Sam brings the disturbing in the opening of the show.  He brings nothing else but a wrong opinion of Red Dead Redemption.  (Here’s the right opinion.)

Alex is depressed and boring.  He’s got Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising but hasn’t opened it, and he’s played a lot more Marvel Pinball, but we already know his opinion on that one.  Also, Battle Dex.

Jonathan wonders why it takes so long to get to the “Brotherhood” portion of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.  You’d think the title feature would show up sooner.  Gran Turismo 5 is mentioned briefly.  Really!  Also, Infinity Blade: the best-looking iPhone game ever.

In this episode’s topic, we talk about a news story that was cut from Episode 49, thanks to lack of time.  A survey reveals why gamers buy games new when they choose to buy new.  So, the question becomes, which mode do each of the hosts prefer?  New or used?  Why?  What if it’s a gift?  The answers may surprise you.  Or not.

We wrap up with Name That Game 3.2, wherein Jonathan attempts to make Alex pay for his Genesis inclusions in NTG 3.1.

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It’s 2 A.M.  The episode is taking forever to upload. These notes will be short.

Sam’s has issues with Red Dead, and is enjoying Braid.

Jonathan has issues with Gran Turismo 5, and is enjoying World of Warcraft.

Alex has issues with Tropico 3, and is enjoying his new Kinect.

All three have issues with Webkinz.

Matthew Crippen has issues with the government, and is enjoying his new-found freedom from prosecution.

In Name That Game, Sam and Jonathan have issues with identifying Genesis games, and Alex is enjoying tormenting his co-hosts with games they’ve never heard of.

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Our friends at Bastion Studios have been keeping us in the loop on Ex Illis. They’ve dropped a pic in our mailbox showing what they plan to have available soon for mini pimpage. Click to view in full size.

The long and the short of it: they’re Diablo-izing Ex Illis. You gotta face it, the infrastructure behind Ex Illis allows you to do a LOT of customization without the hassle of double-checking each other’s army builds to make sure they’re legal. I love what they’re doing with this game.

In other news, the good folks at Zen Studios apparently aren’t content to limit their licensed tables to just Street Fighter II. They’re coming out with FOUR new tables based on Marvel comics characters.

This Spider-Man table is beautiful. Spidey’s appropriately high above a city, being chased by Doc Ock and the Green Goblin. Another pic of this table shows Doc Ock apparently breaking into a vault.

I’m not seeing a whole lot of open space in the Wolverine table. It seems crowded and limited to two flippers, two ramps and a loop. Sabretooth is in the center, and a Weapon X chamber dominates the left. Is it me, or does it seem like there’s no way for the ball to go down the left drain?

The Iron Man table seems to be a good “sniper” table. There’s lots of open space and four ramps to target. There doesn’t seem to be a lot in the way of personalization, though, but I dig the suit off to the left in the background.

I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know much at all about Blade. Still, how bad could an Asian-themed vampire hunt be?

Zen Studios says the new tables will be out before the end of the year. The tables will be an expansion to Pinball FX 2 on XBLA and an entirely new game on the Playstation Network. If you hit up the Marvel Pinball website, you can check out a video of the game in action and vote on the star of the next Marvel table!

One thing I’m not seeing is a price. I wouldn’t be surprised if the first batch of four tables are with $10, with each additional table being $2.50 afterwards.