CAGcast #140: Faster, Quieter, Better

i'd like to do the netflix trial, but i already did in the past and was a member for a while. if i sign back up is there a way for CAG to make some money?

also, good show as always. i always listen twice and will hit my second run tomorrow.
 
[quote name='Chase']Wombat, your comments on Fallout 3 made me want to set fire to a roost of parrots. Perhaps your issues with identifying weapons and their purposes could be resolved by looking at each weapon's description and statistics? It shouldn't be too tasking as there aren't that many weapons.[/quote]

I agree.

*This is directed towards Wombat*

I cannot fathom how you are having these problems. It sounded like you were grasping onto anything and called it a problem. You made the comparison to Oblivion on how you knew which weapon was better because one short sword is rusty while the other short sword is not. This only holds true for a short amount of time, eventually the swords start taking on fantasy names. I don't know about you but I used a weapon based on how cool it looked and how much damaged it did, not on its name.

I don't understand how you are having a problem discerning whether this gun is better than this other gun. The obvious way to compare weapons is to compare how much damage they do. Obviously you are going to want to use the gun that does the most damage. Hey, if you run out of ammo for that gun or the condition reaches zero, then use a different gun.

Fallout 3 handles inventory the same way Oblivion did. The game tells you the damage, weight, value, and working condition of each weapon. The only difference is that Oblivion uses a number—one through 100—to denote the quality while Fallout 3 uses a bar. In the beginning of the game you are getting the shit kicked out of you and your weapons are sub par. As the game progresses though you get better equipment. I am almost carrying 20 weapons. So if I pick up a bunch of random things, then I will surely become encumbered. If I was not so into using different weapons all the time then, yeah it would be easier to pick up stuff without becoming encumbered so often.

You have difficulty discerning how much ammo you have? When you look at your gun it tells you what type of ammo it uses, how much is in the magazine right now, and your total ammo for that gun. There is also a whole tab dedicated to ammo only. Where is this difficulty in discerning how much ammo you have coming from?

How are you having trouble figuring out where to go. It works basically the same way Oblivion did. You have one quest active at all times. This is designated by a solid arrow on your map and a solid arrow on your compass. You can also set one waypoint of your own. This waypoint is designated as a open arrow on your map and an open arrow on your compass. Actually it is exactly the same except in Oblivion an active quest is a red arrow and your own marker is a blue arrow.

Alright now about the skills. There are no right skills to have. Just like in Oblivion there are no right skills to have. None of them are better than any other. You should be choosing your skills and perks based on how you want to play the game.

The game is friendly, at least friendly in how you interact with the game. I haven't had any problems interacting with the game design wise. My only problem is that my game crashes sometimes.

This is not an attack on you, I just could not let these accusations go unchallenged. Maybe you are just conflicted on why you don't like the game, while you think that you should, and in response you are just grasping for whatever you can think of to justify your dissatisfaction.
 
With the Micheal J fox elvis thing, does that have anything to do with the song by Mojo Nixon, anyway, dreat show guys keep em coming.
 
Of course you are not supposed to wash a baby every day, they dont have the same oil gland production as toddlers. You are drying out that kid!
 
[quote name='banodyne']I predict at least one more Xbox HDD upgrade option before this generation's over. A 360GB has a nice symetry to it, no?[/quote]
Do they make 360 GB hard drives? I can't imagine that they'd be cheap with the way the pricing for 360 HD's are right now. I think MS coversion rates would make it $500 for a 360GB drive.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']Do they make 360 GB hard drives? I can't imagine that they'd be cheap with the way the pricing for 360 HD's are right now. I think MS coversion rates would make it $500 for a 360GB drive.[/quote]

Ha, exactly. It's just so ridiculous between the HDD and that wireless internet adapter which still goes for a whopping $100. And with me reorganizing my gaming area, a wireless adapter would very much come in handy. Maybe for about $50. For $100, no way.
 
In regards to artist-specific Rock Band packs, like the Beatles pack, I wait for the Right Said Fred pack. If it comes with a catwalk, it's a day one purchase.

In all due seriousness, though, I have grown tired of the formula and games, especially if the future involves turning, presently free, user-created content into a subscription-based service.
 
Wombat:

Weapon condition plays an important part in damage. If your repair skill is low, sell the ones that have lower condition for caps.

This might help out a bit.

As for Oblivion, they had way to many ideas that were poorly implemented (leveling up with level scaling? What's the point?) Personally, I didn't enjoy it as much as Morrowind in terms of a good RPG game. It felt like a severely watered action game with an RPG label smacked onto it. It's a good game in it's own right, but not an RPG.
 
To Cheapy's avatar
Love the big ass chain :D

Also dig that your wife played the pervious fallout's, and can enjoy number 3 with you.
 
As always, awesome podcast. However I have to disagree with Wombat about Fallout 3. I had never played an Elder Scrolls game before Oblivion, so there was a pretty big learning curve at first for me. 10 hours in it all began to click, and Fallout 3 is exactly the same way.

All the stats are the same as Oblivion except the repair system. You have to collect the same/similar gun to "take parts" and fix your current one, as opposed to repair hammers in Bliv.

As for navigation, navigating the D.C. ruins can be tough because bridges are down and ruins often block the street so you have to use the subways.

Stick with it and 25 hours in you'l feel like King of the Wasteland!
 
I bet a game like Fallout 3 looks like a big project (aka work) to anyone with a new kid, wife and a job.

And when that happens the motivation starts to go. MOtivation to complete 100 hour games that is.

Just a guess.
 
I got Fallout 3 and just could not get into it. I was really hoping that with a different setting than Oblivion (something that's not a medival setting) that I might be able to enjoy it, but it's really just the gameplay that I can't enjoy, because I found the whole story of the game interesting, and I wish I could've enjoyed it more.
 
I'm gonna have to disagree with you guys on the GTA IV episodic content. Just because you two don't give a shit about GTA doesn't mean others don't. I have a sealed copy of oblivion sitting on my desk but instead I am going through the second time of GTA IV to try and gain all the achievements. As well as kill some characters that wound up beicoming a pain in the ass in the first run. I Love the GTA Series and I know it's more of the same but some people like that, ie Saints Row 2 is also more of the same but it seems Cheapy at least is treamendously enjoying that. GTA IV did not break sales records and was a huge success based on people who played the game for the short amount of times you guys did.
 
Ok , Ill defend my Fallout statements from the show. I guess the krux of my inventory complaint, was that I liked knowing whether I should pick up something or not just by looking at the name of the weapon.
If i was carrying an Iron longsword, I knew not to pick up a rusty longsword, just by the name of the item. I have no idea if a chinese rifle is better then a hunting rifle. I know I can look at the stats and take time to compare, but maybe I am just too lazy.

I feel like I spend more time in menus then playing that game.
 
Hey Guys,
I’ve been a CAGCAST listener for a very long time and in spite of your Xbox leaning ways (I only own a PS3) I remain a huge fan of the show. Its my favorite XBOX sponsored podcast.
After listening to this weeks podcast I felt compelled to give my 2 cents on the HOME Beta rant/opinion that Cheapy went on. I was one of the fortunate people selected to be on the HOME Beta since its inception so I know how the system has evolved over the years to get to where we are today. Cheapy, you are right in most of your criticisms about loading times and the fact that in its CURRENT form there isn’t much to do after about an hour or so of being in HOME. The bowling and pool games are meh and the other games scattered throughout the world such as Chess and Draughts are also on the meh side. I have been extremely critical in my feedback to the developers during the beta about the lack of incentive to return to HOME after that initial visit and the corporate vibe of the enviroment.
That being said, where I think HOME will shine is in the parts that aren’t yet in the beta. The trophy room and rewards system has yet to be seen and I personally feel this is where HOME will keep bringing us back to it. Imagine beating a game and then receiving not only a trophy but also a usable item that gets put in your apartment. You beat GOD OF WAR 3 and now outside your apartment in HOME the environment changes to ancient Athens complete with a giant Colossus in the distance. Beat a Boss in Killzone 2 and you get that special uniform that you can outfit your avatar in. Find a treasure in Uncharted 2 and it gets placed in your apartment to display on that empty coffee table. The full interaction with HOME and games has yet to be fully seen.
Here’s another cool possibility within HOME. When we get spaces that have scheduled events within HOME it will add another incentive to visit. Let’s say in the MARVEL COMICS space you get previews of upcoming titles that you can peruse as well as visits from artists/writers much like ComiCon panels. Win at a game or raffle and receive the Secret Wars Black spidey costume to outfit your avatar in. (That one was for Wombat)
Anyway, just give HOME a chance and realize that its still a beta and a lot of the functionality is not in yet till the public release.

Wombat, stickers in LittleBigPlanet are used to change the texture of the environments and to customize your sackboy. Check out these cool costumes that users have made using stickers.

http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grouppickf3.jpg
http://img518.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2ndgroupwu8.png

Thanks for the laughs,
GordyNYC
 
Good show guys. I don't think my stomach could take eating a hat. Just To let everyone know I got the idea to do a Beatles blog post about my grandpa and stuff so watch for that in a few days. I just got into the home beta and i was excited....until i played it for about an hour and i agree with you Cheapy the novelty wears off pretty fast. It seems kind small and slow. If they had the trophy room ready to go that would grab my attention but right now its just dull.
 
Cheapy, I cannot believe that you tried to justify the purchase of a HUGELY overpriced 120Gb by saying that it REDUCES the noise of the 360. I just wonder, what would you have said if it was the other way around and the PS3 was the lawnmower of consoles and they came up with a shady technique to make you buy a $150 120GB hard drive. I bet you would have been pissed and swore to never upgrade your PS3 hard drive.

I really like it when you criticize consoles for their short-comings, be it the PS3, the Wii or the 360, but I think you are getting too attached to your beloved 360 and you are loosing your touch.

Admit it, you just love to give Microsoft your moneys for stupid proprietary hard drives that you need because you couldn't play Dead Space properly. Which brings up my next question... Do you think that people should buy Dead Space on the PS3 instead of the 360 if they don't have space to install it on their HD?? No multiplayer means that Live is no longer a buying point, and having a noise console kills the atmosphere the game is trying to create. I'm asking because I saw the dead space icon next to your avatar picture, which means that you bought the game for the 360, even though it would have been a better purchase for the PS3.
 
[quote name='Wombat']Ok , Ill defend my Fallout statements from the show. I guess the krux of my inventory complaint, was that I liked knowing whether I should pick up something or not just by looking at the name of the weapon.
If i was carrying an Iron longsword, I knew not to pick up a rusty longsword, just by the name of the item. I have no idea if a chinese rifle is better then a hunting rifle. I know I can look at the stats and take time to compare, but maybe I am just too lazy.

I feel like I spend more time in menus then playing that game.[/quote]

Sounds like your comparing to Fable 2 with the 5 or 4 levels from rusty up to master. Like Cheapy said about just look at the damage it does. I think with my chinese rife or ak it's about 36 or something damage, and the hunting rife is just less than 20 I believe. The hunting rife pretty much sucks when getting super mutants on you, but it's the most used weapon from them, the raiders, and whoever else in the wasteland. So I don't see myself out of the game with the pip boy as the menu other than Fable 2's menu system that really takes me out of the game.

You'll probably scream with how you can repair, and how I pick up goods around the world, go back to my shack, store the items or sell them in megaton. To me I just see it as business to get caps, but I think you'll just be taken out of just "playing an rpg" or the game with a chore.
 
[quote name='Wombat']If i was carrying an Iron longsword, I knew not to pick up a rusty longsword, just by the name of the item. I have no idea if a chinese rifle is better then a hunting rifle. I know I can look at the stats and take time to compare, but maybe I am just too lazy. [/quote]

You compare equipment by name? Wow, first time I've ever heard anyone do that. As typical with RPG games you need to pay attention to stats, it's crucial. If you find this troublesome, perhaps RPG games are not your type of game.
 
Yo Cheapy! As an International CAG I need more info on subverting the Netflix IP check. You said the answer is that you have to log on to Netflix through the PC, which I assume means you use some kind of proxy server to change the IP? Couldn't you also just do that in the Xbox or PS3 system menu? What makes a PC easier? I would love to find a way to access the PS3 video store or get Netflix on my 360 here...
 
Cheapy I'm going to have to slightly agree with you regarding HOME.. the thing is... what's the reason why a person would visit HOME... I think that HOME needs to be something that's seamless w/ the PS3. Meaning that a place that you don't have to GO to but a place where you are.. For instance, for HOME to be a success, Sony needs to make it where when you cut on the console you start off from home, make it like the PS3s new menu. Similar to how the new Xbox 360 (experience) is seamless with its avatars and your friends avatars. So in home, when you start your system, you should start in the living room of your HOME space, and when you get ready to pull up a song or game, or use a function of the you pull up your PSP in home and there's your XMB.
 
There are a number of things that I regularly expect from the CAGcast: dick jokes, fart jokes, stories about people eating shit for money, and even the occasional nugget of relevant videogame news. What I do not generally expect, however, is a reference to the 1987 Mojo Nixon/Skid Roper classic "Elvis is Everywhere." Well played, Cheapy. Well played.

"Elvis is in your mom! He's in everybody!"
 
[quote name='Wombat']Ok , Ill defend my Fallout statements from the show. I guess the krux of my inventory complaint, was that I liked knowing whether I should pick up something or not just by looking at the name of the weapon.
If i was carrying an Iron longsword, I knew not to pick up a rusty longsword, just by the name of the item. I have no idea if a chinese rifle is better then a hunting rifle. I know I can look at the stats and take time to compare, but maybe I am just too lazy.

I feel like I spend more time in menus then playing that game.[/quote]

i agree, and is there a way to check the descriptions for an item? i swear there's no way to tell if the item is important or not or if it's strictly an item to sell for CAPs.

btw Wombat, there's no difference between the hunting and chinese rifles. it's all about the dmg and personal preference if you had to choose between one, i think. maybe i should get the strategy guide...
 
I'm not too excited about HOME at the moment. Unless they do something cool with it, such as add cool stuff with game spaces, then I don't know how often I'll be in it.

Fallout 3 - I am really enjoying this game. I do agree it sucks trying to get from point A to point B, but I love doing stuff like combining items to repair them, lockpicking, blowing off legs and arms with V.A.T.S. The game has a pretty good sense of humor too, which is pretty good.
 
Left4Dead is not a one trick pony. What you don't get to try in the demo is the Versus mode that pits the 4 Survivors against the zombie hoards and 4 player controlled "Boss" zombies. So between that and the Director AI, the zombies to me are more like the icing on the cake.

Also Cheapy, I figured your avatar would be wearing either a white or black suit.

As for my Home impressions I can sum them up in one word - Boring. There just isn't much that I find compelling to do in Home. I made my avatar with the very limited choices they give you. I decorated my apartment with some very stale looking furniture. And there really wasn't much else that I would want to do. The arcade games are very basic, but it's kinda dumb that you have to wait for one to have an open space in order to play one. The mall just screams micro-transactions and that really bothers me because I'm sure Sony isn't going to give much away for free. The game-specific rooms are the only thing that interest me. However, the one for Uncharted has some hidden things that I can see someone who played and really enjoyed the game getting something out of. I'd like to see a Mirror's Edge room that let you run your avatar through a parkour course. There's some potential there, but the rest of Home seems like a waste to me.
 
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Great show, thanks for the laughs and great information Cheapy and Wombat.

However, like some others have stated, you did a grave injustice to Left 4 Dead. Far from being a one trick pony, this game has the potential to be one of the greatest games coming out this summer (well summer in australia).

The two game modes in the game are the campaign and Vs. Mode.

Campaign Mode: Available in single player and 4player co-op.
Far from being fun once, there are 4 cinematic "movie" campaigns which are different each time in how and when and which zombies you must survive against. ("movie" campaigns in reference to the way the game plays out like your are in a movie). With the 4 player co-op this will also be one of the all time great modes for that small scale LAN or game night. There is also a very large jump in difficulty and skill required for the four difficulties. The hardest difficulty requires an extreme amount of team co-ordination and tactics (vs different zombie bosses), and will be a fantastic challenge every time as no tow runs will be the same so no system can be used to guarantee victory.

Vs Mode: The real selling point as far as I'm concerned. 4 survivors vs 4 players controlling boss Zombies. The humans will have to survive as they make their way to the next safe point while the zombie players spawn as random zombie bosses and have to kill off the humans before they reach their goal. (The zombies have a respawn timer if killed while the humans, who are stronger, once dead are dead for the round.)With so many unique talents available to different zombies, this will provide countless strategies and extreme teamwork to either fend of the zombies or pick off the survivors if you are on the zombie team. This will provide endless entertainment and be a great successor to CS and TF2.

I know this might sound like a fan-boy rant, but I hope you give it another look once the full release is out, as if the very limited demo is anything to go by, you may find it hard to play anything else for a while. Keep up the great podcast guys.
 
Cheapy, I felt your pain when you shared you story about "breaking" the wedding level in LittleBigPlanet. I spent a good 40 minutes just trying to get past that part. I was constantly knocking over the skulls that were supposed to be launching you in the air. I had to restart the level many many times before I finally made it through.

Basicly, it was frustrating. It shouldn't have been. But the designer decided to not "lock" them to the level.
 
[quote name='Tachikoma']Great show, thanks for the laughs and great information Cheapy and Wombat.

However, like some others have stated, you did a grave injustice to Left 4 Dead. Far from being a one trick pony, this game has the potential to be one of the greatest games coming out this summer (well summer in australia).

The two game modes in the game are the campaign and Vs. Mode.

Campaign Mode: Available in single player and 4player co-op.
Far from being fun once, there are 4 cinematic "movie" campaigns which[...]

Vs Mode: The real selling point as far as I'm concerned. 4 survivors vs 4 players controlling boss Zombies. The humans will have to survive as they make thei[...]

I know this might sound like a fan-boy rant, [/QUOTE]it sounds like you should be writing for the back of the box.
 
Cheapy I must agree. The NXE is GREAT! Check out my avatar. I'm just having a problem with private chats ever since I installed it. I'm also getting disconnected from XBL about every hour or so. How about you?
 
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[quote name='IGC']Cheapy, I cannot believe that you tried to justify the purchase of a HUGELY overpriced 120Gb by saying that it REDUCES the noise of the 360. I just wonder, what would you have said if it was the other way around and the PS3 was the lawnmower of consoles and they came up with a shady technique to make you buy a $150 120GB hard drive. I bet you would have been pissed and swore to never upgrade your PS3 hard drive.

I really like it when you criticize consoles for their short-comings, be it the PS3, the Wii or the 360, but I think you are getting too attached to your beloved 360 and you are loosing your touch.

Admit it, you just love to give Microsoft your moneys for stupid proprietary hard drives that you need because you couldn't play Dead Space properly. Which brings up my next question... Do you think that people should buy Dead Space on the PS3 instead of the 360 if they don't have space to install it on their HD?? No multiplayer means that Live is no longer a buying point, and having a noise console kills the atmosphere the game is trying to create. I'm asking because I saw the dead space icon next to your avatar picture, which means that you bought the game for the 360, even though it would have been a better purchase for the PS3.[/quote]

It's better on 360,no forced installs and the controller fits this type of game better.
 
While talking about your new Bluetooth Headset, Cheapy, you mentioned how you wish you could charge it evejn with the PS3 not running. I have both a 360 and a Wii, and I frequently will charge my USB accessories (360 Controllers, iPods, and whatnot) using the Wii's USB ports. If you have the system sitting there anyway, you might as well make it a useful charing place for your electronics.
 
[quote name='Spartan V07']It's better on 360,no forced installs and the controller fits this type of game better.[/quote]

No force installs?? You are forced to install the whole thing, as Cheapy said, otherwise you are playing a survivor horror game with the cleaning lady vacuuming the carpets of the spaceship behind you.

About the controller, I'll give you that if you prefer that controller, but even then, the noise is a bigger drawback than using one controller over the other.
 
[quote name='Shivy']While talking about your new Bluetooth Headset, Cheapy, you mentioned how you wish you could charge it evejn with the PS3 not running. I have both a 360 and a Wii, and I frequently will charge my USB accessories (360 Controllers, iPods, and whatnot) using the Wii's USB ports. If you have the system sitting there anyway, you might as well make it a useful charing place for your electronics.[/quote]

Really? Can't wait to play my Nintendo Deluxe USB Charger next!
 
On the question about the Failure to Launch level in LBP, i remember the level being an spoof xbox 360 level so i don't think it was based on the title of that crappy kate hudson movie.
 
The Sony headset sounds great, Cheapy, have you tried charging it via your computer USB port?

I'm sure you keep your computer on most of the time, so if it works that is a possible solution.
 
Wombat! I were really dissapointed with your fallout 3 bitching.
I agree that Fallout 3 doesn't explain or make it easy for you,
but that is kinda the porpouse of the game.

If you just had bothered to read the fucking manual,
it is one of the best i have seen for a game and explains everything :)

Keep up the good work with the show CheapyD and Wombat.
Nearly every show makes me laugh out loud on the bus.
My fellow Norwegians are shocked everytime,
I guess lol'ing on the bus isn't acceptable here in the cold north ;-)
 
[quote name='Spartan V07']It's better on 360,no forced installs and the controller fits this type of game better.[/quote]

Ya but dead space has no forced install on the ps3 version so what the poster was saying was maybe for this time since it has all the same features minus the loudness of the 360 the ps3 version was a better choice.
 
I was extremely disappointed to see that Silverado is not available for "instant watching" on Netflix. Wombat, use your special wombat powers and get Netflix to get it in there.
 
I don't buy many games, (I have only bought Gears of War 2 out of the recent load of awesome games) and I play Madden 09, and Call of Duty 4. Do you know if the load times on any of these games are significantly cut? And really what is with all the Wombat haters?
 
Hey Cheapy and Wombat - long time listener(since episode 8) first time responder to one of your questions on the show...

You wanted some home beta impressions? Here they are.

The Good: Home Beta is perfect for making new friends if you're into chatting to strangers via headset or keyboard. There are a lot of users. The graphical design scheme is very sleek almost Apple Computer inspired. It feels very much like you're playing a second life "game" or something (if you're into that sort of thing). It's sometimes fun to go on to see if there are any new items available but it requires you to walk to the stores. You can do a lot of character customization and customization of your home space which is kinda fun if you're into the Sims. The game areas(fall out 2, drakes fortune, resistance) are kinda cool
they have high quality textures and models from the actual game. There are locked areas that you can enter via passcode to check out models from the game(ie you can go into Sully's office from drake's forture and look at a bunch of idols and artifacts that are available throughout the game).

then there's the bad.....


The bad: You download a file when you first get it (~100megs). The file does not include any of the areas in it(ie central plaza, game room, theatre) so when you load up Home if lets say you want to go to any of those areas it requires you to download each seperate area when you are about to visit it. This requires approximately a 15 minute wait time while the area downloads(40meg+ file). Downloading each area is very frustrating. There are load times between areas. The selection of character creation options are VERY limited. The amount of available furniture and home spaces is very limited. The mall is a very dull place with many stores not open yet. The stores will have maybe ~10 items tops.
To find out what the new items are you have to walk to each store. Watching game footage in home beta is pointless. Sony really hasnt explained to the end users why I am doing everything within home and not on gametrailers.com or cheapassgamer.com. Why should i load up Home, walk to the theatre, wait for the video to load, then watch a trailer with a bunch of strangers dancing and watching a SOCOM confrontation demo? Why? I can just go to a website to do that!

Quite frankly it's a glorified menu system. Sony if you clone XBL or even Steam you'd be fine.

The most fun you'll have is playing some music in the plaza dancing next to a bubble machine wearing a cowboy hat.

It is still a beta and Sony does take the feedback from the beta testers seriously.



Thanks for the great show guys.
Take Care
Sean
 
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