Can you believe it? Two GameHounds Podcasts in one week?!?! What are you going to do with yourself?

I have an idea! How about curl up with a bowl of popcorn (or a six pack, your call) and have a listen to Edie and Hawkes' take on the week's gaming-industry news.

What news? How about this news:

• Raigan Burns and Mare Sheppard, the developers of N+, told Gamasutra that XBox Live Arcade is too full of "shit" games and needs to be cleansed.
• Microsoft wipes down personalized XBox 360, but apologizes with new replacement 360 signed by host of celebs, including Bill Gates.
• It seems that Sumner Redstone's acquistion of Midway isn't exactly a success. Actually, it smells more like a total failure.
• Analysts calls EA's claim that it's a "white knight" to save Rockstar Games "total bullshit." Actually, we prefer the phrase "complete, utter and total bullshit."
• Rock Band offers huge patch to fix lots of issues and debuts Rock Band Store, which... well.. rocks!
• In a double whammy of exclusive titles going south, Surfer Girl offers rumor that Sony is no longer funding L.A. Noire and Ubisoft backpeddles once again on PS3 exclusivity of Haze.
• Florida Supreme Court sanctions Jack Thompson and orders him to not contact the court directly again. If only it were that easy to get this guy to STFU.
• UPDATE: Electronics Boutique Canada retracts offer to refund Haze for a week after release. Yeah, we knew it was too good to be true.
• This is your last week to send in your entries for the Dinosaur contest, in which you could win a copy of Turok for the XBox 360. Tick, tick, tick. Time's running out!

All this and more is just a mouseclick away. And, by the way, the embedded Flash Player on this post now works properly.

Don't forget to give us your feedback in comments on this post or, ever better, at the GameHounds forums at PlatformNation.com.

Despite the best efforts of God, Murphy's Law and Comcast, GameHounds Episode 8: Hawkesless Tuesday is finally available for download.
As you may know, we had a rocky weekend, and thus we were unable to bring Hawkes along for the ride for this later-than-usual podcast.
Standing in for Hawkes at Edie's side this week is Thrillhouse17 of PSH Radio, another of the fine podcasts of Platform Nation.
Looks like we joined at the perfect time. Less than a week in the network and we were already whoring for fill-in hosts.
This week, Edie and Thrillhouse, who joined us from Italy discuss:

• The San Jose Mercury News blog entry that questions why Super Smash Brothers Brawl merits a teen rating from the ESRB when its "crude humor" and "cartoon violence" is no worse than any Saturday morning kids' show. We have to agree.
• Valve announces classic Atari games for Steam. We don't mean to sound like your bitchy ex-girlfriend, but what have you done for me lately?
• Army of Two is region-locked. And not gay enough!
• We'd believe China's claims they're trying to contain software piracy more if the Beijing Olympics website hadn't ripped off a bunch of flash games.
• EB Games in Canada will let you return Haze after a week's play for a full refund. Who wants to run the border for cheap used copies? Anyone?
• Minnesota cans mature video-game "tax" due to that pesky First Amendment. Stoopid amendment.
• Europe gets a host of EU-exclusive Rock Band titles. Gratz... dammit.
• ABBA drummer dies in weirdest way possible, but you cannot deny the power of the ABBA.
• Win a copy of Turok for the XBox 360! How? Well just listen
Download at all the usual places.

GO AWAY! YOU SCARE US! SHOO! SHOO!

Actually, if you're looking for GameHounds Podcast, you're looking in the wrong place.

We don't live here anymore.

We live at our new site: GameHounds.net.

This site is now dead and will soon be completely gone.

Later, ladies.

Yes, the sunflowers are ghey.

This is not the final site.

We are slaving behind the scenes, and we changed the template
to better facilitate our export of our old blogposts on this site
so that we can transfer them to the new site.

Trust me, there are no flowers on the new site.

You've been having problems with this website. I know.

And lord knows I have been having problems with it too.
You just have to read it.
Imagine me, completely inept when it comes to anything that has
to do with HTML, SQL, DNS, and
any other TLA (three-letter acronym) you can think of that
has to do with building a website.

But there is a reason it's been particularly wonky lately.

We are in the process of making a completely
and wholly different site. As in differently hosted
and actually a fully functioning website.
Just like the old days, but... working properly.

So please be patient. These changes won't affect you being able
to download the podcasts. Just, for the moment,
you'll have a little problem reading this blog.

We know you wanted longer than usual for this episode, but it was so worth the wait.

On Episode 7 of GameHounds, Hawkes and Edie pile on topics, one after another. Hey, it was a big week in gaming, so let's not dilly-dally with the window dressing. On with the show!!

Starting off, Hawkes fills us in (pun intended) on exactly what comes between him and his Calvin Kleins (Eighty's joke alert!)

Then we hit on the tip-top topics of the last week, including:We

• The passing of Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons. What can we say about this maverick that hasn't already been said. You might even call him the great-grandad of video games. We'll miss you, Gary.
• Apple announces the release of the Software Developer's Kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch and $100 million in venture capital funds for developers. Will the iPhone be the next major portable gaming console?
• Another patent surfaces for the PSPhone. No, no, a thousand times no.
• Phil Harrison finds a new home at Infogrames. Yes, that's French for Atari.
• Rockstar piddles itself in grief over bugs in Bully: Scholarship Edition for the 360. Makes you realize how they make GTA look easy.
• Rumor: Microsoft in talks with Sony to create a Bly-Ray drive for the 360. In other news, poop stinks! Film at 11.
• Rumor: Microsoft will discontinue the 20GB XBox 360 in favor of 60GB version. How do you kill that which already has no life?
• Turning Point: Fall of Liberty isn't a bad game, you see. It's because you don't know a good game. UR Stopidz Gamrz, lawl.
• New Brit controller replaces rumble with electoshock. What won't you loony Brits do!?!
• Huxley is back! Plan for it at the end of the year on PC and six months later on 360. Seriously. I'd stake your entire Christmas on it. Really. Stop laughing.
• Saints Row 2 developers apologize in advance about the bugs. The guy who wrote the musical is tuning his piano as we speak.
• We introduce a new feature: Pub Chatter. What will Hawkes and Edie be discussing with their inebriated friends?
  
  All this and more is just a mouse click away. Go ahead. Touch my monkey.
  
  

Are you waiting with excitement for GameHounds Episode 7?

Well, you'll have to wait a little to get it.

Because of Saturday's switch over to Daylight Savings Time, the editing and posting process for GameHounds this week will be shortened by one hour. While that doesn't sound like a lot, it's a precious hour of sleep for the GameHound who edits and posts the episode.

So, rather than creating a cranky Hound, we'll be posting Episode 7 early Sunday night rather than late Saturday night.

Don't worry. You'll still get all the regular amount of hilarity, you'll just have to wait a few more hours than usual to hear it.

Oh, and by the way, turn your clocks forward tonight before you go to sleep Saturday night. You'll thank me for it later.

What the hell am I doing? I'm just crazy with deals the last couple days.

C-c-c-craaaaazy with deals.

Another one that's just not bad no matter how you slice it.

SonyStyle Store is offering a fairly sweet deal on a 40 gig PS3 with a Six Axis controller (ie: the non-rumbling one) for $399.99 with free shipping. But you can work an angle to knock a C-note off the price.

At the check out screen, you're offered a Sony credit card, and if you accept, you get a $100 credit. Apply for the card, and if you're approved (which is immediate as long as you have good credit), the price of that PS3 immediately drops to $300.

You can also pull the same trick with the 80 gig PS3, knocking the $500 price to $400 delivered to your door.

That's a mighty nice deal, if you have the credit rating.

 

I'm not usually one to worry about great software deals. I mean, seriously, they're a dime a dozen.

But this one deserves a little shout out.

Right now at NewEgg.com, you can get God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP for $36.99 with free three-day shipping.

True, that's only a couple bucks off what you'd pay at any other store, so it's not really a screaming-cheap deal, but with the free shipping, it saves you the hassle of turning off your console, driving, parking, and walking.

All things a true GameHound will avoid if given the choice.

This week, Cooper Hawkes and GamerEdie Sellers once again ponder the latest in gaming news.

Including:

• Winner of last week's contest: FuNkYbOsS, whose expertise at constructing decidedly un-PC similies wins him a copy of Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for the Wii!
• Lego Halo!? You're kidding! Please, tell me you're kidding. Or maybe not.
• Phil Harrison quits. Face it, Sony, I guess he just wasn't that into you.
• EA attempts to buy out Take Two. Yeaaaahhh.... riiiiight. You can do that right after you acquire Ubisoft.
• GDC attendance hits record, muses telling little guys to suck it next year.
• Headline: Men like games! Wait, no. Men and women like video games. Your tax dollars at work, my friends.
• Metal Gear Solid 4 hits stores June 12. Can you feel the love tonight?
• No demo for Grand Theft Auto IV. Does that make us suspicious? Naaah.
• Sony unveils a host of new hardware: The PS3 MGS4 Bundle pack, the Deep Red God of War PSP, and the Dualshock 3 controller, now with more rumble... Which means some rumble.
• On the heels of stupid game Major League Eating coming to Wiiware, even more stupid Homie Rollerz (note the uber-hip "z") brings you the best of racist stereotypes -- in Spanish! Little brown children everywhere rejoice.
• Got a spare old-gen console lying around? Trade it in for cash, or the nearest equivalent.
• Mass Effect coming to PC on May 6. Why did you buy that XBox anyway?
• Want a new HD-DVD add on for your X-Box? They're going cheap!

Enjoy, and remember, it's okay to make fun of Hispanic people if you do it en Espanol!