Persona 5, Dragon Quest 7, Dragon Quest 10, Destiny: Rise of Iron, Gravity Rush 2, modern retro gaming 101, NX rumor roundup, and more!

Yakuza 6, Persona 5, NieR: Automata, Final Fantasy XV, Vakyria: Azure Revolution, Musous on Musous on Musous, VR at TGS, School Girl/Zombie Hunter, PS4 Pro, Super Mario Run, and lots more from this year's Tokyo Game Show!

Nintendo Direct, Nintendo Direct, Nioh Beta, Nintendo Direct, Dragon Quest VII, Justice Monsters V, Shining Force II, Nintendo Direct, Persona 3, Pokemon Go, Nintendo Direct, and more! Also: Nintendo Direct

No Man's Sky, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X, More NX Rumors, PlayStation Meeting, Metal Gear?! Survive, NieR: Automata goes PC, and more!

Pokemon GO, latest NX rumors, Metroid Prime: Blast Ball, Lucio Ball, Gotta Protectors, Headlander, Hyper Light Drifter, Inside, and more!

Monster Hunter Generations, (not) Pokemon Go, 999, Gaming PCs, Gradius II, Furi, NES Classic Edition, Yo-Kai Watch 3 Sales, Evo 2k16, Bitsummit, and more!

Bloodstained, Breath of the Wild, Fire Emblem Fates, new Nintendo patents, social eating, Summer Games Done Quick, Soccer (Futbol), BitSummit, and more!

Zelda! Resident Evil 7! Sony! Microsoft! E3! BitSummit! Indie MEGABOOTH! Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden?!

You don't need money, don't take fame. Don't need no credit card to ride this train. It's strong and it's sudden and it's cruel sometimes. But it might just save your life.

Kill some time waiting for E3 with talk of Overwatch, Uncharted 4, Dark Souls III, Furusoma, Xbox Scorpio, Kojima's world tour, the Nioh alpha results, and much, much more!

Overwatch, Nioh, Uncharted 4, Galak-Z: The Void, Nintendo at E3, Pokemon Sun & Moon, Donkey Kong world record, and more!

NX and Zelda delay, Zelda NX, Wii U and E3, PS4 Neo, Koei T Nioh, Granblue Fantasy, the future of Dark Souls, SNK returns, Semradical NES reviews, and more!

Star Fox Zero, Dark Souls 3, Granblue Fantasy, Ratchet & Clank, HTC Vive, 32-bit RPGs, NX patents, rumors, and more!

Dark Souls III, Final Fantasy XV, Miitomo, Stardew Valley, NX "leaks", PS4K rumors, GDC, emulation, Japanese bathrooms, and more!

Miitomo, PlayStation VR vs Oculus, Stardew Valley, My Nintendo, Final Fantasy XV chicken bets, NX Rumors, Tom Clancy's The Division, the Resident Evil musical, and more!

Nintendo Direct, Street Fighter V, Firewatch, The Division, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Nuzlocke rules, Xbox's new direction, Young Conker, and more!

Dragon Quest Builders, Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, Valkyria of the Blue Revolution & Valkyria Chronicles Remastered, Miitomo pre-registration, City Shrouded in Shadow, and more!

Dragon Quest Builders, The Witness, Firewatch, Detective Pikachu, Splatoon Koshien, Yakuza, The Evil Within, retro gaming in Japan, Nintendo earnings, EVO 2016, two amazing special guests, and more!

Odin Sphere Lei...ffthr...uh, Odin Sphere HD, Earthbound Beginnings, Pocket Mortys, Bloodborne, MGSV, Clash Royale, Black Knight Strikers, the latest NX rumors, Kojima's World Tour, $40 download games, and more!

Happy 2016! Sean Velasco and David D'Angelo of Yacht Club Games join us to kick off the new year with an in-depth discussion about the past, present and future of YCG and their epic debut title, Shovel Knight.

Celebrate Life Day with 8-4's Unofficial Official Star Wars Holiday Special X (Cross), featuring Game of the Year chit-chat and Xmas Gaming memories, a heaping side of Force Awakens talk, and guest appearances by Brad Douglas, Nintendo patents, and Bea Arthur.

(MORE!) Monster Hunter X, (MORE!) Xenoblade Chronicles X, Retro Freak, The Game Awards, PlayStation Experience 2015 and more!

Monster Hunter X, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Bloodborne: The Old Hunters, Fallout 4, Grand Knights History, Game Awards nominees, Black Friday, the return of Bubsy, and more!

Dragon Quest VII & VIII, Zelda, Zelda, ZELDA, Fallout 4, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Bob Ross on Twitch, Starfox Zero, Fire Emblem Fates and everything Nintendo Direct, Xbox backwards compatibility, and more!

Miitomo & Nintendo's next act, Downwell, Undertale, Destiny (YES, DESTINY), Yomawari, Final Fantasy Grandmasters, Detroit: Become Human, Gran Turismo Sport & all the Paris Games Week news, Kojima leaving the building, and real-life Pokemon gyms.

Zelda Tri-Force Heroes, Downwell, Star Wars Battlefront, Picross 3D 2, Nintendo's mobile plans, Destiny microtransactions, HoloLens pricing, localization crowdfunding, Shin Megami Tensei 4 Final, Monster Hunter Explore, and more!

Dragon's Dogma Online, Super Mario Maker, Destiny: The Taken King, Disgaea 5, DOTA 2, Oculus's price, Junji Ito's Silent Hills, Starfox's delay, Edge's top 100 games, and Pokemon's asses.

Bloodborne DLC, Metal Gear Online, Monster Hunter X & Stories, Street Fighter V, Gravity Daze 2, Ni-Oh, Persona 5 delay, 13 Sentinels, Dragon Quest Builders, Dark Souls 3, Hyrule Warriors Legends, PlayStation VR, Summer Lesson, Kitchen & more from TGS, plus talk on Iwata's successor and the new Apple TV.

In the wake of PAX, we check in with a bevy of Seattle devs and industry biz-types to talk about standouts from the show, the state of indie gaming in general, mobile vs console (vs Apple TV?), Metal Gear Solid V, if we want a Mega Man movie, and more.

Game Informants Tim Turi and Ben Hanson stop by to talk Super Mario Maker, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Pac-Man 256 and more, but mostly end up debating Resident Evil games and trivia.

Dragon Quest XI, Dark Souls 3, Galak-Z, Final Fantasy XV, N++, Splatoon 2.0 update, Scalebound, Crackdown 3, other Gamescom news and more!

Fire Emblem Fates, Rhythm Tengoku The Best+, Yoshi's Wooly World, Odallus: The Dark Call, Yo-kai Watch Busters, Tembo the Badass Elephant, Iwata Memories, EVO2k15, SFV, and more! 

Persona Q, Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward,  Final Fantasy VII, Rocket League, Splatoon, Dragon Quest, Club Nintendo, The Nintendo PlayStation, Red Ash, Star Citizen, PewDiePie and more!

Splatoon, Batman: Arkham Knight, Fallout Shelter, Evil Within DLC, Last Guardian, Super Mario Maker, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Kingdom Hearts 3, Horizon, Dark Souls 3, and more on a special post-E3 8-4 Play!

It's that time of year again. We go over what we know, what we don't know, and what we think we know about this year's E3, so come on board the E3 HYPE TRAINNNN!

Destiny: House of Wolves (trigger warning), Witcher 3, WoW losing flying mounts, Wattam, Nintendo Humble Bundle, required Konami bitching, Kickstarter stuff, and more!

Splatoon, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Girls Mode 3, Titan Souls, Bloodborne, Final Fantasy Record Keeper, Bloodstained, Nintendo fiscals, VR future, and more!

Xenoblade Chronicles X, Mario Kart 8's Animal Crossing DLC, Girls Mode 3, Monster Hunter: Frontier G, Bravely Second: End Layer, Steam Mod-gate, Ouya for sale, Silent Hills, and more!

Danganronpa, Hotline Miami 2, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dark Souls II, Bloodborne, Neko Atsume, Level-5 Vision, Monster Hunter Stories, Fatality-gate, and more!

Bloodborne, Nintendo Direct, Bloodborne, Kojima leaving Konami, Sayonara PlayStation Home, Bloodborne, HTC Vive impressions, and more (Bloodborne)!

Bloodborne, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines, Cities: Skylines, Nintendo going mobile, Nintendo NX, Minter vs. Atari, Level-5 Vision 2015, and more!

Majora's Mask, OlliOlli2, Counterspy, Dragon Quest Heroes, Hyrule Warriors, FF14 Gold Saucer update, htol#NiQ, White Night, VR, free game engines, gold amiibos, Clay Fighter, and more!

Majora's Mask, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Persona 5, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin, The Last Guardian, Nintendo's investor meeting, (more!) amiibos, live action Zelda, the Tokyo Zelda concert, and more!

Pokemon Cafe, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M, Darkest Dungeon, The Swapper, Destiny, dreeps, Terra Battle, Dragon's Dogma Online, Apex 2015, Amiibos, Football (?)...and other stuff.

Driveclub, Hako-Boy, Infamous: First Light, The Swapper, Mario Galaxy 2, Dreeps, Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Nintendo Direct, Hololens, and more!

New Years in Japan, Final Fantasy XIV, Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD, Battle of the Tetris games, Fantasy Life, Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Edition, CES, Steam Machines and more! 

Xmas in Japan, Final Fantasy Explorers, Hack 'n' Slash, retro gaming gift memories, Fantasy Life, Nintendo Donut DS, amiibo cards, our favorite games of the year and JJ's Candy Room fantasies.

Amiibos, Wii U Smash Bros., Captain Toad, Jake Kazdal, Persona Q, Bravely Second, PlayStation Experience, The Game Awards, and more!

Pokemon, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, Steamworld Dig, Evil Within, Assassin's Creed: Unity, Crossy Road, random Japanese gaming memories, and more!

Captain Toad, Forza Horizon 2, SingStar, LEGO Batman 3, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Nintendo Direct, Iwata on region locking, Sonic Boom, Black Friday deals, and more!

The Evil Within, Monster Strike, Terra Battle, Fantasy Life, Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, Japanese strategy guides, retro game shopping, Nintendo earnings, QOL devices, Bloodborne 30fps-gate, Dominos Pizza, Valkyria Chronicles, and more!

New Nintendo 3DS, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Danganronpa, Vib-Ribbon, Terra Battle, Alien: Isolation, Destiny, Japanese Sales, NPDs, Ex-Irrational Kickstarters, and more!

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, Final Fantasy 14, Destiny, Terra Battle, Super Smash Bros. parity problems, Media Create numbers, Nomura's burning rage, Call of Duty in decline, and more!

Join us for our 5th annual Tokyo Game Show free-for-all, with guests from Polygon, Game Informer, SCEA, 17-Bit and more on-hand to talk Bloodborne, FF15, Bravely Second, FF Explorers, The Evil Within, RE Revelations 2, Silent Hills, DQ Heroes, Mighty No. 9, the New Nintendo 3DS and everything else at TGS!

Hop on the Tokyo Game Show Hype (Bullet) Train with talk of Nintendo's New 3DS, Sony's Pre-TGS Press Conference, and Microsoft's Japan Xbox One launch, plus more thoughts on Gunvolt, Dark Souls II DLC, Final Fantasy XIV, Disgaea 4, and more!

Hyrule Warriors, P.T., Azure Striker Gunvolt, more Dark Souls II DLC, Gamescom press conferences, the Night Trap Kickstarter, Monster Hunter's 10th Anniversary expo, and more!

Dark Souls 2 DLC, The Legend of Heroes: TITS, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy X, Resident Evil Remake Remake, Twitch.tv content id-gate, Iwata Drama (tm), EA Access, PlayStation Now and more!

FRB Japan's Scott Popular joins us to talk about Evo 2014, the Destiny beta, Xenoblade Chronicles, Yo-Kai Watch (of course), The International 4, Kim Kardashian, aDanza, Sega Genesis music, plot holes in Double Dragon, and more!

Yo-kai Watch 2, Super House of Dead Ninjas, Japanese baths, Dragon Quest X for 3DS, John's free-to-play addiction, preorder DLC, 3DS update speculation, EVO 2014 hyyyype!

Superagent Ben Judd joins the crew to recap what we learned from E3, dig deep into Shovel Knight, the Destiny Alpha, Summer Games Done Quick, balloon swords, Evo 2014, and more.

John Davison, Garnett Lee, and Mike McWhertor -- plus a surprise blast of bonus guests! -- join Mark and John from LA to talk anything and everything E3, including Smash Bros, Destiny, Zelda, Bloodborne, Splatoon, and plenty more!

With Mark and John out of town, JJ packs the E3 Hype Train(TM)(C) with a rowdy gang of friends-of-the-show (Jean Snow, ex-intern Tom, ex-intern Johnny, Esteban Salazar of Marvelous AQL, John Davis of Q Games) to discuss / predict / argue what's about to go down in L.A.

With only a couple weeks till the hype train leaves the station we take a quick stop to talk about Super TIME Force, Sportsfriends, Kero Blaster, Yo-Kai Watch, the Kinect cut and run, Nintendo's financial results, Project Beast, Tetsuya Mizuguchi returning to video games and more.

On this, the most golden of weeks, the regular crew checks in to weigh in on Hearthstone, YO-Kai Watch mania, Dark Souls 2 PC, Nintendo E3 news, Xbox TV, the E.T. Dig, old Japanese cell phone games, From Software's sale and more.

Our 100th episode gets the band back together (finally!), along with friends from 17-Bit and 2 Player Productions, to talk PAX East, Below, MGSV: Ground Zeroes, Dark Souls II, PS4 eye tracking, Steam sales numbers, Tomodachi Life, and of course, Sir Mix-a-Lot.

John and Hiroko are back, as are celebrity ex-interns Alex "Jungle Fire" Aniel, Chris "Scan Lines" Reed, and Tom "Hitman" Staniforth, joining us to talk Heroes of the Storm, Diablo 3, Gundam Extreme Vs. Maxi Boost, Boom Beach, Monument Valley, Facebook & Oculus, Phil Spencer & Xbox, Amazon Fire TV, Brave Wave music, and more!

John, Mark, and Hiroko are out working GDC, so it’s up to JJ and guests Johnny Linnert and Jean Snow to pick up the slack! This week we talk Dark Souls II, Luftrausers, Awesomenauts Assemble!, Towerfall: Ascension, Project Morpheus, Bitsummit, Iga going solo and more!

Dark Souls. That's it. 150 minutes of talk about Dark Souls. No other games. No news. Just Dark Souls. Can you survive and make it to the end? In content AND format, truly the Dark Souls of podcasts. ...Dark Souls.

Metal Gear Solid translator Jeremy Blaustein and Sega honcho Ethan Einhorn join us on the eve of the Japanese PS4 launch to talk about their illustrious careers (Jaleco! Konami! Sega!), the latest games we've been playing (Titanfall! Strider! Left Behind!), and all the news that's fit to...uh, recite (Twitch Plays Pokemon! Nintendo Direct! PS4 Launch!). Have at it!

With John in Hawaii working on his Flappy Bird score, Tokyo-based gaming expert Jean Snow and Johnny (ex-) "Intern" Linnert join the gang to talk Outlast, Brothers, Broken Age, Tales of Xillia, Puppeteer, Sengoku Basara 4, Groove Coaster Arcade, lots of Dark Souls, Nintendo's recent investors meeting, Xbox One rumors and, yup, more!

Six hours have passed since the occupation of 8-4 Towers by one Alexander O. Smith, founder and leader of the Kajiya sect. Tune in for talk of his various localization feats (Vagrant Story! Tactics Ogre! Final Fantasy XII!) as well as his current Kickstarter project Unsung Story, along with thoughts on Don't Starve, Kirby: Triple D, DayZ, Zubaz, and plenty more.

John's out sick, but the show must go on! Join us for New Year's holiday reminiscings, including Ys II, Bravely Default, what Hiroko *wants* to play, Steam machines, the new Oculus Rift, pizza and a whole lotta rock, paper, scissors.

8-4 alumni Andy Church and Brendon Pritchard come home for the holidays to tell us all about their latest MMO adventures in Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X Version 2, but not before we talk about Zelda: ALBW (again), Puzzle & Dragons Z, Bravely Default, Electronic Super Joy, Kamen Rider belt buckles, last week's Nintendo Direct, and more. Happy Holidays!

Newcomer Roy Blakely joins the 8-4-some to talk (more) Mario, (more) Zelda, (more) Resogun, Ibb and Obb, Samurai Gunn, Bravely Default, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, 3DS Miiverse, the VGX Awards, the life and times of Hideki Kamiya, and more.

John and JJ are back! And talking Mario, Zelda, both new next-gen systems, Mario, Persona 5, microtransactions, Zelda, Resogun, Mario, & taking sides in the console wars. Did we mention Zelda? And stick around for a special bonus segment focus(attack)ing on the Ultra Street Fighter 4 location test in Japanese arcades. Also, Mario.

No PS4s. No John. No JJ. No problem! ...well, OK, one problem with the audio near the start... BUT ANYWAY! CheapyD and Scott Popular pitch in to help go over everything we’ve seen and heard (and not played, yet) of Sony’s new system, plus Super Mario 3D World, Black Friday shopping deals, and -- perhaps most importantly -- how to pronounce “BlazBlue.”

5:28 – iPad vs WiiU for kids

14:30 – Super Mario 3D World

25:45 – Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

30:42 – Dragon’s Crown

36:10 – Monster Hunter talk

40:42 – PS4 feels

59:05 – Xbox One feels

1:08:18 – Black Friday deals and next-gen shopping

1:27:35 – Fighting game community in Japan

1:49:40 – PS4 dream games

1:57:02 – Closing comments

Resolutions and media centers and firmware, oh my! Special guest @CheapyD joins the gang / the internet in dissecting every damn detail trickling out about the next-gen systems, and why it will matter – unless it won't. Plus Battlefield 4 PTSD, Street Fighter II trivia, and war stories from the Dark Souls II beta (and not the game). Fans of podcasts, rejoice!

With Captain MacDonald of the good ship 8-4 Play off plundering the high seas in his vacation dinghy, the rest of the crew have assembled in the poop deck for a relaxed bout of hearty discussion (read: directionless rambling) on topics such as Pokemon X/Y, Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Device 6, the new Vita 2000, Supercell's billions, the Sonic cartoon, the Valve controller, Boogerman's long-awaited (?) return, and more.

Just thought we'd let everyone know that up front. What we are talking about is Monster Hunter 4, the Steambox controller, Super Mario 3D World, Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Wii U Party, Pikmin 3 DLC, the legacy of the Wii, Dragon Quest X on smartphones, and remembering Hiroshi Yamauchi.

Jeremy Parish, Matt Leone, Mike McWhertor, Griffin McElroy, Brian Silva, Jake Kazdal, and the mangod himself, Shane Bettenhausen, all join us to talk Deep Down, Dark Souls 2, Metal Gear Solid V, Vita TV, Gravity Daze...2 (?), Monster Hunter Frontier G, Yakuza Isshin, Wii Sports Club, Strider, and more, plus we all pay our respects to the late, great Nintendo president, Hiroshi Yamauchi.

Please stow your laptops and power triangles as we depart for our special 84th (!) episode, with first-blush Monster Hunter 4 and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle impressions, thoughts on Vita TV and the revamped Vita handheld, PS4's rumored virtual reality headset and virtual lack of games for Japan (or is there?), Dragon Quest X expansions, and of course, Mighty No. 9! 

We're off to PAX and a special sumthin' sumthin' -- but first, more on the Wonderful 101, Killer is Dead, Divekick, the 2DS announcement, PS4 and XBONE launch comparison, Gamescom news (and fresh rumors), and more!

Kevin Larrabee of Back in my Play (Dorito it!) and Mehdi Debbabi-Zourgani of Je Game Moi Non Plus (cherchez le sur Dorito!) join us to talk retro games, Suda 51, and the...how do you say? ESSAUNCE of The Wonderful 101, DuckTales Remastered, amazon's new console, Carmack at Oculus, Nintendo Direct, MS news, Sony news, and more.

Join us for a second helping of Pikmin 3 talk followed by first impressions of Dragon's Crown, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, and a whopping 17 seconds on Rogue Legacy. Plus: the Capcom 13 (BOF6?!), Mike Tyson vs. Glass Joe, indie updates, and plenty more.

Peer into the (near) future for in-depth, spoiler-free impressions of Pikmin 3, then dive back to the (recent) past for 73 minutes (!) of spoiler-packed The Last of Us thoughts. Plus: EVO '13, June NPDs, Strider, Ultra SF4, and more.

Come down from your post-E3 high with the 8-4 crew, who finally reunite to discuss Animal Crossing: New Leaf, every single god**n new StreetPass game for the 3DS (in detail), Ouya, Limbo iOS, Ricky Martin, Atlus's financial woes, Chibi Robo, and the effect (or lack thereof) of Xbox exec Don Mattrick's departure.

(Almost) Live from Seattle! 17-Bit's Jake Kazdal, Camouflaj's Ryan Payton, and ex-Game Informer / Nintendo World Report founder Billy Berghammer join us (well, some of us) for a first-hand recounting of the highs and lows and highs again of this year's rollercoaster E3 game expo.

We designed the new 8-4 Play so that game publishers can enable you and up to 10 family members to hear about facts, rumors, and wild speculation on the upcoming E3 trade show, including games like Dark Souls 2, MGS5, Destiny, Killer is Dead, Smash Bros., the new 3D Mario, Zelda, The Last Guardian, Xbone policies and much, much more.

The Forza 5 racing, familiar-innovative servicing, new controller Kinecting, Halo TV multi-tasking, temperature-reading, screen-sharing, sometimes / always / never-online, Quantum Breaking, rental-renting, EA-bro-fisting, interactive smoke-and-mirroring, Cheapy D'ing, Call-of-Duty fine-hair splitting, smart-glassing, Ray Barnholtin', fingernail-dirt-meets-water-cooler fueled by the infinite power of the cloud entertainment experience that is the Xbox One.

Doritos Crash Course 2, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, interns, Pandora's Tower, La Mulana, Dragon Fantasy, interns, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Monster Hunter, Sorcery, Star Command, interns, more NextBox speculation, Nintendo's E3 plans, interns, BS crowdfunding campaigns, Gran Turismo 6, and interns. Also: interns.

La Mulana, Monaco, Crimson Clover, Tomodachi Collection, Mother 4 / Earthbound 2 (3?), Robot Unicorn Attack 2, Neo-Geo collecting, Wii U firmware updates, Nintendo's E3 show no-show, Famicom trivia, and NextBox scuttlebutt ('cause hey, we DO comment on rumors and speculation).

And now for something a little different: special guests Ryan Payton (Republique) and Chris Kohler (Wired GameLife) join the gang for an epic, sprawling -- and at times heated -- discussion focusing on retro game collecting, indie game development, and the present and future of the Wii U, with pit stops on Guacamelee, Tomodachi Collection 3DS, Dark Souls II, Yoshi's Island 3DS, Monster Hunter Online, Earthbound, and Link to the Past 2. HNNNGH.

With Gaming Jesus off on a secret pilgrimage, the task falls to the few, the proud, the 8-4 interns (and the rest of us), to fill his massive void. Er... Anyway, this week it's GDC, more Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Nimble Quest, Year Walk, MGS5 and David Hayter-gate, Square Enix's recent shake-up, PSO2's delay, Skullgirls' crowdfunding success, Fire Emblem feet, and more!

Luigi's Mansion 2, Ridiculous Fishing, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Dark Souls (yes, again!), BitSummit, Dragon's Crown, Wii U troubles, Vita triumphs (and troubles), Durango rumors, Drakengard 3, Phantom Pain, Transistor, and oh-so-much more!

Dokuro, Virtue’s Last Reward, Phantasy Star Online 2, more Dark Souls, a little Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, GDC speeches, PS4 announcement aftermath, Miyamoto interviews, possible Shenmue kickstarters, Skullgirls kickstarter, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate cross-region play, Umihara Kawase, and more!

INTRO BS PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 STREAMING COOL PS4 CONTROLLER PS4 SHARING YES PS4 PS4 PS4 VITA WIIU PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 FEATURES PS4 KNACK PS4 PS4 KILLZONE PS4 PS4 WITNESS PS4 JASON! PS4 DEEP DOWN ZOMG PS4 PS4 SQUEENIX WTF PS4 DESTINY HANDS PS4 PS4 LUIGI END

Touch-panels! Valve boxes! Used-game-blocking-gamma rays and Ouyas and Apple's who-knows-whats-its! E3 isn't even a glimmer on the Hype Train horizon and yet you wouldn't know it from all the new system talk floating around – of course the 8-4 gang is above that sort of wild speculation. ...*Ahem* Anyway: Fire Emblem and Dragon Quest VII for the 3DS, DmC, and a chat with 17-bit big daddy Jake Kazdal on the release of Skulls of the Shogun.

Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata brought the winter heat during this week's Nintendo Direct with the first megatons of 2013, including Wind Waker HD, MegaTen x Fire Emblem, Xeno-whatever-they're-gonna-call-it, and Wii U Virtual Console, among others. We've got a full breakdown of the event, as well as fresh PlayStation 4 (and controller) talk, a whole bunch of news (Pandora's Tower! Project X-Zone! Killer is Dead! etc!), the latest in skin-smoothing placenta technology, and plenty more.

Ake-ome-koto-yoro! (Japanese for "Happy New Year!") We're back to our typical fo-matto ("format") to talk about Level 5's latest, Fantashi Raifu ("Fantasy Life"). We also get into atsui ("heated") discussions over Steam Box, Nvidia's Shield, Nintendo stuff, Pokemon X and Y, the Neo-Geo X handheld, and all sorts of other shinjouhou ("news"). Jaa ne bye bye! ("bye bye!")

The cast and crew of 8-4 Play would like to thank all the discussion topics that made this award possible, including Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, the Wii U's Miiverse, the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards (and its assorted reveals, including Dark Souls II, The Phantom Pain, the new Last of Us trailer, and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2), the final issue of Nintendo Power (rest its blessed soul), the Street Fighter x Mega Man freebie, and that one Vita game where you stroke your unit to make the characters squeal. Thank you all!