1UP.com - Active Time Babble

1UP contributor Bob Mackey calls in to sputter about the ineffable weirdness of Resonance of Fate (and Final Fantasy XIII), while Kat comes clean to Jeremy and Ray about the years of her life she squandered on competitive Pokemon battling. It's Ratattaistic!

Kat Bailey, Jeremy Parish, Thierry Nguyen, and Justin Haywald take a scattershot approach to the latest RPG news, including Pokemon remakes, an expansion for Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2 DLC, and more. It's chatty.

Jeremy Parish, Kat Bailey, Christian Nutt, and Chris Kohler debate the merits of the next Final Fantasy game in the most spoiler-free way possible -- but not before nearly coming to blows over the merits of Xenoblade.

Kat Bailey and Scott Sharkey talk about their tour of duty aboard the starship U.S.S. Freak Machine in Star Trek Online, and guest Stiv Tramer plays the role of historian in a lengthy exploration/defense of the roguelike genre.

Jeremy, Kat, Thierry, and Mike Nelson touch briefly on the weirdness of Sands of Destruction before embarking on an hour-long examination of Mass Effect 2. (Spoiler material is limited strictly to incidental, non-plot-related matters, because we love you.)

Jeremy Parish, Kat Bailey, Alice Liang, and Gamasutra's Christian Nutt start the year right with a look at our favorite RPGs of 2009 and the games we're anticipating in 2010. Plus, lots of import talk about Final Fantasy XIII.

With everyone else out for the holidays, Jeremy Parish talks to Spiderweb Software's Jeff Vogel about the finale of the long-running Avernum series.

Jeremy Parish, Kat Bailey, Travis Williams, and Christian Nutt ask themselves, "What is an RPG?" It's a soul-searching, history-spanning semantics argument for the ages. Also: Talking about Etrian Odyssey III and the rebirth of Nihon Telenet.

Our long-delayed fourth chapter arrives at last, with a flashback sequence in which we interrogate members of the World of Warcraft dev team before discussing Dragon Age in alarming detail.

After a rocky start due to a last-minute guest cancellation, our heroes pluck victory from the jaws of awkwardness. Parish, Bailey, Nguyen, and Haywald discuss Trek Online, Dragon Age, Half-Minute Hero, 4 Warriors of Light, Torchlight, and more.