CAGcast #497: The Unfortunate Adventures of Bat Girl

The gang discusses how Mario Kart 8 Deluxe could be a lot better, Wombat's 40th birthday, Overwatch loot boxes, Nintendo 2DS XL and so much more!

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MP3 (1 hours 19 minutes) - iTunes - Google Play - Stitcher - RSS - YouTube
 



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Show Linkage/Notes:
Intro - Tritonal x Cash Cash - Untouchable

Outro - I Want the Knife - The Golden Child


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Oh my gosh, what great timing!

It's been a ridiculously long week and I was literally just about to start an random old episode but I decided to check the site first (the latest version isn't pulling up on my itunes yet).

Can't wait to listen to this episode! 

Edit:

Do we need to do a fun run for Ship's little girl?

Cheapy please don't install that bat house. If you get bite by a bat and can't have it tested, it's automatic rabies vaccine series. And shipwreck, the 3 shots on the first day were one rabies vaccine and the other two to the thighs were rabies immuneglobulin, which are active rabies antibodies.

Only sure things in life are death, taxes and Cheapie hating on the latest Nintendo release.  

Ship seems bored because it is the same game as the Wii U one more than anything.  I think that's us too for the most part.  It's just not going to have the traction if you've played the first one.  I did order a few lan adapters so I can wire the Switch docks on each tv for local multiplayer gaming and that should be extra fun.

Original version had characters to unlock and some of the modes if I remember right.  I think they just left them unlocked  in Deluxe so anyone owning the first didn't have to do through it all again.  

I think the money Nintendo puts into a game like MK8 is all in the polish.  IT's to get that extra 5-10% polish that most other games lack.  That costs $$$$.  I don't think the scope of MK8 is any less than OverWatch.  I own both. 

My complaint about MK8 and recent MK games is too many tracks cater too much to  online play.   They are all big and wide.  And so driving them is pretty easy.  Double Dash had lots of trickier to drive courses.  Narrower.   The new tracks are 10-lane nterstates in comparison.  They aren't as much fun to drive overall especially in single player.

Oh and I have never understood the underwater and kite gameplay.   It seems like they could have done more with those rather than those things being superficial and more boring/more auto-pilot-ee than driving on the road. 

The thing with the switch is we still don't know the online costs and I heard the Mario Kart online is hit or miss.

As said, the few of us (the dozens!) who bought a Wii U are still waiting for that big Switch game to draw us in. I don't feel like spending $400+ just for Bomberman right now. I hope Splatoon 2 is glorious. But yeah if you never owned a Wii U then Mario Kart and Zelda is pretty damn compelling for launch window titles.

But yeah It's ing insane that Mario Kart gets higher meta/scores just because It's on switch with barely any new improvements. I hope Persona 5 Crimson gets a ing 97 when it's out.

I'm considering Hello Fresh though my wife wants to try Blue Apron.

Cheapy, Smart Home Question.  You went with a Phillps light bulb and a motion detector.  Did you consider the Ring motion light system that was just released by Ring?  Into the Badlands is a really good show.  The premise is a lot like an audio book I listened to titled Dies the Fire:A Novel of the Change.

Shipwreck, I love the idea of an open world Mario Kart.  But why put all that effort and work into a product when you can simply repackage what you already have and sell it again and make truck loads of money.

A question for what the group thinks.  Do you think Japanese video game companies are not as inclusive as the one major american video game company Microsoft?  Microsoft seems to do everything it can to entice gamers around the world to buy their system.  Mostly Nintendo and to a lesser extent Sony seem to have the attitude of, this is what Japanese gamers want so that is what we will do and only that, the rest of you should be happy with that.

Finding it really strange that people didn't catch on that Ben Kuchera was being (shitty and) satirical with that Scorpio fps screen article, especially with a sub header like "It is only right and fair, do the right thing."

Also, happy late birthday Wombat! May all your days and monthly T shirts be great.

I'll go on record as a "pro-bat box" vote. Ours attached to our house gets activity sometimes and we notice fewer mosquitoes when they are around. They are looking for a home. Give them one. You don't have to, and they'll look around openings in your roof (attic), children's play equipment...etc.

Full disclosure, you will have bat poop under the bat house - so plant vegetation in front of it to block it. 

Could you guys please do me a favor and do some shows without bringing Metacritic scores into the conversation? I do not see any added value in doing so. You have your own thoughts and can articulate them effectively. That is why we listen every week.

If the odds were better for people who paid for loot boxes with real money instead of in-game currency, people would straight up riot. Cheapy is god damned insane.

I do agree that MK8D is an 8 at best, but one game mode that wasn't mentioned was the Battle Mode. It's a great feature that I can see be a huge success for the game as soon as Nintendo gets the shotty online play figured out. If the cast hasn't checked it out, I recommend it.

The Death Star in Return of the Jedi was fully armed and operational.  You nerds are not nerdy enough!

Loved the inclusion of The Golden Child line Cheapy, I got it right away! I used to love that movie for some reason...

The wife and I have been watching The Handmaid's Tale also, I'm pretty into it. It is very well done and acted, and I can't wait for the next episode. My wife is into it since it was based on the Margaret Atwood novel, and there was even a movie in the 80s starring Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall and Liam Neeson's late wife.

Re: Loot box rates - I know this is also a thing in Japan, at least with mobile games. All those gatcha style games now need to show the percentages for getting different rated characters. If you play Fire Emblem Heroes, you'll notice the percentage rates are in the US version as well.

DragoonKnight said:

If the odds were better for people who paid for loot boxes with real money instead of in-game currency, people would straight up riot. Cheapy is god damned insane.

Click to expand...

I think having two different tiers for loot boxes that offer the same stuff but at different rates would also cause people to be very upset. A small percentage of people that throw tons of money into the game would probably be happy, but most people wouldn't. I also think it would discourage people who weren't spending money from playing since they might think that they're less likely to get anything good. The fact that the game isn't free to play and already has a starting price to get in would only further exacerbate this.

It would probably be less of an issue if the game was free to play. Though I could still see it turning people off who try it and leading to fewer converts from free to pay to play.

@CheapyD,  the law in China came into effect on May 1st, and we did see companies announce probability related with loot. 

For overwatch,  on average , every 13.5 loot boxes contain an item of legendary quality.  

But that doesn't translate into 'if i open 14 in a row, I will 100% get a legendary item', if my understanding of statistics serves me right. 

Overall gamers' feedback is that hardcore people will  continue to spend their money no matter what the odds.. 

btw. Thanks for an entertaining hour of podcast every week and hopefully I'm not your only Chinese listener here in Shanghai. 

From what I remember of Mario Kart 8 on the WiiU was that you had to unlock most of the characters and tracks. It is sorely missed in the Switch version

Mario Kart getting a 93 on metacritic shows just how ridiculous Cheapy's reliance on metacritic is.

Happy Birthday to Wombat: Week 2

"Nintendo fanboys are annoying" - Forza fanboys

That was an amusing thing to listen to. Cheapy treats Metacritic like most gamers, where the opinions included agree with his viewpoint/assumptions or it's wrong. There is no difference of opinion.