Travis4

Joined 01/23/2012
  Admin

Web developer and all-around geek.
https://travisnewman.me

547 Posts

Jedi Outcast Linux Port in the Works
http://linuxgamecast.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Jcast.png
Last week, after the reveal that LucasArts was shutting down, Raven Software released some of their code to the world: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. Jochen Leopold is working on a port of (at least) Jedi Outcast.

This is one of my favorite games in the world, and I look forward to being able to play it on another platform. There are still some major bugs (he's just five days in) but he has the game running!

https://plus.google.com/110109595966784702846/posts

Cheerful Ghost purchased by CBS Interactive
Hello all,

We come to you today with some awesome news about the future of the site. Effective immediately Cheerful Ghost has been acquired by CBS Interactive. In the coming weeks, we will be moving the site over to CBS Interactive’s server farm, and a few of us will be moving into the Gamespot offices.

We will be incorporating many useful features from Gamespot’s network, including the awesome reviews and GameFAQs forum integration! This will push the Cheerful Ghost community forward with trusted reviews and the friendliest forum around.

We do need to point out some other changes to how we operate.

  • Non-paying customers will be limited to two comments per day.

  • The payment structure will be changing, allowing microtransactions per comment and post for members without a paid subscription.

  • All content posted to the site will be wholly owned by CBS Interactive. Any content previously posted also falls under this rule.

  • Any future contests will require a $1 entry fee.

  • We will be accepting corporate sponsors. Fear not, we won’t let them change how we write. In fact, we've had corporate sponsors all day and I'm sure you'll agree nothing has changed.

  • The games list will be curated by CBS Interactive’s legal team.


We believe this change brings more value to you, and we look forward to bringing you the best content CBS will give us the permission to post!

Bioshock Infinite Review: part 1
Let me just start by saying this game is visually stunning. The graphics really pop on my Sony Bravia™ 3D TV. I think we've now gotten to the point in gaming where the graphics improvements in future generations really won’t change the industry as much as they have in the past. I can’t imagine a higher polygon count making this game any prettier. Sometimes I just had to stop and look at the beauty in this game. This gave me a great opportunity to take a break for some Doritos™ and Pepsi™ while I sat back and enjoyed the beauty that the game could push through my Sony Bravia™ TV before jumping into the action.

The gameplay is solid. The shooting mechanics feel basically like the older Bioshock games, and using your vigors (this game’s version of plasmids) along with guns gives you a variety of ways to dole out the pain. And if you like doling out pain, you’ll love the new film, Kick-Ass 2, coming out August 16!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc6tL8cd9KQ

There are some times when the action dies down and character building takes over. At these points I like to head to the fridge for an ice cold Pepsi™, to put the PEP back in my game! Also, the puzzle minigames from the first two games were missing from Infinite, and nothing really came in to replace them. But if you’re in the mood for puzzle games, PopCap™ has everything you could ever want! Just head over to http://popcap.com/ and use promo code 4PR1L-F00L5 for 10% off any game in their store!

That’s all for now, I haven’t finished the game yet, but when I do I’ll finish this up in part 2, but thanks to the marketing department at 2K visiting to explain the rest of the game, and the bag of money they brought when they came to visit, I guarantee this will get a solid 10! Now to slam a few Monster™ energy drinks and finish the rest of this beautiful game all in one sitting!

Bioshock Infinite Giveaway winners!
http://img.wallpaperstock.net:81/bioshock-infinite-wallpapers_24451_1920x1200.jpg
First off, congrats to our winner on SteamGifts! That winner isn't online at the moment, but once all the dust has settled from that giveaway and it's delivered, I'll edit this post for proper congratulations.

Now, what you've all been waiting for! This has been the hardest contest to judge. It came down to two entries. We were in agreement on who the top two were, but we agreed that both were equally awesome. So we decided to flip a coin to pick. BUT THEN we decided to throw that coin out the window and just buy a second copy!

Congrats to our two winners, Sparklepop and Nick_Donahoo!

Nick's post was beautifully written, and anyone who had yet to play the game could get a good feeling of Rapture from his amazing descriptions. The detail was amazing, and the analysis of the player being the monster in the Big Daddy's eyes was very poignant.
http://cheerfulghost.com/Nick_Donahoo/posts/1133

Sparklepop's post, on the other hand, was very personal and demonstrated why the game has the effect it does on people. She described the awe and wonder we all felt, and I think we can all relate to wanting to stay up to all hours of the night playing a highly anticipated game.
http://cheerfulghost.com/Sparklepop/posts/1124

So, congrats to both of you! You're both awesome, and we're glad to have you!

To all the other contestants, we greatly appreciate your entries, and we're sorry we don't have a stack of 50 of these things to hand out.

Thanks everyone!

It's time for SHOVEL JUSTICE!

Back this on Kickstarter!
Shovel Knight is a new game coming out later this year for PC, Wii U, and 3DS. It's being headed up by Sean Velasco, who is responsible in part for Contra 4, the new A Boy and His Blob, and Double Dragon Neon. This guy knows retro games.

Shovel Knight looks like a perfect amalgam of Mega Man, Duck Tales, and Castlevania. It obeys the NES color pallet for that authentic 8-bit feel, but you can tell the NES may not have been able to push this.

Everything about this trailer screams awesomeness to me. The music is perfect, the graphics are gorgeous, and the gameplay looks incredibly fun, if tricky.

News from the Gearbox panel at PAX East!
http://i.imgur.com/NcX3IA5.jpg
I watched most of the Gearbox panel and read up on the stuff I missed. Some exciting stuff coming!

First, next week there's a new playthrough being added for everyone. In addition, a content pack including a level cap increase to 61 and a new class of weapons, Pearlescent. This will be free to season pass subscribers, and $5 otherwise. That said, if you don't buy the new pack, good luck surviving a third playthrough.

Kreig is the new vault hunter, releasing in May! He's a bandit psycho who gets rewarded for doing crazy stuff in battle. He'll cost $5, the same as Gaige, and will be entirely separate from the season pass. As rumored, he is melee focused, and has a pretty badass-looking axe. His skilltrees are Bloodlust, Mania, and Hellborn.

  • Bloodlust is about dealing as much damage as possible, and getting bonuses for exploding enemies. Mr. Torgue would be proud.

  • Mania actually rewards the player for taking damage. For example, your action skill cooldown speeds up when you're getting hit, and teammates can hurt Krieg to give him a bonus on this tree.

  • Hellborn gives you bonus elemental damage. With one skill, you do bonus damage when you're on fire.


So this looks to be a major shift in how you play the game. With a Siren teammate dealing fire damage to Kreig and using her skill to heal him as well, he could be an unstoppable force. I can't wait to give him a shot!

Finally, the fourth campaign DLC was teased, though nothing firm about the details. The teaser video only showed the original vault hunters and Tiny Tina playing a D&D type game. Amusing, but nothing about the content of the DLC. It seems everyone who works on Borderlands, the core team and the DLC team, worked together on this one to make it the biggest DLC Gearbox has ever released. It should release in June, and *will* be included for season pass subscribers.

Update: A capture of the teaser has finally shown up online. Worth a watch for the amusement, but again, it doesn't give much in the way of details for the DLC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka4lipQen6w

They also gave out some shift codes for 3 golden keys! Get 'em while they're hot!

Xbox 360 = K3KJT-6HRT5-BHRTT-3BBTJ-RBWJ9
PS3 = 5JKBJ-H5WCF-KWST6-K6BJB-FZ9BJ
PC = W3WJ3-3JXTT-6RW5T-SB53B-XJBX9

In addition, Gearbox is going to start selling a Diamond Plate Loot Chest through ThinkGeek, Forbidden Planet, and their own store. It's a limited run of 5000 units, and in addition to some awesome physical items, you get a deck of cards with codes to get in-game versions of some cosmetic and legendary items. It's $100, but it's going to be hard not to nab this. Full details at Polygon: http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/24/4141972/borderlands-2-diamond-plate-loot-chest-launching-in-may-for-100

One last update (maybe): The stream archive is now up! Gearbox's panel starts at about 49 minutes. http://www.twitch.tv/2k/b/381768342

Duck Tales is being remade!
If you played this game on NES, you know how big a deal this is. I'm seriously looking forward to this game more than most 2013 releases.

Duck Tales was released by Capcom, and designed by some members of the same team that did Mega Man, including Keiji Inafune. It's easily one of the best NES games, back when you could actually get good licensed games.

Publishers balked at female lead of Remember Me
http://i.imgur.com/4bTDdFw.jpg
Apparently some companies still think a female protagonist can't sell games. Despite the successes of some (admittedly few) series like Tomb Raider, Portal, and Metroid, some refuse to publish a game with a female at the forefront.

From the article:
"We had some [companies] that said, 'Well, we don't want to publish it because that's not going to succeed. You can't have a female character in games. It has to be a male character, simple as that."

Source: http://penny-arcade.com/report/article/remember-mes-surprising-connection-to-facebook-and-why-its-protagonist-had

John Riccitello Steps Down as EA's CEO
http://i.imgur.com/sVP9bal.jpg
EA CEO John Riccitello has announced he's stepping down at the end of March. The one reason most sources agree upon is loss of revenue, but others mention botched product launches, so I can't help but wonder if the Sim City launch has anything to do with it. Losing revenue is par for the course these days, with competition from mobile games rising, but that much loss of face may be something they can't let slide.

EA used to be the bad guys of gaming, then Activision kinda took that role for a while, but over the past few years it seems EA has been trying to get that title back. Requiring one-use codes to enable multiplayer on their games, requiring you to give them more money if you bought the game used, the Origin service and some of the horrible experiences that have come out of that, the list goes on.

Here's hoping the new CEO that comes in can turn things around for them.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/18/us-electronicarts-ceo-idUSBRE92H0Z120130318
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnyegriffiths/2013/03/18/john-riccitiello-steps-down-as-ea-ceo/

Tomb Raider: The first hour
http://i.imgur.com/dmlXJtG.jpg
The first hour of Tomb Raider may be one of the best hours I've spent gaming. Seriously.

We're reintroduced to Lara Croft, a version of her prior to her previous exploits, and seemingly a different character. This Lara is a young archaeologist out to find ruins of a lost civilization. Immediately, chaos erupts, and Lara is thrown into danger with only the clothes on her back.

This Lara isn't the over-sexualized Lara we have been playing for years. Even though as each game went on they seemed to tone down the focus on T&A, it was still ever-present and in need of a reboot like this. Lara 2.0 is far more real. Yeah, she's quite attractive, but she's wearing reasonable clothing for an archaeologist-- a camisole shirt (I think, I'm terrible at what different shirts are called) and cargo pants. This is someone you might meet in real life, and her motivations are academic.

As soon as you get control, it plays like a survival horror game. You're injured, you have no weapons, and there are crazy people after you. And you're in for quite a ride.

The graphics are splendid. This is the first title in a while to really push my PC, and the payoff is great. I've read that this is optimized for AMD cards (and even has an option to render each hair individually if you're rocking AMD) but my GTX 550 ti handled it on normal settings, and pushed a few higher settings before the sputtering started. The lighting really controls the mood early on. You need a torch to get around, and you're functionally blind past a certain point. The shadows are fantastic, and add to the horror feel.

The real star is the voice acting. Every little action seems to be scripted. Hearing Lara gasp "Oh god!" when she's slipping or timidly say "OK, I can do this" when there's a big jump enhances the mood. When you find an abandoned camp to escape a storm, the fear, cold, and hunger are entirely believable thanks to the animations and voice acting.

Once you find a bow after a good night's sleep, the game changes. You can hunt for food, you can defend yourself. You see Lara's confidence growing little by little. The action and adventure quickly replace the horror, and the Indiana Jones feeling you're used to in these kinds of games is ever-present. And it's fun, the mechanics are all there, the puzzles are satisfying if a bit easy (though I'm still in the early game). It's still quite a good game.

But in that first hour, I experienced that rare anomaly of complete immersion, where the line where I ended and the game began was blurred to the point of non-existence, and it was *me* who was fighting for my life. I won't soon forget that, and I hope the rest of the game upholds the expectations the intro set.