Time for another This Year! We'll continue with one of our most popular runs, GFW Radio. No other gaming podcast managed to balance humor and aimless banter with serious discussion about the state of the industry and the state of the games press as well as GFW Radio did. Ostensibly a show about computer games, GFW Radio never pigeonholed itself in that niche, instead becoming a program that flowed between topics and moods, a show at the absolute top of its game whether mocking the internet’s peculiar dwellers or gravely exposing the sickly nature of gaming “journalism.” Very few—perhaps none—have been as eminent and brilliant as GFW Radio.

Storytelling defines this summary of GFW Radio’s second year. Host Jeff Green has a Lord of the Rings-themed dream; Shawn Elliott tells gaming arcade horror stories; Robert Ashley gets duped by con artists in Shanghai. Jeff Gerstmann is fired from GameSpot for refusing to buckle to pressure placed on him by advertisers, and the cast mark his ouster by wondering how their profession collapsed into such a state of disorder. Elsewhere, nerds question whether Superman produces bodily waste, and pontificate upon their desire to wed fictional rodents. A woman turns to prostitution in order to gain standing in World of Warcraft, and a hoi polloi of recluses seek out Shigeru Miyamoto on their quest to find true love. Hello and welcome to the GFW Radio podcast.

This highlights show has been split into two parts. Download part one here; download part two here. Subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook; those are both good ways to get the word out about our show as well. We appreciate all means of support you guys can give us, including even the smallest of monetary donations to help us with our hosting fees.

Here's the timestamp info:

• Part 1
• 0:03:30 – Introduction
• 0:23:00 – Jeff gets criticized by Fallout 3 haters
• 0:39:30 – Shawn crank calls an EB Games
• 0:51:30 – What’cha Been Playin’?
• 1:15:00 – Time’s Lev Grossman reviews Halo 3
• 1:29:00 – Listener mail
• 1:57:30 – Robert Ashley’s travels
• 2:20:00 – Childhood stories
• 2:36:00 – Embarrassing life stories
• 2:41:30 – Various anecdotes from Shawn
• 2:59:00 – Video game novelizations

• Part 2
• Heroes of the Web
• 0:07:00 – Does Superman sweat?
• 0:13:30 – Is Master Chief a virgin?
• 0:22:30 – Mass Effect fans discuss the possibility of inter-species intercourse
• 0:57:30 – Horrible video game journalism
• 1:16:00 – Halo 3 fan appeals to Jeff Gerstmann
• 1:22:00 – Toonophiles marry Sonic the Hedgehog characters
• 1:34:00 – Furries debate the nature of their love for fictional animals
• 1:46:00 – Emo nerd loves a Zelda character
• 1:51:30 – Shawn’s arcade stories
• 2:09:00 – Discussion of video game marketing with Bill Roper
• 2:33:30 – The ethics of previewing games
• 2:46:30 – Discussion of video game scores
• 3:17:30 – Discussion of Jeff Gerstmann’s dismissal from GameSpot
• 4:07:30 – Ending