CAGcast #187: Wombat's Hammer Hands Create a Mass Effect - Live

The interview part was really good. Bummer 'bout the sound this time though. If you can't fix that, I'd rather have a pre-recorded show. Otherwise, great show as usual.
 
Great interview. It was definitely worth listening through despite the warbled-y sound.

Cheapy, you should join up with some of us for MAG! We'll all run around and die real fast. Bring the MG forget that Ak-47
 
I love listening to Cheapy, Wombat and especially Shipwreck, your collective insights on games are great, but these live shows are terrible. It's not because of you guys though, it is a combination or the poor audio quality and retarded callers, but more the callers. That last 5 minutes were embarrassing, not one of those idiots had a question. I literally sat here listening to this getting angry at how disrespectful people were being to your live show. I had a live show on cable access a few years back and we screened our calls to ensure bullshit like that didn't happen with shout outs. Drop the call immediately if they were wasting our time.

Anyways, the interview with the BioWare broad was great and insightful. I've played through Mass Effect 2 and it was stellar, but the mining was tedious. It wasn't game-breaking bad, but it wasn't fun. One thing that really stood out to me was when she said she had to watch TV or something while mining. Games should be fun and not a chore, the minute you have to do something else while playing YOUR OWN GAME is the minute you need to figure out how to fix it and make it not boring.
 
Long time listening first time poster. Please please please fix the sound. You guys do a great podcast, but this one was rough. It was worth toughing out however. I will also second many of the sentiments about the callers, why do these people call in? If you are going to call in please say something intelligent and try thinking about what you want to say before you call. Nobody wants to here stutter making shouts over the phone.

Still great show guys and keep it up!!! :).
 
Wow.

Does BlogTalkRadio have an IQ cap for the chat room? Callers with shoutouts and plugs, callers who 'accidently' pressed the button...I believe only ONE legitimate question was asked. Do people really not understand what 'call to ask a question' means?

Overall I really enjoyed the show, in spite of the audio quality, but the live listeners flat out suck.
 
I missed the live show and after listening to it after the fact I'm glad I did. With the poor audio quality, repeat callers, shout outs, website plugs, h-bomb, & PS3 fanboys the ability to fast forward was key to making it through this one. That said, the Mass Effect 2 interview was the lone highlight.

Maybe it is time to go back to the drawing board with the live show, especially the live calls. At least try to setup a way to screen calls or have pre approved people call in. The majority of the callers have no point and just ramble on despite your attempts to get a question out of them. Take Stern's attitude towards calls, get on and make your point immediately or drop the call. If someone wants to do shout outs, plug websites or wander aimlessly just hang up.
 
There is a reason that radio shows have topics. They don't simply say "call up and just say random shit".

Keep that in mind, and keep the callers on the topic or shut them off.
 
Sound was rough, but worth it. Anyone here surprised that technology doesn't always work the way you want it to?

Also wanted to let you guys know that the GoDaddy domain code appears to no longer be for $6.95 domains. I used it last year to renew a domain and it was $6.95, but I renewed with the code again last week and it was $7.95-ish. It looks like GD is raising prices all around, so I wasn't surprised. I just wanted to let you know. I assume the price hike is the same for new domains, but I can't confirm it. Maybe someone else can?
 
I have listened to every single CAGcast including all live shows for the last couple of years. I love all three of you guys and look forward to a new show every week. Wombat's post in this thread complaining about people upset about the audio quality actually offended me. I realize that the audio situation was unforeseeable since you used the same service as last time, but that's no reason for us to sugar coat the response. I actually stopped listening to the show after 15 minutes because the sound was really annoying me. After reading some comments here, I plan to resume listening since the interview sounds interesting. It is unfortunate that the criticism isn't very constructive as nobody knows how to fix the problem or why it was so bad; but if there were only one or two complaints in the thread, you guys might not have known just how upset the community was about it.

I also would like to submit my vote for not having live callers. As a former idiotic caller myself, I can say that they are mostly worthless. Maybe a better idea would be to have some of the more well know cags call in for an interview; or just to chit-chat. I have enjoyed these conversations in the past. Lacking a call screener, I don't think there is a good way to weed out the morons.

I realize that it's a welcome break for you guys to do a live show once in a while, but I don't think that you should have to lower your standards so much to do so. Still looking forward to the next show. Unless it's just Wombat and Shipwreck, cause those guys are fucking a-holes ;).
 
[quote name='stonefry']I have listened to every single CAGcast including all live shows for the last couple of years. I love all three of you guys and look forward to a new show every week. Wombat's post in this thread complaining about people upset about the audio quality actually offended me. I realize that the audio situation was unforeseeable since you used the same service as last time, but that's no reason for us to sugar coat the response. I actually stopped listening to the show after 15 minutes because the sound was really annoying me. After reading some comments here, I plan to resume listening since the interview sounds interesting. It is unfortunate that the criticism isn't very constructive as nobody knows how to fix the problem or why it was so bad; but if there were only one or two complaints in the thread, you guys might not have known just how upset the community was about it.

I also would like to submit my vote for not having live callers. As a former idiotic caller myself, I can say that they are mostly worthless. Maybe a better idea would be to have some of the more well know cags call in for an interview; or just to chit-chat. I have enjoyed these conversations in the past. Lacking a call screener, I don't think there is a good way to weed out the morons.

I realize that it's a welcome break for you guys to do a live show once in a while, but I don't think that you should have to lower your standards so much to do so. Still looking forward to the next show. Unless it's just Wombat and Shipwreck, cause those guys are fucking a-holes ;).[/QUOTE]

I think you misunderstood why I asked for no more comments about it. It is not that I want glowing comments, it is because we all know. Do you go into other threads and post same thing that 15 people already said, how does that contribute?

The quality was awful, we are sorry, but we don't need person 16 letting us know again as if we didn't read the other comments.
 
It's all good Wombat. I understand where you are coming from. We have a difference of opinion. I think that anybody who listens to the CAGcast has a right to say whatever they want in the comment thread without having to read the whole thread. I also think that having 16 complaints about the audio quality might have a different influence on the future of live shows than one or two complaints would.
 
[quote name='ItchyD']Cheapy you should be ashamed of yourself for letting this episode go out in this condition. Isn't CAG all you do for a living?...[/QUOTE]

Cheapy sort it out man. I'm only just coming to terms with Ship being a regular and then you release shit like this. I stopped listening after 10 minutes. I then scanned through the rest of the show and found the audio quality the same throughout.

You like the live shows because they're easier for you. But this is your bread and butter. Make a little effort for the people that are paying your bills. You're losing me...
 
[quote name='Wombat']I think you misunderstood why I asked for no more comments about it. It is not that I want glowing comments, it is because we all know. Do you go into other threads and post same thing that 15 people already said, how does that contribute?

The quality was awful, we are sorry, but we don't need person 16 letting us know again as if we didn't read the other comments.[/QUOTE]

Wombat come on man. This is feedback from your listeners. If enough of us tell you the sound quality is shit then it helps you understand the scale of the problem. Surely that's worth something. The live shows have to go.
 
[quote name='kalkin']Wombat come on man. This is feedback from your listeners. If enough of us tell you the sound quality is shit then it helps you understand the scale of the problem. Surely that's worth something. The live shows have to go.[/QUOTE]

Especially since Cheapy has mentioned several times how important it is for him to have good sound quality and a slick production. A couple years ago when I started checking out video game podcasts, there were a few where I didn't even bother listening to past the first minute because of the sound quality. CAGCast sounded great so I kept listening and then really liked the hosts and content. If this show were my first ever, I'd have given up. I like the show overall so much that I made it through this episode, but the perfect audio we usually get is extremely nice.
 
Even if the discussion and topics are great on the show, it would be hard for someone to keep listening to the podcast if it sounds terrible.

And oh yeah, just hang up immediately on live callers if they have nothing to talk about and give useless shout outs. It's more fun that way.
 
I've got to be honest, I usually enjoy the CAGcast but this is the first time I've stopped listening part way through.

Apart from the terrible sound quality which has been mentioned by many others, it's the awful callers you get that really killed it for me.

I think you need to take a good look at these Live shows and decide whether they're really worth doing. I fear Wombat and Cheapy still harbor a hope that the live shows will somehow lead to a radio show. Honestly guys you need to give that up, it's not going to happen. I'm not trying to be harsh on purpose but I listen to quite a few video game podcasts and none of them are good enough to make it onto radio. One of the problems is the subject matter itself, video games do not make a good topic for a Live show, in the same way they do not make for interesting callers. If you think you're going to make it into a radio gig on the strength of the chemistry between you pair alone, I'm sorry but there are a lot of radio partnerships out there doing a better job.

You have a good podcast, be happy with that. The Live shows are, with few exceptions, not very good. If you're going to do them maybe stick to interviewing people as that seems to come out about the best, but it would seem to me you don't need a live show for that.
 
Please, no more live shows with CAG callers. You guys want to go live, have a guest, take forum questions great, but the CAG callers are simply horrible. The audio quality of the entire show was pretty bad but it was tolerable when Cheapy, Wombat, Ship and Christina were talking because they were worth listening to. But poor sound quality and callers who have never said anything worth listening to is a deal breaker for me. I'll keep listening to the podcast because I enjoy it, I'll just find something else to listen to when it is a live call in show.
Simplified:
Recorded and edited CAGcast with or without a special guest = Outstanding
Live show with special guest = Very Good
Live show no guests = Fair
Live Show Callers = Awful (actually fucking awful)

BTW - I finished the episode before posting my review!
 
[quote name='kalkin']Wombat come on man. This is feedback from your listeners. If enough of us tell you the sound quality is shit then it helps you understand the scale of the problem. Surely that's worth something. The live shows have to go.[/QUOTE]

It also speaks on the content of the show, since there was nothing of value outside that interview. There's a reason why so many people are only bringing up the terrible sound quality, bad callers, lack of direction, topics, etc. What else is there to talk about? Breaking down every single point Christina made? The interview was great and pretty insightful, and in perfect timing since everyone is playing Mass Effect 2 right now, and will be for the next few weeks. Everything else dragged the episode down though. It's hard to take the episode seriously when you have people calling in shouting out to their friends and plugging their websites, while Cheapy lets it go on for whatever reason, probably because he's droning them out while he loads up a porn video to watch when the show is over. You guys could have just recorded the interview like you did for all the others and stuck it in next week's CAGcast. Listeners are used to going 2-3 weeks at a time without a CAGcast. It's better to do a quality show than a shitty live one.
 
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[quote name='Wombat']I think you misunderstood why I asked for no more comments about it. It is not that I want glowing comments, it is because we all know. Do you go into other threads and post same thing that 15 people already said, how does that contribute?

The quality was awful, we are sorry, but we don't need person 16 letting us know again as if we didn't read the other comments.[/QUOTE]

I don't see the issue people are having, alright the quality wasn't perfect but it was perfectly listenable, and a good show as always keep up the good work. I know cheapy's not doing a show next week but are you and boatcrash going to do one?
 
[quote name='Wombat']I think you misunderstood why I asked for no more comments about it. It is not that I want glowing comments, it is because we all know. Do you go into other threads and post same thing that 15 people already said, how does that contribute?

The quality was awful, we are sorry, but we don't need person 16 letting us know again as if we didn't read the other comments.[/QUOTE]

lol why does this response annoy me so much?
 
[quote name='Wombat']I think you misunderstood why I asked for no more comments about it. It is not that I want glowing comments, it is because we all know. Do you go into other threads and post same thing that 15 people already said, how does that contribute?

The quality was awful, we are sorry, but we don't need person 16 letting us know again as if we didn't read the other comments.[/QUOTE]
Wombat, I completely understand your frustration. Your disappointment in the sound quality affecting the entertainment of the show mixed with the annoyance of seeing many replies with the same few discouraging messages causes your frustration, and I understand it just too well.

When I was making youtube videos, no matter how long I spent creating them or how entertaining they were, if there was just one mistake (a spelling error, maybe a transition opened too early), all of the comments and ratings would be reflecting upon that. "LOL FAILL SPELLING ROFLROFL!!!" and people constantly 1 starring my videos helped greatly when I made my decision to just stop making them.

I actually enjoyed this show. The content you put in it was great, the jokes made me laugh, and the interview was fantastic! But you already knew about the interview from the previous 16 comments ;)

And yes, something must be done about the callers.
 
Love the garglegrale live show garglegarlge, I don't garglegargle know why so garglegargle many people complaining about garglegargle the gargle sound gargle qualigarglety... j/k love you guys.
 
heh, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this will probably be the last live show for awhile. ;)

Audio issues aside, there were a few things that stood out...

- I thought it was kind of rude for Cheapy to leave Christina on hold for so long. I realize you were just getting the show started but you took a caller before her FFS. If it was JimmyMac or Ron Workman I'm sure he would have interrupted whatever was going on immediately.

- I was shocked when she suggested doing something else (like everyone has two TVs in the same room) while scanning in ME2. If something is that boring and tedious, it shouldn't be in your game. I can't believe you guys didn't press her on that ridiculous response.

- Very awkward way to end the interview.
 
One really good thing about this show is I'm looking forward to Cheapy talking about the feedback it received on the next show. One of the things I respect about Cheapy is how he handles stuff like that.

Crap - I just remembered he's not going to be on it next week! Oh well.
 
Regarding the audio quality of this show, I think what actually happened was that Cheapy and the gang really are a bunch of PS3 and Wii hating XBots. The audio problems didn't come from Skype or network issues, but from their Microsoft issued voice modulators being broken.

This is further evidenced by the fact that Christina and the other callers all sounded fine. Also, when Cheapy was joking about Wombat's hammer hands pounding on his keyboard, he was actually angry that Wombat had forgotten to put his synthetic human hands on before typing.
 
[quote name='spineynorman']One really good thing about this show is I'm looking forward to Cheapy talking about the feedback it received on the next show. One of the things I respect about Cheapy is how he handles stuff like that.

Crap - I just remembered he's not going to be on it next week! Oh well.[/QUOTE]

I managed to catch part of Cheapy's exclusive UStream chat this morning while he recorded himself drinking beer and eating cheese. I asked him about the response from CAGs about this show, and he responded something to the effect of, "Yea...not a lot of people liked it. Probably not going to do another one."
 
Seriously, you people need to give Cheapy and Wombat a break. They're on Blog Talk Radio for fucks sake. If you think this is bad, listen to the original Kotaku Talk Radio podcasts. Those had both terrible sound quality and boring as fuck conversations. At least Cheapy and Wombat try to liven the show up.

BTW, thanks Cheapy for asking my question during the interview with Christina.
 
[quote name='RchrdJ']Seriously, you people need to give Cheapy and Wombat a break. They're on Blog Talk Radio for fucks sake. If you think this is bad, listen to the original Kotaku Talk Radio podcasts. Those had both terrible sound quality and boring as fuck conversations. At least Cheapy and Wombat try to liven the show up.[/QUOTE]

And that's why I don't listen to that podcast.
 
Good show, I can get past the audio quality deal, though. I've only logged a few hours into Mass Effect thus far and the talk about the mining mini-game has me a bit on the worried side. I hope I don't let out a groan each time I reach it.

In terms of the live show, I don't mind that you guys do it. But the callers? Christ, if I had a live call-in show and had some of these callers I would have given them the Evel Knievel gimmick nine times out of ten. The occasional mark out to Wombat or Cheapy is to be expected. But shout outs? Plugs?

"Stop calling me on the phone, you mother fucker! *CLICK*"

If only Blog Talk gave you the opportunity to weed out and screen calls beforehand, I imagine you'd have a few more insightful callers.

Anyways, hopefully you don't abandon the live show concept completely. It's great to do when you have a reason to do it, like this episode with Christina. Otherwise, there just doesn't seem to be a purpose.
 
Horsesht sound, but I guess you guys have heard that by now. Started skipping ahead when, lo and behold, a clear voice rang out of the distance. A relief swept over me. Like a bowl movement taken care of.

But 2 minutese later I felt the rumbling again. Not again.

Nope back to the toilet. Ahhhh much better now, Bioware interview, clear voice. I almost overlook the PR-ness of it all - her voice is so clear.

But alas I am done. I wipe, and flush one last time, er, I mean turn off the podcast.
 
This show could of been fantastic, but your decision to make this a live show so Cheapy could just do nothing all day, ruined it. The quality is not just some-what-poor, it was dreadful. I found it so hard to listen to show what's an usually situation cos I'm a huge fan and when I'm not listening to the new show I'm listening to old ones, come on guys you had someone from Bioware, one the biggest guests ever on the show and it's on this poor quality show. Come on guys, enough of the live shows.

p.s. shipwreck's hair is awesome. Gingers 4life.
 
This CAGCast had the best content in a long time, which is good because it's the only thing that kept me from shoving pencils into my ear drums. The audio quality was virtually unbearable.
 
So, what. The audio quality was less than perfect. But, I don't really care. It's a free podcast with three guys talking about games. This episode was good because of the content, especially the interview. I'm now going to get Mass Effect 1 as soon as possible so I can get on the Mass Effect bandwagon. The interview sold me on the game more than anything. Well, CheapyD's love for the game, too.

It's because of Shipwreck, Wombat and CheapyD that I finally broke down and got a 360. First new game purchase was Red Faction solely because of Cheapy's recommendation. Love the game. Now, I've got to get Mass Effect 1.

Keep up the great work on the podcast. All three of you make the show. Can't survive a week without it.
 
I'm curious - are the only 2 reasons for a live show the callers and the ease of making it (vs. The regular shows)?

If so... I think cheapy would give up "easy" for better sound (he's a business man afterall) - and its already been documented that cags can't stand the idiot callers.

In which case...what reason is left to have a live show?
 
[quote name='BigBizzee']I'm curious - are the only 2 reasons for a live show the callers and the ease of making it (vs. The regular shows)?

If so... I think cheapy would give up "easy" for better sound (he's a business man afterall) - and its already been documented that cags can't stand the idiot callers.

In which case...what reason is left to have a live show?[/QUOTE]


It doesn't need to be edited, Cheapy has the very little to edit a live show, if not anything.
 
[quote name='BigBizzee']I'm curious - are the only 2 reasons for a live show the callers and the ease of making it (vs. The regular shows)?

If so... I think cheapy would give up "easy" for better sound (he's a business man afterall) - and its already been documented that cags can't stand the idiot callers.

In which case...what reason is left to have a live show?[/QUOTE]

[quote name='shajek']So, what. The audio quality was less than perfect. But, I don't really care. It's a free podcast with three guys talking about games. This episode was good because of the content, especially the interview. I'm now going to get Mass Effect 1 as soon as possible so I can get on the Mass Effect bandwagon. The interview sold me on the game more than anything. Well, CheapyD's love for the game, too.

It's because of Shipwreck, Wombat and CheapyD that I finally broke down and got a 360. First new game purchase was Red Faction solely because of Cheapy's recommendation. Love the game. Now, I've got to get Mass Effect 1.

Keep up the great work on the podcast. All three of you make the show. Can't survive a week without it.[/QUOTE]

Exactly my point, the quality of a non-live show is perfect, If this has been recorded instead of live it would of been an amazing podcast, but it sounded like Robocop talking to R2-D2 the whole episode.
 
This CAGcast was horrible. I'm not even sure why you guys still do live shows. The main reason for a live show is to have people call in, but in this case the callers either sucked or you were in a hurry to have them get to their point. The show would have been better if it weren't live. The interview with Christina was great, but the audio quality dragged it down. And the callers dragged the whole show down.
 
[quote name='Darknyss']

- I thought it was kind of rude for Cheapy to leave Christina on hold for so long. I realize you were just getting the show started but you took a caller before her FFS. If it was JimmyMac or Ron Workman I'm sure he would have interrupted whatever was going on immediately.
.[/QUOTE]

Let me say that Ron Workman sucks
 
The audio quality was horrible but what can you do when you have one of the lead designers of the current talk of gaming? I am sure Cheapy and the guys would never have released it if Christina wasn't a guest and had done such an amazing job. I for one I am glad they did, I really enjoyed this show and Christina was a great interview. For someone like me who is not aware of what goes on behind the scenes it was very cool to listen to what it takes to make such a great game.

The one thing that bugs me is these assholes acting like a bunch of hangers-on pimping their stupid ass podcasts and websites. That shit has got to go. fuck you and your shitty site and trying to leech onto this sites listeners by sneaking one by the guys on a live call in.

Love the shows guys, live ones too!
 
Next time just hang up on the caller before they start their advertisement or shout-out. Before you go on the show, think of a question that actually is smart or has some form of intelligence.

None of this slow, advertising talk, "Yo.....Cheapy...... can I.... send a shout... to my friend (insert name of unknown person)...."
 
Wow, the end of that interview made me cringe. That was just an embarrassment for everyone involved. This has to be one of the worst cagcasts of all time, and not just due to the audio quality. Shipwreck has a way to derail any momentum that the show starts to pick up. Here's a new nickname for Shipwreck -- Trainwreck, because every show he's on feels like one.
 
It sounded like you guys were just rubbing your fingers on your throats for the first 20 minutes before it cleared up and switched between those two states for the rest of the show. I'm not an audiophile, but there's a difference between clear audio sounds and one that sounds like you're recording laggy audio.

You guys can obviously screen calls if you were able to weed out the special guest, so why not do that for every caller and make sure they're not dumb or awful? Definitely cut the people that have shoutouts and plugs without anything to add to the show because all you're doing is enabling them. Just treat them like spammers you find on the forums.

White Knight Chronicles wasn't even revealed until the TGS after the PS3 came out, so it was never supposed to be a launch game. Level 5 kind of went super quiet about the game until maybe a year before it came out, which was Christmas 2008.

The requirement to level up for the bigger matches in MAG is to make sure you're more experienced and limit the amount of stupid noobs that can infect those matches. If you have to put more time into it, you're more able to learn the way it works and be more of an asset than an issue. The biggest difference for me between MW2 and MAG is that you can more easily build your class to your liking by spending skill points on the gear or abilities you want rather than letting whatever unlocks for you at each level decide what you can be. I've not had any lag be an issue, but my biggest issue is that the random matching can leave me with a squad of bad players that can't or won't heal or want to be Rambo and not work with others.

The PS3 beta for Bad Company 2 was great since it only required a decent amount of teamwork to complete objectives in gold rush mode, unlike MAG, and it was just a lot of fun to play the game, unlock new guns, gear, and upgrades that aren't tied to leveling up.

Decent show despite the quality issues and assholes that call to advertise on the show.
 
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