This week we interview Matt Frederickson, Sam’s long-time friend and designer of Child Beauty Pageant Tycoon, a card game that’s wrong in all the right ways.  Prep your kids for the beauty pageant, teach them the skills they need to overcome their rivals, and equip them with the tools to overcome their own shortcomings.

Be careful, though.  One child can only win two pageants in a row before being retired, which means you may want to take a dip in the gene pool to make sure your next kid is a winner, too.  Have more kids than you can afford, and Child Services will start taking them away.

If that sounds like your kind of slightly-twisted fun, be sure to back Matt’s Kickstarter to see the game made.

And, as is tradition with guests we have on the show, Matt also gives us his Top Ten.  It’s like he and Jonathan were separated at birth.

10. Kerbal Space Program
9. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
8. Mass Effect 2
7. Shadow of the Colossus
6. Journey
5. Civilization 4
4. Fallout 3
3. Sim City
2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
1. Braid

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Alex is at work.  Sam’s at Lake Tahoe.  Jonathan is moving.  Show notes will be posted when one of us can.  In the meantime, know that Scott joined us this week to discuss his Top Ten.

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Alex was unable to record with us this week (yeah, sure, we believe that). Since we’d planned a topic that pretty much revolved around his presence, we sent out a call for guests on the tubes and the Pimp of the Internet, Tony Mast, joined us for the episode.

Tony talks with us about Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, comparing parts of it favorably to Batman: Arkham Asylum.  He’s also been playing Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2 on the 360, and while he bemoans the lack of motion controls, he’s still having fun with it.

Sam breaks out Forza Motorsport 3, and makes it sound like what Gran Turismo 5 should have been.  He’s also been pulling co-op sessions with listeners: Halo 3 with WilliamPall, and Resident Evil 5 with Zatala.  Silent girlfriend also gave Sam Two Worlds 2 for… some reason he can’t remember (way to be a good boyfriend!).

Jonathan compares Crysis 2 to Crysis 2, as he received both the PS3 and 360 versions from GameFly.  He also talks up the Hand Brotherhood, which, despite sounding like a gay porn title, is the group of Minecraft builders that’s been gaining traction on the RPG.net multiplayer server.

After that, as is tradition, we tear into Tony’s Top Ten.  He brings a surprisingly unique list to the table, and also manages to ruin Jonathan’s attempts to build up stats around the lists.  (Alphabetical order? What’s up with that?!)

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This week, we’ve got Meg from the Brilliant Gameologists on the show!  She’ll be giving us her Top Ten games.  But first….

The great podcast WoW exodus continues, as Meg reveals that she’s recently cancelled her account.  Also, despite having two 360s now, Donkey Kong Country Returns has been occupying most of her time.

Alex tries, and fails, to garner sympathy for the amount of work he’s doing.  His addiction to AssBro is growing.  He also gave Your Shape Fitness a try, but was disappointed by the lack of AI Fat Asses.

Apparently Sam has contracted Jonathan’s con curse, as his recent experience at DunDraCon may indicate.  He’s also fallen hard for Dragon Age, thanks to his bad luck, and chucked Dark Sector into the “Get Rid of It” pile.

Jonathan talks a bit about iOS casual gaming in the form of Cut the Rope and Fruit Ninja.  He also received Dead or Alive Paradise from GameFly, which turns out to be a game that entirely fails to appeal to gamers and perverts alike.

Meg gets into her Top Ten, and there are some surprising choices in there.  Check it out, and if you want a peek at the list before listening to it, head to the forums.

Finally, we announce a new contest.  Send us an email, and you’ll have a chance to pick an item from our stack of random crap.

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We start off the new year with a guest!  Brandon, one of Sam’s buddies from his hometown, joins us to discuss games, and share his Top Ten.

First off, though, Jonathan tries to justify his WoW addiction, shares his Christmas good fortune, and defends Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Alex talks about how bad he is at AssBro, and how bad Tron Evolution: The Video Game is.

Brandon’s been playing Super Meat Boy, Super Street Fighter 4, and The Void.  He’s a man who enjoys self-inflicted pain.

Sam’s been plowing through Red Dead Redemption despite his complaints, ditto Nier, and he’s disappointed he didn’t try Dead Space sooner.

Brandon’s Top Ten continues his masochistic themes with some classics, and some classically hardcore games.

Finally, we announce the first Way of the Contest!  Send us in your ideas for a game based on the events of 2010.  The one we like best will receive a copy of Forbidden Island, a cooperative board game from Matt Leacock of Pandemic fame.  There are more details on our forums.

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I’ll remember how this works someday, and then the episodes will be on time.

Until then, we’ve got Joe the Brother back this week!  He’s here to drop his Top Ten on us.

Sam is also back, and we let him talk about a couple of games before jumping into Joe’s list.  He gives thoughts on Resident Evil 5, Assassin’s Creed 1&2, Plants vs. Zombies, and anti-bear techniques in Wyoming.

Alex talks about R.U.S.E., of course.  Jonathan is in school again, and thus playing nothing, again.

Joe and Sam are less than impressed with the ending of Mass Effect 2.

Then it’s Joe’s list!  Thrills, chills, and exploded brains await!  See ya next week.

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We jump right into the action this week, as Sam rejoins us to gives us his Top Ten, plus a few runners-up.  Not a lot to post here without giving the show away.  Enjoy!

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After a stunning cliffhanger ending in Episode 23, will we finally learn The Jackal’s Top Ten?  Or will Alex and David continue to argue while Jonathan just sits back and shakes his head?  The quick answer: Yes.

There’s not a lot more to add here, but it may be worth noting that Jonathan has picked up Red Dead Redemption for the 360.  While we’ll no doubt be talking about that in Episode 25, if you want to posse up with The Holmberg, his gamertag is StingRayO2.

Enjoy!

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Mike from the Bear Swarm! podcast joins us on the show this week.  He’s here as part of their Take a Couple of Months Off Grand Tour.  ;-)

We start with our usual discussion of what’s on our radar this week, which led to a discussion of the merits (or should that be demerits) of Final Fantasy XIII.  Blood Bowl, Magna Carta 2, and Turf Wars Online are all discussed, as well.

We also put Mike through the Top Ten wringer, harassing him about his decision to flaunt some of our rules, while also admitting that he makes some valid objections to those same rules.  The list won’t make a show-note appearance, so you’ll have to listen to hear Mike’s shocking (Shocking, I say!) pick for Number One.*

*Mike’s Number One pick may or may not be all that terribly shocking.

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It’s our first long-form episode!  And by first, we do mean First.  The Producer has been a guest once or twice on the Podge Cast, and The Holmberg doesn’t even have that much experience.  Do be kind, if you would.  Or don’t.  We’ll be strong.

After a brief introduction of who we are and where we’re coming from, we move into a discussion of recent video game related news, and keep the tangents to an absolute minimum.  (That last bit may not be true.)

After the break, we bust out our personalized Top Ten Lists.  There is a considerable amount of disagreement in the lists.

There will be show notes with links, all official-like, soon, but the first editing took a lot longer than expected, so notes are a bit behind.

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