CAGbag: Get your questions answered on CAGcast

Hey cheapy, when you were learning japanese what was harder for you, speaking the language or learning the alphabet? I took a semester of japanese and I can see the language being a bit tough at times but I didn't think the alphabet was too hard, its just a lot of memorization, I learned hiragana, katakana, and a few kanji.
 
Hey Cheapy and Wombat (and may be Shipwreck if your there). Killzone 2 has been left out of the "Game of the Year" category at the Video Game Award show on Spike this year. I won't say what I think, but I want to hear your honest opinions.

http://www.spike.com/event/vga2009

And also, who do you want to win, and think will win.
 
CheapyD, you've mentioned many times about your son going to daycare/preschool where I assume he's learning Japanese. I'm also assuming that you speak to him and to Mrs Cheapy in English when he's at home... so is he learning and speaking both languages? How do you usually communicate with him? I ask because when/if I have a child I'm guessing I'll probably be in a similar situation (moving to Hong Kong)
 
CheapyD, Wombat, and ShipWreck :

Sometimes Penny Arcade nails it right on the money. This Wednesday's comic was about how games that peddle plastic crap are starting not to sell because people are running out of room to store it all. I couldn't help but think that this indeed has become the case. Furthermore, I think I can give an approximation on when it became too much, and that was with Rock Band.

With Guitar Hero, you had one or two plastic guitars you kept a closet somewhere near your game consoles. They didn't take up too much space by themselves, and the games were new and fresh enough to justify it. Rock Band was a great game, but at the same time the plastic it comes with takes up a lot of space. It should come to no surprise that, after having to deal with the Rock Band equipment taking up space somewhere in your household, the average consumer would become hesitant to buy more games with plastic addons that would do the same.

Lastly, music games just aren't as fresh as they were with Guitar Hero I and II. They will always have an audience, but they're no longer going to be the top seller they once were.
 
Hello to Cheapy, Wombat and Shipwreck

Modern Warfare 2 has totally hooked me, and I wanted to know what your favourite create-a-class and killstreak rewards are. Mine is an M4 with a heartbeat sensor. Perks are scavenger pro, stopping power pro and steady aim. Death streak 'reward' is martydom. My killstreak rewards are at 4, 7 and 9 kills.

Love the show guys, keep it up

Peace
 
Hey Cheapy, Wombat and Shipwreck!

Recently I've been trying to play Modern Warfare 2 online and while I'm no slouch at FPS games, I just can't do well in it at all. Every match I'm getting a negative kill/death ratio and I end up throwing my hands in the air in anguish, swearing I'll never touch this game again. Yet, an hour or two later I go back and try my luck, thinking that somehow it's going to be better. I'm afraid I'm developing battered wife syndrome at this rate...

Have you guys ever had a game that was so frustrating yet you couldn't put it down?
 
Yo cheapy and wommbat,

since we are only 22 episodes from the 200th show of the cagcast. what do you guys have planned to commemorate such a momentous occasion? perhaps another clip show? please tell.
 
Hello CheapyD,Wombat,Shipwreck,
I've been saving up for a pair of Turtle Beach headphones(XBOX360) for a looooooooooooong time, and I was wondering if you guys could give me a few suggestions on which model I should buy. Thanks a bunch,
-ManjiDrift(CloseConfine)

P.S
Wombat is a sexy beast.
 
Cheapy,
After listening to the black friday show (which was pretty terrible thanks to the callers), I wondered if you would ever co-host with Jimmie Mac. I thought you guys had a good back and forth and he has an interesting personality and a bevy of funny stories. Just something to think of in case Wombat can't make it or you just want to make the show better by not having him on it. (No offense Wombat, you're a nice guy but I've been getting bored with you as a host lately.)
And thank you Cheapy for getting me into the Stern Show. Your appearance was my first listen and I haven't missed a show since.
 
Cheapy,
Since you said from previous podcasts that your Japanese isn't all that bad, you should make some videos of yourself speaking/interacting with other Japanese people. And when you do converse with Japanese people on a daily basis, do they get kind of nervous around you since you are a big, balded, sexy jew?
 
I recomend you guys have a new segment where you take in calls like you did on the Black Friday Show. I really enjoyed you guys either be nice to the guy or a complete jerk. (Just kidding) Anyway, I think this would be a very nice addition to the already great podcast.
 
Hey Guys, love the podcast. Seeing as Cheapy and Wombat seem to be very lazy when it comes to blogging I'm going to direct this question to Shipwreck. Shipwreck, you seem to be a very active blogger and I am curious to where you would blog, if you did before CAG. Love the podcast and the site.


Game Safe,
Mayday
 
Cheapy, now that most of the CAG 2.0 features has rolled out, what are the plans for a visual 2.0?, maybe another theme for us? hopefully a white one!

Also on that note, did your disgruntled graphical designer back off? haven't heard you mention it in a long time.
 
Cheapy, Wombat, and Shipwreck,
I was wondering if any of you had heard of the whole ECA membership fiasco? Apparently, there is no option to cancel your account, cancel the auto renew membership, or remove your credit card information from the site after the Amazon discounts were taken down. Tons of people (including me) are trying to cancel their accounts but have no way to do this. The response from ECA contacts on the ECA forums says to send them feedback through a form on their site but nobody has gotten a ever response from this. After shooting them an email about the matter, I read in their policy email/phone is not allowed either. The only other option according to the contact, is to cancel the membership by sending a request through snail mail in order to prevent "lazy and finicky" members from canceling. I think this is a shoddy way of getting members to auto renew without their intent or knowing of the matter. However, what adds insult to injury is the fact that they lied about the reason taking down the cancel membership page and that the ECA is an association against this type of shit. They are now also deleting mass amounts of forums posts and topics about this issue without responding to any of the questions. Thoughts?

EDIT:
Found the official response for email termination
"Why can’t we terminate via email?

Because the org has grown too large to handle the volume and requiring a mailed piece separates those who are serious from those who are lazy or finicky – joining and leaving repeatedly – and it gives us written documentation, a paper trail to reconcile against"
 
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Hey Cheapy, you mentioned a while back that you were going to tell an interesting moving story involving only one box, did you ever tell that story? I don't recall ever hearing it. Also, CAGcast #200 is slowly approaching so I was wondering if you were going to make another clipshow but for #102-#200?
 
Any chance you can talk about Sony's firmware 'issues'/pending lawsuit (3.00, 3.01)? I know not everyone has been affected, but some out there definitely seem to have been.
Sony's Terms of Service say their firmware updates are provided as-is with no warranty, and they are not responsible for any issues that may come up with your system after their latest update is installed.
If Sony requires you to update your firmware to play online, or to simply play a single-player game (such as God of War Collection did to me), how can it not be held accountable if its firmware is proven to 'brick' systems?
I understand firmwares 3.00 and 3.01 have never been proven to be the cause of this mass system-wide failure, but as it stands now, those people whose systems are not able to read any media (which is what I effectively define as 'bricked'), are being asked by Sony to send their systems in for repair for 'only' $150.
To me, that's unacceptable. Luckily, I'm not one of those affected, but it seems they have no recourse, aside from buying a new system.
Just wanted to know if you guys had any thoughts on the situation.
 
Yo Cheapy, Wombat, Shipwreck. After hearing that your 360 red ringed Cheapy, i seem to remember my previous two 360s that red ringed also occured during November. It seems when the great games of the year come out in the fall, 360s start failing.

Do any of you three guys remember what time of the year that you got your red rings?
 
Hey Guys,

Just registered for the forums as this is the first time I've had a legitimate question. But first I just wanted to say your podcast is my favorite hands down. Also, I wanted to let Wombat know I found the podcast before the website.

So I've been listening to you guys for a little over a year now and I feel like I know you guys pretty well, which is weird since I really don't. I've only just thought of this recently because I started my own podcast (2 Chimps on a Davenport) that gets about 2000 listeners and there are probably some people who feel like they know me personally. Have you had any weird experiences with people that are strangers to you, but see you guys as close pals?

Your close pal,
ExplicitD
 
Hey CheapyD quick question,

I am visiting Tokyo for the next 3 weeks and was looking to pickup a copy of FF13 when it came out, do I need to preorder it or something when I get over there? Or will I be able to just pick it up on launch day? If so any particular store I should go to?

Thanks
 
Cheapy & Wombat,


Im currently in my sophmore year of college and still undecided on my major. I havent decided on what I want to be, but I know I want it to have something to do with video games. I was thinking of being a video game journalist and I was wondering if you guys had any tips or advice on how to do this? Classes I should take, or steps that need to be taken or things I should work on. I think the perfect job would be going to shows and expos around the world, talking and writing about things that I talk about with my friends everyday, even though I know the job is alot tougher then it seems.
 
Why does everyone in the world aspire to be a video game journalist? Short of the Hollywood movie industry, it's got to be the most volatile, over-saturated position in the world.
 
sup guys,

cheapy whatever happened to the your man in japan segment? and what has become of the cags bracelet program?
 
Just a quick question, some time back on one of the cagcasts you mentioned that Super Programer John was planning on starting a show has any progress been made on this? Is he still planning on doing a show? It would be good having a british version of the CagCast.
Also as Chadfx said what has happened to the man in Japan segment?
 
How good are you guys at evaluating your opinions before purchase?

More game reviewers constantly harp on how they don't like to talk abut games before fully reviewing them because they don't want to seem impartial. You guys don't have that problem. So when you guys see a game (not more-of-the-same sequels like Mass Effect* and such) and you watch the preview videos and trailers and such how accurate are your impressions when you actually get the game. Are you guys generally good at knowing what you like or are you constantly surprised at how you misjudged a game.


*Mass Effect 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Final Fantasy ##, these are games that are fundamentally the game as the original.

Games like Red Steel 2, Resident Evil 4, or Red Faction: Guerrilla are more vast departures from their predecessors
 
My Elite that I bought a year and a half ago just gave me the 1 red ring E73 error, which is not covered by the 3 year warranty (is covered by the 1 year warranty but too late for that :( )

What should I do? Pay MS the $100 to fix it, or try to force it to 3 red ring with the toothpick or towel trick, or just go buy a new jasper arcade?

Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks guys I love the show! Been listening since episode 1 (ish)!
 
One question:

- Kotaku recently signed a deal with CBS Radio to broadcast and house Kotaku Talk Radio in their studios. What we do as listeners to make the CAGcast bigger and/or raise awareness?
 
Hello Cheapy and Wombat,

Since both of you have experienced multiple hardware issues with the Xbox 360 I was wondering if either of you have run into this problem: Occasionally when my controller battery goes dead I connect the USB plug-in-play charger and much to my dismay the Xbox powers down and shows the 3 red lights. This is the only time my xbox ever shows the red rings and it powers back up right afterwards as if nothing happened.

Thanks again.
 
Dear Cheapy,

I noticed in some of your episodes of the cagcast you talk about your use of pot, and in some episodes you talk about how your parents listen to the cagcast. So in one of the many episodes they must know about your smoking pot. What do they think and also what does your wife think about the subject? I'm a big fan of You Wombat and Shipwreck. Always a party @Shipwreck
 
[quote name='Vegan']Why does everyone in the world aspire to be a video game journalist? Short of the Hollywood movie industry, it's got to be the most volatile, over-saturated position in the world.[/QUOTE]


Because its what I want to do....why does it matter to you? The question was for Cheapy and Wombat sooooooooo
 
Not sure if anyone asked this before, but I was wondering if we could get an iPod Touch/iPhone App/game forum on CAG. I realize there are a lot of websites that provide a forum for talking about games, but the CAG community has a good eye for the value proposition of, say, a $10 Xbox 360 game. I would love to hear what CAGs think about games on a platform that run $1 to $7, and if they have any good recommendations for a platform where its hard to weed out the crap.
 
One thing that keeps a podcast from getting stale or annoying is keeping it real and not getting carried away with the shtick. A lot of podcast hosts tend to get wrapped up in it when they realize fans are reacting to it, because hey, who doesn't want the positive attention? You seem to be able to be able to maintain objectivity and step back from all that and explain your positions very well while still having fun. Also, you try to be very sincere and are always open to constructive criticism. I enjoy your podcast so much that I've created an account just to say thanks. I appreciate the hour long format as well and I don't mind when you guys go over, it helps during the boring parts of the day!
 
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In the light of the recent discussion on the last CAGCast about a radio contract

For Cheapy, what would you do if the CAGCast got a real contract for a 5 day a week Live Cagcast on a popular radiostation, would you move back to America?
 
http://features.metacritic.com/features/2009/the-best-games-of-2009/?tag=topslot;title;1

This is an article of the "Best of 2009" stuff on Metacritic. Is it just me or is Metacritic sucking Sonys wang? Just on the first page of the article I see several things that just don't make any sense and are cleary pushing the fact that the PS3 is the shizz nizz. The median metascore for the PC is 72.5 and the PS3 is 72, but it says that the PS3 is number 1...?
Then the best reviewed games just seem fishy with the way they rank them(games with the same scores on different consoles always have the PS3 games ranked higher..?)
So what do you thinks going on there? Do you think they got pizznaid to post that? Or were they just trying to seem edgy by saying the PS3s the best thing since sliced bread, even after all of its criticisms over the past few years..? I'm not sure.

Also have you ever heard of Lead and Gold Gangs of the Wild West? Me neither. But I think that this will be the surprise hit of 2010. Its like Team Fortress 2 in the Wild West, what's not to like?

http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/6267...rticles/69376/Lead-And-Gold-Hands-On-Preview/
 
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Since you guys have been talking about Pinball a lot...
Ever been to Shorty's in Seattle?
It's a dive bar with cheap beer and tons of pinball machines, from the 80s and 90s
Link
http://www.shortydog.com/

Another question:
How about some more college fraternity stories? I know Cheapy was forced to do the "elephant walk."
 
Hey Cheapers, Wombie and Shipperdeedoo,

So, I've heard Cheapy talk about the soon-to-be CAG trading system. My question is this: why should I start using the CAG trading system instead of Goozex/Ebay/Amazon/Gamestop?

Cheapy - put yer salesman hat on and convince me!

Mind how you go,
Jonman
 
I'm sure this has been asked before, but have you ever thought about selling CAG merchandise? I'd love to get a CAG t-shirt or a CAGcast hoodie. I'm guessing it'd be too much of a pain in the ass for you to do, living in Japan and all. Just a thought, thanks.
 
A little question for Wombat:

I remember that you said you watched Scrubs, and that you have never missed an episode. Do you watch the new season? And what do you think of it?
 
Hey guys, just listening to the live CAGcast right now and Cheapy brought up something about giving a tour of his apartment and it reminded me, what happened to making that apartment tour you said you'd do at the end of your office tour (yeah I remember small things like that haha). Awesome show so far guys!
 
CheapyD, I was wondering if you could say "The fact of the matter" more often?
I've listened to every cagcast, and "In fact" has been used too frequently.
Your word choice is in fact really important, since you don't socially interact as much anymore.
 
Cheapy,
Have you heard of?

CHEAP
The High Cost of Discount Culture
By Ellen Ruppel Shell

I am reading it now, and given the name of the site I think it would be up your alley. It is a discussion of how and why we are motived to shop and the reasons (some times biological!) as to why we seek out the cheapest price. Anyway, I like the book so much I am willing to send you a copy if you promise to read it and talk about it on the show.
 
whats up cheapy and stew,

cheapy have u ever given any thought into making a video "podcasts" , having a audio podcast is nice and all but i find myself wondering if having a visual form of a podcast would make things better for the CAG community. several sites nowadays allow for live feeds to broadcast directly in the cag site. if u can please answer my answer my question and try to give the cag community a clear answer on live video podcast.
 
Hey Cheapy and Wombat,

With they very cramped first three months of the year coming up, do you think there's anything in it for publishers to continue to announce more and more games for release between January and March? At a certain point, it gets too crowded like the fall a lot of these games already avoided, but it seems like they've just put themselves into the same situation just without that Modern Warfare 2 thing to make it look like a smart move as these games fight for the scraps of a post-holiday season. I looked at the release schedule and there's pretty much at least one game a week that's notable, which is very unusual even with the big starts we've seen for 2008 (Burnout Paradise and DMC4) and 2009 (Resident Evil 5, SFIV, and Killzone 2). Capcom's already opted out of this mess by pushing Dark Void, Lost Planet 2, and a few others, so they're at least recognizing the potentially bad situation.
 
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