We're Back!

Sorry for the lack of updates last month, but we've been dealing with a lot of issues lately - both professional and personal. We also used the time to clean up the interface some. You should experience less delay and faster load times.

In some personal news, Josh and I are in final talks to do some work for CW17 in Jacksonville. If all goes as plan, we will start producing monthly video game review videos. We plan on starting with one a month and grow from there.

In other news, I finally bought a PS3 and am enjoying it overall. (And my Wii apparently died like six months ago but it took months before I found out since I never play it.)

XYBA Podcast Ep 20

XYBA Podcast Crew is Andy, Eric, Josh, and Marco. This is Marco's final episode. We talk about some E3 stuff and of course the usual topics. Guitrollers FTW!

0:00 - Opening with Andy, Eric, Josh, and Marco
0:55 - Games We're Playing :|: Civilization DS and 360, Wii Fit, Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Rockband
19:05 - Gaming News :|: E3 stuff
36:07 - Rountable Discussion :|: New XBOX 360 Upcoming Updates
42:19 - Games We're Looking Forward to :|: Prototype, APB, Saints Row II, Infamous, Gears of War II, Fallout 3, Little Big Planet, Left 4 Dead, Rockband 2, Resistance 2, and Ghostbusters
1:01:05 - Rants :|: Corrupted files on Xbox harddrive
1:03:18 - Shoutouts :|: Good luck Marco



Download XYBA Podcast Ep 20

We Apologize

Sorry for the lack of activity on the site recently. I know I've been pretty busy with work and life and so has everyone else. (Also, there was about a month where almost all news I saw related to GTA IV.) Work's winding down for me so I'll be able to update the blog more often. Also, we are doing a podcast next week. Our topic will be all about GTA IV.

XYBA Podcast Ep 19

Andy, Charlie, Jeff, and Josh bring the gaming pain with another XYBA video game podcast. Again please feel free to leave us a review on iTunes.

00:00 - Andy, Charlie, Jeff, and Josh
00:30 - Games We're Playing :|: Bionical Heroes, Glory Days 2, Culdcept Saga, Pocker Smash, and Charlies just playing whatever he can steal. M3 chip is sucking up our DS juice.
07:54 - Gaming News :|: MMO Marvel Universal Online Cancelled, DJ Hero trademarked, Leisure Suit Larry game cumming soon, 360 failure rate, PS3 sales, and more
30:04 - Roundtable :|: The XYBA crew discuss the lates Devil May Cry 4 required assets download for PS3 and if this is the future of games on consoles.
50:40 - Games We're Looking Forward To :|: GTA IV, Star Wars: Force unleashed, Dark Sector, and mo
54:27 - Shoutouts :|: Check out our sister sites ThunderPudd.com, Game on Cafe, and Jigsaw HC's Rants

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XYBA Podcast Ep 18

Andy, Jeff, and Josh come together for the 18th episode of the XYBA Podcast. We are trying a new format where we keep our podcast a little shorter. Let us know what you think. Be sure to leave us a review on iTunes and check out a machinima we are working on. Enjoy.

00:00 - Introductions
00:33 - Games We're Playing :|: Half-Life 2, Stuntman: Ignition, and Ghost Squad
13:36 - Gaming News :|: GTAIV in April, Little Big Planet in beta, Orange Box games for PC, EA announces Rockband for Wii, and some other gaming news
37:06 - Roundtable :|: The Child-Man debate
48:25 - Games We're Looking Forward to :|: Ninja Gaiden DS, GTA IV, Lego Batman, Lego Indiana Jones, Army of Two, Star Wars: Force Unleashed, Fable 2, and Culdcept Saga
53:24 - Rant :|: Games with flashlights suck

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XYBA Podcast Ep 17

Andy, Eric, Jeff, and Josh are back with the last XYBA Video Game Podcast of 2007. We discuss games we played on holiday and games we got for Christmas. Good times.

00:00 - Intros
00:35 - Games We're Playing :|: Geometry Wars: Galaxies, Gundam, Viva Pinata: Party Animals, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, SceneIt, Call of Duty 4, Half Life 2, Guitar Hero III, Tenchu Z, Transformers, Contra 4, New York Times Cross Word Puzzles, The Simpsons Game, Rock Band,
50:57 - Gaming News
1:02:30 - What We Are Looking Forward to For Gaming in 2008
1:34:38 - Rantz :|: Jeff goes off on Sony and their firmware restrictions

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XYBA Podcast Ep 16

The XYBA crew is back with a semi long podcast. Lots of video game talk and little news and no rants. We've been gone for more than a month playing games and now have a lot to talk about.

0:00 - Intro Music
0:58 - Games We Are Playing :|: Mass Effect (we talk about this for a while), Rockband, Guitar Hero III, Assassian Creed, Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Kane and Lynch, Stranglehold, Beautiful Katamari, and Halo 3
55:30 - Gaming News :|: Xbox Live Dashboard Update, Super Mario Galaxy not selling as well as predicted, DLC for Bioshock, R4 Chip for DS costing Nintendo millions, Nintendo Virtual Console does good for it's first year, and more
1:24:09 - Shoutouts
1:24:46 - Outro music

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XYBA Podcast Ep 15

The XYBA Video Game Podcast is back with Episode 15. Andy and Josh host with guests Sean and Nick from the 217 area code.

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XYBA Podcast Ep 14

Welcome to lucky number 14 of the XYBA Podcast. Your host Josh talks gaming along with his side kick host Andy. This episode is filled with more Halo 3 than you can fit in your dirty little mouth, but don't blame us because that's all there is to talk about these days.

00:00 - Intro music by Grant
00:39 - Games we are playing :|: Halo 3, Just Cause, Boxhead Co-op, Bioshock, Jam Sessions on DS (Josh plays a little diddly)
05:35 - Gaming News :|: It's really short. Halo 3 is out. Sex Pistols get together to record a track for Guitar Hero III, Japanese company makes a 2nd Life game called "Meet Me", Halo 3 bumped GOW from top Xbox Live game.
11:20 - Roundtable Discussion :|: Halo 3 review of campaign, multiplayer, armor, forge, and theater
34:52 - Games we are looking forward to :|: Army of Two, Mass Effect, Rock Band, Pacman Versus on DS, and No More Heroes
36:28 - Rant :|: Eric's 360 broke for the 2nd time
37:09 - Shout Outs and Outro music

Download XYBA Podcast Ep 14

XYBA Podcast Ep 13

Lucky episode 13 is up and live. Join Andy, Charlie, Grant, and Josh as ramble on about games.

00:00 - Intro Music by Grant
00:10 - Introductions with your host Josh and his sub host Charlie, Grant, and Andy (he survived by default)
00:33 - Games We Be Playin :|: Bioshock, Guitar Hero II, Just Cause, GTA San Andreas, crap load of game demos
15:27 - Gaming News :|: A bunch of Halo news
32:15 - Roundtable Discussion :|: Game Elements that we would like to see removed and what should replace it.
44:50 - Games Are Looking Forward To :|: Dimensium The Ward, Halo 3, Borderlands, Kane and Lynch, Army of Two, GTAIV, Manhunt 2, and Mass Effect
50:15 - Grants back. I thought he died.
53:55 - Rants about the grief we get about our podcast. People hate us.
1:05:38 - Shoutouts and outro music

Download XYBA Podcast Ep 13

XYBA Podcast Ep 12

Episode 12 is out and is full of video gaming goodness. We have 2 special guest, Santana and Marco, and Eric makes a return. This is a longy, but goody. Goody's a word.

00:00 - Intro music by Grant
00:18 - Introductions :|: Andy, Josh, Eric, with Guest Santana and Marco
01:10 - Games we're playing :|: Bioshock (Eric beat it), Call of Duty 4 Beta, Skate Demo, Metroid Prime 3, Animal Crossing, Metal Gear 1 & 2, Final Fantasy Tactics, Hitman 2, and GTA San Andreas
15:54 - Bioshock talk :|: It's Awesome
24:39 - Gaming News :|: PS3 sales up 200%, Games Gone Gold, Joust the movie, Haze only on PS3, and more and Halo 3
41:00 - We discover that Marco is Italian
44:05 - Roundtable Discusson :|: Pregrame Hype and does it hurt a game or help a game
48:32 - We get back on the pregame discussion topic
52:55 - We talk about Metroid here
57:00 - Games we're looking forward to :|: Jam Sessions Bundle Pack, Mass Effect, Metal Gear 4, Little Big Planet, Skate, Team Fortress 2, Halo 3, Fallout 3, Splinter Cell, Call of Duty 4, and GTA IV
1:10:37 - Rants :|: Marco goes off on Sqaure about Final Fantasy, Josh hates crappy search tools on forums
1:16:30 - Shoutouts

Download XYBA Podcast Ep 12

XYBA Podcast Ep 11

We are back after several busy weekends that prevented us from getting together. The latest XYBA has lots of news and opinions about gaming for you to soak your gaming brains in.

0:00 - Intro Jam
0:20 - Introductions: Josh, Andy, and Charlie
0:50 - Games We Be Playin: Overlord, Shadowrun, Bioshock Demo, Orphan Feast and Psi Ops
10:41 - Talk about Josh's Xbox 360 death experience
13:14 - Gaming News: Halo 3 has 4 player co-op, George Lucas is a sellout, GTA IV delayed to 2008, Andy and Charlie not buying Rockband, Bioshock news how shocking, Microsoft lays down the laws for machinimas, King of Kong movie released, Metroid getting good reviews from Nintendo Power, Bungie Pro, Games for Windows Live will support XP, COD4 beta coming to 360, and Nintendo bringing original games to Wii
1:01:50 - Roundtable Discussion: Games built with only Multiplayer vs games built with only singleplayer. Shadowrun vs Bioshock
1:17:00 - Indian Summer video
1:17:50 - Games we are looking forward to: Bioshock, Mass Effect, Stranglehold, Super Dodgeball DS, Two Worlds, Halo 3
1:25:20 - Rants: Andy wants to know why Josh hates Eric and Grant.
1:27:21 - Shoutouts, Jigsaws Gamefly Hookup, Happy Birthday Andy, and End Music

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XYBA Podcast Ep 10.5

Josh and Andy do a post E3 show.


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XYBA Podcast Ep 10

Better late than never, but episode 10 is finally up along with a video. That's what took so long. Join Andy, Charlie, Eric, and Josh as we talk about games, gaming news, and what we think will be at E3. I know, E3 is over, but I thought I would have this up sooner. Enjoy.

00:00 - Opening Music
00:32 - Games We're Playing: Resident Evil 4 Wii, The Darkness, Super Paper Mario, Call of Juarez, Simcity DS and Andy revisits Saints Row, Oblivion, and Crackdown, while Josh revisits Halo: CE
18:40 - Gamestop Darkness Phone # Code: 4263
26:50 - Gaming News: We have listeners and we're available on iTunes, PS3 Price Cuts, Microsoft Price Cut Rumors, Manhug 2 by Take Two, Mass Effect rated and release date rumors
36:20 - Hitler Xbox Live Subscription
36:50 - Josh's camera dies
37:07 - Andy Continues the News: Halo Wars doesn't update site on July 6th, Josh says the Halo Longsword is only in the books. Wrong! The Longsword is the aircraft that the Master Chief escapes in at the end of Halo: CE, Haze, 1-800-MAGIC ends after 4 episodes.
43:12 - E3 stuff (pre-E3 2007 info)
48:00 - Major Nelson and Series of Tubes
52:00 - What We are Looking Forward to at E3: Halo 3 Campaign, Nintendo bringing a dead franchise back, Halo Wars, Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, Mass Effect release dates, Home, and Wii Wear.
1:00:20 - Personal Problems with Xbox 360s
1:10:30 - Andy talks about banned modders purposely bricking their 360s
1:11:50 - Games We're Looking Forward To: Brothers in Arms on DS, The Office on DS, Contra 4 DS, Blue Dragon, GTA IV, Stranglehold, Zelda on DS, Fallout 3, Army of Two, Manhunt 2 unedited, Mario Galaxy, Skate, Bioshock, and Smash Brothers.
1:17:20 - Rants: Video Game Release Dates and No HUDS on games
1:20:00 - Shout Outs: Andy rigged the shout outs
1:21:09 - Outro

Download XYBA Podcast Ep 10

XYBA Podcast Ep 09

Jeff and Bryan join Josh for a good episode of XYBA podcast with a British twist. The British twist only last for about 10 minutes, so if you can't stand it, then fast forward. Here's the breakdown.

00:00 - Intro Music
00:15 - Jeff gets a phone call
00:30 - English introductions with Josh, Jeff, and Bryan
01:03 - Games We're Playing: Oden Sphere, Super Paper Mario, Soltrio Solitare, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Prince of Persia on XBLA, Halo 3 Beta, and a bunch of demos
08:55 - Gaming News: Guitar Hero II Songs, Manchester Cathedral issues, Rock Band info, PSP Slim Rumors, Gears of War Achievements, Halo 3 ARG, and more. We lose our accents around here.
49:13 - Singing starts as news ends
49:27 - Games We're Looking forward to: Time Crisis 4, Simcity DS, Beautiful Katamari, Castlevania: Dracula X, Overlord
57:19 - No Rants
57:49 - Exclusive games roundtable. Katamari exclusive to 360.
1:02:10 - Bryan whips out a Second Life rant and how it's not a game. It's more like walking to that seedy part of town and meeting the freaks.
1:12:30 - Promo for next podcast
1:13:00 - Shout outs
1:14:08 - Outro Music and Satan Voices

Big thanks to Bryan and Jeff for talking games with me, while everyone was either out of town or celebrating Father's Day a day early.



Download XYBA Podcast Ep09

XYBA Podcast 08

Episode 08 is out. We finally had schedules that permitted this almost hour long podcast about Halo 3 beta and those other games whose names escape me. The sound is getting better, but I need to stop eating my mic. My apologies. Andy did try to tell me, but I didn't realize I was that annoying. We'll get the next one right. Here's the breakdown.

00:00 - Introductions with Josh, Andy, and Chuck
01:00 - Games that we're playing
05:50 - Command and Conquer 3: Mission Impossible
07:21 - Halo 3 Beta impressions :|: Rick Ross
13:35 - Simcity 2000 :|: Onslaught Review
14:38 - Games Tori's Playing
15:11 - Gaming News :|: World Series of Video Games July 29th, Legend of Zelda II: Adventures of Link coming to VC, Wiimote has a voice translator, GoW Novel, Analyst predict GTA IV will be pushed back, Guitar Hero III Battle Mode, Prince of Persia movie, games moving to other consoles rumors squashed, and more.
28:09 - Bumpers bites Andy and Charlies thumbs hurt from holding the mic. Hold this Charlie *Josh grabs his huge junk*
33:00 - Round Table Discussion about casual gaming and how it affects console gaming then we go off on a tangent about movies translating into games and games translating into movies.
43:20 - A bug flies off of Chuck's face
43:42 - Games we are looking forward to: Simcity on DS, Spore, Fracture, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Manhunt 2 on the Wii
50:04 - No rants this week
50:47 - Shoutouts
51:06 - LAN Parties a thing of the past?
54:59 - Outro Music by Grant while we discuss more Halo 3 Beta



Download XYBA Podcast Ep08

XYBA Podcast 07

So we are up to our 7th episode now. I got a mixer and we have 4 mics, but the audio still sucks. I think I got phased out because my audio is really low for having my own mic. We recorded it at Chuck's place. Here's the breakdown.

00:00 - Intros with Josh, Andy, Eric, Charlie, and Grant
00:42 - Games that we're playing: Princess Peach on DS, Halo 2, LOTR online, GoW, Paper Mario, Guitar Hero II, Hotel Dusk, America's Army, and Farcry
04:17 - News which is mainly 360 news
27:47 - Roundtable about fanboys
44:00 - Slamming controllers
44:40 - PS3 Home Beta Invites: Chuck didn't get in
46:10 - Games We're Looking Forward To
53:15 - Counter Strike
54:20 - No Rants
55:00 - Gaming Magazines and their contribution to gamers
59:25 - Shout Outs and Satan makes an appearance
1:01:00 - Outro



Download XYBA Podcast Ep07

XYBA Podcast Ep06

With Andy and Josh spitting fire on the mics, the XYBA Podcast episode 6 is off the hook with video game news and our on par gaming opinions. This is mainly a Xbox 360 podcast with 2 Andys and sweet chickens.

• 0:00 Slammin Intro Music by Grant
• 0:44 Games We Are Playing - Guitar Hero 2, LOTR, Halo 2, New Super Mario Bros, Splinter Cell 4, and a handful of demos from XBL (Josh doesn't really understand what Andy's talking about with the Command and Conquer videos)
  
• 5:29 Video Game News - RvB, Xbox 360 axis controller, Xbox not making money, Halo 2 Vista achievements, Halo 3 beta dates, Guitar Hero 3, Virginia Tech shootings and more
  
• 26:25 Xbox 360 made of paper
• 27:40 Master Chief vs Samus
• 29:25 Roundtable Discussion about downloadable content and how it's changing games and the longevity of a game
• 39:56 Games and gaming devices we are looking forward to
• 48:09 Ranting zone with Josh making the Ranting Zone music - Andy acts the fool about exclusive games and franchises
• 58:45 Two Andys in the studio
• 58:58 Shout outs and talks about houses and hoods
  

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XYBA Podcast Ep 05

After a month of working out schedules we have XYBA Podcast Ep 05 with our guest Santana. I've attached his Xbox Gamertag below. We are a little rusty and are not as organized as usual, but it's still a good podcast. We also introduce the new XYBA Podcast theme song written by Grant.

0:00 - Slammin Intro Music
0:10 - Introductions
0:38 - Games We're Currently Playing (Santana thought I said, games we're looking forward to)
1:51 - Turtle Talk
5:18 - Andy Confesses to Listening to Another Podcast
6:15 - Gaming News
17:03 - Children of Men News and We Go Offtopic for a While
24:15 - Roundtable About the 360 Elite
36:10 - Xbox Live Vision Camera (cock and balls)
41:51 - Rock Band and Guitar Hero
50:31 - Games We're Looking Forward To
52:29 - We Go Into Some Wii News
1:01:50 - Shoutouts and Thanks to Santana
1:02:05 - Outro Music While We Talk

It's worth noting that Viva Pinata is on Santana's Profile as of 04.08.07.

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XYBA Podcast Ep04 - The GDC

Boo yaka it is here. The XYBA Podcast Ep 04. With more than half the crew missing, Jeff subs and makes it feel like no one was missing. The breakdown is below.

0:00 - Called Charlie to bring into the call
0:20 - Opening Song by Engine Down
0:45 - Introductions with guest Jeff and I think Andy
1:37 - Games We Are Playing: Crackdown, Viva Pinata, Red Steel
2:10 - Jeff talks about how long it takes to get your 360 back from repair and don't mention you have it plugged into a power strip
4:10 - Games We Are Looking Forward To: Jam Sessions, TMNT, TMNT Arcade on XLA, Mass Effect in June, Andy's looking forward to the GTA IV trailer, Two Worlds, Blue Dragon, Lost Oddessy, and No More Heroes
7:36 - Ragging on Red Steels controls
8:40 - Gaming News: GDC News
20:30 - PS3 Home: We discuss the PS3's new online community interface
33:47 - Little Big Planet: We try to figure out what the game/game developer software is all about. Great press release reading by Andy.
38:50 - Singing Star: Jeff reveals his girly side
40:10 - Additional news from Josh: Halo 2 Vista, Steven Spielberg making a Wii game for EA, GTA IV countdown site, CliffyB and the weapon upgrade element that was left out of Gears of War, and Apple TV may play games.
45:10 - Game Ideas: Josh submits his idea for mini games to be available while waiting in lobbies
46:30 - What we would like to see in Next-Gen or This Gen:
47:10 - Rants: SSX on the Wii makes Jeff act the fool, Andy goes off on video game manuals and their lack of info
52:04 - Andy rags on the Gametap and Jeff questions Andy's copy of Windows
53:00 - Andy hates on press releases
54:00 - Josh goes off on Epic's douchebag lawyer, Zachary R. Bishop, and Jeff sides with the terrorist leader, Zach
57:30 - Josh tries to wrap it up, but Andy refuses to let it end
58:00 - We talk about destructible furniture on PS3 Home
59:55 - Josh wraps it up and the shot outs go out. Thanks again Jeff. Outro music by Ben Davis




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