Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

The Origin Story Behind Counter-Strike's Most Iconic Map

"Jeremy Jayne reveals the remarkable tale of how a teenage hobbyist (Dave Johnston) accidentally made one of Counter-Strike's most iconic maps. And then accidentally did it again."

Counter-Strike is the reason why I originally bough Half Life. Dust was and is one of the most iconic Counter-Strike maps and perhaps one of the most popular multiplayer maps of all time.

Elder Scrolls Castles: A Good Follow Up To Fallout Shelter

The Elder Scrolls: Castles launched last week on iOS and Android and I've been playing it a bit each day since. It's a good tippy tap phone game that Bethesda boasted is a spiritual sequel to Fallout Shelter. And yeah, they were totally right, it's the same basic gameplay of Fallout Shelter but with an Elder Scrolls theme. It's not just a reskin as they've improved upon many of the game mechanics in that the time passes differently and there is a bit more to the game to keep track of. Still, it's a very similar game and they launched with a bit more than the original Fallout Shelter had but already after a week I'm not sure what may keep me playing it? Is it a fun... Read All

Do You Want to Visit Japan Just To See The New Nintendo Museum?

On October 2nd Nintendo will open it's first museum in Kyoto Japan. When I finally make it for a visit to Japan this will be one of the places on my list.

Travel Around Hyrule in The New Zelda Echoes Game

As I was watching this video with one of my friends we decided that this game looks like a mashup of Ocarina of Time + Breath of the Wild. Echoes of Wisdom drops September 26th and I can't wait to play it when it does.

A New Elder Scrolls Is Coming Soon: Castles Drops September 10th!

"Castles is the spiritual successor to Fallout Shelter, the popular vault-building mobile game that puts you in the role of an Overseer. In Castles, you’ll take on the role of the right hand of the king (or queen) and manage your kingdom. You’ll build the castle of your dreams, rule over your subjects, and make critical decisions about your kingdom’s future as you build your dynasty. "

I love Fallout Shelter so a new free to play game from Bethesda sounds incredible. Fallout Shelter started on phones and eventually was ported to everything including PC so I hope the same thing happens here. Also.... Fallout Shelter 2? This may be the next best thing.

DOOM+DOOM II: Hellish Perfection Comes To Earth, Again!

In 2019 iD Software re-released Doom to nearly all the modern systems. It was a solid release, yet didn't have LAN or online multiplayer and it wasn't as configurable as it could be. During this years 2024 Quakecon iD Software partnering with the incredible team at Nightdive Studios released the definitive remake of Doom in Doom + Doom II. What does this re-remaster include? A whole lot and by default includes all the levels from Doom + Doom II as well as Master Levels for DOOM II, TNT: Evilution, The Plutonia Experiment, No Rest for the Living, Sigil & Legacy of Rust (a new episode created in collaboration by individuals from id Software, Nightdive Studios and... Read All In 2019 iD Software re-released Doom to nearly all the modern systems. It was a solid release, yet didn't have LAN or online multiplayer and it wasn't as configurable as it could be. During this years 2024 Quakecon iD Software partnering with the incredible team at Nightdive Studios released the definitive remake of Doom in Doom + Doom II. What does this re-remaster include? A whole lot and by default includes all the levels from Doom + Doom II as well as Master Levels for DOOM II, TNT: Evilution, The Plutonia Experiment, No Rest for the Living, Sigil & Legacy of Rust (a new episode created in collaboration by individuals from id Software, Nightdive Studios and MachineGames).

DOOM FINALLY INCLUDES ONLINE MULTIPLAYER and an all new Deathmatch map pack featuring 25 maps! I've spent quite a bit of time playing Deathmatch online and it's a really fast paced wild cacophony of shootery goodness. Right now, it's not hard to jump in and play with people so jump in while you can and enjoy the 90's deathmatch glory. I also appreciate that it's VERY easy to play with anyone on any platform. While I don't pay for online for the Switch or XBox, when I'm Deathmatching on Steam it's neat to see Switch & Playstation people Dooming alongside me.

Oh and, they've released a WHOLE NEW OFFICIAL DOOM CAMPAIGN! I've wanted this for quite a while as I consider Doom to be one of the, if not the greatest game of all time that deserves new regular releases. I know there is a vibrant community of incredible maps and mods created, but I hope with this release we see iD Software making an effort to release a new official campaign from time to time.

"Created in collaboration by individuals from id Software, Nightdive Studios, and MachineGames, Legacy of Rust is the newest episode for DOOM, and the first official episode since DOOM II to feature new demons and weapons."

Like many of these iD + Nightdive re-releases if you previously owned Doom on any platform this is available for free. So if you bought it on Switch, you can search for it and download the new version which is side-by-side with the old iD version.

Coming back to Doom with this new release I have a new goal and I don't care how long it takes me to achieve. For quite some time I've wanted to play all of the official Doom + Doom II levels and now I will be. I consider all of the content added in this new Doom + Doom II release to be official and I'll be going through it all. Not really focused on completing it in any particular order, just going through all of the hellish Doom goodness! So far, I've started with Doom II and have been having a great time going through it on my Steam Deck & PC.

If you want to dig in to all what's included in the Doom + Doom II release check out the official notes below or watch the Quakecon stream on YouTube where they go over it and show off the new campaign Legacy of Rust and Multiplayer.

https://slayersclub.bethesda.net/en-US/article/doom-doomii-release-notes
Quakecon Day 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThQd_UJaTys&list=WL&index=46
Quakecon Day 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o58IzkTV144&list=WL&index=50

Even though this release is as close to perfect as it gets, one suggestion is for a feature to DISABLE weapon switching on pickup. It's not the worst but annoying in multiplayer. Also, bots. Bots would be lovely for when there aren't as many people to frag with you online as we'd like.

Alex Trebek Was Never More 8-Bit!

Recently I was retro game thrifting with one of my friends Will and I spotted Jeopardy! on NES for $4 on a discount shelf. Young Jon Dodson would never have picked up Jeopardy! and would have always preferred Zelda, Metal Gear, Mario or nearly anything else to a classic game show game. Not to say I haven't enjoyed game show video games, I have very fond memories of Wheel of Fortune on DOS, I just wasn't a big Jeopardy fan when I was young. Times change and as luck would have it I've been watching a fair amount of Jeopardy on Pluto.tv. I've also really enjoyed watching Jeopardy with my girlfriend. As we watch we try and answer the questions and the good news is we both... Read All

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition Is Already A Classic!

Nintendo released World Championships NES Edition on Switch July 18th. Because I'm a pretty consistent mark for classic Nintendo games remixed in a new way, some months ago I pre-ordered the Physical Edition that came with a few fun extras along with the Switch game cart. After playing it a few times with friends on the couch I can say that this game is a nearly perfect game to play with friends. I've seen some reviews say that it's light on content and that's a fair consideration, however I believe there is a lot of game here and that this is a game that I will keep coming back to and playing with my friends for many years to come, if not... forever?

People talk about... Read All Nintendo released World Championships NES Edition on Switch July 18th. Because I'm a pretty consistent mark for classic Nintendo games remixed in a new way, some months ago I pre-ordered the Physical Edition that came with a few fun extras along with the Switch game cart. After playing it a few times with friends on the couch I can say that this game is a nearly perfect game to play with friends. I've seen some reviews say that it's light on content and that's a fair consideration, however I believe there is a lot of game here and that this is a game that I will keep coming back to and playing with my friends for many years to come, if not... forever?

People talk about "forever games" like Fortnite, Minecraft or others that have a ton of online players and games that one can play all day for years at a time. As I'm a bit older and some could say ancient I don't sit down and play games for 8-10 hours a day. Typically I play games with my young son or friends and it's a handful of hours per week. Still, I have games I'd consider "forever games" that I'll come back to over and over through the years like Link's Awakening or Secret of Mana and I'm always looking for other games to add to that the "forever list." I think Nintendo World Championship: NES Edition may be a forever game in that it mashes up some of the best NES games in a way that makes it really fun to compete with your friends.

World Championships is so good I think I agree with other reviewers in that a bit more to it would make it even better. I'm not sure it would take a lot and I'd appreciate more long form races through games like Zelda like a category where you raced through the whole game or started the game through a few dungeons or race through a hard dungeon with minimal items.

As a fan of the 3DS Remix game I'm happy Nintendo carried the series over to World Championships. Hopefully there are free updates that come later that adds more, I'd love one update that turns off the crowd cheering, it's really distracting and I'd prefer the normal audio anyway. Also, if Nintendo is reading this and they are absolutely not I'd totally buy a Super Nintendo World Championship game so... you know, make that one too.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Releases September 26th!

In a follow up to the incredible Link's Awakening Remake of 2019, Nintendo is back with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom! Looks like the game starts where the Zelda games typically end with a big boss fight with Gannon, but this time Link is taken out of the picture and Zelda is the one that needs to save the day. The graphics and gameplay look similar to the Link's Awakening Remake, which I am very happy to see. Will Nintendo release a new top down Zelda Adventure every handful of years? I hope so.

The Switch Link's Awakening Remake is such a classic in my house that my son and I are playing through it right now. Will Echoes of Wisdom be as good? I hope so.

The... Read All

Unreal Tournament 2004 20 Years Later: An LGR Retrospective

Lazy Game Reviews (LGR) is one of the better retro video game and PC oddware YouTube channels I watch. Clint often releases retrospectives on older PC titles and his latest on Unreal Tournament 2004 is one of his best. Like many olds I started with Unreal Tournament and played that a lot until Unreal Tournament 2003 and then 2004 unseated them all for my shooter of choice. I played it quite a bit at University and with friends and Onslaught is still on of my favorite shooter game modes. I've hoped that Epic Games would come back to Unreal Tournament and polish up the remake they launched years ago but they have stopped focusing on that in favor of Fortnite. Focusing... Read All