This week lacks Paul, but has plenty of good show, as Jordan refuses to believe in the magic of the old adventure game Alter Ego. This week’s game of the week is inspired by the Kickstarter reboot, as the gang discusses the classic Battle Chess.

As for the news:

• Aussie Diablo III preorders not getting refunded from GAME
• CliffyB praises Dark Souls multiplayer, urges Japanese devs to take notice
• Atari: Eden Studios not closed, Test Drive Unlimited 2 support still ongoing
• Bach: Sony’s mismanagement of PS3 led to Xbox successes
• Report: 38 Studios fighting to stay solvent

All this, plus Reader Feedback and the Question of the Week, “What is your favorite free-to-play game?”

Episode 262 may be a week late, but it’s definitely chock full ‘o podcast goodness, as the full crew rambles on and off subject about this and that. This week’s Gaming Flashback is the old coin-op arcade game Star Castle while begat Yars’ Revenge, with a twist ending to the classic game’s tale.

This week’s news items include:

• EA deals with Rock Band iOS debacle
• Microsoft “banned” in Germany
• Analyst predicts 3.5M sales of Diablo III in first year of release
• Report: Next Xbox already in production

All that, plus Reader Feedback and the Question of the Week, “What Kickstarter project have you backed or are most interested in buying?”

Sorry, no podcast this week due to time constraints. See you next week.

This week is another bountiful podcast as the crew has a surprisingly long discussion about this week’s Gaming Flashback, Make Trax. The guys also discuss 1990′s kids shows like Reading Rainbow and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? The contest winner for a copy of Magicka is also revealed, as some magical books are discussed.

In the news:

• Rumor: Wii U will cost Nintendo $180 and retail for $300
• Online petition calls for end to Tera ‘censorship’ in EU
• Videogame-only Kickstarter alternative debuting at E3 2012
• NPD: 40% of freemium players pay for in-game upgrades

Interestingly enough, the day after the podcast was recorded, the gore slider issue was resolved.

We also have some great Reader Feedback, but no contest or question this week. Sorry, folks!

This week is packed full of gaming goodness, as the winner of the Civilization V contest is revealed. If that weren’t enough, the news items for the week invoked a lot of conversation:

• New Halo 4 multiplayer details revealed
• EA dismisses “big layoffs” claim, always “growing and morphing”
• Rumor: Microsoft finding new ways to “monetize” Xbox Live

The podcast also features some great, heartwarming Reader Feedback as well as a new contest to win a code for Magicka. The question of the week, “What books featuring magic do you like the best?”

This week, there’s only one news item, but that’s because Jonah Falcon returns from PAX East 2012 to discuss the games he managed to check out and even play, including Assassin’s Creed 3, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Civilization V: Gods & Kings, Max Payne 3, Spec Ops: The Line, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, Borderlands 2, Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 3, Orcs Must Die! 2, Tera, Solitaire Blitz, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Mark of the Ninja and Code Hero.

The show does cover one news item:

• Zelnick regrets predicting THQ’s demise in six months

Finally, a new contest: win a free copy of Civilization V Special Edition on Steam. To win it, just state what your favorite civilization in history is and why. All that and Reader Feedback and a special surprise at the end!

Because you asked for it, the podcast features four guys, including Jonah Falcon, Paul S. Nowak, Jordan Lund, and Dan Quick. This is the no frills edition, however, as due to travel to PAX East, there’s no Gaming Flashback, and only a few news items.

They include:

• Rumor: Xbox 720 will require constant internet connection
• Spector saw “look of fear in people’s eyes” over musicals in Epic Mickey 2
• GAME acquired by OpCapita, no store closures planned
• Sony confirms Zipper Interactive closure
• Wii U less powerful than PS3, Xbox 360, developers say

We also include Reader Feedback. We’ll have a Question of the Week next week, we promise.

This week’s episode has a lot of … personality. That is, a lot of mockery, cursing, sniping, and general chaos – making it one of the best podcasts ever. Jordan Lund wasn’t available due to commitments at work, so Dan Quick once again filled in, and as expected, got along with Paul S. Nowak famously, as they tagteamed Jonah Falcon. In the meantime, the Gaming Flashback this week was Civilization II.

This week’s news also made Paul explode. Twice:

• Congressmen want warning labels on all games
• Exec: Console version of Diablo III will be “full Blizzard experience”
• Grand Theft Auto V details allegedly leaked
• EVE Online FanFest Panel accused of “tasteless” behavior
• Rumor: Microsoft to release ‘Xbox Lite’ before next-gen

The winners of The Darkness II contest were also announced. All this in an episode bursting full of good, old-fashioned bitchiness.

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE DISCUSSES THE ENDING AND EVENTS OF MASS EFFECT 3. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WISH THE GAME TO BE SPOILED FOR YOU.

In this day and age, one learns to take internet outrage with a heavy dollop of salt. The videogame community tends to be reactionary in the worst way, for a few reasons: they tend to be young, they tend to express their immediate feelings almost as a stream of consciousness, and let’s face it, the Greater Internet Dickwad Theory comes into play as well.

When it comes to game endings, when I hear that the community is upset about a game’s ending, I almost always take that as a good sign that the ending is daring and provocative. For example, there was an outcry over the abruptness of the ending of Halo 2, which had the nerve to conclude with a cliffhanger. The 2009 Prince of Persia reboot ended with the player undoing all of the work to free an ancient evil god they’d just imprisoned.

So when I heard that there was a growing outcry about the endings of Mass Effect 3, my interest peaked, because invariably, that meant the story was provocative and daring, instead of predictable and boring.

“What is one grain of sand in the desert? One grain amongst the storm?”

In the case of Prince of Persia, players felt annoyed that The Prince would undo all the effort the player had spent hours working on in the game – but in the context of the story, it made perfect sense and was powerful in its execution. His faithful companion (and possible love interest) Elika sacrificed all of her life force to contain the evil god Ahriman. The game actually had you carry her lifeless body to the altar during the end credits. After he placed her body down, the game gave you the opportunity to just turn the game off – or, you could keep playing, and sever the trees of life on the nearby landscape. When you did, Elika was restored to life, moaned, “Why?!”, as the Prince carried her off as the darkness surrounded them as Ahriman was freed.

It was powerful in that The Prince followed the same path as her father, The Mourning King. He didn’t accept the price, and he was willing to damn the world just to keep her alive. It was a profound “the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many” moment, and it did force the player to consider the situation from the Prince’s viewpoint. The land was barren, if fertile again. The populace was gone. And, as he stated in the epilogue downloadable content, the prison wasn’t secure anyway. (The fact that Elika never forgave The Prince even at the conclusion of the DLC, leaving him to a grim fate, saved it from being a deux ex machina cop out.)

The Prince of Persia comparison is an apt one, because Mass Effect 3’s ending also negated all of the effort the player put into the game, save the abstract “Galactic Readiness” level that determined if the ending was disastrous or merely inconclusive.

The chief difference between the two, however, is the fact that Prince of Persia’s ending worked within the context of the game. Mass Effect 3 was basically so far out of left field, it felt rushed and contrived.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the endings, Shepard is given three choices – destroy the Reapers, but in the process, all AI machines along with it, or merge with the Reapers and have them simply fly away, but in the process sacrifice his own life, or merge all organic life with synthetic life. In every case, the Normandy crash lands on a mysterious verdant planet. The “Galactic Readiness” determined how bad the decision would be – a low score would have the Earth destroyed in one ending.

The Synthesis Ending did cause coos of delight from fan fic writers.

The chief problem with the endings aren’t the content. Unto themselves, with no context, they’re perfectly valid endings. Gamers have a problem with them not because of the content itself, it’s the fact that they seem completely and utterly arbitrary, with no consideration for anything that had gone on before. In short, nothing the players did meant anything.

Crazy endings aren’t bad at all, when done right. Anyone who’s played the Silent Hill games can attest to that. The Dog Ending to the second game basically scotched all of the events that had gone on in the game, showing that a Japanese akita dog had been behind it all, as a canine mastermind operating a command center controlling all of the events in the game. It was funny, hysterical, and brilliant, and widely accepted as an ending.

So why did the Mass Effect 3 endings fail? The game was building up to something that never happened.

Before the endings, the player had to make clever moves or suffer some hard choices. They had to negotiate a peace between the Krogan and the Turians while mollifying the Salarians. They had to somehow get the Geth and the Quarians to work together, or have one race utterly wiped out. The decisions from the previous two games reared their heads. Did the player save the Rachni Queen? Did the player save Maleon’s research?

Mass Effect 3 had some of the most haunting moments not only in the series, but in science fiction itself. No player will ever forget Mordin’s final, sacrificial moments curing the insidious Krogan genophage, singing to himself “I am the very model of a Salarian scientist” as the tower exploded all around him. If the player failed to negotiate a peace between the Geth and the Quarians, it ended with beautiful tragedy – and regardless of the player’s choice, it had Legion asking shortly before it died whether it had a soul.

One decision will devastatingly result in Tali commiting a tearful suicide.

Even the romance between Joker and EDI, which could have come off as incredibly idiotic, was sweetly done, as EDI began to experience what it really was to be sentient and emotional.

It is this emotional investment into all of the characters that made the endings such a betrayal to gamers. But not for the reasons they think.

The real reason the endings that were given in Mass Effect 3 were such an insult to players is that everything they’d done to that point – and that includes the first two games – were meaningless. All of the choices given to players to that point had shown a cause-and-effect, and at the very end, all of that was ignored.

In short, the only thing that mattered was the Galactic Readiness meter, and that could be raised to 100% without doing a single thing in single player, since the multiplayer raised the meter alone. There was no connect between the campaign and the ending.

To really contrast this decision, one only need look at Mass Effect 2, which set a template players were expecting in 3.

If the player failed to upgrade their main weapon to the Thannix cannon in the second game, a crew member died. If a player chose the wrong person to lead the second team or provide the biotic bubble, a crew member died. If the player didn’t go on a crew member’s loyalty mission, they potentially could die. Preparation and consequences.

Thannix cannon – don’t leave spacedock without it.

None of that is in Mass Effect 3. Prevent Samara from killing herself and gain an elite Asari commando squad? It was meaningless except for a number that moved you closer to 100% Galactic Readiness. Gain an alliance with the Krogan and the Turians? Just a number. Treat Kalishah al-Jilani nicely and encourage her to keep supporting Earth? Just a number.

Players were expecting their decisions to matter. They wanted to see the Turians fighting, and living or dying depending on how prepared the galaxy was. They wanted to see Jack and her young biotics helping out or dying, depending on the player’s decisions. A player who took their time in the single player campaign, doing most of the sidequests, gaining support, wanted to see the fruits of their labor. Help Aria and get a trio of major mercenary squads on your side? Who wouldn’t want to see a horde of Vorcha and mechs descending on the husks?

When you managed to wrangle up a huge fleet of ships from multiple races for what one of your squadmates said in awe was the biggest fleet ever in the history of the galaxy, you got one brief shot of it. That’s it.

Worse, the endings were a betrayal of the entire theme of the series. The Prothean you managed to save, Javik, near the end of the game talked about how the Prothean Empire, which turned out to be an oppressive militaristic force that basically told all of the races it encountered, “Be our slaves, or else”, couldn’t defeat the Reapers, while an alliance of races working together was more efficient. That was the secret heart of the Mass Effect series. The endings simply dumped all over that concept.

The other problem was the way the endings handled the Reapers. In the first game, the Reapers were mysterious, otherworldly, and a palpable Lovecraftian threat. Basically, they were Elder Gods. When Sovereign boasted in the first game, “You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it” in its deep, metallic voice, that was the point that players realized that the scope of the game had just widened in front of them. It wasn’t about a human-hating Spectre with an army of robot slaves destroying human colonies. It was about the end of life in the galaxy as we know it.

The Reapers at their most threatening.

In the second game, the Reapers became even more blatantly linked to Lovecraft. When exploring a dead Reaper, one log wrote in awe:

“Chandana said the ship was dead. We trusted him. He was right. But even a dead god can dream. A god — a real god — is a verb. Not some old man with magic powers. It’s a force. It warps reality just by being there. It doesn’t have to want to. It doesn’t have to think about it. It just does. That’s what Chandana didn’t get. Not until it was too late. The god’s mind is gone but it still dreams. He knows now. He’s tuned in on our dreams. If I close my eyes I can feel him. I can feel every one of us.”

H.P. couldn’t have written it better himself.

In the third game, the Reapers actually invaded, and they lived up to expectations – unstoppable in force, and peeling away the Earth like an onion. They perverted organic life forms into nightmarish constructs, such as the Banshees.

At the end of the game, however, they’re tools. Nothing more than tools that are conveniently brushed away at one beings whim.

Drew Karpyshyn stated that his endings were different, in that they were cleaning the galaxy of life to save it from Dark Energy, so the choice the player would have would be to either allow the races to be eaten or to destroy the Reapers and deal with extermination by the energy.

Again, that would have the same problems as the endings as they are, if not in a worse fashion. Once again, the Reapers are basically playthings, and in his scenarios, the choice is Apocalypse A or Apocalypse B, and the player never gets to see the fruits of their labor.

Now, I normally would never presume to “fix” another person or person’s artistic work, but if I were asked, this is what I would do:

First off, leave the Reapers be. Just make them forces of nature, as they were portrayed in the previous two games. Hungry godlike machines that do three things: sleep, eat, reproduce. That’s it. No explanation of where they came from. No explanation of their motives. Let them be a mystery; as Voltaire once said, the secret to being boring is to tell everything. The Reapers were at their best when they were godlike boogeymen. Let fans speculate – that’s what they enjoy doing.

“This one just wet his pants at seeing an Enkindler, if this one had any.”

Secondly, let the war play out. Separate the Galactic Readiness from the value of the forces Shepard raised. The quality and number of forces that are required to defeat the Reapers will be in the allies Shepard has rallied to his cause. You should be able to see them fighting, dying and winning or losing their battle. The Galactic Readiness would only determine how ready each force is.

For example, if there are tons of Asari forces but their Readiness is low, they’ll suffer heavy losses but still win a Pyrrhic victory. In there are less Asari forces but the Readiness is high, they’ll win, with their small forces more battle-hardened – however, the Asari will still suffer heavy losses since there’s only a few. A high number of forces and Readiness is high, they’ll wipe out the Reapers in their sector and remain powerful and strong. Low on both counts, the Asari are extinct, akin to losing a crew member in Mass Effect 2.

Everything should play out – it doesn’t matter how long the cutscenes play. This is the final chapter of the Shepard trilogy. Alliances, betrayals, victories, defeats, let it all play out. If BioWare has to keep the Crucible, maybe if the army Shepard raises is strong enough to destroy the Reapers, Shepard can essentially tell the childlike being what to go do with itself. If they can’t, Shepard can choose to sacrifice himself, similar to what he did in the worst case scenario of Mass Effect 2.

Of course, the player would have choices during the end game that could affect the game. The Crucible could be treated as a weapon of last resort that will destroy almost all life, much like the rings in Halo. A boss fight against the leader of the Reapers would also allow players something to do – in order for any sort of victory, the leader of the Reapers would have to be destroyed; perhaps it resurrects Reapers, which could be shown in one mission where it brings back to life the dead Reaper from the second game.

It would also be a good point for Shepard’s Paragon/Renegade option to begin. He could either destroy the wounded Reaper, ensuring that the Reapers never threaten again, but lose something in the process, or he could reach an agreement with the leader, banishing it from the galaxy in exchange for Reaper tech that would keep EDI and the Geth (if they’re still around) sentient. That would be something a Paragon would definitely do.

As with Dragon Age: Origins, an epilogue would give Shepard, who is now the Human Councilor (since Udina’s dead and Anderson doesn’t want it), the ability to change the galaxy one last time, and be given some final choices. For example, he could decree Humans run the Council themselves, retain the status quo, or finally give other races a seat on the Council (which would be a wonderful middle finger and olive branch at the same time to Din Korlack), including, of all things, the Geth.

In the end, the entire point of Mass Effect was to allow the players to write their own story. The three current endings could still be incorporated as bizarre endings to the trilogy, much like the Dog Ending of Silent Hill 2. In that way, they would be so strange they would actually become beloved endings that were smiled about with disbelief. (On a side note, the Synthesis ending was the only ending that made any sort of sense, in that it at least gave closure to one storyline – the Joker/EDI romance.)

This final scene caused tooth decay and cavities in young children.

Finally, without having an inside sources, it seems to me that Mass Effect 3 was rushed to conclusion, that someone set March 6 as a hard release date after the game had been delayed for a few months. The evidence that I have is that much of what Casey Hudson and other BioWare personnel had teased about the game never materialized. The romantic conflicts were relatively mute. The “amazing, definitive” ending never showed up, instead having three definitely non-definitive endings. Hudson cautioning players take their time to finish side quests became irrelevant. There is an unfortunate similarity between Mass Effect 3 and Knights of the Old Republic II in that both games seemed to run out of time and endings were hastily put together, with subplots discarded.

There are two probable factors in this rush. First, Electronic Arts. As much as the publisher has remained hands-off with BioWare, there had to be some pressure to release the game as soon as possible. And secondly, Star Wars: The Old Republic. There is no way BioWare could have undertaken such a massive project without draining manpower from Mass Effect 3.

Again, I have no proof this was the case, but I strongly suspect it was so. Most fans of the series would probably have happily waited to, say, November 2012 for a full experience, if true.

This week’s Gaming Podcast gets down and dirty, with plenty of AAAA goodness. The Darkness II contest is still going on this week, and winners will be announced next week.

In the meantime:

• Analyst predicts 66M iPad sales in 2012
• Diablo III gets May 15 release date
• Epic: Next gen console launch titles will probably use Unreal Engine 3
• Microsoft looking for executive producer to work on an “AAAA” Xbox title
• Wasteland 2 aiming for October 2013 release date

All that, plus Reader Feedback.

Dan Quick returns again to cover for Paul Nowak, and this week, the Gaming Podcast is offering free copies of The Darkness II Limited Edition, which comes with the main game and some free DLC. The guys are giving away an Xbox 360 version and a PlayStation 3 version. To win, just listen to the podcast and post what your favorite scary movie is.

The game news this week includes:

• Ex-SCEE senior VP Phil Harrison joins Microsoft’s European team
• DOOM developer John Romero has “plans” for “old school” shooter
• EA defends Mass Effect 3 From Ashes DLC data being on disc
• Notch settles with Bethesda over “Scrolls” trademark
• DICE: 2GB RAM won’t be enough for next gen consoles
• Angry Birds theme park to open in Finland
• GAME puts itself up for sale, GameStop interested
• Diablo III release date announcement “in a few days“, no PvP in launch version

And yes, they know that the announcement was just made today – May 15th release date for Diablo III.

The contest to win either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version of The Darkness II will run this and next week, with the winners announced in Episode 257.

This week, the full man crew is back, and incredibly deep-voiced as they proclaim themselves the Protectors of Humanity™, as Mass Effect 3 launches today. The Gaming Flashback is a Gaming Preview of Assassin’s Creed 3.

This week’s news includes:

• Microsoft: Xbox Live Arcade will be phased out eventually
• Leaked images “nothing to do with” Doom 4, fans will “see awesome”
• SimCity 5 coming in 2013
• GAME drops 5% in shares after Mass Effect 3 no-show
• Rumor: PlayStation 4 ditches Cell processor tech

This, and the most contentious Reader Feedback ever.

This week, Paul is still not available, which is unfortunate, since the Gaming Flashback is the classic DuckTales for the NES. There’s also a bunch of scintillating news items including:

• Pachter: Nintendo “Blew It” With Wii U, “In Disarray”
• Bethesda hiring talent for Xbox 720, PlayStation 4 game
• EA reveals Mass Effect 3 preorders well ahead of Mass Effect 2‘s
• Pachter: Next generation Sony and Microsoft consoles will have 4GB SKU
• Sony filed patent For Kinect-like motion device
• PSN Minis not working on Vita

We also reveal the winner of the Pixie Diamonds contest.

This week, Paul can’t make it, so we bring on a Paul substitute, Dan Quick of the PolyCast podcast – and the show doesn’t skip a beat thanks to Dan behaving like Paul without realizing it. This week’s Gaming Flashback explodes like a blood sausage with Wasteland.

This week’s news items include:

• Dashboard update gives Indie Marketplace more visibility
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 outed by Amazon France
• Skyrim DLC won’t follow same model as Fallout DLC
• Electronic Arts terminates “free Battlefield 3 for preordering Mass Effect 3” deal early
• Alan Wake on PC because Remedy “a nagging little kid” to Microsoft

In addition, we have Reader Feedback for Paul’s Pixie Diamonds contest – the winners will be determined next week. The contest’s Question of the Week remains the same: “Who is your favorite Disney Prince or Hero, and why?”

After last week’s special appearance by Derrick and Jennifer Schommer along with Don Dunn, the regular crew of Jonah Falcon, Jordan Lund and Paul S. Nowak return, and they find themselves with some fascinating news items.

The news items include:

• Blizzard brags Diablo III will have difficulties that are harder-than-hard
• Sony passed on Demon’s Souls because it was “crap“
• Sony credit rating downgraded, “strong recovery in earnings unlikely”
• Tim Schafer raises $1.6M (and counting) to develop an adventure game
• Epic’s Sweeney: Lifelike graphics will come in our lifetime

Paul is also running a contest to earn “Pixie Diamonds” currency for Disney’s Pixie Hollow social networking MMO, with the prize going to the person who can answer, “Who is your favorite Disney Prince or Hero, and why?”

It’s the fabulous 250th Episode milestone, and this particular podcast features a major surprise for longtime listeners. Not only is this one of the funniest podcasts in a long while, but there’s plenty of show to go around, too. First, the Gaming Flashback checks out the classic shooter No One Lives Forever, while the Gaming History examines the infamous Gizmondo handheld gaming console.

As for the news:

• Hirai: Sony could be facing “serious trouble“
• Take Two CEO states “strong become stronger” with next-gen transitions
• Developer Starbreeze fears Syndicate may be “too hard“
• Oklahoma state rep wants 1% violent videogame tax
• Ubisoft cuts off legit players With DRM server migration

There’s no Question of the Week, but we’re definitely sure there will be plenty of comments for the podcast hosts.

For those of you good at math, you might notice that the TD Gaming Podcast is one episode away from a special number. While we have a surprise in store for loyal listeners, there’s still this week’s news to discuss. For starters, the classic Silent Hill 2 is the subject of the Gaming Flashback, even though none of the podcasters have gotten a chance to actually play it.

There’s also some interesting news to discuss, including:

• Christian group accuses The Old Republic of “warping kids” with pro-gay message
• Rumor: Next Harmonix project being released on XBLA, PSN, and Facebook
• EA Sports: SSX will bring extreme sports videogames back to prominence
• Xbox 720 rumors springing up like wildfire
• PS Vita continues to struggle in Japan
• SNK brings Neo*Geo back as a handheld

There’s plenty of Reader Feedback, but there’s no Question of the Week, because there’s a special episode coming up. Ooooh, what could it possibly be?

As the podcast approaches the magic 250th episode, Paul, Jordan and Jonah check out some of the big news that hit this week in the land of videogames, and in the Gaming Flashback, looked back at an all-time worst game, Superman 64.

This week’s news includes:

• ESA drops SOPA support (via Herr Alien)
• R18+ bill to be voted on by Australian Parliament on 7th February
• Vita sales continue to freefall in Japan
• Guild Wars 2 open beta this Spring, launching in 2012
• Starbreeze states they don’t look at games from a genre perspective anymore

All this and Reader Feedback, as well as the Question of the Week, “What do you look for in a sequel?”

Despite having multiple technical difficulties that were edited out of the podcast, Episode 247 is full of gaming discussion goodness, despite Paul’s constant declaration that companies are full of bullbleep.

This week’s gaming news includes:

• Bioware confirms Mass Effect 3 is Origin-only
• Electronic Arts passed $1B in digital sales in 2011
• The Lund Report for the December 2011 NPD
• Gaikai: Sony or Microsoft won’t have next-gen console
• Thief 4 rumored to have multiplayer
• Videogame industry companies shutting down to protest SOPA

This plus two reader mails and the Question of the Week, “What was the first multiplayer gaming you ever enjoyed?”

CES 2012 is going strong, as Jonah and Jordan do tonight’s podcast without Paul, who is packing for a trip. This week’s Gaming Flashback is the notorious Custer’s Revenge, and a punch of intriguing news and rumors comprise this week’s topics:

• Fallout MMO rights belong to Bethesda as Interplay settles
• Pachter sez there’s “zero chance” of PS4 at E3 2012
• Rumor: Next Xbox tablet-based?
• Rumor: Kaz Hirai to return as president of Sony
• Diablo III release held due to South Korea (from GameFront)

Plenty of Reader Feedback this week, which is good because we forgot to include a Question of the Week this time.

This week is double-stuffed full of goodness, with over two hours of podcast, as Jonah, Paul and Jordan cover not only the news of the last week, but also recap 2011, talking about games that pleased and disappointed them.

Aside from the biggest news of 2011, the current news items the gang listed to include:

• Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony all pull support from SOPA – sort of
• Wii U launch price expected to be $399
• Guitar Hero may return in 2012
• Judge ruling deals Silicon Knights a serious blow in suit against Epic Games
• FlatOut 3 dev calls Modern Warfare 3 a “beta“
• Bioware defends The Old Republic subscription model, teases free-to-play for older IPs

The podcast also received a ton of new Reader Feedback, while the Question of the Week is “Which would you rather game on – a handheld console or a mobile device?”

It seems that the Wii U will be one of the most expensive launches in Nintendo’s history, as reports indicate that the console will launch at a $399 price point.

In an interview, Nintendo of America prez Reggie Fils-Aime stated:

“If I’m the head of a household of a family of four, and my disposable income is $50,000 to $60,000, I’m going to continue to look at the Wii because of the software, and it’s a great entertainment device. For consumers who want to have the latest gadgets and have a higher disposable income, that’s for the Wii U.”

Those eyebrow raising comments have laid an expected MSRP of $399 for the Wii U and its tablet-styled controller. Let us know what you think.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays – did you get what you wanted this year?

Let us know what you got from your loved ones.

It’s the final podcast of 2011, as Jonah, Jordan and Paul will not be podcasting next week. However, there’s plenty of news, reader feedback and a Gaming Flashback of the terrible PlayStation One game, Irritating Stick.

The news for this week includes:

• EA selling virtual car for $100 in NFS World
• Modern Warfare 3 beats Avatar
• Naughty Dog: Move to next-gen is “terrifying“
• Star Wars: The Old Republic sales could already be 1.5M
• Man sues Sony for ToS update forbidding suing
• Nintendo only showing E3 Wii U demos at CES 2012

The question of the week is “What game are you most interested in for 2012?” Let us know what you think, and see you in 2012.

The latest episode, which is on the short side after having a really long one two weeks ago, sees Paul returning from the flu with somewhat of a shady attitude this week. Meanwhile, the Gaming Flashback is the 1976 coin-op arcade game Blockade.

The news for this week includes:

• Gabe Newell teases something for E3 2012 with a “3” in it
• Richard Garriott working on Ultima successor
• Microsoft includes “do not class action sue us” clause for Xbox Live
• Bizarre circumstances surround GSC Game World

All that plus Reader Feedback and the Question of the Week, “What was your favorite handheld game?”