Today is the day people. Are your thumbs ready? Did you do your exercises? Were you able to decide between the path of the Jedi or the Dark Side? I hope you have, because today is July 29th which means that Soul Calibur IV has hit the shelves.

To say that I am excited for the release of this game would be an understatement of gigantic proportions. I have missed playing a fighter worth the rental fee for over two years now. The last new release fighting title that I would even dare to put into the "good" category was DOA:4 which is now nearly 4 years old. Four years is way too long of a drought to suffer through, but I take solace in the fact that I am not alone in my misery.

Now before the naysayers and fanboys get up in arms, I know that there have been many versus games based on the Dragonball series, and they have not all sucked. In earnest, the Budokai series has some great gameplay going on in the game itself. That said, the Dragonball titles to me have never really felt like a fighter game title. They are a franchise that appeal to only an existing anime fan base that potentially game as well. The Budokai games have not been able to bridge the game and draw the casual gamer in to join their "legion of the loyal." In many cases, the exact opposite happened; people that would normal pick up every and every fighter title initially shied away from the title. So because DBZ:Budokai focuses on such a small piece of the market of the fighting genre I do not believe it fair to use it as a representation of the whole genre. If you don't like it, you can suck it.

You may say, "...Ninja? Didn't NamcoBandai release an SC title for the Wii? Wasn't that good?" My reply would be "Yes! And it sucked more wind than a brand new Dyson." [And the commercials for that thing say it never loses suction.] SC:Legends was a waste of time and money, and I'm sure NamcoBandai felt that way as well which is why it looks like they worked so hard in order to redeem the title's reputation. NamcoBandai press releases promise that,

"Soulcalibur IV has been retooled from the ground up to provide a true next generation experience."

And then go on to say,

"...the wages of battle are shown as protective armor can be broken off and visible lacerations of clothing can be seen with the inclusion of the equipment destruction feature. Adding depth to the unrivalled combat system, players can unleash Critical Finish moves to defeat opponents in one stunning blow."

The game sports an "improved" character creation mode that allows you to customize the hell out of an existing fighter or even create an original warrior. Oh yeah, it has online versus play as well.

Get thee to thou localist GameStoppery and pick this game up. SCIV is available on the PS3 [Dark Side, Vader style] and XBox 360 [Path of the Jedi].

You know the gamertag, let's star playing.

Finish What You Start...

If you ever sit and ponder on the idea of people of a young-ish age drinking, let this new episode of the ESH podcast be the proof you need to "just say nay!"

This week, MagicMystic returns and brings with her balance to the force while Panda and Ninja enjoy some adult juice before, during, and probably after the episode.

This episode starts with Ninja talking about the new XBLive Arcade title Go! Go! Break Steady that she keep calling "Go! Go! Beat Street" reports on some of the feelings around the industry about E3, and the hopefully triumphant return of the fighting genre on the back of Soul Calibur IV. Magic chimes in with her new found XBox-y goodness and general discovery of "the new" as she shares first impressions of her new XBox 360 Elite as well as latent desires for an XBLive account, and then Panda brings up the rear and talks about the anime and manga series, Full Metal Panic. The gals are back to normal and completely off topic as usual.

Here are some of the random things said during the show that could have been used as titles, but weren't:

• Wallmart, Baby Come Back!
• The Big "E" Is Big
• MagicMystic Is Back, And Out Of The Closet
• Jobless Wonder To The Rescue-ish
• It's Not The Size of Your GamerScore, But How You Use It
• You Don't Wanna Waste Your Bombs
• Don't Pay The Toll When 5-0's On Your Ass
• This Podcast Is Abridged
• and finally
• FUSION DANCE OF PAIN!

Hope you have a hot cup of coffee on hand, because you want to stay awake for this one folks. I give you, ESH podcast episode 107: Friends Don't Let Friends Drink & Podcast!

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Dear Bungie,

I read in Variety this week that you have had some disagreements with your previous owner Microsoft and that was why there was no Halo announcement at E3 this year.

I know it must be difficult after so many years kowtowing to the likes of Steve Ballmer, and if you think that maybe it's time for a little payback, I've got an idea on how to have a little vengeance against the Evil Empire.

Give Steve Jobs a call. I understand that it may be a little difficult to get in. Between drinking macrobiotic shakes and counting all that money coming in from WALL-E and emailing to pals on the next version of the iPhone, he's a little busy these days. Tell him you've got an idea.

First, tell him you've mended your ways. You're sorry you sold out to Microsoft all those years ago and took all those fun games away from the Mac. Then tell him you've got a way to kick the likes of Microsoft, HP, Dell and all those Asian computer makers right in the tail.

The Halo Mac.

The Halo Mac is not just a Macintosh with a bunch of decals on it. It's a Mac designed to play Halo. Take a MacBook Air and give it a multi-touch screen, like an iPhone. Just throw the controller away. You have everything you need, between the multi-touch screen and the keyboard.

Inside, put a processor capable of bringing out the best in Halo, along with a solid-state drive and the maximum amount of RAM possible.

And keep all the great capabilities of the MacBook intact. The 802.11n network is superior to anything on a console. Voice and video chat is built in -- not an add-on. In fact, you could share your screen with other players. You could even capture your screen play and turn it into Machinima with the free iMovie program on the Mac.

Imagine the possibilities of a Halo-player that is as light as a MacBook Air and just as useful. The Xbox 360 is OK, but you only move that hot plate when it Red-Rings-Of-Death.

[MacBook Air photo credit: Tim Malabuyo]

Finish What You Start...

Who doesn't like new podcast episode Monday? Productive people that's who. Let us help you start your week off on the unproductive tip with this episode of our podcast.

Sans MagicMystic yet again, the sistah's stick to the gaming topic covering both the new and upcoming starting with Panda's take on the game Project Origin and Ninja sharing some of what she was able to take away from the assorted E3 coverage.

From talking about the survival horror game genre to specific experiences with titles like Manhunt and Silent Hill to the thriller-chiller types including the "I don't think NinJa is ever going to finish it" BioShock game. Ninja talks God of War 3, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Portal 2, and Oneechanbura.

It's another one of our lively podcast episodes people, here are some of the titles we decided not to use to name it:

• Don't. Stop. Waitin' Fer RockBand 2, Yeah
• Who? Guess Who?
• Don't Sell Your Soul For Tic-Tacs
• The New Animal Crossing Lets Me Be Mii
• Kratos Makes Ninja's Gamer Boner Hard
• Kratos Was A Red-Headed Step Child
• Panda's Birthday Is Another 11 1/2 Months Away
• Killing Me Softly with Her Sword
• We Will. We Will...Flock Ewe
• Videogame Word of the Year: Booty
• E3 Didn't Want Me? Well, They're Not Invited to My Place Either
• We Have Nothing To Fear But the Sequel to Fear Itself
• This Guy's Full of Beans, and That Is a Bad Thing
• Don't Ever Attend a Zmbie Reunion
• and finally
• Brain Exlax, I Like that

If that hasn't told you everything you need to know about this week's podcast, then saddle up and give a listen to ESH podcast episode 106: Did I giggle That Outside Loud?

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When a Mommy RockBand and a Daddy RockBand love each other very much...

Hey Hey Hey...Pandalicious on the scene bringing you the goodness that is. Rock Band 2! Now I know what you are thinkging.... ::cues flashback wave things::

You: Panda....I know Rock Band is the hottest thing since pancakes on Saturday morning. But What makes this Rock band as awesome?

Panda: Well Let me tell you. First let me tell you about the new gameplay changes. Remember how when we wanted to play online through XBL (XBox Live) and you were still a noob and didn't know how to invite me. THEN when you finally managed to invite me we could only do quickplay songs and it was just hours of masss hysteria!

You: Yeah....

Panda: Well not anymore. There is a new mode in Rock Band 2, that allows us to make a band with not only our local rockers but with outside rockers on the XBL interwebs. You know what that means right?

You: You are never going to let me sleep?

Panda: That's right! The Gameplay is still the same though. Same color nodes. Same overall feeling of rockitude and swagger. There is still single player mode however it is now extended to a solo bassist! Thats right, so now the sexiest component to a Rock Band (IMO) gets their chance to rock out with their COCKS out. [Yes I said cock, deal with it]

You: What about for drumming? You know we all were exicted about being drum masters and realized that we all really sucked...

Panda: Speak for yourself ! However if you weren't like me who went back into the drumming tutorial to help train my foot better to use the kick pedal, there will be something called the "Beat Trainer" which will generate beats to help you hone your rocking skills.

You: Well Panda that sounds niffty and all but am I going to like the play list? Am I going to have to buy all the songs, load them to my iPod so I can learn them so I don't make an utter fool of myself when I come to your house?

Panda: Well...Let me tell you the ones that I'm looking forward to and if you a GIANT loser and haven't been following the coverage of E3...the internet will be your friend and check out places such as. IGN, joystiq and of course, us, DUH. If you are new to the interwebs you should try www.fuckinggoogleit.com [Just kidding, Wikipedia.org is a nice place to start]

In terms of the songs i'm looking forward to guitaring they are
1) American Woman~ The Guess Who
2) Down with the Sickeness~ Disturbed
3) Chop Suey- System of a Down
4) Lump~ Presidents of the United States of America

In terms of Singing...
1) Master Expolder~ Tenacious D [FUCK FUCK FUCK YES!]
2) Everlong~ Foo Fighters
3) Round and Round~ Ratt
4) White Wedding~ Billy Idol
5) My Own Worst Enemy- Lit

You: ....

Panda: I love our little interludes like this. I'm out of here!

But now seriously guys

Finish What You Start...

If you are an avid listener of our podcast or frequent visitor our site you know that the ESH crew is not in LA covering E3 on the ground this year. We are there in spirit though, and I am more than happy to share what I have surmised from the day one coverage of the media bru ha ha.

We kick off with Microsoft. From the land of online community comes the announcement of "Experience," the new online community framework that will be put into place on the XBox360 platform. Taking the hint from how successful the xbox.com community has been, "Experience" leans towards giving the user base a similar digital entertainment hub to that of MS counterpart/major competitor Sony with it's "Home" application. Through "Experience" users will have avatars that they create that can interact with each other over the internet, have access to an even broader base of electronic media entertainment [including the newly announced partner Netflix] and more.

On hand were the pre-requisite hype game trailers for both Gears of War 2 and Fable 2 [both of which make have many of us in the gaming community salivating at the mere thought of them] upcoming titles. I will have a gallery collection of my favorite E3 released trailers up later on this week. The XBox camp was also proud to announce that the new Final Fantasy XIII title will launch simultaneously on the XBox360 platform as well as the PS3 platform. A huge win for MS in the fight to end PS3 exclusivity dominance over the Final Fantasy franchise. [Try saying that three times fast.]

All in all MS tried to come out swinging at this event, making it known that that they are not afraid to jump into the brawl to be the best home entertainment system and not just gaming console. It's hard to not notice the trend towards a path of total digital media delivery package that the next gen systems seem to be moving toward. It is a road that competitors Sony and [to a degree] Nintendo have been marketing towards for well over a year now, but it still awaits to be seen if it is the predominant market for success here in the US.

We will just have to see what day two brings us tomorrow evening.

Finish What You Start...

It's Monday again, and it's time once more for a new episode of the ESH podcast.

I hope you guys and gals from the land of ESH had a happy and safe holiday weekend. I know I did, and I'm pretty sure that Panda did. Today we have another NinJa/Panda podcast episode where NinJa goes a bit in depth on the video game GRID and Panda shares some of her first impressions on the Diablo 3 announcement. It's a nearly all video game fun-packed episode, that you should totally pick up right now.

Don't believe me, here are some of the titles we decided not to use that came from the episode:

• Do You Question My Skills? (When don't I?)
• You Shouldn't Rape Your Tech They Can't Say "No."
• The Story of a Ninja Called Spanky
• ESHDog Cannot Be Controlled
• Lik eSands In an Hourglass, These Are The Races of Our Lives
• Ive Got Anal Leakage, But I'm Not Anxious About It.
• When ESHMom Ain't Happy, Ain't Nobody Happy
• Omnipotent Does Not Equal Omniscient
• Never Trust Cheese That Doesn't Melt
• In Diablo 4, He Fights That Super Boxer From Russia
• If She's Got Multiple Boobies, Who's Looking At Her Face?
• If You Think That Anal Leakage Is Bad, Guess What Her Armpits Do
• Is It Time For A WoW Siesta?
• WoW Craves, Diablo Saves Saves
• and
• Coming Soon: Smackdown! Diable VS Bobby Flay

It's a good episode, so grab your coffee and enjoy ESH podcast episode 104: My Senses Are There, My Balls Are Not Inert, Lock & Load, Let's Go!

Finish What You Start...

You say you want a revolution? Well, Ninjasistah sure wants one. And that's just one of the topics of this week's ElectricSistaHood podcast.

The Ninja has fallen in love with the free Xbox 360 demo of Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution, even though it stands for all the things she normally hates in a videogame. But, as a fan of the Parker Brothers' board game Risk, Ninja is willing to overlook the game's natural shortcomings.

For Pandalicious, a fan of turn-based, role playing games, Lost Odyssey is right up her alley, even though she's barely scratched the surface of the four-disc set. As you might expect, the Sistahs have plenty of fun with the game's protagonist, a 1,000-year-old man named Kaim.

Along the way, the Sistahs talk about online guides and the unexpected malady that has befallen MagicMysticGrl, who doesn't appear in this week's podcast.

And, about the title for the episode? Well, we might have left a word off the end. You'll have to listen to the thing to hear the whole title.

Here are the titles we rejected:

Just Say No to Drano

The Finger of the Internet is Pointing at You

Did You Just Get Hit With a Ridiculous Stick?

RPG Battle: Fun vs. Emo

Qu'est-ce que c'est Ninja Gaiden?

Every Guy Says His Unit is Magic, But Kaim's Really Is

Hot Kaim Action Inside -- Live!

Death is Coming for Panda, and She's Relieved

Dead and Gone to a Place He Can't Go, Kaim Must Be Emo

Lost Odyssey = Lost Syllables

So enjoy this week's ESH Episode 103: Throw Some Bleeps On That... and have a great Fourth of July weekend.

Finish What You Start...

Monday brings with it yet another episode of the ESH podcast, and in this one the sistahs' steal the limelight and hold it hostage for about an hour.

NinJaSistah takes the mic first this go 'round to speak on a topic near and dear to her heart, Ninja Gaiden II. From new visuals, lamest ninja name ever, to best and worst aspects of initial gameplay NinJa brings the sexy black. I mean back.

Then Pandalicious talks about her newly addicted Wii Fit experience. The yoga that is easy, what the game is and is not, and how it affects her daily life. MagicMystic chimes in a time or too before having to head out early. All in all, it's one of our normal, wacky shows. Here are some of the episode titles we rejected:

• It Helps If You're Nimble and Omnicient
• From The Look Of The Ninja Gaiden Girls You'd Think Goodyear Was The Sponsor
• Lamest Name For A NinJa: Joe
• AI Can Be A Sneaky Bastard
• No, The Dog Didn't Eat Panda's Homework
• And Then She Mentioned Richard Simmons' Weiner
• If Your Kid Turns Into A Pretzel, Turn The Wii Fit Off Now!
• My Fat Mii Haunts Me
• and
• Gravity Is A Bitch And Always Wins

Told you it was the normal wacky episode from the ESH girls. So sit back, relax and enjoy podcast episode 102: When NinJa Talks About Her Nuts, People Listen

Finish What You Start...

Monday yet again people, and here we go with a fresh new episode of the ESH podcast for you.

In this episode of the podcast the girls talk a bit about nearly every entertainment medium. We gots a bit of manga, a bit of anime, some feature film stuff all topped off with video game shizzole.

Pandalicious kicks off the show talking about the anime series Hell Girl based off of the manga of the same name. She and Magic go back and forth a bit exploring what works and what doesn't in the series. MagicMystic then shares her impressions of the new Hulk movie and NinJaSistah closes out the show talking about E3.

To give you an idea of the kind of show we had, here are the titles we rejected:

• NinJa Can't Fly, But She Can Jump to Conclusions
• No..Un..com..piled Da-ta EVER!!!
• It's The Season For Creepy Flowers
• The Cat In The Hat Was Not In The Prestige
• Panda Makes A Fight Club Reference Nobody Else Understands
• Hulk Smash! Movie Not!
• Panda's Comic Book Cred Just Plummeted
• Levitating Trumps Hovering
• Attention Game Makers: Panda's Up For Payola
• Exclusive: NinJa's Guide To Carnal Solicitation
• The Love-Hate Relationship With E3 Has Turned Back To Hate
• and
• I'm Pre-Retractable

It's a completely rounded out episode folks, so sit back and enjoy episode 101: Not To Spoil It For You, But This Episode Ends In Goodbye.

Finish What You Start...

The videogame industry is packed with news these days, but I'm sure you must have read about some of this stuff:

Didja see? There's a new Blackberry case from Otterbox.

It protects the Blackberry from the iPhone!

Didja see? Square Enix says Final Fantasy XIII is still intended to be exclusive for the PS3.

I guess if no one plays it, no one will know how badly it sucks.

Didja see? In order to save tens of millions of dollars on the Xbox 360, Microsoft designed its own chip for the thing. Then when the chip red-ringed everyone's Xbox 360, the recall cost Microsft a billion dollars.

As the politicians say, a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking real money.

Didja see? An analyst says that the reason we can't get Wii Fit here is because Nintendo is sending them all to Europe because of the strong Euro.

That, and that the only people who want to become fit are already fit.

Didja see? Lucas Arts laid off 100 people last week.

It means Ninjasistah won't see her Wii lightsaber game for a while longer.

Didja see? Take Two has announced BioShock 3 -- even though BioShock 2 isn't even out yet.

What's next, BioShock: The Musical?

Didja see? Scientists have discovered an algorithm that solves the Rubik's Cube in only 23 moves.

Or, just one move if you have 46 hands.

Didja see? They're coming out with a Metallica version of Guitar Hero.

Unfortunately, while on your network it checks your computers for copyright-infringing music.

Didja see? Sony has quit development on two games for the PS3 and one for the PSP.

They're taking their football and going Home. Oh, that's right, Home is still vapor, too.

Didja see? Game developers are taking advantage of the accelerometer in the iPhone to make some really great games.

How much is that Nintendog in the window?

Finish What You Start...

2K Sports announced that Don King Presents: Prizefighter, the first documentary-style boxing extravaganza, has officially gone gold and is ready for production on the XB360.

Brainchild of Venom Games [a 2K studio] Don King Presents: Prizefighter is said to try to find and focus on the balance between sports simulation and mystique inside and outside the boxing ring.

Don King Presents: Prizefighter puts the player in the role of an unknown boxer fighting his way out of obscurity and into the international spotlight while attempting to claim the world championship title. Players will have rigorous training regimens and have to fight the temptations of wealth and stardom. [My personal advice is to not end up like Mike Tyson]

The game sports a

"...live-action sports documentary style that features real-life legends and current stars from the world of boxing including Ken Norton, Larry Holmes, Andrew Golota, Joe Calzaghe and many others."

And for the dudes that like pixel vixens, both the Penthouse Pet of the Year Heather Vandeven and video vixen Bria Myles also star in the documentary and will try to distract you.

I ain't sayin' she a gold digger, but Don King Presents: Prizefighter

Prizefighter hits your local game-a-torium on June 10 for Xbox 360, and this fall for Wii.

Finish What You Start...

Being Monday, we had to hit you with a new episode of the podcast... but this one probably should have been left in the oven a bit longer.

Poor Pandalicious has having some serious internet issues which left Evermore with a hell of a job editing a show together, but they pulled it off pretty damn well if you ask me. In this episode of the podcast, Panda shares her top five video games of 2008 [so far] with you. There are a couple of honorable mentions and a list that I only have a single problem with. Let's see if you can guess which game gives me the heebie geebies.

Have a seat and enjoy: My Top 5: Video Games of 2008.

Finish What You Start...

Hothead Games has dropped Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One worldwide simultaneously via XBLive Arcade (except Korea) and via the Greenhouse digital distribution platform for the Windows, Macintosh, and Linux versions.

There's a video after the jump.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is expected to offer players six to ten hours of gameplay, and is priced at $19.95 for the computer versions and at 1600 MS points on the XB360.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is an RPG-Adventure game set in a very deranged 1920s universe of New Arcadia, delivered to gamers via accessible episodic releases. You join Gabe and Tycho, the crime-solving team of the "Startling Developments Detective Agency" to combat savage enemies [miniature fruit fuckers start you on your path towards the precipice] and solve mysteries hidden deep in the sinister heart of New Arcadia.

The game is the bastard child of Hothead Games and Penny Arcade, featuring distinct artwork and characters designed exclusively by Mike "Gabe" Krahulik, story and dialogue by Jerry "Tycho" Holkins, both brought to life by the Hothead team. If you have an XB360, you should grab the demo now to see what it's about... then pony up yo money and get cracking. I've been playing Precipice during my GTAIV breaks and it's crazy fun which for me is saying something since we all know how much I loathe love RPG's.

Finish What You Start...

Yeap, NamcoBandai confirmed that SoulCalibur the first will be hitting XBLive this summer. I even have some yummy screen shots for you, finish what you start to learn a bit more.

Originally released in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast, SoulCalibur remains one of the highest rated fighting game of all time.

SoulCalibur will be back for a new group of souls to open ye olde can=o=whoop upon an unsuspecting online community! Prove you got skills against by laying down the smack old school style on the world with dozens of leaderboards spanning every character and mode.

Seriously, prepare to make your thumbs ache, for a good reason. Visit the screens gallery here.

Finish What You Start...

Time has damn near run out people! You have until 8pm tonight to get your entry to the GTA IV All Games Radio Network giveaway.

Seriously. Like we've been saying on the podcast and in that mini bar at the topic all our pages, you have a shot at winning a limited edition XBox 360 through ESH. All you got to do is make a 60-120 second [that's one to two minutes] promo for ESH in the guise of a radio station bump that would appear in the game.

We will be picking the semi finalists to send on to the final round at AllGames.com Sunday Nay 4th.


So get cracken, or don't bitch to me about not being able to play Ninja Gaiden 2 because you don't have a 360.

Finish What You Start...

In case you didn't know, the fellas over at Penny-Arcade are inching ever closer to completely changing the course of man. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One went GM

If you didn't know that Penny Arcade was making a game then shame on you. Precipice will be available for on the Mac, Pc, Linux, and XBox360 as a download.

From the press release:

"...[Precipice] is an RPG-adventure game set in the comic-book-meets-pulp-horror-meets-H.P. Lovecraft deranged 1920s universe of New Arcadia, delivered to gamers via accessible episodic releases. Players join Gabe and Tycho, the crime-solving team of the Startling Developments Detective Agency, to combat savage enemies and solve mysteries hidden deep in the sinister heart of New Arcadia. The game is the result of close collaboration between Hothead Games and Penny Arcade, featuring distinct artwork and characters designed exclusively by Mike "Gabe" Krahulik, story and dialogue by Jerry "Tycho" Holkins, and both brought to life by the Hothead team."

Yeah, you know you want to get it. Precipice will be $19.95 on the Mac, PC, & Linux platforms, and available for 1600MS points on the XBLive.

See you on the edge!

Finish What You Start...

Being Monday and all, far be it from us to keep a new episode of the ESH podcast from you.

In this episode of the podcast NinJasistah kicks off her editorial piece on the good, the hrm, and the wickedly awesome tip for video game franchises with her take on Super Smash Brothers. Pandalicious jumps in the mix to talk about the anime series Soul Eater a weird and dark tale that Panda swears can be liked to the bastard child of Bleach and One Piece. [Yeah, try to get that image out of your head.] But don't think we don't have some randomness for you. We work a little Paranoia Agent, Death Note,and even a couple of references to Neon Genesis Evangelion. Don't trust me? Check out the titles we didn't use:

• Panda Likes It Random
• That Death Scythe Would Be handy Around Plants & Shrubs
• 11-Year-Old Girls Shouldn't Spend time Around Ham
• The Chicks Got Pregnant And Their Babies Had Horns
• Hooray For Incest
• Shinigami School For The Who?
• Here We Go Again With The Angsty Crap
• Papa Wassa Manslut Scythe
• and
• Mmm! Catwitch

And, we want to take this opportunity to let you know that you could win something KRAZY cool. We have joined forces with the All Games Radio Network fam and will be giving away one of eight GTAIVlimited edition Xbox 360 Elites to one lucky listener. Wanna know how you can win it? Well here's the lowdown. One of the cornerstones of the GTA series is the in-game radio stations, complete with spoof ads and spoof segments. It's time for you to do that.

Submit a sound clip no longer than 120 seconds in the style of a GTA4 Radio Station commercial for ESH. It can be a spoof ad, segment, song, whatever.

It is up to each affiliate if they wish to force the content to pertain directly to their show, be it an ad for the show or something regarding an inside joke from the show, or to allow the submission to just be about gaming in general.

• THE PARTICIPANTS
• All Games Interactive
• Dead Pixel Live
• The Bobby Blackwolf Show
• Orange Lounge Radio
• Superhappyfuntimeshow
• ElectricSistaHood
• MediSpective
• ChatterBox Video Game Radio
• Video Game Outsiders
• Ultimate Quest
• The Video Games Show
• Platform Nation

THE RULES

1. The entry can be in the form of an MP3 emailed to the affiliate show OR as a voicemail left on that show's voicemail line.
2. Only one entry per affiliate show, however multiple affiliate shows can be entered with unique audio clips. (No sending the same audio to multiple shows.)
3. Submissions will either be played on the affiliate show or put up on
   the show's website (or forums.allgames.com) and will be voted on via the community in a poll with the results hidden. Winners of these votes advance to the final round.
4. If one person wins multiple affiliate contests, a coin flip will determine which show he/she wins, the other show chooses the runner-up as their finalist.
5. The contest is only open to North American residents, as it is an NTSC console.
6. No copywritten materials are permitted in the entry - parody is okay, just don't use the original.
7. All submissions become the property of the affiliate show they are submitted to, as they will be used in promotion of that show.
8. Cast and crew of the participating affiliate shows are not eligible.
9. The decisions of the judges (affiliate show hosts at the affiliate level, All Games Radio at the final level) is final.

THE SCHEDULE

• Sunday, April 20th: Submission period opens
• Sunday, May 4th: Submission deadline at midnight PT, 3am EST

You got that? You could win a FREAKING XBox Elite MAN!!!! All you got to do is create a GTAIV style radio ad for ESH or any of the All Games Radio Affiliates and submit it to us as an MP3 with your contact info to this address.


So fill up yo' cup friends and enjoy ESH podcast episode number 94: NinJa's Dangling Chad Just Lost Her The Game

Finish What You Start...

Another Monday bears forth another new episode of the ESH podcast, and this one is as entertaining as all the rest.

Today, Pandalicious takes you through the anime series Bus Gamer based on the short series manga of the same name while NinJaSistah [slow on the update, admittedly] talks about her new Portal/OrangeBox experience. Even though MagicMystic was MIA for this recording, the girls were still able to find a way to off on some interesting tangents.

Don't believe me? Here are the rejected episode titles:

• Sitting In The Ooze, Waiting To Respawn
• The Office Was Empty, But It Wasn't The Weekend
• My Companion Cube Was Alone On Valentines Day
• Nobody Ate Anybody In Staying Alive Either
• Somebody Ought To Put That Morality Chip Into Dick Chaney
• That Dude In Portal? He's A Chick
• Dat Cube Gotta Go!
• Hot Man Candy Has A Gooey Center
• Walk Softly and Carry A Big Lead Pipe
• Muppets Singin About Killing Me Scares Me
• I'm Not Comfortable With A Man Having A Baby
• It's An Animated World, And I'm An Animated Girl
• The World Wildlife Fund Has Nothing On Them
• and
• I'd Tell You About The Third Episode, But I've Slept Since Then

So grab another cup o' joe and take a listen to ESH podcast episode 93: You Can't Have Your Cake And Cheat It Too!

Finish What You Start...

It's bad enough that Microsoft copies everything that Apple does and calls it its own, but now it appears that the company is trying to strike gold by Wii-ifying the Xbox.

Normally, I wouldn't consider MTV News to be a venerable source of hard-hitting journalism, but they did manage quite a scoop this week -- a sketch of a new Xbox controller that looks remarkably like a Wiimote.

I don't want to hear all that guff about Microsoft being the great innovators. They had a decent marketing department, but the real innovation was from companies like Apple and Sun. I could go on all day about Microsoft innovations that were either bought or stolen, like DOS (bought), Windows Media Player (stolen) and the Aero Glass interface (stolen).

In fact, I defy you to point out a Microsoft innovation that didn't appear earlier in Unix, Linux, the Amiga or the Macintosh. If you don't believe me, just Google the phrase "Microsoft steals."

Oh, and if you haven't seen it for a while, here's a representative scene from Pirates of Silicon Valley.

And now here's something that's gotta be really embarassing. It's from the January 2007 launch of Vista Office. Mike Sievert, the corporate vice president of Microsoft, shows off the online gaming capabilities of Vista, as he challenges his son, who is at home on his Xbox 360, playing (wait for it) UNO!

"And, of course, this is my Games Explorer. This is what Windows Vista does to make my gaming experience easier than it's ever been, because all of my games are here in one place where I can manage them the same way.

"I'm going to step into an upcoming release of Uno for Windows Vista, and I'm going to use my Xbox 360 controller plugged right into my Windows Vista machine, and I'm going to pull up a multiplayer game. Because what Uno for Windows Vista can do is something that games before have never been able to do, and that's cross-platform play. You're going to see the familiar Xbox 360 set of settings, and I'm going to use the Microsoft Live gaming platform to see if I can find my 10-year old son Jonathan at home in Seattle, Washington on his Xbox.

"Now, he goes by the alias, Ice Monkey, and you can see that he's online. That's good because I'm on stage, and this would be important at this point. (Laughter.) And I'm going to go ahead and select him and invite him to play this game of Uno with me.

"Now, you know, I travel quite a bit, and maybe I'm in a hotel room in Tokyo with my Windows Vista laptop, and it's really important that I'm able to have connections with my family when I'm gone. And this scenario is fantastic because it allows me to steal away a few minutes to play a game with Jonathan across thousands of miles, eight time zones, and two gaming platforms.

"Take a look at this as I press Start. We launch into a game together and in just a moment across all those times we'll be playing cross-platform game play.

"There it is. Now you need to applaud that, because I had to wait a minute. All right. (Applause.) And there it is, we're all in this game playing across the thousands of miles, me on my Windows Vista machine, and Jonathan on his Xbox."

The guy even has to beg for applause.

Sievert left Microsoft in February of this year. I guess you can take only so much UNO.

Finish What You Start...

He's coming to an XB360 near you tomorrow. Namco Bandai is releasing this Mr. Driller on the XBLive arcade April 2nd [tomorrow] and you know you know what that means: time to get you some more Marketplace points.

Mr. Driller is a crazy addictive puzzle game that will have you avoiding falling blocks whilst trying to keep your air supply from running out. And not this Air Supply

So make sure you have at least 800 MS points saved up on the XBLive, because Mr. Driller is coming!

Finish What You Start...

Another new Monday equals another new episode of the ESH podcast. And this one gets, well, kinda girlie.

In this episode of the podcast Pandalicious brings up the demise of the NewType magazine and notes the decline in printed review media focusing on anime or manga here in the US. Then MagicMystic chimes in with her thoughts on the very, very sugary anime series Shugo Chara by TV Tokyo. Not to be left out, NinJaSistah chimes in with some gaming news updates and continues on the sugary sweet anime series Sorcerer Hunters.

It's a fun episode, but don't take my word for it. Let these rejected episode titles tell reveal the fun-ness of it all...

• Don't Choke On Microsoft's Wad
• This Is A Pimpless Podcast
• Twelve F-Words Makes It Extra Explicit
• NewType Has Contracted Magazine Cancer
• MagicMystic Fives The Ultimate Spoiler
• Panda Puts Out For Published Writers
• Harry Potter Jumped The Shark At Book Four
• Sporty Spice Is A Version of Me? Egg-zactly!
• Yeah, But Can She Transform Into A Camaro?
• Just Another Manic Chara
• A Black Egg With An "X" On It? The EAster Bunny's Not Gonna Like That
• When The Keymaster Met The Gatekeeper
• You Gotta Be Sick To Watch Sorcerer Hunters
• These Suspenders Defy All Laws of Physics
• This Series Puts The "Con" in Necronomicon
• You'll Be Like That's What Panda Was Talking About
• Getting Guys Off In 30 Minutes Or Less
• Panda's Got Too Much Blood In Her Alcohol System
• I Ain't 'Fraid Of No Toast
• NewType Kicks It's Own Bucket
• and
• Slow Entropy Sucks

So, grab you a new cuppajoe and settle in to enjoy Episode 87: That's The Problem With Theology, Too Much Math

Finish What You Start...

With Monday nearly here, you know we had to drop a new episode of the podcast on ya! This week's episode is all about the DMC4 XB360 experience.

Pandalicious and NinJaSistah jaw over the likes, loves, and WTS moments from Capcom's newest release in the DMC franchise. I'll keep this summary short and let the episode speak for itself... well almost. Here are the titles we didn't use:

• When Panda's Horny, She Remembers Guy's Names
• The Newest Character In Devil May Cry? Porky Pig!
• Hey Mr. Talisman, Tally Me Banana
• Dante Has A Perfectly Good Reason For Killing That Guy
• I Was Playing Devil May Cry When Dante Suddenly Became Ricky Ricardo
• Sparda's Last Name Must Be Johnson
• Sparda's First Name Must Be Willy
• They Gave The Girls Really Big Bazookas This Time
• Trish in Blackface? What Is This? A Minstrel Show?
• Pandalicious Can't Get Her Mind Off The Pickle
• Panda Goes Gay-Mer
• and finally
• Don't Throw Your Kids At Pandalicious

Yep, it's a good one indeedy. Join the sistah's in Episode 86: Devil May Cry, and I'm Sobbing A Little Bit Myself