CAGcast #75: Playing with Our Wizards

Wombat offers impressions on his new PS3 and CheapyD talks about his first Pokemon experience. We also discuss the latest game industry and shopping news, answer your CAGbag questions and so much more!

Download - 94 minutes, 43MB

Past CAGcasts



[media]http://media.libsyn.com/media/cheapyd/cagcast75.mp3[/media]

Show Linkage/Notes (click the button below to expand):

Cheese fries.

Can't wait. Thanks, guys!

You guys do realize that you can swap the primary/secondary fire in Resistance to the R2/L2 buttons respectively?

I love the XMB

And I love using R1 as my shoot button in Resistance. BTW, you can change your button layout.

You know, now that I think about it, I think giving Wombat his PS3 for free adversely affects his feeling about it.

Not that he shouldn't have one for free, but I'm saying that not having anything invested in the system beyond his time, he can afford to be unabashedly positive about it.

If I got a PS3 for free I know I would love it long time. I would hug it and squeeze it and call it Georgette.

I never posted in the show 74 thread .
Great gift Cheapy , enjoy it Wombat !

P.S. I guessed it correctly .

[quote name='Richlough']Happy Birthday Wombat , 30 is not the end .

Enjoy your .[/QUOTE]

"Get outta the light....you're in my light"


Funny show guys. Really enjoyed it.

Another great show to help make work a little more bareable. Also, no contest this week?

Agreed about Dead Rising... I was hoping the Infinite mode would be what it sounds like, i.e. the game with no timer, which is what I'd love.

So frustrating to be put in the ultimate zombie sandbox, but not allowed to explore/play with it the way I want to. The demo had it right.

It's because of the timer I refuse to buy Dead Rising. I hate timed games too. Timed missions in games suck too. Great show guys! always entertaining on the way home. CheapyD, what is your most powerful Pokemon right now?

I believe the triggers on the 360 and ps3 controlllers are fundamentally flawed... because they're not expressly made to be utilized by your trigger finger! My index finger is naturally more responsive than my middle finger, but using it on the trigger would lose simulatenous use of the shoulder button. They should have done away with the shoulder button, and instead put buttons on the back of the grips where your fingertips rest. But that would probably count as innovation... which just results in industry-wide mocking... everyone just wants to be the Second Guy: he who polishes the idea and gets the genius credit for it.

I didn't hear what buttons are mapped to firing in Resistance. I think you forgot to tell us although it could just be me. I don't have a PS3 or 360, but I didn't like the PS3 triggers in the store. They felt too spongy.

I wonder if Wombat's opinion of the PS3 would be different if he actually had shelled out $600 of his hard earned money for it? I would have to think he would be more critical. I know if I pick up games for $10 I'm alot less critical than if I pay $50-$60 for them.

Also now I see why game developers put out half-ass games especially at launch. Many hardcore gamers will buy anything cough Untold Legends cough.

Overall I enjoy the podcasts, I have listened to every one of them. As for the interviews, I actually enjoy them being broken up and really enjoyed the special guest family members. My complaint however is this, for quite some time it feels the CAGcast has been a 360 promotion while you have put down the other 2 consoles. I actually feel that the DS and PSP coverage has been pretty fair across the board. I always attributed this to the fact that the 360 has been around longer and has better and a bigger abundance of games giving you more to talk about. However with the purchase of the PS3 for Wombat, very nice and generous BTW, and the follow up Cagcast with Wombat's experiences and opinion on the PS3 I thought CheapyD's prejudice towards the 360 above all others really came out.

CheapyD seemed almost shocked that Wombat liked many of the things that Wombat thought were good. CheapyD almost seemed to try and talk Wombat out of liking these things. It also seemed like he couldn't wait and move on to talk about Lost Planet and praise it for being a 360 exclusive. I personally wanted to hear more of what Wombat thought about the system and his first impressions.

There are a lot of other examples of the podcast being a little pro 360 skewed, which like I said, I attribute to the fact that it has been out longer, has more games and better games. No sane person would argue that the PS3 and Wii are as good or fun as the 360 right now, and the 360 gives you more to talk about. But I would rather have heard more positive and negative impressions Wombat had after the initial hookup since it was finally a chance to have something to talk about for the PS3 especially a first impression. That is a moment that can't really go back and be revisited and I thought it was a moment that got lost. That first impression of the PS3, like previous first impressions of other systems is only going to happen once and I was diesappointed with how the discussion was treated.

Wombat you can change your controls in Resistance. I too changed R2 into my fire button.CheapyD you look into a proxy to spoof a US Ip address.

[quote name='jaystaeb8']Overall I enjoy the podcasts, I have listened to every one of them. As for the interviews, I actually enjoy them being broken up and really enjoyed the special guest family members. My complaint however is this, for quite some time it feels the CAGcast has been a 360 promotion while you have put down the other 2 consoles. I actually feel that the DS and PSP coverage has been pretty fair across the board. I always attributed this to the fact that the 360 has been around longer and has better and a bigger abundance of games giving you more to talk about. However with the purchase of the PS3 for Wombat, very nice and generous BTW, and the follow up Cagcast with Wombat's experiences and opinion on the PS3 I thought CheapyD's prejudice towards the 360 above all others really came out.

CheapyD seemed almost shocked that Wombat liked many of the things that Wombat thought were good. CheapyD almost seemed to try and talk Wombat out of liking these things. It also seemed like he couldn't wait and move on to talk about Lost Planet and praise it for being a 360 exclusive. I personally wanted to hear more of what Wombat thought about the system and his first impressions.

There are a lot of other examples of the podcast being a little pro 360 skewed, which like I said, I attribute to the fact that it has been out longer, has more games and better games. No sane person would argue that the PS3 and Wii are as good or fun as the 360 right now, and the 360 gives you more to talk about. But I would rather have heard more positive and negative impressions Wombat had after the initial hookup since it was finally a chance to have something to talk about for the PS3 especially a first impression. That is a moment that can't really go back and be revisited and I thought it was a moment that got lost. That first impression of the PS3, like previous first impressions of other systems is only going to happen once and I was diesappointed with how the discussion was treated.[/QUOTE]

Myself and I'm sure others appreciate your well-formed opinion, I would have to say that the podcast is not a news report that has to be fair and balanced, it is an opinionedated show done for entertainment value. I'd rather hear them talk more about the 360 if that's what they are interested and excited about rather than force them to talk about the PS3 if they have nothing new to say.

Regardless, great podcast, keep it up!

o comment l8ter

Jaffe...

Sleuth70, dude I hear what your saying but Jaffe made more popular games then you unless you come out of hiding and prove me wrong. If not ... let the man rant... its his party.

Since we are on the subject... Doesn't this make Denise Dyake right?
Technically "Calling All Cars" was a preview since it never made it to the Playstation Network Store. There is no precedence for a publisher recalling product from warehouses before the media is sold solely based on an unfavorable review. But it happened/happens in the digital realm.

Special Guest Interviews...

Two parters are fine by me. It breaks up the monotony.

For what it's worth--

The first set of .hack games was a four-part series. The current set is a trilogy. So it's the sixth game overall, but only the second in the current trilogy.

By the way Cheapy. You probably don't want to put a youtube film up of you illegally installing a mod chip in your Wii.

Go ahead and use it for all I care just don't make a video of you doing it.

ED2017 sucks, Cheapy.... I don't understand how you enjoyed that piece of crap at all. I rented it, played the first few missions, and took it back to get something worth playing. It wasn't worth my having it for a couple hours on the GamePass, let alone actually paying real money for it. It's ugly, the controls suck, it's unresponsive, it's not polished at all and is frankly annoying.

On one of the first dozen levels, you have to take out 2 saucers. If you choose the wrong weapon, you end up running around for an hour or more wondering why you can't hit the stupid saucers because the stupid auto-aim hits the stupid ants instead. If you choose a different weapon, the level is over in approximately 2.5 seconds.

Maybe my expectations were too high, but this isn't even a bargain bin or rental to me. It's a freaking coaster.

---

I know people are enamored by the Gamefly thing, but I truly believe that the BlockBuster GamePass is a MUCH better deal. The main reason is that you control when you get the next title. I've had up to 5 different titles out on the same day, either because they sucked or I got the couple of Achievement (nerd) points I wanted from them. I used to do the main-in movie stuff, and there were always times when I didn't have anything because I had sent them off and was waiting. With the GamePass, I always have something out.

---

I have yet to experience the PS3 online component, due to not knowing anyone with a PS3. Cheapy was on my list for about 3 days early on, but we were never on at the same time. Maybe I missed the cast where this was discussed, so could you either point out which cast it was or devote some time to discussing the online communications differences between the consoles?

---

As for interviews, I have been skipping them. I listen to the cast to hear the banter back and forth between you two. I already cruise the feeds for the big 3 and other gaming sites to get the news. What I like is when you both dig your heels into an item and debate it out. I couldn't care less what a 3rd party has to say. Having the interviews in 2 sections means I have to find the end of the interview twice in the same cast. I would find it more convenient if the interviews were placed at the end, after everything else. That way I could just turn it off when the main cast was over.

---

I don't really keep up with the forums, so a nice segment for me on the cast would be a quick rundown of non-front-page threads of merit. Specifically, ones with really good deals.

---

Cheapy, you really should get going on Puzzle Quest. I finished it with my Level 50 Knight last week. The way I figure it, you can get more mileage out of the game by choosing a different class on each platfrom - DS, PSP, PC, and Live Arcade. Also, look into ways to vary gameplay such as not spending your level up points until you are level 50.

---

And about Castlevania: SotN. Cheapy, you did the EXACT same thing we did the first time we played. We spent all night trading the controller around and playing, then we beat it in the span of 12 or so hours. We were all bummed out that the game was so short, since we enjyoed playing it so much. Then I looked online and realized we missed HALF the game! We had a blast playing the rest of the game after that. That was when it first came out, and now I'm humbled by the youtube videos of people beating the game in under an hour with Alucard or under 10m with Richter.

---

I've got more, I've been storing them up from previous casts. In any case, I look forward to the show each week and enjoy each one. Thanks.

Goddamnit!

You really made me hungry with the cheese fries thing...

[quote name='jaystaeb8']
CheapyD seemed almost shocked that Wombat liked many of the things that Wombat thought were good. CheapyD almost seemed to try and talk Wombat out of liking these things. It also seemed like he couldn't wait and move on to talk about Lost Planet and praise it for being a 360 exclusive. I personally wanted to hear more of what Wombat thought about the system and his first impressions.

But I would rather have heard more positive and negative impressions Wombat had after the initial hookup since it was finally a chance to have something to talk about for the PS3 especially a first impression. That is a moment that can't really go back and be revisited and I thought it was a moment that got lost. That first impression of the PS3, like previous first impressions of other systems is only going to happen once and I was diesappointed with how the discussion was treated.[/QUOTE]

I agree with this. Cheapy I wanted to hear more of how Wombat feels on the system since we already know how you feel about it. Let the guy say how he feels!

Cheapy, what does this mean for your Halo 3 beta experience? I think your saving grace might be that your 360 is an American one. If not....that sucks.

Great podcast again this week.

[quote name='CMorrigu']ED2017 sucks, Cheapy.... I don't understand how you enjoyed that piece of crap at all. I rented it, played the first few missions, and took it back to get something worth playing. It wasn't worth my having it for a couple hours on the GamePass, let alone actually paying real money for it. It's ugly, the controls suck, it's unresponsive, it's not polished at all and is frankly annoying.

On one of the first dozen levels, you have to take out 2 saucers. If you choose the wrong weapon, you end up running around for an hour or more wondering why you can't hit the stupid saucers because the stupid auto-aim hits the stupid ants instead. If you choose a different weapon, the level is over in approximately 2.5 seconds.

Maybe my expectations were too high, but this isn't even a bargain bin or rental to me. It's a freaking coaster.
---

Cheapy, you really should get going on Puzzle Quest. I finished it with my Level 50 Knight last week. The way I figure it, you can get more mileage out of the game by choosing a different class on each platfrom - DS, PSP, PC, and Live Arcade. Also, look into ways to vary gameplay such as not spending your level up points until you are level 50.

---
[/QUOTE]

Entirely disagree about EDF2017. While the production values of the game scream budget title, I've honestly have had more fun with EDF than many next-gen shooters on the 360. While there are a lot of flaws the game is just mindless action fun. The controls felt fine for me with the exception of vehicle controls.

It certainly isn't a game for everyone though. But it's good to hear Cheapy is enjoying it.

I second Puzzle Quest. The game should come with a warning about it's addictive properties.

Just wondering Wombat, you didn't sound very thrilled about the games you've played so far on the PS3, what about the system compelled you to give it a thumbs up?

Good CAGcast.

Excellent PS3 impressions, Wombat. I think you were pretty reasoned and fair (and not at all as cynical as I kind of suspected you might be).

If you want to be impressed by Blu-Ray:

Planet Earth
Crank
Open Season

are, IMO, the three best examples of Blu-Ray "demo discs." Crank was indeed shot in HD, Open Season is all computer-generated, and Planet Earth is just epic. I think you'll really see a difference from the Discovery broadcast. While it looked great, it was still compressed and slightly artifacted. The Blu-Rays are phenomenal.

I think your impressions of Resistance are dead on too. I was so disappointed with the game in the first 20 or 30 minutes. I'm glad I persisted though, because it got incredible. You can almost always tell when someone hasn't played much Resistance--and you can't really blame them for thinking the game is poor for exactly the reasons you note.



I'm also going to throw my hat in the "EDF blows" ring. I think its chief problem is it's just 50+ levels of unending monotony. If there were some sliver of variety mixed into the proceedings, I could almost enjoy it in a "so-bad-it's-good" B-movie way. As it stands, it puts me to sleep.

Wombat thinks Insomniac didn't have access to the PS3 controller in time to map the shooting to the trigger button. I only know a little about game development, but I do know that remapping a control to a different button takes seconds. They had from May until November to do that. I'm sure that wasn't the reason.

Well I havn't been this wrong in like months. Holy Crap, I actually deserve the ridicule this time. At least i wasn't insulting anyone. Thank you everyone I just configed my controller for resistance and I am much happier. Thank you all for putting me in my deserved place this time. Although I will admit that looking at the controller screen doesnt make it look as though you can change things, and for the record I blame Cheapy

Cheap D, Wombat... since I started listening to the show, I've enjoyed all of them, and this one is no different.


Cheapy, what gripe do you have with the Playstation 3, that you're always negative towards it, and its games... you mocked the ps3, for the past 6 episodes, saying that Railfan is the best game the ps3 has... but I respect yours and everyone else's opinion.. but what drove me crazy is that you try to to convince Wombat to share your negative opinion of the PS3. You were even surprised that Wombat liked the ps3's interface...

Resistance was great... the only problem is that its Narrated by a third person, and thus the main character has minimal dialogue in the game... but I think if a sequel comes out... the main character will have more dialogue and people can bond with the character more. Resistance franchise may end up being the best FPS on the market. (maybe)


[edit]
this is my cagbag question:
I have a question for you both... (Cheapy and Wombat) looking at the games that are out today, and coming out later this year... what games do you think will last making gamers come back to them 10 - 15 years later... (like Double Dragon and Streets of Rage) ?

Still listening to the cast but very good so far. Before I forgot I wanted to let Cheapy know.. There is a Nathans stand in Harajuku.

Image - http://dan.digitalphotochat.com/gallery/album17/aak

I have not been there recently but last I heard it was still there.. Across from LaForet near the Gap store. Kind of between Omotesando station and Harajuku station.

Keep up the good work guys..

You know, it bothered me when Wombat said TDOD sucked. But after some time, I got over it, and when back to my Wombat loving ways. But again, after listening to he CAGCast today, i'm back on a rampage!

How could Wombat, a man who calls himself a gamer, call Zelda an adventure game?! When I heard him say that, I nearly dropped a load in my pants. Zelda is NOT, I say again, NOT an adventure game.

Broken Sword? Adventure. Monkey Island? Adventure. Gabriel Knight? Adventure. Zelda? NOT AN ADVENTURE! How dare you young man how dare you.

On that note, I watched the video of you unboxing your PS3...you're looking pretty thin(er) these days. Looks like you've kept the weight off. Good work.

P.S.

I used to take what you said about movies seriously, but since you loved Ron Burgandy and hated POD, I now know I can't trust a thing you say about movies.

I SAID GOOD DAY SIR!

[quote name='Temporaryscars']You know, it bothered me when Wombat said TDOD sucked. But after some time, I got over it, and when back to my Wombat loving ways. But again, after listening to he CAGCast today, i'm back on a rampage!

How could Wombat, a man who calls himself a gamer, call Zelda an adventure game?! When I heard him say that, I nearly dropped a load in my pants. Zelda is NOT, I say again, NOT an adventure game.

Broken Sword? Adventure. Monkey Island? Adventure. Gabriel Knight? Adventure. Zelda? NOT AN ADVENTURE! How dare you young man how dare you.

On that note, I watched the video of you unboxing your PS3...you're looking pretty thin(er) these days. Looks like you've kept the weight off. Good work.

P.S.

I used to take what you said about movies seriously, but since you loved Ron Burgandy and hated POD, I now know I can't trust a thing you say about movies.

I SAID GOOD DAY SIR![/QUOTE]

what would you call it? its not really an RPG. Its an aaction/adventure game with RPG elements

and I didnt hate POD I just wanted to like it more

Well uh...I guess you'd call it an...action adventure?

[quote name='Wombat']Well I havn't been this wrong in like months. Holy Crap, I actually deserve the ridicule this time. At least i wasn't insulting anyone. Thank you everyone I just configed my controller for resistance and I am much happier. Thank you all for putting me in my deserved place this time. Although I will admit that looking at the controller screen doesnt make it look as though you can change things, and for the record I blame Cheapy[/quote]

The Wombat is never wrong, its the world that's wrong. Youi should get pokemon pearl so you can trade pokemon with Cheapy with his pokemon diamon. That way you can catch them all and make the pokemon bow to your will like the future inhabitants of Earth once your army takes over.

Zelda is an action adventure... its not like you can level link up to 99.. or, 1, 2, and 3..

This esp. kinda strange. CheapyD and Wombat dude laughs too much and too many ^___^. Were they high ?


I j/k, I j/k don't ban me ^___^;

This week's show was alright. The recap was too long and Wombat's PS3 impressions were too outdated. He didn't really say anything that hasn't already been said, except for the part about liking the menu. The whole segment was very deja vu, even for the cagcast since Cheapy said almost the exact same things. Oh well, I guess you gotta get $599.00 worth of discussion out of it.

The cagcast is the first podcast I started listening to and it remains to be the best one on my rotation of podcasts I listen to every week. I have to say this one was good but not as great as the past few.

I am glad to hear cheapy had positive feedback about pokemon. I only played the first one (red) and am now playing diamond. Even though the story line is very similar the game is still quite addictive. I think it would be entertaining if cheapy were to play pokemon with those kids he spoke of in his apartment lobby or cheapy going to some pokemon event in Japan being a tall white guy amongst lots of children. It could be entertaining if wombat gets in on it and battles cheapy online.

I have to say id had similar in Japan experiences like cheapys when giving up my seat to old ladies on the shinkansen. I wasn’t aware there was a section where you were supposed to give up your seat to the elderly or pregnant ladies. Anyway, they get really happy and they’re surprised a foreigner would do such a thing

If you do decide to mod your Wii cheapy maybe you should practice soldering some wires first before the main event. Good luck to you if you do that. Also I hope your xbox live account doesn’t get screwed over for your sake and the cagcasts sake.

Wombat and cheapy I appreciate the work you guys put into the cagcast to make people like myself happy to see another Wednesday, especially wombat who has to squeeze in doing this around his fulltime job. Keep up the good work

Fantastic show, Cheapy & Wombat. Out of curiosity, Cheapy, how much did that slick looking SANYO CG65 cost you?

Also, I prefer the interviews being split up the way it is now, it's much easier to listen to when it's split into smaller chunks versus having to listen to it all at once.

Enjoyable as always.

Wombat is usually a very discerning gamer and I value his opinion. I find it interesting that he had mostly positive things to say about the PS3.

I must say I think that the whole digg thing is dumb to me. CAGs digs go up and down like a roller coaster because people dig the site out of a sense of duty but then forget to dig anything else. It all seems pointless to me. The cagcast is great with or without them, and I did review cagcast (favorably) on itunes.

I couldn't disagree more about Dead Rising. I thought it was the second best X360 game of last year, right behind Gears of War. The time limits add a layer of tension and that's a big plus for me.

I thought the most disappointing X360 game was Bomberman: Act Zero.

I'm not sure if this is the proper thread for this but I just wanted to give my opinion about CAGcasts in general:

At first, I was very reluctant to the idea of listening to the CAGcast for the simple fact that I thought the idea of podcasts were stupid but after I heard a show or two I got hooked. I think the show is funny (especially because of Wombat but Cheapy has his moments too) and its pretty informative as well. It's the highlight of my bus ride whenever I have a new episode to listen to. My one and only complaint about the show is that the volume levels arent consistent and the fact that both Cheapy and Wombat have a habit of starting there sentences very loud and full of vim but then get very quite and trail off to a near whisper. Great job guys and keep up the good work.

Dear CheapyD, ***************++++++(*_*)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I recently purchased God of War For ps2. Now the people at target stores in my L.A (CA) have begun checking Ids for M rated games purchase, the costumers must have proof of ID inorder to buy these M rated games, doesn't matter what if your 20 or 100 years older you still have to show it target policy. I never knew this would happened yet, until this year. I'm okay about it because i was lucky to have my id and at aleast in my very early 20s. So heads up and make sure to bring your ID. It would S*****CK for those new nex gen games if you forgot to bring it. The employs make sure to take a look at the rating before transaction.
SO CheapyD maybe this is good to say your on next cagcast. You might want to shortin my wording on cast. The reason i got God of War was because i saw it for 14.99 price cut. there were others for 14.99. This target issue happened to me today. Your Cagcast show is great, i have "digg" the cast already

I liked the show as always, but I don't like the idea of the interviews being split up. That means I have to fastforward twice instead of once. No offense, the only part of the show I've never liked has been the interviews. I just don't really care for gaming interviews. Other than that, keep up the good work.

Loved the show Cheapy. I would like to suggest keeping the interviews split up.

After about 15-20 mins into an interview. I start to get interview fatigue. I hear the people talking, but I'm not listening. I say to appease those who want to not split the interview. Maybe make the time between the two parts shorter.

[quote name='FxhoundADAM']By the way Cheapy. You probably don't want to put a youtube film up of you illegally installing a mod chip in your Wii.

Go ahead and use it for all I care just don't make a video of you doing it.[/QUOTE]
It's not illegal to install a modchip. It may void your warranty, but it's your console to take apart as you see fit.

I can't believe both you never checked whether you could customize the controls in Resistance before bashing it for that. :lol: That's always the first thing I check for when I have trouble with the controls of any game.

As for the interviews, split them up if they're too long for just one segment (~20 minutes max for one segment).

Good show overall. I like how Wombat was willing to defend the PS3 against Cheapy's criticisms, like Cheapy had to be right about them since he's had it longer than Wombat. :lol:

In terms of game reviews, I find Cheapy tend to be optimistic and usually reserve his distain for any game as personal preferences whereas Wombat digs deeper and is more critical with issues that people may have otherwise overlooked. Wombat may not always be right, and often he speculates as he freely admits, but I enjoy his critical views.

Also thanks to Wombat regarding the Pittsburgh/Primanti Bros shout-out. I will hit up Primanti's for lunch in honor of Wombat today, meat, slaw, fries and all.