General Discussion | Cheerful Ghost

Digital Foundry Is Now Fully Independent

One of my most beloved tech YouTube channels just announced that they are fully independent! This is good news if you are a fan of independent media and don't love large companies buying everything then a little while later shutting it down. With that, Digital Foundry has purchased back IGN's stake in it to be fully independent and are now looking to expand. Digital Foundry reviews video games and it's focus is on the nerdier side of how those games perform on modern hardware. They also have a retro focus which I've shared quite a bit here on Cheerful Ghost.

"Amazing news! Digital Foundry has parted ways with IGN and we've bought their shareholding in the business.... Read All

Sub-Pixel Art

Just a rad video about art created by the individual RGB lights of pixels!

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.

Help Make Mystery Science Theater 3000 Season 14!

The greatest show in the world is back with a crowdfunding campaign for it's 14th season! If you are so inclined, I encourage you to fund it at whatever level you deem suitable.

Also, all Thanksgiving weekend long they will be having MST3K Turkey Day crowdfunding super marathon! You can watch it on the Gizmoplex or YouTube or the zillion other places MST3K streams.

https://www.youtube.com/@mst3k

https://showmaker.mst3k.com

Turkey Day 2023 Super Marathon Schedule:

Thursday 11/23

9AM ET/6AM PT: Bride Of The Monster

11AM ET/8AM PT: The Pumaman (Surgically Enhanced)

1PM ET/10AM PT: Escape 2000

3PM ET/12PM PT: Beyond Atlantis

5PM ET/2PM PT: The Beatniks

7PM ET/4PM PT: Viking Women... Read All

Blockchain Gaming!

This weekend, I played a handful of blockchain games from Levana Protocol (https://twitter.com/Levana_protocol)

Salim's Adventure is an 8-bit side scroller that took a few hours for me to get the hang of (some of the hit detection isn't perfect, so I kept running into some spikes lol). It's a fun Mario-type game where you can jump on enemies, avoid spikes, and at the end defeat a dragon ghost. If you're into side scrollers, I recommend checking it out :)

Alchemy is an ingredient combining game. To master "future space science," you need to combine ingredients to find new ingredients and keep combining them until you've mastered it all.

Arach Attack is a puzzle game,... Read All

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Coming November 11

We'll get to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in November, making it the next MCU movie. I've seen this trailer three times now and I think it's pretty emotional, keeping the loss of Chadwick Boseman in mind. It appears Wakanda is in mourning, too, but there's also a war brewing with Namor. He's butted heads with Wakanda before, although he's considered more of an "anti-hero."

Let me know what you think about this! Are you going to go see it, too?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 07/24/2022 at 05:01am

Looks great. Did I see some Na'vi in it?

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/24/2022 at 05:29am

Atlanteans, but Namor has been changed to Aztec. He's "Marvel's first mutant."

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 07/24/2022 at 02:52pm

Marvel's first mutant? I doubt that. Or do you mean in the comics?

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/24/2022 at 09:54pm

In the comics, Namor the Sub-Mariner is "Marvel's first mutant."

Travis Admin wrote on 07/25/2022 at 01:37pm

This trailer goes pretty hard. I really wonder who’s going to fill the role of Black Panther. I know people were split on whether to recast or not.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/25/2022 at 10:06pm

I'm watching Voss's trailer breakdown on New Rockstars. This trailer doesn't much allow for dry eyes. I think I may need to remember to bring tissues to the premiere.

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I Am Groot on Disney+ Aug 10

Comic-con is going on this weekend, so you can probably expect to see many more announcements like this one.

I Am Groot is another MCU show coming to Disney+ on Aug. 10th. It's just 5 shorts and all will be released at the same time. It looks funny, but that's just how the character of Groot is (IMO and along w/ the other GotG). James Gunn said that's it's kind of in it's own canon, or when it comes to canon, don't worry about it.

What do you think? Is this something you're interested in?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 07/22/2022 at 10:15pm

I am Groot!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/22/2022 at 11:47pm

New Rockstars has a nice breakdown of the animated MCU announcements that were made: https://youtu.be/a2pCJxTR304 I'm not into Marvel Zombies, but I might watch it anyway, at least at first. I'm not incredibly enthusiastic about Spider-Man Freshman year, but I'll watch it. I love What If and can't wait for season 2! I also grew up w/ that X-Men cartoon and look forward to seeing X-Men '97.

Anyone else want to comment? I imagine I'll have more related posts coming soon.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/29/2022 at 04:31am

I want to watch X-Men 97 and I think I’ll watch all the old episodes on Disney+ first.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/29/2022 at 06:18am

Yeah, I'm looking forward to that, too. Magneto looks cool and bright! I watched the series years ago. I don't want to say "re-watched," because even though I did watch it as a kid, I don't believe I saw every episode.

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4D Gaming

CodeParade, the creator of the non-Euclidean geometry game Hyperbolica (I *highly* recommend checking out his videos on that game) is now experimenting with building a game in 4D.

This video is a fun breakdown on what a 4D game could look like and talks about some of the attempts at building 4D games already.

I love thinking about higher dimensions, so this was right up my alley. Hopefully you find it interesting too!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/22/2022 at 07:08pm

Interesting and yet it feels over my head. It certainly puts "playing 4D chess" into perspective, I guess, LOL. I don't think the guy explained what the 4th dimension is. The quote I said previously is a joke, but IRL is the 4th dimension time? I'm just now Googling some stuff and it all still looks over my head. Math was always a weakness of mine and physics wasn't something I ever studied.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 07/23/2022 at 02:02am

I'm definitely not an expert, but I think that even though time is referred to as the 4th dimension, it's not the same thing as a physical 4th dimension (like another up/down, left/right, forward/back space).

If you're interested, I highly recommend a book called Flatland that kinda helps with an analogy of what higher physical dimensions might be perceived by us :)

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/23/2022 at 02:38am

Sounds interesting! A Google search is showing up some helpful resources. I see videos of Carl Sagan.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 07/23/2022 at 05:39pm

Rad :)

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House of the Dragon Premieres Aug 21 on HBO Max

There's an awesome trailer for House of the Dragon and I wanted to share it with you. The show premieres on HBO Max on Aug. 21st and I'm very much looking forward to it. It's a Game of Thrones prequel, set 200 years before. It has Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen and a few others I seem to recognize. There are dragons, too!

I read the Song of and Ice saga books that are out now, but it's been a while. I really enjoyed the GoT show we got years ago, although I think like many, I was disappointed by the end. I still very much enjoyed the show.

Are you interested in this? Let me know!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/22/2022 at 04:18pm

I'll definitely be checking the show out! I too have read the Song of Ice and Fire books (and am annoyed that they're not finished lol), and highly enjoyed the original GoT series, so I'm sure I'll enjoy this new show.

These days I'm trying to avoid trailers and breakdowns, as I've found going into shows and movies blind(ish) increases my enjoyment. I used to love New Rockstars-type speculation videos, but those always seemed to set my expectations too high, or guess the general storyline of shows/movies. I watched the very first trailer for the show, but now I'm ignoring them lol.

I appriciate you posting this, so I at least know when the show will start!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/22/2022 at 06:25pm

Awesome! I really loved reading the books, although it was so long ago I can't remember them well enough. I was always impressed by their 1,000 pages! My cousin was the one who introduced me to it. He gave me the books as a gift. I let someone borrow the first and never got it back, though.

I loved the New Rockstars trailer breakdown for this! I feel like NR is a companion. I see it as fun and awesome, a way to expand my knowledge about the shows and movies I really love. It really feeds my Marvel/Star Was obsession, which just grows. But, I also understand your perspective. I have gotten disappointed by the fact that some trailers pretty much just show the entire movie.

I'm glad you appreciate that I posted this. I just figured this was something our community would probably be into.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/29/2022 at 04:30am

I’ve been reading the first Game of Thrones and it’s incredible. I’m nearly done and am wondering how I’ll watch the show? Thinking of reading the book first then see the season of the show afterward.

The books are huge but so good!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/29/2022 at 06:20am

Geez it's been ages since I've read those! I've forgotten a lot of it like how House of the Dragon fits in. It's sad how the show didn't quite reflect the books, but that's not uncommon.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/27/2022 at 04:24am

Renewed for a second season already w/ only one episode available! Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/house-of-the-dragon-renewed-for-season-2/1100-6506945/

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/27/2022 at 07:12pm

Seems like everyone is loving it so far. I couldn't make it through the first episode myself, and have many criticisms if it, but I'm glad others are enjoying it. I'll probably check it out again after the season is over, depending on how people react to the entire season :)

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/27/2022 at 07:55pm

Yeah, I had to cover my eyes for too long during a particularly gruesome scene (happens during the tournament, but it isn't the tournament itself). Otherwise I loved it!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/29/2022 at 01:05pm

So much better! Yeah the intro was bloody and there was some crabby gruesomeness, but this one was AWESOME! I loved it!

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Xbox App... This Might Get Me Back Into Gaming

https://i0.wp.com/news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/WNFG_Recap_HERO-0372222a21473ac784e7.jpg

At the end of this month, Samsung Smart TVs (from 2022, not older) will have the new XBox App, and players will be able to stream games without a console!

I love Samsung TVs, but mine is a bit older (2014). The next time I buy a new TV, I will definitely stick with Samsung, and just might get a Game Pass to start playing games again!

Gaming without a console is a game-changer (no pun intended )

What say you? Would you be interested in going console-less with a Smart TV?

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/06/09/whats-next-for-gaming/?ocid=Platform_soc_omc_xbo_tw_Photo_lrn_6.9.2