General Discussion [ Page 71 ]

Always Online & Trust in The New Gaming Landscape

Some rumors surfaced that the next console by Microsoft would require you to be "always online" to use it. Kotaku started things off with the first "insider source leak."

http://kotaku.com/the-next-xbox-will-require-an-internet-connection-to-st-470062456

When I heard the news I wasn't really surprised. After the news broke a Microsoft Studio rep exchanged tweets with a few people that were not received well. Telling people to "just deal with it" over the always online requirement apparently didn't go over well with folks.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/05/microsoft-response-to-always-online-xbox-rumours-is-dealwithit-3584410/

The rep Tweeted:

"Sorry, I don’t get the drama... Read All

CapnCurry Supporter wrote on 04/06/2013 at 03:35am

The "always online" motif makes me nervous for many of the same reasons it does you. City of Heroes was a fun game that never found its niche and was shut down for good; that's one game experience I'll never be able to share with the next generation. It's not going to be profitable for EA to support Sim City 5 forever. Hell, the original Neverwinter Nights on AOL was a tremendously fun game that I never got the chance to really explore - and never will.

This is not to say that the ability to keep games and experiences alive forever should be the cornerstone of what makes a game acceptable. But it does seem like we need to cast a more careful eye to figuring out whether we're buying our games or merely renting them.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/06/2013 at 03:42am

I think thats a really awesome point. I think its quite sad to consider that some stuff won't be usable simply because it becomes economically unfeasible to modernize it.

Culture lost.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/06/2013 at 06:11pm

Microsoft won me back with the original Xbox, and initially I thought the 360 was a step in the right direction. Now, I hate my 360. It's cumbersome and littered with advertisements. It's turning (has turned) into the MySpace of gaming experiences. If they really do go with the always-on approach, then I'll skip this next iteration. There is no reason for that kind of system, other than greed and control. It serves no other purpose. It makes me a little sad that there will be exclusives to such a system that I might not otherwise play, but I can get over that. There is a mountain of great games on GOG and Steam that I haven't even touched yet.

hardeyez wrote on 04/07/2013 at 08:46pm

I also don't get why Microsoft thinks I should pay them $60/yr (per person, or if they still offer the Family Pack whatever that costs) just to use *my* internet connection. That is, without gold, I can't stream my Amazon Prime movies to my 360 (which I can to my ps3, wii u, pc, tablets, etc.) nor can I use their web browser... I mean really?!!??!

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Disney Closes LucasArts

"After evaluating our position in the games market, we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we've had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles."

Can't say as this is really surprising. Making games is hard and LucasArts really hasn't had a home run in some time. They did create some fantastic games of the retro era in Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, Tie Fighter and a ton more.

LucasArts was working on Star... Read All

Enhanced Game Platform Support

Today I launched the first pass at "ULTRA DELUXE SUPER-ENHANCED PLATFORM SUPPORT HD!" Which is to say, Game Platforms on Cheerful Ghost are now first class citizens.

Click around on the site and you will not see platforms as clickable tag links. Clicking a Platform tag will take you to the new Platform pages. Each Platform has its own page and a few bits of interesting data on it like a Wikipedia reference link as well as the most popular games the site has in reference to it.

Some platforms have a ton of games and some are very new and have only a few. Ill be working over the next bit to flesh out these pages even more with a description and other bits.

... Read All

Blue_Element wrote on 04/03/2013 at 12:34am

Is there a way to set a game to a certain platform? There are a few games on my list that are for Mac or PS3 but don't give me the option to change it to that.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/03/2013 at 12:37am

Yeah, hit me up with the games and ill add them as options!

Blue_Element wrote on 04/03/2013 at 12:48am

"AwesomeNauts" and "Portal 2" on PC are also for Mac. There are a lot of other games on PC that are for Mac as well, so I'll tell you if I find anymore.

Blue_Element wrote on 04/03/2013 at 12:49am

Also, there's a cool 2D pixelated online multiplayer game called "King Arthur's Gold" (KAG) that's for PC and Mac, and I was wondering if you could add it to the game list. :)

Blue_Element wrote on 04/03/2013 at 12:56am

Realm of the Mad God is also for Mac since it's a browser game, which got me thinking it would be cool if there was a platform option for "Browser" games. But technically the platform for browser games is actually just "Computers". So could you just add the "Mac" platform option to Realm of the Mad God? Haha.

Blue_Element wrote on 04/03/2013 at 12:56am

And I also realized I still can't delete games from my games list. :(

Blue_Element wrote on 04/03/2013 at 12:58am

Wow, I think this is the most I've commented on a post, like ever. :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/03/2013 at 01:11am

Added that stuff.

Blue_Element wrote on 04/03/2013 at 01:13am

Yay! Thanks! :D

Blue_Element wrote on 04/03/2013 at 01:17am

Also, "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2" is only listed for xbox, but it's for PC and PS3 too. And Crysis 3 is only listed for xbox as well.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/03/2013 at 01:56am

Added.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/03/2013 at 02:56am

PS King Arthur's Gold is awesome. Thanks for letting me know about it.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

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... Read All

Blue_Element wrote on 04/02/2013 at 12:33am

Wow, that seems like a horrible decision. I'm done with Cheerfulghost, forever.

Blue_Element wrote on 04/02/2013 at 12:34am

XD APRIL FOOLS!!! Now I got you! Funny post by the way. :D

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/02/2013 at 12:39am

I'm a huge fan of micro transactions, and I think the charge-per-comment is an excellent way to move that idea forward, while narrowing the comments to serious posters only. Who says freedom of speech has to be free?

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/02/2013 at 01:08am

I agree, honestly its just a way to allow people to realize the awesome value of transactional content.

I really appreciate CBS Interactive for this because it allows us to focus on bringing value to shareholders!

Blue_Element wrote on 04/02/2013 at 01:25am

I can't wait to pay $1 to enter contests! That seems like a great idea! And I totally didn't notice the sponsors in the last post at all!

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/02/2013 at 02:09am

I almost forgot about the shareholders! And now I feel guilty, because I should have been thinking of them this whole time. They do so much to bring us the experiences that we never knew we wanted, and really what do they get in return? Money!? Psh... money grows on trees these days. I just planted two money trees in my backyard last summer, and they should be ready to harvest come Autumn.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/02/2013 at 03:24pm

Bills must be paid and investor value must be..... /shoots self

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

The Firehose: Diablo III, YouTube, Ouya & More

Recently at a GDC Panel, former Diablo III lead designer Jay Wilson spoke a bit on his thoughts on the auction house. He believes the auction houses really hurt the game and they are looking into ways to address this in the future.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/03/29/diablo-3-auction-house-jay-wilson/

YouTube is entering the game video streaming space currently occupied by Twitch.tv. They cite the popularity of certain game videos and the massive ascent in game videos as entertainment.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/28/4157298/youtube-announces-new-live-streaming-video-platform-for-game-developers

Looks like the Ouya will see its retail launch June 4th. With a initial cost... Read All

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/30/2013 at 05:51pm

I'm excited for my Ouya to arrive! I don't really know when it will come. Hopefully in the next few weeks or so. Interesting development: Team Ouya has announced on the backer forums that a credit card will be required to be on file to download games. Most people seem pretty disappointed by this move, siting issues of security on such a new infrastructure. It doesn't really bother me that much, but I can see where they are coming from. I don't think any other game system requires such a thing (with the exception of Apple's App Store, maybe?), so I don't really know what Ouya's rationale is for implementing this.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/30/2013 at 10:12pm

Yeah, even the PSN doesn't make me have a Credit Card on file to download a demo. Account, yes, credit card no.

I can understand why they do it, its kind of a account validation thing but also to encourage people to buy. It wouldn't be my strategy but I understand why they doing it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/30/2013 at 10:13pm

Let me know how it goes when you get it. You were on the Kickstarter I take it?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/30/2013 at 10:57pm

Kickstarter, yes. They started shipping to backers on Friday, I think, sending an email to each backer as soon as the item ships. I'm a little worried, because I opted for the exclusive metallic brown model, and I don't know what priority those have, whether they will toss them in with the standard shipping rotation, or wait to ship them last.

One of the things they've been really good at is responding to feedback. Since the official launch is still a few months away, I'm sure they'll be tweaking things here and there, and I wouldn't be surprised if they offer another option for billing.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/31/2013 at 02:48am

Makes sense and hopefully they can ship the brown model soon. VERY interested to see how it turns out for you. Can you load it up with emulators as well as the Ouya store?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/31/2013 at 02:54am

Supposedly, it's going to ship with emulators available in the store. NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, what-have-you. It's entirely hackable, open system, so who knows what people will be making for it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/31/2013 at 02:04pm

That's great. Let me know how CG runs when you get it. Did they say what Browser it will ship with?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/31/2013 at 03:23pm

The early consoles that shipped to developers (I was going to say "dev consoles," but remembered that all Ouya systems are dev consoles) had some custom built-in browser, but I don't know if that will stick in the general release. I'm sure the Ouya store will have free downloads of whatever browsers run on Android.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/31/2013 at 06:29pm

I hope so. Whereas its not amazing to use a controller w a browser, its really nice to watch web video on my TV. I have a Mac Mini for that purpose but its getting long in the tooth and the latest and greatest browsers won't run on it. Technology moves quick.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

We Should Lose Well

The other day I was playing a game with four complete strangers. One of the players came into the game boasting that he was very good and simplicities sake lets call him “Boastmaster.” Its also worth mentioning that it was known that most of the people playing the game hadn’t played before, myself included. As the game moved forward Boastmaster was moving closer to last place. From the halfway point of the game onward, Boastmaster started getting really upset about that. He commented a few times about so angry and flipping the table and as the game game to the end, threw a few chips down and stormed off only to come back and finish his turn. At the end of the game... Read All The other day I was playing a game with four complete strangers. One of the players came into the game boasting that he was very good and simplicities sake lets call him “Boastmaster.” Its also worth mentioning that it was known that most of the people playing the game hadn’t played before, myself included. As the game moved forward Boastmaster was moving closer to last place. From the halfway point of the game onward, Boastmaster started getting really upset about that. He commented a few times about so angry and flipping the table and as the game game to the end, threw a few chips down and stormed off only to come back and finish his turn. At the end of the game Boastmaster came in last place and wasn’t too happy.

Boastmaster said “I just want you all to know I will never get that time back!” I wasn’t sure what to say about that and just listened. Boastmaster left muttering to himself about his lost time and the rest of the people around the table gave a sheepish smile and talked about the game a bit. I joked that I had a lot of fun and as such, “would never get that time back.” People laughed and I put Boastmaster on my list of people to never play games with.

When I was at University I had a friend who was really good at Counter Strike. He was also good at a Half-Life mod where you played as a Vampire or Vampire Hunter. He showed me his game ability one time and ripped through everyone. Really, he just destroyed them and it was awesome to watch. As he did this people typed “haxx” and other less savory things. Thing is, he wasn’t a hacker or things less savory, he was just really great at the game.

As I continue my journey as a gamer I realize there is a fine line that separates awesome people from people that are lacking. And one such thing is your ability to lose. I get it, I totally love winning too. But how awesome is it to play with someone that can’t lose well? Its really not.

And I mean just that, we should lose well. When I lose, I congratulate the winning parties. Why? Because when I win I don’t want someone fussing about it. Fussing over a win breeds an air of illegitimacy to the win that doesn’t need to exist.

If its really important to you that you win at a game take that negative energy and focus it on practice and improve. Because you can’t argue your way to first place, all you can do is just win your way there. But if you can’t be the best then just be awesome and lose well.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/29/2013 at 05:53pm

What the hell do you say to "I will never get that time back." Were you supposed to let him win so his time would be well-spent? That makes no sense.

What game was that?

Nick_Donahoo wrote on 03/29/2013 at 06:25pm

To be perfectly fair, I find myself to be a gracious loser in most cases. At lan parties I usually high five the guy that got that perfectly timed headshot on me.

However, I am also that gamer that follows up said high five with a detailed description of my exploits with their mother the night before, but at least I do it with a smile on my face..

Travis Admin wrote on 03/29/2013 at 08:26pm

Trash talking is perfectly acceptable, and in fact, encouraged, as long as it's done with a wink and a nod and not with malice.

Nick_Donahoo wrote on 03/29/2013 at 08:50pm

Oh, the fact that I have two sisters usually levels the playing field. Heck, half the fun of playing multiplayer is the trash talking.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/29/2013 at 10:37pm

I think talking trash with your friends and giving them a high five when they win is totally fine. Getting angry and storming off because you lose is not :D

Again, this is more how to lose with grace, not how to have fun with your friends :D

Nick_Donahoo wrote on 03/29/2013 at 11:14pm

Oh absolutely. For some folks, it's easy to forget that it's just a game.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/29/2013 at 11:31pm

Right and games should be fun, if they are not then its work and ... then... why?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/30/2013 at 04:51am

My biggest frustrations come when I feel like the playing field itself is unbalanced, and in those situations I tend to vent my frustrations. 99 times out of 100, this is in some multi-player, competitive FPS, and it usually has something to do with the less than awesome internet options available in the great state of Alaska. I don't mind losing when I can see that someone is playing better than I am, or if I'm just having a really off day. In fact, I can even enjoy it, because I can sometimes learn from it. But when it's obvious to me that they have host, or the superior connection, and trash-talk on top of that... then I tend to lose it. Then I have to stop playing those games for a while :).

Nothing beats good sportsmanship. I'll accept losing all day long if I can have fun with the people I'm playing with.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/30/2013 at 04:13pm

That's a good point. Host advantage is huge and can really make a big difference in shooters.

CapnCurry Supporter wrote on 03/31/2013 at 10:23am

Was this a game of poker, by any chance? The worst losers I've ever met were at poker tables. I once got cussed up one side and down the other by an old lady who was very, very upset that I beat her two jacks with a three-of-a-kind I got from a hand that "only a complete jackass" would play on. (8/3 off-suit; I have to agree it was a jackass's hand.)

I told her that while she was busy playing her cards, I was playing my opponents, and while I wished her the best of luck with her strategy, I seemed to be doing OK with mine. That didn't help her mood any. :)

I placed 2nd out of 32 players in that tournament. And yes, I did earnestly congratulate and shake hands with the winner. There are some things more important in life than The Grand Prize.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/31/2013 at 06:27pm

@CapnCurry: No, a board game. If we had money on the table I bet it would have been much worse though :D

I also played my opponents and specifically played The Boastmaster. It wasn't to hard to figure him out as he worse his strategy on his sleeve.

krcDeuce Supporter wrote on 04/01/2013 at 09:18pm

I never liked playing jdodson at Starcraft because he had more experience with it and would always whoop me. His Zerg strategies always beat my Protoss strategy attemps. Hopefully I wasn't a sore loser back in the day (gosh, 10+ years ago). Counterstrike was a fun time, 'cause I was ok at that. Never the best. I played Risk once recently, and I think I got my rear handed to me, but it was hilarious seeing how people reacted to my early and obvious attempts at making alliances with other players.

My son likes to game, but he doesn't like to lose. I'm hoping that he will eventually understand what it means to win gracefully, because right now he doesn't. Maybe I should lose on purpose some of the time. :-)

Missile_Drop_Kick wrote on 04/04/2013 at 04:03pm

I told you to never speak of that situation again. Boastmaster is out.. Peace! (I'm going to start using that as a gamer tag now.)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/04/2013 at 04:33pm

:D Awesome.

PS just so everyone knows, it wasn't you. Heh.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

The Guild Wars 2 Score & Soule's Kickstarter

Back this on Kickstarter!

I picked up the Skyrim 4CD score from a music site and a month later I hadn't received it. I emailed them and they let me know they were refilling their stock and would ship it out as soon as it could. To tide me over for the time I didn't have the album they allowed me a digital download of the album and a bonus of the Guild Wars 2 score. I haven't played Guild Wars 2 yet and as such, wasn't familiar with the score. As I loaded it up in iTunes I noticed that the Guild Wars 2 and Skyrim score were both written by Jeremy Soule. Pleasantly surprised, I have been listening to it over the last few days.

As I listened to the first few tracks I started becoming more aware of... Read All I picked up the Skyrim 4CD score from a music site and a month later I hadn't received it. I emailed them and they let me know they were refilling their stock and would ship it out as soon as it could. To tide me over for the time I didn't have the album they allowed me a digital download of the album and a bonus of the Guild Wars 2 score. I haven't played Guild Wars 2 yet and as such, wasn't familiar with the score. As I loaded it up in iTunes I noticed that the Guild Wars 2 and Skyrim score were both written by Jeremy Soule. Pleasantly surprised, I have been listening to it over the last few days.

As I listened to the first few tracks I started becoming more aware of Jeremy Soule's style and started thinking back to Dungeon Siege. The Guild Wars 2 score seemed somewhat reminiscent of that and I did a bit more searching on Soule and as it turns out, he did indeed compose the Dungeon Siege score. Dungeon Siege is a game that is on my list of old classics that is amazing in the tone it conveys. The score is superb and the graphics and style allow you to feel immersed in the game.

Soule is a fairly prolific composer as he has worked on many games spanning his career some of them being The Secret of Evermore, Total Annihilation, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Dungeon Siege, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Unreal II, Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna, Guild Wars Prophecies, Dungeon Siege II, Company of Heroes, Oblivion, Prey, All the Guild Wars Expansions, Skyrim, Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandera.

I have some of the games listed above and am trying to figure out how I can obtain the individual scores for them. The Dungeon Siege and Neverwinter Nights score stick out to me as ones I particularly want to obtain. I played those games so much that I believe I have all the music forever burned into my brain. Being able to come back to it whenever I want particularly appeals to me.

Soule is Kickstarting his next project "The Northerner: Soule Symphony No. 1" and I have linked to it above. This is a interesting project as it is not tied to a video game like much of his work. As a fan of Soule's work I am going to back this project and think its pretty cool that the starting backing option is a physical copy of the album.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/499808045/from-the-composer-of-skyrim-soule-symphony-no-1

The Firehose: Doom Garry's Mod, DD2 & SCII

Dungeon Defenders 2 pre-alpha footage was released and is embedded above. Fun to see early builds of games, I wonder how well this will stack up to the final release?

An awesome gamer is porting Doom to Half-Life 2's Garry's Mod. Yes, you heard right a mod is getting modded, now if I could mod the doom mod on the mod...

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/03/19/garrys-mod-doom/

Blizzard likes to release bits of the Starcraft and Diablo universe in the form of short stories and art. They just dropped the latest short story "Just an Overlord" for you to read on BattleNet as well a free PDF download.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/lore/short-stories/just-an-overlord/1

Knights of Pen and Paper: +1 Edition

"Set out on a grand adventure in this turn-based retro style pixel-art RPG, inspired by the great titles of the 90's, where players take on the roles of in-game players taking on the roles of their characters in a traditional pen and paper RPG session.

Players are able to control both the playing characters AND the dungeon master, and they choose which battles to fight. Put together a bunch of monsters to make for a challenging fight, your efforts will be equally rewarded!"

Knights of Pen and Paper looks really interesting. It boasts launch support on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS which is pretty awesome. Having someone play AS the Dungeon Master that facilitates... Read All

Revamped Profile Pages & More

We launched a revamp to everyones Profile page as per the list of features we had slated to release this month. The new design is much more distinct than the old one and highlights certain things the old profile page didn't. If you are new to the site, this might be what you are used to, but for people that have been on the site for longer this will be a pretty big departure.

A few examples to look through:

http://cheerfulghost.com/BigBadGoat (the avatar alone is worth the price of admission)
http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis
http://cheerfulghost.com/scrypt

We also now have a much better feedback form now. The old one was simply a Google Doc Form that backended to a... Read All