03/21/2014 -- VR TROOPERS

John, Mark, and Hiroko are out working GDC, so it’s up to JJ and guests Johnny Linnert and Jean Snow to pick up the slack! This week we talk Dark Souls II, Luftrausers, Awesomenauts Assemble!, Towerfall: Ascension, Project Morpheus, Bitsummit, Iga going solo and more!

Mar 24, '14

03/07/2014 -- "CEASELESS DISCHARGE"

Dark Souls. That’s it. 150 minutes of talk about Dark Souls. No other games. No news. Just Dark Souls. Can you survive and make it to the end? In content AND format, truly the Dark Souls of podcasts. ...Dark Souls.

Mar 7, '14

02/21/2014 -- "I CHOOSE YOU, AAJST(????"

MGS translator Jeremy Blaustein and Sega's Ethan Einhorn join us for the Japanese PS4 launch to talk about their careers (Jaleco! Konami! Sega!), games we've been playing (Titanfall! Strider! Left Behind!), and all the news fit to...uh, recite (Twitch Pokemon! Nintendo Direct! PS4 Launch!).

Feb 21, '14

02/07/2014 -- "Click Here to Rate Us 5 Stars"

With John working on his Flappy Bird score, Tokyo gaming expert Jean Snow and Johnny (ex) "Intern" Linnert join us to talk Outlast, Brothers, Broken Age, Tales of Xillia, Puppeteer, Sengoku Basara 4, Groove Coaster Arcade, Dark Souls, Nintendo's investors meeting, Xbox One rumors, more!

Feb 7, '14

1/24/2014 -- "CANDY has a CRUSH on SAGA"

Hours have passed since the occupation of 8-4 Towers by one Alexander O. Smith, founder of the Kajiya sect. Tune in for talk of localization feats (Vagrant Story! Tactics Ogre! FFXII!) as well as his Kickstarter, Unsung Story, and thoughts on Don’t Starve, Kirby: Triple D, DayZ, Zubaz, more!

Jan 24, '14

01/10/2014 -- "Holiday Hangover"

John’s out sick, but the show must go on! This week we talk about how we spent our New Years, Ys II, Bravely Default, Zelda: ALBW, Mark’s Gamestop experience, what Hiroko *wants* to play, CES, pizza and more!

Jan 10, '14

12/28/2013 -- "Because the eShop"

8-4 alumni Andy Church and Brendon Pritchard come home for the holidays to tell us all about their latest MMO adventures in Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X Version 2, but not before we talk about Zelda: ALBW (again), Puzzle & Dragons Z, Bravely Default, Electronic Super Joy, Kamen Rider belt buckles, last week's Nintendo Direct, and more. Happy Holidays!

Dec 28, '13

12/13/13 -- "Take it to the Fridge"

Newcomer Roy Blakely joins the 8-4-some to talk (more) Mario, (more) Zelda, (more) Resogun, Ibb and Obb, Samurai Gunn, Bravely Default, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, 3DS Miiverse, the VGX Awards, the life and times of Hideki Kamiya, and more.

Dec 13, '13

11/29/2013 -- "A Link Between 3D Worlds"

John and JJ are back! And talking Mario, Zelda, next-gen systems, Mario, Persona 5, microtransactions, Zelda, Resogun, Mario, and taking sides in the console wars. And stick around for a special bonus segment focus(attack)ing on the Ultra SF4 location tests in Japanese arcades.

Nov 29, '13

11/15/2013 -- "Still Awaiting Greatness"

No PS4s. No John. No JJ. No problem! ...well, OK, one problem with the audio near the start... BUT ANYWAY! CheapyD and Scott Popular pitch in to help go over everything we’ve seen and heard (and not played, yet) of Sony’s new system, plus Super Mario 3D World, Black Friday shopping deals, and how to pronounce “BlazBlue.”

Nov 15, '13

11/1/2013 -- "With So Much Drama in the VGC"

Resolutions and media centers and firmware, oh my! Special guest @CheapyD joins the gang in dissecting every damn detail trickling out about next-gen, and why it will matter--unless it won't. Plus Battlefield 4 PTSD, SF II trivia, and war stories from the Dark Souls II beta (and not the game).

Nov 1, '13

10/18/2013 -- "Dinner for 11,500"

With Captain MacDonald of the good ship 8-4 Play off plundering the high seas, the rest of the crew have assembled or a relaxed bout of hearty discussion (read: directionless rambling) on topics such as Pokémon X/Y, Wind Waker, Device 6, the new Vita, Supercell's billions, the Sonic cartoon, the Valve controller, Boogerman's long-awaited (?) return, and more.

Oct 18, '13

10/4/2013 -- "Pretty Much No GTA Talk"

Just thought we'd let everyone know that up front. What we ARE talking about is Monster Hunter 4, the Steambox controller, Super Mario 3D World, Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Wii U Party, Pikmin 3 DLC, the legacy of the Wii, Dragon Quest X on smartphones, and remembering Hiroshi Yamauchi.

Oct 4, '13

9/20/2013

Jeremy Parish, Matt Leone, Mike McWhertor, Griffin McElroy, Brian Silva, Jake Kazdal, and the mangod himself, Shane Bettenhausen, all join us to talk Deep Down, Dark Souls 2, MGSV, Vita TV, Gravity Daze...2 (?), Monster Hunter, Yakuza Isshin, Wii Sports Club, Strider, and more. Plus, we all pay our respects to the late, great Nintendo president, Hiroshi Yamauchi.

Sep 20, '13

09/13/2013

Please stow your laptops and power triangles as we depart for our special 84th (!) episode, with first-blush Monster Hunter 4 and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle, thoughts on Vita TV and the revamped Vita handheld, PS4's rumored headset and virtual lack of games for Japan (or is there?), DQX expansions, and of course, Mighty No. 9! (｀_´)ゞ

Sep 13, '13

08/30/2013

We're off to PAX and a special sumthin' sumthin' -- but first, more on the Wonderful 101, Killer is Dead, Divekick, the 2DS announcement, PS4 and XBONE launch comparison, Gamescom news (and fresh rumors), and more!

Aug 30, '13

SUMMER GAMES

Kevin Larrabee of Back in my Play (Dorito it!) and Mehdi Debbabi-Zourgani of Je Game Moi Non Plus (cherchez le sur Dorito!) join us to talk retro games, Suda 51, and the...how do you say? ESSAUNCE of The Wonderful 101, DuckTales Remastered, amazon's new console, Carmack at Oculus, Nintendo Direct, MS news, Sony news, and more.

Aug 16, '13

#REGGIEFORSMASHBROS

Join us for a second helping of Pikmin 3 talk followed by first impressions of Dragon's Crown, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, and a whopping 17 seconds on Rogue Legacy. Plus: the Capcom 13 (BOF6?!), Mike Tyson vs. Glass Joe, indie updates, and plenty more.

Aug 2, '13

WHERE ALL THE WHITE PIKMIN AT?

Peer into the (near) future for in-depth, spoiler-free impressions of Pikmin 3, then dive back to the (recent) past for 73 minutes (!) of spoiler-packed The Last of Us thoughts. Plus: EVO '13, June NPDs, Strider, Ultra SF4, and more.

Jul 19, '13

THIS IS YOUR NEXT PODCAST

Come down from your post-E3 high with the 8-4 crew, who finally reunite to discuss Animal Crossing: New Leaf, every single god**n new StreetPass game for the 3DS (in detail), Ouya, Limbo iOS, Ricky Martin, Atlus's financial woes, Chibi Robo, and the effect (or lack thereof) of Xbox exec Don Mattrick's departure.

Jul 5, '13

06/07/2013

We designed the new 8-4 Play so that game publishers can enable you and up to 10 family members to hear about facts, rumors, and wild speculation on E3, including games like Dark Souls 2, MGS5, Destiny, Killer is Dead, Smash Bros., the new 3D Mario, Zelda, The Last Guardian, Xbone policies and much, much more.

Jun 7, '13

5/24/2013

The new controller Kinecting, Halo TV multi-tasking, temperature-reading, sometimes / always / never-online, Quantum Breaking, EA-bro-fisting, Cheapy D'ing, Call-of-Duty fine-hair splitting, smart-glassing, Ray Barnholtin', fingernail-dirt-meets-water-cooler fueled by the infinite power of the cloud entertainment experience that is the Xbox One.

May 24, '13

05/17/2013

Doritos Crash Course 2, Blood Dragon, interns, Pandora's Tower, La Mulana, Dragon Fantasy, interns, Animal Crossing, Monster Hunter, Sorcery, Star Command, interns, NextBox speculation, Nintendo's E3, interns, BS crowdfunding campaigns, GT6, and interns. Also: interns.

May 17, '13

05/03/2013

La Mulana, Monaco, Crimson Clover, Tomodachi Collection, Mother 4 / Earthbound 2 (3?), Robot Unicorn Attack 2, Neo-Geo collecting, Wii U firmware updates, Nintendo's E3 show no-show, Famicom trivia, and NextBox scuttlebutt ('cause hey, we DO comment on rumors and speculation).

May 3, '13

04/19/2013

Ryan Payton (Republique) and Chris Kohler (Wired GameLife) join the gang for an epic, sprawling, heated discussion focusing on retro collecting, indie development, and the present and future of the Wii U. Pit stops on Guacamelee, Tomodachi Collection 3DS, Dark Souls II, Yoshi's Island 3DS, Monster Hunter Online, Earthbound, and Link to the Past 2. HNNNGH.

Apr 19, '13

04/05/2013

With Gaming Jesus on a secret pilgrimage, the task falls to the few, the proud, the 8-4 interns (and the rest of us), to fill his massive void. Er… Anyway, this week it’s GDC, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Nimble Quest, Year Walk, MGS5 and David Hayter-gate, Square Enix’s shake-up, PSO2′s delay, Skullgirls’ crowdfunding, Fire Emblem feet, and more!

Apr 5, '13

03/23/2013

Luigi’s Mansion 2, Ridiculous Fishing, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Dark Souls (yes, again!), BitSummit, Dragon’s Crown, Wii U troubles, Vita triumphs (and troubles), Durango rumors, Drakengard 3, Phantom Pain, Transistor, and oh-so-much more!

Mar 25, '13

03/08/2013

Dokuro, Virtue’s Last Reward, PSO2, more Dark Souls, a little Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, GDC speeches, PS4 announcement aftermath, Miyamoto interviews, possible Shenmue kickstarters, Skullgirls kickstarter, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate cross-region play, Umihara Kawase, and more!

Mar 8, '13

02/22/2013

INTRO BS PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 STREAMING COOL PS4 CONTROLLER PS4 SHARING YES PS4 PS4 PS4 VITA WIIU PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 FEATURES PS4 KNACK PS4 PS4 KILLZONE PS4 PS4 WITNESS PS4 JASON! PS4 DEEP DOWN ZOMG PS4 PS4 SQUEENIX WTF PS4 DESTINY HANDS PS4 PS4 LUIGI END.

Feb 22, '13

02-08-2013

Touch-panels! Valve boxes! Used-game-blocking-gamma rays and Ouyas and Apple’s who-knows-whats-its! E3 isn’t even a glimmer on the Hype Train horizon and yet you wouldn’t know it from all the new system talk floating around. Also: Fire Emblem and Dragon Quest VII for the 3DS, DmC, and a chat with 17-Bit big daddy Jake Kazdal on Skulls of the Shogun.

Feb 12, '13

WEDNESDAY NIGHT FEVER 01-25-13

Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata brought the winter heat during this week's Nintendo Direct with the first megatons of 2013, including Wind Waker HD, MegaTen x Fire Emblem, Xeno-whatever-they're-gonna-call-it, and Wii U Virtual Console, among others. We've got a full breakdown of the event, as well as fresh PlayStation 4 (and controller) talk, a whole bunch of news (Pandora's Tower! Project X-Zone! Killer is Dead! etc!), the latest in skin-smoothing placenta technology, and plenty more.

Jan 25, '13

PRO-GEAR SPEC 1-11-13

Ake-ome-koto-yoro! (Japanese for “Happy New Year!”) We’re back to our typical fo-matto (“format”) to talk about Level 5′s latest, Fantashi Raifu (“Fantasy Life”). We also get into atsui (“heated”) discussions over Steam Box, Nvidia’s Shield, Nintendo stuff, Pokémon X and Y, the Neo-Geo X handheld, and all sorts of other shinjouhou (“news”). Jaa ne bye bye! (“bye bye!”)

Jan 11, '13

BOX OF CHOCOLATES 12-28-12

No news, a few game impressions (Soul Sacrifice demo among them), and no GOTY BS – mostly just one, long, leisurely, holiday trip through the history of video games – PC and console, Japanese and American — as we talk through the career of uber-programmer Gregg Tavares, a man who has worked at just about everywhere (Sony, Sega, Microprose, Virgin Interactive, Cinemaware, Naughty Dog, etc.) and on every system (Commodore 64, Amiga, NES, PC, 3DO, M2, Arcade, PSX, PS2, PSP, etc.) at one point or another, and h

Dec 28, '12

PODCAST OF THE DECADE 12-14-12

The cast and crew of 8-4 Play would like to thank all the discussion topics that made this award possible, including Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, the Wii U’s Miiverse, the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards (and its assorted reveals, including Dark Souls II, The Phantom Pain, the new Last of Us trailer, and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2), the final issue of Nintendo Power (rest its blessed soul), the Street Fighter x Mega Man freebie, and that one Vita game where you stroke your unit to make the characters squeal.

Dec 14, '12

WII LOVE U? 11-30-12

What you are about to listen to is real. The participants are not journalists, they are ACTUAL localizers with a giant project looming over their heads. All parties have agreed to dismiss their work for an hour and 52 minutes and have their disputes (over Wii U launch, Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Destiny, the week in Kickstarter and more) settled here, in our forum, on 8-4 Play.

Nov 30, '12

8-4 DIRECT 11-16-12

Hi again, it’s JJ from 8-4. While much of the world waits for Wii U, there are millions of gamers looking for new adventures for their video game systems. And that’s what this 8-4 Direct is all about. This episode, we talk about Animal Crossing: New Leaf, a game where YOU get to be the mayor and design your town in any way you want. We also talk about Halo 4. You control Master Chief to do battle against a whole new race of aliens called “the Promethians.” We haven’t forgot about the listeners out there tha

Nov 16, '12

EPISODE LXI: A NEW HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL 11-2-12

Let's be honest: You don't give a crap what we write here, you just want the list of what we talked about on the podcast, right? Fine then: Crashmo, Punch Quest, Paper Mario: Sticker Star (a bit), Dark Souls (a bit more), Dragon Quest X (John bought a house!), Nintendo sales projections (down!), Nintendo Wii U projections (up!), Dragon Quest VII for 3DS, Retro Studios Zelda (?), and a bunch more news. There, you happy?!

Nov 2, '12

STRAIGHT UP DAWG TIME 10-19-12

Everyone's playing it! Everyone's talking about it! It's this fall's hottest game! It's…Bravely Default: Flying Fairy?! …Uh, okay, sure, why not! We breakdown Squeenix's excellent new 3DS RPG, then chat about continuing adventures in Dragon Quest X, PSN store stuff, Zynga, Kevin Butler, Thriller Instinct (that's right), and more, with a brief detour into old-school Nintendo Power with former editor (and current 8-4 collaborator) Alan Averill.

Oct 19, '12

THE HORROR...THE HORROR... 10-5-12

Barry? Where's Barry? Who knows. But the internet's biggest Resident Evil fan, Alex "cvxfreak" Aniel? He's right here, talking highs and lows (and lows...and lows...) of RE6 for a solid hour. (That's almost 15 minutes per point it got on many review scales!) But first: Kokuga, DQX, To the Moon, Earth Defense Force 3 Portable, Wii U-pdates, Nintendo Directs, and various Monster Hunters ('natch).

Oct 5, '12