With Ash and Gareth swanning around the Windy City this week, we've had to bring in the big guns to compensate for their absence. Enter Kotaku UK editor Keza MacDonald, who did such a good job that we only noticed the other pair weren't there when the entire recording went by without a single dick joke. Lots of good stuff this episode, with talk of our encounters with Watch_Dogs, Tomodachi Life, Dark Souls II, and Final Fantasy XIV; news of a new Project Zero, terrible Wii U sales and the baddest of bad CoD losers; a Google-themed Challenge and a truly Great Debate about the rise of free-to-play and microtransactions.

Watch the Tomodachi Life Nintendo Direct! Actually, listen to this podcast, featuring special guest Johnny Chiodini and talk of Super Smash Bros., Amazon Fire TV, the Assassin's Creed movie and MS & Sony's foray into TV shows, first, then watch the Tomodachi Life Nintendo Direct.

We defy you not to do THAT whistle after reading that title (doing it in your head counts too). The Struggling To Get-Along Gang are joined by award-winning indie developer Mike Bithell, creator of the wonderful Thomas Was Alone. We quiz him about Volume, his upcoming reinterpretation of the Robin Hood legend and drag him into the rest of our nonsense, including a particularly tense challenge, a debate about online trolls and news of a disastrous indie game jam, the new head of Xbox and bloody Oculus Rift.