CAG Foreplay: New Releases (5/29/07) - Houston, We've Got a Podcast Edition

CAG's shipwreck & mrs. shipwreck preview the new releases for the week of May 29th, 2007. This week features CAG Foreplay Podcast #1. Be gentle, it's our first time. Believe it or not, we cover everything from mini games on the Wii, to pet simulators on the DS, to first-person shooters on the Xbox 360.

[media]http://www.cheapassgamer.com/podcast/cagforeplay1.mp3[/media]


Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm Dev. Gust Pub. NIS America Systems: PS2 MSRP: $39.99
If you haven't invested in this alchemy RPG series yet, there's probably little hope that this one will suddenly spark your interest. Fans of the series will feel right at home, though, with the anime inspired graphics and turn-based combat. The most significant change this time around is the elimination of random encounters as you can now choose when and who to fight. NIS fans are sure to pick this one up while most people won't even attempt to pronounce "Atelier" when they see it on store shelves. - ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm, but EB/Gamestop is offering a free art book with the game.

Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At EB Games $39.99 (Free art book)


Crush Dev. Zoe Mode Pub. Sega Systems: PSP MSRP: $29.99
Take on the role of insomniac Dan as you delve into his psyche to recover his marbles by defeating really bad puns "crushing" the levels from 3D to 2D and back again. It's an interesting twist on platforming puzzle games that takes the change in dimensions a bit further than we saw in Super Paper Mario. While the fluorescent, boxy art-style doesn't thrill me, I must admit that there is something appealing about this game, but it just might be a little crush. Not like I faint every time we touch... - ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Crush.

Purchase At Amazon $28.99 (Free shipping)


Forza Motorsport 2 Dev. Turn 10 Studios Pub. Microsoft Systems: 360 MSRP: $59.99
Microsoft's critically acclaimed racing simulator takes to the road with a second outing that is bigger and better in every way. More tracks, more cars, more customization, and better graphics will tear apart families as gear-heads drain their savings on multiple plasma displays, wireless racing wheels, and constructing their very own cockpit. I however will be satisfied fiddling around in the livery editor, spinning helplessly around in circles in the gravel, and marveling at the sheer number of car adjustments I have no business messing with. - ship

Best Deal:
Amazon is offering Forza Motorsport 2 for $55 with the free Nissan Fairlady Z code. Family Video also has the game for $54 shipped.

Purchase At Amazon $54.82 (Free shipping and Nissan Fairlady Z code)
Purchase At Family Video $52.99 (99 cent shipping)


Legend of the Dragon Dev. Neko Entertainment Pub. Game Factory Systems: PSP MSRP: $29.99
Apparently, this game is based on an animated television series that I've never heard of. It's also got the PS2/PSP/Wii development trifecta going for it, so you know the quality bar is set at world-record height from the get-go. Punch, kick, and throw enemies of various difficulties in 8 different modes until youíve reached the ultimate goal of resolving a conflict of some sort. I'm sure it's all very satisfying. - ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Legend of the Dragon.

Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping)


Mario Party 8 Dev. Hudson Soft Pub. Nintendo Systems: Wii MSRP: $49.99
It's Mario Party for the Wii, and you can bet your cheap ass that Nintendo is taking full advantage of the wii-mote with this title's 65 new mini-games. You can unlock a Hammer Bros. and Blooper as playable characters, but the game board structure is largely unchanged from MP 7. While fans of the franchise will likely not be disappointed, anyone who didn't see a reason to buy Mario Parties 1 through 7 likely won't find a good reason to break down now. - mrs. ship

Best Deal:
There are a few deals for Mario Party 8. Family Video is offering the game for $46 shipped. Fry's is offering the game for $39. And Circuit City is offering the game for $40 plus a $20 gift card if they don't have it in stock by 2PM on Wednesday.

Purchase At Family Video $44.99 (99 cent shipping)
View speedy1961's Circuit City ad $39.99 (Free $20 gift card if not in stock by 2PM Wed.)
View fidodido's Fry's ad $38.99


Monster Madness Dev. Artificial Studios Pub. Southpeak Interactive Systems: 360 MSRP: $59.99
Four teens working on their homework one night suddenly get attacked by hordes of Zombies. The levels you'll play through are standard fare for most zombies-taking-over-your-town multiplayer melee games: homes, the school gym, etc... Most items in the game are potential weapons, but not all characters like all weapon choices, and this influences potential power attacks. After playing the demo, the game will be entertaining enough, but probably not worth the $60 you'll pay if you buy it new. Pencil this one in as a potential buy once the price drops and you come across a buy two-get-one-free sale. - mrs. ship

Best Deal:
EB/Gamestop is offering a free Monster Madness beanie hat with the purchase of the game.

Purchase At EB Games $59.99 (Free beanie hat)


Pony Friends Dev. Tantalus Pub. Eidos Systems: DS MSRP: $29.99
If you're sick of customizing your Forza cars already, check out Pony Friends for the Nintendo DS. It's Nintendogs with horses, and if the seven horses that come with the game don't catch your eye, you can customize your own. This virtual pet game offers all the perks of any other virtual pet game: you can groom, feed, train, and compete in mini games with your new faux friend. Just hope they don't release four hundred versions of the game each featuring a different, exclusive horse breed. Unless one came with Mr. Ed sound clips. I would totally buy that. - mrs. ship

Best Deal:
Amazon is offering Pony Friends for $28 shipped.

Purchase At Amazon $27.99 (Free shipping)


Shadowrun Dev. FASA Studios Pub. Microsoft Systems: PC, 360 MSRP: $49.99, $59.99
Are you looking for a multiplayer only first-person shooter based upon an RPG from the 16-bit era? How about a game that you can play cross-platform between Xbox 360 and PC? Do you like playing the Halo 3 beta, but wish there was a less capable, mediocre shooter that you could pay full price for right now? Well, for you my friend, your wait is over - Shadowrun has arrived! - ship

Best Deal:
Both Amazon and Family Video are offering the Xbox 360 version of Shadowrun for $55 shipped. Best Buy will save you $5 off the PC version. Waiting to purchase will save you a whole lot more...

Purchase At Amazon $54.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $53.99 (99 cent shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $49.99 (Free shipping)
View speedy1961's Best Buy ad $44.99


Surf's Up Dev. Ubi Soft Montreal Pub. Ubi Soft Systems: Everything MSRP: $29.99-$49.99
Continuing this month's theme of games-based-on-movies-being-released-for-every-system-except-for-the-microwave-oven, Ubisoft is releasing Surf's Up. Based on the Sony Picture's movie of the same name, this game is an interesting combination of Sonic Rails and Wakeboarding Unleashed with Shaun Murray. Also continuing with this month's theme, these games are usually crap, so buyers beware. - mrs. ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any deals for Surf's Up. Well, Family Video does have the Gamecube version for $21 shipped.

Purchase At Amazon $49.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $49.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $49.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $19.99 (99 cent shipping)


Tamagotchi Party On Dev. Namco Bandai Pub. Namco Bandai Systems: Wii MSRP: $39.99
Mini-games. Lots and lots of Mini-games on the Wii. These mini-games feature Tamagotchi instead of Mario. Or Wario. Or Rayman. I'm not sure what else to say. The graphics are quirky as in other Tamagotchi games, and remind me of Hello Kitty. However, there's no virtual pet mode on this game unlike Tamagotchi games in the past, so unless you're dying for another fix of mini-games there's no reason to buy this game. Unless you like Tamagotchi better than Mario. Blasphemy. - mrs. ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any deals for Tamagotchi Party On, but EB/Gamestop is offering 3 free Tamagotchi charms with your purchase.

Purchase At EB Games $39.99 (3 free Tamagotchi charms)


Tank Beat Dev. MileStone Pub. O3 Entertainment Systems: DS MSRP: $29.99
Tank Beat is a tank game where you control the path of your tank by tracing out routes on the touch screen. Tanks but no tanks. - ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Tank Beat

Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $27.64 (99 cent shipping)


On The DL with the Shipwrecks


ActRaiser Systems: Wii MSRP: $8
ActRaiser is a highly regarded God simulation RPG that mixes a lot of different play styles including side-scrolling action and civilization development. I've personally never played either game in the series, but the $8 you pay for this one seems reasonable since it's not available on a compilation of any sort. - ship

Kid Chameleon Systems: Wii MSRP: $8
This Wii Virtual Console port was originally a platformer for the Genesis. The storyline revolves around a kid who gets trapped in a video game a-la-Tron, and has to battle his way out. In doing so, he dons different costumes during battle (hence the Chameleon part of the title). You pretty much have your standard platform fare with the jump button and, depending on the costume you've got, special moves like swords and wall-climbing. Overall, it's not a bad game, but more worth your money on the Sega Genesis Collection for the PS2 ($20 NEW), where it comes with over twenty other games. But, if you don't have a PS2 or just want another game to play while holding your Wiimote sideways, this one's a decent buy. - mrs. ship

J.J. & Jeff Systems: Wii MSRP: $6
A TurboGrafx-16 platformer that is based upon the Japanese TV show that inspired America's Funniest Home Videos. I don't know, I guess expect a lot of baseball bats to the crotch and dogs riding vacuum cleaners. And laugh-track, lots of laugh-track. - ship

Mad Tracks Systems: 360 MSRP: $10
As of this writing, it wasn't 100% confirmed, but it looks as though Mad Tracks will be released for XBLA this Wednesday. This arcade racer explores the familiar territory of small cars in a large environment and offers online multiplayer, power-ups, and 10 mini games. Could this be a Calling All Cars killer? - ship



Feedback:

Did we miss a good sale on a game? Did we miss previewing a game completely? Well, the only way that everyone can know a better deal is out there is to let us know about it. Post deals you've found or games that we missed in the thread so that CAGs can make sure they are getting the absolute best prices on new releases.

I haven't listened to it yet, but i plan on it. One question though, is their any way to subscribe to it through itunes?

Just started it. I like this idea!

You two sound nervous
Though, it's going really well so far!

[quote name='The Successful Dropout']I haven't listened to it yet, but i plan on it. One question though, is their any way to subscribe to it through itunes?[/QUOTE]

Not yet, this is kind of a trial run and we'll see how it goes from here. And yes, lilboo,we were a little nervous at the beginning. Thanks for listening.

Cool podcast, I'll look forward to seeing it on iTunes.
I recommend whiskey before the podcast for that relaxed feeling

Here's a little update. Last night I tried Halo 3. Lots of fun was had, no one yelled at me, and I got some kills in. All in all, it went well.

So here it is, Mrs. Shipwreck's Halo 3 Beta Review:
I think I played the original Halo once or twice, so my experience level was zilch going into the game. Here is a brief list of my current thoughts on the game:

1. The controls were easy to pick up (those many hours of playing Oblivion helped my FPS skills).
2. For ten brief but wonderful minutes, I was ranked higher than Ship.
3. It's hard to learn the melee attack. Just about when I think I'm close enough to use it is about the time I'm floating in the water.
4. I hate the laser. Mostly because I never have it and I always get killed by it.
5. The whole split screen function (Ship and I play on the same TV) works well.

So there you have it: impressions from a (former) Halo 3 virgin.

Awesome to see Mr. & Mrs. Wreck. I'll give a listen as soon as I get home today.

As featured in the Circuit City ad, buy Shadowrun or Forza 2 and receive a $19.99 title free. In store Wednesday by 2pm or get a free $20 gift card.

And how do you really feel about Shadowrun, Shipwreck? lol

I like the idea of the New Releases podcast but I think that it should be a part of the CAGcast, which in turn it would have to be shorter than the current time (47 minutes).

I love the fact that Mrs. Shipwreck is a gamer and knows her stuff. It's also nice to see a female's point of view.

^great idea. have the shipwrecks on the CAGcast

Listened to the whole cast. Very entertaining, I enjoyed it being 43 mins. I have a lot of time to blow in the morning. I'm looking forward to next week.

Legend of the Dragon is brought to us by a company called "American Game Factory." Which I find funny since they're trying to make a game that's distinctly Asian. Oh well.

See I disagree with others. I DON'T think they should be on the CAGcast. I like the idea of having different Podcasts on this site.

This podcast also has a lot of potential to be really interesting, IMO! However I would only make 2 forms of criticism.
1) This one will happen on it's own, but i think we all heard how nervous you 2 were Now it's the first one, so that's VERY understanding. I think after awhile you two will be so use to it, you won't even realize your talking to potentially a couple thousand people .
2) It's basically a new release for the week podcast. I like that idea very much. I know that week to week will always be different. Some weeks will be big, and some weeks the best game we will get is another form of Sudoku on the DS LOL. But this one was 44 minutes and that may be TOO long for a weekly podcast discussing the new weeks releases. I think a half hour (roughly) is sufficient. Of course, that does depend on the games of the week. Sometimes there really is a whole bunch to talk about, so 30 minutes of course is debatable.

Other then that ... very nice. I enjoyed it, because it was something new. New usually is good =)

Does "Impossible Mission" come out this week for the DS?

Or was that a dream I had?

Awesome Idea! I already looked forward to reading CAG Foreplay now I can listen to it! Great Idea!

Will comment as soon as I finish listing.

What no Surf's Up for the PS1 or Dreamcast? Great, now I can only play it on 4 different systems....no wait Gamecube too, 5!

[quote name='bmachine']Does "Impossible Mission" come out this week for the DS?

Or was that a dream I had?[/quote]

Depends on where you live...it got released in Australia this week and Europe next week. Still no word for the US release other than it will be out for the DS, PSP, and Wii sometime in Quarter 2. So I guess they still have a few weeks left to meet their deadline.

I listend to it for the first 10 mins or so...sounded good to me...would love to have it on itunes, so I can listen to the entire show. I probably won't sit in front of my home pc for 40 or so min to listen to a show..My work pc doesn't have speakers, so I listen to all my podcasts on my ipod

[quote name='CAG 79']I like the idea of the New Releases podcast but I think that it should be a part of the CAGcast, which in turn it would have to be shorter than the current time (47 minutes).[/quote]

I was about to make this very same recommendation, but CAG 79 obviously beat me to it. However, I really did appreciate hearing what the Ship's have been playing, so if it means we lose that feature to have the podcast become a part of the CAGcast, I say forget it.

Anyways, I've always enjoyed reading through the foreplay feature and I feel that Mr. and Mrs. Ship made a great translation to the podcast medium. My only gripe is that your mic sounds a little fuzzy (very minor gripe). Other than that, I thought your content was very good.

Stick with it guys! Looking forward to next week!

I like this idea a lot. Solid first effort, but lots of room for improvement as well.

I think the main issue I had is that there didn't seem to be a lot of energy or enthusiasm behind mic. The articles are written with an air of wit and spontaneity that just didn't translate into the audio show, IMO.

One thing that I like about Cheapy and Wombat's show is that they play off one another and interact a lot. Whether it's Wombat interjecting jokes, or Cheapy asking pointed questions of Wombat, there is never the sense that the show is overly scripted and the discussion is generally pretty lively. It's ironic to me that Cheapy and Wombat come across more like an old married couple than Mr. and Mrs. Ship!

Anyway, for me, the Foreplay podcast just seemed to drag after awhile.

Still, it's the first crack and I think it's definitely worth pursuing as a value-added content to this site. Kudos for the effort, and here's to more of these in the future.

Does this mean that Cheapy wont be mentioning this section on this weeks cagcast? or will it influence that at all? no offense to the shipwrecks, but i enjoy that section of the cagcast, and i hate listening to a podcast unless it gets pulled right to my itunes.

[quote name='CAG 79']I love the fact that Mrs. Shipwreck is a gamer and knows her stuff. It's also nice to see a female's point of view.[/quote]

I definitely agree with this. I primarily play games with my sister, and I talk to other girls about games as well, but when it comes to podcasts and the like about gaming, it's usually always from a male perspective. This was a refreshing change of pace, and I greatly enjoyed it!

As for the podcast itself...well, I liked it, but I want to be as honest as possible to hopefully help it improve.

First of all, I don't think this should be a part of the CAGcast. I enjoy CheapyD and Wombat's take on new releases, and I enjoy the shipwrecks' as well, but there's no reason to have them together on the same show, and I don't want one to be cut out. CheapyD and Wombat's take is more brief and to the point, and they only cover the games the games they play in-depth. The shipwrecks, however, go in-depth with every new release, and can go even further the following week when/if they actually play it. This is definitely the better method in my opinion, but they both are different enough to warrant coexisting.

As for the time, it's always the longer the better for me. I'd rather have a few more segments added to flesh out the time to an hour or so rather than cut it doen to 30 minutes. I think they could read some impressions from fellow CAGs about some new releases from the previous week, or even feature a mini review from a member each week. This would vary of course, depenfing on what kinds of games come out each week, but it would be a great a way to add or subtract time as needed to get it around a certain time each week.

And I guess have to mention that yeah, the nervousness really came through...a lot. Hopefully this will improve over time, but this was really the only major flaw I found in the podcast.

But yes, overall I really enjoyed it, and I hope you do more in the future!

I like the fact that this show isn't hosted by the same provider cheapy uses for the CAGcast. Libsyn is utter shit. I have nothing but problems downloading podcasts that are hosted by them (CAGCast, The Instance, The Major...).

As for the podcast, looking forward to hearing it. Still downloading. (Curse my 384Kbps...)

Good job guys! at first you guys were kinda nervous but it got exponentially better as the podcast goes on. Will you guys do this every week or only certain week?

Mr and Mrs Shipwreck. Thanks for the podcast. I liked it alot and hope to hear more in the future!

I really enjoyed the podcast, it is really cool to get a female's perspective on some games. And it is cool to hear a couple talk about their gaming experinces.

Great job, looking forward to next week.

Well I went to go get my Atelier Iris 3 pre-order at GS and no Artbook. They called another store and same thing. Anyone else experience this?

If you download the file to your desktop you can them add the file to you music library on Itunes quite easily. Then when you delete the file from your desktop it should be removed from iTunes. Not as easy as subscribing to an actual podcast but not difficult and you can listen to it on your ipod.

So far I'm loving it, and my wife is too... It's great to have a female voice adding comments to a male-dominated hobby like gaming, and my wife especially appreciates it as she is new to gaming. And yeah, the sound quality is GREAT! Who are you guys using? What do you use to mix it? I asked Wombat for some advice as I do a podcast about film, and haven't heard back. Any help would really be appreciated. Thanks.

[quote name='callmesteam']So far I'm loving it, and my wife is too... It's great to have a female voice adding comments to a male-dominated hobby like gaming, and my wife especially appreciates it as she is new to gaming. And yeah, the sound quality is GREAT! Who are you guys using? What do you use to mix it? I asked Wombat for some advice as I do a podcast about film, and haven't heard back. Any help would really be appreciated. Thanks.[/QUOTE]


First of all, thanks everyone for the feedback and the constructive criticism. We definitely agree with a lot of the areas of improvement people have pointed out and I'm hoping that some of them will pretty much iron themselves out as we find our groove.

As for the process we used, so far we are pretty simple. We both just sat at a table with my MacBook in the middle and used Garageband to record it. That's right, no mics, no editing, or any of that fancy stuff. Just talking into thin air and letting the built-in mic on the Mac do its thing. We can definitely work on getting the sound quality a little better, but for a first effort, we thought it sounded good enough.

We'll be doing another show for next week's releases and we are definitely considering trying to get it on iTunes soon. (I'm a lazy bastard too, so I know the importance of not having to manually download a file and drag it somewhere.)

Very nice first effort, Ships. I really like this idea. I'll echo the sentiments of everyone else and say that you guys did sound pretty nervous, but that's natural with it being your first show. Things that could be fixed however are the sound quality (if only you both sat a little closer to the mic) and the length of the show. I did feel things start to drag around the 30 minute mark, so maybe a half hour show would be more feasible?

Haven't listened to the podcast yet, though I did download it. I'd love to see it get on the same RSS feed as the CAGcast for the sake of ease in downloading onto my PSP.

Has anybody seen Crush in stock this week? I've been looking all week and I've found nothing. It's really strange.

I just downloaded it and started listening to it. I'm about 10 minutes in and it's pretty good so far. I like the idea of audio reviews. That way I won't have to spend work time checking review websites for reviews on the new games. I can just listen to you guys!

Anyway, one thing that had me confused was the mention of "Harvest Moon Musical Melodies". I looked it up on google to find out what system it had come out on but I came up empty. Then I realized you meant "Magical Melody"

Good job guys... I didn't think you sounded nervous at all in the beginning.

I don't have much to say except I'm jealous of you Ship for having a wife who likes to game. Most women I've known in my life have had little to no interest in video or PC games, or computers or technology in general :lol:.

Even my daughter, who I got the Gamecube for in 2003 (which got me back into console gaming for the first time since my Colecovision and, thus, lead me to this site), seems to be growing out of gaming at the age of 10. She just wants to do other stuff. We couldn't even get her to sit down and play Mario Party 8 last week, which I thought we'd be playing 4-player on (I even picked up an extra Wiimote just for it).

Thankfully I have two younger sons and they are both becoming hardcore gamers (one's 4, the other is 7). So we've been playing 3-player Mario Party 8. Not too bad. My daughter had gotten a *little* bit into Viva Pinata, but not that much. It is certainly the only 360 game she's even slightly interested in playing. But if I lose her even with that game in hand, I think she's lost for good .

Oh, and Ship - edit that GR thread title! The clearance sale has been over for a while .

[quote name='io']Good job guys... I didn't think you sounded nervous at all in the beginning.

I don't have much to say except I'm jealous of you Ship for having a wife who likes to game. Most women I've known in my life have had little to no interest in video or PC games, or computers or technology in general :lol:.

Even my daughter, who I got the Gamecube for in 2003 (which got me back into console gaming for the first time since my Colecovision and, thus, lead me to this site), seems to be growing out of gaming at the age of 10. She just wants to do other stuff. We couldn't even get her to sit down and play Mario Party 8 last week, which I thought we'd be playing 4-player on (I even picked up an extra Wiimote just for it).

Thankfully I have two younger sons and they are both becoming hardcore gamers (one's 4, the other is 7). So we've been playing 3-player Mario Party 8. Not too bad. My daughter had gotten a *little* bit into Viva Pinata, but not that much. It is certainly the only 360 game she's even slightly interested in playing. But if I lose her even with that game in hand, I think she's lost for good .

Oh, and Ship - edit that GR thread title! The clearance sale has been over for a while .[/QUOTE]

Thanks for listening. In fact, I appreciate it so much, I went ahead and updated the GR thread title.