1up.com - Games, Dammit!

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 an

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.