Pretty much everyone has a podcast these days, from the biggest websites all the way down to 13-year-old kids blogging about their lousy cafeteria food. While the trials and tribulations of 7th grade might seem interesting to some, wouldn't you rather hear about games that aren't out yet? Or what it's like to work in the dizzyingly fast games industry? Or genuine, spirited conversations with other gamers, editors and special guest stars, all in less than an hour?

Of course you would. And that's why TalkRadar's spiraling into your ears weekly from here on out. It ain't for the young'uns, so the under-18 crowd should take a hike - unless your parents are super-cool gamer types who know you'll hear the word "shit" on other podcasts, YouTube, HBO and South Park.


07-03-08 | Length - 59:48

The Internet seemed hell-bent on spoiling our Mega Man 9 announcement, but damned if it'll stop us from talking to Brett Elston about his EXCLUSIVE hands-on. We're sharing an orgy of Mega Man memories and music, plus we'll mediate the ugly rivalry between nerds and sports games, wage battle with Wikipedia, and baptize Diablo III.

BONUS: Just in time for the 4th, the gang removes their shirts and revel in the homoerotic splendor of Top Gun! Won't you play with the boys?

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Mega Man 9 - EXCLUSIVE hands-on - Brett's already played it, and the rest of us try to hold back the resentment.

Top 7... Sports Games Nerds Love - All the adrenaline without the inhaler

Wikipedia WTF?! - How the internet's premiere game of Telephone could bring about the end to Western culture

The Ultimate Mega Man Retrospective - Many of the songs that accompany this week's nonesense come from these timeless treasures

Diablo III - Just announced, and the gaming globe went batshit

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith - Is this game for us or our parents?

Free Top Gun Anthem! This 4th of July Guitar Hero III is giving away the most patriotic song not written by Toby Keith. Have a look:

Above: Elston refused to divulge any MM9 info until this video was embedded.

THE VOICES

 
Quote of the week:

"The only thing the Wii is optimal for is flipping pancakes and stabbing ghosts."

06-27-08 | Length - 56:07 

Rock Band's been out for seven months and, even though it's hit almost every popular song we could have asked for, there are tons of niche tunes we simply must see drowned out by the sound of clickity clackity drums.

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TOPICS

Top 7... worst jobs in the games industry - real-life tales of horror from testers, retailers and programmers

Songs we demand to see in Rock Band - four raging-punk tunes that need to hit DLC immediately. One of them's about sexually gratifying a lightsaber

Guitar Hero: On Tour - two games out this week have received remarkably divisive scores from all sites. One is handheld Guitar Hero, the other is...

Alone in the Dark - One outlet calls it "a masterstroke," another "boring, frustrating and hackneyed." How can we be talking about the same game?

What if a nuke went off in Superman's ass? - someone asked it during work, we dare to answer

Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe - a spillover conversation about Supes' ass asks how Flash could beat him in a race. Marvel at the mysterious answer!

Plus Chris pays many a tribute to the tragically late George Carlin.

THE VOICES

Quote of the week:

"There's no way I'm evolving an asshole."

BONUS: Halfway through the podcast, Tyler busted Brett for doodling when he should have been listening. Behold:

06-20-08 | Length - 51:53 | Opening song by Anamanaguchi  

The saga continues! This week we welcome Microsoft Editor Charlie Barratt into our hallowed halls of gaming nonsensery and dive into our worst bouts of gaming addiction. Girlfriends are lost, hours wasted and families torn apart by the likes of Zelda, Metal Gear and The Sims - won't you join us?

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TOPICS

The Top 7... Worst Parts of Best Games - how can such amazing games contain these criminally boring flaws?

Wii Fit causes millions in damage - apparently the only people playing Wii Fit are board-crushing bovines who thrash about as if desperately clinging to their talk show-riddled lifestyle

GTA IV "best popcorn movie" - Rolling Stone's quote-happy critic Peter Travers gushes over GTA. Here's why you shouldn't give a crap

Moon interview - this could end up being one of the coolest DS games of the year people, so take notice

Consoles of the '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000s - we grabbed images and details for every console ever - won't you take a look?

Plus we divulge the most embarrassing moments of gaming addiction. Hallucinations and shattered relationships abound.

THE VOICES

Quote of the week:

"There's three people in this room, and two of them don't give a shit about that game."



06-13-08 | Length - 46:10 | Opening song by Anamanaguchi  

Week five encounters a new set of audio weirdness, so forgive the pops and cracks as we continually shout over and interrupt each other. Ah, camaraderie. Also, subscribe to TalkRadar on iTunes - we're slowly climbing the ranks!

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TOPICS

Top 7... consoles that never were - ever heard of an Indrema L600? It's great for your complexion

Metal Gear Solid 4 - it's out, the rave reviews are flowing in, but is Snake enough to motivate gamers toward a shiny new PS3? Maybe Newgrounds can help

The Preemptive 2008 Game Awards - we made a crapton of predictions back in January. Guess how many games slated for an '08 release are now totally gone

The DEWMocracy - Pepsi decides to punish us all by forcing a vote on three new flavors of Mountain Dew. We put our health on the line to test them so you don't have to. People realize Dew used to be for hillbillies, right?

Good, not great games - sometimes all you need is a Dark Sector or a Ninja Gaiden II to dull the pain of everyday life

Why are kids so annoying? - these damn kids today, always stepping on games and getting popsicle syrup on our pristine Spider-Man collection!

The Incredible Hulk - it's out today, and we're so effing there. Enjoy this '60s flashback that somehow didn't bankrupt Marvel on the spot. HULK, HULK!

Chaos War voice acting - by far the WORST we've heard in decades. Marvel at its piss-poor splendor

THE VOICES

Quote of the week:

"It tastes like Otter Pop afterbirth."

 

06-06-08 | Length - 35:50  | Opening song by Anamanaguchi  

Things get a bit weird as we attempt to stay on topic with the charged talking points of racism, objectivity and this recent rash of websites arguing over who's more trustworthy. Hear the podcast dubbed "so outrageous I had to close my door." We even had to add bleeping effects - shoryuken!

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TOPICS

Top 7... gory deaths in cutesy games - it's nasty, it's controversial and it's apparently so disturbing digg users had to rant about it at great length

Neopets Puzzle Adventure - hands-on - the surprise hit of Capcom's recent event wasn't RE5, but a Puzzle Quest/Othello mix riddled with Neopets

Resident Evil 5 - we attempt to talk about our latest impressions of the African zombie blaster, but get sucked into an "argument" about racism instead

Saints Row 2 - newest trailer pokes fun at GTA by pointing out all the stupid shit you can do instead of having fun

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy - our 6/10 review score summons the ire of developer High Moon. Sorry for being honest?

Reviewing reviews - every outlet ever decides they have to prove how much integrity they have and how their readers deserve nothing less. Address your thanks, prayers and well-wishes to Kotaku, GameSpot and EGM.

Plus an advertisement for those uuuuuuuther podcasts that may or may not get us in trouble. Enjoy!

THE VOICES

 
Quote of the week:

"If you can't kill black zombies, regardless of context, you're the racist"

Podcast number three sees a slight cast change, audio breaks as well as two people chatting from different locations - one on his ass at home, the other from a towering party palace in Las Vegas. Wait... what?

Our Lady Mikel Reparaz had to sit this one out due to emergency magician practice, and we have to respect his dream. But he'll be back next week and Shane Patterson picks up the slack by chiming in with his hilarious right-wing rhetoric.

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TOPICS 
 
Top 7... fruitless endeavors - why should we put 200+ hours into games with no real reward?

Ninja Gaiden II - our 7/10 review earned the internet's fleeting scorn, simply for suggesting the game pisses down your throat. 
 
Street Fighter IV - hyperbole aside, Brett still gushes like a giddy schoolgirl about Capcom's community services.
 
Capcom's best-selling games - holy crap that's a lot of million-sellers. Guess which one is at the top...
 
Tom Clancy's HAWX - does the semi-futuristic shooter cater more to Ghost Recon fans or Ace Combat simulation geeks? The answer is neither shocking nor unexpected! 
 
Beyond Good & Evil - new teaser trailer reveals long-awaited sequel... but is it dumbing down one of last generation's more creative projects?

Guiter Hero: On Tour - the first of THREE Guitar Heroes is nearly upon us. How does handheld shredding compare to the "real" deal?
 
Guitar Hero IV - drums, vocals, online sharing and... gig choices? Uh oh, sounds like Neversoft wants to Tony Hawk the series to death
 
Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff - painfully long cheerleading session fails to dampen old-school spirit. Bonus: Cheerleaders!

THE VOICES

Quote of the week:

"I respect your opinion, I just think you're an asshole."

 
05-23-08 | Length - 50:54 | Opening song by Anamanaguchi 

TalkRadar's second week solves the random sound effects problem and attempts to address various bits of (mostly positive) feedback by "staying on topic" and "speaking in turn." We almost succeed!

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TOPICS

Top 7... least extreme "extreme" sports - learn how Disney, chess and kayaking games are more hardcore than chugging Mountain Dew during a forest fire

GR assaulted by flames - speaking of fire, a runaway hilltop blaze threatens to engulf IGN, GameSpy and GamesRadar into its merciless melting maw. See clips here and here.

Red Hulk exclusive - gamers have to buy Incredible Hulk at GameStop or miss out on the new crimson-colored Hulk. Say whaaaat?

Haze - how much did Microsoft pay games journalists to give the PS3-exclusive shooter such abysmal scores?

The Conduit - new trailer reveals Wii game that'll look "like a 360 game." Anyone care?

Target Terror - while Conduit strives to be something more, Target Terror is the harsh reality of Wii gaming

Nintendo's Big Secret - what've they got hidden up their hardcore-abandoning sleeve? We're hoping for Punch-Out!! and Animal Crossing

What Nintendo WON'T reveal - we certainly won't see Uniracers, Blast Corps or Pilotwings announced this year. Also, how N64's Body Harvest beat GTA III to the punch

Every Mortal Kombat fatality ever - we posted it two years ago, someone stole it last week and now it's on the front page of digg

Alone in the Dark - hands-on accounts of the summer's biggest fright fest

Plus - rants about the malfunction-prone next-gen systems, Wii's disturbingly awful online support and, sadly, more than one boner joke.

THE VOICES

Quote of the week:

"Now the goal is, 'how many games can [developers] squeeze out before they have to wipe?'"

05-19-08 | Length - 49:15 | Opening song by Anamanaguchi 

Our first go at this whole podcast thing is a teensy bit rough and ripe with random AIM and Skype sound effects, but what some may label "janky" we lovingly like to call "growing pains."

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TOPICS

Top 7... games that don't deserve nostalgia - we explain why Final Fantasy VII and Sonic Adventure were never all that great, Digg and N4G comments included!

Top 10 Gaming MILFS - the only GamesRadar article to earn the internet's coveted "Go Kill Yourself Award"

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - what exactly IS an Ecclesia? We think we know!

Metal Gear Solid 4 - our latest hands-on discusses the fine art of being singled-out in a raging firefight

The Incredible Hulk - it takes a slight touch to bring down the Chrysler Building and three swings to bag a Hummer. Gah?

Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe - how the turd sandwich that is Marvel Nemesis already has an edge over this anticipated brawler

Hellboy: The Science of Evil - somehow looks worse than the last time we saw it... a year ago.

Wii Fit - Wii's next inexplicably popular add-on injures our Nintendo editor within seconds

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts - literally everything you want to know, straight from Official Xbox Magazine's senior editor

Grand Theft Auto IV - is anyone else tired of hearing "titties" all the time?

Plus - the story of KC Munchkin (one of the first banned videogames), why people from the 70s all talked like LOLcats and several moderately amusing Niko Bellic impressions.

THE VOICES

And special guest Dan Amrich, Senior Editor for Official Xbox Magazine

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"I bet I could piss two pounds right now, and I don't even have to go."