CAGbag: Get your questions answered on CAGcast

Hey, i haven't quite caught up on all the podcasts but i did have a cagbag quesiton so if this has been dicussed or answered bofore just skip over me.


So I was a big fan of all the previous smash bro games.. Each week there is some new post about some new game mechanic in super smash bro brawl or new character or wacky new item... do you think there is a concern about the new smash bro "jumping the shark"
Generally nintendo is good at this but there are plent of games out there that got ruined in sequels (kotor i'm looking at you).
Does this seem like a genuine concern to you or am i just getting game information overload?
 
This one's for Wombat, but cheapy can add his 2 cents since he does CO-host a very popular podcast.

I wanted to ask you a question about radio broadcasting. I was just wondering what is a good way to get into radio broadcasting, voice over work, or something like that. I've always heard just go to your local radio station and ask to answer phones for free and if they like you maybe they'll keep you around for a real job. I thought you'd be a good person to ask cause you have a successful podcast. I've also listened to every episode and you ( I'm guessing) seem to have some experience in this field. You also seem very personable and would give sound practical advice. I'm also guessing a college degree in broadcasting might help but yeah, I don't have that. ok, well overall I was just looking for some advice, tips, and mentorism (that's totally a word). Ok thank you very much and love the show.
 
Hey Cheapy,
I know you played Stranglehold and had highly recommended it. I picked it up for PC and must say that I am loving it. It has such a great old school action game feel. It reminds me of old beat em ups that used to populate the nes, snes, arcade and every other console in most of the 90's. This got me thinking, why don't these types of games don't come around as often now as they used to? Don't get me wrong, I still love games like Bioshock and Mass Effect, but sometimes I just want to blow shit up. Also, with Stranglehold doing fairly well and surprising everyone by not being awful, do you think there will be more games like this in the future?


Thanks,
sho
 
Hey Cheapy and Wombat. Did you buy Rock Band yet? What do you think of the downloadable content and do you have any issues with the instruments? Thanks.
 
why cant companies use Mii's instead of creating a new one for a specific game? im talking about carnival games and ea playground. where you'd have to create a new character to play the game. my kids always ask this question. i think that we can somehow agree that when you get a game, all you want to do is play the game. i know that for games for adults, sometimes creating a character is part of the experience. but i still think it would be easier and more fun to just use your Mii's. specifically for these kid friendly games. is nintendo preventing the 3rd party developers from using this feature of the Wii?
 
Hey CheapyD and Wombat! I guess I'm a little late to the party, but I wanted to say that the Major Nelson interview was pretty cool. At what point do you think the CAGcast would be willing and able to get an audience with another prominent face of the gaming industry, and who would you guys want to talk to next from that group?


Also, CheapyD, I think you hit a valid point on how difficulty in Guitar Hero shouldn't be tied in to the number of buttons used. Personally, I'd have a fair shot at Hard if there was a four-button mode. Maybe they'll change it eventually, like with the selection of differing difficulties for Versus mode? Just sayin'.
 
hey CheapyD and Wombat, how is goin?

I have a good question for you guys.

I heard that the Arcade version of the 360 is not backwards compatible and that there is no way to change this fact, even with a hard drive. I wanted to know because I want to get a 360, but I don't have much cash and I need to know if it can play my old xbox games.

now, I've done as much searching as I can short of calling Bill himself
 
Just a quick thanks to CheapyD for getting me interested in Mass Effect. I originally thought that this would be boring as Timeshift (Rented it for three days, sent it back after one. You do the math), but I was really surprised at how immersive the game is. The footage I saw with Wombat being gangraped by Husks was the the final pry in my wallet for my hard-earned cash.

Ten hours in, still loving it, although one thing in particular I have to praise is the Voice acting. I chose Liara, and now William's is all professional in tone. Aw-kward. Refreshing to say the least.

Got a few questions for you on Mass Effect:
]] How far are you in now?
]] Who did you choose?
]] Which do you prefer being? Paragon or Renegade?
]] Is there any way to get the Mass Effect Novella that you got?
 
I just want to mention that until the last week or so I thought Wombat's blog was on the anime web site yugioh.com :D You know it's spelled the same way as UGO. But then I saw a link to it somewhere here and realised why it wouldn't work when I tried gamesblog.yugioh.com. Well anyways, I love your show, keep up the good work.
 
First, I really enjoy you guys and your show. Your great chemistry together makes for a very entertaining podcast. I about "busted a nut" when you started bashing on Katie Couric. Actually, I think a weekly bashing of her on the CagCast would be very therapeutic.

I already own an XBOX 360, but I really like some of the games coming out on the PS3. (Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, etc) I have never owned a Playstation 2, so by gettin the PS3 I would open myself to a ton of PS2 games I have never played, for example---God of War which I recently played . So my question is... when do you think there may be another price drop on the 80 gig...I don't want the "40 gig because it is not backward compatible. And I inevitably as soon as I buy it, it will drop in price.
Example: XBOX 360 recent price drop.

Just wanted your thoughts! Again, love the show and keep up the good work!



Thanks,
Tini1485
 
cheapy

what is with all of the ign bashing. ign is both informative and entertaining. they've got a style unlike anybody else.

about the gabe posts, here are the facts.
in gabe's first post about assassins creed, both ign and gamespot were mentioned in the second paragraph. they were actually being bashed for something else. but they were mentioned. he then went on to say that "There are about four or five reviews of the game with scores in the low to mid 7's." and gabe "wanted to tell everyone that these guys were full of shit."

at this point. if gabe is calling out these reviewers for giving them low ratings. these reviewers have every right to fight back. mind you gabe could have just talked up the game and left all the rest out of it. this is why i don't visit penny arcade.

and then in gabe's second post he says, "The sad thing is I wasn't even talking about their review. I was talking about the 7.0 from 1Up." 1up was not mentioned in the first post, unlike ign. he pretends not to even know what ign rated the game. this is bull shit.

was it gabe's hope that he'd be able to hate and not be hated back? and then to play stupid? this is very weak.
why don't you and gabe try focusing your energy on video games and not on hating other video game sites. i'm tired of it.

and as for the rant on ign by Jeff Haynes. the majority of the rant was about the game's failures. and only in the latter part was gabe mentioned. and as for everything that jeff said about gabe. gabe can be quoted as saying that "everything he said there is true."

but i don't care about gabe. i care about you. we're all gamers here.
where's the love.

buttle
 
Cheapy,

I have more of a general podcasting question. In episode #98 Penny Arcade Sucks, you played a clip from the IGN Podcast Beyond show. It was the part where the guy throws a tantrum about PA.

My question is, did you have to get permission from IGN to use that clip in your show? With podcasting being a relatively new media phenomenon, I'm not sure how all the legal stuff works in that regard and was just curious. Thanks.
 
So does Nintendo think its funny that a lot of people's Christmases are going to be ruined? I'm just saying this because I've been promising my little sister a Wii sisnce it came out and I still haven't been able to pick one up. I thought things were looking up when I went to my local Best Buy, and just for shits and giggles, asked if they had any in stock. One of the ASSociates there told me "we don't but another store has 65 of them in stock" I was amazed when I heard this and I had him call to make sure. Now I don't know if he did call or not because he gave me a thumbs up and when I got to this other Best Buy - about an hour drive - just to get laughed at. The Wii's that showed up in the computer weren't going to be sold for another three days. It seems like the only way to get a Wii is to pay 600 bucks for the bundle or wait for 10 hours to make it in the store before they sell out.
 
I noticed in the last couple CAG casts that you (cheapy) has had more pleasent things to say about the PS3, do you think they are finnally becoming a real player in this generation and do you think they will eventually out pace MS? I know I am much happier now that I can buy some good games for it.
 
Not a question, but a comment...

Regarding the thing about how people go to Penny Arcade specifically for Gabe and Tycho's opinions but don't go to the major review sites for any specific reviewer... this used to be true for me, but I've noticed a change in this now that some reviewers can be heard and seen in podcast form. When you hear them actually talking, you suddenly get a feel for what kind of person they are, and more importantly whether they're similar to you as a gamer.

My favorite videogame podcast is the CAGcast obviously, but as a retro gaming dork who doesn't play many shooters or own a PS3 or 360, I'm not very similar to either of you guys as gamers. So Cheapy, when you dismiss something like Mario Galaxy as no big deal it doesn't really mean anything to me. I'm not saying I get mad at it, I'm just saying I know your opinions will likely have no connection with mine. On the other hand, my (distant) second favorite gaming podcast is 1UP Retronauts, and I do think I have a lot in common with those guys as gamers. As a result, I've found that I put a lot more stock into a review when I see one of those peoples' names in the byline. So if CheapyD says a game is overhyped because of its branding, and Jeremy Parish says a game is fucking brilliant, I'm going to believe Jeremy Parish... even though I'd rather be listening to CheapyD's podcast any day of the week.

The future of "game journalism," I think, is to expand further into audio and video media so that readers can "get to know" the writers, and people will start following their favorite game reviewers just like a movie fan would choose to follow someone like Roger Ebert but not some other critic.

In other words, the CAGcast is the future, and IGN can slob on my knob.
 
Do you think the Atari name is cursed or rather that those seeking the name are only in it 100% for the money which is why they fail.
 
Cheapy and Wombat,

What are your thoughts on the Jeff Gerstmann/Gamespot controversy? It's hard not to see this as a watershed moment in video game journalism.

As someone who earns his living in publishing, I'm painfully aware of the way the sales side tries to make incursions into the editorial side. I've been fortunate to work with salespeople who have a healthy understanding of the importance of credible journalism and the inviolable separation that must exist between ad and edit. But all it takes is one manager with skewed priorities or a big advertiser with an agenda and suddenly journalistic integrity takes a backseat to profitability.

Don't these people understand? You can always find other advertisers, but it's almost impossible to regain the trust of your readers and your staff once you've sold your soul.
 
Even though you're a self-proclaimed "C-List" Internet Celebrity, you've made it clear that you'll sell off CAG without hesitation if the right opportunity presented itself.

Unlike other Internet Gaming Sites, CAG feels more like a community (despite recent incidents that may suggest otherwise) and your participation and personal involvement with the podcasts, videos, and posts have made you (and Wombat) as a person synonymous with CAG in general.

My question is, in the event this ever happens, would you ever continue a figurehead role as Head Cheap Ass to continue the CAGcasts and such? Would Wombat stay on whether you do or not?
 
Hi Guys,

I wanted to second Destro713's comments about the name behind the review slowly becoming more important with the increasing popularity of podcasts.
I am an avid listener of you guys and the 1up network podcasts. Through consistently hearing (and seeing in the case of 1up) these voices discuss games on a weekly basis, I've become much more interested in the opinions of these individuals rather than the random game reviewer at one of the other popular websites.

Also, you guys even present evidence to support the argument that reviewer's are starting to matter in your own podcast! You are much more interested in hearing opinions from the penny-arcade, destructoid, joystiq, kotaku, etc. guys than those of other websites. (despite the fact that you know them in person). Also, look at Wombat... his new position at UGO is the result of the popularity of his personality and the esteem in which the larger gaming community holds his opinions. UGO's gaming site would not have seen the recent boost in popualrity if they had hired some random dude off the street.

I think that "Roger Ebert(s)"of gaming are slowly emerging and you guys - Cheapy & Wombat - are establishing yourselves as two of the best.

Keep up the great work!
 
hey cheapy d and wombat. i love arcade shooters like time crisis and i own and xbox 360 i was wondering if you guys knew of any games like this that are coming out for the 360. also do you know if time crisis 4 is coming out for the 360 or is it ps3 exclusive.
 
so. . .
what are your thoughts on the jeff gerstmann firing? i think something should be said about the integrity of jeff. over and over again we're told to never trust reviews from any of those big video game sites. but we never see any actual evidence of their wrongdoing. obviously this story makes gamespot look very bad. and the video game community as a whole looks bad as well.
but this story is only evidence that reviewers, even from those big sites, can still have integrity and give a true review.
 
Cheapy -

You may have already answered this before but...

How do the Call of Duty games fare in Japan? The previous ones were all WW2 games, which I presume is not a very popular subject over there. Were they released in Japan at all? Is the new one out? If so, does being the fourth in a (presumably) unpopular franchise hurt sales?
 
Cheapy
Have you ever given a game a higher review because of pressure? Has your wife ever given you a higher review because you pressured her? I think you understand why I ask these questions.
 
(non video game related question)
Cheapy,
Have you seen Lost in Translation? If you did, did your views on the movie change at all after moving to Japan?
 
I have a few questions relating to this thread:http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162177

I haven't seen any other blogs examine this:

I recently read that Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia completely revamped its game with a single patch. That got me interested enough the write "A Cure for Madness?" on www.tech-gaming.com

To summarize:
In May of 2007, developer Southpeak Interactive released Monster Madness: Battle to Suburbia to low review scores and abysmal sales. Gamespot called the game, “ a severe pain” in their review, while IGN remarked that, “ every command felt loose and unresponsive”. Recently, the Target retail chain dropped the price of the game to $19.99, from the original MSRP of $59.99. Other retailers are selling the game at significant discounts, also. Despite an infusion of capital, Southpeak endured and recently released a patch to address many of Madness’ problems. The myriad of changes include:

(see www.tech-gaming.com for full changes)

This is the first console game that has significantly changed its gameplay, camera, and graphics, resulting in a major overhaul to the core gameplay. Most other patches fix relatively minor issues concerning multiplayer matches, hosting and the like. Rarely are major changes made to the single player game. This raises a number of interesting questions to members of the game community:

- Do reviewers have an obligation to devote manpower to re-review the game?
- Since game patches are ubiquitous, at what point can critics let their reviews stand?
- Can a bargain-bin title be ‘saved’ with a mere patch?
 
Hey guys,
since there is new free Bioshock DLC coming this week (new plasmids, option to turn off vitachambers) I started wondering, what kind of DLC would they have to release to make you want to go back to an old game?
 
Hey guys!
Recently my wife's family came over for dinner to our house in Cincinnati. After dinner, my wife (who is not a gamer) insisted that I show them Rock Band.
I pulled out my plastic guitar and drums and her Grandma says "Will you be playing us a song?"
"Not exactly" I replied. But her comment made me think about how back in the old days families used to sing songs together for entertainment. Families have since grown away from this type of group activity. It occured to me that games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero really harken back to those times when a family bonded by singing and playing music together.
Her family played Rock Band and loved it.

My question is, do you think gaming will become or has already become the new medium that brings families together again? Do you think gaming is at its high point as far as bringing families together goes?
 
A couple of weeks back on the 1up Show a couple of their contributors (Shane Bettenhausen, their unabashed Sony guy, and Jeremy Perish, who I think is their go-to Nintendo guy), were saying that they expect Microsoft to have a lackluster year in 2008 with regard to software releases. They pointed to the lack of widely published exclusive game announcements. Shane said that he believes Sony's going to have a much more attractive lineup than MS in 2008.

Start at about the 1:27:15 mark on the 11/30/07 Podcast and you'll hear the segment I'm talking about.

They list troubled titles and mentioned and said MS is "hemmoraging":
Marvel MMO
Alan Wake
Halo Wars
Banjo
Fable 2
Too Human

Shane also says that he expects the PS3 to be the "go-to" version on multiplatform games. The example given is Burnout--supposedly a bit better on PS3.

I was pretty surprised to hear them spin this way--what do you guys think? Would you bet that you will you be playing your PS3 or your 360 (or your Wii, for that matter) more at this time next year?
 
Do you think it's alright for video game reviews to criticize a game for not having certain features? When I was reading Gertsman's review for Kane and Lynch and in the review he says
"You can play through this story alone or with a friend in co-op mode, though this mode is only available locally and takes place on a vertically split screen that makes it difficult to follow the action, even on a widescreen TV."
Click to expand...
while in the bullet points he states " No online co-op mode." as one of the bad points.

Should a developer really be at fault for what they don't put in the game? If this standard was set earlier, would we see deathmatch in Bioshock or a campaign in Warhawk and would it make those games any better? I know Cheapy is a little biased towards Online multiplayer because of the majority of U.S. friends with 360s that he can play with, but honestly should the exclusion of a feature affect the quality of the game?
 
Sine it is kane and lynch I would say that is valid point. Bioshock, HL2, ect don't base there stories on two people so it wouldn't be ok to take points off for those games. Two guys against the world is the main point of the game so making it easier for two guys to go up against the world make sense to me.
 
Hey guys. What do you think of the Spike TV VGAs video-game event, that is, if you would even call this a video-game event. In my opinion, this was just a sad attempt by celebrities to act as if they were relevant to the video-game industry. The entire show was just about newer celebrities commenting bad video-game references, such as one I caught about a Medusa Head. The show went on for two hours with this repeating process, where finally for about a solid 2 minutes during the middle of the show, BAM, they just come out and state the winners as if it were a race to the finish. They had given about near ten awards in under 2 minutes, and a few others through out the other 2 hours. I feel it was just a huge block of celebs trying to be funny and I am very surprised that they didn't pick a game like Halo 3 just for the hell of getting credit from most of their viewers. And COD4 winning best shooter, but Bioshock winning game of the year? They realize that they were playing a shooter when they were playing Bioshock right? I am however happy to see a new IP actually win an award, which was Bioshock.

Oh and Spike, Wii Sports doesn't qualify after a year of being available.

PS: I think its time to start a new CAGBag thread, its quite crowded. Thanks guys.
 
Hey Cheapy. First of all well done with the childs play fund, i see that you have raised alot. I just wanted to know if you will post video on youtube of christmas in your apartment and have Tai wearing the soundwave jumper if it fits him yet.
 
Hey Cheapy'n'Wombat.
I'm always intrigued to hear other CAG's express an interest in CAG-themed Gamerpics. As a gamer who's ass is well and truly cheap, the idea of playing a buck for a handful of tiny JPEGs just doesn't make any kind of sense whatsoever to me.
I make it a point of principle not to pay for any gamerpics or themes - they feel to me like a completely cynical method of nickel'n'diming the consumer. More to the point, it just doesn't make finiancial sense. Are 10 sets of gamerpics in any way equivalent in value to Boom Boom Rocket? Not in a month of Sundays, they ain't. Are 5 sets of gamerpics equivalent in value to Space Giraffe? Whether or not you actually enjoy Minter's latest Tempest-a-like, you can't argue that it's not a fully fledged nugget of audio-visual interactive entertainment, worth far, far more than a pitiful bunch of static pictures, or a wallpaper of Lara Croft's tits.
Cheers,
Jonman
 
Kotaku pisses me off. It seems like at least once a week, one of their editors mentions a title from gaming past, and talks about how much it sucked, when in fact, the general consensus was that the game was pretty good, if not great. It made me think, do some games get better/worse with age? Why is this? Also, i'd like for Cheapy and Wombat to each name one game that has gotten better with age, and one that has gotten worse.
 
Do you think that Robocop is a movie worth getting in blu-ray. I've seen it here at local best buys but not on Amazon. Do you think you'll pick it up. (In blu-ray?)
 
CAG Bag questions -

Did any of you guys pick up Unreal Tournament III, if so how did you like it?

Cheapy, Wombat are you guys ever going to join PS3 cag in some online matches, Warhawk, UTII, or Call of Duty 4 [COD4 is unlike since you have it for 360 most likely].

Do you trust reviews? How do you choose what games to buy and not to buy?

unbanning manaknight?
 
Hey here's a question--have you noticed any of those famous PS3 controller dropouts with your DualShock3? I've been using my PS3 a lot more lately with some of the new games out and thus have been unpleasantly reminded about the SIXAXIS' propensity for dropping out in the middle of a game. I'm hoping they somehow fixed this with the DualShock3.....but I doubt it.
 
Great Cag cast like always I really enjoy the show.
We as gamers need to not be as demanding for games to be release so soon. I think a game that is being pushed back is a good sign and it shows a lot about that company; how they want to release the best product, establish a name for themselves and not have the title of cutting corners like for example EA.
I like how the next gen consoles allow for updates and patches however they are over using this function. I’m to the point that I don’t buy new games as soon as they're released anymore, I wait for all the patches and updates to follow shortly after. 60 bucks is a lot for an unfinished game. Do you feel the same way or am I alone on this subject?

Thanks for reading,
Cheerios WRATH

P.S.
I will buy a PS3 just for Littlebigplanet that looks amazing and so fun…
 
Hey Cheapy,
I have a couple of questions for you. Ever since you talked about that story with the kid getting in trouble for smoking pot and having his Dad sell his Christmas gift on eBay. Cheapy, now that you're a father, what's your reaction to this? If you caught Tai smoking pot when he was 16-18, what would you do? Talk to him? Punish him? Ask him where he got it? Do you think the father went over board or do you think he was too light with the punishment?
Thanks.
 
Hey Wombat, you and I are both moving at the same time, and I was wondering, what you think the absolute worst part about packing up is.

For me, it's dishes. I don't even have the luxury of just throwing them out if I don't like or use them (which I don't) because my parents bought them for me for X-mas when I moved into my place. They suck, they chip easily, and they are not, I repeat, not bachelor at all.

Next to that, it's packing things up over time that I want to use. I got the Wii packed up last night in the bottom of a huge box, and I woke up this morning with a hunger to play Galaxy.

Anyway, what's your least favorite part about packing?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top