CAGcast #39: ...and Feeling Fine

Interesting to finally hear your (former) job, Wombat.

I thought it was going to be in some sort of audio/video production gig.
 
Another awesome CAGcast, guys. I had to listen to the clip at the end three times, I was laughing so hard. I can't even interpret the meaning of what he's trying to say.

I've been listening to the backlog of these for two solid days at work and there have been several times when my coworkers asked me what was so funny because I was laughing out loud. My favorite moment was Wombat talking about the weapons in Condemned, with Cheapy adding that when he used the sledgehammer he wanted to "bash their freakin' face in." That discussion was classic. Keep up the good work!
 
aww, i feel sorry for you wombat for not having an SNES. If its any consolation, my friend also didnt have one growing up. At least thats two people.

nice to hear someone else goes to GameFAQs
 
The first gaming console that we owned was the Intellivision. I remember they came out with multiple iterations of it (I, II, etc.), but they just changed the body design, not the actual function of the system. I've got great memories of Night Stalker, AstroBlaster, even Kool-Aid Man. That was an awesome system.

Later we got an NES and that too got played into the ground. I remember getting the first Zelda when it came out, the gold cartridge, and staying up all night that first night playing it. The wonder of seeing Kid Icarus and Metroid for the first time. Slumber party bouts of Punch-Out. Also remember turning down the sound on Ikari Warriors so my brother and I could listen to Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" and other, um, classics of the era as we mowed down baddies. So young. So sad.

Cheapy: I think your "controversial statement" actually perfectly encapsulates the whole video game sexism issue. Really, it's not an issue of lack of female protagonists. It's just how they're portrayed (invariably with almost comically large breasts) that's kind of sad.

To quote Weird Science: "Anything bigger than a handful, you're risking a sprained tongue."
 
[quote name='soliddragon']We needs that ODB clip![/QUOTE]

I think you guys are missing it. Isn't that what's at the very end of the show after the Chu Chu Rocket commercial?
 
bwa ha ha ha ha! I love the intro/ending sound bites! The ending ones this week were surreal--RIP ODB...

And yeah, we need more diversity in the cup sizes of female game avatars. I love a pair of nice big titties as much as the next guy, but IMO most game artists and 3D modelers aren't able to pull off a good set of cans correctly. If I wanted to look at bad boob jobs, I'd rent a porno. As Cheapy said, there's nothing wrong with Bs.
 
I put off playing the Dead Rising demo just to listen to this CAG. Great stuff! But you guys shouldn't let the distance between your wives come between their makeout sessions.

Wombat, sweet obscure "Bear City" reference.
 
Good CAGcast today CheapyD and Wombat, much improved over the last 2 where the focus seemed to shift too much on 360 woes and quests for free games, and more on the stuff gamers want, games!

I also agree 100% with CheapyD on breast size. I compare it to spanish TV (Like Univision) where it seems the only women they can find have large breats and wear skimpy clothes all day. But since it gets the viewers they keep doing it, I guess this can also be said about publishers that produce games that portray women the same way.
 
[quote name='Tybee']I think you guys are missing it. Isn't that what's at the very end of the show after the Chu Chu Rocket commercial?[/QUOTE]


You found the blue key, yeah thats it and I am soooooo getting sued
 
Awesome. The best one you've done in a couple months. That ODB clip was the best. It sounded like Mr. Ed's cock was in his mouth. As for the E3 segment, if you listen carefully it sounds like CheapyD is going to date rape the event with things like "no is not an answer." :D
 
[quote name='CheapyD']So, what do you guys think of a CAGcast forum or subforum of General Gaming?[/quote]

I like the idea. I don't really have much to say to add to that or anything, other than it sounds like a pretty good idea. Well, mainly the poll thing and such, that would really make fun to have your ideas/opinions read on the show in the "weekly CAG poll" or something.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']So, what do you guys think of a CAGcast forum or subforum of General Gaming?[/QUOTE]All for it.

Additoinally, thanks for reading my cagbag question although as you mentioned in the show it really had been covered by that point.
 
[quote name='TimPV3']Can't wait to hear an update on Wombat's 360, if there is one.[/quote]
The fuck? He already got his 360 back.:twoguns::twoguns::twoguns::shock: (extra smile icons never hurt anyone :D)
 
oh man, Tenchu Stealth Assassin, to this day one of my favorite games of all time, i HAVE to buy that game again now...if I remember correctly it came around the same time as MGS(ps1) and seemed to get lost in all the MGS hype
 
Great CAGcast, better CAGbag. Can't wait to hear the next one. I also can't wait to hear your views and opinions of Dead Rising.
 
I'm surprised Wombat said nobody should be having fun at E3. So nobody should have any fun at all when playing games? Bullshit. People would lose their fucking minds if they couldn't find any enjoyment at all in E3. If I didn't get to try out Okami, Guitar Hero II, Virtua Tennis 3, a bunch of PSP, some Wii stuff, and a few other games, I wouldn't have enjoyed the show by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, it's a draining experience overall, but there's plenty of fun to be had that makes it completely worth it to go. You can and should have fun while working, nobody ever said you can't or shouldn't enjoy your job at all. If game journalists can't enjoy their jobs, they shouldn't have the job at all. I'm sorry for going on a rant, but it was kind of a stupid statement to me.

I'm also surprised you both have disagreed on something (Saint's Row), that has to be a first for the podcast. :shock:

Otherwise, good CAGcast.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']I'm surprised Wombat said nobody should be having fun at E3. So nobody should have any fun at all when playing games? Bullshit. People would lose their fucking minds if they couldn't find any enjoyment at all in E3. If I didn't get to try out Okami, Guitar Hero II, Virtua Tennis 3, a bunch of PSP, some Wii stuff, and a few other games, I wouldn't have enjoyed the show by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, it's a draining experience overall, but there's plenty of fun to be had that makes it completely worth it to go. You can and should have fun while working, nobody ever said you can't or shouldn't enjoy your job at all. If game journalists can't enjoy their jobs, they shouldn't have the job at all. I'm sorry for going on a rant, but it was kind of a stupid statement to me.

I'm also surprised you both have disagreed on something (Saint's Row), that has to be a first for the podcast. :shock:

Otherwise, good CAGcast.[/quote]

Yeah, that bothered me too. Playing games should be fun, even if it's your job. And it also bothers me that somebody thinks Cheapy can't get into the new thing they're making to replace E3. He was on TV demmit!
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']Yeah, that bothered me too. Playing games should be fun, even if it's your job. And it also bothers me that somebody thinks Cheapy can't get into the new thing they're making to replace E3. He was on TV demmit![/quote]
Exactly. I had a lot of fun there while doing my job, but Wombat couldn't phathom that by his reasoning and seemed to say that I shouldn't be there. I wouldn't doubt Cheapy can get in since he's been there the past few years and the site has gotten bigger and more fleshed out since then.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']I'm surprised Wombat said nobody should be having fun at E3. So nobody should have any fun at all when playing games? Bullshit. People would lose their fucking minds if they couldn't find any enjoyment at all in E3. [/quote]It's funny...I was thinking about that too before I even read your post. If you are lucky enough to be able to make a living in the video game industry, and you can't have fun at E3, it might time to look for a new line of work.

I will admit it got pretty overwhelming due to the huge number of people and all the visual and audio stimuli, but you should still be able to have fun regardless.

I think Wombat was just bitter due to a combination of a NYC heatwave and a Nutrisystem diet.
 
Yeah. I think Wombat was having a bad day.

SimmonsRP44KS.jpg
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']I'm surprised Wombat said nobody should be having fun at E3. So nobody should have any fun at all when playing games? Bullshit. People would lose their fucking minds if they couldn't find any enjoyment at all in E3. If I didn't get to try out Okami, Guitar Hero II, Virtua Tennis 3, a bunch of PSP, some Wii stuff, and a few other games, I wouldn't have enjoyed the show by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, it's a draining experience overall, but there's plenty of fun to be had that makes it completely worth it to go. You can and should have fun while working, nobody ever said you can't or shouldn't enjoy your job at all. If game journalists can't enjoy their jobs, they shouldn't have the job at all. I'm sorry for going on a rant, but it was kind of a stupid statement to me.[/quote]

As someone who had to cover E3 three times, I can see Wombat's point. It was very difficult to do my job when I was there because the place was choked with kids and scores of people who frankly had no business being there. And in many ways, E3 had really gotten to a point where it was catering more to those folks than to the journalists, publishers, etc. that the show is ostensibly for. It became little more than a pissing contest between the console companies and the biggest software houses. When you can't even hear a developer talk about his game because of the blaring music and explosions and you can't file a story because the computer room is full of EB associates and friends of friends of a guy who once had a gaming blog checking their e-mail, it's time to make a change.

As Cheapy mentioned, the only way you really got any work done was through press events and private appointments. That being the case, the huge booths, gyrating bimbos, and all the rest of it represented little more than a distraction and an impediment to the show's true purpose. Sure, in a lot of ways it was fun, and I'm sure a lot of us will miss that aspect of it. But the show really had lost its way and it was past time they reined it in.

Video games ARE fun, and those of us who have or had the chance to get paid to work around them are grateful. But that doesn't justify the ridiculous excesses of E3.
 
[quote name='Tybee']As someone who had to cover E3 three times, I can see Wombat's point. It was very difficult to do my job when I was there because the place was choked with kids and scores of people who frankly had no business being there. And in many ways, E3 had really gotten to a point where it was catering more to those folks than to the journalists, publishers, etc. that the show is ostensibly for. It became little more than a pissing contest between the console companies and the biggest software houses. When you can't even hear a developer talk about his game because of the blaring music and explosions and you can't file a story because the computer room is full of EB associates and friends of friends of a guy who once had a gaming blog checking their e-mail, it's time to make a change.

As Cheapy mentioned, the only way you really got any work done was through press events and private appointments. That being the case, the huge booths, gyrating bimbos, and all the rest of it represented little more than a distraction and an impediment to the show's true purpose. Sure, in a lot of ways it was fun, and I'm sure a lot of us will miss that aspect of it. But the show really had lost its way and it was past time they reined it in.

Video games ARE fun, and those of us who have or had the chance to get paid to work around them are grateful. But that doesn't justify the ridiculous excesses of E3.[/quote]

Yeah but that's not the point. We weren't talking about E3, we were talking about Wombat's comment where he said "It's not supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be work."

The point we're making is that games, if they're your work or not, at E3 or wherever, should always be fun.
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']Yeah but that's not the point. We weren't talking about E3, we were talking about Wombat's comment where he said "It's not supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be work."

The point we're making is that games, if they're your work or not, at E3 or wherever, should always be fun.[/QUOTE]

well yes and no, the point I was trying to make was that it should not be looked at like a vacation, not that you shouldnt have fun playing games, thats not what I meant. What I meant was that if you are there you should have a job to do not just play games for 3 day and go home. Weather you are media or retail, its not a vacation and if you treating it like it is then you should not be invited to go. Weather or not games should be fun or weather or not playing them at the show fun has nothing to do with what I said, it was just taken in the wrong context
 
Ohhh. Then in that case I agree. It shouldn't be seen as a vacation, because the journalists have a duty to inform us.

Do they serve drinks at E3? I remember a few years back reading egm where the editors who went talked about being drunk all the time. I was like WTF?!
 
[quote name='Tybee']As someone who had to cover E3 three times, I can see Wombat's point. It was very difficult to do my job when I was there because the place was choked with kids and scores of people who frankly had no business being there. And in many ways, E3 had really gotten to a point where it was catering more to those folks than to the journalists, publishers, etc. that the show is ostensibly for. It became little more than a pissing contest between the console companies and the biggest software houses. When you can't even hear a developer talk about his game because of the blaring music and explosions and you can't file a story because the computer room is full of EB associates and friends of friends of a guy who once had a gaming blog checking their e-mail, it's time to make a change.

As Cheapy mentioned, the only way you really got any work done was through press events and private appointments. That being the case, the huge booths, gyrating bimbos, and all the rest of it represented little more than a distraction and an impediment to the show's true purpose. Sure, in a lot of ways it was fun, and I'm sure a lot of us will miss that aspect of it. But the show really had lost its way and it was past time they reined it in.

Video games ARE fun, and those of us who have or had the chance to get paid to work around them are grateful. But that doesn't justify the ridiculous excesses of E3.[/quote]
I agree about the fact that there were too many people there that didn't belong, but I don't really like the fact that they essentially got rid of the fun. the fun was being able to try out a bunch of games without the need for appointments, as a lot of them are just one of the PR people showing you around the booth to play the games already out there and occasionally talk to the people already there to talk to you about the game. I know some have special stuff to show behind closed doors, but that's not that really all that many. My last day this year, I went to Sony's booth since I hadn't been there all show long and tried the PS3 games and the PSP stuff since there weren't that many people in line. It was great to be able to walk from game to game and not have to wait more than 5 minutes or so, whch helped me do my job a little more easily. That's the kind of thing I'd have liked to see the show turn into. The Wii line, however, was rediculously long along with the many long lines inside the Wii booth and it seemed more of an example that there were too many people there.

I'm saddened that they took this drastic of a change when they could've worked to make the restrictions much tighter on who is accepted and made restrictions on booths. Developers still have to stop and create a demo for the show, but the lack of kiosks seems to say that you can only get to play the games if you have an appointment, which absolutely sucks. If you were told you could only play Guitar Hero 2, Okami, or any other game you want to play by appointment only, what would you guys think? Obviously, we don't know the full extent of these new changes because they're staggering the new releases, but I'm hoping the picture they've painted for E3Expo 2007 isn't as bleek as I see it.

I can't say much for the flashy stuff, because it was all icing on the cake. I came to see the games, play the games, and enjoy the games, so the booth babes, flashy booths, and noise was just not that damamging to the experience. I guess I'm the only one that feels that way, which sucks to see that everyone else couldn't get passed those kind of things and wants to get rid of the one great thing about E3, the freedom to play games and explore what the show has to offer, to get a cold, heartless expo that next year's show seems to have become. I just don't really know what to think about this whole change. It just seems like overwhelming change whose result can't really be examined until next July, which is a horrible time of the year for me, as well.

I see that what Wombat said isn't what he meant, so I understand that now.
 
First, Congrats on the new job WOmbat...whatever it is...
I guess talent agent wasn't cutting it. My question is what exactly is a "talent agent"?
Second, another great cagcast. Nice job bringing the hypewagon back. Although I don't think dead rising merits an appearance on the hype wagon....Are u guys reall that excited about that game? It seems like a button masher at best. Although I haven't played the demo yet b/c like Wombat my 360 broke as well.
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']Yeah but that's not the point. We weren't talking about E3, we were talking about Wombat's comment where he said "It's not supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be work."

The point we're making is that games, if they're your work or not, at E3 or wherever, should always be fun.[/QUOTE]

If you've ever made a living by playing video games and writing about them, you'd think twice before making that statement. Maybe you have. I don't know. What I do know is that I never hated video games more than when I was FORCED to play them. It's like smoking in a closet. It's not all Halo 3 and Super Mario Galaxy. If you're lucky, 10 percent of what you get to play is great. 30 percent is out and out AWFUL -- barely playable movie licenses, Mary Kate and Ashley titles, buggy sidescrollers, etc. Those are at least fun to write about because you get to tear into them. But the vast majority are just okay and relatively unremarkable. You quickly run out of ways to articulate mediocrity.

Don't get me wrong. The high points took the edge off the bad stuff and I don't mean to sound ungrateful. But saying that working around video games "should always be fun" is about as disingenuous as saying being a porn star is always fun. It's a statement that fails to take into account all aspects of the experience.
 
Some valid points, but look at it this way. Think of all the crappy jobs you've had. I'd give up every one of those crappy jobs in exchange for getting paid to play the most horrible games ever created, because at the end of the day, you're getting paid to sit around and play games! I don't care if it's Halo 3 or Big Rigs, it's a dream come true.
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']Some valid points, but look at it this way. Think of all the crappy jobs you've had. I'd give up every one of those crappy jobs in exchange for getting paid to play the most horrible games ever created, because at the end of the day, you're getting paid to sit around and play games! I don't care if it's Halo 3 or Big Rigs, it's a dream come true.[/QUOTE]

I think the fact that you've never actually had that opportunity plays a big part in your perception of what that job and lifestyle is like. Similarly, growing up I always thought being a Disney animator would be the coolest job in the world. The recent downsizing notwithstanding, I probably have no actual grasp of the negative aspects of the job (and a skewed perception of the good parts).

I've had a lot of jobs before and since, and most of them have been more satisfying professionally than writing about video games. Not that I wouldn't do it again, given the right incentives, but it's not the land of milk and honey so many of you think it is.
 
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