Fallout 3 lead designer Emil Pagliarulo from Bethesda Softworks joins Gary, Colin and producer Kris to talk about storytelling in open-ended games, bringing a hardcore PC franchise to the mass console market and other topics related to what might be the most anticipated RPG of '08. Also, we talk about the integrity (or lack thereof?) of exclusive game reviews, the dwindling purpose behind E3 and potential hardware price cuts later this year.

Journalist Heather Chaplin joins Gary, Colin and producer Kris in a 1 hour-plus podcast that's all about a little game called Grand Theft Auto IV. Chaplin has plenty of great insight, as she just conducted an interview with Rockstar Games for NPR (a fine piece that can be viewed/heard here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90041944).

Meanwhile, Gary goes completely gangsta.

Gary, Colin and producer Kris talk the news of the past week: Nintendo Wii's insane US March sales figures; Shigeru Miyamoto's assertion that the Wii is also for hardcore gamers; whether or not PC gaming is as hunky dory as Microsoft would have us believe; and how QA testers are treated like the "chimney sweeps" of the games industry, whatever that means.

Gary, Colin and producer Kris tackle the rekindled controversy over Capcom's trailer for Resident Evil 5: Are responses to the game's racial undertones legit, or are people over-analyzing the situation? Also, we touch on lighter subjects, such as the promising WiiWare lineup, the best videogame taglines and whether the suits in the industry deserve to be paid more than the people actually making the games (because they are being paid more).

Gary, Colin and producer Kris (try) to stick with a theme this week: death and rebirth. Where one storied games publication goes out of print, another returns to the stands; a games publisher hits rock bottom, and intends to bring back classic IP to bring return to form; a rumble-less controller is discontinued, to give rise to one that shakes. Dramatic is the circle of life in the games industry. Very dramatic.

We also have a spirited discussion about how Europe is getting screwed with the recently-revealed Rock Band pricing.

This week, Colin, Gary and producer Kris Graft talk about the UK's recently-released Byron report, which encourages responsible media consumption by children. But what does it mean for the US, and should the ESRB change its model to follow movie ratings? We also hit on topics including the unfortunate closure of Stormfront Studios, as well as more lighthearted subjects such as this week's April Fool's gags and a few of the entries in the recently-released Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer's Edition.

Colin speaks with UK-based clinical psychologist Dr. Tanya Byron, author of the independent report, Safer Children in a Digital World. Here, she talks about protecting children from mature content in games, and how she is "absolutely not" recommending that adults be restricted from playing adult-rated games.

This week, Gary, Colin and producer Kris talk games, and just games. We talk the brilliance of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, how we need more quiz games, the innovation of web browser-based games and some of our most anticipated games of 2008.

Gary, Colin and Kris are all wound up over Feruary's US videogame sales data from NPD Group, which reported over $1 billion in US sales. We also revisit Xbox 360's supply issues, PlayStation 3's turnaround, Nintendo's unstoppable momentum, iPhone game development and more news from the last week.

Gary, Colin and producer Kris take a look at analysts' forecasts for February US NPD sales; has the PlayStation 3 finally hit its stride? We think so. Also, we talk European hardware price cuts, M-rated games' sales revenues, women in games and a controversial Holocaust title.

(Producer's note: Skype was acting a bit funky during small parts of the show, so please excuse the hiccups.)