How does the game industry depict female characters? Lately the answer is: badly. But there are a few emerging bright spots, which we uncover in the lounge this week.

Games like FEAR and Blades of Time, and the entire Max Payne series, feature some type of time manipulation mechanic. It’s become the darling of the game industry lately, and we examine why.

After getting slammed by fans for the poor finale to Mass Effect 3, BioWare relented and released the new free extended cut ending as a DLC. Was it enough, or too little, too late?

Online gaming is big business, and so are the many threats leveled against both players and companies. We invited MePin founder Markku Mehtala into the lounge to talk about their unique defense.

E3 Expo for 2012 may be over, but things that happened there will chart the course of our industry for years. We look at the most important news from the show.

This week we explore the things that truly frustrate us as gamers. We still play games, but the world would be much better without these few problems. (Show running out of order due to technical difficulties.)

We examine five reasons gamers keep on playing games, as opposed to the five things that really frustrate people, which we’ll look at later. This week: it’s all love baby!

From integrating multiplayer into the single player experience, to the questionable ending choices, we analyze the final game of this golden series from every angle.

Come party like Snake this week as the Metal Gear Solid series turns 25. Will these venerable games continue to change the industry as we know it for 25 more?

Real, hard facts about the next generation consoles are difficult to find just yet, but our reporters have researched quite a few tantalizing rumors to investigate this week in the lounge.