8-4 Play

Ex-Capcom producer Ben Judd joins the 8-4 crew aboard the E3 Hype Train, fueled not by Dew, but by wild thoughts and oddly-specific predictions (some already proven wrong!) on what we'll see from Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and all the major third-parties at the big show this week, plus impressions of Sonic 4: Ep II, Dragons' Dogma, and news..

The 8-4 gang goes all Project Icebreaker on Camouflaj's Ryan Payton to dig up the dirt on Kickstarter, Republique and the 8-4 bump, Diablo 3, Soul Sacrifice, Capcom's DLC woes, the appeal of DOTA2, the rise and fall of the “Comp Gatcha”, E.X. (or ex-?) Troopers, Devil's Third, and bacon-loving twitter bots.

17-Bit's Jake Kazdal joins us to talk Phantasy Star Online 2, Shinji Mikami's return to survival horror, Dragon's Dogma, Dragon's Crown, Dragon's Dragon, Tokyo Jungle, Soul Sacrifice, yay or nay on CoD: Black Ops 2,  and what it’s like to start and run your own indie game studio.

Imported from the exotic orient (no region lock): Talk about Fire Emblem: Awakening, Dark Souls PC, Fez, Wii U cost and price, Valve and Apple, and a new Ocarina of Time world record.

We offer the following rewards to people who help listen to our podcast: PLEDGE 20 MINUTES OR MORE: Talk about creating characters in Phantasy Star Online 2, more Kid Icarus and Lumines, and the WiiU's (supposed) capabilities 40 MINUTES: Kickstarter game projects, good and bad 60 MINUTES: Notch's ambitious sci-fi crazy-name game, 0x10c 70 MINUTES: Sega's money problems and retro re-releases, Vita...

With Gaming Jesus bedridden from an evil GDC pox and both JJ and Hiroko fighting off the flu, we thought about taking the week off. But then, like an angel from Heaven above, our intern showed up at the door with three pre-release copies of Kid Icarus: Uprising, and all the pain and suffering went away. Listen to a half hour's worth of spoiler-free discussion on the 3DS's first major release of 20...

Internet sensation David "CheapyD" Abrams returns to the show for a truly rare event: we actually played some games! Tune in to the first segment for impressions of Journey, Asura's Wrath, Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy, and Level-5's Girls RPG, plus thoughts on the new iPad, Valve's rumored (and then debunked) "SteamBox" console, Phil Fish and Keiji Inafune's feelings about...

Join us for a little boom-tiss-boom, as James "Milkman" Mielke of Q Entertainment visits 8-4 Towers to go deep (so deep) into the creation of PS Vita launch title Lumines: Electronic Symphony. But first, a game-by-game dissection of the U.S. and Japanese Nintendo Direct conferences, and updates on PS3 faves The Last Guardian and (most importantly) Tokyo Jungle, all in news. Wrap it all up with fre...

It's crunch-time at 8-4 Towers, so there ' s no time for your fancy podcast prep work! Listen for even offer-the-cuff-than-usual chit-chat on Vita's U.S. launch lineup (and our Vita giveaway contest winner), the new Suikoden game for PSP, Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, Denpa Ningen RPG for 3DS, Double Fine's adventure game kickstarter, and … uh … .#$%^ it, we'll do it live!

THRILL! As the 8-4 crew gets caught up in a rad bromance with the new Resident Evil 6 trailer, and make hands-on revelaitons re: the latest RE on 3DS. LISTEN! To chatter of new Wii U features, rumors of the neXtBox, and other tender newsy morsels. EXCITE! To more Vita game impressions, as well as the details of our amazing giveaway contest < <

Why try out games and form your own opinions when you can sit back and let the 8-4 - some do it for you? This episode the newly-reunited gang takes on the ( Press up! ) new Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Asura's Wrath demos ( Right, RIGHT! ), sparking a lively debate on quicktime ( Tap 'A' repea—ALRIGHT ENOUGH! ) events that pops up outta nowhere like…you know what. Speaking of outta nowhere: Wut up wit...

Ready for those boring ol' holidays to turn into crazy-awesome holiDAZE? ...No? ...Wait -- did you notice there was a "z" on the end? ...Well the point is you should listen to this 8-4 podcast, with talk about 3DS & Vita sales numbers and what they mean (and don't mean), Gravity Rush, Uncharted, and Hot Shots Golf (all Vita), 3DS's Swapnote and new demos for Resident Evil: Revelations, Metal Gear...

Christmas comes early as special guests CheapyD and...others...join the 8-4 crew to discuss the new PlayStation Vita, top to bottom: the launch, the games (including Uncharted, Ridge Racer, Hot Shots Golf and more), the mem cards, remote play, PSP backwards compatibility – every mother-father thing you can think of, from the feel of the flaps that cover the card slots to the menu music. Then! We s...

Is Miyamoto stepping down at Nintendo? Did Ueda quit Sony? What's going on with the Vita?! What games will be revealed at that Spikey awards show thing?!? Why worry about such questions when you can listen to the 8-4 gang fret about them for almost 3 hours! Also: Infinity Blade 2, Mario Kart 7, more (yes more, dammit!) Skyrim and Uncharted 3, Pushmo for 3DSware, firmware updates for the 3DS, 360,...

Question: Which game should you be playing right now, Skyrim or Zelda: Skyward Sword? Answer: Yes. Honestly, that's all you need to know, but the 8-4 crew prattles on anyway in a spoiler-free discussion of the glorious highs and bowel-quaking lows (OK, more like the minor annoyances) of two of this year's best games, then chit-chat (read: rage) about Sony's PSP UMD-to-Vita transfer program, rumors...

You'll have to think fast and move even faster to complete this podcast! Gaming Jesus is being held captive by the evil Koopa tribe of turtles. It's up to you to rescue him from the clutches of the Koopa King before time runs out. But it won't be easy. To get there, you'll have to listen to detailed impressions of Super Mario 3D Land, plus chatter about Uncharted 3, Wii U, the future of the 3DS, c...

:DEEP BREATH: PlayStation Vita pre-order lines, Level-5 World games (Ni no Kuni for PS3, Yokai Watch, Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney, etc.), Nintendo 3DS high and lowlights, Mario Kart 7, Find Mii 2, Reggie's chin, Monster Hunter 3G, WoW meets Digimon, Zelda: Skyward Sword reviews, MAGs in Phantasy Star Online 2, Ezio in Soul Calibur V, GTA V predictions, Yakuza 5 towns, Dark Souls DLC (or lack...

PRAISE THE SUN! Dark Souls has been consuming most of our lives, but we do manage to eventually break away from talking about it to discuss other recent happenings, including Square Enix's surprise retooling of Final Fantasy XIV, Sega's XBLA remake of Guardian Heroes, and Capcom's limited edition Monster Hunter 3DS. Plus: hands-on impressions of Robot Invader's Wind-Up Knight, ears-on impressions...

With Mark out of town on business and Tokyo Game Show now behind us, life at 8-4 Towers has been pretty quiet lately. But that's no excuse not to record a podcast! ...OK, actually, it kind of is, but we went ahead and recorded one anyway! Tune in to hear us talk about Dark Souls, Zelda: Four Swords 25th Anniversary Edition, the Diablo III beta, porntips from Thailand (not what you think!), "Lucky...

Shane Bettenhausen! Ryan Payton! Billy Berghammer! We've got special guests up the wazoo here at 8-4 Towers to celebrate 8-4 Play's first anniversary (yay!) and to help us break down the 2011 Tokyo Game Show. Tune in for hands- (and/or eyes-) on impressions of all the big games, including the PlayStation Vita launch lineup, Binary Domain, Phantasy Star Online 2, Anarchy Reigns, Soul Calibur 5, the...

Freshly-unemployed Internet sensation Shane Bettenhausen joins us as we kick off TGS week with a blow-by-blow breakdown of the big two pre-show press conferences - Nintendo's Frankenstick-free Monster Hunter megathon and Sony's 94% gameplay-free Vita launch bonanza. Tune in for an hour-long preview of what's to come, and then check back Friday for our monster Tokyo Game Show/8-4 Play 1-year-Annive...

And the megatons fall like rain: Dragon Quest X revealed as a massively-multiplayer online game for Wii and Wii U. :BWAAAH: Monster Hunter coming to the 3DS -- and with "monstrous" right-stick add-on, no less. :BWAAAH: Who better to join us in the fallout shelter than a man in the news himself, Kojima Productions vet Ryan Payton, who left Microsoft to go indie and to talk with us about 3DS vs. Vit...

You could just listen to the 8-4 crew talk 3DS rumors, PS3 and Vita announcements, MHP3rdHD, DOTA2 and Street Fighter IV as eSports, games that will hit and miss the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, and the Valve / EA / Activision shit-talkin' express and then just call it a day. Perfectly acceptable. But if you want the real, secret, best ending to the podcast, bust out some healing herb and stick aroun...

In which our heroes discuss: Armored Core V and Dark Souls pushed back, Xenoblade Chronicles moved up, PlayStation Vita coming right on time (sorta), 3DS sales rising (used), 3DS sales falling (new), 3DS sales rising again (post-price drop), addiction to EVO streams, ham withdrawal, what's good about Peter Moore, what's bad about Skyrim, who and what will and won't be at the upcoming Tokyo Game Sh...

Yes, we eventually talk about Rhythm Heaven for the Wii, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Groove Coaster, From Dust, Phantasy Star Online 2, Irem's apparent demise, Mega Man Legends 3's definite demise and so on, but mostly this episode is all about Nintendo ' s embattled 3DS handheld and just about every aspect of the news surrounding its upcoming price drop, complete with color commentary from di...