1UP.com - Games, Dammit!

With the holiday season upon us we change things up a bit. Sam Kennedy, Jeremy Parish, and Matt Leone join David Ellis to take a look back at the history of 1UP, from it's early days to this year.

It's a jam-packed episode as we welcome Alice Liang and Gamasutra's Christian Nutt to talk about the layoffs at Pandemic, the PS3 going 3-D, and the next iterations of the DS and PSP. David joins in to sing the praises of Assassin's Creed II. The rest of the crew rounds things out with talk of Lego Indy 2, Dragon Age, and a tease for Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

With two major releases it's another one of those weeks where there's almost too much to talk about. Seth Killian from Capcom Unity joins us to talk about his transition from college professor to God of all things Street Fighter. Sam and David talk about the success and failures of Modern Warefare 2 (Spoilers from 1:17-1:29), and Jeremy puts Nintendo¹s game design for everyone thesis to the test with New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Also news about the release of Microsoft's Natal, a new Hero game from Activision, and prepare your slingshot once again as Rockstar's Bully might be returning.

The Black Dragon Returns. No, we're not talking about the new RPG from Bioware; former 1UP editor Jeff Green is in-studio to talk about his life as a developer and his new gig as editor-in-chief of EA.com. Scooter and Jeremy also join in to talk about Assassin's Creed II, New Super

Mario Bros. Wii, Mass Effect 2, and much more.

Starting a podcast is hard. A mere two weeks after bidding a bon voyage to our former leader we're relaunching with new segments, new voices, and a very special guest. Doublefine head honcho and Brutal Legend creator Tim Schafer joins us in studio on our maiden episode where we go off topic early and often, but manage to talk about Borderlands, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Assassin's Creed 2, and many others. Away we go!

With John and Garnett embarking on new and separate adventures we gather one last time as a group and reminisce of our favorite episodes and even sneak in some talk about new games

We're back to wrap up TGS 2009. 8-4 again generously offered us their offices to record and JJ, Mark, and John join in for the show as well. Sam, Shane, and Garnett complete the group that sits down to get everything they've seen out on the table. And while we had the impression the show had been really down, when we put together the list there were plenty of games to talk about including Final Fantasy XIII, Yakuza 4, Gran Turismo 5, PixelJunk Shooter, Zero Day Attack on Earth, Quantum Theory, Dead Rising 2 multiplayer, and more.

With TGS set to open in the morning Jeremy, Matt, David, Sam, and Garnett sit down to discuss what they're most excited to see at the show. Is it Yakuza 4? the Metal Gear Peacewalker demo maybe? or will something unexpected be on their minds? There's also a quick look back at couple of distractions from earlier in the week including the Videogames Live concert and a trip to the arcade.

We start our Tokyo Game Show coverage by catching up on the hottest games in Japan and a general look at the videogame scene here with Justin Epperson, John Ricciardi, and Mark MacDonald of 8-4. Sam Kennedy and David Ellis also join Garnett at the table as the group gets up to speed on Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest, and more. The second half of the show then gets into some of the trends here including the popularity of handheld gaming and a breakdown of the current situation for Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360.

With Sam already in Japan, Jeremy joins David, John, and Garnett for the week before TGS show. In the first segment Whatcha Been Playin covers Halo 3 ODST, Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer, Mario and Luigi, DJ Hero, Gran Turismo PSP, and more. Holiday hardware moves from a rumored Wii price cut to the rapid momentum gained by the PS3 start off the second segment before giving way to whether Nathan Drake really needs to Twitter, and John's checklist for TGS.