Announcements

　　Super Button Mashing & On the Spot!

　　When we changed the format from a weekly live format (On the Spot) to a three-times-per-week pretaped show (Today On the Spot), you all shared how much you enjoyed the live format. We asked you this year if you'd like the live format to return, and after your feedback, guess what happened yesterday? On the Spot returned with the live webcast you have all come to love and adore. Believe it or not, we loved the live format more than the pretaped version too, even if that meant we shared some technical hiccups for you to see at any given time. What does that mean for Today On the Spot? Well, TOTS is no more, although that won't stop the community staff from using the taterTOTS mascots for emblems.

　　If you're worried about not having anything to watch three days a week, Chris Watters explained in yesterday's live show that we have plans to bring you a daily segment for your gaming info needs. Be sure to watch yesterday's On the Spot episode for more information.

　　Additionally, the video team recently shared that Button Mashing would return, but what you probably didn't know was that this episode was recorded during the Game Developers Conference. We were quite busy during that week, so we set aside the return of Button Mashing and finally revealed the first round yesterday. Watch round one of Super Button Mashing. Be sure to watch next week's On the Spot for the next round, but if you want to see the behind-the-scenes photos we have on Facebook, drop by www.facebook.com/gamespot and check out the photos there!

　　Facebook and Twitter Button Additions

　　GameSpot members who love using Facebook and Twitter now have a way to interact with our news and articles with the new implementation of Facebook [Like] and Twitter [Tweet] buttons around the site. The good news? You no longer have to copy/paste the URL in Facebook or Twitter, nor do you have to click an icon to open a small window to share your favorite links.

　　New Community Manager Roams the Halls!

　　GameSpot has a new staff member who started this week! Synthia has come aboard to assist with community management, so you now have two community managers who can help with your concerns about all things community! As you might remember, the weekly report was put on hold until we had someone to help out. To prove she's superwoman, she helped bring back the weekly report in her first week here! With her help today, we plowed through tons of your blogs. user reviews, and videos to find out what you've all been up to in the past few weeks! To learn more about Synthia Weires, drop by her blog and be sure to track her. Don't forget to tell her how much you enjoy the return of the weekly report to give her the courage to help out with them each week!

　　April Fools' Emblems!

　　We'd like to introduce two new emblems based on participation of April Fool's pranks held last week. GameSpot members who interacted in the comments or chatroom during the fake live April Fools' episode of On the Spot, Crosshairs, or Start/Select received Mr. JokerTOTS. Be careful, though; he might be edible, but he's full of deadly laughing gas! Please note that if you interacted in the chatroom, you received the emblem during the fake live show window of 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. PT on April 1. However, we still have more people to grant the emblem, and we'll be sure to notify you once the emblem has been granted to your profile.

　　GameSpot Staff and Moderators organized a couple of forum pranks this year. If you reacted in some way to these pranks, we tracked your activity and granted you the Forum Pranks of 2011 emblem. Not everyone has received this emblem just yet, but there are plans to grant them today. We'll also notify the ones who received this emblem once it has been granted!

　　Forsaken Worlds Pet Bats Giveaway!

　　Forsaken friends, GameSpot has gone batty! We are giving away codes for pets for Forsaken World. There are a limited number of these little guys, so get your code quick!

　　

Member Spotlight

This week's member spotlight goes to goyoshi12 for his blog revealing things in games he would like to see in real life. Drop by his blog to see what games and items he talks about, and be sure to tell him what he might be missing.

　　

Featured User Videos

You can see these featured videos on the Forums directory page!

　　- 8bit White Mage Computer Thorkon

　　- Call of Duty Black Ops: AlucarD Emblem Printul_Noptii

　　

User Reviews

The following review writers are featured because they have the Top 100 or Top 500 emblem on their profiles.

　　PC Games

　　- Homefront nutcrackr

　　- Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason Akhorahill

　　PS2/PS3 Games

　　- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 ZanarkandTidus

　　- Mass Effect 2 AzelKosMos

　　- Killzone 3 gdw0908

　　Xbox 360 Games

　　- Mass Effect 2: Arrival The_Game21x

　　- Bulletstorm 64316431

　　- You Don't Know Jack AK_the_Twilight

　　Nintendo Wii Games

　　- GoldenEye 007 YearoftheSnake5

　　- Toy Story 3 ebbderelict

　　- Disney Epic Mickey Pierst179

　　Nintendo DS / 3DS

　　- Pilotwings Resort JustPlainLucas

　　- Okamiden c_rake

　　Legacy

　　- Giga Wing 2 Asagea_888

　　- Ape Escape Cloud_765

　　- Tomb Raider II Azghouls

　　- Valis II Asagea_888

　　

Blog Bunker

　　Event Exploration!

　　- TechnologoDoom shares his PAX East indie game experience.

　　- tyzwain attended a Nintendo 3DS event and reports his experience.

　　Game & Gamers Focused

　　- Opnotikis shares thoughts about Earthbound.

　　- Alaristar has an ongoing blog series about game development.

　　- MudkipMaster30 has a review of Avatar Snake, an indie game.

　　- evrdayblues considers why gamers play games.

　　- PSFreak1 has a God of War wish list for the next game in the series.

　　- THE_DRUGGIE has a glimpse of Yume Nikki, an indie game.

　　- calvinsora has a blog about an overlooked game of the past.

　　- Setho10 Setho10 has a comparison between linearity and nonlinearity in gaming.

　　Platforms & Handhelds

　　- gamefreak197 shares his first impressions of PlayStation Move Heroes.

　　- kejigoto posted his impressions of the Nintendo 3DS.

　　- nickythenewt21 shares his history with the Nintendo DS.

　　- Solamon wonders if mobile gaming will hurt console sales.

　　- pokecharm shares her thoughts about cloud computing.

　　Inside the Spot!

　　- Solamon believes system wars debates will never convert anyone.

　　- Azghouls celebrates his five-year anniversary on GameSpot--go tell him congrats!

　　Off The Game Radar

　　- TreyoftheDead has a nice blog about his top 10 directors.

　　- biggest_loser has a film review of Battle: Los Angeles.

　　

Staff Fingerprints

- Kevin VanOrd explains why music matters in games.

　　- Sophia Tong posted a blog with some information about the Gamers Heart Japan feature.

　　- Shaun McInnis shares what just might happen if you played a game backward.

　　- Kevin VanOrd answers a GameSpot subscriber's question about how we review the multiplayer aspect of games

　　

Shout-Out!

We'd like to give a big shout-out to all the volunteer moderators for their efforts in the community. Many of them considered what we could do to make April Fools' pranks this year, and with their feedback from Photoshopping, emblem creating, and more, we were able to have a fun holiday for the GameSpotters who interact in the forums. Additionally, the moderators who have received the Mod of the Month titles for 2011 so far include: pianist, nocoolnamejim, rragnaar, and GabuEx. These moderators were voted by their peers. If you stumble upon moderators with the mod of the month emblem, it's because they've earned the title in 2011.

　　

Tip of the Week

Want to connect your 3DS to the Net with your iPhone but not quite sure how? You're in luck! Thanks to Chickan_117 and his quick and easy steps, anyone can do it. This week's tip is a brief instructional guide that takes you step by step through the process of unlocking this feature for your 3DS.