Inspired by recent additions to the Pixel Verdict family, Erich, Dave, Jon, and Tim come up with some socially inappropriate video game baby names before getting down to business with discussions about Crimson Gem Saga, Ghostbusters, Mario Kart Wii, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 for the Wii, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Wheelie Breakers, and Prototype (sorry Steve, Dave likes it). A head-scratching news segment tackles Microsoft’s next console, EA’s marketing misstep, and why EGM subscribers need get to the mailbox before their wives and girlfriends do. To finish, this week’s Symposium Ad Nauseum topic: Pushover Robot Bad Guys.

Transmit your digital messages and bionic thoughts by electronic mail to feedback@pixelverdict.com, in our comments below, or in the DVD Verdict Jury Room forums.

You can listen to the show with the player below, download it here, or subscribe through iTunes or by adding our feed to your podcatcher of choice.

There are many, many patsies in the video game cannon fodder family, but few get shafted as often as the Robot Bad Guy.  Pick an action game, particularly a brawler or hack n’ slash, and unless it’s set in Middle-Earth or something, chances are you’ll stumble across a mechanical heavy of some sort, often sent in wave after disposable wave.

Why the love for sending robots to their death?  Probably because players can murder them without feeling burdened by the moral weight that accompanies the slaying of virtual human foes.

Dave: T2: The Arcade Game for Sega Genesis.  While this game was far from a pushover, brutally and unfairly hard to the degree you will want to travel back in time yourself and murder the designers, I always laugh at the sheer number of Terminators you wipe out.

That invincible mystique that the unstoppable Terminators had in the films, crwaling out of flaming gas tankers and still chasing Sarah Connor around as a nothing more than a torso?  Nowhere to be found here.

As you run amok in the devastated future, pointlessly trying to play a light gun game with an antiquated control pad,  you’ll still shred these dudes no problem.  Seriously, these guys are as fragile as geriatric Ewoks.

SPOILER! John Connor will die.

Adam: It’s a favorite of mine, and one I’ve mentioned before on podcasts, but Cyborg Justice for the Sega Genesis certainly fits the bill. At its core just a futuristic update of Streets of Rage, replacing robots for humans in the side-scrolling beat-em-up format, what set this game apart was the bizarre way in which you could customize your robotic appearance and weaponry–by taking it from your enemies. Forcefully. Without anesthetic.

That’s right. If the enemy had a buzzsaw attachment on the end of their hand, and you figured hey, I could really use that? You grabbed it, planted your leg into his chest and PULLED. A button-mashing tug-of-war occurred, and you’d remove the item with a satisfying plop. Having (ahem) disarmed your opponent, you could throw the weapon at them as a projectile, or (wait for it) attach it to your own hand in a Frankenstein-esque upgrade. It was glorious! You could even take their legs–the freakin’ legs! Some of the legs even had tank treads, so you could bust around as, you know–a tank dude! It was awesome.

What made the game a pushover was the fact that you could also remove an enemy’s torso. That’s right. Grab them at the waist and pull like taffy–no more bad guy. This “finisher” style move was executable at almost any point, and even worked for most boss fights, making Cyborg Justice a breeze of littered robotic components to cruise through once you mastered the control scheme.