CAGcast #210: The Perfect Length

If there is to be any kind of space combat in Mass Effect 2, I'd prefer if it were to be done via cutscene or quick time event. Have it initiate as a conversation with an enemy ship and either resolve it peacefully or have it turn into a full scale battle where you have options on what action to take. But I completely dislike the idea of it being something similar to Star Fox gameplay.

I'd rather have them focus on improving things they already have instead of trying to implement something into the game that may not work well (I don't want another Mako experience).
 
I just feel the need to point out Cheapy wasn't being completely fair when he claimed that the dlc add on, Demons of the the Badlands, for RFG was only an hour and a half long. Sure if you just play the main missions that's about all it would take but there's more to it then that. It's a whole new sector filled with all sorts of thing to do such as a significant amount of of new Guerilla Actions. The new demolition stuff in particular is quite good. I mean in the end it's more of the same but there's a good four or five hours worth of content in there at least. I certainly felt I got my ten bucks worth.
 
I don't like to hear any developer laying off employees but I'm not going to shed too many tears for Krome Studios. Seeing their name in the credits is like seeing the Wayans Bros on the marquee of a movie. You know it's going to be crap but somehow they keep getting work. Hellboy The Science of Evil is the buggiest game I ever played on my 360. It crashed every 15 minutes. I have no idea how that game passed cert. Star Wars Lighsaber Duels took a concept people had been begging for on the Wii and buggered it. Their Transformers Revenge of the Fallen game at least lived up to the quality level of the movie it was based on. (Yeah, that's saarcasm.) And finally Game Room with the f***ed up downloading game packs system you mention. Who but Krome would port 20 year old arcade and 2600 games to a modern Xbox 360 game system where the games would take half-second pauses like it somehow strained the system.
 
[quote name='SINNED']Shmup is an acronym.[/QUOTE]

An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a name. Shmup is not an acronym. Shmup is just all three words smashed together so they can be said in one syllable.
 
[quote name='SINNED']'em is an abbreviation/slang. Shmup is an acronym. Like I said, its like pronouncing the acronyms omg or wtf. You heard how bad it sounded when Wombat tried to pronounce them it. All my life ive never heard anyone pronounce "shmup", its just a short way to typing it, not pronouncing it.[/QUOTE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkKSrVwZDOM
 
[quote name='MattJ1991']i gotta say that I'm on your side with the space combat in Mass Effect 3 Cheapy, Wombat and Shipwreck were to quick to say no and I think you had some valid ideas.[/QUOTE]

I've heard Shipwreck praise much worse games than space flight sims, I don't know where he was coming from brushing off the entire genre. Tie Fighter is one of the best PC games of all time and we haven't had any games like it in awhile. There have been a few with lower budgets, but I'm really craving a AAA space flight sim.
 
Great show again, would like to just give a small shout to my gf Penny who is also a real trooper when it comes to my wittering about games, podcasts, superhero fantasies, post apocalyptic stratergies and all manner of other things she has no real interest in.
 
[quote name='nateeasy29']I appreciate you guys don't fell the need to dedicate 20 minutes of every show to Starcraft2. Seems like every other podcast has.[/QUOTE]

since only Cheapy played it, not much for them to discuss. curse you Wombat and Shippy! *shakes fist*
 
Cheapy I agree that Mass Effect 3 needs to innovate and not just polish.

One small change that would be awesome is for Bioware to steal how a ship moves to different solar systems in EVE online. In eve, when you go from place to place it animates it amazingly well instead of having a corny little star map with a toy ship

Also you guys should try gamerankings. I like that sites design
 
Another excellent show guys!
Cheapy, I have an iPhone game recommendation. It's called Godville - a massively-multiplayer zero-player game. You don't have to do much and it's very amusing to see what your hero gets up to. You can play it in your browser or on your phone. I'd like to hear what you think because I'm enjoying it.
 
Once again Cheapy and Wombat really have no idea about what they are talking about. You know it's funny, Cheapy goes out of his way to talk about how Kotaku doesn't fact check their stories, but they have topics that have been brought up multiple times yet still rather talk about it with very little knowledge.

1) It's Android not Droid

2) There is a Droid R2D2 model coming out, look it up.

3) Read any preview on Windows Phone 7 and it's glowing, people are excited and it's been said many many times, OF COURSE gamer score will carry over.

C'mon guys, you may not have to know everything but damn know something about the topics you are talking about. Little googling goes a long way.
 
I just wanted to say that I am also waiting for Windows Phone 7 and have not bought an Android or iPhone in order to wait for WP7.

The two reasons are for the XNA integration and the fact that Microsoft is making the phone super easy to create apps for. I've also read that it will be the easier than for Android or iPhone (though I obviously can't confirm that will actually be true).

Microsoft is going to spend their money to try and make this a success. No, it didn't work for Zune, but it did work for Xbox. So, I think they do have a chance.

Also, I have also seen a lot of excited press about WP7. We'll have to wait and see if it lives up to expectations, but I am definitely waiting!
 
To add to the previous posts, for those unfamiliar with the XNA framework, one of its biggest strengths is that applications written using it can be easily ported from the PC, Xbox360, ZuneHD2 (I think), and WP7. Also the framework was designed with video creation in mind, especially for the hobbyist. And best of all the development tools are free.
 
Wombat had the best one liner I've heard in a long time. "Oooo Dark Hole... stay away from that" that was a riot, i think it went over Cheapy and Ship's heads. I don't know why but that made me laugh my ass off
 
DeathSpank takes about 10-12 hours to do everything, though the in-game timer doesn't count time in dialog.

I'll be getting the second game because I enjoyed the game a lot and want more. The second Penny Arcade Adventures episode sold a lot worse than the first, so getting the next game out sooner should help get the attention of the people that are finishing up the first game as the news came out.

I guess I don't care enough about Halo Reach or the other retail games that are coming this fall that I'd ignore downloadable games completely for the rest of the year.

I'd rather have games be as long as they need to be instead of adding on fluff so it's long enough for the number crunchers to find it a financially responsible purchase.

Good show.
 
In the last two weeks I just finished Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 (and they were awesome!). I'm getting ready to play Fallout 3 next. Glad to hear I'm not the only one who takes forever to complete these massive games.
 
I remember being balls deep into fallout 3. I got to the basement of some random place; The Roosevelt School/Library or something like that. I saved with the intention of picking it back up in a few hours and haven't touched it since. This was a month or two after launch. Funny how that happens. :whistle2:/
 
WickedSoul: Thanks, man. It's been very hard. The dreams are the worse part. I have some dreams where he tells me everything's okay and then the last dream I had he wanted his PS3 back, lol.

It's been rough cuz we were the only gamers in a family of 6; our ideologies were completely different in every way but we could always talk games.

Thanks guys for answering my question. I appreciate it so much. It definitely helped me feel a little bit more at ease. And also, I agree with the other posters - thank you so much for not going on and on and on about friggin Starcraft 2. I love StarCraft but I'm just so dang sick of hearing podcasts talk about it.

Great show, guys. Love you guys.
 
great show...
btw why is it called the perfect length

Hey-guys-im-an-asshole-If-you-havent-figured-that-out-yet-then-listen-to-the-past-200-episodes-of-th.jpg
 
[quote name='misterine']great show...
btw why is it called the perfect length

Hey-guys-im-an-asshole-If-you-havent-figured-that-out-yet-then-listen-to-the-past-200-episodes-of-th.jpg
[/QUOTE]

Oh boy, CAG'ers trying to do 4chan memes. How GRAND.

Yeah, leave it to the pros.

I thought it was a decent show. Try to get Jeff Green on as a guest!
 
I completely agree with Cheapy on the $7 DLC topic. He's right theres just something about seeing DLC up for 560 instead of 800 thats appealing - and not the saving of $3 (whatever £). It just seems alot more reasonable and you feel alot less ripped off after you play it. I really wish it happened more often because i'd definitely pick up more DLC.

On Arcade Room - maybe a buying scheme that works like this. "Mix and match" - you go into Arcade Room (or whatever its called) and you can select say six different games "mixing and matching" then you can checkout with a set charge of say $7. I think that might work because when you mention the phrase "monthly subscription" most people declare themselves out.

Also on the ME3 topic, I agree with Cheapy again minus the whole flying the ship bit. I think the game just needs a more open world with much more depth - not just land on a planet, linear path, leave planet. Kinda more MMOy, without the "MO".

Anyway great show and keep up the good work!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I don't want to fly a ship in Mass Effect. If they want to break up monotony how about they make an element where you raise an army and give you a home base on some moon or planet somewhere. Maybe for the big final battle I'll need more than just my team to do in the reapers.

So I can cruise the galaxy recruiting soldiers from all over. Maybe even take a page out of metal gear peace walker and let you send your army on smaller missions where they can bring back credits, resources, recruit more soldiers, etc. while you're out and about doing missions for the big picture. Maybe even the base can come under attack from time to time so you have to swoop in and take care of some geth or whatever. And how about let us design the base the to our liking. I'm not talking some weak ass shit where in the end everyone's home base looks the same. I'm talking add guns and different facilities on your compound how you want so that you can show your friends your base and it's going to look different than theirs.

I don't want to drive around a vehicle. That shit sucks.
 
In line with your discussion about how the CAGcast used to rule the Digg podcast reviews, in addition to asking listeners to review the show on iTunes you should also ask them to review the CAGcast on the Zune Marketplace. (Psst, you don't have to have a Zune. Anyone with a Windows Live ID, like from Xbox Live or Hotmail, can log on to the Zune.net website.) Better to be a big fish in a small pond and all that. Plus think of all those newcomers to the Zune Marketplace when Windows Phone 7 launches. They'll see the CAGcast would be the most reviewed podcast there.
 
Are the models in the centerfolds really from the 1950's? They look way too good (and modern) to be from that era. Are we sure they're not current models? I mean, even the bush was nicely trimmed, and we know that wasn't the style back then.

I, for one, am disappointed that "This is Vegas" was cancelled (even though I had heard the rumor several months ago and was bracing myself for the confirmation). There was even a CAG user who posted a thread about how Amazon supposedly shipped his copy, and the anticipation by other members was through the roof. Ironic that Wombat mentioned "Saw" during that segment of the CAGcast, because the CAG user actually received that exact game instead of his copy of the much-hyped Vegas game.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
When Cheapy was describing Starflight, it almost sounded like he was describing another fun scifi game-- Star Control 2. I don't think the space combat in Star Control 2 would work in Mass Effect 2 (outdated among other things), but it would definitely be a different take than say the space flight combat games that have already been mentioned (Wing Commander, X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, etc.). You can customize the main ship with weapons, fuel, crew (HP), storage space (for minerals), etc. Along with your main ship, you had other ships from allied aliens that you could use in a space fight. I could go on and on but I think it'll just sound like I want Mass Effect to be the new Star Control. In terms of space exploration, dialogue options, and encountering different aliens, Star Control 2 does remind me most of those aspects from the ME series.

I could see ME adding space combat, but I think they either have to do it all out or not at all. If they can't nail on-foot combat (honestly, I thought the original did a better job), I don't think they would nail space combat.
 
[quote name='shieryda']Are the models in the centerfolds really from the 1950's? They look way too good (and modern) to be from that era. Are we sure they're not current models? I mean, even the bush was nicely trimmed, and we know that wasn't the style back then.[/QUOTE]

I think I read that they were actually from the 1960s mostly.
 
Good show guys. :applause: I don't like Wombat's new hum during the GoDaddy plug. Go back to the original Wombat or go fuck yourself!:D

And by the way...

[quote name='StriderNo9']
1) It's Android not Droid[/QUOTE]

Android is the OS. A Droid is a phone made by Motorola.
 
[quote name='Z_meista']Good show guys. :applause: I don't like Wombat's new hum during the GoDaddy plug. Go back to the original Wombat or go fuck yourself!:D

[/QUOTE]

Was it the theme from the "Star Trek" tv series?
 
Good show.

As far as Mafia 2, I haven't really read a review that mentioned the similarities to the first game, probably because nobody played the game and/or did their homework. I haven't played Mafia 2 myself, but I'd rate the game lower than it is for not making any significant changes in over 7 years. That's just incredibly lame. Good going for pointing that out Ship.

Hey Cheapy, you know what's better than $7 DLC? $5 DLC.

There's no way in hell I'd pay for a subscription service for Game Room, especially since you can probably find most of those games on various collections already. You already pay for Xbox Live. I don't see why someone would want to pay for an additional subscription on top of that every month for games that came out 30 years ago when you can get them way cheaper than a subscription fee other places, or even play some of them for free in your web browser.
 
I was going to say, I would love to see more vehicle based gameplay in the Mass Effect series, and then I recall how Mass Effect 1's little "exploration" moon buggy (the Mako) missions were my absolute least favorite part of the game. If they had done it differently, for example if that darn rover were upgradeable or if there was more to do aside from struggle up mountains and shoot at enemies, then it would've been far better. At higher levels, it was far easier to simply get out of the buggy and fight enemies on foot than to use the mounted weapons, which felt a little backward. Borderlands suffered from the same problem, with the vehicles' shields increasing insignificantly relevant to your level. At level 50 (or 61 with General Knoxx), many of the enemies can blow up your vehicle within seconds, your mounted weapons are like pea shooters against their shields, and even running them over does pathetic damage. I don't understand why it's so rare to see the vehicles also scale up in games where your character becomes gradually stronger and enemies scale up accordingly.

It feels like a strange comparison, but the Gummi Ship from the original Kingdom Hearts comes to mind as a decent example; obviously you wouldn't be sticking geometric shapes to your ship in Mass Effect but that sort of snap-on customization can be appealing if it's done right

Has anybody put serious time into Infinite Space (a turn-based space strategy/RPG for the DS)? I haven't played it but it seems like it would fill the upgradeable spaceship roleplaying niche nicely. Actually I might go find some reviews now... my interest has been piqued.

By the way, I'm writing an iTunes review right after this post!
 
Good show, thanks for the ipod/iphone stuff for kids. Pocket Sounds is also a good one to keep them occupied for a bit. Cheapy I can totally relate, it's perfect for saving those fussy times at dinner.
 
I haven't even bothered listening to this week's show yet since I'm behind, but I have to say the Audioboo today with the book reading was adorable and hilarious.
 
Whenever Shipwreck has an embargoed review he can't talk about, Cheapy and Wombat should play a game of "Guess the Score" to guess what rating he'll give the game.
 
I don't recall any references to the title while listening to the show, though I did listen a few days ago.

On GS' "store of the future" remodel, I went to one last week and noticed they had dlc cards. Also when I asked to check my credit balance, the guy showed me that interactive screen. Didn't really see what it could do besides a customer swiping their edge card to show balance. The guy thought the whole 'store of the future" gimmick "is kinda gay".
 
Great episode, fellas.

Also, I can see why some people aren't totally into the structure ME 2. A lot of is just one big recruitment tour (albeit a great one) but I think part of this is gearing up for ME 3. I don't know who Bioware will have show up in the third game, or whether they'll just go by who you saved at the end of the second game, but I don't think you'll have to worry about more of the same. I imagine it'll be a totally different experience, mostly focusing on finishing the fight against the
Reapers or possibly the Illusive Man. I don't trust that dude.
 
It's good to hear you guys going back and playing older games, like Fallout 3. Anyone looking forward to Fallout: New Vegas? Wombat???

Great show as usual. Thanks for the entertainment.
 
All I can say is thank goodness nobody from the Cagcast is a designer on Mass Effect 3. I do kinda feel where cheapy is going, but just don't think it fully fits the Mass Effect universe that well.

I think what they should do more of, is non-combat gameplay (think back to Noveria in Mass Effect 1 - I want stuff to do like this: http://guides.ign.com/guides/718963/page_116.html).

I'm just so bloody sick of being a space marine shooting the same shit over and over and over and. . .
 
not directly related to this specific podcast, but I'd like to congratulate Shipwreck on going from "that guy who actually uses Excel for his video game collection" to international shit stirrer on twitter. following his tweets requires popcorn. Wombat needs to step his game up.
 
Cheapy's "Starflight in Mass Effect world" would be great if it was for a separate game, but not actually be ME3. Based on the tone and play style of ME1 & ME2, it would be odd to have the game suddenly become exploratory in the way he described (but it might be cool to explore the ME universe in that way, in another new ME game, after the events of ME3...) - as per Wombat, I'd prefer Bioware use their resources to make the existing gameplay more refined and better, rather than suddenly introducing another mechanic.

Shipwreck - Not sure if you want to get into the Elemental: War on Magic bruhah 'cause the fanboys on the official site might hunt you down if you don't somehow love the game ;) . However, I do recommend you read into what's happening with the whole situation with that game: it's another interesting gaming cautionary tale, with some interesting elements involved (since it involves an indie dev with strong cred, the question of an unfinished game being released, the place of patching, etc.).
 
As far as someone purchasing games in Game Room I have bought 5 so far. H.E.R.O., River Raid, Pitfall, Megamania, and Seaquest. All great Activision games and I was happy paying 3 bucks for each of them. The new leaderboard functionality is a nice addition. Now I do agree the system does have some bugs and agree with Shipwreck's "Why does it need to exist when the Xbox Live Arcade already exists" argument, but it is a different thing and it is kind of nice to have a "house" you can decorate ala the Sims. And as far as your all's argument that if the games were bundled in a weekly pack at a discount that you would be happier I think you would just complain that the one game you wanted this week is bundled with 4-5 crappy games you don't want.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top