This week we interview Jess Lebow, Content Director for Flying Lab Software, about Pirates of the Burning Sea. This week, two games that came straight out of the student and independent scene made big splashes. The first was the Orange Box's Portal, born out of Digipen senior project Narbacular Drop. The other was Everyday Shooter, now available on the Playstation Network. Nintendo's Fall Conference was this week, and we learned that Super Smash Bros. Brawl was delayed (but with Sonic and Online coop), Mario Kart was delayed (but with motorcycles), and that DS demos are FINALLY coming to the Wii. Continuing the recent trend of buying out other developers, Electronic Arts bought both Bioware and Pandemic. Then we take a call about Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. There will be no LIVE show next week due to local performance commitments, but stay tuned for an interview segment on the podcast feed as usual.

This week's interview is with Joel DeYoung, producer of Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One: On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness at Hothead Games. We begin by discussing the growing Georgia game development scene thanks to attending the Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo (SIEGECON) this weekend - as well as discussing more the topic of "Are Games Art, and if so, which ones?" Microsoft and Bungie split up, and we tell you who got custody of the kids - as well as where Halo DS came from. The kings of satire and parody apparently hate it when they themselves get parodied. The Xbox 360 Arcade console is coming out for cheap. Not to be outdone, Sony announced a new PS3 that removes features like Backwards Compatibility. (This then spirals into a discussion about the 100-friend limit on Xbox Live, and yes, there IS a relation.) If you're flying in Japan, you can't use your DS or PSP - at all. Then we take a call about The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

Didja hear that the game with the big ring came out? We do, in fact, talk about it, because Bobby Blackwolf was lucky enough to be one of the 17 community bloggers and podcasters to be flown up to Redmond, Washington by Microsoft to play Halo 3 the day before its release. Some people enjoyed the game until they realized that Bungie jipped them out of 80 pixels...Is it really THAT big of a deal? We solve the mystery we began last week of the "don't kill us" voice in Jam Sessions. Activision acquires PGR4 and Geometry Wars developer Bizarre Creations - who is already ripping apart Project Gotham Racing 4, a series that Microsoft is committed to continuing within Microsoft Game Studios. Rock Band's price and release date has been announced - good timing or bad ripoff? This week we have an interview from PAX with Dave Grossman (Design Director) and Jonathan Sgro (Director of Production Technologies) at Telltale Games about Sam & Max: Season 2 and CSI: Hard Evidence. Then, we read emails about Lair's Reviewer's Guide and cursing in Worms 2: Open Warfare (they're such tards!) Then we take calls about Rock Band's drumset, Halo 3's resolution and framerate, Halo 3's overhypeness and overratedness, and Halo 3's enjoyment factor. This coming weekend we'll be attending the Southern Interactive Entertainment & Game Expo in Atlanta - if you're from the area and aspiring to be in the industry, this is the place to be!

Recorded the Saturday before a big game launch (can't remember which one), we have an interview with Sam Thompson at Sony Computer Entertainment America about Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. We give some early impressions on two Nintendo DS games, the first one being Drawn to Life. Then, we do a live demo of Jam Sessions, demonstrating it's strengths and weaknesses. The Tokyo Game Show was this past week, and one of the big announcements was Sony bringing rumble to the PS3. They're also pushing Home back to 2008, but they claim a "public beta" is coming in November or December. Nintendo revealed the online mode in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. A teenager thinks that Nintendo is calling people homophobic slurs on a game box. The BBFC has given a rating to Mass Effect which details the small sex scene in the game. Then we take a call about things to buy with a new Xbox 360. We end with some investigative work - is someone begging NOT to be killed when you play a specific chord in Jam Sessions? (Since the taping, we have learned the truth about the chord and will share it on the next show.)

It's a Saturday edition show that got extremely delayed in getting put up due to matters out of my control. This week's PAX interview is with Dan Teasdale, Senior Designer at Harmonix about Rock Band and the drum peripheral. A Gamestop manager enacts a "Games for Grades" policy and then gets suspended for enacting it. FASA Studios, the developers of Shadowrun, closed their doors much to nobody's surprise. (It then evolves into discussion about Halo 3's marketing campaign.) At their Pre-TGS conference, Microsoft announced that Rez, Ikaruga, and Braid are coming to Xbox Live Arcade. Gamerdad Andrew Bub suffered from a Heart Attack, and if you have anything to spare, please visit Gamerdad.com and support the family. Then Kropotkin calls in to discuss the PSP Cheap...I mean the PSP Slim. And then we take a call about Jam Sessions and Drawn to Life - two DS games that will be discussed on the next show once Gamefly delivers them. The next show will also be on a Saturday due to travel commitments.