Scheduling conflicts this week means there’s been a lot of time since we recorded 101, and very little time until we record 103.  As such, we’ve got a lot of games to talk about this episode, and we’ll have a lot of headlines to cover next episode.

Before we get into that, though, we have a correction to make.  Jonathan’s not sure how he messed this up, but Ryven Cydrelle didn’t win our contest last week.  Moreover, he didn’t even enter it.  Rather, a listener named Joe was the proper entrant and winner in the contest, and all has been corrected.  Thanks to Ryven for noticing the error and to Joe for being a good sport!

In the show proper, Alex explains why The History Channel: Great Battles – Medieval isn’t a particularly good game, a fact which should surprise no one.  He also makes a case for why Asura’s Wrath needs a change of venue to the Kinect, no matter how foolish it might make you look or sound.  Then his mic goes wonky, and he kind of talks about Hero Academy (which he’s been playing with Jonathan, Luke, and others).

Jonathan’s got a big list, explaining why he shipped Battlefield 3, unplayed, back to GameFly, and only gave Record of Agarest War Zero a quick pass.  He’s also picked up Space Marine, and didn’t much care for the new NFL Blitz, or the older Madden Arcade.

Sam has been moving and has had Internet issues, so his list consists of his primary addiction of late, EDF, and the game everybody on the show has played this week (and which we end the show talking about), Skyrim.

Sam gets a bit of a rage-on about Skyrim’s AI system.  His Lydia apparently has a fondness for geology, and flinging herself headlong into hopeless battles.  Overall, though, Skyrim seems to have overcome his major gripes about Morrowind and Oblivion.  Meanwhile, Alex barely got through the tutorial mission and turned the game off.  He claims Everquest flashbacks, and no one really wants to see him relapse.  Jonathan has spent a preposterous amount of time playing Skyrim, but he’s not really all that far into the story.  Somehow it works, though.  None of the hosts think it deserves all the hype it’s getting, but at least two hosts are enjoying it quite a lot.

Next week, fewer games, and more game-related headlines!

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It’s our last episode in double-digits territory!  Hooray!

Sam calls in from one of the Dakota’s this week, and gets his EDF on.  This game is becoming more than just a little bit of an obsession for him.

Alex tries to share more Battlefield 3 stories, but is rudely interrupted by hand gestures from the other hosts.  He’s also broken out some classic Sonic in the form of Sonic CD, and it’s apparently aged well.

Jonathan has picked up some more tables for Pinball FX 2, and has found that his complaints last week about the Sorcerer’s Lair table were premature, and that he understand nothing about how pinball is to be played.

In our topic this week, the hosts take a look at their game shelves with the intent of tallying up how many unfinished games they have, and just how long it will likely take to get through them all.  Sam’s list is small, Alex’s list is a bit hefty, and Jonathan’s list rages out of control.

Finally, Name That Game! is back, with a belated Christmas theme.  A few of the titles are repeats, but we’re keeping track now.

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It’s the end of the semester.  Time is incredibly tight.  The show notes are going to be truncated until Alex or I can revisit them.

We talk about GTA, EDF, MW3, BF3, MvC, ACR, and ODST.

We also discuss chopping up AAA games’ stories.  Would you rather have a 60-hour story, or 6 ten-hour stories within 60 hours of gameplay?

Next week, either another topic or an interview with Zen Pinball.

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Okay, Jonathan is obviously at his wit’s end, so I’ll pick this up.

Before we start on the main topic of the show, we talk about a post seen on Empire State Gamer about a poll that asks where the Assassin’s Creed series should go next. Ubisoft’s making no attempt at downplaying the role of the franchise, and since Ezio’s over, the series has to go SOMEWHERE. Where should it go? Should it keep the same type of gameplay? Is the same type of gameplay even possible considering the technological upgrades that come with each era? And would Assassin’s Creed in the time of the Shogun really just be Tenchu?

Our topic is episodic gaming, and it takes a little while to really get our definitions down. I came at it thinking about Sam & Max and Half Life 2, while Jonathan was approaching it from the perspective of LA Noire. So it comes down to this: should major titles with hours and hours and hours of gameplay be organized into smaller, easily digestible episodes like LA Noire, or should they keep with the do-anything-go-anywhere-epic storylines?

Finally, to plug the next episode: yes, we have an interview with Zen Studios about Pinball FX 2. And we have a tournament! Details will come soon, but in the meantime, it wouldn’t be a bad decision to pick up the Paranormal table and friend me up on Xbox Live.

That’s all for this week (unless Jonathan decides a few edits are necessary), so practice on Paranormal and keep an eye on our Google+ page and our Twitter feed for details on the contest!

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First: Sorry this episode is late.  Sam’s week got insane, and then my week got insane too, then Alex got sick.

Second: Sorry for the state of this episode.  Thanks to all the insanity and sickness, there’s no way we can get an edited episode out this week.  If it’s really bad, we’ll see about editing it when things calm down.

In the actual episode, we get Luke on to talk about the games we’re not playing.  If you love Gears 3, League of Legends, or Rocksmith, this is the episode for you.  We also spend WAY too much time talking about the GTA trailer, Human Revolution, and the new Space Marine multiplayer mode Exterminatus.

Next week, we should be back to our usual level of mediocrity.  Thanks for tolerating our issues this week.

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To start this episode, The Pimp of the Internet gives us a bit of feedback on episode 87, where we debated the merits of reviewing in a vacuum.

We were going to continue our Seven Sins series this week, but then we realized that we’d played a ton of games over the week that deserved to be talked about, so we skipped the topic and just covered the games.

Before getting into the games, though, Jonathan announces some good news in the form of his grand victory in the Spooky Outhouse Frozen Synapse Tournament.  He took down long-time listener, Smerbev, in an epic series of games to take the title.

This also provides a good point to mention the attempts made to start a Way of the Game tournament.  Calvin the Canadian has graciously offered up a 1600 point Xbox Live card to the winner of the first tournament, but we need to figure out if there’s interest in such a tournament, and we could also use some input on how to run the tournament.  Hit up the forums or leave a comment if you have any thoughts on either subject.

Jonathan:

• Batman: Arkham City (finished)
• Bit.Trip Complete
• Child of Eden
• Driver San Francisco
• Saints Row 2 (finished)

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For me, this is going to be a week to catch up on my unplayed games.  For the rest of the planet, Battlefield 3 drops and, unless you’re a hardcore Modern Warfare fanboy, Tuesday becomes a productivity-free zone.

That said, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land looks pretty impressive, if you’re into the platformers.  Also dropping are Dance Central 2, House of the Dead OVERKILL, Stronghold 3, a DS Harvest Moon, The Cursed Crusade, Back to the Future, Disney Universe and more.  (I refuse, though, to acknowledge the existence of the Centipede remake.)

So, maybe Kirby, but probably just a ton of Forza and Batman for me this week. What are you plans?