Let's make this perfectly clear: Like Kinect, sauerkraut, and inverted controls, this special holiday episode of 8-4 Play is not for everyone. How can you know? Take our simple quiz: 1. Do you enjoy Monster Hunter? 2. Are you curious about Monster Hunter? 3. Would you like to hear almost two hours of talk about one of Japan's biggest gaming franchises in the last decade? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, enjoy. If not, please listen to an older episode again and let's just forget this ever happened.

In Tokyo, the holiday season brings a mix of imported Western traditions and uniquely Japanese flavors (Google "Japan KFC Christmas" if you don't know what we mean), so that's exactly what this T-day episode of 8-4 Play delivers. A rundown on the best Black Friday gaming deals one minute, a detailed explanation of table-flipping arcade title Cho-Chabudai Gaeshi the next. Hardcore Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and Tactics Ogre talk here, ultra-casual Pac-Man: Championship Edition DX and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood chat there. As special guest CheapyD of cheapassgamer.com would say: "There you go!"

The 8-4 crew's too busy working on next year's games to have much time for this year's offerings, so they called in intern Alex "cvxfreak" Aniel to help discuss everything they wish they were playing (but mostly aren't). Tune in for baseless, uninformed talk about Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kinect, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, Vanquish, 25th Anniversary Super Mario Bros., and (as required by law) Call of Duty: Black Ops, not to mention the usual chit-chat on the latest news out of Japan (Inafune quits! Mikami gets bought! Uniqlo makes t-shirts!). As a great fairy once said: "LISTEN!"

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the NES, 8-4 invites retro gaming legend Kevin "tsr" Gifford, founder of tsr's NES archive and keeper of the world's largest collection of obscure game knowledge, to take us back (back... back...) to the 80s to talk about the birth of the era's most popular 8-Bit system. But before that, listen to round-ups of the recent Level-5 and Grasshopper events in Japan, thoughts on Costume Quest, Vanquish, Limbo, La Mulana, and Game Dev Story, and the sad tale of Mr. Gifford's epic attempt to clear the Tower of Druaga on a single coin...

The demo for Monster Hunter Portable 3rd has hit Japan, and who better to discuss it with than Naughty Dog Community Strategist Arne Meyer? ...Well, just about anyone, actually. But Mr. Meyer does have plenty of interesting things to say about helping launch the Xbox and Xbox 360, working in the studio that brought us Uncharted 2, and more. Also: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Kirby's Epic Yarn, and what Japanese gamers have to say about TGS and the 3DS.

Former Nintendo, Sega, EA, Zombie, Irem, Boss, and Enix superstar Jake Kazdal (now of indie newcomer Haunted Temple Studios) joins the 8-4-some to talk about his experiences working his way up the game industry ladder, from having the dream job of being a Nintendo game counselor in the 80's to...having the dream job of working on Space Channel 5 and Rez with Tetsuya Mizuguchi in Tokyo.

Fresh from Nintendo's big 3DS (re-)unveiling in Tokyo, the 8-4 crew is ready to drop all kinds of knowledge on the upcoming portable picked up at and after the show. Opinions on the price and date? You got it. Breakdown of all the new hardware features? Natch. Analysis of games and other announcements? Sure. List of questions used to point out show highlights? Done.

It's a guestacular second episode of 8-4 Play as two of the industry's finest - former EGM/1UP scribe Shane Bettenhausen (now of Ignition Entertainment) and Kojima Productions alum Ryan Payton (now of Microsoft's 343 Industries) join us to give their thoughts on this year's Tokyo Game Show, the state of the Japanese game industry, Dante's new hair, and a whole lot more.

Special Guest and 1UP.com podcast-legend Garnett Lee joins the 8-4-some in a game-by-game analysis of everything at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, including Tactics Ogre, Parasite Eve, Yakuza, Castlevania, Monster Hunter, El Shaddai, Mega Man Universe, Child of Eden, and more. And before you start, be sure to listen to Weekend Confirmed Ep. 26 over at Shacknews.com to get the first half of our TGS 2010 discussion!