CAGcast #147: The Airing of the Grievances

CheapyD

CheapyD

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[preview][img-l=4668]3078[/img-l]Lots of stuff on the agenda today including NPD talk, PS3 marketing, the latest shopping and industry news, new releases, your CAGbag questions and so much more!

Get a free trial of Netflix and support the CAGcast:
www.netflix.com/cagcast


[podcast]50[/podcast]
Download - 94 minutes, 46MB
[/preview]

Show Linkage/Notes (click the button below to expand):
Intro: Inspector Gadget Loves Milkshakes - Tigerbluemusic

The 6th Annual Cheapy Awards - Nominations Open!

Best of the Sunday Ad Video Game Deals (1/18 - 1/24)

The Video Game Release List of 1/18 - 1/24

NPD December 2008
Massive Wii Game Sales Driven By Only A Handful Of Wii Games

Sony Exec Says Xbox 360 "Lacks Longevity"
Harmonix would like to make a new Amplitude for PS3
Stop and Smell the Flower on PSN February 12th
New PlayStation 3 Firmware Adds Photo Gallery, Smile Sorting, More DivX Support

GTA IV Lost and the Damned DLC - Are you buying it? - POLL

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars preview-splosion

Io Interactive announces Mini Ninjas
Rigopolous: No Rock Band 3 in 2009
Guitar Hero III first game to make $1 billion
Forbes calls Rock Band a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero

CAGbag

www.twitter.com/cheapyd
www.twitter.com/wombat5277
www.twitter.com/shipwreck

CheapyD's Youtube Videos (Subscribe)
CheapyD's Flickr Page (Subscribe)

Outro: JVC X'Eye

Bonus Photos & Video:
[img-l=4876]4645[/img-l]





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It's nice to have the show up the same day , thanks Cheapy .

Also how do I post a pic that magnifies like yours does in the OP ?
Does it have to originate from flickr ?
 
[quote name='Richlough']It's nice to have the show up the same day , thanks Cheapy .

Also how do I post a pic that magnifies like yours does in the OP ?
Does it have to originate from flickr ?[/quote]

Forum menu
Quick Links -> Pictures & Albums
 
The title of this episode should of been called "Wombat knows his shit when it comes to marketing" because the whole time he hit the nail on the head.

Also, enough with these name drops. You must of name dropped that you knew so and so about 10 times this episode.
 
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I can not believe wombat actually thinks 360 sales #s would include repaired systems. I see people arguing this a lot in forums and comments and wonder how someone could be so clueless. Hearing that come from wombat makes me think he might be just as clueless..
 
[quote name='XBL Dishwasher']I can not believe wombat actually thinks 360 sales #s would include repaired systems. I see people arguing this a lot in forums and comments and wonder how someone could be so clueless. Hearing that come from wombat makes me think he might be just as clueless..[/quote]

I think Wombat might've been implying the number of users that bought a second 360 because the cost of repairs on their current 360 was not worth it, even though he seemed confused.

I think Wombat is right about Sony's marketing over the past few years. Usually Sony has weird advertising methods, but lately they have just been bad. However, I do not think their advertising is as bad as Nintendo's when it comes to their core titles (And the lack of advertising for them as well), especially Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. This is how bad it was:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kdAaGczvws


Also, what do you think would be better for Sony? A price cut for a single game (Killzone 2) in the Spring or a price cut in the Fall for 3-4 games (Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2, Ratchet & Clank 2, and possibly God of War III)?
 
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Regarding Wombat calling the sale on 12 month cards a pre-emptive strike on PS3's potential price drop:

I believe this to be correct. After a chat with our Sony rep, it was revealed that the Uncharted bundle is already out of production. Sony's only pumping out the 80gb bundle right now, any stock left at this point is just leftovers. I think that Sony will drop the price to $299 for the 80gb and make a bundle, perhaps with LittleBigPlanet or Motorstorm: Pacific Rift (M: PR is more likely), an extra DS3 controller, and a voucher for Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty or Flower (R&C is more likely). That would launch for $399.

I also think that a new $29.99 Greatest Hits lineup will launch alongside the price drop, and, coincidentally, most of the games that I think will drop down are ones that I have noticed aren't being sent to my store any more: Ratchet and Clank, Uncharted, Heavenly Sword, MGS4, Socom (Game only) and Folklore. I also think Dual Shock 3 controllers will drop to $39.99.

That's my prediction. I'd be willing to lay a little bit of money on one or both of these things coming true.
 
Sales are bad. Make sales good. Done.

Man, console sales discussions are so pointless. Not that a dicussion really happened... was mostly one guy talking in circles for 10 minutes.
 
CheapyD - I can not believe you of all people would judge GameTZ as a whole by the actions of one user. GTZ is not afraid of CAG, not one bit. The images you've seen of yourself with your head cut off and being dressed as Hitler are a joke perpetuated by a user that calls himself monkbonk in response to the Forbes article.

If it's really that offensive to you, there is nothing stopping you from contacting the site owner and letting him know that you believe that the jokes are in bad taste. Bill would be more than willing to take the actions he deems necessary to remedy the situation. Otherwise your lack of action tells me that you don't really give a shit about what others think.

Bill used to moderate more than he used to, which alienated much of the user base and led them to start referring to the moderators as "Mod Nazis" because people were always getting restricted for the dumbest things. After a while, Bill changed it to a more of letting the inmates run the asylum approach. The moderators still do their jobs, of course, but only in the more extreme cases.

However, I do see your point. GTZ should not be attacking CAG (or any other website) in the way that they have. It is in poor taste and it doesn't help anyone out in the long run. I did send a message along to Bill to see if he can do something to remove the offensive avatars & sigs. While I would like to say that it won't happen again, there is no way for me to guarantee that it won't but understand that anything like it will be reported to the GTZ moderators and dealt with accordingly.
 
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[quote name='thorbahn3']Also, enough with these name drops. You must of name dropped that you knew so and so about 10 times this episode.[/quote]
I shit you not when I say I don't know who you are referring to.


[quote name='untitled']i tried the netflix 2 week trial i was really disappointed the quality is horrible on the 360.[/quote]
No, the quality is horrible on your 360. Your internet connection probably isn't up to the task. What do you pull on www.speedtest.net?

You can get HD on some stuff if your connection is fast enough.

[quote name='The Creeper Kamikaze']CheapyD - I can not believe you of all people would judge GameTZ as a whole by the actions of one user. GTZ is not afraid of CAG, not one bit. The images you've seen of yourself with your head cut off and being dressed as Hitler are a joke perpetuated by a user that calls himself monkbonk in response to the Forbes article.[/quote]I didn't write the article, so I'm not sure why his response includes me. I don't even see how GTZ is slighted in the piece, nor am I quoted talking about GTZ. I consider myself to have a pretty good sense of humor, but somehow I'm missing the joke.

[quote name='The Creeper Kamikaze']
If it's really that offensive to you, there is nothing stopping you from contacting the site owner and letting him know that you believe that the jokes are in bad taste. Bill would be more than willing to take the actions he deems necessary to remedy the situation. Otherwise your lack of action tells me that you don't really give a shit about what others think.[/quote]

You are correct, I really don't give a shit and I am not offended. This is ongoing stuff I encounter because I put myself "out there" on the Internet. It's fine, I can handle it, I'm a grown man. I brought it up because I thought it would be entertaining and interesting to our listeners. However, I also don't think there is any question that the "jokes" are in bad taste. Do you know many jokes that reference Hitler or decapitation that are not in bad taste?

Certainly it is not my place to tell the owner what to do and I honestly do not care what his stance on moderation is. I merely mentioned what I would do if the situations were reversed.
 
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oh sorry cheapy i didn't know it mattered i thought even if my internet was horrible i would still get good quality it would just take longer to stream.

394633095.png


my internet is pretty bad i know :(
 
no worries. Because the video streams (and is not downloaded to your hard drive), the speed of your connection is very important.

Btw:

;)
 
I hate to agree with Wombat so early in the new year but he is right, Howard Stern is not relevant anymore. You need mass exposure to be relevant and influential. Stern had the option to retire or $500million reasons to move to sirius. I was a fan of the Stern show for a long time and the last couple of years on terrestrial radio were pretty bad except for the infusion of some new blood Artie. In his final year the show turned into an infomercial for Sirius, and all he did was complain how he can't do his show untill he moves to satellite. Im not saying HS isn't funny or that he isn't relevant to you, but even though Jay Leno sucks wombat balls he still is more relevant to the masses than Howard. Congrats to Speed1969 for the death of his nemisis CC, you won buddy.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']I think Wombat might've been implying the number of users that bought a second 360 because the cost of repairs on their current 360 was not worth it, even though he seemed confused.
[/QUOTE]

what he said
 
[quote name='CheapyD']no worries. Because the video streams (and is not downloaded to your hard drive), the speed of your connection is very important.

Btw:

;)[/quote]

26 mb??? That tears it...im moving to japan. Though what i have is not that bad

 
This is what I love about the CAGcast, not even 4 minutes into the show and the words butthole already come up :D
 
The problem I have with the GTA expansion is that its only available to those who own the 360 version. Now I do understand Microsoft paid for this exclusive content, but I don't own a reliable 360. When I bought GTA IV, I bought for PS3 because I was having problems with my 360. I wasn't about to pay $60 for a game that I knew I was going to play for awhile on a system that has failed on me three times. And plus I grew up playing GTA on PlayStation so the controls were not new to me.

As stated though in the CAGcast Take-Two is in financial trouble, and have been far before this whole "economic crisis." More people own the 360 version than PS3 version, but they could maximize profit by offering this content to their entire audience instead of a selected part of the audience. PC owners, though a solid majority of them have complained of issues, were waiting to buy this game for open mod support. They are being excluded this content as well, and they had to wait an extra few months.

This is more of a rant against exclusive DLC rather than just GTA IV. Fallout 3 has exclusive content to the 360, as well as Tomb Raider. Now maybe its Sony at fault for not pursuing exclusive content, but I personally feel these publishers are neglecting their customer base. As hard as it is to realize to some, there are people out there who only own the PS3 and can't afford a 360 because they spent so much on the PS3. By releasing content exclusive to a certain platform, you are neglecting possible sales on the other.

I want to buy the GTA IV expansions, but I am not about to shell out $100 for MS to fix my 360, or another $200 to buy a new unit, then shell out $60 for the game just to play it.
 
[quote name='rogueweapon']I hate to agree with Wombat so early in the new year but he is right, Howard Stern is not relevant anymore. You need mass exposure to be relevant and influential. Stern had the option to retire or $500million reasons to move to sirius. I was a fan of the Stern show for a long time and the last couple of years on terrestrial radio were pretty bad except for the infusion of some new blood Artie. In his final year the show turned into an infomercial for Sirius, and all he did was complain how he can't do his show untill he moves to satellite. Im not saying HS isn't funny or that he isn't relevant to you, but even though Jay Leno sucks wombat balls he still is more relevant to the masses than Howard. Congrats to Speed1969 for the death of his nemisis CC, you won buddy.[/quote]

Yeah, but think of all the people that he got to spend $13 a month to come listen to him. Think of how loyal those people are. How many entertainers could do that? Do you think anyone would follow Jay Leno to a pay service?
 
[quote name='Scorch']Regarding Wombat calling the sale on 12 month cards a pre-emptive strike on PS3's potential price drop:[/quote]
I think you and Wombat are seeing master plans when it's something really simple. A lot of new customers bought 360's in December. It comes with one month free on Xbox LIVE Gold. So surprise! In January Microsoft does a lot of deals with retailers to offer the 1 year subscription at cheap prices to lock them in for a year and get them really addicted to the service. Think like a pusher!
 
Regarding Wombat's surprise at the continued strong sales of the DS, keep in mind that there's a constantly renewing market for that system: kids. I've bought a couple of them as gifts for the children of relatives, and I'm sure many other people have as well.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']I shit you not when I say I don't know who you are referring to.[/QUOTE]

I don't remember them all, but Wombat mentioned CJ once, you mentioned Ron Workmen, etc. It just seems like the show takes a break for a few seconds so you can plug something for a friend.
 
[quote name='thorbahn3']I don't remember them all, but Wombat mentioned CJ once, you mentioned Ron Workmen, etc. It just seems like the show takes a break for a few seconds so you can plug something for a friend.[/QUOTE]

How dare we supprt others in the community, what hell is our problem. Thats it no more giving back, Thorbahn said so.
 
The signatures at GTZ have been removed by the user. Granted, they weren't in good taste but most people don't hate CAG as Alphakira would like to have CAG believe. Alphakira seems more interested in trying to instigate conflict between users. Sometimes the humor at GTZ may be in bad taste or seem hateful but many users are at both sites and enjoy the communities equally.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']Yeah, but think of all the people that he got to spend $13 a month to come listen to him. Think of how loyal those people are. How many entertainers could do that? Do you think anyone would follow Jay Leno to a pay service?[/QUOTE]

Is the comparison seriously shock jock vs stand up comedian? And since when does having a loyal fan base represent relevance? New Kids on the Block still has a fan base but I would hardly consider them relevant to the music industry...
 
[quote name='rogueweapon']Congrats to Speed1969 for the death of his nemisis CC, you won buddy.[/quote]

Didn't realize someone could be so inconsiderate over so many job losses, especially in an economy such as ours. I don't know why anyone would want a company like Circuit City to go out of business it just doesn't do anyone any good. Best Buy practicly has a monopoly on the niche of big box electronics stores now, in fact I would go as far as to say that they do. Their only competition is some Fry's stores, some mom and pop shops, and internet shopping. So yeah let's all give a big hooray, we don't have to worry about Circuit City anymore (the company which almost always undercut Best Buy in pricing and actually had clearance titiles).
 
Too many game writers consider themselves journalists when thy really aren't. They are either simply reviewers, writers or editors. Nothing wrong with that, but real journalists will go to the source of the story and try to extract more information from it. They don't just repost the same news item that's found on every single game website out there. They will contact game companies, try to find out more information, etc.

Once again, it's not a bad thing to just be a reviewer, but real journalists don't just wait for something to be announced by a company and then rephrase the story. They put their full effort in order to get more information revealed.
 
CheapyD,

I'm Bill Marrs, owner of GameTZ. Sorry for not making much effort to introduce myself before given that we run sites with some overlap. I know there are a lot of people use who use both CAG and GameTZ.

And, sorry for the trouble over this. I actually hadn't seen the signature in question before this morning (after someone posted about your podcast). I turn sigs off on my site because I find them annoying, and no one had mentioned it to me or our mods.

I have now removed all the images from the posts where it had been used and removed that guy's avatar which also had your cartoon face with x's over the eyes. If we find more cases, I'll remove those as well. Feel free to contact me directly in the future if you have a problem with something on GameTZ.

The guy who did it (monkbonk) was joking, I'm sure of that. Frankly, his sense of humor is a bit beyond me and it's not the first time I didn't really get a joke he made. But, he's not a bad guy. unfortunately, that Forbes article touched off some bashing between Goozex, GameTZ and CAG. I think monkbonk was actually trying to make a joke out of all that by with that ridiculous image. But, out of context, I'm sure it must have seemed pretty ugly and uncalled-for.

Cheap Ass Gamer is a great site that is very useful to a lot of gamers and game traders. Your success speaks for itself. The great majority of GameTZ users, myself included, think very highly of CAG and of you for all you've done and continue to do here. I hope this sort of thing, perpetuated by a one or two individuals doesn't sour relations between our communities.
 
Wombat, your idea for peddling good reviews to publishers for ad dollars steps on the toes of journalistic integrity.

As TommyDon mentioned above, most "game journalists" really aren't...but most reviewers would still see your idea as a violation of ethics. Funny they are ok with the wine and dine treatment they got when reviewing GTA4 and MGS4 but that's another story.

Maybe separation of marketing and journalism is a dead model of business. But would you read or trust a newpaper or website that always contacted their subject to pry ad dollars out of them prior to publishing?
 
I don't think it's as much a matter of hard drive space when it comes to the industry going all-digital, but rather bandwidth. With half of the U.S. still being on dial-up, they'd be killing their business. A lot of hardcore gamers are the people who live in the middle of nowhere with nothing better to do, and they may not have access to broadband. And even for people with our sorry excuse for broadband, it would be annoying.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']Yeah, but think of all the people that he got to spend $13 a month to come listen to him. Think of how loyal those people are. How many entertainers could do that? Do you think anyone would follow Jay Leno to a pay service?[/quote]

I wouldn't follow Jay Leno to a free all you can eat buffet but I'm sure there are a lot of Jay Leno fans that would pay $13/month to listen to his stale jokes. He blows but he is popular. I will agree with you on Cash Back, those were some good titties and the movie wasn't terrible either. Ice pirates is goodbad just like Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon. Why did you make the robot black?
 
BTW Cheapy! Do check out Burn Notice! Bruce Campbell is the king of cheesy comedy and the series is awsome:)

 
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