Bursts. Ya, BURST! But not how you think, you perv.

1) Remember! You can hear ShenlongBo on Episode 46 of our podcast. It was a really fun time.

2) Speaking of community members on our podcast, you can hear Slunks on Episodes 43 and 44 of our podcast. Also a really fun time.

3) More Gamespot on the podcast: Alex Navarro is joining us for Episode 47 . Be sure to send us questions: mailbag [at] trigames [dot] net. The topic is a somewhat serious one, one that I'm very interested in and even concerned about. Be sure to listen.

4) Finally, don't forget The Gamer's Lounge and the Gameslaves Radio podcasts.

BURST IMPRESSIONS

1) SSX Blur (Wii). This is a game that looks great; plays ... mostly well; and is just plain fun. It's also a game that I could never have owned and not missed anything. The simpler Uber-tricks will suddenly come to you as a nirvana, where once they were impossible to pull off (give it about 5 hours). The music is rad, and carving with the 'chuk feels smooth. Slaloms in this game are some of the worst experiences I've ever sat through in a videogame. Brings the whole experience down. Finally, Andrew Pfister's "My First SSX" descriptor is supremely way off. Don't have any SSX game and only own Wii? Buy it. Have an SSX game but want to just fiddle with the remote? Buy or rent it. Want a totally new experience that actually improves upon the regular gamepad, and own a previous SSX game? Don't even consider touching it, because it's not that experience.

2) Wade Hixton's Counter Punch. Mike Tyson's punch out with beautiful hand-drawn, goofy, Ren-and-Stimpy-esque drawings. You get to fight a pimp, for chrissakes. The mechanics? Crisp, responsive, quick. There's less pattern-based play, making the game seem a bit more random and perhaps a bit more natural than Punch Out!! - but it also means that each opponent you fight is only differentiated by special moves as opposed to tendencies. Great fun, though - and I found it at Circuit City for $8.96.

3) Halo 3's graphics (based off of my experience with videos - to clarify, I AM NOT IN THE BETA). I'm not a Halo fan, but I like dissecting them graffix. Let's just say that I think Halo 3 is very pretty - but not in that obvious, OMG $400 way. It's very subtle in its qualities, and I think it requires a hands-on try as opposed to looking at it through video. Still, when you can actually see the detail in the textures, they look great. I wish it hadn't understated its lighting so much, but that's ok - again, it still looks pretty, and if I did want to buy Halo, I'd definitely be satisfied (though not blown away) with the visuals. Plus, it's a beta, people. I'm sure they'll work on it.