Achievement Junkie - Nelson and Natalie News

Is Mass Effect a sex simulator? What are the top 5 selling Xbox Live Arcade titles for 2007? How do you feel about people watching your gamerscore and gaming patterns online? These are just a few of the topics we discuss in this weeks episode. Tune in!

This is a quick update episode announcing our new site, Talking About Games! We talk about the launch of the new site, our new show schedule and what you can expect going forward. Visit us online at talkingaboutgames.com! We'll see you on the forums.

The upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title, Omega 5, is alive and Nelson is hooked on Kingdom of Fire: Circle of Doom. We also discuss the differences between 1st party, 2nd party and 3rd party game developers, and hold our first (and maybe last) debate ever. Our Achievement Junkie website will be getting an update and we share the news in this weeks show.

This week we talk about Conan and how it feels to play a beast of a man saving half naked women in bushes. You share your thoughts of Arcadian Warriors, Grip Shift and what character in a game you would most want to be. The Cranky Gamers deliver us some international news and how they feel about movies on the marketplace.

What do naked painted ladies and video games have to do with each other? We get the scoop on some behind the scenes action at the Spike TV Video Game Awards. And talk about the winners, including Bioshock being chosen as the best video game of the year.

Achievement Junkie is back! We'll discuss this weeks release of the Xbox 360 dashboard update and talk about what you think of including sexual content in games. Nelson's dad makes a special appearance and find out how you can win your very own copy of Rock Band.

This week we celebrate Nelson hitting 10K gamerscore points, the release of the Xbox 360 Arcade and find out if you would purchase a re-release of a video game with commentary. We top it all off with an interview with Chris Miller from Vivendi games who gives us the 411 on their upcoming title Time Shift.

This week Natalie tries to stump Nelson with classic video game trivia. We discuss what Nelson does behind the gold covered doors of Microsoft, and bring the Xcast and Married Gamers back to the show. We talk about your votes for this generation's classic games. We also discuss E4 (not the rapper E40).

If you're confused about the Orange Box, you should be, but we'll break it down with an Orange Box 101. We also delve into Puzzle Quest, along with the Maried Gamers and the Cranky Gamers UK. Finally, we find out how you think a non-gamer could be drawn into gaming. We also launch a new game giveaway.

This week, after losing one recording to the flashcard gremlins, we put aside our packing boxes and talked about PGR4 and Halo 3. The Married Gamers talked about the Xbox Live Arcade and Tetris Splash. We reflected on ways to get achievements in the game, and try to ignore the fish component. The Cranky Gamers UK talked about the Sex Pistols and Guitar Hero III. And we talked about the showdown between GHIII and Rockband.

Nelson returns from the Halo 3 launch event in Washington, and has stories to tell. We also get the word on boobs from the Cranky Gamers UK, and introduce a new sister show, The Married Gamers, to talk about the Xbox Live Arcade.

Halo 3, Halo 3, and Halo 3. Now that that is out of the way, this week deals heavily with the Halo 3 launch, and community interaction with the Cranky gamers and the Xcast. We talk about game literacy and how casual games can help us all. We also go over some new demos on the marketplace and the fact that Nintendo shut down a major part of their website.

The Halo 3 IMAX event leads to a silly rumor, and Nelson was there to see the truth. We spent some quality time with Spider-man: Friend or Foe, despite our clearly being too old for it. The Call of Duty 4 beta hits the UK, and we get the Cranky Gamers' view. The hosts of the XCast ask this week's Halo-related question. Find out what this episode has to do with naked dwarves and soccer shirts.

Natalie attended her first solo gaming event, checking out Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe and Bee Movie Game. Nelson started his first week with the Xbox community team and he shares his experiences with anyone willing to listen. The rumor of 23,000 banned Call of Duty players gets dealt with, and Master Chief gets waxed. Long episodes make our hearts weep, so don't get used to 26 minutes.

Mark Rein ticked off 360-devotees by explaining that bigger is bigger than smaller. Some of the games we talked about include: Callof Duty 4, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, Bioshock, Medal of Honor: Airborne, Hexic 2, Ecco the Dolphin and Track and Field. Various and sundry items were also talked about ad infinitum.