CAGcast #309: Our Favorites of 2012

[preview][IMG-L=5838]15060[/IMG-L]The gang counts down their favorite 5 games of 2012. Also, Cheapy bought crazy shoes.

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[podcast]218[/podcast]
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Show Linkage/Notes:

Intro/Outro: All Time High - Nobody Does it Better



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Downloading, will listen to tomorrow at work.

Hey when did you clowns start doing a podcast? I thought you were silver plate winning twitter jockeys?

I was excited for this episode
but then I realized that even though wombat is doing another podcast
he's still doing this one.

I'm not as excited now.

Wombat's Bane voice cracks me up.

Can't wait to listen! Always look forward to this episode!

Great episode. Still getting used to the new favorite games of the year format; kinda liked you picking your favorites of each console and whatnot. I think this format works a little better, though, since you clearly don't play all the consoles.

Anyway, I definitely get your reasons for being disappointed with Mass Effect 3, but I'm glad at least one of you had it in your top 5. It was definitely in my top 5, even if the ending was a letdown. And Wombat, you're right about those add-in DLC packs being extremely annoying, but I just see them as a reason to go back and play more. If I loved the game, fantastic, more reason to play. If not, I'm probably not going to even bother getting the packs, because I no longer have the game anymore. And I'm glad you guys gave Kingdoms of Amalur and Darksiders II some love, even if just honorable mentions. Fingers crossed someone picks up those IPs and does something with them instead of letting them fade away.

Would be very interested in hearing what you all pick as your most anticipated games for 2013 are, though. I was talking to a buddy of mine, and we have a few, but it seems like, as with last year, all my most anticipated are in the early parts of the year: BioShock Infinite, Tomb Raider, and DmC. If Dragon Age III actually comes out this fall, like BioWare seems to be leaning towards, I'll definitely add that to my list. Until GDC and E3, though, when firm confirmation will come, we shall see.

Sorry for making this long-ish, just wanted to contribute instead of just listening, for a change. Great show guys, keep it up.

Cheapy should perhaps watch the Walking Dead TV show sometime. I think he'd really like the comic which he could buy for his ipad/kindle and read while pooping too.

Kindle version: http://www.amazon.com/The-Walking-D...357903270&sr=8-1&keywords=walking+dead+kindle



I'm playing Dishonored right now Ship, and it took me three weeks to get past the first couple of hours because it limits you very heavily. Once you get leveled up a bit the game gets much much better.

This is a comment about my need to make comments.

SPOILER ALERT!

Woohoo Shippy, pimp dat Binary Domain. You got me to check it originally~ love ya

Looks like I was only able to predict Cheapy's #1. Ship and Wombat's #1 surprised me.

I might have to skip over this one, no offense to ya'll. I think I'm just completely saturated with regards to GOTY content at this point.

No one will be able to top Giant Bomb's GOTY stuff at this point, anyways.

I mean, look at all this! http://www.giantbomb.com/news/here-...-of-the-year-features-in-one-handy-spot/4502/

CheapyD, are you going to the Tokyo Auto Salon?

here is the hotel we stayed at in Macau
http://www.galaxymacau.com/en/stay/banyan-tree-macau

How about posting the spreadsheet of games?

Cheapy, about barefoot/shoes/etc, you should listen to this: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4185

It's a nice, even-handed scientific take on the issue.

Haven't listened to this one yet since im saving it for monday but let me take a stab at what i'll hear about. My Cag predictions for their top picks in no particular order are Mass Effect 3, NBA baller Beatz (z cuz its xtreame), Mark of the Ninja, Fez, hmmm some apple ios game cuz their needs to be some apple talk. Lets see what other microsoft games came out this year....oh yeah Halo 4 and maybe forza horizon. Ok so since it's CAG im guessing no persona 4 golden for vita (the highest rated exclusive game on metacritic for 2012), no lbp vita, no Journey or Unfinished Swan, tales from space, or Sound Shapes. Now that were not including sony as a whole I'm hoping they at least nominate farcry 3, dishonored, walking dead, borderlands 2 and xcom. Im anxious to see what they come up with and assassins creed better not show up lol!

how close am i??

It was funny listening him talking about barefoot shoes. They have actually been around for a long time and started getting a lot of press 1-2 years ago. I actually think the fad has started to die down a little bit.

Also barefoot shoes have more of a benefit for running then walking. It is because of when people run in regular shoes you are more likely to strike with your heel, which is bad for your feet and knees, but you would notice that if you run barefoot you have more of a forefoot strike. However with walking you aren't putting that much stress on your feet and knees, so I imagine the benefit would be minimal.

I have been running in Vibrams (the toe shoes Wombat mentioned) for a couple of years and love it. I also used to use Nike Free 3.0 as my everyday shoes. (simply because I had a pair and I like the feeling.)

[quote name='detectiveconan16']CheapyD, are you going to the Tokyo Auto Salon?[/QUOTE]

Nah, it's at the same place where TGS is....not actually Tokyo do its a bit of a pain to get there, especially with Tai.

Wombat - I've been playing X-COM. I had the opposite experience than you, though. I played it 3-4 hours at a time, and couldn't wait to play it every night. Every night after playing a few missions, I came down with "just one more" syndrome, and played for an hour or two longer than I planned . I kept wanting to play more to get that next piece of the base built, or that next research done, etc.

So I completed the game after 5 or 6 days of that. The problem is, the game actually started to drag at the end. After a while, the missions and enemies get pretty repetitive. I was going to go for some of the tougher trophies but having to play 5 full games and at much harder difficulties might just be a little too tedious. It was great for that first playthrough for sure though. I started a second game at "classic" difficulty (one above normal, one below "impossible") and it is much, much harder than normal.

Also, I agree on the ME3 multiplayer. I rarely play any multiplayer but I dipped my feet into that last summer and it was really enjoyable. I need to get back into it again.

I really enjoyed the condensed GOTY discussion this year, which was much appreciated during a time when other podcasts are releasing their own versions that all contain about the same games. It was nice to hear games make the list that I didn't hear in other shows.

[quote name='beard_of_zeus']I might have to skip over this one, no offense to ya'll. I think I'm just completely saturated with regards to GOTY content at this point.

No one will be able to top Giant Bomb's GOTY stuff at this point, anyways.

I mean, look at all this! http://www.giantbomb.com/news/here-...-of-the-year-features-in-one-handy-spot/4502/[/QUOTE]

I feel the exact opposite, that looks dumb.

"The gaming blogs/etc" are full of GOTY mentions, but it's all political BS. What if you hated Mass Effect 3? Nope sorry, it has to be on list because it's AAA. CheapyD, Wombat, and Shipwrecks list is smaller, and they didn't even play most of the games. Their list is the games they enjoyed the most, that they played. The fact that games like Lego Batman 2 is on a list of top 5 is pretty funny/cool, imo.

Octopussy, that's what it is, it's been driving me nuts ever since I heard the opening theme of the episode this morning.

You missed a golden opportunity at the end to do your Bane voice when endorsing anarchy Wombat.

Pretty good choices, I was happy to see an honorable mention for one of my favorite games of the year, Spec Ops the Line. Considering you don't break out your top X lists by console, you could probably extend the 2013 list to 10 games so you don't have to agonize so much over your choices.

I also don't remember a mention of the CAG fundraiser for Child's Play in the episode (unless I missed it) which surprised me considering it is ending early next week.

I appreciate that now Ship and Cheapy discuss PC Games more. Great to hear FTL on the list.

I quite liked VGHS, personally. Yeah, it's a little cheesy, but I enjoyed it. And I kind of found FreddieW via VGHS so it wasn't me just being a FreddieW fanboy.

I'm glad I finished ME3 literally the day before I listened to this cast. Not that you spoiled anything; just that I was able to relate this time. (Also, I'm pretty amazed that I was able to take this long and not get it spoiled, since it was such a heated topic.) I had completely forgotten about any DLC... From Ashes just came with the game for me, and yeah, I didn't even notice it was "DLC," since it belongs in the game. Now I guess I should look up the other stuff... And now I get to listen to your ME3 spoilercast that I had to skip last time. Damn, that was awhile ago.
Far Cry 3 is amazing-looking on the PC. A free copy came with my new video card, so I played a bit of it. (Focusing on other games that I've already started first, though.) I haven't played a whole bunch, but what I did was pretty fun. However... I don't know why, but I have this nagging feeling that the game is going to get old fast for me. Nothing specific indicates this, since I've been enjoying it. But I can't shake this feeling, not sure why. I mean, it's not the style of game... I played 200+ hours of Skyrim, and I always think about going back to it (and I occasionally do). But like I said, I haven't played much of it yet, and I'm waiting to finish other things before I just dive into it fully. Hopefully this will never become the case.


Unrelated to the podcast: I just started playing SR3 since I got the new video card. Having Cheapy in the game is so weird, but cool. His voice sounds exactly like it does on the podcast (I mean sound quality-wise) so it's a little jarring, like I have the CAGcast going on in the background or something.

As a die-hard James Bond fan, the "All Time High" intro really put a smile on my face

Liking Breaking Bad and the Walking Dead game make you a hipster?

"You have my okay to pass away."
- All I needed from this cagcast.

I was too hasty when I condemned the gang earlier for skipping so many podcasts. Putting them continually closer and closer together until you have to deliver a 24 hour live stream seems to be a reasonable compromise.

I bought Words in Soup for my iPad and I love it! For $0.99 it's great! Awesome how a fellow CAG made it!

[quote name='CheapyD']here is the hotel we stayed at in Macau
http://www.galaxymacau.com/en/stay/banyan-tree-macau[/QUOTE]
Finally got around to listening to this episode... I'm going to Hong Kong in a couple of months and we're staying in the same hotel for the night we'll be in Macau! So yes Wombat, some of us do book our vacations on based CheapyD's recommendations! Just kidding, my fiancee had already picked it out before I listened to the episode.