General Discussion [ Page 22 ]

Cheerful Ghost Roundtable S5 E1: Switching Up The New Year & Bonus Arrival Discussion

It's now 2017 and the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable is here to ring in the new year! We always start things off talking about what we're playing which is a fun mash of the new Nintendo Classic, Ocarina of Time 3D & Let it Die. Moving quickly into the fresh news of the day being the reveal of the full title of "Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi." What does this new title mean, why is the title red and will Jar-Jar be finally revealed as a Sith? Finally we end things off with our discussion of the Nintendo Switch dropping our thoughts on the new system and if we will be picking it up.

This is a special episode in that Scrypt and I stayed on longer at the end to have... Read All

scrypt Supporter wrote on 01/24/2017 at 04:38am

WTF is that screencap, lol

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/24/2017 at 04:39am

Of all of the choices Google gave me, that one was the best. If you can imagine and i'm not trolling you on purpose.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 01/24/2017 at 05:18am

It's totally fine. I just think it's funny, some of the scenes it decides to capture. ;)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/24/2017 at 05:53am

Agreed.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 01/24/2017 at 10:24pm

I'm not a fan of "The Last Jedi," but I'm still looking forward to the movie.

Considering we're still discussing what "The Force Awakens" means, I don't think we have to take The Last Jedi literally (at least I hope it's not literal. I'd rather not have the main plot line spelled out clearly in the title)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/24/2017 at 10:32pm

I don't think they "Ferngullied" Star Wars either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FernGully:_The_Last_Rainforest

/hopes

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/24/2017 at 10:36pm

We now know that episode 8 will have a crawl and start in space: https://www.instagram.com/p/BPqBSPZBRoo/

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Massive Steam Update Brings Generic Controller Configuration Support & More

One cool thing about owning a Steam Controller is the ability to customize it for each game in your Steam library. Say you don't like the standard controller mapping for Terraria? You can change them it your liking or use a popular community control scheme to suit your needs. The native Steam Controller configurator has been a really cool part of Steam and in a recent Steam update Valve finally opened it up to other controllers.

"Added XBox 360, Xbox One, and Generic X-Input controller configurator support. This allows all recognized controller types to use the advanced mapping features of the Steam Controller Configurator. Note that because X-Input currently lacks... Read All

Awesome Games Done Quick Raised $2,213,397 For Cancer Research!

Charity Speedrunning tournament Awesome Games Done quick finally wrapped raising an incredible $2,213,397 for the Prevent Cancer Foundtation. As usual, the streams were great and I am going to focus on some of the best.

Link to the Past Race Featured above this race is one of the best of this year because not only was it of quite possibly the best game of all time, it's really fun to watch. It's really unfortunate how a few frame mistake and put someone so far behind the pack and this run highlights that.

Super Metroid One of the final speedruns is always Super Metroid which is a big part of Games Done Quick. Every year during the week people can donate to save or kill... Read All

The Super Retro Boy Reloads Three Classic Gameboy Systems In One!

Retro-bit is brining a brand new retro system to market that plays original Gameboy, Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance games. It has a backlit screen and includes a built-in rechargeable battery for convenience. I like the clean design being an homage to the original Gameboy and it also looks like it feels pretty good in the hand too. That said, I don't love that the L and R bumper buttons for the Gameboy Advance are above the A and B buttons. This might make some Gameboy Advance games really hard to play and I think a better design would have been to the put the buttons on the side of the system or on the back.

If you are looking for a fresh new way to play your... Read All

Donate To The Prevent Cancer Foundation in This Years Awesome Games Done Quick 2017

http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2015/01/gamesdonequick-100538610-large.png

The Games Done Quick Speedrunning charity is a week long livestream dedicated to raising money for charities and this year it's The Prevent Cancer Foundation. The start of the livestream was pretty unique as they started things off with a speedrun of Ocarina of Time 3D that was complete a couple minutes under two hours. Usually Ocarina of Time is a huge draw but this is the first year they've run the 3DS version, which coincidentally i'm playing right now(expect a partial review soon).

"The Prevent Cancer Foundation is one of the nation’s leading voluntary health organizations and the only U.S. nonprofit focused solely on cancer prevention and early detection. Founded... Read All

Vote In The 2016 Cheerful Ghost Game Of The Year Awards

Hey everyone. After collecting all the entries for this years Game of the Year, I have them now in poll form for you to vote on. Thanks to everyone that added games to the list.

Triple A Game of the Year:

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=58674561e4b0b90e31f33e87

Indie Game of the Year:

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=58674645e4b0b90e31f33e8a

Update/DLC Of the Year:

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=586746b6e4b0b90e31f33e8d

Mobile Game of the Year:

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=58674706e4b0b90e31f33e8e

Please select your top games and the winner will be the highest voted game. I will also list out the others so we all know how it turned out.

Voting will be... Read All

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/31/2016 at 07:13pm

Voted!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/31/2016 at 08:49pm

+1!

This will be better than the Steam awards, in which almost none of my picks won.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/31/2016 at 11:50pm

I agree with Travis, only one of my picks in the Steam awards won and that was Doom. Even if my own picks don't win, I feel like we have a much better selection!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/01/2017 at 02:28am

Too bad we don't have any "I voted" stickers.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/01/2017 at 04:49am

> Too bad we don't have any "I voted" stickers.

Yeah, because at least here we can be proud of it and know that our vote actually counted or stood for something.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 01/01/2017 at 09:09pm

I couldn't help myself... http://i.imgur.com/16hT0Tl.png

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 01/01/2017 at 09:24pm

Lol, awesome

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/01/2017 at 11:05pm

I love that.

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Happy Holidays To All!

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Holdays and I hope you spend it with amazing people. Some of us will be opening some presents from Santa so if you get anything particularly noteworthy feel free to share it in the comments.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/25/2016 at 05:29am

I reacted the same way when I got my N64 for christmas, but I was 20.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/25/2016 at 05:32pm

I got the NES Classic! (It's super fun, but I'm just impressed my wife found one!)

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/25/2016 at 09:28pm

Awesome Adam!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 01:12am

Damn lucky Adam.

The main fun stuff I got was the new 3DS and a few movies like The Hateful Eight and Star Trek Beyond. The new Metallica album and the Breakfast Club on Bluray. Can't wait to watch Bender smoke it up in HD!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 02:09am

The new 3DS also doesn't come with a charger. I remember something about that a while ago. I guess it works with the old ones and they don't include it. Not expensive but annoying as it's my first DS.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 02:17am

Yeah the new 3DS no charger is lame.

I got a PS4 slim with uncharted 4.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 04:19am

Lucky guys! Gaming wise I got a $30 Gamestop gift card, which I'm thinking of taking to Gamestop and buying $30 in Steam gift cards. LOL Gaming wise, my son got an ocarina from his mom! He also got a Skylanders thing, but it's for XB1/360 (which we don't have), so it's going to get returned for something else.

Oh and as for the N64, I remember that Christmas when I got mine. I got enough money for Christmas that I went to Wal-Mart and bought one. It was sometime around or after high school (which ended in '98 for me). I still have it!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/26/2016 at 07:14am

That's super lame that the 3DS doesn't come with a charger, since it's a proprietary connector.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 07:21am

@Travis, I agree. I read about that issue and forgot about it. Since I have already paid for a 3DS and 2 3DS XLs, I already have more than one charger for the 3DS family, so that mattered little to me. I seem to remember reading that they did that to reduce the cost of the system (which is currently about $200), although it seems like a charger would be only a slight cost and not including one just seems like a stupid idea.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 04:19pm

I forgot about the charger too! I already had a charger, so I didn't think much of it. I would have rather paid a few more dollars for a bundled in charger than not having one. Think of all the poor kids (and Jon) that get one as a present and then can't use it due to not having a charger. Sometimes I just don't understand Nintendo.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 04:22pm

Did you get any 3DS games Jon?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 05:49pm

Besides immediately going to Amazon for a charger I also bought Ocarina of Time 3D and Yoshis New Island. I already got a few old DS games like New Super Mario Brothers from Goodwill and that's a really fun game.

I will get the Link Between Worlds and a few others st some point too.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 05:50pm

Also there are a ton of demos for the 3DS which should keep me occupied for awhile. Demos, remember those?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 06:51pm

Yeah! I know Nintendo has demos, because I've downloaded some of them from their online store. I haven't played OoT 3D, but I bet it's pretty sweet (as the original and other ports are). I have Link Between Worlds, or at least I bought the golden Triforce 3DS XL that came with it. Well it was really a code I had to enter to get it downloaded from the store.

Jon, did you get the New 3DS XL or just the New 3DS? Apparently that "New" model you got has better hardware. I was told that the Hyrule Warriors game for the 3DS doesn't play well on the original system, but works fine on the "New" model.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 07:28pm

The New 3DS so not the XL and it was a Black Friday special for $99, so a pretty good deal.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/26/2016 at 07:29pm

Man, "Nintendo hard" is a real thing! These games are fun, but I kinda feel like I'm banging my head against a wall when playing them lol. I am determined to play through Zelda II, but it's really slow going! (Zelda II is a super smooth game though. The controls feel really good)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 08:01pm

What have you played so far? Zelda 2 is really rough. I've never beat it myself.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 08:33pm

OMG Zelda 2 is freaking hard. I never was able to figure it out when I played it on the NES. I finally found another way to play it (many years later) with cheats and then looked up what I was supposed to do. I really don't know about that game, it's perhaps one of the most mind boggling games I can think of!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/27/2016 at 05:23pm

So far my favorite games are Zelda 2 and Final Fantasy. I've played (and loved) FF 2, 3 and 7, but never played the first. It appears it's going to be a long grind (I made my 4 person team to be, 1 black magic, 1 white magic and 2 fighters. I really had no idea what I was doing, but it seems to work) as my team is going to need to level up A LOT before even going through the first dungeon/castle. But I love the sounds! It's kind of a "duh" now, but the FF sounds originated in the original! I was pleasantly surprised to find this out :)

I've tried out most of the other games, and my wife laughs at me when I play for 1 minute, the feels impossible, and I press Resart and go to a different game :)

Travis Admin wrote on 12/27/2016 at 05:37pm

Which ones feel impossible Adam? "Nintendo hard" is definitely a thing :D

Travis Admin wrote on 12/27/2016 at 05:47pm

Please note: I'm not asking so I can say HAHA YOU SUCK I'm interested in hearing which ones, as an adult, feel impossible. Our interpretation of difficulty has changed since the 80s. I think we were more willing to grind something really hard when we had all the time in the world and only like 15 games to choose from.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/27/2016 at 06:43pm

Don't worry, my wife already says that to me, all the time...
Looking back at the list, the only game that feels *impossible* is Super C. The controls feel bad for Ice Climber and Kid Icarus. I might not bother playing those again. I get Galaga and Gradius mixed up, but both were too difficult to put much effort in. Ghosts'N Goblins and Megan Man 2 felt really hard, but beatable (I got through a couple Mega man levels before getting interested in trying something else). Both Castlevania games seemed fun, but didn't keep my attention. I'll come back to those at some point. Kirby and Tecmo Bowl were way too easy, I stopped playing them quickly after starting but will probably pick them up at some point when I'm bored. Zelda 2 is super hard, but fun enough to keep trying. Final Fantasy is grinds, but I'm giving it time.

So I guess the only *impossible* game is Super C :)

Travis Admin wrote on 12/28/2016 at 04:40am

Kid Icarus is one of my faves, clunky controls and all. I can see why you might lump it in with that (tangentially)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/28/2016 at 05:08pm

I need a Game Genie Classic now ;)

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If You Need More Retro In Your Life The Raspi Boy is For You

Back this on Kickstarter!

If you've been looking to get more into retro gaming on the go and Raspberry Pi you might want to check out funding the Raspi Boy Kickstarter project.

"The idea came when I saw on internet projects of "GameBoyZero", awesome raspberry pi based consoles. I was amazed, but it looked pretty difficult to build one, it was a 3 months work and over 100 for all components! And last, you need an old gameboy to rip open.

RaspiBoy is conceived such that everything fits together perfectly and the build is a 5 minutes task without soldering!

The RaspiBoy comes as a kit, with easy mounting tutorial PDF and video. Don't worry ! It's super easy and we will guide you step by step. It's... Read All

Hour To Midnight - Room Escape Games

Do you like puzzles?

William Elshoff scoured the globe for artifacts of great power. His findings had turned up little until now, he claimed he had found the key to Nibiru!

He locked himself in his study and began to work, he was in there for over a week! When we went to check on him, we discovered he had vanished. That’s why we have summoned you here. We are hoping, with your unique skill set, you and your team can unlock the secrets to Uncle William’s whereabouts and bring him home!

Last week, I received a review pass to Hour To Midnight - Room Escape Games to check out their first puzzle Room, titled The Secrets of Nibiru. I happily accepted it and joined a team of... Read All Do you like puzzles?

William Elshoff scoured the globe for artifacts of great power. His findings had turned up little until now, he claimed he had found the key to Nibiru!

He locked himself in his study and began to work, he was in there for over a week! When we went to check on him, we discovered he had vanished. That’s why we have summoned you here. We are hoping, with your unique skill set, you and your team can unlock the secrets to Uncle William’s whereabouts and bring him home!

Last week, I received a review pass to Hour To Midnight - Room Escape Games to check out their first puzzle Room, titled The Secrets of Nibiru. I happily accepted it and joined a team of local “influencers” (2 people from hotels and 1 person who works in business networking) who were invited to promote Hour To Midnight. (Cheerful Ghost was contacted to try it out, as we’re a gaming website obviously. Jon couldn’t make it, but he offered the chance to me.) The recommended team size is between 6 and 10, so our team of 4 started out at a disadvantage, but HTM modified the game slightly for our team size (they have different rules for different sized teams).

To begin, one of the HTM employees talked us through the rules and gave us some very general tips, as it was the first time in an Escape Room for any of us. Then we were walked into the room to start, and the door was shut behind us, locking (for legal and fire safety reasons, there’s a panic button to get out if needed). The lights were off and a short narration started, beginning the game. We then had 60 minutes to tear through the study and figure out how to get out. We started out slowly, just looking at everything, but soon started finding clues in random places around the office.

I won’t go into any details about any of the puzzles, but sometimes simply just figuring out what the puzzle was was difficult enough! Everything was logical though and made sense within the room. Puzzles lead to more puzzles throughout. Sometimes, you’ll be working on one puzzle and concurrently someone else will be working on another that will help you along in yours when they’ve finished.

I had an absolute blast! My team didn’t finish within the allotted time, but we got really close, and considering we were a small team of people that didn’t know each other, I was pretty proud of all we got through. Escape Rooms have been something I’ve been very interested in for a couple years now, but just never managed to try one out. Now that I’ve experienced it, I can’t recommend Hour To Midnight enough! Currently there’s only one room finished (this one took around 8 months to put together. The detail they went to is incredible.), but they hope to have a second room finished by the end of the year. And have 2 more rooms in planning/building stages.

Hour To Midnight also has a banquet room, where they can host receptions, office parties, etc. (I’ve already talked with my office manager at work about having an office outing here) When a large group is there, multiple teams can work through the room, and after your team has finished, you can spend your time in the “spoiler room,” where you can watch video feeds of the next teams struggle through the puzzles.

I want to thank Hour To Midnight for inviting Cheerful Ghost to experience their business, and thank Jon for letting me go in his place. I absolutely recommend checking it out for yourself!

For more information or to reserve your room, go to https://www.hourtomidnight.com/, call 503-673-EXIT(3948), or email [email protected]

Travis Admin wrote on 12/12/2016 at 04:09am

This sounds truly awesome. I've played video games like this before, but doing it in person sounds even better!

Nicholas_Biondi wrote on 12/12/2016 at 04:35am

I did this one a few weeks ago. Was a pretty good time

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/13/2016 at 03:34pm

Another reason to move back to the northwest! Was there music playing in the room? Any other sort of atmospheric ambiance (beside the actual room, of course)?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/13/2016 at 03:50pm

There's one here in Fort Worth!! http://www.thesecretchambers.com/home/

I'm so excited now!

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 12/13/2016 at 04:36pm

I don't think there was any music? Honestly I was so focused on the puzzles, I might have not noticed. But there were special effects at times :)

Thomas_Johnson wrote on 12/13/2016 at 05:25pm

Hello, Tom here, one of the owners of Hour to Midnight. Yes there is music, it is low to allow you to concentrate on the puzzles. Though maybe we can turn it up a little. Thanks again Adam for stopping by and the wonderful words!

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 12/13/2016 at 09:27pm

Tom, you guys have done a great job! I can't wait to try out the next room!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/14/2016 at 04:44am

There's one minutes from here: https://puzzlr.us

I gotta try this out!

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UBI 30: 30 Days of Giveaways

Ubisoft is giving away a free gift every day for the next thirty days! Just sign in and reap the rewards. Today's is Rayman Classic on mobile.

Thanks to some people digging in the source, we know what's coming up as well.

Day 1 (Today - 24/11) : Rayman Classic on Mobile: Android - iOS
Day 2 (25/11) : 30% off Ubisoft Games
Day 3 (26/11) : Exclusive Collection of E3 2016 Cards
Day 4 (27/11) : Ubi30 Exclusive GIF
Day 5 (28/11) : For Honor GIFs
Day 6 (29/11) : Ubi30 360 Image
Day 7 (30/11) : Just Dance Greeting Card
Day 8 (01/12) : Ubisoft DIY Advent Calendar
Day 9 (02/12) : Steep Wallpaper
Day 10 (03/12) : Exclusive Digital Posters from E3 2016
Day 11 (04/12) : Rabbids Holiday... Read All