Hey Got Gamers,

Like we said last week, there will be no more Got Games on the airwaves this year. Got Game would have aired on the days that we’re airing the station’s annual Year In Review of Sports, so we will see you back on the radio during the first week of 2012.

However, that doesn’t mean we can’t do a holiday special podcast. This isn’t the dark-ages or 1998 that we’re talking about. This is the age of podcasts… like the one you’ll find in the audio file below this sentence.

Download We just call it our 2011 Holiday Season Bonus show.

So come join the full Got Game crew and many of our friends as we look back at the year that was 2011.

And from all of us here on Got Game, please enjoy some happy holidays/your time off/the over time pay.

The roll out of these Xbox360 applications have been the source of much head scratching around the Got Game broadcast studio here inside Sportsnet 590 the FAN. First, the whole new update is launched without a single application to prove that this update was ever necessary. Then when we finally get an update, most of the material seemed like odd choices for being the first public demonstration of what these video applications can do.

As sports fans it looked like we have to wait until early 2012 to get our hands on the applications that would really interest us, but once again Microsoft has made a move that has left me wondering what in the world in going on at their headquarters. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a move that I can’t get behind.

Today we found out that ultimate fight center, the UFC video watching application and community interaction application, was security launched last night and is now available for download if you are a Xbox LIVE Gold subscriber.

To celebrate the launch, the UFC and Microsoft will make UFC® 141: LESNAR vs. OVEREEM free to the first 25,000 fans that complete the order process. According to Microsft,”these fans will be able to make predictions and prepare for a night of epic fights by watching the weigh-ins, pre-fight press conferences and other related videos live or via the on-demand library.”

The application will also allow you to participate in community interactions like polls that will let you pick who you think will win a fight, and a leader board for the number of correct predictions.

Also, for those of you wonder, this application will operate along similar lines as watching UFC fights over cable providers. You will have to pay for live fight content through the pay-per-view purchasing model that the UFC has been using since they started.

Broadcasting live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena at 10 p.m. EST on December 30th, UFC 141 is headlined by a title contender bout between former Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and international superstar Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem.  In addition, UFC 141 will include fights starring Nate Diaz, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Jon Fitch, Johny Hendricks and more.

Hey Got Gamers,

It’s hard to believe, but another year has come and gone. It feels like only yesterday when Zack, Momin, Bryan, and Ken Rodney (who is still not dead) started up this video game show, but here we are at the end of the 3rd year of radio broadcasts.  Speaking of broadcasting on the radio, the next two Sundays are Christmas Day and New Years Day; therefore, Sportsnet 590 the FAN will be airing our year in review all day on those two days.

Basically, there will be no more Got Game on the radio until 2012. That being said, (and like last year) we’re already planning to do at least 1 special website only episode during those two weeks. You’ll be able to get it off of iTunes, download it directly from our website, or just look for it here on the blog next week.

However, that’s something ponder next week.

This week we still have a show blog to do, and as you’ve come to expect, the podcasted version of our latest radio broadcast can be found in the audio file below this paragraph. Although, we just call it the December 18th 2011 edition of Got Game.

Download

This week on Got Game the crew discusses:

• The always controversial Spike TV Video Game Awards
• Sony’s victory over the class action suit filed against them when they removed the other OS functionality from PS3s
• A single piece of game content in a free to play game that will cost you $100
• Some of the new video applications for the Xbox that have finally rolled out

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Plus, we talked about the Spike VGA trailers for Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

Fortnite

The Amazing Spiderman

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare

Command and Conquer: Generals 2

The Last of Us

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD

All trailers on this particular show blog are courtesy of the Game Trailers website.

With less than 10 days in this holiday season, you may not know what gaming gifts to get the people on your shopping list.

That’s why the Got Game crew cowboyed up during this cold and flu season to bring you the annual buyer’s guide that you can find in the audio file below this sentence.

Download

Also, don’t forget that you can always download MP3s of each of our shows off of our website; or if you have an iDevice, you can grab those same files from the iTunes store.

Last week we talked about the new Xbox dashboard that was released on December 6th. However, we were confused about why the dashboard would be released without any of the video applications that obviously gave the new dashboard a reason for existing.

Well we just heard that the first wave of video applications were released today, and at some point during this day you should be able to download:

• MSN Video.
• Rogers On Demand (Rogers Media).
• TMZ (Warner Bros.).
• YouTube.

We’ll let you know when more of the services become avaliable.

Hey Got Gamers,

This week we had so much content, that we didn’t know what to do with it all. We could have done a normal show, or our annual video game buyers guide. In the end, we decided to do both shows, so in the audio file below this paragraph you can find the podcast only edition of our December 11th webisode.

Download

On this podcast only edition, the crew discusses:

• The conflicting words between Sheguri Miyamoto and Nintendo
• The pros and cons of the latest Xbox360 dashboard
• The latest information we have from the development team working on NFL Blitz

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However, just remember that this is a podcast only show. Our regular show, which this week is our annual holidays buyers guide, will air tomorrow on the radio station like it always does.

Hey Got Gamers,

Tomorrow (December 6th) we’ll all wake up to an update that will cause the 2nd major re-imagining of the Xbox360′s user interface. It seems like only yesterday that we were saying goodbye to the blades of Xbox past.

Original Blades Based Operating System of the Xbox 360

Tomorrow we will welcome a new dashboard to the world; and if I could use only one word to describe it, I would call it alien. That is unless you’ve used the Kinect only menus that were added last year, and based on discussions with others, it seems like very few people ever did.

Like the old Kinect only dashboard, this new dashboard (seen in the image below) will be built around hubs. Games, videos, music, apps and so on will each have their own little hub. You can then use these hubs to access more layers of music, videos and games that have been organized in various sub-hubs or lists.

For example, you can turn on your Xbox360 and go to the video hub. From that hub you can choose to access a smaller hub for TV shows or a completely different hub for movies. This continues throughout the levels until the hubs become lists, but that normally happens around the time you’ve finally narrowed things down to a single TV series, movie franchise, or musical recording artist.

The New Xbox Dashboard Interface

I also can’t confirm this, because I don’t have one of my own, but I was also told many times (during the preview event) that this new dashboard interface also works in the same way as the Windows Phone 7 operating system.

However, if you’re like me, and have never used an Windows Phone 7, that means nothing to you.

Therefore, we’ll we were at this media preview, we decided to corner Xbox Canada’s Glenn Purkis to discuss the new changes for you. In the audio file below, we talk to him about everything from the new cloud saving system to Xbox Beacons.

Download Here’s our discussion with Glenn.

Those beacons do sound cool, but what really got me excited at the media preview is a new service called Crackle. I’ve never heard of it before, but you can almost think of them as Netflix. The only difference is that you don’t pay for Crackle with money; you pay with time spent watching advertising.

Now to be honest, the Crackle selection wasn’t overflowing with summer blockbusters (I don’t even remember seeing a piece of programming that was less than 5 years old), but that sort of programming can still have a place in our digital libraries if it is good enough.

Download I’ll let Crackle’s Phillip Lynch tell you the details in this interview.

Crackle Hub

Now despite the impression my excitement may give, Crackle was far from the only video content provider showing off their digital products. Microsoft is clearly devoting a lot of their time and energy to bring large amounts of video content to the user base.

That was at least the impression I got while we were there, because we ended up talking to:

Download David Purdy, VP of Video Products, about Rogers OnDemand Integration.

Download Nikki Banks regarding the changes made to the Zune Marketplace.

Download Matt McKenzie discusses what MSN Canada is bringing to the new update.

All of which went into detail about the types of services their groups will be offering the Xbox Live users.

Sadly, despite having a display, the UFC did not send anyone to talk to the media about what sort of UFC programming you can get over your Xbox. The best I could do was this clip from the Microsoft Press Conference held during E3 2011. It will at least gives us a vague idea of what the UFC is working on.

Youtube was also there, but I am not going to post anything from our time with Youtube. Imagine if Youtube had more layers to it that caused it to be less streamlined. Obviously, it was the Youtube we all know, but it’s a far bulkier version of Youtube that you use when compared to a computer or even a iPhone.

Finally, don’t miss this week’s Got Game. We will be chatting with Chris Hebb, from Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, about how their dashboard application will allow you to watch Leafs, Raptors, and Toronto FC games over your Xbox360 as well.

UPDATE: The release of the new dashboard update has been delayed for an unknown reason. Earlier today, Xbox Live’s Major Nelson tweeted that, “The timing for Xbox 360 dashboard update has been slightly delayed. I’ll have a status update later today”. Since then Larry Hryb (aka – Major Nelson) has posted a handful of tweets that all basically say that Microsoft is working on it and that they’ll give us more information as it becomes available.

UPDATE #2: Problem seems to be resolved. Update is now being downloaded in Southern Ontario.

Hey Got Gamers,

Don’t freak out; you haven’t lost a day. It just happened to work out that we’ve once again aired on Saturday at 8 in the morning. We’ll also be airing on Sunday as usual, but I decided to put up the weekly show blog since we’ve already aired.

This week’s broadcast time may have been a bit of an oddity, but don’t fear if you haven’t heard the show yet. The audio file is still in the same location, so as usual, you can hear this week’s post-broadcast podcast in the audio file below this paragraph.

Download

This week on Got Game the crew discusses:

• The ESRB’s plan to rate mobile games in the states
• Matt Hartley’s videogame drive for kids
• A report from Game Informer that they have the inside scoop on a new South Park game
• Why Skyrim is the most played game on XBL while it has no online component
• How you can pick who will be on the digital cover of the new NFL Blitz game

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PLUS WE TAKE TIME FOR IN-DEPTH REVIEWS OF MARIO KART 7

WWE 12

AND RAYMAN ORIGINS (here’s the video we promised to post)