_{Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin is a Dtoid-created comedy series about videogames and cupcakes.}

This week's episode may initially seem the stuff of tired conversations and unimaginative theories, but stick with it -- it gets better.

And way more violent.

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: I really, truly didn't expect to enjoy Uncharted 2 as much as I did. I wonder if it's got something to do with the fact that I had an entire game to get to know the characters beforehand: I didn't actually realize how much I liked Elena and Sully until they showed up in Among Thieves, in much the same way I didn't realize how much Dog and Alyx mattered to me until Episode One.

But I digress -- watch the Uncharted 2 episode of HAWP, and, if you like it, please feel free to tell your friends.

Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin' is a surreal comedy series made by Anthony and Ashly Burch. Once Upon a Pixel is a completely different series made by some of the same people. If you hate one, you may like the other.

Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin' is Destructoid's surreal comedy series about videogames and gamer culture. It's pretty good.

At this year's Penny Arcade Expo, Ash and I had a panel, and that was fun. During the panel, we got Rey Gutierrez to help us film an episode of Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin' using the audience as extras.

You can watch that episode here.

I'll say it now, just because I'm not sure if I said it anywhere else; the panel, and PAX 2009 in general, were both incredibly fun and the people we met were really cool. To be able to commemorate that weekend through an episode of our show is about as masturbatory as anything you can imagine, but we hope you enjoy the show anyway.

As always, you can discuss the show in the forums.

_{Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin' is a surreal comedy series made by Anthony and Ashly Burch. They do a weekly podcast about the show, and everything else that comes to mind.}

God help the stream-of-consciousness style of these podcasts. A good portion of this week's episode will mean absolutely nothing to you, as you are (A) not, as far as I can tell, either Ashly or myself and (B) probably not intimately familiar with our friends. 

Still, there's some decent stuff in there. Bits about almost getting beaten up, and some good discussion about the Star Wars trilogy.

As always, you can listen to the show here or subscribe to us on iTunes. And hit the jump for a (very short) linkdump of the things we discuss on the podcast.

Yeah, it's called the HAWPcast now. "Hey Ash, Whatcha Podcastin'" is so three-to-six weeks ago.

In this episode, Ash and I talk about nonlinear plot and characterization in videogames (the dialogue in Left 4 Dead, for instance), the death of the "hangout movie," and, subsequently, Quentin Tarantino's entire filmography.

There's a bit at the very end of the podcast where I yell "wait" before getting cut off by Ashly's cruelly indifferent decision to hang up the phone, but don't worry about that: I was just going to say that instead of typing in an awkward CreateSpace URL to get to the sexy Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin' Season One DVD, you can now tell your friends/loved ones/mortal enemies/acquaintances to go to http://heyash.com/dvd instead.

Also, the HAWPcast is now on iTunes. Which is cool.

My favorite user comment on this week's episode of Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin' is as follows:

HaroAndTorii: the dad looks like he is racist

I couldn't write something that good if I tried. And I have. Multiple times. 

Anyway, this week's HAWP is about Scene It. Not the online-enabled 360 game, but the decidedly less hi-tech board game version with some added DVD functionality. It's also about a pretty specific version of that board game, but I'll let you watch the episode and discover which version I'm talking about for yourself.

As always, we hope you like it, but won't be particularly surprised if you don't. And if you do like it, you can always subscribe to our podcast or buy the Season One DVD.

I'll be the first to admit that a lot of the stuff Ash and I discuss in this episode will seem kind of outdated to most of you.

Twilight fans ruining Comic Con, Adella, the sexy Link twins -- if you frequent Digg with any regularity, you're not gonna have your mind blown (Ash did, because she evidently has a job or some bull that prevents her from hitting F5 on every nerd-friendly news site every few seconds).

Still, we do spend the first twenty minutes of the episode reading and discussing other people's fan fiction. That's pretty cool.

Woot.

If you enjoy "Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin" but are tired of waiting for new episodes or listening to our podcast, then mayhaps this finely crafted DVD will do something for you.

Featuring menu art made entirely by the Destructoid community, this DVD includes every single episode from HAWP's first season, as well as:

-Commentary on every episode

-Outtakes

-An easter egg (sort of)

-Deleted episodes

-An audio file of our entire PAX 2009 presentation, as well as the PowerPoint we used

If you like the show, you'll probably like the DVD. If you don't, you don't. Either way, you can buy the damned thing here.

If you're not familiar with the moderately popular web series "Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'," we're not really surprised. Still you may enjoy it -- and if you do, you may also enjoy the official podcast from the show's creators. 

Whether Ash and I like it or not, "Hey Ash, Whatcha Podcastin'" is an intensely personal show. We're completely frank with each other, our conversations are almost totally unedited, and if we find an interesting direction for the conversation to go, we'll take it without hesitation.

Which is why the majority of this episode consists of us reading and critiquing fan fiction we wrote as children.

Yeah.

Do you dare to listen to the horrors of "Nick Poodoo: Action Scientist" and "Even Superheroes Die"? Do you dare visit the HAWP forums and admit your own history of writing fan fiction? 

I leave it to you. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can somehow go back in time and kill myself.

Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin' is a surreal web series about videogames and cupcakes. You might like it, you might not.

Our midseason break is finally over, and I'm pleased to announce that the second season of Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin' is now officially go.

This season will proceed in much the same format as the previous one: an episode every two weeks for a year, a (hopefully epic) finale, and a short break before we do the whole dance over again. Additionally, the HAWP: Season One DVD is currently in production, and also currently awesome. Soon as you can buy one, I'll let you know. You can listen to the HAWP Podcast while you're waiting for it. (We also have a forum and a Facebook page, if you really care that much).

Anyway, hope you like the episode. 

If you're not familiar with the moderately popular web series "Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'," we're not really surprised. Still you may enjoy it -- and if you do, you may also enjoy the official podcast from the show's creators. 

I'll be completely honest; this week's HAWPcast was not that great. I have a cold and Ash was tired, so our third episode has none of the groovy flow or conversational attitude of last week's; in fact, I ended up cutting out about half the show because it was full of conversations that never really went anywhere.

As a result, this week's episode is less than thirty minutes long, but (hopefully) packed with enough decent stories to prevent you giving up on the podcast altogether.

You can listen to it here. If you wanna subscribe to the show via iTunes or Zune or whatever, there are some buttons on the side of that page that'll allow you to do so.

All new episode of the official podcast from the creators of Hey Ash Whatcha Playin, all new audio issues. You can actually hear what Ash says this time around, but I'm too damn loud much of the time. And Ash's fat face keeps hitting the keys on her cel phone.

It's certainly workable, but a bit of advice -- don't listen to this baby with headphones on.

To summarize what we talk about would be fruitless. It's random, unfocused, and highly conversational. And reasonably entertaining, hopefully. There are three important things you should know, however:

This Tuesday, I'll be on this radio show if you wanna call in or whatever; the second season of Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin' starts this Thursday; the day after, a brand new pilot episode for Ashley Davis' Once Upon A Pixel will also go live on GameTrailers.

That's about it, really. If you're trying to subscribe to the show on iTunes, I think you need to go to the podcast site and click the little iTunes link on the side.

Two Burch siblings. One crappy microphone. Sixty minutes of rambling, oft-incoherent musings on sexism and gaming. Welcome to the official podcast from the creators and stars of Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'.

This being the first-ever episode of the Hey Ash, Whatcha Podcast (alternate titles: Hey Ash, Whatcha Podcastin', the HAWPcast, etc), two things are for certain: firstly, that it will be much more awkwardly structured than later episodes, and secondly, that the existence of later episodes isn't really a certainty.

The show's future is pretty much entirely dependent on whether you lot enjoy it or not. Apologies for the horrendous audio and shaky iTunes availability, and all that -- we'll work out the kinks soon enough.

Straight to the point -- I'm working on the DVD for the first season of Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin, and I've got a problem.

I'm working on the cover art. That's not a problem. And I finally figured out how to use DVD Studio Pro with some degree of efficiency -- that's not it, either. No, the real issue is that I've got ninety minutes worth of episodes, three minutes of outtakes, a full feature commentary and some other random crap and no sexy-ass DVD menu art tying them together. I long to look at the DVD menus and see gorgeously drawn and/or Photoshopped images bordering my chapter select buttons, yet I have only the miserable greyness of the default menu templates staring back at me.

Which is where you come in, obviously. If you've ever done any HAWP fanart, or think you might want to start upon reading this article, you've got a chance of seeing your artwork gracing the television screens of anyone stupid enough to buy our DVD.

Hit the jump for further instructions.