General Discussion [ Page 11 ]

E3 2019 Day 1 - Microsoft

Microsoft brought their A game to E3 this year. Their focus is definitely on games, games, and more games, mostly third-party, but they're doing a damn fine job of selling Xbox as the way to go. I'm not going to get into everything because there was a lot, but here are some highlights.

Xbox Game Pass for Windows is a new service that costs $9.99 a month and gets you access to 100+ games on Windows, much like their Xbox Game Pass for consoles, and EA's similar offering for Origin. If you have an Xbox One as well, you can get both game passes and Xbox Live Gold for $14.99 a month.

Xbox Scarlett (probably a codename) is the next Xbox console, coming April 2020. They... Read All

Microsoft brought their A game to E3 this year. Their focus is definitely on games, games, and more games, mostly third-party, but they're doing a damn fine job of selling Xbox as the way to go. I'm not going to get into everything because there was a lot, but here are some highlights.

Xbox Game Pass for Windows is a new service that costs $9.99 a month and gets you access to 100+ games on Windows, much like their Xbox Game Pass for consoles, and EA's similar offering for Origin. If you have an Xbox One as well, you can get both game passes and Xbox Live Gold for $14.99 a month.

Xbox Scarlett (probably a codename) is the next Xbox console, coming April 2020. They claim significantly increased performance with 8k resolution and 120fps in some games. They're also putting a focus on load times, and making cloud gaming a priority. They mentioned playing four generations of games on it, so it seems like their backwards compatibility is still going strong.

Speaking of streaming, Project xCloud is coming this October and will let you stream games from your console at home to nearly any device, anywhere in the world, for free.

Halo Infinite will be a Scarlett launch title and it looks gorgeous, but we didn't really see any gameplay.

Borderlands 3 got a new trailer and it looks as amazing as ever. In addition, the new Borderlands 2 DLC rumors were confirmed, and you can play it right now. After the show, IGN sat down with some folks from Gearbox for a gameplay demo of Maze the gunner, on one of the many varied planets you can visit. You can check out that gameplay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWtFYMeBGjI

Cyberpunk 2077 is now my most anticipated game for the next year, and it's not even because Keanu Reeves is in it. This game has serious depth; even the clothes you wear can affect how the world treats you.

Gears of War 5 is coming out September 10, and has a new interesting multiplayer co-op mode where you have to kill everything and GTFO fast.

Minecraft Dungeons is coming next Spring. Imagine Minecraft aesthetic with Diablo-style gameplay. It sounds odd but it looks very interesting. They're focusing on accessibility but will have depth to keep people of all skill levels happy.

Doublefine has been acquired by Microsoft Game Studios, and we got a new trailer for Psychonauts 2.

E3 2019 Day 0 - EA

EA isn't really at E3, but that didn't stop them from doing their own presentation the day before E3 kicked off. It's a massive three-hour show that you can watch above, but here are some highlights:

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order by Respawn is the first single-player Star Wars game since the Lucasfilm sale went through, and it looks like a doozy. Stig Asmussen, who worked on God of War 1 - 3, and was the director of God of War 3, is directing Jedi Fallen Order, and it shows. A lot of the world traversal feels like some of the stuff we saw in the old God of War games. The combat looks very Star Warsy, lots of strategic force use, plenty of lightsaber combat. I really... Read All

EA isn't really at E3, but that didn't stop them from doing their own presentation the day before E3 kicked off. It's a massive three-hour show that you can watch above, but here are some highlights:

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order by Respawn is the first single-player Star Wars game since the Lucasfilm sale went through, and it looks like a doozy. Stig Asmussen, who worked on God of War 1 - 3, and was the director of God of War 3, is directing Jedi Fallen Order, and it shows. A lot of the world traversal feels like some of the stuff we saw in the old God of War games. The combat looks very Star Warsy, lots of strategic force use, plenty of lightsaber combat. I really like what I've seen here and can't wait to get my hands on it

Apex Legends is getting a new playable character, a new gun, and a dragon that will appear in season 2

Battlefield V is getting private servers, new multiplayer maps, and will be returning to the Pacific Theater

FIFA 2020 is getting a new mode that feels like the old FIFA Street games, and this mode is being targeted as a new player orientation since you have fewer players to handle. The 11v11 mode has gotten some heavy tweaking as well, and they really get into the weeds with details on that. As a soccer fan I've tried FIFA games before and felt a little overwhelmed, this may be my path into actually playing a licensed sports game.

Anthem hasn't been very well received, and the devs feel that. Their segment in the presentation was mostly reassurances that they are working to fix things.

The Sims 4 is getting a new expansion, Island Living, which gives players some fun in the sun as well as some thematic hazards like volcanoes. A few Sims games are getting some new outfits to celebrate Pride Month

For me the standout has to be Jedi Fallen Order, and it was definitely the setpiece for the stream. As I said up top I'm really looking forward to it, and I'm glad to see EA *finally* doing some single-player stuff with their Star Wars contract.

MST3K: The Mole People

Occasionally the official Mystery Science Theater 3000 YouTube drops a new film to watch for free and the recent one, The Mole People is something you should see if you haven't yet. The Mole People was season eight which was deep into the Mike as MST host years and was the first season to see Bill Corbett as the new voice of Crow. I'm a huge MST3K fan and enjoy taking these moment to initiate new folk into the incredible wonder of the show. If the old 4x3 movie riffing isn't your thing, there are two new seasons of MST3K on Netflix and the latest, The Gauntlet is well worth watching.

Star Wars Scene 38 Reimagined - Vader vs Obi-Wan

A new fan-made scene by FXitinPost of the fight between Vader and Obi-Wan at the end of Star Wars Episode IV.

It's very cool, and I love the emotion of it. Check it out and post your thoughts below!

Travis Admin wrote on 05/10/2019 at 04:01am

This is better done than I imagined it would be. By far honestly.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/13/2019 at 02:45am

Ok. I just watched this.

A couple things.

1. I don't consider this scene from a New Hope to be bad. Perhaps that's nostalgia blinders? I've heard people say it's hokey and even George Lucas seems to dog it when he talks about it. That said I've always considered it to be fine, if not a bit bland which this fixes but with a few downsides and not a lot of upside.

2. I always viewed the old New Hope fight as Obi Wan not really trying to kill Vader and it seemed like Vader was holding back too. Like Vader and Obi Wan were just talking and not really trying to kill each other. At the point in the story, Obi Wan wanted to stall Vader and let Leia, Luke and Han escape. The fight was on his terms and at no point did Vader ever "get Obi Wan" or hurt him because he couldn't. I'd argue because Obi Wan was so powerful, Vader couldn't have but winning in that way wasn't Obi Wan's goal. Frankly I think this makes Luke's last stand in the Last Jedi even more powerful it's a direct mirror of this fight in a New Hope. Luke exiting the scene just like his teacher. And this video doesn't seem to revel in that, it's just Vader being a badass and Obi Wan getting knocked around and seems to imply he's Vaders lesser, which I think isn't how I look at it.

3. When Obi Wan loses in this version it has less weight because he's simply a less talented Jedi, not because he chooses to save anyone. I think this is a repeat of 2 but it's important.

Fun fight though, thanks for sharing.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/13/2019 at 03:06am

One more thing.

I also think something else is going on in this scene. As Obi Wan is trying to stall Vader two things are happening. Firstly Vader is thinking he's toying with Obi Wan and chides him as being weak. Obi Wan stays on message and calls Vader evil, and that he failed as a teacher. I think what Obi Wan is doing is playing weak or not trying to get Vader to focus on toying with him to get him to lose interest in Leia, Luke and Han who are escaping (I didn't forget Chewie, R2 or C3PO). When he realizes they are going to be ok Obi Wan lets go. I don't read this scene as Vader is more powerful, but Obi Wan has a different goal and he's not trying to "out lightsaber Vader" and Vader actually thinks Obi Wan is weak, which I think is a trick Obi Wan is playing on Vader.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/13/2019 at 03:08am

After Revenge of the Sith, Vader would have an axe to grind in this way too BUT I imagine that wasn't as well formed when this scene was written and I still think if it wasn't my read makes sense.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/13/2019 at 03:10am

Oh and I misspelled Obi-Wan a lot so apologies to everyone reading that dying a little inside. My son has been acting up a bit today and I had to type fast to get this out.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/14/2019 at 12:58am

That's always been my read on the scene, and I think Revenge of the Sith strengthens that interpretation. But the fight has always been janky, even if their intentions were stalling/toying with each other. The first time I saw it I interpreted the fight the same as you but chuckled at the choreography a bit. As I have said before I don't have any childhood nostalgia for Star Wars so that may be a factor. The first time I saw it was the special edition in the theater and I actually fell asleep for about 30 minutes in the middle. I've come a long way :D

But I don't think anyone involved said they were trying to fix the scene at any rate, just reimagining it.

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 56: Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame is thrilling MCU fans and dusting box office records. In this episode we review the conclusion to the Infinity Saga, make some ludicrous Star Wars Episode IX predictions, and talk about what we've been playing and watching over the past month.

Since this episode is a big one, if you want to skip around here's how to find each section:

0:00 - Intro
1:00 - What we've been playing and watching
17:08 - Star Wars Episode IX trailer reactions and predictions
34:01 - Avengers: Endgame spoiler-free thoughts
41:26 - Avengers: Endgame super-spoilery thoughts
1:03:48 - Predictions we had for Avengers: Endgame and how right we were (Thanks Will and Adam for submitting... Read All

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/01/2019 at 09:48pm

Just starting to listen to the episode, buy I looked back on the predictions, and great job Travis! You nailed a lot of it, but thankfully the movie was super surprising in how it did all of it! I dont know if we want to talk about spoilers... but I suppose you guys get into spoilers in this.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/01/2019 at 09:49pm

Now we need a GoT podcast, especially from Jon ;)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/01/2019 at 10:03pm

Yeah I started off pretty well, but I slipped as I went. Jon said I should just delete my second comment and I'd look like Nostradamus :D

And YES, Jon needs to get on GoT so we can do that!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/01/2019 at 10:05pm

On the Episode 9 trailer: since it came out just 2 weeks before Endgame, i thought it would be rad to wait and watch it for the first time in the theater... which ultimately was a bad idea. There's just no way to avoid all spoilers, so I had heard about the laugh at the end. And everyone was talking about the trailer like it was the most amazing thing they've ever seen. So I probably was *too* hyped to see it, and when I finally did, I was incredibly underwhelmed by it. It's a fine trailer, but to me it wasn't great. That said, I'll still eagerly anticipate more trailers (and watch them the second they come out, so I have no expectations) and will see the movie opening night :)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/01/2019 at 10:06pm

It might be a funnier podcast with Jon not seeing the show lol

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/01/2019 at 10:24pm

So that's something I meant to mention-- the theater we saw Endgame in didn't play the Episode 9 trailer. I thought for sure they would.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/02/2019 at 01:45pm

I'd demand a refund Travis. Seeing that Ep 9 trailer again in the theater was really fun.

Adam: That makes a lot of sense. I didn't come with many expectations, or rather I think my expectation was (Since 9 is a JJ film) the teaser would be a couple of shots not showing much. I was very happy with what I got but if everyone spoiled it and then hyped it up, I prob respond the way you did.

Question though, was Endgame spoiled as much for you or just the episode 9 trailer?

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/02/2019 at 01:51pm

Oh no, just the Star Wars trailer was spoiled, not Endgame.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/02/2019 at 06:37pm

#DontSpoilTheEpisodeNineTrailer

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What do YOU think is going to happen in Avengers: Endgame?

Avengers: Endgame releases this weekend, and I don't know about you, but I can't stop thinking about the possibilities. We have over ten years of movies that are all culminating in this one major event. So let's talk, what do you think is going to happen in the big finish?

Share your thoughts in the comments below, and it probably goes without saying but just in case: NO SPOILERS OR LEAKS OF ANY KIND! This is just for nerding out over our predictions.

We will be recording our review episode Sunday evening, and we will have a section of the episode where we talk about any predictions you share, so come be a part of Cheerful Ghost Radio and tell us what's going to... Read All

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/22/2019 at 07:54pm

I'll get us started, and I'm using some comic developments through the years to predict some of these, and also thinking about ways to end this whole 10 year plot while setting up the next 10 years:

I think Captain America and Iron Man will both be gone by the end of this. Not necessarily dead, but out of the picture in some way. Neither may die, both may die, who knows... but they'll be MIA.

But I bet they'll set up a kid to take up the mantle of Iron Man as a way to bring the character back in a few years. In the comics, a teenage girl is (or was?) Iron Man for a while.

And as in the comics, we'll see Bucky take over as Cap.

I do NOT think we've seen the last of Thor and Hulk. Before Ragnarok I would have added Thor to my previous prediction but I think they'll want to keep him going now.

This is one that I've been thinking since Ragnarok: Banner has been having power issues (stuck as Hulk and then can't even call him out) so I think we *may* get a setup for Banner to start working on a plan to become the smart Hulk that was in the comics for a while where they stop being two separate people, and he becomes Banner's mind in Hulk's body.

I think Loki is probably alive because he's a trickster and can seem to live through everything. At first I thought the scene at the beginning of Infinity War would make him remain dead after all this is done but I doubt that was even him. This is more wishful thinking because as much as he got on my nerves at first, I loved him in Ragnarok.

Gamora may be dead though. There are some theories that she's in the soul stone and will come back when the gauntlet is destroyed, and that's definitely possible, but then would she resurrect with Red Skull and be abandoned out there? It's messy and complicated to achieve in this movie. She may not be permanently dead but I think she still will be at the end of Endgame.

And the end of my permadead predictions: Either Nat or Clint will die, and either Rhodes or Falcon will die. I know we're getting a Nat solo movie so she's the least likely out of those to die, but that movie could take place earlier.

Some of my favorite bits of Infinity War involved some of the Guardians and Thor working together. I'm predicting we'll get a setup for a future Guardians film with Thor working with them, or a future Thor movie with the Guardians (maybe just Rocket and Groot)

I *hope* we get some Korg and Meek in this one!

I do not think that Ant Man will fly up Thanos's butt and expand to kill him. But something about the quantum realm will be important to taking him out.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/22/2019 at 07:55pm

Continued:

SHIELD will come back to more than just lurking in the shadows (which will tie into the next season of Agents of SHIELD) and they'll be put back in charge of the Avengers Initiative, thus ending the fight over the Sokovia accords. I don't recall the UN council ever giving anyone permission to fight Thanos anyway.

BUT Fury will die or retire.

I recently watched Dr. Strange and they keep warning about how time manipulation is dangerous, so I'm betting without Strange there to guide them they'll properly muck up the timeline.

In fact, based on that previous prediction, Thanos may not even be the final big bad. Something they do to the timeline may invalidate some important thing they did in the past. So I predict the first half of the film will undo the snap, and the second half will be all about fixing what they broke.

Stark will work with Wakanda to make something important. We have two massive technological powerhouses and the two of them together would be something special.

Captain Marvel will deliver most of the damage to Thanos but won't be the one to actually take the final blow, because there are about a dozen other people who have a more emotional claim to that.

Finally, and this isn't a stretch, I bet we'll see a lot of hints from the previous movies that we basically just ignored.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/22/2019 at 08:04pm

Oh and one more: Vision will somehow come back, maybe it's as easy as them putting the stone back in his body? But this is kinda easy mode predicting, like saying Spidey will survive. We know he will because there's a new movie coming out. Same with Vision.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 04/22/2019 at 10:51pm

It will end with Star Child from 2001.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/23/2019 at 02:02am

I will come back and read your predictions after the movie Travis. You don't know spoilers, but I want to come as fresh to the film as I can and I've really avoided most of everything.

That said, I think this is the first movie I've come to I've been excited to see I don't have any sense of what I want to see. I'm really OK with what they throw me. I am curious how they will continue the stories after Endgame, I think that's the biggest thing they are going to have to setup which is why the film will be three hours.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/23/2019 at 05:21am

Travis, I think you have a pretty sold list of predictions.

I had a theory about Endgame, but if it were true, it would retcon Infinity War and make it not as good of a movie lol. Basically, I wondered if Thanos was being influenced by Death to come up with The Snap. In the comics. Thanos wants to woo Death, and that's why he kills off half of everyone. So I wondered if in Endgame, we find out that Death has been pulling the strings, and another cosmic being (Eternity, Infinity or Oblivion) would have to step in to bring the universe back to actual balance. But the more I thought about the theory, it would hurt Thanos' character in Infinity War, so I dont think that will happen.

But, I could see The Avengers accidentally making things worse by playing with Time and the Quantum Realm, trying to "fix" reality, and a cosmic being needing to step in. I don't know if that would be satisfying though, as it could easily turn into a deus ex machina situation.

All I really know is that I'm super hyped for the movie! Just a few more days!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/23/2019 at 05:21am

(Both of my "predictions" ended up being reasoning why my predictions probably won't happen lol)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/24/2019 at 12:15am

I think that could help Thanos’s character honestly. If he was being influenced by someone and made the extreme decisions he did because of that, it would make them make more sense. As it is, his plan was really dumb and he was presented as this sympathetic villain but he wasn’t.

Having the thought that he did, but taking it to the extremes due to an external influence would make him actually sympathetic.

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 55: Captain Marvel

Looking forward to Avengers: Endgame, and need some Marvel talk while you wait? Look no further, because we're wearing flannel and blasting No Doubt while aliens invade Earth in this review of Captain Mar-vell... er... Captain Marvel, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 54: Cowlitz Gamer's for Kids 2019

In this episode, Jon and Will Ball talk about their experience at Cowlitz Gamer's for Kids and share their finds.

Humble Indie Bundle 20 Now Available!

Humble is back with their 20th numbered bundle! For a measly buck, you get The First Tree, Tangledeep, and Among the Sleep.

Beat the average for Getting Over It, Tooth and Tail, and... wait what? Dream Daddy Dadrector's Cut. I'm not shocked by the premise of this game, but the name is something. Is this the first foray into romance games for Humble Bundles?

For $10 you can get all of the above games, as well as Overgrowth.

I'm so out of the loop on indie releases, none of these was even on my radar. From what I've read, however, Tangledeep is well worth the price of entry, more so if you're only spending a buck.

I've honestly been out of the bundle game for a while now,... Read All

STAR WARS: ALWAYS

The Force will be with you, always

I don't have much to say about this, other than it's a fantastic fan-made trailer for all the Star Wars movies!