Here are some pictures you can look at if you want.

This month's episode of The Journalism Show was based on Half-Life 2: Episode 2, and is the first one presented in the show's intended format. As I said in the post, I wanted to use the first couple of episodes to introduce the characters and build a foundation for what they're all about. Now that you have an idea of who they are, this episode more or less represents what the series is largely going to be like from now on. I hope you like it, because this is it.

This one took quite a bit longer to do, because with the exception of Beedog's head and the newsroom set, the art for this episode is all new. (Something tells me I'm going to end up doing that for each one). If you enjoyed the show and want to know a little more about it, hit the jump for a closer look at the art from TJS Episode 03.

Here is a thing you can watch if you want.

The timing is a little weird at the very beginning because it converted that way this time for some reason. Sorry. (If our player's sound isn't working for you, there's a Youtube version after the jump.)

But this also marks the beginning of what you can expect from this show. I wanted to take the first couple of episodes to introduce the characters and give everyone an idea of who they were and what they were about. Now that we have that out of the way, we can get down to business.

Business still being nonsense, but much more game-related nonsense.

So I suppose this is more like my proper first episode. It's based on Half-Life 2, and features The Lovely Adam Dork of Podtoid fame. I hope you enjoy it and stick with it for the full "OMG9minutes" because I think it's the best one yet. That might not be saying much, but hey. Also, if you're watching it in Google Chrome, the color is going to look like ass. So don't do that if you can help it.

What's better than a video of monkeys in an onsen? If you said a steak dinner and a BJ, you are correct. But another thing that is also better is a video of BABY monkeys in an onsen.

The lovely Adam Dork has once again provided us with video footage from his recent trip to Japan, this time featuring a steak dinner and ... no, wait. Baby monkeys. It gets extra awesome at about 2:00 in.

Armed with the enlightenment of having seen the baby monkey eating snow, you may now proceed into the weekend a wiser individual, prepared for whatever fate decides to dish out. Go forth, and FRIDAY.

Recently, Adam Dork got a fancypants new HD camcorder. Even more recently, Adam took a trip to Japan. Fate has brought these two facts together to coalesce into the kind of thing that only cosmic wisdom beyond our understanding can produce: A video of monkeys chilling out in an onsen.

Hit the jump and behold the natural beauty of Japanese snow monkeys kicking it at a hot spring. And at 4:47, there's a baby one. May you hope to be half this relaxed at some point over the weekend, which, hey look, it's about to be.

Because it's FRIDAY.

California-based company Aksys Games is the bringer-outer of fine titles like BlazBlue and Record of Agarest War. The publisher announced today on its Web site that it will be handling the North American localization of Cave's amazing Gothic Lolita shmup, DeathSmiles.

As if this confirmation weren't great enough news, the company's press release states that the game's optional Mega Black Label add-on (which was $15 DLC in Japan) comes standard right out of the box, giving you Sakura as a playable character, the Crystal Shrine stage, and the 999 difficulty level.

Additionally, it's got online co-op, which, unless I'm mistaken, Japan didn't get at all. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) We Cave fans can officially move our excitement meters from "hopeful drooling" to "full-on idiotic glee."

There's no word on a release date yet, but this project is already in the oven, and here's confirmation before Cave has even had time to reply to my request for comment. Hit the jump for the full press release with all the available details.

Since a lot of you seemed to like this month's episode of The Journalism Show, I thought I'd steal Ashley's idea and share a closer look at some of the artwork from it with you.

I want to thank everyone who commented for their kind words regarding the show yesterday. This project is an incredible amount of work and it's very dear to my heart, so it really means a lot to me that so many of you enjoy it. I hope I can continue to make it a little better every time.

If you care to know, feel free to hit the jump for a peek at what went into the making of episode 2.

According to Siliconera, yes. And if you just clicked that link and found it dead, you can either take that as confirmation that someone let the cat out of the bag, or that this is some kind of misunderstanding.

Before the page conveniently disappeared, Siliconera reported that Cave's horizontal gothic lolita shooter, DeathSmiles, was  currently undergoing localization by a well-known (but unnamed) publisher for release in North America. If true, this is pretty big news for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, because Cave isn't exactly known for sending their games outside of Japan, (the closest we've ever come being the region-free release of Mushihime-sama Futari Ver 1.5), and this is a very unexpected move for them.

Secondly, because what I believe to be the best horizontal shmup in years is quite possibly on its way to North American retailers, for use on a North American 360. I've contacted Cave for comment, so we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for news on this and we'll bring you the latest as we get it. Hit the jump for a video of the game in action.

DeathSmiles magically gets stateside release [Siliconera, link no worky]

Here's a thing you can watch if you want.

This month's episode was made for the Podtoid fans out there, and features appearences by our very own Anthony Burch and Brad Nicholson. And, in a somewhat less colorful capacity, my grandfather. Which is kind of neat, I guess.

I'm beginning to get the hang of Flash and I think this episode turned out quite a bit better than the first one. Every time I open the program I learn something new, so hopefully the quality will go up a little each time.

Anyway, if you like it, you can Digg it. You can also follow @Topherocious on Twitter for updates on the status of the next one, or visit here for downloads and extra bits. Or you can just stay tuned to Destructoid for Episode 3 in a few weeks.

Sorry this is kinda late. You can blame Anthony, since it's largely his fault and he won't care if you do anyway. Podtoid 133 is a thing we did, which Brad Nicholson hosted, Adam Dork edited, and I was late to because someone confused me as to our start time.

You can listen to it here, or subscribe to us on iTunes, where it had better be by now, dammit. Enjoy.

Or alternately, Why MAGfest is Blatantly Better Than PAX. The 8th annual Music and Gaming Festival wrapped up this week, and while some of us have still not fully recovered, I thought I'd give you a look at a few of the things you missed.

As Luck would have it, all the pictures I took have conveniently disappeared from my camera's SD card, so this will be unsatisfactorily light on images. Although in many cases, given the activities of the evenings, that's probably for the best. Read on for a look at what went down, and why you should make the trip out here next year.

We now have direct confirmation of a disruptor in our midst; one who has acquired an almost messianic reputation in the minds of certain citizens. His figure is synonymous with the darkest urges of asshattery, nonsense, and Fridaying.

Some of the worst excesses of the 160 McNuggets Incident have been laid directly at his feet. And yet, unsophisticated minds continue to imbue him with romantic power, giving him such dangerous poetic labels as the One Free Fridayer, the Opener of the Ramune bottle when you can't figure out the marble thingy.

Let me remind all citizens of the dangers of magical thinking. We have scarcely begun to climb from the dark pit of our species' evolution. Let us not slide backward into oblivion, just as we have finally begun to see the light. If you see this so-called Free Fridayer, buy him a beer. Civic deeds do not go unrewarded. And contrariwise, complicity with his cause will not go unpunished. Be wise. Be safe. Be ready to MAGfest.

As you may (should) know by now, MAGfest 8 is this weekend. The 8th annual Music and Gaming festival starts rocking Alexandria, Virginia on January 1st, with 4 days of non-stop gaming and live music, and the festivities start early on New Year's Eve with a massive pre-show party.

On hand for the event will be Double Ice Backfire, Brentalfloss, VIRT, and Renard among others. The crew has secured the entire hotel for the evening, and have decided to throw a Goldeneye-themed bash to get everyone primed for MAGfest the next day. Pre-registering gets you priority in line, but you can still get in if you're just showing up for a badge at the door on Thursday.

The event proper starts the following day with an expected attendance of 1700, and wil feature guests like Sid Meier and Duke Nukem voice actor Jon St. John, filmmakers like the fellas behind There Will Be Brawl and The Angry Video Game Nerd, to name but a few. Not to mention the countless musical performances by guys like The OneUps, Armcannon, Metroid Metal and Select Start, as well as DJ and chiptune sets by artists like Destructoid's own Zen Albatross.

It's gonna be four solid days of music and gaming madness, and much of it will be open 24 hours. Dale, Adam Dork and I will be there too, along with a ton of Destructoid community members, so if you're in the Baltimore/DC/Virginia area, come join us as we kick off the new decade in style. Head over to the offical MAGfest site for details, and we hope to see you there!

Here it is. After two weeks of demystifying a program I've never used before, followed by a two-day fistfight trying to convert the video, I am proud, thrilled, horrified, ashamed and (insert a dozen other emotions here) to bring you the very first episode of The Journalism Show, featuring Geraldo Beedog.

This was an unspeakable amount of work, so I hope it turned out okay. Let me know what you think of it. Massive and infinite thanks go out to our very own Ashley Davis, whose kindness and help made it possible to free the video from the prison of my hard drive so that you could actually see it.

Please accept this nonsense as my humble Christmas gift to the Destructoid community.

Is it FRIDAY already? That's madness. The past week has gone by pretty fast for me. As you may or may not know, I started work on a silly little cartoon featuring Senor Beedog, and that's pretty much all I've done for the past eight days or so.

I had originally hoped to finish it by the end of the month, but once I got started, I got so sucked into my work that now it's looking more like the end of the weekend; at least for the art and animation. As soon as i figure out what Beedog's voice should sound like and do all the audio, it should be pretty much ready.

So yeah. That's happening. Big thanks to everybody who's been looking forward to this silly nonsense and showing so much support. I really appreciate all your kind words and I hope it meets your expectations. If everything keeps going smoothly, you might get the first episode as a Christmas present.

This is literally the first thing of this nature I've ever tried to do, and I have a whopping seven days' experience in Adobe Flash. So I can't promise it'll be any good. I can, however, promise that it will be utterly ridiculous.

That's what I'm doing this weekend. What about you?