1UP.com - Games, Dammit!

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.