flagship Podcast." For this pilot episode of an all-new podcast, we have Thierry "Scooter" Nguyen on host/showrunning duties along with a ragtag band of fellows such as Frank Cifaldi, Matt Leone, and Jeremy Parish. If there's one way to summarize this episode, it'd be, "lovable nonsense interspersed with some game commentary." Sure, we lay down the basic ideas and format for this podcast moving forward, and we do talk about games like L.A. Noire, Fallout: New Vegas, Solatorobo, Final Fantasy Tactics, and numerous announcements such as new titles from EA and a new Super Monkey Ball. But then we frequently get sidetracked by things such as poetry from the past, the brief loss and rebirth of red M and Ms, our feelings about Gamefan, our advice for covering arcade expos, and just for you, an aural unboxing of some upcoming hardware. All this, plus a plea for reader input and a possible name for next week's episode.

Warren Spector joins Frank and Mike in the studio to discuss Epic Mickey, bringing back Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and classic cartoons. Also, what's this about Spector wanting to do a DuckTales game?

Another busy weeks leads to a shortened lineup -- only Justin and Matt join Ray, but there's still plenty to talk about. Ray's been playing Game Dev Story and the "new" Time Crisis, and news deals with Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright's team-up, the far-outness of the new Command and Conquer, and Billy Joel in Rock Band, for starters. Plus, what makes a beard "pop?" The answer may surprise you. All this and more.

Ray, Matt, Justin and Alice hit the ground running in this uncharacterist morning taping of In This Thread. Impressions of Rock Band 3 lead the show, along with a bittersweet judgment on Sonic the Hedgehog 4. In News, it's the officially-official retail release of NBA Jam on the HD consoles, Mega Man Legends 3, Grashopper's new hires, OutRun's upcoming disappearance from XBLA, DOTA 2, and a few more bits. Then it's back into games with Alice's views on Kirby's Epic Yarn, and another round of post-release thoughts on Sengoku Basara. Rousing, you might say. And... you may be right.

In this special one-off edition of In This Thread, we talk to Eric Chahi and Guillame Brunier about From Dust, their upcoming simulation game on the way from Ubisoft. Chahi was also the creator of the groundbreaking action-adventure Another World (Out of This World), as well as the 1998 platformer Heart of Darkness. We discuss those early days with Chahi, as well.

Ray gets Matt, Justin and Scooter in the studio on a rare Hump Day recording, and things start with post-release discussion of EA's NBA Jam (and its price), playing Black Ops in 3D, a little more of Kirby's Epic Yarn, and Ubisoft's Kinect fighting game. In news, it's the weirdness surrounding Medal of Honor, an introduction to Panasonic's "Jungle" handheld, commentary on games from Guillermo del Toro, and the value of Hollywood partnerships with Ken Levine. Plus, Justin teaches Matt how to pronounce Japanese words.

Lots to talk about this week, starting with the Nintendo 3DS press conference update, where we go over the system's features before its launch next year; some light mudslinging from Bobby Kotick and EA; NBA Elite's delay and NBA Jam's new life; and in the second half, an honest-to-god discussion about new games we've played, including Ubisoft's Outland, From Dust, and more; Castlevania Lords of Shadow; Enslaved, and we forget what color taupe is.

The thread is packed to the gills this week, as we open with TGS leftovers, Who's Beaten the Donkey Kong High Score This Week, the Michael Jackson MMO, Billy Blanks' Wii game, the iffiness of GOG.com's death and return, Netflix in Canada, and tangents, tangents, tangents!

It's the big ol' Tokyo Game Show roundup with Ray, Scooter, Justin, and briefly, Alice. We go over Ray's big 3 "whats" (or "WTFs"): Yakuza, DmC, and Steel Battalion. Every other big announcement is talked about, too, including but not limited to Microsoft's hardcore Kinect games, The Last Guardian, Shadows of the Damned, Phantasy Star Online 2, and at the end, non-TGS impressions of Pac-Man Championship Edition DX and Kirby's Epic Yarn. "Epic yarn" might be a good name for this episode, too.

Ray welcomes Matt Leone and Justin Haywald back to the office following their respective road trips, and gets right into the news with both of them. Discussions include Duke Nukem Forever, the also-long-awaited MST3K-infused Darkstar, Stardock's layoffs, PS3 "jailbreaking," the sequel to Dissidia Final Fantasy, Noby Noby Boy's creator stepping away from the industry, and, you know... more!

The bulk of the 1UP staff is gone this weekend, but Ray still pulls in Scooter and Scott Sharkey for this week's roundup. There's much to be discussed about subjects such as the possible StarCraft and BioShock movies (and many others), the new Xbox 360 controller, Nintendo's Mario All-Stars revival, plus new impressions of Call of Duty Black Ops and Sony's Move launch games.

The news runs a somewhat typical gamut this week, from annoucements (DeathSpank 2), delays (FF XIV) and cancellations (This is Vegas), to more heady stuff about downloadable content, Portal in the classroom, and theorizing about the next Yakuza game. Scooter Nguyen and Jeremy Parish join Ray, along with special guest Aram Jabbari, PR manager at Atlus USA, who also lends insight to the discussion about Capcom trying to prevent PR disasters earlier and the pros/cons of digital distribution.

Gamescom news leads this week's show, as Ray, Matt, and Justin jet through the expo's various announcements, including Microsoft's new PC games, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance 3, Virtua Tennis, and more, plus the heap of release dates for the next few months (Portal 2! Donkey Kong!), the weird new Atlus game Catherine, and at the end of it all, a good old-fashioned guessing game.

Ray's back, but the formalties are short as we jump right into the news, starting with, of course, BioShock Infinite! Then it's on to the *really* big news, you know, like Billy Mitchell reclaiming his top spots on Donkey Kong, the reveal of Double Fine's Costume Quest, the possible revival of Duke Nukem Forever, the alleged PSP phone, and the wacky toys Activision is packing in with Call of Duty. After all that, at1UP's Mike Cruz and Alan Johnson join in at the end and give us their own BioShock wish list.

Ray's still out, so Mike is back back on hosting duties. This week, Frank, Matt, and Mike are joined by Karl Stewart, Global Brand Manager at Crystal Dynamics (Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light). Gaming news is discussed and then the guys grill Karl a little bit about Lara Croft, and why Adam West isn't in Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Ray Barnholt has gone fishin', so manager Matt Leone has decided to call Mike Cruz out of the bullpen to man the mound. Frank Cifaldi leads off with a wrap-up of his Comic-Con adventures, Justin Haywald argues with the ump about What Games to Play Before You Die, and the whole team gets together in the dugout to talk about the news of the week. And what does this episode have to do with baseball? Absolutely nothing.

It's a healthy week of news roundups as Ray, Matt, Justin and Scooter go over EA's summer press event, including their announcements of Darkspore, Kingdoms of Amalur, and yes, even EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp. We also go over PC game sales ever so slightly becoming more digital, the probably-sure-bet of a Capcom Vs. Namco game, Guitar Hero getting excessive, and more stories, plus some of your comments.

It's a healthy mix of good and bad in this week's news roundup, with stories on cancellations, layoffs, people being called pricks, Double Fine's new projects, and obese hedgehogs. InstantAction CEO Louis Castle joins Ray, Matt, and Frank in discussing this week's topics, and his company's cloud gaming platform.

News takes up most of the attention this week, although one new and interesting game makes it in DeathSpank, with pre-release impressions from Matt and Scooter. Other than that, it's a roundup including PlayStation Move launch games, Kinect's possible standing-room-only, Activision's desired PC-based future, NBA Jam probably coming to the HD consoles, Mortal Kombat, Red Dead, and as always: So. Much. More.

A new name for an old show is the least of the discussion this week. Ray asks Jeremy Parish about Crackdown 2 (or at least the most he can talk about), Justin chimes in with impressions of Puzzle Agent and Lego Harry Potter, and the news hits everything from Roger Ebert to PlayStation Plus to weird in-game advertising.

It's been a nice week of post-E3 decompression for us. Ray, Justin, Matt and Frank take to the mics to give some final thoughts on this year's show. Key points include late impressions of Journey on PS3, thoughts on E3 as a whole and where it may be headed, perhaps even if it's going out of hand; and in the second half, a sort-of news segment that's mostly about Microsoft's as-yet-unconfirmed Kinect price, and how Sony and others are pricing their motion control options. Plus, the elusive 3DS "Pogo Cat."

We close out our E3 on-site series with a long, drawn-out, sometimes just plan tired rundown of some of the games we've seen and played in the last couple of days. Thrill as we explain our opinions of NBA Elite, NHL Slapshot, Child of Eden, Vanquish, Monkey Island 2 Special Edition, Batman The Brave and the Bold, DJ Hero on 3DS, and so much more. Special guest Alex Evans from MediaMolecule briefly joins Ray, Matt, and Alice, with news editor Frank Cifaldi hopping on for the final block.

Frank, Scooter, and Mike wrap up today's podcast coverage with special guest Warren Spector from Disney Interactive. The foursome discuss Epic Mickey, 3D gaming, and Mr. Spector's love of all things Disney.

Our E3 Day 2 coverage starts with -- what else? -- Nintendo's morning press conference, so we hit all the big points from that show, including but not limited to the unveiling of the 3DS. The Sony press conference was still going on as we were recording, so we keep most of the discussion brief, but there's still room to pontificate on the rest of E3's games and trends. Ken Levine from Irrational Games joins Ray, Matt and Scooter for this midday show.

Our first day of E3 coverage is focused on Microsoft, whose awe-inspiring (on many levels) events left us wondering if Natal -- now Kinect -- is really what it's cracked up to be. A lot more discussion of Microsoft's Monday press conference follows, including chatting about Metal Gear Solid Rising, Gears of War 3, and all the extra Kinect stuff in between, plus a short rundown at EA's press conference later that day. Special guest Shane Bettenhausen from Ignition Entertainment joins Ray, Matt and Scooter.

E3 is mere days away, but why should information take a break? We start with some iPhone 4 chat with Jeremy Parish, then move on to game talk with some final thoughts on Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, then preview talk with Rock Band 3, Spider-Man, and more. In news, it's been Mortal Kombat Week, but that's almost overshadowed (in our opinion) by Telltale's upcoming Jurassic Park and Back to the Future games, plus some more E3 bits, like Tomonobu Itagaki's new game, Yakuza 4, and rounding it out with some industry views from EA's John Riccitiello.

It's a big E3 preview show, in that we have a huge list of upcoming games and let you know about them. We open with news about some E3 rumors, Nintendo DS news, and new events in a couple of sports games. Then, we're into the big list of E3 games, dropping hints and regular speculation on virtually all of the publishers' titles, from Rock Band 3, Dead Space 2, PlayStation Move, Natal and 3DS, and so much more.

Ray, Matt Leone, Scooter and Sharkey break down the past week's big previews with Killzone 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and F3AR, among others, and then another huge rundown in the news segment, where we go over Insomniac joining forces with EA, Microsoft execs leaving, PlayStation Network rumors, Rock Band 3, and yes, even Sonic Colors.

This week, Alice Liang holds Frank Cifaldi, Justin Haywald, UGO's Tracey John, and you, the listener, hostage in the podcast room. The conversation starts innocently enough with Frank sharing this week's hot ticket news items, and then mysteriously wanders into the realm of erotic gaming. But sanity is restored with a quick chat about E3 wishes. And stick around for a bonus Alan Wake spoiler segment with 1UP's very own Alan (Johnson).

Don't call it a comeback! This week news editor Frank Cifaldi takes over and forces everyone to talk about the sudden resurgance of printed videogame magazines. Luckily he brings in some great guests to help out, including Game Informer editor in chief Andy "The Game Dandy" McNamara, Electronic Gaming Monthly senior editor Brady Fiechter, and GamePro's John Davison. Also: the latest games industry news with Sam and Jeremy, and an introduction to A.P.B. with Thierry and Sharkey.

This week, Ray Barnholt takes the helm, doing it "classic style" with just games and news. Jeremy Parish, Thierry Nguyen, and Justin Haywald join in to talk about Alan Wake, Fallout: New Vegas, Lost Planet 2, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and more, plus hitting up the week's standout stories including Nintendo's money problems (in a relative sense), a baseball gamer's money solutions, Assassin's Creed sequels, and so much more. "More" being lots of crass humor, of course.

We dig deep this week to find something, ANYTHING worth talking about that doesn't involve Activision or Bungie. Are our efforts in vain, or is there more to the games industry than the shenanigans of corporate juggernauts? A podcast thrillstravaganza!

Krome's Cameron Davis joins us for a big, meaty show dripping with juicy news. Respawn! Halo Reach! Warner! Captivate! iPad! And, uh, Martha Stewart? Weird. So, come! Subject yourself to the experience that can only be called... The Ugly Babycast.

A big, big week for news demands a big, big podcast. This episode we talk about PAX East, DSi XL, iPad, Ralph Baer, and Mario Galaxy 2. Plus, another GDC-era segment starring the fabulous Dylan Cuthbert!

With Jeremy out, Matt, Ray, Thierry, and Frank pull together a series of nontraditional segments, including a roundtable chat on Nintendo's 3DS, bite-sized interviews with consultant to the stars Mark Cerny and Enslaved's Tameem Antoniades, and a full-length discussion with Microsoft Game Studios' Peter Molyneux. Then to finish it off, they offer a few random facts about games like APB and Deus Ex Human Revolution.

With the departure of 4 Guys' host, the show shifts temporarily into low-key mode. Jeremy Parish, Matt Leone, Jade Kraus, and Mike Nelson discuss the week's news and releases, and David Cage and Stig Asmussen talk about Heavy Rain and God of War III.

No more drama. It's my final (new) 1UP podcast, and I invited a few friends to help me blow this mother out. Former cast mates, Garnett Lee, John Davison, Shane Bettenhausen, Andrew Pfister, and Mark MacDonald join me to talk about the DS2, PlayStation Move, Heavy Rain, God of War III, Final Fantasy XIII, Lara Croft, and more. Also hopping on the mic are N'Gai Croal, Christ Tilton, and Ryan Payton as we talk everything GDC: the rumors, the panels and the games.

This has been one of the most bizarre weeks for gaming news ever. First Playstation 3 systems started shutting down around the word, then all Hell started breaking loose around Infinity Ward and Activision. Now we have the official announcement that Portal 2 is coming this year. We break down all those stories plus first-hand look from Nintendo's press summit, first impressions of Shinji Mikami's new shooter Vanquish, and we're joined by the developer of Love to talk about how procedural design could change the way we make games. Finally stick around for the end of the podcast for a look forward to GDC and a very special announcement.

We're recording on the road once again. Joining us this week from Japan is John Riccardi and Mark MacDonald from 8-4, Shane Bettenhausen from Ignition Entertainment, and 1UP executive editor, Matt Leone. There's plenty to talk about this week with Nintendo's summer release announcements for Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid Other M. We also go a little further in talking about Nintendo's rumored new consoles along with what Sony can do to shore up their handheld division. Rounding things out we lament about the edits made to the US version of Yakuza 3, and we all gang up on Mark about the splendor of Heavy Rain.

Another week, another industry event. We're in Las Vegas for DICE, and we took the opportunity to invite some game insiders to talk about their experiences at the conference. Eat Sleep Play's David Jaffe and Insomniac's James Stevenson join us in the first segment to talk about OnLive, interacting with the people that play their games, and the difficulty in creating products that reach a wide audience. In part two of this two segment episode, the MANGOD himself, Shane Bettenhausen, sits down for a candid conversation about his first year working for publisher Ignition Entertainment. He also dishes some dirt about the rumored new handhelds from Nintendo and Sony and gives his initial impressions of Final Fantasy XIII.

With Microsoft inviting a whopping mass of devs and press alike into town this week, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to invite an old friend on to break down all the happenings. It also turned out to be a great chance to make some new friends by chatting up some the biggest names in game development. We chat with Peter Molyneux about his ongoing ambitions in game design, Bungie's Brian Jarrard and Marcus Lehto give us a tiny peak behind Halo Reach's curtain and Peter, James, and John tell us all about Crackdown 2. All this and much, much more. Enjoy!

It's not every week that a sequel get's announced 16 years after the last title. Since Sega decided to pull back the curtain on Sonic 4: Episode 1 it was the perfect time to bring Ray Barnholt and Jeremy Parish to talk about the significance of Sega adding that 4 to the title. Not to be outdone we also talk about the latest Fallout game, the ESRB getting a little too descriptive, and Grasshopper games adding some serious talent. In Whatcha been playin Ray talks about the recently released No More Heroes 2, Scooter talk Aliens vs. Predator, David explores his Russian side with Metro 2033 and Jeremy discusses the wonder that is a roguelike with Shiren the Wanderer.

Between the iPad and Monster Hunter Frontier port it's been a week filled with underwhelming announcements. That's ok because we've been playing plenty of games that will pick up the slack. While Sam and John talk about their hands-on experience with Apple new wundertablet, Scooter and David spent some quality time with Resident Evil 5's first DLC package and blew a bunch of stuff up in Split-Second. Then we round it out with our spoiler-free love in for Mass Effect 2. (Note: If you haven't played through Mass Effect 1 we spoil the hell out of that one.)

Last week Bioware's Casey Hudson was kind enough to drop by the studio to chat about Mass Effect 2. We decided to hang onto the episode until the game launched as there are a few bits of information are best heard after you've played through the opening of the game. During the conversation we talk about the process of creating Bioware's first true sequel in a long time, making changes based on consumer feedback, and creating a potentially controversial new DLC network.