Travis4

Joined 01/23/2012

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

547 Posts

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Hello Pickaxe Lovers,

Cheerful Ghost is back with a new contest! This month we wanted to do you a solid by giving you the chance to play the amazing game of Terraria. We will be hosting a Cheerful Ghost Terraria server for the duration of the contest and giving you extra chances to win the game.

There are three chances to win. The first is a SteamGifts giveaway, head over to SteamGifts to enter:
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/GRXPh/terraria

In addition, we’re giving away two copies on CheerfulGhost, one on Feb 10th and another on Feb 17th. To enter to win on Cheerful Ghost all you need to do is add Terraria to your games list and write about what you would like to do in the game and why you think it would be awesome. For instance, what you would like to build, craft, mine or even... KILL! We'll pick our favorite idea each week.

All Terraria lovers are invited to join us on our server which we’ll be hosting for the next three weeks. Server details here: http://cheerfulghost.com/panickedthumb/posts/957

Remember to have fun but be cool, Cheerful Ghost is a community of totally awesome people.

THE FINE PRINT:
* Make sure “Terraria Contest” is somewhere in the body of your post. No worries, we will find it but this will help.
* We are giving away one copy of Terraria on Steam Gifts and 2 copies on Cheerful Ghost to the first and second winner. The first winner will be chosen on Feb 10 at 5PM EST and the second on Feb 17 at 5PM EST.
* All posts to Cheerful Ghost center around games in your list SO your post must be for "Terraria" to be counted for the contest. Comments do not count.
* This contest is only for people who do not have Terraria, not to add something to add to your inventory for trading. We will check the winner's Steam inventory to check that the winner doesn't already own the game before giving it out.

* We rule on the side of fun in the case any problems arise.

For historians, our old contests:

http://cheerfulghost.com/panickedthumb/posts/781
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/485


I loved the Aliens games back in the day, and I love Gearbox Software, so the pairing of the two leaves me really interested in this game. Even this terrible trailer can't change my mind.

The voice-over is so cheesy. It's like an 80's Army B-Movie. Mikey Neumann from Gearbox, the head writer of Colonial Marines (and the voice of Scooter... CATCH A RIIIIIIDE!) felt the need to publicly disown the dialogue.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/01/24/new-aliens-colonial-marines-trailer-heavy-on-the-colon/

But it's ok. A fan fix for the trailer was released. https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=H20QEkP-UOk


A game currently on Steam Greenlight is a trip through time. Starting with the monochrome pixelation of Game Boy games and moving into modern 3D, Evoland takes the player through the history of Zelda-style adventure games and Final Fantasy-style JRPGs. The video doesn't show nearly enough, but it would seem the developers really understand each era the game represents, and remember them as fondly as we do.

To vote for this blast of nostalgia on Steam Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=122301377


Cheerful Ghost has received an insider tip from an anonymous Microsoft employee with some new info about Redmond’s next console offering. According to our insider leak Microsoft is working on a new console called “Xbox.” While this may lead to some confusion considering it shares a name with Microsoft’s first console, it makes sense as a brand, as you’ll see below, with the plans Microsoft has for it.

Xbox is not only going to be a console but a platform for future gaming devices, such as the X Surface. This will be a new gaming tablet, not running on standard Windows 8 or RT, but on a new gaming focused OS that has the familiar Metro interface, but powerful enough for console-level games. This will allow for more incremental upgrades as new X devices are released, making the Xbox a hub for all your gaming hardware.

“Microsoft is really pulling out all the stops and this console will be its biggest release to date” our source went on the record to say. “The Xbox will allow you to play games, listen to music and do what you love so much better than anything that came before it.” And with a CPU spec increase of 3X it leaves little to the imagination that this will be something special.

I’m sure consumers will jump at the chance to buy new devices year after year to play all the games coming out, and this is a perfectly reasonable choice for Microsoft after their tablets and Windows 8 have been so poorly received. And the confusing naming convention seems like a bad idea on the surface (no pun intended), but I’m sure Microsoft knows what they’re doing!

We will keep checking in for more in the coming days where we will report everything that gets sent to our inboxes, totally raw and unfiltered-- we don’t worry about little things like vetting our sources! Want to share some info about the new PS4 that has the processing power of IBM’s Watson supercomputer and is controlled exclusively with Donkey Kong Jungle Beat bongos? We’re ready to believe you!

For more info: http://x-surface.tumblr.com/


Bethesda released a new epic trailer for The Elder Scrolls Online today, as well as opening a sign up page for the limited public beta.

I've been out of the MMO scene for a while, but I signed up. I'm interested in seeing what they can do with this. The lore aficionados are a little upset that this seems to go against established canon, but I'm not incredibly worried about that if the game is good.

The trailer is certainly pretty, some uncanny valley stuff in there to be sure, but it's all pre-rendered, no gameplay. The gameplay trailers have looked interesting, but not convincing one way or the other-- I'm just going to have to get my hands on it.

The sign up page can be found here: http://signup.elderscrollsonline.com/


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Steam now has a section for player-created tips and guides on the Community Hub. It's similar to what you might find at a site like GameFAQs. For example, here's one about how to find the Minecraft easter egg in Borderlands 2: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=121138540

These guides are accessible in the Steam Overlay, which means that you'll be a little closer to your guides now. They seem a little more full-featured than GameFAQs' offerings as well.

For more: http://steamcommunity.com/guides


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On February 5, the Dragonborn DLC is coming to PC finally.

In bigger news, all three DLCs for Skyrim are coming to PS3 in February, each for 50% off in their first week!

Full story here: http://www.bethblog.com/2013/01/18/the-dragonborn-comes-in-february-and-hearthfire-dawnguard-too/


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Greetings Friends of the Ghost,

You may remember our Borderlands 2 Haiku Contest & Torchlight 2 contest from last year. The new year is upon us and its time to bring you the next best thing. I love Rage. Recently jdodson completed the new Rage expansion: The Scorchers and we want to share the love with all you awesome people. The game is beautiful and a really exciting addition to an already great game. A bit about what to expect with The Scorchers:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/899

We are giving away a copy on Steam Gifts as per usual to drop in one lucky person's Steam account on January 30th. No strings attached. Head over to SteamGifts to enter that contest:

http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/5NstE/

To increase your chances to win we are pulling out the BFG. Add Rage to your game list here on Cheerful Ghost. Once it’s added to your list write a bit about your thoughts on Rage and what you thought about it. Want to share a picture of how you tricked out your Cuprino? Awesome. Want to post a story about playing Legends of the Wasteland with your friends? Rad.

We will choose one winner purely at random, assigning a numerical value to each entry and using random.org to determine the winner, and a second winner based on which name or story we like the most.

Remember to have fun but be cool, Cheerful Ghost is a community of totally awesome people.

THE FINE PRINT:
* Make sure “Rage Contest” is somewhere in the body of your post. No worries, we will find it but this will help.
* We are giving away one copy of Rage on Steam Gifts and 2 copies on Cheerful Ghost to the first and second winner. All winners will be chosen by January 30th at 2PM PST.
* All posts to Cheerful Ghost center around games in your list SO your post must be for "Rage" to be counted for the contest. Comments do not count.
* This contest is only for people who do not have Rage: The Scorchers, not to add something to add to your inventory for trading. We will check the winner's Steam inventory to check that the winner doesn't already own the game before giving it out.
* We rule on the side of fun in the case any problems arise.

For historians, our old contests:

http://cheerfulghost.com/panickedthumb/posts/781
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/485
www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/RaQNV/borderlands-2
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/9ev8Y/torchlight-ii


Reddit user jackaljayzer recently posted a pic of his alpha disc from 97, which of course led to many requests for info, and eventually a request for a disc image. Since then he's ponied up the goods, and has put the disc on eBay. Currently the auction is up to $610!

Please note that the legality of this is a bit gray, and the morality is entirely up to you to decide.

Original post: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/15qgwr/national_treasures_hipster_grandpa_you_probably/
Follow-up: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1665n3/update_finally_got_a_copy_of_that_half_life_alpha
eBay auction: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-WORKING-CD-Half-Life-Alpha-Version-9-8-97-NO-RESERVE-/110998722321?


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Gabe did an interview with The Verge recently about the Steam console, Steambox, Piston, Bigfoot, whatever you want to call it. Read it here:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/8/3852144/gabe-newell-interview-steam-box-future-of-gaming

It's an interesting read, and the fact that they're building this platform, this paradigm, that anyone can pull from makes me very happy. Hopefully the fact that anyone can make a Steam "console" doesn't muddy the waters. It's one thing that has held Linux back, the confusing variety, but if Valve can pull this off it may change the way we game in some significant ways.