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The other day, weshared with you the storyof a bunch of students who whined about the fact thatCall of Dutygames allow players to defend themselves against attack dogs. Not one to miss an opportunity to spread nonsense and self-promote, North American Man Horse Love Association PETA hasjoined the frayand condemned Activision’s FPS series. “Not since we were pitted against Nazi attack dogs when we first escaped from Castle Wolfenstein 17 years ago have we seen such barbaric treatment of dogs in gameplay as we did inCall of Duty: World of War,” declares PETA....

Plants vs. Zombieshas shown up on so many platforms, I could have sworn its DS release had come and gone. Not so! Following thelate-night detailsof this newest version, we have some follow-up info. The word from PopCap isPlants vs. Zombieswill run us $19.95 and include all of the standard stuff — mini-games and Adventure, Survival, and Puzzle modes — plus “new and exclusive game content.” Again, January of next year is when this all goes down....

Everyone likes prizes, right? Well, if you’d be interested in free tickets to the 2008 NCAA Final Four and/or a free car, then boy, do I have some news for you. 2K Sports has joined with Pontiac yet again to hold the third annual Pontiac Virtual NCAA Final Four Tournament, so your opportunity for college basketball (gaming) immortality is here! Oh yeah, there’s a catch: you have to be better than thousands of other gamers inCollege Hoops 2K8— but you’re able to do that, no sweat…right?...

It’s up on the Japanese PSN and Xbox 360 Marketplaceright now. As I’m going to have you log into your Japanese accounts to grab it, just remember that they call itEnd of Eternityover there. Those moon people, they so crazy! Whether you actually enjoy the demo or not, just know that I’m quite jealous of you. Why? I’m jealous becauseI can’t play it, due to my PS3 being on the fritz and far from any chance of repair....

Aaron Linde couldn’t make it this week, so we replaced him with Chad Concelmo. Hope you don’t terribly mind. Then again, of course you won’t. It’sChad Concelmo, and he throws out his trademark phrase within literally minutes of being on the podcast. Then he starts being mean to Samit. This week’s best question came fromSentry, who should email[email protected]with his mailing address because that’s how we send things out to you through the postal service....

This week’s episode of Podtoid covers a lot of bases, and don’t worry — many of them are horrible and/or weird. This week, we coverJim being in a game,Kathie Lee Gifford being a horrendous person,Electronic Arts being awful,iOS developers being questionable, and Max Scoville being a gentleman adventurer. We also learn the definition of “Salsa Snack” thanks to Tara, and your usual Willem Dafoe movie ideas make a return.

A popular installment of the “old” Podtoid was the inclusion of “all question” episodes, where the crew would do nothing but answer queries from the listener base. Since the new Podtoid usually struggles to get five answers, we figured it only fair to do this ourselves! Here’s the real rub — we are going to try and answer every question you guys ask, so nobody gets left out. Whether we manage it is another story, but that’s the intention....

Argh, why was I just interrupted from my riveting session ofTeam Fortress 2?! Oh, because there’sbeen an update— one which adds support forDeus Ex: Human Revolutionpromo items among other, less visually appealing things. As you can see, there are eight new items. Four are cosmetic — including a wicked mechanical arm for the Heavy that I predict everyone will equip — and new weapons like a powerful-sounding sniper rifle, a gun armthingfor the Engineer, and more....

Actually, due to our post character limit I couldn’t write the game’s entire name up there in the title. The complete name of NIS America’s upcoming PlayStation Portable title is:Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman: What did I do to deserve this?I don’t think there ever was a time when that entire titlewouldhave fit into one of our post headers, but we may not have to worry about it until they release a sequel to this Japanese… well, I’m not really sure what type of game this really is, actually....

Finally, that little pink puffy character with the suction power of a Dyson will have his first adventure for the Wii in the style of the old school games. Sure, there wasKirby’s Epic Yarn, butKirby Wii(working title) is all about the consuming and gaining of new powers. I had the chance to to check out a few of the levels the other day and from what I played,Kirby Wiiis looking really good....

There are a ton of us who would like nothing more than to find a place within the games industry. Internships are one of the best ways to get your foot in the door, prove yourself and make connections. But, as pointed out at Gamasutra, some game companies may be illegally taking advantage of these workers. With the increase in unemployment, many recent and upcoming college grads are taking unpaid internships expecting that it will get their career started down the road, when jobs are more available again....

Oh facepalm, Sony.Facepalm. The PSP 3000 is looking really hot, with a built-in microphone and an improved screen, butthere’s a trade-off, and it’s not a good one. Yes, for all the new PSP’s sexy features, there is one thing that simply won’t ever improve — the crummy battery life, which will actually bereducedby up to thirty minutes. I adore my PSP, but if I could have any improvement, if I could choose justonething to fix, it would be the handheld’s battery....

Rare’s George Andreas has revealed that his studio, along with Microsoft Game Studios head Peter Molyneux, pushed for at least one button to accompany Microsoft’s HD Wii. According to Andreas, his team was “very vocal” about the situation, before they got hit on the head and decided Kinect was awesome. “We were absolutely adamant that we needed a button, something with haptic feedback, that would initiate an action,” he says. “It took a long time — we threw some prototypes together and then we saw you didn’t need one....