The Road to PAX.

We welcome back to the show Chris O Regan (AKA Kropotkin) host of the Superhappyfuntimeshow and veteran of multiple international gaming press and fan events. This Friday the annual Penny Arcade eXpo in Seattle opens it's doors and the Digital Cowboys will be there, along with SHFTS, our good friend and sometime co-host Paul Shotton, Tony's wife Lizz and about 60,000 fans of games of all kinds.

So first we have to talk about what PAX means and this is the show to do it. Also discussed are the PS3 Slim, price cuts and hikes, whether the PC as a platform can be counted as a single gaming machine, and piles of shame and absolution. Plus the mailbag, and random game of the week.

This week we're also publishing a second episode entirely devoted to what we've been playing. It should be out on Tuesday. If that format proves popular we'll be continuing with it throughout the busy holiday season and maybe beyond.

The music at the end of the show is by Mark Tschanz; the musician behind our theme tune. The song is Rattlesnake and it's from his album Blue Dog.

If you're going to PAX or even if you just live in the Seattle area, let us know. Post below and send us an email to mailbag@thedigitalcowboys.com We'll try our best to meet every one of our community.

This is a collaboration between twelve separate podcasts and websites comprising multiple interviews arranged and edited by Alex Shaw of The Digital Cowboys.

Its not only a festival of independent video game podcasts, but also a very personal one. Everybody on this production has been asked the same thing; Why do you do what you do? Independent podcasting pays no money so there has to be a very specific reason why each of us gets up there every week and puts out a show. Some of the answers may surprise you, and all of them are fascinating and entertaining.

We'd like to thank everybody who took part in this project. This material belongs to all of you.

GamerDork.

This week, we welcome Xibxang and Ratso from one of the best British podcasts around; GamerDork.

GD is part of UGN the Unified Gamers Network, a relatively new coalition of podcasts similar to Platform Nation, of which we are proud members. Xib (the roguish Scottman) and Ratso (the refined Englishman) release a very entertaining show twice weekly.

This week, we ask them the updated questions, which we've started trimming down for time. From now on it will be five not eight. We also each bring a different topic to the ring for all of us to chew over fro around ten minutes. From gaming in the summertime drought to imagining a world without online consoles.

We're also shouting out to The Most Popular Girls on the Internet this week; a fine geeky games, gadgets and sci-fi show hosted by Tara and Cassandra; two savvy, sassy ladies.

The music at the end of our show this week is "It's Good to Have Jayne on Your Side" by Marian Call, from her album Got To Fly, available now on iTunes. Clearly based on everyone's favorite knuckle-dragging, gun-toting merc.

Some Other Castle on why video game movies suck so badly.

We're very happy to welcome the two smart and sassy ladies who host Some Other Castle, now a proud member of Platform Nation.

We have some pretty fantastic news this week. You'll have to listen to find out.

Elaine Stryker and Leah Haydu run what has fast become one of our favorite shows; Some Other Podcast, and we get to know them a little here, mining their experience with terrible video game movies to discuss why they always turn out to be turkeys. We get to the root cause and look at how they've progressed from the likes of the mid-nineties Street Fighter (bloody awful) to the recent Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li (arguably worse).

We also ask them an updated set of our eight questions and even get into some heated Room 101 debate.

The music for the end credits was (and always has been) our theme tune: Love Song, provided by Mark Tschanz. His voice is truly amazing and we strongly urge British listeners to seek out his album Blue Dog on Amazon.

Welcome to Film Club. The show where Alex and Tony from The Digital Cowboys Video Game podcast talk with special guests about important films on DVD. Currently we're planning on making this a regular show released once every three weeks. This may change depending on popularity and how well we take to it.

For the first episode we recruited Commander Tim Wilsie of Gamehounds, Gridcycle and The Widget and we talked about Fight Club. The way this works is that you have to have seen the film before hearing the discussion because we go all out on spoilers. Fortunately every film we discuss should be readily available on DVD for all. In time there will be a handy library of discussions that new listeners can dip in and out of without worrying about what's current. If they've seen the film, they can hear the show. Job done.

We're really excited about bringing this new show to our listeners, and discussing something besides games in our usual painstaking depth. Check back in three weeks time because we'll be talking about Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Gamers Wives

We talked to six women about how gaming affects their relationship, and what games they play alone and together. The results were surprisingly varied and interesting. We're very proud of this show and would like to thank the ladies who made this possible.

1. Tony's wife; Lizz Atkins AKA Lyra Silver
2. Our long-time Xbox Live friend Natalie Edwards AKA Ace Star
3. Commander Tim's main squeeze Carolyn Sonnek AKA Blogkitten
4. One of my work colleagues: Karen Webb AKA Show_Girl
5. Regular website contributor Steven Jones' other half Linda Thomsen AKA Penguingirl
6. And my wife, Sharon Shaw AKA Cai Boxer

Along with these we have the show regulars; news on the Xbox summer dashboard update, more delays for what would have been Christmas games, our views on 1 VS. 100, reader mail and the random game of the week.

The music at the end credits is by Marian Call, a professional singer-songwriter from Alaska and new friend of the show. The song is "I'll still be a geek after nobody thinks it's chic" and is available on iTunes from her Firefly/BSG-inspired album Got To Fly. You can find her website here. We'll be featuring more of her music in the future. Cheers Marian!