Engage.

BioShock 2, Star Trek MMO and more. The Game Show with Jim Festante, Nikole Zivalich and David Guida cover all the news you might have missed in COMBO: Microsoft makes announcements at the X10 conference. After-Holiday sales bring down game prices. A new DVR for your PS3 is coming. DRM management threatens Assassin's Creed 2. Lost Planet 2 content is cut. Mortal Kombat movie in question. Top 7 was the Top 7 Spoilers. BioShock 2 was game of the week. Can the sequel top the first game? Jim caves and buys the Star Trek MMO. Last week's VoD winners earn a token.

We gave out FIVE tokens to win the XBox 360 during the grand prize drawing at the end of the month. Watch live for your chance to win a token too! Just follow us on Twitter at: @TheGameShowTV (This episode has been edited down for timing.)

This series is available on iTunes! Click here to subscribe!

The Game Show - BioShock and Awe

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Dante's Inferno is game of the week. Jim Festante, Nikole Zivalich, David Guida are your hosts. Combo news includes: BioWare planning announcements for Mass Effect and Dragon Age in 2010. Halo 2 servers are being shut down in April. A new Wii title will combines zombies and rhythm games. Microsoft's X-10 conference news. Blizzard to sell plushies. And are today's games too hard for old people? Last week's VoD winner was announced. A new VoD challenge was given: If theStream.tv hosts were the crew of a spaceship what would it be like? Send your answers to interact@theStream.tv. Top 7 was The 9 Circles of Gamer Hell. Game of the week was Dante's Inferno. Brian tries to convince Jim to play the Star Trek MMO.

We gave out FIVE tokens to win the XBox 360 during the grand prize drawing at the end of the month. Watch live for your chance to win a token too! Just follow us on Twitter at: @theStreamDotTV (This episode has been edited down for timing.)

This episode we also had a special VOD question. "If theStream.tv hosts were the crew of a spaceship what would it be like?" Photoshop the crew, write a short story, or even a poem. Send your answers to interact@thestream.tv and you could win!

The Game Show - See You in Hell

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No More Heroes 2, Muscle March & Project 72. This week Jim Festante, Nikole Zivalich and David Guida had a Wii-cap. Combo news included: New Iron Man game promises to be better than the first. Wii accessories sell billions. Sonic 4 is announced. A teaser trailer for Fallout: New Vegas is revealed. Tecmo has problems getting Dead or Alive: Paradise approved by the ESRB. More Duke Nukem Forever media leaks. During Community Check In two copies of Mass Effect 2 were given away for last week's VoD question. This week's VoD question is "What's a game we haven't played and need to?" The winner gets a copy of GTA Liberty City Stories. There was a special interview with the creators of Project 72 from Dogtown Studios. Top 7 list was The Top 7 Swords. Games of the week were No More Heroes 2 and the WiiWare title Muscle March. Stick around for Pacmobelia for chance to win a token to win an Xbox 360 at the end of the month. An Xbox 360 was given away for last month's winners.

We gave out FIVE tokens to win the XBox 360 during the grand prize drawing at the end of the month. Watch live for your chance to win a token too! Just follow us on Twitter at: @TheGameShowTV (This episode has been edited down for timing.)

This episode we also had a special VOD question. "What's a game we haven't played and need to?" It could be a game we've never played or a game we should give a second chance. Tell us why. Send your answers to interact@thestream.tv and you could win a copy of GTA Liberty City Stories.

This series is available on iTunes! Click here to subscribe!

The Game Show - More No More Heroes

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If there is one thing BioWare knows it's RPGS. And if there are two things BioWare knows it's RPGs and balancing sex in video games. Sex in video games has always and will probably always be a tricky subject. Video games are first foremost games and when the public hears "game" it's not quick jump to associate that with children. Ergo, the sex mini-game in God of War and the Hot Coffee mod for GTA were met with less than open arms.

Those two examples however aren't the only two offerings. Sadly, the controversy surrounding them makes it seem like sex is a gimmick to game developers. This isn't the case. Game developers like BioWare see sex as an important tool in building relationships with people. AI are people too.

In the first Mass Effect being able to "romance" a member of your team wasn't a goal, nor was it a mini-game. Rather it was part of the development of your characters relationship that they built through hours of dialogue, cut scenes and choices. You had sex because you were in love. The achievement for it was nice too.  I definitely developed an e-crush on Kaidan Alenko, the biotic on my squad. We had something special.

Dragon Age, BioWare's next RPG also had the option of sexing up a member of your squad. The same rules applied, you want some ass, well you're going to have to work for it. Conversations, gifts, and heroic gestures, and then maybe... I chose to romance to Alistair. He was cute, brave, charming and I went back multiple saves to make sure I got to tap that. Dragon Age was different though because there was a brothel and your character could engage in whatever sexual deviance he or she wanted.

Then came along Mass Effect 2. In this game you, can peruse almost any member of your squad. Once you gain the loyalty of a squad mate it's only a few clicks on the dialogue tree until they want to bed you. Team members you couldn't be with in Mass Effect 1 can now be romanced.  Sadly, still no krogan love allowed.

Here's the kicker. The relationship you built in Mass Effect 1 is missing in the sequel. I chose Kaidan and now there is no contact with him whatsoever. But why not Kaidan? Where is he? I've recruited Garrius and Tali. I've helped Wrex and Liara. I can talk to any of them anytime I want. Whether you chose Ashley or Kaidan, it doesn't matter, neither are a part of the game past your encounter with them on Horizon. Why?

I've done some trolling and found out that if you do peruse another squad member you put away the picture in your cabin of Kaidan. I've made a very serious decision. I've decided to not romance anyone. No achievement. No steamy cutscene. Why you ask? Because on the off chance that BioWare will reward me for staying faithful.

My logic is that BioWare purposely kept Kaidan/Ashely out of this game in order to have some type of relationship in Mass Effect 3. It makes sense right? If you chose not to romance someone else then you pick up the picture of him and smile in the closing cut scene. I hope BioWare realizes that I'm denying myself Drell ass because I want Kaidan back, it's only fair!



I do think that BioWare gets how to use relationships to tell a story. Even in Jade Empire they showed a sophistication to sexuality that most games lack. It's this ability to be adult about an adult situation in an adult(rated M) game that makes me confident that Kaidan/Ashley will be back in Mass Effect 3. If not, I will totally throw a hissy fit.

Since I didn't persue any relationships in the game I had to youtube the multiple endings in order to get my fix. You can see Miranda's bra and Jacob's six pack in their end scenes but Thane's and Garrus's was down right boring. Eskimo kiss boring. You can do Tali which my brother was excited about. You don't get to see her face though. Am I the only one who thinks Jack is kinda hot? All the guys I know think she's gross.