General Discussion [ Page 61 ]

The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable Episode 1

I am happy to bring you The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable Innagural Edition. Featuring awesome community members such as WhiteboySlim, CapnCurry, Travis and myself.

In the first episode we talk about the games we are playing, some site news and our roundtable topic: THE INDIE GAME REVOLUTION! Loved the way it turned out, but since its our first episode there are a few rough patches.

So check it out and let us know what you think about it and ENJOY!

The Roundtable features people from the community so if you are interested in joining us, hit me up.

The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable uses Google Hangouts on Air so the next one will be live which means you can watch it as it happens.... Read All

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/25/2013 at 06:44am

Good stuff guys, especially for a first episode! After watching the video, I'm even more bummed that I missed out! I mean, I had bathed and everything... ;)

BR Supporter wrote on 07/25/2013 at 07:15am

You don't even want to know how many hours I've put into my top game. It's depressing even for me.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/25/2014 at 07:04am

Jon, you remind me of Layne Staley (lead singer of Alice in Chains), maybe it's your hair and facial hair style. Anyway, I'm enjoying the 2nd (for me) Roundtable discussion and look forward to seeing more!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/25/2014 at 04:09pm

Layne was a cool guy. Too bad he isn't around anymore but I did get the new AIC album, which it nice.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/25/2014 at 04:10pm

I really like that we have all the epidsodes available to watch "Netflix binge" style.

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The Next XBox One-80: Indie's can self-publish

According to a report out by Game Informer today, Microsoft has now reversed another unpopular policy: requiring Indie Developers to have a publisher, or allow Microsoft to publish it themselves.

After Sony made Indie gaming one of the highlights of their E3 show, and a number of Indie developers denouncing Microsoft's policies, some saying they'd never work with them again, Microsoft has now announced a new model for Indie devs to publish. In addition to being able to publish themselves, they can set their own release dates and prices, and use any console as a dev unit (when approved by Microsoft).

This is good news, but like other Microsoft reversals, is this too... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/24/2013 at 08:48pm

This is good news for Indie developers. That said, I wonder if the next announcement Microsoft will make is that they are renaming "XBox One" to be "Another Playstation 4."

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/24/2013 at 08:48pm

I think this is great news! I probably will still make the jump from 360 to PS4, but this is great for indie developers.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 07/25/2013 at 03:19am

It is wonderful for indie developers as it gives them one more avenue for marketing their game. This is definitely a plus.

However, I'll most likely buy neither of the next-gen consoles. That said, I do take a little pleasure in seeing Microsoft misunderstand their core audience yet again. The PS3 led me to get rid of my XBOX 360 and I've never looked back at the XBOX at all, even when Kinect was introduced. This time around, I've got little interest in either device. In fact, at this point, I am just waiting for my PS3 to die so I have an excuse to replace it with a Roku.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/25/2013 at 06:26am

If I was an independent developer, I don't know that I would want to develop for the XBox One, for fear that Microsoft would reverse policy yet again out of their favor, say, a month after the system launches. I mean, after they get some sales in, why wouldn't they? Plus, even if you do get your indie game on the XBone, what are the odds that people will be able to find it ;).

I miss the days of J Allard. Since then, Microsoft has lost touch. The Xbox has no champion within the company, no one with a real desire to keep the game alive.

shockwave wrote on 07/26/2013 at 08:27pm

Its too late for me, the fact that Microsoft is willing to bend over backwards to line their pockets without even considering what their fanbase would think, has made put me off enough to not buy it.

Even with this full reversal, I can see they're only doing it because of the bad press.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/27/2013 at 01:13am

If there was some act or sense of contrition that didn't seem self-serving (e.g. http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-NS598_sony_G_20110501040742.jpg), I might reconsider.

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First Look At the new Battle.net Launcher

Still no word on what they are calling the new Battle.net client but my superior judgement is that they call it... Battle.net. Your welcome Blizzard, that one's for free.

Snarkiness aside, the new Battle.net interface looks very clean and seems like a good way to access you Battle.net games. Too bad they don't seem to support the old games, but perhaps that will come with a later update.

The Summer Sales Run Out of Steam

Now that the Steam Summer Sale is finally ending, how'd you do? I hope you didn't spend all your money this summer, but if you did I can understand why. With the GOG.com, PSN, Amazon and Steam sales it was pretty hard to keep your wallet locked up.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/22/2013 at 06:18am

I picked up more than I planned on, but got what I wanted, and don't feel too bad about it :). I was hoping that WH40K: Space Marine would dip below $14.99, but it's still a good deal. Good to see that people are still in the multiplayer aspect, too. I was hoping... ;)

jaelte wrote on 07/22/2013 at 06:48am

Not too bad. I decided against spending more than ~$10 on anything. Even though I do want Bioshock: Infinite, I figure it'll be cheaper by the time I'd get around to playing it.

Sleeping Dogs
Borderlands 2
On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 and 4
Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition -- I've played/beaten a friend's copy of this game, but it was good enough that I felt I should actually buy it and give it another playthrough
Evoland
Gunpoint
Torchlight II

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 07/22/2013 at 05:56pm

I set myself a total purchase price limit and an OS restriction, so the list is short.

Droid Assault & Ultratron: Completed my puppygames collection. I love how puppygames tweaks classic game concepts and makes them new again.
Surgeon Simulator 2013: A bit more simulator than I had anticipated. One day when I have the patience for it, I'll revisit it.
Receiver: More a gun simulator than a shooter. No buffing your reload speed in this one. Also, not for those easily annoyed by permadeath.
BIT.TRIP presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien: Love the BIT.TRIP series, so it was only a matter of time before I caved and bought this one.
Don't Starve: Wasn't all that interested in this one until I tried the version from the Chrome Webstore. Playing a short bit of that one bumped it to the top of my wishlist.

BR Supporter wrote on 07/22/2013 at 11:23pm

I picked up plenty of games...

Tomb Raider
DiRT 3
Max Payne 3
CS:GO
GTA : Episodes from liberty city
Orcs Must Die 2
Worms Revolution
Civilization 5
Just Cause 2
Dungeon Defenders
Anno 2070
System Shock 2
And a few Magicka DLC's that I didn't own.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/23/2013 at 01:21am

Awesome.

I picked up 2. Fez & Don't Starve. Today I got the Mercenary Kings early access and WOW is that great. So between all three games + Legend of Dungeon and Final Fantasy IV, I think I am loaded for months.

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Gearbox teases new releases, DLC

Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep is officially not the last Borderlands 2 DLC. Gearbox has announced a few more items coming later this year.

First up, a new level cap increase-- up to 72. New loot and challenges await in this upgrade, as well as the ability to overlevel your game for more difficulty, and presumably more loot.

In addition, there will be some Headhunter Packs, which seem to be smaller challenge packs smaller than what they've offered so far. First up: TK Baha's Bloody Harvest. TK Baha just can't stay dead apparently, and is back to give you more missions, challenges, and boss fights.

In non-Borderlands news, Gearbox is releasing HD remakes of Homeworld... Read All

The Steam Console Is Just Around The Corner

For the last year or so I have bought PC games that refuse to work with anything other than the USB XBox 360 controller. I have been happy to use my Logitech USB gamepads but I have really started to use them more on my PC recently and have been a bit annoyed they just don't work with certain games. Since I don't buy PC hardware that ONLY works on Windows, I looked into the 360 controller support on Linux. It seems a few enterprising folks added support for it in the Linux Kernel and they have reported it works very well. So after a few months of mulling it over I decided to drop a few bucks and pick up the 360 controller.

If you know me, you know I am not a Microsoft... Read All For the last year or so I have bought PC games that refuse to work with anything other than the USB XBox 360 controller. I have been happy to use my Logitech USB gamepads but I have really started to use them more on my PC recently and have been a bit annoyed they just don't work with certain games. Since I don't buy PC hardware that ONLY works on Windows, I looked into the 360 controller support on Linux. It seems a few enterprising folks added support for it in the Linux Kernel and they have reported it works very well. So after a few months of mulling it over I decided to drop a few bucks and pick up the 360 controller.

If you know me, you know I am not a Microsoft fanboy. For the most part, most of what they create isn't interesting to me. That said, over the years I have come to love a few things they have created. Most notably the Microsoft ergonomic Keyboard and after using it, the 360 controller for PC. Holeee crap, this thing is wicked awesome. Force feedback, feels great in your hands, well set buttons and the analog sticks are superb. Oh and did I mention it works great on Linux too?

That said, the controller doesn't work on Mac out of the box so you must install this driver to get it working.

http://tattiebogle.net/index.php/ProjectRoot/Xbox360Controller/OsxDriver#toc1

After the driver installed and I rebooted the controller worked on my Mac without a hitch. I hope Apple adds the 360 controller as supported hardware in a later OS patch!

I fired up some of the games that refused to work with my old Logitec gamepads and they worked great with the 360 controller. Whereas I think game developers should make their games work with a wide array of controllers, its nice to just have the damn thing work right.

One of the things I wanted to try after picking up the 360 controller was how well Big Picture Mode worked in Steam. Big Picture Mode is a mode in Steam that allows you to control Steam and launch games with a gamepad. I wondered how seamless it would be to start up Steam in Big Picture Mode and launch games and play them with ONLY my gamepad. I know Valve has been putting much love into Big Picture Mode and I wanted to see just how well a Steam Box would work now.

I first started with Windows. I figure this should work the best as it supports the most games and because of this should be the most used. While you are in Big Picture Mode many of the games have a controller icon visible that lets you know how well the game is gamepad supported. Many games have a full black controller letting the user know this game is VERY well supported. Some games have a half white half black controller letting the user know the game has some controller support BUT may require you use a keyboard and a mouse to set that up or get the game to launch correctly.

A few games worked flawlessly in Big Picture Mode on Windows such as Borderlands 2, Awesomenauts, Skyrim & Portal 2. A few other games worked well enough, but required a keyboard and mouse to set them up correctly. All in all things seemed to work VERY well and I was surprised how seamless it all was.

I decided to test big picture mode on my Mac and wasn't left with as awesome results as Windows. Many games opened and required a keyboard and mouse to switch to the gamepad and the switch from Steam to the game was a bit jilted. Overall it wasn't awesome but worked ok. I won't be using my Mac laptop as a faux Steambox as I planned, it just doesn't feel right.

The last thing I tried was Big Picture Mode on Linux and it worked as well as Windows. I have personally found Steam's support on Linux to be better than the Mac. There are more games on Mac to be sure, but things seem a bit more clean and games run a bit smoother. That said, Linux big picture mode worked well and launched awesomely for the few games I had installed.

After picking up the 360 controller for PC and checking out Big Picture Mode again I am considering never purchasing a console again. That said, I may drop Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft in favor of Valve's Steambox. With Steam Cloud Saves and the thought of playing a game in my living room and then on my PC is VERY compelling to me. Apparently the first "Steambox" will be released this December if all goes according to plan. At this point it looks like a smaller form factor PC and I hope it works out well for Valve. Because, really shouldn't our games seamlessly move from the PC to the living room by now? Seems like few companies are setup to do that and I put Valve at the head of the line for making it happen.

Jim Guthrie & Friends Weekly Humble Bundle

"Eleven albums, a game, and a movie... This week, pay what you want for the albums Takes Time; Takes Time: Instrumentals & Demos; Sword & Sworcery LP - The Ballad of the Space Babies; Indie Game: The Movie (Soundtrack); The Scythian Steppes: Seven #Sworcery Songs Localized for Japan; Children of the Clone; Corporeal; Now, More Than Ever; Morning Noon Night; A Thousand Songs; and FREE-P. Every purchase also includes a 50% off coupon for a double LP vinyl of Indie Game: The Movie (Soundtrack) (while supplies last). If you pay more than the average, you’ll also receive the game Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP and Indie Game: The Movie. The top 10... Read All

Indie Game: The Movie - Special Edition

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0158/0850/t/1/assets/carousel-item-2.jpg?134

Just announced, the creators of Indie Game: The Movie are releasing the long awaited Special Edition, which includes a ton of new footage, as well as the original theatrical film (if you purchase the box set). Shipping on this new edition starts on July 24th, so get pre-orders in before then, and save $10 on the DVD, or $20 on Blu-ray. Digital options are there as well, and if you already have the movie, you can download just the bonus features for $4.99.

The Special Edition footage follows the aftermath of the film, and looks to fill in more details around the events that took place with each individual story.

Head over to the site for details, and get those orders... Read All

The Power of Glove Documentary

" 1989. In an era of Nintendo-mania, toymaker giant Mattel unleashes a bold technological experiment to an eager public. The POWER GLOVE: the first video game controller that allows players to operate Nintendo games with intuitive hand gestures.

Despite immense hype surrounding its release, the product is a critical failure, disappointing thousands of children with its subpar gameplay. More than two decades later, however, dedicated fans continue to repurpose the Power Glove for art pieces, hacking projects, electronic music, and more.

For the first time ever: the story behind the world’s most notorious video game controller."

The Power Glove is one of those awesome... Read All

Auth Changes + New Account Security Section

I wanted to update you about a recent batch of features to hit the site. One such thing I have been experimenting with are the comment visuals. The old comment style was fine in Desktop browsers but on mobile they were squished. The new style gives the comment body much more room and I think they are much easier to read. That said, they don't seem as good as they could be. I can't put my thumb on it entirely, but something needs to be done in terms of the colors we use or placement. Beyond that, I really love how much more room the comments have on my iPhone.

A few days ago I changed the "Update Profile" link in the drop down to "Account Settings." This will be an... Read All I wanted to update you about a recent batch of features to hit the site. One such thing I have been experimenting with are the comment visuals. The old comment style was fine in Desktop browsers but on mobile they were squished. The new style gives the comment body much more room and I think they are much easier to read. That said, they don't seem as good as they could be. I can't put my thumb on it entirely, but something needs to be done in terms of the colors we use or placement. Beyond that, I really love how much more room the comments have on my iPhone.

A few days ago I changed the "Update Profile" link in the drop down to "Account Settings." This will be an "umbrella" area for all things related to your account. I added a series of tab buttons to the top of the page allowing you to update your profile as before and I also added a new "Account Security" section. Currently what this allows you to do is sign out all other open Cheerful Ghost browser sessions. If you think your account may have been compromised or you are just a bit paranoid, this should help you be more secure.

I want to stress the point that we have not been hacked and no account has been hacked that I am aware of. Security really matters to me and I want to allow people the right tools to ensure that is a priority. We also started a new policy that requires everyone re authenticate every 2 months. I know this is somewhat of a hassle but is a fairly normal convention on modern web apps.

One of the next features I will be working on in the upcoming weeks is updating how posts are seen on the Cheerful Ghost main page. Some of you have asked for some kind of front page moderation and Travis and I are currently working out how that will work. Our goal is to painlessly allow awesome content to make it to the front page. I want to stress that the majority of what people post will still make it to the front page, that said as the site grows we need to ensure that the stuff people see is our best.

If you have any questions or comments about anything covered hit me in the comments or using site feedback:

http://cheerfulghost.com/feedback