It looks like the best/worst of the holiday blockbuster rush is behind us, so Tom Magrino, Brian Ekberg, Tom Mc Shea, and Brendan Sinclair have time to reflect on the hits that were and run down the New Xbox Experience before seeing Dead Rising and PETA in court.

Shaun White answers the Call of Duty as the HotSpot crew gets down to the Nuts and Bolts of Wrath of the Lich King...Gears of War 2. Also, we get elbow deep in discussion about the ESRB's spoiler-rific ratings summaries and dole out mad props to awesome listeners who donated to Child's Play.

Ricardo Torres, Tom Magrino, Kevin VanOrd, Tom Mc Shea, and Brendan Sinclair shoot the breeze (and the aliens) on Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, and Mirror's Edge, then it's on to shuttered studios, the best inventions of 2008, and more phone calls and e-mails than are probably healthy.

California State Senator Leland Yee comes by to defend his gaming legislation and class up the joint, but only after Shaun McInnis, Tom Mc Shea, Kevin VanOrd, and Brendan Sinclair spend the better part of an hour taking things in the opposite direction.

Talking about games is our business, and business is good! Mortal Kombat kreator Ed Boon swings by the studio to talk about taking on the DC Universe and the revitalized Electronic Entertainment Expo. It's a packed podcast featuring six GameSpotters talking up Fable II, Fallout 3, BioWare's Star Wars MMO game, and much more.

Ricardo Torres, Jon Miller, Don "The People's Panelist" Francis, and Brendan Sinclair play with fire as they discuss a Little Big Planet blasphemy, Obama's play for gamer votes, playing as a force of good or evil, and franchises that need to die.

Justin Calvert, Tom Mc Shea, and Brendan Sinclair welcome BioShock 2 lead level designer JP LeBreton to help negotiate the treacherous corridors deep within the week's news, including the Tokyo Game Show, BlizzCon, Saints Row 2, Dead Space, and a ton more.

Jon Miller, Lark Anderson, and Brendan Sinclair drop the hate before recapping a flood of Nintendo news from the DSi to Punch-Out!! for Wii before digging in to discuss the potential of DLC as a bane to retailers and gamers both. Also, Jon relives a painful childhood memory to the delight and merriment of all.

There's a new DS on the way, Jack Thompson was disbarred, Bungie's making a new Halo, and Fable II will ship without a promised feature. There's so much news it took Aaron Thomas, Tom Mc Shea, Chris Watters, and Brendan Sinclair nearly an hour and a half to cover it all!

Brian Ekberg, Tom Mc Shea, Tom Magrino, and Brendan Sinclair hit the week's high notes, from Wii Music's flop potential to the rampant proliferation of Guitar Hero games. For the non-musically minded listeners, the panel goes off on Warhammer Online, Microsoft considering a Nintendo buyout circa 2003, and listeners' all-time favorite glitches.

EA won't be buying Take-Two after all, Microsoft is shutting down Halo Wars studio Ensemble, and Midway laid out the full Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe roster. Shaun McInnis, Sophia Tong, Tom Mc Shea and Brendan Sinclair debate whether any of this is good for the industry in a packed episode of the HotSpot.

Kevin Van Ord, Chris Watters, Tom Mc Shenanigans, and Brendan Sinclair take a few whacks at Viva Pinata, Spore, TNA Impact, the Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death, and a week's worth of news in a very special Dreamcast ninth-anniversary edition of the HotSpot.

A short show for a short week. This week's installment includes Shaun's report from the Leipzig Games Convention, Jon's impressions of Spore, Chris' response to Brett Ratner's Guitar Hero movie proposal, and Tor's farewell to the host's chair. Also this week: Square Enix's proposed Tecmo buyout, Warhammer Online going gold, Ninja Gaiden II selling 1 million, and the Xbox 360 being cheaper than the Wii...in Japan.

Brendan returns to host Chris, Kevin, and Tom Mc Shark Attack through a minefield of controversial topics, from Kevin's Too Human review to the downside of the casual game trend, a potentially offensive Space Invaders art exhibit at Leipzig, how to fight gaming piracy, and Tom Mc Shawshank's favorite nickname.

Tor, Chris, and Jon kick around the week's gaming news like the Nigerian football team in Beijing. Topics on the pitch this week include Electronic Arts inking deals with Epic and Grasshopper, the latest NPD sales figures showing the PS3 on a roll, Spore going gold, Radical getting downsized, and whether or not an abundance of Wiis can improve a certain Midwestern state.

Brendan's back in the host's chair with an all-Thomas team of panelists (Mc Shea, Magrino, and Aaron) to tackle the week's topics, including Braid, Madden 09, Gears of War's replica rifles, piracy, and the intoxicating (or simply toxic) concoction of sex and violence in games.

To the delight and chagrin of many, Tor resumes hosting after narrowly escaping from the Vegas authorities. In cahoots with him are Brendan, Shaun, and HotSpot neophyte Jon Miller, who uses his dulcet voice to recount his experiences at QuakeCon. Also on the docket: The 360 Final Fantasy XIII pushing back the PlayStation 3 edition, 30 million Wiis, 14.4 million PS3s, new Call of Duty, Too Human going gold, the KOTOR massively multiplayer online game, social commentary in games, and much, much more!

Fully recovered from the long days and longer nights of E3, the HotSpot returns with Brendan, Tom Mc Shea, Kevin, and Lark talking about Activision's decision not to publish Brutal Legend and a bunch of other games, Brett Ratner's qualifications to direct a God of War movie, and spend an inordinate amount of time dwelling on the life and works of one Bette Midler.

Our massive E3 megacast has nearly two hours of news from the frontlines of America's highest-profile gaming event. We've got rundowns of the latest news from Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Konami, and Take-Two, including such games as Borderlands, Fallout 3, Resistance 2, Resistance for the PSP, Final Fantasy XIII on the Xbox 360, Grand Theft Auto for the Nintendo DS (?!), and much, much more!

With E3 looming on the horizon like a...huge looming thing, Tom, Aaron, Brendan, and Tor sit down to discuss the up-again-down-again-up-again PlayStation 3 firmware update, Infinity Ward's mystery project, Fallout 3's Australian ban, The Conduit and what it might mean for the Wii, and why trying to get developers to give frank responses in public is an increasingly Sisyphean task. Also on tap are the top worst-game-crossover submissions and your phone calls and e-mail!