jdodson1

Joined 01/23/2012
  Admin

I'm an Engineer and built the video game community Cheerful Ghost and text based mini-MMO Tale of the White Wyvern.

2759 Posts

Watch Dave Grossman And Tim Schafer play "Day of the Tentacle"
Recently Double Fine released Day of the Tentacle special Edition that spruces up this classic game to be played on modern systems. If you are interested in reliving the fun of the old game through the original creators playing it, you are now in luck as you can watch Grossman and Schafer play through the whole game from memory in a bit over 3 hours.

You're Welcome!

StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops Mission Pack I Review
Right before the launch of the final chapter of StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void Blizzard let us know that they were planning a set of 9 new DLC missions. The missions feature Nova, a Terran Ghost and a smaller scale StarCraft II story than the epic grandeur of the previous StarCraft games. Like many I pre-ordered the Nova missions and looked forward to playing the new game. StarCraft II is a very popular online multiplayer game and eSport but my focus as a player is solely around the single player campaigns. For whatever reason, Blizzard decided to split up the DLC into three packs numbering three maps each. I don't particularly love this release strategy but I like getting a new game to play at a faster pack so it's not the worst thing around.

The game starts with Nova waking up in a place she has no memory of. She gets a message from a mysterious friend saying she is in danger and after a series of quick thinking on her part in conjunction with the friend on the outside she escapes. I won't go into much more detail on the story to avoid spoilers but it's classic Blizzard storytelling. The game feels like a proper StarCraft II set of missions just at a smaller scale. I enjoy this very much as one gripe I had with StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void was that they were trying so hard for a grand scale that those epic moments all seemed to run into each other such that it destroyed most of the tension.

As I was playing the first mission of Nova Covert Ops I was very impressed as it is a visual feast to behold. The gameplay and music is what you would expect from playing previous StarCraft games and I didn't notice anything new there. Each mission is broken up into two parts each and both propel the narrative forward in different ways. In the first level Nova escapes the science facility in a Hero mission similar to the handful of missions in previous games focusing on abilities and dungeon crawling. The second part of the first level is a fun and unique mission where Nova is on a speeder bike and needs to avoid other vehicles as she escapes. It's a fun mission that highlights what kinds of creative stuff you can make with the StarCraft II map editor. Each mission is book ended with an in game rendered cut scene and they are as good as you would expect from any Blizzard game.

Like any StarCraft II game the missions start small in scale and slowly work up in scope and complexity. That said, by the third mission I was having to juggle multiple things at once and it felt a bit harder to manage that previous StarCraft II campaigns. I really enjoyed some of the unique aspects of the mission and hope to see more of this diversity in the remaining three packs. If I had to pick some gripes with Nova Covert Ops i'd say that i'd rather Blizzard have released all the packs at once. That said, it's nice to get content as it comes and i'd prefer this over waiting a year. Another critique I have is that after only three missions i'm not as invested into the story as i'd like to be. With previous StarCraft campaigns you could continue on all the way to the end and somewhere around the fourth or fifth mission I was hooked. After three missions the game barely gets time to get moving before it's over. So I guess my biggest complaint is that I was left wanting more.

Potions: A Curious Tale Is a Unique New Adventure Game On Kickstarter
Back this on Kickstarter!
Being part of the Portland Indie Game scene is great in that you can meet really interesting developers working on unique projects. Last year I met Renee and played an early build of Potions: A Curious Tale and was really impressed with it. Potions is an adventure game where you explore the vast forest and search for ingredients for your brews. For me, Potions is a fun game in that when I played it I couldn't stop collecting items and progressing through the forest. The lack of focusing on combat was shockingly refreshing and it made the world feel more alive. Fighting is such a staple of any modern adventure game that not focusing on it felt strange and surprisingly freeing. Not to say the game doesn't include combat, it just wasn't a focus and the more times I used my wits to escape I fared better than the times I stood my ground.

If Potions is something you are interested in, I recommend you watch the video above and check out the Kickstarter project page. Potions: A Curious Tale will ship at an unspecified time on PC, Mac and Linux and I wish Renee and her team well in a successful campaign and launch.

Lady Liadrin And The Story Of Why I Played My Undead Warlock To Level 20
http://i.imgur.com/bfASbHT.png
Currently there are 4 alternate heroes you can play in Hearthstone. If you want to customize your hero experience and stand out a bit the heroes are a nice option. Since I am a free to play Hearthstone user I haven't bought any of the new heroes though I enjoy matches where my opponent is using them. Recently Blizzard released a new Lady Liadrin hero for Paladin and this one was unique in that to unlock her all you needed to do was get to level 20 in World of Warcraft.

"Players who level a World of Warcraft character to level 20 will earn a new Achievement, Fledgling Hero of Warcraft, that will unlock Liadrin for use in Hearthstone. No World of Warcraft subscription is necessary to earn this hero and bring the power of the Light to bear in Hearthstone—simply log in to your existing World of Warcraft account and play."

http://eu.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/20056282/a-new-hearthstone-hero-has-come-to-light-14-03-2016

I love the idea of simply playing another game for free to unlock something in Hearthstone. When World of Warcraft launched a free starter edition I played up to level 8 and never felt a huge draw to play beyond that. Partially it's because MMO's are best experienced with friends and I played it mostly single player and also because it really didn't draw me in.

All that said, I am a Hearthstone nut and the thought of unlocking a hero for free was too compelling to pass up.

Doesn't Everyone Get Addicted To World of Warcraft And Have It Ruin Their Life?

We've all heard horror stories about how MMO's ruin relationships. It's a common tale in gaming i've taken to heart in that I have mostly tried to steer clear of playing MMO's. Not to say I haven't played Lord of the Rings Online or Guild Wars 2 but with those experiences I always monitored how much I was playing and how that was effecting things. I had a couple weeks were I was immersed in either Guild Wars 2 or Lord of the Rings Online but for me it wasn't anything like the horrors we've all read about. But before I started playing WoW to level 20 I did wonder if WoW was gonna ruin my life. Turns out I was totally wrong.

World of Warcraft Isn't My Thing.

I feel bad for saying World of Warcraft isn't for me because I love Warcraft Orcs and Humans, Warcraft 2, Warcraft 3 and Hearthstone. How couldn't I love World of Warcraft? It's it just Warcrack injected directly into your nerd soul? Shouldn't that be my kryptonite?

Well as it turns out it's not but I did enjoy the first couple levels and the associated quests and grind. But after level 5 things get fairly stale quickly. The story blends into the background and the quests are very repetitive. The art, music and gameplay are well beyond polished but even so I just didn't find it very much fun.

After level 10 my quest to unlock Lady Liadrin became something I didn't enjoy. I heard someone once say "It's not work unless you'd rather be somewhere else" and if that is true then World of Warcraft is work. At least, again, it was for me.

I did enjoy a few things though. I rolled an Undead Warlock called SnuggyBunny and I thought the abilities and spells were neat. He was a tailor and I found it fun to make a few outfits that I wore for an hour or so but I quickly discovered items that replaced my handmade ones and I couldn't level up my tailor ability quickly enough. I imagine this is due to my lack of understanding of the games system, but there you have it. Starting an Undead character is fun and Blizzards design for the undead, their cities and characters is very creative. Running quests for Lady Sylvanas was fun as I remembered her unfortunate character turn from Warcraft 3 and they integrated her and the story of the forsaken well.

I was happy when I reached level 20 because the game started getting much more difficult which was a nice change of pace. At the point I hit 20 I couldn't continue due to the Starter Edition level 20 cap but at that point much of the game seemed to open up to me. I wonder if the game gets more fun after level 20 but it's something I might not ever experience as I have little desire to try my hand with the game again. If there were another Hearthstone cross promotion I might head back but next time i'd like to try a different class I might enjoy more.

In the end two great things came from me playing Word of Warcraft. First is I unlocked Lady Liadrin and playing her in Hearthstone and that alone was well worth the time. Lastly, I realized that I am immune to World of Warcrack and it's tempting ways and my relationship still stands strong even though an article to the contrary would have been way more interesting to read.

Hearthstone Dailies For Ghosts: Episode VII Too Many Portals + Reno Dragon Paladin

Hello Ghosts,

In this episode of Hearthstone Dailies for Ghosts I play a couple matches of Too Many Portals Tavern Brawl. The cool thing about this brawl is the thing I also dislike the most about this brawl in it's focus on random chance. That said, I luck out and do quite well in each match.

I wrap things up with a handful of matches playing with my brand new Reno Jackson Dragon Paladin deck. It's a very odd deck I haven't seen get much play and it has done shocking well in each matchup i've used it in. But how good is this deck? The only way to know is to watch!

First Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer Drops - A Darker Take On Star Wars?
Rogue One: A Star Wars story has been in production since 2013 and today we received the first proper trailer. The movie comes out this December 16th and from the trailer, I can't wait. Unlike the early trailers for The Force Awakens Rogue One features some character information and the basic plot of the film. Jyn Erso seems to be taken into custody by the Rebel Alliance and asked to join a special team to help steal the plans for the Empires ultimate weapon...

*spoiler alert for Episode IV A New Hope*

... The original death star. Since Rogue One is before A New Hope this film chronicles the Rebel Alliance and it's attempts to steal the Death Star readout used the by the Rebel Alliance and Luke Skywalker to destroy it. Popular rumor has it that Darth Vader will also make an appearance in Rogue One.

This movie looks much darker than previous Star Wars films and I love how it feels like something a bit different but also very true to the originals in design. One standout from the trailer was Jyn Erso's character as well as the score by Alexandre Desplat. Desplat's score uses the original themes in a very unique way and if this is carried over into the film we are in for an audio treat!

Again, unlike the first teaser for The Force Awakens there is a bunch here to tear through so I am curious what you think about the new trailer?

Everyone Can Take A Walk Though Hell In The Upcoming Doom Open Beta
http://www.technobuffalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/DOOM-1-1280x760.jpg
If you missed the Doom closed beta, iD is opening up the doors to hell to allow anyone the ability to try it before launch.

"If you were unable to join us for our recent DOOM closed multiplayer beta, you’re in luck! From April 15 through 17, you’ll be able to jump straight into the open beta – no code necessary. Simply download the beta and let the viscera fly. Like the closed beta, you’ll have access to Team Deathmatch and Warpath on the Heatwave and Infernal maps."

https://bethesda.net/#en/events/game/doom-open-beta-and-post-launch-content/2016/04/06/101

I didn't have a great time with the Doom closed beta as it crashed on my PC each time I tried it so heres hoping they get that sorted out!

If you are interested in playing the open beta and talking about it join our event below!

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/events/125/doom-open-beta-thread

Miitomo Is a Strangely Fun Social Network
http://i.imgur.com/httM4cS.png
Nintendo launched Miitomo last Thursday in the United States and i’ve been using it pretty religiously since then. It’s a strangely addicting social network that focuses on your friends and you answering questions and the conversations that erupt from that. It just might be my friend group, but there have been some really hilarious discussions created with it. Sometimes the discussions get a bit too meta or poop-focused for my taste but I really think Nintendo did a good job with Miitomo. Nintendo has built a very solid base to branch out from and I can’t wait to see how Miitomo changes over time.

What’s The Point of Miitomo?

Nintendo is great at making hardware and games. Even though Nintendo is doing well considering how many different video game companies are out there one area they can improve is online features and multiplayer. I believe Milltomo is an attempt to get the Nintendo brand and system on as many devices and used by as many people as possible. This is useful if Nintendo can hook this network into its devices and use it as a way to harmonize all your hardware under a Nintendo banner. Consider a world where you buy, rent or use a Netflix-like Nintendo service to play games on all your devices? Miitomo and your Nintendo account could facilitate this and tie all your systems together. Will Miitomo and your Nintendo Account at some point operate akin to Steam? It’s possible and now a bit more so.

What Do You Do With Miitomo?

Right now you can customize the look of your Mii, personalize it’s voice and customize your Mii’s clothing by spending in game Miitomo gold. You get a healthy amount of free gold and they are not cheap on handing out more over time. Right now I am saving up as I am not sure when the gold fountain will end and don’t mind waiting to see how they hand out free gold over the up-coming weeks. If you want even more gold you can spend real money to buy more, which seems to be a standard for free to play games that are not evil. It seems that free to play and the ability to pay more for customizations is the route of Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike Go and other games players consider the right way to do free to play.

Beyond Mii customizations you can also communicate with your friends by commenting on their answers and asking them personal questions.

You can also earn in game tickets to spend on a Pachinko like game to earn free Mii clothes or candy. Candy can be spent to continue talking to friends, something that seems very strange for a social network but currently a thing.

To me one killer feature of Miitomo is the ability to create fun and crazy pictures of you and your friends. I’ve seen some really creative images built with Miitomo and I imagine we will see more pop up as people push it to it’s limit. If you are interested in seeing a couple more images I created hit the link below.

http://imgur.com/a/OhpMa/all

What Would I Like To See Miitomo Become?

I’d like to see Nintendo add the ability to web link to your personal Miitomo profile. One thing i’d like to see Nintendo do more in general is allow you to link to your Nintendo profile so Cheerful Ghost can integrate more with it. One neat part of the PC space is that it’s very web friendly and as such we integrate right into your Steam account, allow authentication with Steam, import your steam games list and also integrate with your Battle.net, StarCraft II and Diablo III public profiles. We do this because companies allow this integration and in a world where Microsoft and Sony no longer allow it, Nintendo should. Plus it would be nice to give your friends a web link they can hit to friend you in Miitomo, something lots of social networks allow.

In the end Miitomo is a really strong first release for Nintendo and I hope it turns into something bigger for Nintendo over time after an already strong first showing.

Relive the Star Wars Magic With the Force Awakens & Special Features
Star Wars The Force Awakens was finally released on Blu-ray yesterday and like many eager fans I devoured the special features that evening. It was some of the most fun i’ve had watching special features in quite some time but before we get into all that we need to talk about something else first.

Save Yourself The Pain and Just Buy The Normal Blu-ray Version Of This Movie

One way to upset fans is to hype something up and under deliver. The Force Awakens was a well hyped movie but for all of that it completely delivered and was well received by fans as well as myself. So when they mentioned the Blu-ray was coming out with a boatload of special features I was in. Absolutely gonna buy it day one. After reading an article on StarWars.com I decided to purchase the version at Target because for an extra $5 you got a different cover and 20 minutes of extra special features. To me the extra 20 minutes of special features is important so yesterday I hit up Target when it opened to grab my copy of the movie. First unfortunate thing I learned is that the special Target version came in a very flimsy cardboard case. This isn’t a huge deal all told, but the normal version comes in a standard Blu-ray case with is more sturdy and better designed. I also prefer the art on the normal Blu-ray release as well. The Target special version I purchased feels more flimsy and I don’t like how you have to slide the discs in and out of the tight sleeves. I put the discs in other sleeves to avoid scratches because… I really hate disc scratches and want things I enjoy to last a very long time. So the inferior packaging wasn’t a huge deal but it was a thing I had to mentioned. That said the deal-breaker was that the extra 20 minutes of special edition footage was online only. I went on Target's Facebook forum weeks ahead of time to find out if the extra features would be on disc. Customer service reps said the special features were on disc and I imagine myself and many implied this meant the extra 20 minutes would be too. Turns out you get a digital code you have to redeem at a Disney website and that grants you access to the extra 20 minutes. They've since updated the language on their website after a ton of complaints but that doesn't help me.

Really at the end of the day this isn’t the end of the world but it was disappointing. If I had known what I know now I would have just bought the normal version, saved $5 and been served slightly less disappointment.

That all said...

This Is One Of The Best Blu-ray Movies I’ve Bought In a Long Time

The Force Awakens on Blu-ray is worth purchasing for the amazing 1 hour and 9 minute “Secrets of the Force Awakens” documentary included. From start to finish it gives a well detailed look at the film starting with George Lucas selling LucasFilm to Disney to the launch of the film itself. It’s a very special look at a really important movie and I am happy Disney spent the effort to make this documentary incredible. Peter Jackson took a documentary style look at film-making to new heights with the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions and I haven’t seen much to top that but Force Awakens is in that ballpark.

Besides the aforementioned 4 part documentary, The Force Awakens includes a segment on the script table read, creature creation, BB-8, snow battle and ILM. One of my most anticipated parts were the addition of deleted scenes and they were also very fun to watch. I’d say each deleted scene was nice to see but I could see why they weren’t included in the final film. One deleted scene “Tunnel Standoff” is a digital exclusive and the funnest one of the bunch. It’s a shame it’s not included on the disc but you can watch it if you redeem your digital code with iTunes or Google.

Like I said, the Force Awakens special features and deleted scenes are worth the price of admission alone yet this is also an incredible Star Wars movie too. We dedicated an entire episode of the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable to our thoughts on Force Awakens so if you want to know more check that out. If you liked the Force Awakens and enjoy getting a behind the scenes look at how films are made, you need to pick this one up!

UPDATE

Just wanted to note that Disney launched a teaser for the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One trailer coming out tomorrow!

https://youtu.be/MaYv3Y8tyoQ

Play This Incredible 3D Zelda Tribute In Your Browser!
http://i.imgur.com/06PVCTA.jpg
Zelda is an iconic game that lives on long after it originally came to us in 1986. Since this year marks the 30th anniversary of Zelda an amazing fan tribute has hit the web you can play right now. Someone recreated the original Legend of Zelda in 3D and it's playable right now from your web browser. It's a fun concept i'd argue suffers from some game play issues but is still a very fun and novel take on the original game.

http://zelda30tribute.com/

UPDATE: It appears Nintendo has told the authors to take down the game.

"Nintendo asked us to remove this site for copyright infringement. I guess Zelda30Tribute was a little too pixel perfect :-) We're sad about that, but we get it. We started this project because we love Nintendo and the joy they have given us throughout the years. From the start of development, we knew this result could potentially happen. Nintendo has every right to protect their IP. No complaints from us, we had a blast working on this tribute and made some friends along the way."