Legend has it he lives by the Konami Code and topples maniacal bosses with a single Hadouken. Man-God Shane Bettenhausen of Ignition Entertainment joins Xav, Jeff, and Garnett this week, and brings with him an in-depth look at their new game due next week, El Shaddai. But there's much more than it to cover in a Whatcha Been Playin? that includes Dead Island, Hard Reset, and the intriguing Runespell: Overture that combines fantasy RPG with a mythical poker system for combat. In the Warning Garnett takes a moment to reset last week's Diablo 3 rant before handhelds and the ramifications of the 3DS price drop become the central topic of discussion. Xav catches us up on the latest news and sparks some good debates before it all comes to a close with Finishing Moves.

Listen: Episode Weekend Confirmed 72 »

Diablo 3 starts this week's show off for Xav, Jeff, Garnett, and their guest, Clevver games' Andrea Rene. Garnett details his time playing a Demon Hunter in the beta before the subject turns to Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Catherine, the Resistance 3 multiplayer beta, and a couple other games. Diablo 3 also comes back up during the Warning with a discussion of Blizzard's decision to allow gear to be sold for cash in the game that gets, well, a little animated. Xav gets the show back on track with a fat stack of news that carries the momentum right up to Finishing Moves.

Listen: Episode Weekend Confirmed 72 »

Jeff Cannata and Christian Spicer numbered among the crowds that descended on ComicCon last week. They tell Garnett and "Indie" Jeff a few tales from their adventure to start the show off. The opening segment concludes with a little more about Bastion, including a few spoilers in discussion of its ending. The rest of Whatcha Been Playin moves on to hit From Dust, NCAA Football, and Jeff's indie picks including It Belongs in an Ancient Ruin! The conversation continues with a look at whether gamers want familiar games or revolutionary change and when enough is enough with a frustrating title. In the news the big price cut on the 3DS ignites a conversation about the future for handheld gaming. And we wrap it all up with Finishing Moves.

LISTEN: Episode Weekend Confirmed 71 »

Garnett returns and brings back with him tales of a trio of PixelJunk games. He got to play lifelike and demystifies its creative approach to interactively remixing music. He also got some more stick time with Sidescroller and a peek at the just announced Monsters for social networks. Jeff snuck off to Comic Con but he'll be back next week with a full report. Xav and "Indie" Jeff, though, bring plenty of their own ammo to Whatcha Been Playin, including Bastion and the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine. Some of your thoughts on the nature of online shooter players sparked the conversation in the Warning and Xav brought a "fat stack" on news for the final segment. And it all wraps up with Finishing Moves.

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With Garnett Lee on vacation it's up to Jeff and Xav to drive the bus. Helping them keep the Weekend Confirmed bus out of the ditch is Totally Rad Show co-host Dan Trachtenberg and DJ Andy Reid from 44th and Filth. The crew talks Ms. 'Splosion Man, Alice: Madness Returns, Dead Space 2, Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, and more. In Listener Feedback we talk about if Nintendo has aged along with its old school fanbase and whether or not Call of Duty is the media's favorite whipping boy, among a few other topics. Then we slow things down and tackle the biggest news of the week, including discussion on EA's acquisition of PopCap.

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The heat may be getting to the crew as this week the show starts out a little...well, let's call it loose. Andrea Rene checks in for her monthly appearance, joining Xav, Jeff, and Garnett to talk Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, Dungeon Siege III, Transformers Dark of the Moon, and more. In the Warning the conversation turns to whether we enjoy games like Darksiders for what they are or for scratching the Zelda itch while we wait for the next game in the series. Xav kicks off a new approach on the news, inviting more discussion on the stories that have the community buzzing. That takes things right up to Finishing Moves to end things on a high note.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 68: 07/08/2011 Read more »

Summer has arrived and Weekend Confirmed is ready to take it on with "Indie" Jeff Mattas joining Jeff and Garnett along with special guest Billy Berghammer. They start the show in Whatcha Been Playin? with a quick second look Shadows of the Damned, a first take on Dungeon Siege III, and Billy's playthrough of Ocarina of Time on the 3DS. Jeff brings a smorgasbord of indie games including Frozen Synapse, Jamestown, and Atom Zombie Smasher. The group moves on to discuss whether "community" in games can evolve beyond badges and stat keeping. And in the news the talk turns to the landmark Supreme Court ruling and World of Warcraft going free-to-play--or has it--before wrapping things up with Finishing Moves.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 67: 07/01/2011 Read more »

Settling in to summer, the Weekend Confirmed crew finds a stack of great games waiting to be played. Christian Spicer sits in with Xav, Jeff, and Garnett to talk F.E.A.R. 3, Shadows of the Damned, inFamous 2, Trenched, and more in Whatcha' Been Playin? The Warning gets started with a continuation of a discussion that started on twitter about whether names like Mizuguchi, Suda, Mikami, and Yamaoka generate big buzz. The group also looks at all the other big games hitting their 10th anniversary along with Halo and realizes 2001 was a pretty special year. The news and Finishing Moves bring it all home.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 66: 06/24/2011 Read more »

The dust has settled on E3 2011 and we sweep up with a full slate of games we saw on this week's show. But before getting to that, Xav, Jeff, Garnett, and our good friend Andrea Rene of Clevver TV tackle Duke Nukem Forever. From there it's on to Forza 4, F1, Hitman, Torchlight 2, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Ace Combat, and many more. Duke resurfaces in the news when the group discusses the fervor over the reviews and PR responses. There's the rest of the videogame news as well and we wrap it all up with Finishing Moves.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 65: 06/17/2011 Read more »

It's finally here, the big E3 show. This year saw more great games than ever at E3, and Weekend Confirmed rose to the occasion with an equally massive lineup of guests to bring you the best analysis of E3. Joining Jeff and Garnett are John Davison, Luke Smith, Shane Bettenhausen, Mark MacDonald, and Andrew Pfister. They breakdown the entire week from the opening press conferences to their favorite games after the closing bell sounded. In between every big game and then some gets to the table including Uncharted 3, Batman: Arkham City, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Starhawk, Prey 2, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider, and so much more.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 64: 06/10/2011 Read more »

With E3 next week, Xav, Jeff, and Garnett take on a deluge of big games in this week's show, none of them larger than The Witcher 2. Both Xav and Jeff have been playing it and they have much to share about their budding romance with the game. From there it's on to a massive stack of titles including Metro: Last Light, Batman: Arkham City, Saint's Row: the Third, Journey, and more. The third segment belongs to Sony's upcoming handheld--the NGP, Vita, or whatever you want to call it. Garnett got to play with several of the games and shares his experience with Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Little Deviants, and the standout of them all, Sound Shapes. Game announcements and the latest news take the final segment up to a special edition of Finishing Moves with the guys offering their E3 predictions for Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 63: 06/03/2011 Read more »

While the Jeff is away, Andrew Pfister, Christian Spicer, Xav, and Garnett play, and take a few more swipes at Cougar Town. But this is no wine-sipping sitcom; we crack open a couple beers and dig in to games, like LA Noire, Modern Warfare 3, BioShock Infinite, From Dust, Bastion, and more. In the warning we return with more of our and some of your moments that stand out as game-changers for videogaming. And we bring it all home with this week's news and Finishing Moves.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 62: 05/27/2011 Read more »

A special show this week as Weekend Confirmed welcomes the winner of our playforjapan.org charity auction, Tod Curtis, sits in with Jeff, Jeff, and Garnett. Along with his generosity, Tod represents the listeners well on the show, highlighted by sharing a few rarities from his massive game collection that includes in excess of 700 NES titles. In Whatcha Been Playin? the mix of games runs from this week's big release L.A. Noire to the sleeper of '09, Demon's Souls, with a few others thrown in. All that, the news, and Finishing Moves in this week's show.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 61: 05/20/2011 Read more »

Brink, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Gatling Gears get the show off to a fine start in Whatcha' Been Playin? this week. Andrea Rene of Clevver TV joins Xav, Jeff, and Garnett in the studio for the conversation. A look at some of the top IP's created this generation in the Warning brings out just how many great games we've had over the past few years. There's the latest update on the continuing downtime for the PlayStation Network in the news but it closes out on happier matters with a handful of game announcements and Finishing Moves.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 60: 05/13/2011 Read more »

By popular request, Weekend Confirmed takes on all of Portal 2 in the opening segment. Though the conversation covers much of the game in feel and concept, there are spoilers. So for those wanting to avoid them, skip forward to the start of the second segment at the 32 minute mark. And there's still plenty of great stuff to come from there like Child of Eden, Outland, Thor, our new "knockout" game, how Sony could tackle E3, the top news stories of the week, and Finishing Moves to top it all off.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 59: 05/06/2011 Read more »