CAGcast #72: A Doctor in the House

[CheapyD]

Dr. Patrick Markey, Professor of Psychology at Villanova University, joins us to speak about his studies on violence and video games. We also discuss console expectations, the Guitar Hero II uproar, answer your CAGbag (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71382) questions and so much more!

Note: Parts I and II of the interview take place at 28:45 & 86:23
You can find Professor Markey's research here (http://www65.homepage.villanova.edu/patrick.markey/vg.pdf).

Download (http://media.libsyn.com/media/cheapyd/cagcast72.mp3) - 110 minutes, 51MB
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Past CAGcasts (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/../archives/cat_cagcast.php)


http://media.libsyn.com/media/cheapyd/cagcast72.mp3

Show Linkage/Notes (click the button below to expand):

Intro music: Pengo (Arcade)

CAG Foreplay: New Releases (4/17/07) (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/archives/cag-foreplay-new-releases-41707.php)

Former EA devs start Jet Black, new Nintendo-focused studio (http://feeds.joystiq.com/%7Er/weblogsinc/joystiq/%7E3/109796769/)
Bloomberg: Sony Considering Bigger PS3 (http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/bloomberg/bloomberg-sony-considering-bigger-ps3-252711.php)
IGN Weekly Episode 43 (http://media.games.ign.com/articles/693/693580/vids_1.html) (Lair, Too Human)

Major Nelson talks Guitar Hero downloads, Halo 3
(http://feeds.joystiq.com/%7Er/weblogsinc/joystiq/%7E3/108523414/)Major Nelson Show #221
(http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/04/15/show-221-the-one-about-the-new-dashboard-features-gh-ii-and-how-you-can-win-an-elite.aspx) Is there a Wonder Years box set? (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96843)
Red Octane 'looking into' Guitar Hero II patch problems (http://feeds.joystiq.com/%7Er/weblogsinc/joystiq/%7E3/109636591/)
Guitar Hero 3 to feature online multiplayer (http://feeds.joystiq.com/%7Er/weblogsinc/joystiq/%7E3/109489409/)
Scratch that: The Xbox 360 might damage discs after all (http://feeds.joystiq.com/%7Er/weblogsinc/joystiq/%7E3/109594507/)
Microsoft's $100,000 Xbox Live TV Contest (http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/microsoft/microsofts-100000-xbox-live-tv-contest-252636.php) Pricey Daily Show, Colbert Report now on XBLM (http://feeds.joystiq.com/%7Er/weblogsinc/joystiq/%7E3/109867131/)

Best of the Sunday Ads Video Game Deals (4/15-4/21) (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/../archives/best-of-the-sunday-ads-video-game-deals-415421.php)
GameFly Sale with Free Shipping on Select PS2/Xbox Games (until 4/23) (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135009)
Gamestop ups Xbox 360 trade-in value just in time for Elite (http://feeds.joystiq.com/%7Er/weblogsinc/joystiq/%7E3/109614500/)

X360 Editor Doug Perry Says Goodbye (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/779/779977p1.html)
News Editor Luke Smith To Exit 1Up (http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/luke-smith/news-editor-luke-smith-to-exit-1up-252348.php)

CAGbag (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71382)

Digg the CAGcast (http://www.digg.com/podcasts/CAGcast)
MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/cagcast)
CheapyD's Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/cheapyd) (Subscribe (http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=CheapyD))
Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/cheapyd)

Outro: Fairchild F (http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128295-page,3-c,gameconsoles/article.html)

Bonus Pictures:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/ymij/toys/megatron.jpg

[SteveMcQ]

Wow, quite an appropriate interview given the recent events that have transpired. Your Nostradamic (is that even a word?) tendencies are getting quite spooky, CheapyD. I'm assuming the interview was planned and done prior to Monday (I've yet to listen to it).

[CheapyD]

You are correct...the interview was recorded Sunday night (US time).

EDIT: BTW, my GHII just came and I downloaded the patch with no problems.

[reiji]

Great timing on the video game violence issue. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more from everyone's buddy Jack in the coming weeks. :roll:

Anyway, downloading the cast right now. I'm sure it'll be great, as always!

[lspear76]

It seems like Wombat is still having trouble getting into the videogame industry. Is he sending resumes? Does he write reviews and articles on his own website? He needs to be more active if he truly wants to be liberated, because in the end, one has to liberate oneself, like Cheapy did.

Why not be active and start a magazine, say, the CAGMAG. Cheapy and Wombat can write whatever they want and review whatever they want, thus instantly becoming employed "in the industry." Don't wait for those losers at the big sites or mags to let you in... fuck 1up, IGN, EGM... do you really want to work for those "journalists" anyway? Make your own magazine instead. Looking at this site and all the info, listening to all the podcasts, I'm sure Cheapy and Wombat could do it. The first issue's cover should be the avatars both of them. I'll buy a copy when I'm at Borders sipping my Chai tea.

[gunm]

You are correct...the interview was recorded Sunday night (US time).

That's just creepy. And last week's episode did mention you being a Cagstrodamus, did it not?

Wow, downloading this now, still amazed at the uncanny timing of this week's guest.

Great interview. Unfortunately, it's meaningless to people like Thompson, Dr. Phil, and basically anyone wanting to promote their political agenda with the latest national tragedy.

[smellytim]

is it just me or is this episode up a day early? the new arcade game isnt even out yet. btw is that into to the interview from Borat? whats the song called, I couldnt find it in the notes.

[FallMoon]

Wow, Wombat feels bad about killing civilians. I'd think the majority of people laugh when they kill a good person (I do). Also, when they're talking about Mike Tyson's rape trial, CheapyD's laughs sound really, really menacing.

[mykevermin]

I wish I knew Markey would be on beforehand. Looking at his research, he's replicating and extending a lot of Craig Anderson's work on psychological measures of aggression.

Giumetti and Markey's paper show some interesting and very clear findings with regard to the effect of "violent video games." However, I had questions about Anderson's methodology and I have questions about Giumetti and Markey's (so, if any are CAGs, I'd love to hear about this).

First, the sample: why are psychologists randomly sampling male and female college students? It's a convenience sample, sure, but also one that (1) ignores a large portion of the same-age non-college population who do play videogames. It may be my sociologist shining through, but since class effects can be found for damn near everything, it would be interesting to extend it to non-college males and females. It also (2) ignores adults and children. Now, of course, this one is part critique and part "here's an opportunity to take the same literature and methods, put different subjects in the lab, and report on the findings." How do college-attending males and females differ from full grown adults (the first cohort of adults who grew up as video game playing children are now approaching 40), and how might children differ from them? (n.b.: I fully appreciate the IRB nightmare it is to get children subjects, but nevertheless consider it important). Finally about the subjects, (3) randomly-sampled college-attending males and females does not get at people who are "gamers." Of course, solid research is lacking on (1) who self-identifies as a gamer or hardcore gamer and, of course, (2) what that precisely means. Nevertheless, a sample like this and research findings like this invite the media to misconstrue and generalize them to say "video games kill!!!," when, in fact, you are using a pretty ungeneralizable sample. That's not your fault, of course, but, nevertheless, until we know about who plays games and how they play them, I don't think the effects research should try to keep advancing. I refuse to believe that anyone playing a game is akin to, say, me playing a videogame. EDIT: It also overstates female participation in video games. It's a hard thing to do (control for gender versus have a weighted sample that resembles what gamer demographics are), but important and possible. Actually, looking back at your results, your OLS tables and discussion make no mention of controlling for gender. Am I missing something?

Second is how "violent" is defined. Now, I've never played Project Gotham Racing (blasphemy!), but I have played Top Spin 2 on the 360. Until I got the hang of the game, I hated it, almost broke a controller, and routinely cursed out the CPU players. I can say the same of Tetris at higher levels. Of course, my evidence is purely anecdotal (but isn't anecdote the singular of "data"? ;)), but despite your findings, there still remains (1) large ambiguity about what construes a "violent" game, and (2) whether or not there are artifacts of aggression that result from a game that's as frustrating as hell to play (Top Spin) versus something very "intuitive." An artifact of a game's "responsiveness," of course. I don't know that it's something you could control for, unless you have respondents fill out a likert scale after the fact which addresses responsiveness/intuition. I rule the day with Top Spin now, but it only happened after I figured out how to play. RTFM indeed.

Nevertheless, it's good research, and I applaud your extension. I don't offer these questions or criticisms as any sort of "your research is garbage" approach (after all, you aren't an economist ;)). Rather, it's partially having an interest in researching video games and urging others to do the same. Somewhere, buried deep in my box of projects to begin post-doc, I have a rudimentary survey put together that uses a "scale" of gamer, based upon various measures (time spent playing per week, magazine subs, website reading/website participation, ownership, and general gaming industry knowledge) to try and identify and typify various "hardcore gamers." I know far too much about video games to be left outside that classification because I play less than 10 hours per week.

[KingBroly]

Cheapy, you're going to insist on getting a US Wii, which you should do since the Wii is region-coded and you can't understand the stuff on there, keep in mind you'd probably have to trade-in your Wii. You'd probably get a premium for it (maybe retail value).

If you do, I think you should at least think about reinvesting in Zelda. You'd get to understand it and play it at your own pace, like every good single player experience. If you don't like the Wii's controls, consider getting a Cube version of it.

[prof PATatohead]

All great questions! Let me try to clarify a couple of your questions (I'm Patrick Markey -- see I am a CAG member).
1) Video game research has been done on non-college students. In fact, you can get a list of such studies in Anderson’s meta-analysis. Of course, most of these non-college students are young children. You are correct – very little (if any) research that I know of has examined adults that are not college students. Although I agree that various demographic variables might attribute to the main effect of violent video games – I’m not sure what type of demographic variable could be responsible for the interaction we found in our data.
2) Although we did not examine it, past research has examined children and the main effect of violent video games (these past studies tend to find similar results as in adult samples).
3) In all of our research we do ask people if they consider themselves gamers, how many hours they play games, etc. So far, we have not found this to alter the results of our studies.
4) In a footnote on page 6 it is noted that when we controlled for gender it did not alter the results – for simplicity we only presented the results without gender in the regression analysis.
5) Defining what is violent is a little difficult. As I indicated on the podcast the definition of violence is changing across time (e.g., Night trap was once considered a very violent game). We attempt to select games with M ratings and that are usually thought of as violent by most people – I’m not sure if anyone would really object to calling Doom3 or Mortal Kombat violent games. We also examine several different violent and nonviolent games – this allows our results to be more generalizable across games and lessons the possibility that a specific quality of a single game (e.g., extremely frustrating) is driving the results. Other research by Anderson has explicitly measured the frustration and excitement of games in order to control for these variables (as I recall, it didn’t make much of a difference in the findings).

Good luck in your post-doc!

Cheers,
Patrick

[mykevermin]

I'm still looking for luck in my pre-doc (I'm a freshly minted ABD), but thanks!

I'll take a look over your answers later, but I do appreciate them in the meantime.

[HooHaa]

Thanks for answering my question guys, great show.

All that baby talk reminded me of the baby bloggers, perhaps a Cheap Ass Parent site would work... maybe not.

[FallMoon]

What microphones do you guys use?

[wdwpsu]

Wombat.... You're wrong on your Guitar Hero 2 research.. The Wonder Years analogy doesn't fly.

When a song is used, as is done in Guitar Hero, in a cover mode, the only group receiving a licensing fee is the songwriter. This is generally sold by a grouping house, and their average cost per song usage is 9 to 10 cents. (Typical songwriter cut)

In Wonder Year's case, they'd be licensing the actual song which includes payments to many other individuals including the performing, distributors, managers, etc. etc.

That's why 95% of the songs in Guitar Hero are covers. And the ones that aren't are generally by groups that are milking their 1 hit wonder (Toadies / My Chemical Romance) or have always had a liberal attitude towards their fans (Primus).

So, the only additional fee for reissuing the songs on 360 would be the additional song writing fee, any additional royalty that the cover artists got (doubt any), the process of adding the rhythm/bass playable mode, testing, and Microsoft's fee.

Note: None of the Guitar Hero 1 songs were original performances.

[websterRJH]

is anyone else having a problem getting this episode through itunes, i dont know what the deal but itunes wont download it for me it tries to start it then the download just disapears

[Wolfgame]

Im overreacting for sure, I haven't listened to the show yet but obviously you cant turn on the radio or news channels without hearing about the shooting, its just unfortunante that the CAG Cast this week has to serve as a reminder, obviously this wasn't intended because everyones saying that the interview was done before the events took place, but even so... it would still seem appropriate in my opinon to pull the interview for a few weeks.

I'm gonna listen to the episode soon, but the whole premise doesnt fill me with much hope, I dont mind the CagCast tackling tough issues but my favorite part about the show is that it gives me the oppurtunity to take a break from the trials of the world and just listen to an enjoyable show about games.

[trip1eX]

AS usual Great CAGcast. More so than usual though. Alot of good variety. Fun. INteresting. I liked the interview, the SPM comments, the 360 discussion, reading emails/posts, console expectations, etc.

Still the best vidgame podcast. I've listened to a few others. While they have their moments they generally feel like high school cliques rather than radio shows.

[thorbahn3]

Good show. Too long, but good. I think when you have interviews you should cut some segments like the Cag shopping news. I can get that info on Cag itself.
The Dr. sounded like Kermit the frog to me...

Also I think Super Paper Mario is text heavy since it is a semi-sequel to the Mario RPGs, much like the adventure aspects.

As for the Guitar Hero song pack price, I think it's Activision's way of recooping their Red Octane purchase

[ecmazza]

Wombat: "And that is what is destroying America." Regarding journalism, etc.

I cannot agree more Wombat, cannot...agree...more! I think another part of the problem is the "need" to be the first to report something. Last night there was a Dateline special on the VT tragedy. I just find it hard to believe that a news magazine show could have all the facts or their ducks in a row already...have all the elements needed to put on a full hour show giving "in depth analysis" blah, blah, blah. All the news is now is a blog with a corporate logo on it and information that is typically less accurate and more slanted.

[usickenme]

Wombat.... You're wrong on your Guitar Hero 2 research.. .

I agree. Also you seem to miss the point CheapyD was making. The price of songs in GH2 was relatively unaffected by the success of GH1. (in fact you could argue that the price of songs went down because there were more of them for the same price in GH2)

Both are"newly" licensed and I would guess, many of the companies own songs across both games. Yet the only place you are feeling it is with downloadable songs that are $2 a pop.

ne compute pas.

The bigger issue (and what wombat played a part in) is the game of passing the buck. It's always someone else's fault. Maj. Nelson blames Activision, Activision blames publishing companies, Publishing companies blame artists, lawyers and gamers. And no one owns up.

[shipwreck]

Im overreacting for sure, I haven't listened to the show yet but obviously you cant turn on the radio or news channels without hearing about the shooting, its just unfortunante that the CAG Cast this week has to serve as a reminder, obviously this wasn't intended because everyones saying that the interview was done before the events took place, but even so... it would still seem appropriate in my opinon to pull the interview for a few weeks.

I'm gonna listen to the episode soon, but the whole premise doesnt fill me with much hope, I dont mind the CagCast tackling tough issues but my favorite part about the show is that it gives me the oppurtunity to take a break from the trials of the world and just listen to an enjoyable show about games.

Other than a couple cursory comments about how journalists/politicians/lawyers often try to take video game research out of context to relate to school shootings, the discussion of video game violence in this episode really doesn't relate to the shootings at Virginia Tech.

I actually thought it was a somewhat refreshing approach to the subject and pointed out what the research was intended for and how it is often misquoted. It also was a good reminder of how little research has actually been done in this area. Wombat brought up some very good potential areas for future study (I can't think of any of them right now because I'm busy shotgunning people in half in F.E.A.R.).

[mykevermin]

This is for Dr. Markey and anyone else interested; it isn't research, but more an exploratory piece from the American Sociological Association's monthly magazine on whether or not video games kill.

http://www.contextsmagazine.org/content_sample_v6-1.php

[ma]

Major Nelson's title is not "Director of Xbox Live", it's ‘Xbox Live Director of Programming’. That seems significantly less important. I don't know how broad his power is, but he sure comes across as the Ronald McDonald of Xbox to me.

I want to go back to something Wobat said last week. I'm a big Wombat fan, but he was way off base questioning the motives of Epic Games in stating they wanted to release the extra Gears of War content for free. Epic has a long history of releasing free content since the original Unreal. Tim Sweeney made the point in the 1up podcast that they believe releasing free content keeps interest up in the game, reducing trade-ins, thus generating more new sales (the only ones Epic sees money from). Cheapy tried several times to make this point, but Wombat interrupted him several times and I don't think this point was ever discussed.

I don't own a 360 or Gears, but I really respect Epic and I feel their argument is pretty convincing. It's a win-win for gamers and developers, and the only people who lose out are the grifters at EBGamestop.

[Temporaryscars]

Skipped past the gaming violence parts. It has been done to death. The rest of the show?

Simply meh.

[bobthecat23]

everyone knows that mike tysons punchtout game is the BESt boxing ever

[A Happy Panda]

Is anyone elses's iTunes podcast subscription to the CAGcast say that the link is broken?? I've tried deleting, then re-subscribing a couple times, no go.

[linkpwns]

Wow, quite an appropriate interview given the recent events that have transpired. Your Nostradamic (is that even a word?) tendencies are getting quite spooky, CheapyD. I'm assuming the interview was planned and done prior to Monday (I've yet to listen to it).

Which had nothing to do with violent video games...

Anyway, ill be listening to this in a bit, while doing some homework, ill post back later.

[prof PATatohead]

Yeah – this is an often made argument against the possibility that video games cause aggression. However (from my perspective) it’s not applicable to research – as researchers we are not examining killing as an outcome (we are only examining increases in aggression). This is why it is misleading for some (I won’t name names but the initials JT come to mind) to automatically related video game research to school shootings. I personally found it repulsive that some in the media have already attempted to link the VT killings to violent video games (I hope people understand that I was interviewed before the shootings).

As a side note – general trends in decreases in crime are not evidence that violent video games do not cause aggression. This is a straw man argument – no researcher ever said that video games are the only thing that causes aggression. In fact, as I discussed, in general research finds the effect size is extremely small and it is important to consider the dispositional characteristics of the person playing the game (it’s not our fault that the media blows this finding out of proportion).
Cheers,
Patrick


This is for Dr. Markey and anyone else interested; it isn't research, but more an exploratory piece from the American Sociological Association's monthly magazine on whether or not video games kill.

http://www.contextsmagazine.org/content_sample_v6-1.php

[gunm]

Epic has a long history of releasing free content since the original Unreal. Tim Sweeney made the point in the 1up podcast that they believe releasing free content keeps interest up in the game, reducing trade-ins, thus generating more new sales (the only ones Epic sees money from). Cheapy tried several times to make this point, but Wombat interrupted him several times and I don't think this point was ever discussed.

I agree, I don't believe there's any conspiracy or posturing at play on Epic's part. It's unfortunate that Wombat got so caught up in what he was saying that he wasn't willing to consider this point.

Wombat's passionate opinions are an ongoing plus and minus for the show, and I think he did go a little overboard on that one. I do like how Cheapy plays the straight man whenever Wombat goes off on one of his rants, and vice versa, though.

[zakk]

Deja-vu, same interviewee was on the game theory podcast, good interview and all just that I was surprised.

[Wombat]

I agree, I don't believe there's any conspiracy or posturing at play on Epic's part. It's unfortunate that Wombat got so caught up in what he was saying that he wasn't willing to consider this point.

Wombat's passionate opinions are an ongoing plus and minus for the show, and I think he did go a little overboard on that one. I do like how Cheapy plays the straight man whenever Wombat goes off on one of his rants, and vice versa, though.

Well for the record I don't seriously believe that there is a conspiracy theory going on. I just think its a convenient stance to able to take. The "if it were up to us we wouldn't charge but it isn't so sorry guys" is the kind of thing my boss used to say when I would ask for a raise. The fact the you guys are so quick to dismiss it just shows how easy it would be for them to get away with it.

As for GH2, I feel like my point got lost somewhere, I wanted to make sure that we all knew that all the songs from GH1 that are now avail for GH2 on the 360 all needed to be re-licensed for use in the new game. Its is also common for the owners of said songs regardless of who is performing to grossly overcharge when they feel they have the upper hand. This goes even for the use of cover versions, at least thats what I was told by members of the legal dept at Warner Music Group.

[sleepwalkers]

To expound on the GHII downloadable content:
Wombat, I'm gonna reinforce that you're not quite on with your Guitar Hero math skills. *EDIT* Althought you go posting while I'm writing this and make me look illiterate. :]
There is, indeed, a difference between using the original recording and a cover of the song. The biggest difference is that using a cover is a simple, flat, predefined (and much smaller) fee per song per platform (I think I heard something as low as US$0.15, but that was on Digg, so I'm not taking it as fact).
Also, I don't think the REAL issue is the pricing. The packs work out to about $6.25, or ~$2/song. The arguement that the price per song is too high and that it should be closer to $1/song is absolutely illogical. For your $2 you get an interactive song (in 5.1, I believe) that you can play on four difficulties and two different parts. That's not the same as a low-quality DRM'd track from iTunes that you can't play. The real issue is the bundling, and that doesn't seem to be tackled by anyone.
Major Nelson, Activision, Red Octane... I don't think I've heard anything from any of them on the bundling, whether it's fact or opinion. That's what bothers me and makes me angry. Paying $2 for a Guitar Hero song that will give you $2 worth of enjoyment out of it, I just want some more flexibility in this. Give us individual songs, give us our choice of three songs for 600 points, give us anything more than these options that we have now.

[G-Dog]

I find it ironic that people are upset at the media for desensitizing children to violence. When I was in high school, I was taught officiant ways to inflict physical pain on innocent people to achieve my goals. By that, I mean I was on the wrestling team.

I don't understand how it's dangerous to expose angry kids to a violent video game, but it's fine to teach them how to pick up and slam other students for points.

Having a basic knowledge of wrestling, judo, jujitsu, or boxing makes you much more capable of harming others than pressing X to shoot.

[G-Dog]

To expound on the GHII downloadable content:
Wombat, I'm gonna reinforce that you're not quite on with your Guitar Hero math skills. *EDIT* Althought you go posting while I'm writing this and make me look illiterate. :]
There is, indeed, a difference between using the original recording and a cover of the song. The biggest difference is that using a cover is a simple, flat, predefined (and much smaller) fee per song per platform (I think I heard something as low as US$0.15, but that was on Digg, so I'm not taking it as fact).
Also, I don't think the REAL issue is the pricing. The packs work out to about $6.25, or ~$2/song. The arguement that the price per song is too high and that it should be closer to $1/song is absolutely illogical. For your $2 you get an interactive song (in 5.1, I believe) that you can play on four difficulties and two different parts. That's not the same as a low-quality DRM'd track from iTunes that you can't play. The real issue is the bundling, and that doesn't seem to be tackled by anyone.
Major Nelson, Activision, Red Octane... I don't think I've heard anything from any of them on the bundling, whether it's fact or opinion. That's what bothers me and makes me angry. Paying $2 for a Guitar Hero song that will give you $2 worth of enjoyment out of it, I just want some more flexibility in this. Give us individual songs, give us our choice of three songs for 600 points, give us anything more than these options that we have now.

I think wombats argument is just flaud. If the popularity of guitar hero = price to licence the music, GH3 will cost the consumer about $500.

[ma]

Well for the record I don't seriously believe that there is a conspiracy theory going on. I just think its a convenient stance to able to take. The "if it were up to us we wouldn't charge but it isn't so sorry guys" is the kind of thing my boss used to say when I would ask for a raise.

They gave me a substantial amount of free content for Unreal, Unreal Tournament, UT2003, and UT2004. There was probably free stuff for Unreal 2, but I haven't played that one. They have put their money where their mouth is.

The analogy to your boss is bogus, unless your boss has given you 4-5 raises in the past just to set up plausible deniability for turning you down this time. Likewise, I don't think Epic has released all those massive free map packs and new gametypes in the past as a setup to make Microsoft look greedy in the Marketplace.

The fact the you guys are so quick to dismiss it just shows how easy it would be for them to get away with it.

The fact that you stubborly stick to your ill-informed opinion just underscores how wrong you are. ;)

[CheapyD]

Those of you who are having problems getting the show in iTunes...are you using an old version?

Deja-vu, same interviewee was on the game theory podcast, good interview and all just that I was surprised.
You weren't the only one...

[lspear76]

Im overreacting for sure, I haven't listened to the show yet but obviously you cant turn on the radio or news channels without hearing about the shooting, its just unfortunante that the CAG Cast this week has to serve as a reminder, obviously this wasn't intended because everyones saying that the interview was done before the events took place, but even so... it would still seem appropriate in my opinon to pull the interview for a few weeks.

I'm gonna listen to the episode soon, but the whole premise doesnt fill me with much hope, I dont mind the CagCast tackling tough issues but my favorite part about the show is that it gives me the oppurtunity to take a break from the trials of the world and just listen to an enjoyable show about games.

That's why I don't watch much tv or the news. I have Directv and the only channels I ever watch are the HD Channels and Boomerang. I've even thought of getting rid of every channel. Between being on the net, playing games, watching dvds, who has time for tv? It seems like a financial drain to me. Anyway, I hate the news. Fox News. CNN. Local News. It's all the same crap. I'm sure it's constant coverage of the school shootings, commentary, "insights" from "experts" like Jack Thompson... who was wrong by the way because the shooter didn't play any video games, just watched a lot of wrestling and listened to Nirvana, so I read.

All the commentary and questions about why, why, why did this happen is really short-sighted. It's not videogames. It's not music. It's not guns. It's about the haves and the have nots. We live in such a diverse society, cultures clashing. Some people have money, some people don't. Some people look good, some people look bad. Some people have friends, some don't. Every one of these shootings is because someone who doesn't have these things is upset and jealous... and they take it out on those who do. That's it. How do you change that? We can't really. The world is a melting pot. Violent games are no more "training" for shooting people than sports games are "training for the professionals." Shit just happens. We don't need any studies to tell us that.

[Lobsterjohnson]

Thanks for answering my question, didn't know that about PA, pretty neat.

Also thanks A LOT for linking the psych article and the interview with the Doctor from Villanova. I have final paper about this specific subject due next week and I'll be citing both the article AND this CAGcast in my paper. Thanks again!

[A Happy Panda]

Those of you who are having problems getting the show in iTunes...are you using an old version?

I just updated to 7.1.1 and still no go.

[sloof70]

CheapyD, Wombat, that was the best interview you guys have had yet. Dr. Markey was very informative and interesting. It's always great to hear scientific research that refutes the bullshit that spews forth from the mouths of "pundits" like Thompson and "Dr." Phil.

Now, for a bit of constructive criticism. While this was a great interview, it sounded a bit like a conversation. If there's anything I've learned from great interviews aired on sources like NPR, the interviewer asks the questions and remains relatively quiet, allowing the interviewee to say everything and anything they desire. I'm not asking you to shut the hell up, but I am. :)

[zewone]

Super Paper Mario has minimal motion controls because it was originally planned for the Gamecube.

[smellytim]

thats weird its not working through itunes for some, i got it easily right after it came out on itunes. my only suggestion would be unsubscribing and resubscribing.

[lvgamer1]

Another good show guys.....when I'm done with this reply I'll Dig for the 1st time.
It's the least I can do, this sight has a TON of great content, and the CAGcast is always entertaining.

Now for my contest/challenge to CreepyD (I'm still trying to think of a clever alias for Wombat).
For the entire next CAGcast, don't refer to your sexual habits, preferences, genitalia, etc.
The CAGcast is the only thing that makes my time at work go quickly, and I look forward to it every Wed. I really enjoy hearing gaming news and your opinions on the industry and new releases. And then CreepyD mentions his ballsack? Thankfully, we haven't heard much about Wombats insatiable need for sex and his masturbation habits lately.

What will you win, you ask? The knowledge that for one week, you did not make this particular CAG feel "dirty" and "awkward" while innocently listening to the CAGcast in my humble cubicle.

Seriously....Love the site, Love the CAGcast...keep up the good work.
As a lifelong gamer, I wish there more I could contribute to the site.
I chime in with news and deals when I can.

[Teqonix]

Another quality show, guys. Thanks for a great podcast.

I found the interview to be the best part(s) of this show, the Doctor was very insightful, and it was very refreshing to actually get some commentary about the videogame violence issue from a perspective of someone who has a good deal of experience in the field.

Oh, I also liked Wombat's opinion about how the record companies are really to blame for what people are paying for on XBLM for the Guitar Hero II songs - I'm sure it's hell on earth to get these songs licensed from these vampirical companies for use, and while it's easy to get angry with the publishers and the Marketplace itself, it does make sense when you sit down to think about it.

As usual, thanks for the insightful commentary and the momentary glimpse into your personal lives (although I do wonder what Mrs. Wombat thinks of the flashing incident - I'm in before the obligatory 'pics or it didn't happen' in the 'Hi from Mrs. Wombat' thread). It really does make the show unique in that you get both North American and Japanese cultural glances.

I also reviewed the show on the iTunes store and dugg it, it does definetely deserve more listeners.

Best of luck, and can't wait to hear what the interview(s) are for the next show. :D

[CheapyD]

If anyone is feeling like helping to grow our audience, perhaps you could send our lastest episode to the major blogs, in the hopes that they will do a little write up on it.

I think our interview with Professor Markey makes this episode especially topical.

Here is the link to this episode:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/archives/cagcast-72-a-doctor-in-the-house.php


Links to submit items to blogs:
Destructoid (tips@destructoid.com)
Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/tips/)
Kotaku (tips@kotaku.com)

Thanks!



Also, @ Happy Panda
Try this, perhaps...


I did uncheck the old episode that I had on my iPod and then the download started working. Maybe that is the fix to this solution?

[A Happy Panda]

It actually fixed itself somehow...I didn't even touch it. It even downloaded the new episode. Weird. Thanks for the suggestion though guys. Also Cheapy, the site is still giving me some weird frames and characters on occasion.

[DQT]

I think the podcast gdog (probably spelled his name wrong) was complaining about was a 1up podcast. While they do investigate stuff from time to time, I feel that they are the fraternity house of video game publications, and I prefer the straight forward style Gamespot delivers their content.

[briaooon9]

great episode..timing was great and informative. Makes you wonder if they should do more studies or parents should do their job a little better. The whole event is really sad.

ps. BTW I am waiting for EB/GS to get some new GHII's in so that I can take my broke as guitar back and get a new one...my wahmmy is dead and the tilt feature is gone...sucks...oh well.

[Blade Runner]

First time listener, first time poster.

I'm Swedish so I can't really relate to tragic events like Columbine or Virginia Tech but I know this;

Video games and movies are pure fiction, life is not. If you don´t know the difference between fiction and non-fiction then you belong in a mental hospital.

[Zellxii]

Long time listener first time poster

Just wanted to write in, in support of Wombat's GH2 theory.

We have no idea how much RO is paying in licensing.
We can't really ascertain the cost of each song on the disc, as ~50 songs at ~$50.00 = $1.00 dollar a song because for all we know the trooper cost them 10,000 and MCR paid them 37.50 to get their song in the game. And again people complain about the songs being bundled, for all we know Killer Queen should cost 4 dollars and the other 2 should clock in at a buck a piece.

To me this looks a lot like compilation discs. I can get a namco compilation with 25 variants of pacman for 15 bucks or I can download it from the market place for 400msp. I don't see people freaking out over that, it's somewhat rational 5 bucks I get leader boards, and the convenience of having it on my harddrive.

Now I have no problem with people thinking it's over priced, or even trying to get RO to comment on the price. I do how ever have problem with the way “people” are conducting themselves. Just about every forum on the net has dipped down to gamefaqs levels of flaming, you'd think red octane broke into their and house and pwned their grandma in the middle of the night.

Ps: As for videogame journalism does anyone find it kind of weird that one the best commentators on videogames goes by a marsupial alias.

[Milkyman]

Hey dudes, the player one podcast had an interesting bit about the guitar hero track packs. one of them speculated that licensing of some songs cost more than others so they rolled em into packs to avoid charging 4 dollars for one song and 1.50 for others. I thought that made a lot of sense, what do you guys think? It would explain why they toss in shitty songs with good ones.

also i would like to disagree with cheapy and wombat's assessment of the illusionist. they build up this "mystery" and then when they do the reveal at the ending, everything happened and is explained just as you would expect it would have happened. It was all built up for no pay off, no twist, but it's treated like it's suposed to be that moment in sixth sense when you realize that bruce willis was dead all along . The Prestige is a much better film.

[yukine]

Whatever the reason for them charging about $6.25 for 3 songs, it's going to cost you about 5000 marketplace points, or $62.50 just to be able to play the 30 licensed songs that are in Guitar Hero.

I agree with Cheapy, being able to select a song individually would of been a better way to go. I know I don't want all 30 of those songs anyway.

[smellytim]

i heard that it would cost about 100 bucks for all the songs in the original guitar hero at this pricing model, but i could be wrong.

[FriskyTanuki]

I wonder why many gamers have a such a big bug up their ass about the people in the gaming media like the feedback that was mentioned in this episode, where he was pissed off enough by Luke Smith (which is hilarious in a few ways) probably being pissed off by DLC. I don't know exactly why many people seem to have this reaction, but I'm just surprised that they have such strong reactions to it. These guys can't act like real guys or real, passionate gamers with real, passionate opinions or do they need to speak with an english accent, drink tea, and act like uptight assholes about everything? Do these people not act like that with friends or family? I'm not saying that these people need to like the guys, but if they're listening to these podcasts before, I doubt they hated them in the first place.

Hey Wombat, Guitar Hero II didn't come out at the same time as the 360, it came out last November in 2006. Guitar Hero came out in 2005, when we knew of Skater Girl, who was going to sell her custom skateboards in THAW on the 360 for major money. ;) I don't know if this was just misspeaking or whatever, but you said Guitar Hero II a lot when maybe you meant just Guitar Hero, like that the licensing deals for Guitar Hero II songs were just for the PS2 version. Anyway, you're an idiotteh jokey joke, but you'll just ignore this anyway like you did last week. ;) You seemed really disinterested about the news that Luke Smith is leaving 1up, but really concerned with Doug Perry's departure of IGN. What's up with that?

As for the show, the interview was good, but it seemed like the show itself was run through a garbage compactor so you guys could just put only a little effort into certain parts of the show as a result. If you have interviews that are this big, how about releasing it in whole separately and just have a little segment during the show to explain it and post your thoughts about it instead of chopping segments of the show short to fit within your imaginary time restriction? At least you did something, but it just seemed like you were doing the minimal effort just to say you did it. That's just the feeling I got out of it.

Oh yeah, CheapyD, there is a way to get that video of your dad back if you really want it, but it's not exactly 100% perfect though.

[Wombat]

Hey Wombat, Guitar Hero II didn't come out at the same time as the 360, it came out last November in 2006. Guitar Hero came out in 2005, when we knew of Skater Girl, who was going to sell her custom skateboards in THAW on the 360 for major money. ;) I don't know if this was just misspeaking or whatever, but you said Guitar Hero II a lot when maybe you meant just Guitar Hero, like that the licensing deals for Guitar Hero II songs were just for the PS2 version. Anyway, you're an idiot, but you'll just ignore this anyway like you did last week. ;) You seemed really disinterested about the news that Luke Smith is leaving 1up, but really concerned with Doug Perry's departure of IGN. What's up with that?

.

Two things: I did respond to you last week, and yes I meant Guitar Hero I not GH II, but I don't think makes me an idiot. Such strong words from someone who just complained about people having a "bug up their butt" for no real reason.

[FriskyTanuki]

Two things: I did respond to you last week, and yes I meant Guitar Hero I not GH II, but I don't think makes me an idiot. Such strong words from someone who just complained about people having a "bug up their butt" for no real reason.
Please link me to it, because I don't see it anywhere in the last CAGcast thread (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134274). I ctrl-f'd your name and saw no posts.

Strong words? Where? The legitimate question, the joke, or sarcasm? The only serious enough part that could've been strong words was the observation of your response to Luke Smith's departure vs. Doug Perry, but that wasn't any kind of attack.

[Wombat]

Please link me to it, because I don't see it anywhere in the last CAGcast thread (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134274). I ctrl-f'd your name and saw no posts.

Strong words? Where? The legitimate question, the joke, or sarcasm? The only serious enough part that could've been strong words was the observation of your response to Luke Smith's departure vs. Doug Perry, but that wasn't any kind of attack.

you were right I was getting my responses mixed up I was reffering to the time you called me ignorant, a few casts ago. The strong words was calling me an Idiot. Thats a very harsh term that I don't feel I deserve, maybe I'm just sensitive, but you can argue my points and I can be wrong at times (many times) but I don't think that puts my basic intelligence into to judgement.

[FriskyTanuki]

you were right I was getting my responses mixed up I was reffering to the time you called me ignorant, a few casts ago. The strong words was calling me an Idiot. Thats a very harsh term that I don't feel I deserve, maybe I'm just sensitive, but you can argue my points and I can be wrong at times (many times) but I don't think that puts my basic intelligence into to judgement.
I heard you predict that someone would call you an idiot, so I made the joke, but whatever. I'll just remove it if you take offense to the joke attempt. I'll just refrain from making jokes around you now. ;) Sorry for the unintentional insult.

[CheapyD]

http://www.linsdomain.com/totems/pictures/raccoon.jpg VS http://www.uq.edu.au/research/images/rr2005/wombat-ways.jpg

[FriskyTanuki]

http://www.uf.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp/hokuen/gallery/tanuki.jpg VS http://www.uq.edu.au/research/images/rr2005/wombat-ways.jpg

Fixed. Tanuki's not in my username for no reason.

[Wombat]

So its official I have been wrong in this thread 3 posts in a row, and have been mocked (deservedly so) by Cheapy. I will no longer post things before I have a cup of coffee ever again. Thats right I place all the blame on lack of caffine and I aplogize.

[FriskyTanuki]

So its official I have been wrong in this thread 3 posts in a row, and have been mocked (deservedly so) by Cheapy. I will no longer post things before I have a cup of coffee ever again. Thats right I place all the blame on lack of caffine and I aplogize.
Shake it off, champ. Try for a better average next week.

On another note, have you heard of the Full Moon Show (http://www.insomniacgames.com/podcast/podcast.php), Insomniac's new podcast? I know you're generally a fan of their work, at least Ratchet, and they talk about it a lot and plenty of other things in the industry and their lives.

[AshesofWake]

http://www.linsdomain.com/totems/pictures/raccoon.jpg VS http://www.uq.edu.au/research/images/rr2005/wombat-ways.jpg



awwwwwwwww so cuuuuuuuuuute >_<

[Temporaryscars]

Did you know that Wombats have cubed-shaped poop?

I did a report on them when I was in high school.

[bobthecat23]

http://www.linsdomain.com/totems/pictures/raccoon.jpg VS http://www.uq.edu.au/research/images/rr2005/wombat-ways.jpg






lol and EVERYONE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH ITUNES DONT USE THAT GARBAGE JUST DOWNLOAD IT DIRECTLY

[drsuper23]

Well, great show once again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up a couple of times while listening to the interview. I just Dugg it for the first time and I'm happy to say that I was the 700th. Keep up the great work, can't wait to see who will be next week's interview.

[LiK]

hey Cheapy, i have the Masterpiece Optimus Prime and Megatron figures. they're awesome. Want pics? ^^

[TheHiei]

I was laughin' out loud when Eureka Seven was mentioned in the cagcast.

Wombat: You know what they say, Eureka Sucks!
Cheapy: Huh . . . ? Eureka sucks? Oh, I get it!
Wombat: Oh. My. God.

Lmao, great 'cast this week guys.

[hcamacho]

the doctor was in the gametheoryshow podcast, that means that now cheappyd is in a class of it's own, nice interview cheappy, but still , I let my 7year old play gears of war, hell I BOUGHT a 400$ console, and since I don't have time to play, at least I didn't wasted 400$.And I am sick and tired of this jack thompson, how many gamers are out there, more than 100million, so if we do the math the world must've been destroyed by us, and humanity erased from the earth, we gamers must unite in some kind of campaign against that stupid man, if what he says its true I would have killed a few guys in my 20+ years of gaming, since I am 33, so .........

[gmoney1234567890]

Great show again guys.

BTW, right now CAG needs 1 more digg to beat the PC gamer podcast. I'll be pre-emptive and give a good Mr. Burns cheer of: Huzzah!

DIGG IT! DIGG IT! DIGG IT!
UPDATE: GOT #707! WE ARE OFFICIALLY BEATING PC GAMER!

[AshesofWake]

somebody screenshot the pwnage

[nesfan8222]

another great entertaining podcast. I like it when wombats jokes fly over cheapys head ie eureka or noahs arcade. Wombat in a robe and then the missis giving him a peep show, good stuff you dont get with other podcasts.

[DQT]

I wonder why many gamers have a such a big bug up their ass about the people in the gaming media like the feedback that was mentioned in this episode, where he was pissed off enough by Luke Smith (which is hilarious in a few ways) probably being pissed off by DLC. I don't know exactly why many people seem to have this reaction, but I'm just surprised that they have such strong reactions to it. These guys can't act like real guys or real, passionate gamers with real, passionate opinions or do they need to speak with an english accent, drink tea, and act like uptight assholes about everything? Do these people not act like that with friends or family? I'm not saying that these people need to like the guys, but if they're listening to these podcasts before, I doubt they hated them in the first place.


The 1up podcast is very good, and I agree with Luke Smith's opinions more often than not, but sometimes I wish they (not just him) would just chill out. Their podcast can be pretty funny when they aren't trying so hard, but yeah, thats the reason why they are my 2nd podcast of choice.

[SL4IN]

great show guys

good content, great length, kept me interested the entire time

[LiK]

finally finished the podcast today. Wombat's GH2 explanation was very well said. the man is one damn articulate fella. ^^

btw, Colbert Report isn't free, you're paying for Cable or Satellite TV, Wombat :)

[Hired.Geek]

Wombat, honestly sometimes I wonder about you. You never wear clothes more then one day in a row? When I would go deer hunting in the Winter there are times we do not bath or change clothes (except for my underwear) for two or three days. It brings you back to the ways your ancestors.

I have to agree with CheapyD, that when I bought my XBox 360 I compared it to my XBox, but when I bought my Wii, and PS3 I found myself comparing them to the 360. I never owned a GameCube so I had nothing to compare the Wii to except my DS. The PS3 I find myself thinking, I wish it handled this or that like the 360. I wonder if Microsoft knew that would happen, or if they were just trying to get their hardware out there to retailers first and this is just an added perk.

This whole Guitar Hero 2 song pack is a load of crap. Just like CheapyD was saying, it is like buying CDs. You have to pay $15.00 to get two songs you like. Although this is not an uncommon practice Cable companies do it too. At least in the USA, if cable providers like Charter, Quest, or Time Warner want to carry one specific channel like FOX. FOX network will say you can carry FOX, but you also have to offer FOX News, Fox Sports, and a few other FOX channels. And they do not bundle them in for free, the cable company has to pay the FOX network a set amount per month per subscriber. This is why you have 199 channels and there is nothing on TV.

Wombat is probably right, that who ever owns the rights to the songs are the ones that are contributing to the price that we pay online. Although it would not shock me if it was the RIAA that was nudging them to force bundled packages. You know they have their greedy little hands in there somewhere. Side note, did anyone else read that the RIAA has now surpassed Lawyers as being the most hated professional organization.

The Ronald McDonald of Microsoft. WOW, Wombat is calling out Larry Hryb. I listen to Major Nelson’s show and just wanted to make a couple of comments. First he works on the XBox LIVE team. Second Microsoft does not finance his Podcast in anyway. He says he pays for the website and all the equipment that he uses to produce Major Nelson. Now with his position within Microsoft allows him to access to personal and games with in Microsoft that probably help out his Podcast quite a bit. I think sometimes he spins some things that are on the XBox console to be a little better then they really are, but for the most part I really enjoy his Podcast.

Dr. Mikey, I really enjoyed your interview. I would like to get a copy of your paper. I have a medical degree, and my wife is a healthcare provider so I think she can translate the big words for me.

As always a great show and I look forward to having CheapyD and Wombat help me get through another hour of work next Wednesday.

[rogueweapon]

The answer is much more simple, its all just GREED. btw Jaffe is wrong about bluray. Just like MS poopooed hdmi when ps3 was launching now we have the elite. Disc media isnt going anywhere anytime soon and storage capacity always matters. Believe it or not, alot of people still use vcrs!!! I know some of those assholes.

[LiK]

sweet, i'm the 705th person to dig the CAGcast. now send me a free cookie! :P

[dragyynvessyl]

Glad to see someone came around to the joys of Paper Mario. The previous title for the Gamecube was my favorite title on the system (yes, even beating out RE4), and a huge part of my enjoyment was reading the terrific localization, full of Mario series jokes.

I've only played a couple hours of Super Paper Mario, but so far I am impressed that they kept the same sense of humor, and I just hope there are more jokes about Luigi, since they never get old.

Also, whoever came up with the idea of switching from 2D to 3D is a genius.

[soliddragon]

Alligators are cool. Also, Digg Numeral: 710...thank you very much.

So, until Wombat starts a Belizean Cock Fighting cartel, make mine Marv..., um, Cheap Ass Gamer

[ElfAngel7]

I was having a crappy day when I heard Wombat call Major Nelson "Ronald McDonald with a podcast". Thanks for making my day a bit better.

[crazytalkx]

Thanks once again for a great podcast! I find myself cracking up to Wombat's shenanigans with increasing frequency each time. Thanks for making the CAGcast banner small, IT HAS BEEN DUGG! Number 719.

[yukine]

Woot! We're beating PC Gamer now.

Slowly but surely, we'll overcome Ronald... I mean Major Nelson.

[MaxDense]

I don't know...I like Cheapy's point that Wombat kept talking over; if the high cost of GHII DLC can be chalked up to the songwriter's greed, how was Red Octane/Activision able to release the game, on a disc, with printed manual and the guitar for $90? At the DLC prices it should have cost about $150. I think RO saw an opportunity to gouge the buyers of a popular franchise and did so.

They've managed to take one of the most highly anticipated X360 games of the year and ruin it with greed. First no online head-to-head, then a wired controller, now this.

[polly]

Great show guys. I really enjoyed the interview about the violence in video games studies.

That said, I couldn’t disagree more with Wombat on who to blame for the Guitar Hero 2 downloadable content pricing. Wombat, it sounds like your argument is that because Guitar Hero 2 is so popular now, the musicians and music companies feel they can get away with gouging Red Octane on their royalties. You seem to have bought into Major Nelson’s smokescreen, hook line and sinker. First of all, we don’t even know if they even had to renegotiate their contracts, because Red Octane has been completely silent on this issue. But then there’s iTunes, hands down the most popular and successful downloadable media hub, which is able to drop the actual songs (not covers) for $1 a pop. Are you saying that Guitar Hero 2 is more popular than iTunes? Shouldn’t prices for both services be level, all things considered? If you’re right on this, doesn’t that mean GH3 will probably be over $100 just for the game itself?

The real blame lies in the consumers who actually buy these overpriced bundles. Red Octane/Activision may have the most say in the price, but they wouldn’t be charging $6.25 for 3 songs if they didn’t think there’s a market full of morons that will pay them whatever they want.

I was also a little disappointed to hear that Cheapy would be willing to pay $2 a song if they sold them individually. What happened to being a cheap ass gamer? These should be 50-80 pts per song and not a penny more.

[Jackal888]

Okay I played Guitar Hero in Best Buy. It was fun and I liked the feel of it. Yet I still am amazed that people buy it. I think it is an arcade game at best.You know a game you play when you get to the movies too early and have to wait while they clean the theatre. I would not buy Outrun for my PS2 so why would I buy Guitar Hero.I would rather play a real guitar.

[jonnyflash]

First of all, great show. This was the first interview(or anything that wasn't talking directly about new games) that I liked, so good job. Sadly, it was all too timely, but given how quickly certain unnamed assholes tried to connect video games, this piece was excellent.

On a lighter note, I love Wombat's description of Maj. Nelson as the "Ronald McDonald" of xbox live. I've been thinking of that whenever I listen to any "official" podcast this past week. I especially liked thinking of Dr. Tony Phillips, who does podcasts and other news/press release stuff for NASA as the "Ronald McDonald of NASA."

[jonnyflash]

But then there’s iTunes, hands down the most popular and successful downloadable media hub, which is able to drop the actual songs (not covers) for $1 a pop. Are you saying that Guitar Hero 2 is more popular than iTunes? Shouldn’t prices for both services be level, all things considered? If you’re right on this, doesn’t that mean GH3 will probably be over $100 just for the game itself?

The real blame lies in the consumers who actually buy these overpriced bundles. Red Octane/Activision may have the most say in the price, but they wouldn’t be charging $6.25 for 3 songs if they didn’t think there’s a market full of morons that will pay them whatever they want.



You're exactly right. They charge the highest possible amount they think people will pay. iTunes songs are so cheap not because they have a good deal, but because the companies learned from experience that people will simply download the songs illegally if they can't buy them cheaply. Until there is an option/hack to load tracks into GH without buying them from the company, the price won't go down. It's a monopoly, pure and simple. And in a monopoly they can charge whatever they want because they know you really don't have a choice.

[H.Cornerstone]

Cheapy, I am surprised you are content with the friend codes on the Wii. :)

[Bazz]

I just like to say I enjoyed this latest episode so much , especially the 1st 10 min they were so funny and had such a classic original show to it. Grade A show Cheapy And Wombat I loved it a lot.

[sinewav]

Before the next CAGCast I just wanted to also commend you CheapyD and Wombat on a great show last week. While in my college days the thought of a professor would not generate much excitement I now very much appreciated your guest and the straghtforward way he handled the topic. Very insightful information. Bring on more guests!

[MSUHitman]

Wombat,
A similar thing to the Wonder Years scenario happened with the TV series Charmed. The three sisters on the show in the story owned a night club in San Francisco and many new real-life acts played on the show at the end of the episodes. Also, each episode had a featured song that was advertised at the end of the show.

This was the first WB/CW show that did this and they ran into the same thing as the Wonder Years when trying to put the show out on DVD. Even though the show started in 1999, the first season did not come out on DVD until Feb. 05 when the licensing deals with the artists for their songs was worked out. They then started to pump out the seasons every few months, with 7 of the 8 seasons being released between Feb. 05 and now.

I really like the show but it's crap on DVD: no extras and only 4:3 format even though most of the seasons were shown in high def and the repeats are shown in high def on TNT on weekdays.

[DarkNessBear]

Did anyone else think the doc on the show sounded EXACTLY like Solid Snake at some points?

He sounds just like David Hayter.