We may say we are all part of a large gaming community, but some groups of players may be living in a walled off city, isolated from the popular discussion of games. World of Warcraft may have millions of players, but is the WoW community excluded now more than ever? Katie Williams thinks so in her article that inspired this week's podcast discussion. Who built these walls? What are we losing by isolating ourselves? And most importantly, how do we tear these walls down? Join Scott and I this week while we try to answer these questions and many more. As always, we encourage you to read Katie's original piece which you can find in the show notes below. We also encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments section.

Discuss starters:
- How relevant is WoW today?
- Are MMOs unique enough such that they inherently exist in a walled off city?
- What role do developers, and community managers in particular, play in fomenting conversation between games.

To listen to the podcast:

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes here. Additionally, here is the stand-alone feed.

- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.

- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Run time: 29 min 05 sec

- "The Walled City of Gaming: World of Warcraft," by Katie Williams via Gameranx
- "Bow Nigger," by Always Black
- "Alice and Kev: The Story of Being Homeless in Sims 3," by Robin Burkinshaw

- Music provided by Brad Sucks

We have consulted the Mayan calendar, had a chat with John Cusack, and returned with our prediction on games, habits, and hardware for the coming year. This time we take a scatter shot approach, going down a long list of topics and releases in hopes of sharing out quick thoughts on almost every 2012 issue on the horizon. Naturally we missed out on something you are eagerly awaiting. Let us know what that is in the comments section below. Again, happy new year and we look forward to discovering what the future actually holds.

To listen to the podcast:

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes here. Additionally, here is the stand-alone feed.

- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.

- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Run time: 34 min 45 sec

- Music provided by Brad Sucks

It's that time of the year again, folks: time to pick our game of the year!  Jorge and I could never pick just one (or could we...?), so we each pick three of our favorite games from 2011 and talk about what makes them great.  It was a great year, if I do say so myself, and our lists reflect the many diverse and memorable titles released over the past year.  Of course, we don't come close to discussing all the great games of 2011, so we're looking forward to hearing your favorites in the comments!  Happy New Year and thanks for listening!

To listen to the podcast:

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes here. Additionally, here is the stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

SPOILER WARNING: Our picks are included below



Jorge's Games of the Year:

Skyrim
Bastion
Portal 2

Scott's Games of the Year:

don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story
Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars
Portal 2

- Run time: 34 min 53 sec
- Music provided by Brad Sucks