[bickle]

I agree that there is much more attention and nit-picking in regards to the new consoles with this generation, but I think you are overlooking a major reason: Consoles now are far more complex than they ever were. When the SNES was coming out, what was there to question? All you needed to know was that it played games with way better graphics. Now there are a whole slew of valid questions: What resolutions does it support? Does it have bluray or dvd? What about downloading games? Is there DRM? Can I play my old games? What about my old downloaded games? Etc... There's a whole lot to ask questions about, and the consoles cost a heck of a lot more money. All this leads to a whole lot more nit-picking and speculation.

Sidenote regarding the time between announcement and release: Can you even imagine a company these days trying to pull of a surprise release to retail like Sega did with the Saturn? Crazy.

Evoland: I'm enjoying it, but I think I like the concept more than the game. It seems a little boring. Maybe it's overly simplistic? At least where I am in the game, there isn't much/any strategy in attacks. I wish it was on the Vita.

Indie games: At first I thought Wombat was just being facetious when stating that he didn't like indie games. I'm still not entirely sure. A while back (maybe two years ago?), Wombat was one of the biggest proponents of indie games, and had a show segment where he would recommend games from the XBL indie game section. And when the 360 interface was redesigned, he complained that the indie game section was getting lost. I know I bought a few games based solely on his recommendations.

Regarding what constitutes indie: most people don't realize that the Star Wars films were the largest indie films made. Check out the problems Lucas had getting money to make Empire. Of course it is different now that Lucasfilm was acquired by Disney.

[Tankcore]

There is no tyranny in other developed countries like Japan and Australia where guns are properly regulated.  Just a lot less gun deaths.

I'll assume from this statement you don't believe any developed countries exist in the African continent, the middle east, or in eastern Europe.  Otherwise, you might want to crack a book open.  

 

Also, what kinds of violence are acceptable to you?  It's no secret after passing near total gun bans that England and Australia both had massive upsurges in violent crime, like home invasions, muggings, rapes, assaults, and even murders.  Don't worry, I'm sure they have whistles to protect them.

[Curufinwe]

There are plenty of other developed countries, and almost all of them have a lower rate of gun death than America.

 

http://en.wikipedia....ated_death_rate

 

Please give me a list of developed countries where there is tyranny because the people don't own enough guns.

[guardian_owl]

Xbox One-80 is funny because "Xbox One" is a terrible name and it's a pun, and puns are almost always funny, especially when they aren't funny.

 

That original comment about indie game self-publishing sounded an awful lot like execuspeak for "We're not going to do it, but I don't want to piss you off by saying were not going to do it, so I am going to say we're looking into it." Now when they change it due to pressure, they can say they didn't backtrack due to that half-assed statement.

 

Minecraft was a hit on PC and then ported for Xbox, if it were ported to PS3 I imagine it would also sell a lot of copies.

 

The appeal of indie games is much the same appeal of indie movies, small projects which probably aren't mass-market commercially viable, which often have interesting subject matter. It's also pretty much the only place you find 2D games nowadays outside of handhelds.

 

There are three things early release of digital versions of games would do

1.)If you want to play it at the same time as everyone else at the start, you can't rent it, you have to buy it for the first few weeks / month.

2.)By removing the choice of a physical copy at the prevents a lot of early copies from falling into the used game market

3.)In the case of big multiplayer-focused titles, it spreads out the initial load of players and will reduce the chance of initial server overload. Rather than a massive amount on release day, they'll be like a 1/3rd load when it releases digitally early, it will thin out some, and then the other 2/3rds of the load will come on physical release day.

[Levi McFly]

I definitely think the Wombat Podcast Network should exist. My kick starter virginity will be broken. (I've never helped fund anything)

[bickle]

I'll assume from this statement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

 

To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by replacing it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the "straw man"), and to refute it, without ever having actually refuted the original position This technique has been used throughout history in polemical debate, particularly in arguments about highly charged, emotional issues.

[mitchellberry]

If Wombat sounds like he has a chip on his shoulder, well, I feel it's completely justified. Indie game zealots tend to think that indie games are innately more valuable than big publisher titles simply by virtue of their hard-scrabble, by-the-bootstraps indie-ness. that. A good game is a good game and a bad one is a bad one, I couldn't care less about the game behind the game. I try and judge the game solely on its merits as an entertainment product.

People ignore that indie games rely on a lot of crutches in their execution. Most notably, how many indie games use a pixelated retro aesthetic to mask the fact that they don't have the resources, time, or talent to create a wholly unique look for their games? Too many to count. Not to mention the rhetorical crutches indie game proponents are so famous for. Do me a favor, indie fans, if you're so creative, please come up with some more artisinal insults than "dudebro" or "sheeple" when describing people who don't comport to your extremely narrow and rigid view of what games and gamers "should" be.

As to Fish himself, yeah, Fez was kind of a neat game. But a its core, was it really such a revelation? I mean, the core conceit was a 1-to-1 cryptograph of the roman alphabet, laid out like a Japanese text. In other words, slightly more challenging than a puzzle in the Sunday paper. Not exactly earth-shattering stuff. Don't get me wrong, I do think it was cool, and no way could I, personally, have programmed it. But does it justify the massive ego and aggressive tone he's so famous for?

Even Shipwreck said they're pretty much the worst. If you've lost Ship, by all indications a kind and gracious dude, it's time to do some soul searching.

[DQT]

 

Robert Goode ‏@Shipwreck15h

"You might hate him, but he made Fez – and as such, he’s probably better than you." - EDGE. That's mean. I'm quitting making jet engines.

 

I don't know if this is relevant to this week's show, but Shipwreck, once again I have to say you are the number one gaming journalist in my heart. It's funny how the writer accused others of having a lack of perspective when that's the closing sentence of his editorial.

[fatbody75]

Wombat, I love the color you bring to the podcast but there are times when it seems like you need to lay off the caffeine.  Near the end of the show it just seemed like ship and cheapy were being plowed under by a wombat-driven bulldozer.  Tone it down a little and you'll be good.

 

                                                       

[pureflux]

Gentlemen,

 

I salute you for having a video game podcast with witty analysis with ranting and slant at almost nil. Please continue the good work.

 

To Wombat, I would love to hear Wombat's insights at full strength, may you can carry a recorder and play a small segment called Wombat Unchained. Note, the Wombat's complaiting about the violent ads on the Xbox dashboard made a company react.

 

To Cheapy, I recently watched The Great Happiness Space: Tale of a Osaka Love Thief on Netflix. After discovering Japanese males being passive and most have a feminized fashion sense, can you speculate if an American young man with some swagger (charm) can make Japenese women swoon?

 

To Shipwreck, will you be taking time out from the show with the new arrival to your family? Do you expect to play  and review as many games as you have? As Cheapy said you are front loading.

 

Thanks.

[testudo]

Hey Cheapy, more RuPaul references next episode please!

[Old Dead Tree]

Hey guys,
 
I think Wombat should do a Kickstarter or at least have CAG put up a PayPal donation link. I don't know what the problem is.
 
What's wrong with fans donating money to show our appreciation and paying for the hundreds of hours Wombat has entertained us over the years?
 
I'm generally the cheapest guy around, looking to find the best deals/coupons, but I would go out of my way to give Wombat money for all the entertainment he has given/entertained us.it.

Ya know what? I agree here. You guys have given me years of entertainment. I don't see what the problem is with fans kicking a little something back for the effort, if they are so inclined.

[Old Dead Tree]

Why is it begging for money? It's "Wombat Fan appreciation" for the hundreds of hours he worked for free entertaining us over the past decade. 
 
Let us donate money to Wombat. Let us show our appreciation.

Look, not like wombat is some broke a22 freeloader or something, but do I feel like I owe wombat like 5 bucks? Yeah, I do. I drive an hour each way for work. Over the last fournyears many of those drives was while listening to the cagcast. I mean s man, do I agree w wombat all the time? No. Do I spend a good chunk of my time listening thinking to myself, "ugh...wombat"? Yeah. But though I love cheapy and shipwreck, I don't think there could be a cagcast without wombat.

[wageslave]

Cheapy,

 

I respect your views on firearms, but have you thought about how much money the website 'cheapassgunners' could make? It took me months to legally find and buy a Ruger 1911 .45 that wasn't being sold by a firearm dealer who was gouging well over MSRP. Now that I finally have one I am so going to take out the clip, strap a wiimote to it, and play me some dead space extraction (when only adults are at home of course).

[wageslave]

I was just thinking - the optional light gun for the Magnavox Oddesy was VERY realistic. I also had a realistic looking revolver in the 1980s or early1990s  that was for a video game but can't remember which one. I wonder when they stopped making them like that?

[MattZack]

Please give me a list of developed countries where there is tyranny because the people don't own enough guns.

 

I don't believe that any post stated that there is tyranny because the people don't own enough guns.  I believe the idea is that having guns allows people to fight back more effectively against a tyrant. 

[ianoid]

Great show. Keep it up! I always look forward to listening. I never miss a show. My favorite podcast hands down. 

 

One of my favorite comments from this or the previous CAGCast was from Shipwreck, who said (paraphrased), "If I corrected everything you got wrong, the show would be 3 or 4 hours long."  Which reinforces my belief that it's not always what you say that matters most. It's often what you don't say that matters. Especially as a broadcasters.

 

Also, I'm surprised CheapyD is playing EVE. I don't play, but it fascinates me. I'm happy to hear what he (or any of you) thinks about getting started with it (since I never will).

[ArtificialEnemy]

First off love the show. Keep up the good work. The end of the podcasts makes me feel like I'm back in the 80's Nostalgia at it's finest.

CheapyD you say that Nintendo Wii u should have came out 2 years ago. Why? It would have been way under spec'ed and closer to the Wii. Do you think Nintendo would have been smarter to wait until this November to release the Wii u. The system would have been more powerful then what is currently released. There would have been more first party games ( Mario u, Mario 3d, Zelda wind waker, pikmin 3 and Luigi u all at launch. Plus Nintendo could have seen neither Sony and Microsoft were using touch screen controllers and ditched that expensive controller and gone with a more traditional controller aka GameCube thus putting the money saved into a higher spec system.

Ps glad you guys finally got into pc gaming. It is my primary gaming system of choice.

[Jasper Kazai]

I don't understand why NeoGAF is such a focus of attention. I think they're a little too self-important, personally. I was baffled by the fact that I had to wait to get an account, and then when I finally did get it, I didn't really care anymore.

 

When you guys were talking about the XB1's external power supply, Cheapy said (paraphrasing a bit): "these consoles are PCs. PCs have big power supplies. They have to go somewhere." Yeah, but... PC power supplies are internal, so that's a weak point.

 

And as for Cheapy saying EVE doesn't need the whole spreadsheet thing people always mention: no, you don't need to use them. However, and I'm not saying you're bad, but it just means you aren't trying to be the best. For example, you can play WoW just fine with only the in-game information they provide you. But if you want to be good at your class, you have to do out-of-game research on what maximizes DPS or what have you. So you don't need to use spreadsheets in EVE, but you aren't going to be performing at the best possible level.

I've never played EVE personally, so I don't know what it's really all about, or what spreadsheets would help you with specifically. But there's something similar in all MMOs.

[Kazaganthi]

Now I'm all riled up about Indie Games! Thanks guys

[casamh]

Dudebros...how can you guys say that the hardware is not finalized for either console at this point. I am pretty sure that major components are finalized, and in pre-production. The hardware has to be manufactured, QA'd, fixed, then mass produced, boxed, shipped, and in stores by November. And coordinated with retailers as well. Also one of you said that the software was finalized for one of the consoles. That does not make any sense. Too early for the software to be finalized when XBox One80 is still making up it's mind on things. 

[Dantarp]

I don't know why you guys are so confused about "indie".  Strong Bad cleared this up years ago:

http://www.homestarr...sbemail203.html

[mikeyzerog]

I really enjoyed the show, as always. I download several video game podcasts, but the Cagcast is the only one I consistently listen to all the way through. Others are too long, too serious, or too up their own butts. I like the personalities and humor, and my tastes seem to be in-line with Cheapy's (for both games and movies). Thanks for the free entertainment