GameHounds

Welcome, gentle listeners, to the Humpdate. It's a new month, and just two days away from "perfect cube day" (08-08-08), we bring you Edie Sellers and Simon DI chatting up this week's developments in gaming news.

It's a weird week. The post-E3 wave of information is tapering off to a gentle stream. Nothing that stirs up the bottom too much, but valuable nonetheless.

Topics and links (which you should check out if only for Kratos Sockboy images) after the jump...

, but you won't notice anything. It's just tidying up before the big fall update.

Rumors and indications that Microsoft will be dropping the prices of Xbox won't go away. , sparking further speculation that the prices should drop on September 7.

Beware: Spammers and phishers have set their sights on Xbox Live, with reports of . Don't believe, and if you've received one, contact your friend and tell him/her that the his/her account has been compromised.

so kids won't be scarred by seeing their virtual selves decapitated by mean-old grownups.

. Good for them. Now what about us stinky-poo-poo Americans and Europeans, huh?

has been patched (and ) to include Playstation trophies. Get ready to play those games all over again, as the trophies aren't retroactive to past play.

. Yay for PC purists! And .

details announced, including price and date of release.

. Cost cutting steps after losing $44 million last quarter.

, including Sockboy Kratos and Sockgirl Nariko.

Enjoy.

Second trimester? Wait, who's pregnant.

Nobody, but as we celebrate the six-month anniversary of the GameHounds Podcast, it occurs to us that this little baby of ours is entering it's last three months before it becomes a human being.

In otherwords, this podcast spawn is almost ready to be considered "fully functioning." Oh, let's not kid ourselves, this thing will always be a little half-baked, and maybe it's been dropped on its head a few times, too.

Anyway, this week Cooper Hawkes and Edie Sellers once again cover the week in gaming news, including games they've played and these hot topics.

Links and topics after the jump...

In this week's podcast, Hawkes and Edie discuss:

id Software's John Carmack says that, and the resulting game won't look as good as what you'll get on the Playstation 3. Of course, he also says he hearts the 360. We think this public airing of private laundry won't work.

Ars Technica's inside source at Microsoft, the one who accurately predicted the new 60GB Xbox 360, says the And we're not talking little whimpy drops, either.

Life with Playstation, the new Playstation Network functionality that adds Google and YouTube functionality, Bug-check twice, release once, we always say.

says Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences president Joseph Olin. While we agree in theory, it's clear this guy has never actually done any game reviews or worked in the media. Get educated, then mouth off, jackass.

exclaims Sega of America predisent Simon Jeffery. He then proceeds to masturbate over the thought of Activision's Bobby Kotick. God, maybe he's angling for the rights to Brutal Legend?

Beware! And parents afraid their kids will learn where babies come from are shielding their eyes and gnashing their teeth over the thought of their children be irrevocably scarred.

If that wasn't enough, hell has frozen over. Wait, no.!

. Cool!

Activision's boot of Vivendi titles not fatal to a few high profile games, including , , and the. No word from smaller stuff, but we don't have much hope for them.

Enjoy. And thanks for six months of fun! Looking forward to several more.

Simon is back! Okay, so he didn't get much of a tan down in Mexico, but he does return to the Humpdate ready to chat about the latest in gaming news.

In addition, he offers some insight into gaming south of the border. Let's just say, if you wanna feel like a rock god, head south with your mediocre Rock Band skillz. We reguarly only think of the gaming world being Asia, North America and Europe. There are four additional continents out there (not to mention all the non-continental island nations) and gaming in those locals is VERY different than what we know.

Simon and Edie also discuss the latest in gaming news.

Topics and links after the jump...

In addition to se habla-ing el Bando con Rock, check out these items up for discussion:

Electronic Arts' CEO John Riccitiello admits that , promises that you'll see more such games in the future.

Telltale Games (Sam and Max, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People) , Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures.

, including the nearly completed Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Tim Shaffer's Brütal Legend, and the highly (cough) anticipated (cough, cough) 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. Activision will retain the Spiro the Dragon, Ice Age, and Crash Bandicoot franchises, as well as Prototype and a new unnamed IP.

with the first of five new games offered each week throughout August. Get Geometry Wars 2 today, followed by Braid, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Galaga Legions, and Castle Crashers.

If you've got the fever for the flavor of more Xbox 360 Pro, and you can't wait until the new SKU with it's hot, tight 60 GB hard drive glistening in the sun, you may want to drop by your local Target store. , as Joystiq readers report seeing them available in electronics-department cases in several locations.

Playstation 3 owners . No word on whether it will brick your system, but one thing's for sure: No Playstation Life in this baby. Sorry.

Today Sony launched its Greatest Hits lineup for the PS3. And hits they are. Warhawk, Resistance: Fall of Man, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night Round 3, Need for Speed: Carbonb, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, Assassin's Creed, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma are each available for $29.99. Nice!!

Enjoy.

Sorry this got to you on Monday rather than Sunday. When we finally finished editing this ultra-long episode, Edie was exhausted and needed sleep.

But there was quite a lot for Hawkes and Edie to talk about this week. And, with Hawkes now able to freely use his filthy mind and mouth with freedom, it felt like old times.

... good times.

This week, Edie and Hawkes catch up on the rest of gaming news, including lawsuits, Gears of War 2 info, a new Trek-flavored MMO, and beating the dead horse that is E3 2008.

Topics and links after the jump....

This week, Hawkes and Edie discuss:

, with info coming out of this week's ComiCon in San Diego. The collector's edition is a spendy $130, but some GoW2 achievements will be linked to your GoW1 achievements. Yay, player loyalty.

Cryptic Studios issues a help-wanted ad. Unfortunately, in it they're working on. Bonk, bonk on the head!

Are you a big enough Halo fan to make a pilgrimage to a Bungie fan fest? I guess after Microsoft pulled the rug out from under Bungie's big "countdown" annoucement.

How do you kill that which has no life? Cut the attendance, close the main floor and call it E3 2008! that E3 should be open to the public.

. Seriously? Isn't our end-of-year gaming dance card already pretty full?

The Itagaki v. Tecmo soap opera got a lot more interesting this week, with the release of secret audio tapes, documents, and the withdrawl of a gag-order. , and you gotta check the program if you want to know the players.

Thank yous to iTunes our commenters! If you haven't already, don't forget to do that!

Enjoy.

Never in our wildest dreams did we think that we'd have to bleep so much of our "clean" podcast...

Simon DI is out of town, sunning himself down in Mexico way, so Cooper Hawkes steps in this week to discuss the post-E3 gaming news. It was all going so well until Edie mentions Wii Music, and then all heck broke loose. Let's just say Hawkes went into a fit of obscenities that would make George Carlin swoon.

Lots of news, and given that we need to post this ASAP (hey, Project Runway is on...) we won't be posting any links or show notes. Just cover your ears and enjoy the bleeps!

Originally, we were just going to post this as a straightforward interview.

And then all you listeners started speculating. Who did Edie talk to? Was it CliffyB? Was it Will Wright?

So rather than wreck the surprise by just telling you, you're just going to have to listen. Suffice to say, it was an honor and a privilege to spend a half-hour with this gentleman as he demoed his hotly anticipated upcoming title. It was an unusual amount of time for someone of his stature to spend at a crazed event like E3, particularly at the end of the show when nerves are frayed and exhaustion is setting in.

But indeed, he did. And it was a joy.

Hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as Edie did.

We hit the midway point for E3 2008 today. Being the first day without a major press conferece, Wednesday is all about hitting the games.

And there are so many games here it's impossible to do one small woman (or a large one for that matter) to hit them all. Today, Edie did her best, however.

Hawkes and Edie wrap up the day's hands-on experiences. The games they cover include:

Left 4 Dead

Facebreaker

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zahir expansion pack

Velvet Assassin

Legendary

Raven Squad

Monster Madness for the PS3

Battlestations: Pacific

Farcry 2

Tom Clancy's Endwar

Wow. That's a lot of games. And tomorrow there will be more to come.

Enjoy, and get ready for the final day of E3 tomorrow night. More games, more impressions, and more E3.

It's day two of E3, though technically it's the first day. Hawkes and Edie round up Sony and Nintendo press briefings, which were -- let's just say they spanned the scope of impressive to laughable.

Also, we chat about Edie's hands-on with Bethesda's Fallout 3 and Sega's Total War for the PC.

Rather than spending a bunch of time telling you all about it, why don't you just listen. Don't worry, Hawkes does get pissed off. Yay.

As promised, the first installment of the exclusive E3 coverage. Hawkes and Edie discuss Monday's events (thus the .1 of the episode number).

Or should we say "event," as the annoucements of Microsoft really ruled the day. Just when we think we had the big green monster all figured out, they throw a curve ball and blow our socks off.

Enjoy our take on the Microsoft press briefing, the leaks and rumors, and all the day's events. Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the .2 episode (aka: Tuesday).

Hey guys. So, it's less than 24 hours before one half of the GameHounds crew jets off to Los Angeles for E3. So time is short. Short enough, in fact, that we really don't have time to do proper show notes for this episode, which unfortunately was recorded later than usual on Saturday night.

Here's the quick rundown: Edie and Hawkes discuss this week's demise of Flagship Studios (Hellgate: London), the suspected lack of a price drop for the PS3, Xbox Pro's price slashing, iPhone games, a possible new Xbox 360 motion controller, Animal Crossing and Punch Out for the Wii, the newly announced third-party professional Rock Band drumset (and how you can do it yourself for about the same price), and the people we hope will STFU at this year's E3 as presented by .

We also read the winner of the World of Warcraft Horror Story contest, which nabbed its author a 60-day pre-paid game card.

Enjoy.

And don't forget to tune in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for our exclusive E3 coverage, with podcasts each night from Edie and Hawkes. A lot of news is about to crack, so don't miss it. Check out the podcasts and our news postings on the website.