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A two-week absence of podcasting and let's playing, coupled with a very long Steam sale and several vacations, means a heck of a lot of game-playing for Jeff and J.D. Which is convenient, because pretty much the only news that has happened since last podcast is a Nintendo Direct. Must be the holidays, right? Oh, and probably everyone fretting over what the best game they played over the past twelve months is. Certainly not anything that can cause our duo any fretting, right?

There's been a lot of debate lately about Nintendo's place in the world of video game hardware, and today Jeff and J.D. will take a few moments to discuss their views on it. Before that are some final thoughts on Link Between Worlds and Mario 3D World, and after that are some speculations on Nintendo announcements, talk about Early Access, and yet more.

The big event over the weekend was the monster that the Video Game Awards has turned into: VGX, a small studio, and two hosts who probably do not want to be there. But before Jeff and J.D. can break that event down for you, first there needs to be some talk about Xenoblade, the console version of Diablo III, and the latest release of the famous Smash Bros mod.

Christmas is approaching, which means it's time for companies to lock down on all announcements and brace themselves for the biggest purchases of the year. That doesn't mean games can't be played, as categorized by Jeff and J.D.'s efficient playing and reviewing of their two newest games. It also means VGX (whatever that is) is coming up, just in time for some previews and maybe awards, if they actually do that sort of thing.

The release of both the Xbox One and the Playstation 4 has left most major announcements already said, but that's okay, because for once Jeff and J.D. have two brand-new games that they need to talk about. Of course, neither of them are from said console releases, but that's besides the point. Also up for discussion is the littany of Persona games Atlus announced last Sunday, as well as some breakdowns, most of them not literal, from the XBone's release last Friday.

There is a lot of news and a lot of video games to discuss today in an abrupt change from, oh, the last three months. Luckily you have Jeff and J.D. to sort through the various PS4 bumps and hiccups with its launch, as well as the expected ones for the Xbox One this Friday, along with the exciting release of the latest version of Project M, the upcoming Zelda and Mario games, and their experiences with the console version of Diablo III and the new XCOM expansion.

Jeff and J.D. spent a good nine hours this weekend painstakingly going over everything wrong with a fighting game tournament they were in, and have returned to let you know what not to do the next time you're running one. But before then we have more discussion on what makes Pokémon such an annoyingly deep game, as well as some word on what to expect with the two new consoles coming out, a tidbit or two on XCOM's new expansion, and far too much gobbling.

J.D. has been busy for the past week or so, meaning that all of the new game-playing has been left to Jeff, and what has he spent it on? Games that have been out for at least a year, of course! And the new Pokémon. Once he lavishes praise on that, it's to news about yet more delays and early releases, the sounds of fury from the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts, and, of course, the screams of fanboys about which console can put more pixels on a screen.

The release of the two hotly-anticipated consoles this year is coming closer and closer, which means tons of dumb little things are happening out in the game news world: release dates are coming or changing, official statements are being made, companies are being shut down by EA. The usual! Jeff and J.D. are here to break it down for you, as usual, as well as review the release of the F2P ARPG Path of Exile and the director's cut of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Tune on in!

Last week was a complete failure of audio balancing, meaning we had to completely expunge it from the history of the internet. What it means is this week we have twice as many Whatchoo Playin' topics, twice as much news, and twice as many tangents, all crammed into a single hour. We have Zelda, Bioshock, XBone, PS4 controllers, and a million other things.

This is what happens when you try to make a podcast from a streaming session: a week-late podcast so that all of your news and reviews don't make any sense anymore because you can't rip the audio properly. Today Jeff and J.D. talk about their experiences playing GTA Online, their starts to Bioshock: Infinite, and how hard it is to find a few ghost mansions in New Super Mario Bros U. All while playing New Super Mario Bros U! Exciting! Unique!

The level of complaining in the world has to be reaching some sort of peak this week. With a rather large Nintendo Direct, about forty-million Kickstarters making new announcements, Grand Theft Auto Online experiencing birthing problems, and the internet, it's the perfect storm for internet gurus to tell you everything wrong with everything else. But not Jeff and J.D.! Today they bring you a breakdown of what they've experienced with GTAO so far, how scary Eternal Darkness' first two hours are, and just why everyone needs to shut up.

With a full week of Grand Theft Auto V under his belt, Jeff is at last ready to make a few conclusions on how he feels about the game, and why he thinks it has a lot of awesome ideas for the rest of the gaming world. Meanwhile J.D. has a few complaints about "secrets" in New Super Luigi U, as well as some things to share about the new Wind Waker HD release (finally). Chuck in some small news items and a spiffy new Whatchoo Playin' sound and you have a full episode!

Release season is upon us, and Jeff and J.D. are doing their best to stay on top of all of the games that they've been playing, in the hopes to get good reviews to all of yous. Today Jeff gives the lowdown on why everyone should play The Last of Us (a few months late), if GTA V is looking good, and what the deal with Rogue Legacy is, while J.D. puzzles over the concept of an MMO dogfighter. After that expect some news on Blizzard's updates for Diablo III, a surprising purchase by Microsoft, and brief agonizing over which version of Wind Waker to purchase.

In what is rapidly becoming a yearly tradition, Jeff and J.D. have brought ten new video game songs for your approval. Songs they felt deserved of major recognition, but would have made far too many songs to their playlist from last year's Music Episode. Before they can get to that, however, they have some talking about recent replayings of Skyrim, as well as preparations for Tokyo Game Show. So get plugged in!

You may not have thought that we had the technology to rebuild the 3DS, to make it faster, stronger, better--but we did. The 2DS was announced last week, and Jeff and J.D. are ready to recap everyone's reactions; from mild disappointement to growing realization. Also enjoy their breakdown of everything Spies vs. Mercs does right and wrong, some news of games coming out in the next few weeks, and a review of every else's game of the year.

Let's get real, here. Some real talk. Jeff and J.D. adore voice actors, specific ones, and when you replace an old, crusty, sarcastic one with a young, generic, straight-faced voice actor and script, it will leave an impression. That's why twenty minutes of today's episode is dedicated to really the only thing they don't like about the new Splinter Cell. There's also some news on the Nintendo front in regards to our duo's favorite HD remake to come, notes on release dates, and a few really bad impressions.

GamesCon snuck up on us this week, flooding Jeff and J.D. mostly with a lot of news on the Sony front: final words on the PS4 before its release, updates on the PS3, and a few game announcements. But that hasn't stopped them from playing the heck out of Payday 2 this past week, or Jeff from bringing tales of wonder from the touchscreen front.

The news is slow but the new games keep on coming this summer, which is why J.D. thought it was the perfect time to finally complete ZombiU. Jeff, meanwhile, spent the entire weekend playing the beta for the just-released Payday 2 and will give you a few notes from that. In real news are what seem to be the final changes to the Xbox One's original policies and a few rumors in terms of PC ports of popular upcoming games. Get in here!

Luckily for this slow news week, Jeff and J.D. have been playing the heck out of two brand-new games that they are happy to review, constantly, for you: the every-waited-for Pikmin 3, and the unexpected but amazing Cloudberry Kingdom. After they've been broken down to their component bits and fed to you, our duo will similarly break down the Nintendo Direct released yesterday, and discuss the idea of Microsoft charging you for things. Imagine!