Another few weeks have passed, but the crew has once again reunited to record another episode of the show.

As most gamers know first-hand at this point, Portal was an absolutely fantastic game. It combined a great new mechanic with innovative puzzles, a strong story, charm and an extremely strong main character. The magic of Portal didn't lie in just one of the elements, each and every part of the game played into why it was so enjoyable. This, in essence, is why I am worried about Portal 2.

Well, it's been a good six months since our last (and first) PlayBit, so Nick and I are really looking forward to this upcoming one.

Given the addition of staff member, Jason Ross, the PixlTalk crew couldn't resist the opportunity to have him on the show.

I've dished out a lot of blame to gaming journalists, with all those review snippets on the first day, as well as the few articles I chose to connect here yesterday, but I'll be honest, it wasn't all Kotaku's, IGN's, or any particular gaming journalist's fault that prerelease hype for Scribblenauts grew out of hand. Take a look at most of the "famous" Post #217 from the NeoGAF forums, and the impressions of Scribblenauts it contains, though be warned, there is a bit of foul language:

So, I'm currently playing the final boss fight in No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, and in a fit of rage while Travis's death sequence was playing, I shook my Wii Remote around like an angry infant.

So what pushed members of the gaming media to become so enthusiastic with Scribblenauts coverage? What encouraged reviewers to ignore or flat out dismiss a terrible control scheme? What caused them to neglect to mention how basic most summonable things are?

Today I examine the game that was the winner of multiple game conference awards, received the beaming reviews quoted yesterday, and has now sold over a million copies.

Last year, a game was released that received universal praise up until launch.

Yet another week down, yet another episode of PixlTalk behind us. This week is not unlike many others, and features Nick, Chessa, and Jason Hillhouse.

It's true! I fell victim to the old "loaning a game to a friend, who moves away a week later", cliche. Sigh...

Oh, hi, I didn't see you there.

Today, Rare and Microsoft released a brand new trailer for their upcoming XBLA remake, Perfect Dark.

Yes, you read right, we are alive and back in action. After a long and much needed break, the staff has reunited to produce the fourteenth episode of PixlTalk.

One series from Atlus that completely caught me by surprise recently was the Etrian Odyssey series on the DS. As a person who enjoys strategy titles and retro-inspired elements in games, the Etrian Odyssey games piqued my interest as both concepts are present.

This console generation is one of many innovations, most notably motion controls... or so you would think.

As we all know, Super Smash Bros. Brawl has been available for nearly two years at this point. Being the most popular entry into the series yet, there have been an unbelievable number of players experiencing the beefy offering.

2009 was a solid year across all consoles. I was surprised how many niche titles made a big impact on me, while a number of high profile titles simply underwhelmed me.

As most of you know, PixlBit has talked with XSEED and more specifically Jimmy Soga before. On our fifth Developer Special, Jimmy revisits the show with James Whang, the localization lead on The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces.

2009 was a pretty meaty year with a number of massive titles releasing across all of the platforms. While blockbusters closed out the year, smaller name Wii and DS, defined the first half of the year for me. Each and every experience wasn't necessarily game of the year material, but they were fun while they lasted.

In an effort to avoid editing, Nick and Chessa host a special episode of PixlTalk from Albany, NY. The duo are joined by Sam Wakefield and Phil DiMola.

Jason rejoins us this week as does Chessa for what turned into a lengthy episode thanks to the second segment.

As it turns out, 2009 was a seriously packed year with a large variety of titles being released all year long.

So, this week went down kind of interesting. Instead of the typical crew, Chessa stepped out to take care of studying for her finals, and Jason Hillhouse stepped in.

As many individuals may well remember, college is a curious time full of unnecessary homework assignments, pointless class time, and sadistic professors who intentionally schedule exams back-to-back on the same day. As one of the 120,943,454,985,713,481 students smashing their heads against the table in order to maintain a perfect GPA for the nursing program, I often find myself longing for something other than the inside of my textbooks.