Thanks to Jink from the forums for the name – and to everyone else who made a suggestion. You're all winners as far as I'm concerned. (But only Jink is the actual winner.)

So, yes: new podcast! Here is the streaming version:

And here is the downloadable version. Listen. Enjoy. Love. And when you're done, leave us some feedback.

***

SHOW NOTES

Programme
(Blue text indicates music)

0:00 - 1:39: Introductions
1:39 - 8:04: Christmas in Japan (Also: KFC)
8:04 - 19:21: PlayStation Home and Little Big Planet
19:21 - 38:24: Patrick Goes to the 8-bit Cafe 3rd Birthday Party
38:24 - 40:37: YMCK - Panic Racer 005 (Excite Bicycle Mix - Revolution)
40:37 - 54:15: Animal Crossing City Folk
54:15 - 1:07:08: Is Nintendo Racist?
1:07:08 - 1:18:33: Flowering Hype
1:18:33 - 1:20:17: Mass Effect - Vigil
1:20:17 - 1:39:05: Game Design: Moral Dilemmas
1:39:05 - 1:41:30: Wrap-up and Well-wishes
1:41:30 - 1:44:14: Estradasphere - Super Buck Jazz

General Links

8-bit Cafe
8-bit Cafe Birthday Celebration Programme (with band links)
Is Nintendo Racist?
Flower's a Breath of Fresh Air
Fallout 3 Megaton Video

Music Links

YMCK English Homepage
Mass Effect Original Soundtrack (buy it for God's sake!)
Estradasphere – Super Buck Jazz (via Overclocked Remix)

***

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!

A special picture for our special readers at this special time of year. (Christmas.)

THIS IS WHERE TO CLICK FOR IT

Also, here is a version which is less tiny, and here is a version which is really quite big and I suppose you could resize it to your liking and use it as a desktop, or for some similarly noble purpose.

WOW GOLLY A WHOLE YEAR OF EEGROIDS, HOW ABOUT THAT

See you next year and also in a podcast sometime in the next couple of days if we can overcome these recording problems we are having.

GOD BLESS YOU AND ALL YOUR HORRIBLE BABIES

*KISSES*

[This was supposed to go up on Friday but we had GODDAMN PROBLEMS.]

Wow, we got sent some actual cards that are legitimate, from real companies! Oddly, all the companies seem to have hired the same designer. It’s a funny old world.

Here’s one from Namco. Gosh!

We are so special to have received a custom birthmas card from Sega:

Not sure whom this next one is from. (The return address says ‘videogames’.)

I’m told Ambrosia makes shareware for the Mac. Imagine that!

Here’s Capcom, trying to bribe us with filthy pornography, AS USUAL:

And we got this, from whoever’s in charge of Q*bert these days:

Also, young Tim sent us another of his colourful texta drawings, FOR NO APPARENT REASON.

[bigger version]

No thanks or congratulations to chuanoplast on the forums, who didn’t do anything special and I don’t know why I’m even mentioning her.

SUBSCRIBE OR SUFFER.

(It starts at the bottom.)

At about this time of year, you may notice, all the videogame blogs begin to post scans of the Christmas cards they’ve received from the various game developers and publishers they share a symbiotic relationship with. It has become a tradition of sorts – one that we at Eegra are, anagramatically, eager to be involved with. The problem is that few in the industry are aware we exist, and those who are probably don’t like us, and those who do like us can’t admit it publicly.

Do you know what else? It was our birthday this week. Eegra is one year old!

So, your challenge this week is to create counterfeit birthday/Christmas cards for us – ‘birthmas cards’ – from all the publishers and developers you can think of. They might look something like this:

Hopefully less retarded but we’ll take what we can get. The forum thread is right here. We look forward to showing off your unconvincing pretend cards as though they were real and people give a shit about us.

Hey, it's some of that "easy vulgarity" that Leigh Alexander wants to agree to differ about, but only after getting a dig in first. God bless you, Leigh; this one's for you.

THIS ONE RIGHT HERE.

In my inbox this morning:

although i honestly didn't think about it much, the use of buzzwords when discussing how nintendo's huge success is attributable to hyped-up today show watchers who hop on the hip wii bandwagon was intentional irony.

we games journalists keep from descending into the slippery slope of frothing and babbling or whatever you said about kiddie pools of shit (and for my part, i dislike easy vulgarity as shortcut to humor, but let's agree to differ in taste) by having fun with words, even when others aren't necessarily in on the joke. and i don't feel particularly soulless or eaten away at just yet!

Now, if that's the case, and Leigh was taking the piss, then okay – mea culpa. Personally, I didn't get an especially ironic vibe from the piece in question, but then it's not like I've never made an obtuse in-joke, so I guess I ought to take her at her word. So, yes, I was wrong and I apologise. 

Oh, but Leigh? The highbrow vulgarity we do here at Eegra is certainly not easy. Not by a motherfucking longshot.