1UP.com - Games, Dammit!

The band gets back together at PAX 2009 as Andrew, Shane, David, John, and Garnett take the stage. The show opens with their recap of some of their favorites on the show floor and then they open the floor to audience questions. (Note the audio quality is less than ideal due to the live recording and it improves approximately 10 minutes into the show.)

With David catching the PAX flu and Sam away in NYC John and Garnett tackle a massive show with the aid of Gamasutra's Christian Nutt. In a wide ranging Whatcha Been Playin they get into Osmos, Torchlight, Need for Speed Shift, Motorstorm Arctic Edge, Soul Calibur Broken Destiny, Batman Arkham Asylum, and more. The second segment keeps up the pace beginning with a recap of the August NPD sales stats hot off the presses and afterward including Apple calling out the DS and PSP for a handheld console war, the announcement of a new 2D Sonic headed our way in 2010, and Left 4 Dead 2 Boycotters changing their minds after a trip to Valve.

Sam, David, and Garnett return from their journeys but John's a late scratch from the lineup. The trio finds their hands full with Star Trek Online, NFS Shift vs. Forza 3 vs. Gran Turismo 5, Dead Nation, Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles, Eye Pet, Osmos, and more just in Whatcha' Been Playin? alone. And then after the break they tackle the price drops (and in the UK an increase) on console hardware, whether 40 dollars could be the magic price for expanding the games market, Kojima's plans for Peace Walker, and more.

Sam and Garnett wrap-up a week's worth of the awesome games and announcements at Gamescom 2009 in Cologne, Germany. It's cornucopia of the best upcoming games including Heavy Rain, Final Fantasy 13, Diablo 3, DJ Hero, Assassins Creed 2, Castlevania, ModNation Racers, and much more.

The infamous fourth chair gets a week off as Sam, John, and Garnett do the show as a trio. They've got their hands full with a Whatcha Been Playin? segment that includes Madden 10 both for 360/PS3 and Wii, Fat Princess, TMNT Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, and more. There's no letup after the break with July NPD sales figures kicking off a discussion that covers Sega's renewed commitment to mature games on the Wii, impressions of the XBL update, and a quick look at the buzz from the first day of QuakeCon.

We pull the old double switch with Gamasutra features director Christian Nutt and our own Alice Liang joining David and Garnett. In the opening segment Little King's Story gets Whatcha' Been Playin? started before a look back at Lost Odyssey and Mass Effect gives a little preview of the upcoming RPG discussion and DiRT 2 shifts gears entirely to wrap it all up. After the break Christian helps revisit the topic of revitalizing Japanese RPGs and then the talk turns to Fat Princess's launch struggles, Starcraft 2's delay, and a potential PlayStation customer loyalty program.

The quiet summer erupts as Sam, David, John, and Garnett find themselves in a first segment Whatcha Been Playin? packed with Scribblenauts, Borderlands, PixelJunk Shooter, Shadow Complex, Shatter, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and still there's more. After the break the second half of the show begins with a look at what it takes to establish and sustain a franchise before getting into what's upcoming in the Halo world, Sega's struggles with Sonic and mishandling of Yakuza in America, and more.

With Comic-Con in full swing down in San Diego we inaugurate the new weekly four minute warning question to start the second segment with a discussion of what makes a good comic license-based game. Sam, David, John, and Garnett blow right past the four minute timer before tackling other topics including the announcement of Sam Raimi directing the WoW movie, Valve's Gabe Newell talking about gamers financing games, and the future of jRPGs. A summer of sports theme kicks the show off in a Watcha Been Playin? segment filled with Wii Sports Resort, FIFA 10, Tiger Woods, and Grand Slam Tennis with a little change of pace from Need for Speed: Shift and King of Fighters XII. .

Four Minute Warning rocks the second half of the show with Gamasutra's Christian Nutt joining David, John, and Garnett. June NPD sales figures also get a quick recap. Whatcha' Been Playin? opens the show with Battlefield 1943, a retro flash of NES and SNES games, NCAA Football 10, Wii Sports Resort and more.

Sam, John, David, and Garnett kick things off with Trine, Splosion Man, Shatter, Tales of Monkey Island, Sacred 2, and more in Whatcha' Been Playin? In the second segment the conversation ranges from the negative community response to TAGES DRM in Dawn of Discovery Anno 1404 to Epic's CliffyB assertion that RPG's hold the future for shooters with a stop along the way to consider how far PSN has come on the PS3.