This week’s podcast features a Gaming Flashback of Halo: Combat Evolved, one of the longest such game segments in the podcast’s history, encompassing a third of the podcast.

This week’s news items includes:

• Blizzard decides against rolling back Diablo III servers following gold exploit
• Defiance to get 5 major DLC packs in the next year
• Report: Next-gen Xbox console called “Xbox Infinity”
• Obsidian expresses desire to develop Star Wars RPG
• EA to stop licensing with weapons manufacturers, will keep using branded guns

There’s only one reader response, but there is a Question of the Week: “What videogame genre are you completely burned out on?”

[This episode is unedited, so be prepared for some naughty language.]

This week has some stunning news items, causing an overstuffed, long episode, so big even Jordan’s wife chimes in, and Jonah and Paul argue hotly over the last item. The Gaming Flashback for this episode is Super Star Wars.

This week’s huge news:

• EA gets exclusive license to publish Star Wars games, powered by Frostbite 3 engine
• Uplay causing problems with Steam version of Heroes VI expansion Shades of Darkness
• The Sims 4 officially announced by Electronic Arts
• Michael Biehn hints at Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon sequel
• Doritos Crash Course 2 coming May 9, still free
• Spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness hitting crowdfunding on May 6
• Gearbox dismisses Aliens: Colonial Marines lawsuit as “beyond meritless”

Also some listener feedback, plus this week’s Question: “What was your Golden Era of videogaming?”

The regular podcast is back, after the Dr. Who outtakes podcast last week. The show runs a little long but it’s full of insight and wonderfulness. Mostly. This week’s Gaming Flashback is the classic arcade motorcycle racer Hang-On.

The podcast also has two week’s worth of news items, including:

• Next-gen Xbox formally being unveiled on 21st May in Redmond, WA
• Rumor: Next-gen Microsoft console will have DVR feature
• Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded out in June, “re-made, expanded and enhanced”
• BioShock Infinite, Xbox 360 lead March 2013 US sales according to NPD
• Nintendo bowing out of E3 Keynote
• Microsoft turned profit in fiscal 3rd quarter
• Batman: Arkham Origins inspired by Legends of the Dark Knight

Plenty of Listener Feedback, but no Question of the Week – just ask us anything.

Thanks to a screwup with recording, Episode 307 will have to be redone next week. However, this doesn’t mean there won’t be any show.

Instead, the second Dr. Who Special Episode is in its place, with outtakes taken after the show with Jordan, Jennifer and Paul discussing Dr. Who in the past four weeks. In short, they feel the quality is starting to slip.

The crew bemoans the decline of handheld gaming as it gets dominated by mobile platforms like Apple iOS, while they rejoice at Justice League being available on Netflix Streaming. There’s no Gaming Flashback or Gaming History, but there is some Reader Feedback.

This week’s news items include:

• Batman: Arkham Origins confirmed for PC, consoles
• Domains for Mad Max videogames registered by Warner Bros.
• Report: Xbox 720 not always online, doesn’t block used games, supports backwards compat
• Jade Empire as an Xbox 360 launch title “would have been massive“
• Zeschuk: Old-school gaming in “sick market” right now, digital ‘not filling gaps’

Gamers can read Jordan’s “Death of Handheld Gaming” article here.

Paul and Jordan realize the brilliance of duct taping a flashlight to a gun barrel, while more Doctor Who fodder was recorded for a future outtakes episode. Jonah and Paul also express amazement there’s no Sugar Race racing based on the arcade title found in Wreck-It Ralph. Finally, the podcast eulogizes Roger Ebert.

The news for the week includes:

• Disney shuts down LucasArts, cancels Star Wars 1313, Star Wars: First Assault
• Thief to feature “classic mode”, removing all assists
• Microsoft has a clear path to developing Killer Instinct after an agreement with Fox
• The Witcher 3 confirmed to be DRM-free
• Bethesda confirms “new version of Doom 4” being worked on, Rage 2 cancelled

There’s also Listener Feedback, and the Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm contest is still open – a winner will be announced next week.

Despite being recorded on April Fool’s Day, the podcast has no pranks, just a long political discussion and has Paul demanding no one say anything about BioShock Infinite. Speaking of that game, the crew announces the winner of the BioShock Infinite contest. This week has a Gaming History about the development of XCOM: UFO Defense.

This week’s news includes:

• Cruel April Fool’s Joke posts fake Half-Life 2: Episode Three Steam page (see image below)
• Path of Exile to feature yearly major expansions
• Gamers want Assassin’s Creed every year, states UbiSoft Montreal
• Former Diablo III director states the auction houses were a mistake
• EA prez Gibeau: “DRM is a failed dead-end strategy”

There is a ton of feedback, plus a new contest to win a copy of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. The rule is the same as BioShock Infinite: listen to the podcast and comment on what is discussed.

This week we’re giving away a free copy of BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360! How do you win? Well, simply post a good comment! The contest winner will be announced two weeks from now.

In the meantime, the Gaming Flashback this time is the PlayStation One classic Chrono Cross, while Paul tries desperately to avoid listening to BioShock Infinite spoilers.

This week’s news includes:

• THQ’s UDraw failure “invalidated” Saints Row: The Third‘s success
• Levine: BioShock Infinite cost $100M to develop, and $100M to market
• American McGee doesn’t “see anything meaningful” in the PS4, SimCity players “need to relax”
• Schafer’s Double Fine Adventure project from Kickstarter is now Broken Age
• Capcom announces DuckTales Remastered, developed by WayForward

All this and some Reader Feedback.

This week Jonah and Jordan go it alone without Paul, which is unfortunately since the Gaming Flashback is the classic Nintendo 64 title Paper Mario. It might be just as well as the events of the last week made the crew ramble on about the industry at length, making the post much longer than usual.

This week’s impressive news items:

• John Riccitiello steps down as CEO of Electronic Arts
• Firaxis announces Brave New World expansion for Civilization V
• Will fans back an Alice 3 Kickstarter, asks American McGee
• Lord British explains Shroud of the Avatar‘s offline gameplay and DRM
• Facebook of Italian automobile company mentions “Gran Turismo PS4″
• Team Meat sitting out on developing for next-gen consoles

Lots of Reader Feedback, but no Question of the Week this week – just too much show.

You’ve been waiting for it – the special Dr. Who outtakes discussion that Paul, Dan and Jordan’s wife Jennifer had about the sci-fi series.

It’s 30 minutes of BBC goodness. Check it out – a proper episode will be run next week.

The landmark 300th episode is here, and while we only got one special guest, Dan Quick, it’s still a jam-packed episode. In this episode, Jordan continues to pine for Half-Life 3, male full frontal nudity gets discussed, and Paul claims he invented the term “Whosphere”. This weeks’ Gaming Flashback is Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance.

The news items include:

• The Last of Us features Naughty Dog’s “longest ever” campaign
• Sony confirms 4K movie service for PS4
• BioShock Infinite‘s ending may cause controversy
• Ubisoft confirms Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

There’s a ton of Listener Feedback as well as the Question of the Week, “What was your favorite moment in the TD Gaming Podcast over the years?”

This week is heavy on content on the PlayStation 4 unveiling as the next-generation approaches for both Sony and Microsoft – there’s no room for Nintendo in this episode. Nor is there a lot of Reader, er, Listener Feedback, nor any Gaming Flashback.

This week’s major news includes:

• Sony unveils PS4 at “See the Future”
• Sony: Pre-owned game blockage “up to publishers” on PS4
• Fans express outrage at offline/LAN play for console version of Diablo III
• Rumor: Microsoft revealing next-gen console in April
• GameSpy, UGO, 1UP say farewell
• Activision to have “fewer” licensed games out in 2013

The Question of the Week is “What was the first videogame periodical or site you enjoyed?”

This week’s podcast is rife with arguing between Jonah, Jordan and Paul regarding computer science in schools and have a long discussion about the future of the Wii U. In this episode, the earliest MMOFPS PlanetSide gets a Gaming Flashback.

As far as the news items for the week:

• Obama: Games innovate technology, interest children in computer science
• Destiny preorders at Best Buy reveal info about Bungie’s upcoming game
• Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn beta begins the 25th February
• Rumor: Sony will use Gaikai to stream PS3 games in PS4
• Wii U sold around 50,000 units in US in January
• Take 2 confirms acquiring WWE license

All this and Reader Feedback as well as the Question of the Week: “How important is backwards compatibility to you?”

[Note: Due to a mic issue, some of the podcast is slightly distorted.]

This week’s podcast was recorded a day early due to schedule conflicts, but we make up for it with an actual Gaming Flashback this week of one of the most famous recent RPGs, Knights of the Old Republic.

In addition, there’s a ton of news:

• Brad Wardell states RTS’s aren’t dying – just waiting
• Microsoft considered buying Sega at one point
• UK: Wii U sells just 34,000 pieces of software in January
• Next World of Warcraft update to arrive in the “coming weeks”
• thatgamecompany had been bankrupt when Journey shipped
• Report: Next-gen Xbox will feature Siri-like voice recog
• Ubisoft plans new Assassin’s Creed game for 2013/14, set in a new time period

All that plus Reader Feedback and a Question of the Week: “What was the first roleplaying game you enjoyed?”

Jonah is still plagued, though this time he’s suffering laryngitis that accompanied the flu. However, even without Dan or a Gaming Flashback, there’s a ton of news to pour over.

This week’s news items include:

• Notch earned $101M in 2012, may buy car
• Sony teases “See the Future” event on 20th February
• Rumor: PS4 hitting Europe in 2014, will have 8GB GDDR5
• Feedback leads Kawata to “slightly revise” opinions on Resident Evil
• Take-Two delays Grand Theft Auto V to September 17th
• Source Code director signs on for Legendary Pictures’ Warcraft adaptation
• Controversial torture interrogation from Splinter Cell: Black List removed
• Rumor: Halo 3 finally hitting PC – on Steam?

All that plus Reader Feedback and the Question of the Week: “What remake would you like to see done?”

This week, Jonah has the flu, but still manages to host despite hacking and coughing (which was edited out of the podcast), and having a nasally voice as well. Jordan was not so lucky, and couldn’t make it at all. Despite all this, the crew manages to give Dan a sendoff in his last regular podcast.

The news was also pretty major this week, including:

• THQ finally dissolved, assets auctioned off
• Dead Space 3 micro-transactions for players wanting “instant gratification”
• Disney Infinity to feature on-disc DLC, susceptible to movie spoilers
• League of Legends Team Solo Medbi players receive lifetime bans for anti-Semitism and abuse
• Sony fined 250K GBP for April 2011 hacker intrusion

We also have Reader Feedback and a new Question of the Week: “What kind of microtransactions are acceptable?”

This week has a full crew again with Jordan, Jonah, Paul and Dan, and even though there’s no Gaming Flashback or Gaming History, there’s a ton of news to pour over.

This week’s news includes:

• Jay Wilson steps down from Diablo III stewardship
• The Secret World sees ‘400% increase in activity’ after December relaunch
• Mojang: Minecraft XBLA outsold Minecraft PC in 2012
• Gas Powered Games confirms major layoffs
• Sony settles lawsuit with Kevin Butler actor Jerry Lambert
• Pachter: Nintendo is “a few years late” in everything they do

On a sadder note, Dan announced a day after the podcast recording that he will be employed full-time and no longer have the time to be a regular member of the podcast.

This week’s Question of the Week: “What game do you want to see a sequel to the most?”

This week sees the return of Paul Nowak from his holiday vacation. There’s plenty of news items and some reader feedback, but also the return of Gaming History as the crew checks out the failed portable console, the Game.com.

The news for this week includes:

• Age of Empires Online won’t be seeing any more content
• Sony patents tech to stop used games and rentals
• Major Nelson posts countdown to E3 Expo 2013
• PvP mode for Diablo III delayed yet again
• Telltale is in the very early stages of The Walking Dead Season 2

Finally, the Question of the Week is simple: “What did you do on your holiday break?”

This double stuffed episode makes up for last week’s week off, even without Paul in the podcast.

The news covers the following items:

• Sony stops shipping PlayStation 2 in Japan
• WWE may not get $45M owed by THQ for license
• Asheron’s Call 2 returns

They then covered the top stories of the year, which leads to the Question of the Week, “What was the biggest news item in 2012?”

This week it’s Jordan Lund’s turn to be absent, while Jonah Falcon and Paul Nowak discuss just how bad The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is. This week’s Gaming Flashback is Peter Molyneux’s ambitious title Black & White.

In the news:

• Silicon Knights’ cancelled games revealed
• Gabe Newell: Valve planning console-like PC for living room
• Windows Store “begins accepting” 18-rated games
• Rockstar muses on “one big world containing all” GTA cities
• Defiance‘s TV show and game “stand up on their own,” don’t ‘need’ one another

There’s also some Reader Feedback, while the Question of the Week is, “How in tune with an MMO’s story are you while playing?”

No Paul this week, no Gaming Flashback this week – just Jonah, Dan and Jordan discussing a ton of news items where Jonah expresses shock that Jordan had never heard of No One Lives Forever.

The items this week include:

• Wii U sells 1.2 games per console
• BioWare was planning spy action title in 2009
• Sony Santa Monica outline reasons for sticking with God of War franchise
• Hitman Facebook app removed for off-color joke
• Activision: Black Ops II grossed $1 billion in 15 Days
• Spike VGA 2012: The Phantom Pain announced, probably MGS5

This week’s Question of the Week: “What’s the most offensive thing you’ve seen in a videogame?”

In this episode of Gaming Podcast, Jonah states he got to see Wreck It Ralph, while Paul still can’t find a black Wii U. This week’s Gaming Flashback is the 2002 Gamecube launch title Super Mario Sunshine.

This week’s news includes:

• The Lund Report: Black Friday 2012 NPD
• Nintendo Power’s last issue released
• Blizzard acquired ‘Project Blackstone‘ domain November 26th
• Rumor: Next gen Xbox coming Holiday 2013
• Dead Island: Riptide banned in Germany

All this and Reader Feedback, and the Question of the Week is, “Did you read many issues of Nintendo Power?”

This week’s episode is short due to Jonah Falcon’s impending trip to San Francisco to cover a preview event of Company of Heroes 2, while Paul Nowak gets irritated at the complaints coming out of the Wii U launch.

The news items include:

• Wii U’s launch day update reportedly causing major problems
• Nintendo DRM traps $400 of downloaded games
• GTA: Vice Cityremoved from Steam over music licensing
• Report: Next-gen Xbox TV device coming in 2013
• Sony: Our iPhone and Galaxy S3 challenger is coming

The Question of the Week: “Do you play real-time strategy games. If so, what is your favorite. If not, why not?”

This week’s Gaming Podcast is chock full of news and reader feedback. Rather than do a Gaming Flashback, a conversation about the middling sales of the PlayStation Vita is discussed, while Paul is anxiously looking for a black Wii U so he can play Epic Mickey 2. We also hand out the indie game prizes to our two winners.

This week’s news includes:

• Star Citizen hits $4.5M stretch goal, biggest crowd fundraiser ever
• Black Ops 2 1.03 patch doesn’t fix server issues
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution film director tabbed
• Spector: Epic Mickey 2 takes “choice and consequence to new levels“

This week’s Question of the Week: What was the best game you ever played that cost less than $5?

In addition, this is the two days of Kickstarter funding. Help the TD Gaming Podcast with its Kickstarter fundraising.

This week, Gaming Podcast is giving away free indie games: Dungeon Defenders and the Zeboyd 2-Pack including Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death VIII. The Gaming Flashback includes the original Splinter Cell from 2002.

There’s also plenty of news items including:

• Blizzard facing class action lawsuit over Battle.net security
• Former Square boss calls merger “a complete failure” between Square and Enix
• Nintendo details Wii U network ID system
• Molyneux skeptical about tablet/TV gaming
• Halo 4 makes $220M in first day, Forward Unto Reach garners 46M viewers
• Analyst: Grand Theft Auto V will sell 25M units

No Question of the Week – just let us know if you’d like to win either Dungeon Defenders or Cthulhu Saves the World/Breath Of Death VIII.

In addition, this is the final week of Kickstarter funding. Help the TD Gaming Podcast with its Kickstarter fundraising.