jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

Watch The History Of Psychonauts In This All New 3 Part Double Fine Documentary Series

One of the coolest parts about Double Fine working on a new adventure game was watching the Double Fine Adventure Documentary series. Broken Age was a great game I enjoyed but the documentary series so addicting I couldn't wait for the next installment of. I think it is a great look at how difficult creative work can be and I think the Double Fine crew weathered it well and are better for it. Recently DF dropped the Psychonauts 2 crowd funding project and as part of that released a 3 part documentary series on the original game and way they are approaching the sequel. As with the Double Fine Adventure series this is a very telling look at the process and history of the game and company.

Take a look at the Psychonauts 2 crowd funding on Fig:

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/psychonauts-2

Watch part two and three below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WWSsw-16vw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3zFPss3-9I

Ben Prunty Releases A New FTL Inspired Album "Deep Space Deluxe"

https://f1.bcbits.com/img/a0108197018_16.jpg

Ben Prunty is the composer behind the FTL score, one of my all time most beloved game scores. When FTL got an Advanced Edition he came back with more tracks and he is back at it again with a new FTL inspired album called "Deep Space Deluxe." The album features 6 new tracks that do a great job of capturing the FTL vibe while doing a good job existing as a stand alone work.

You can stream all 6 tracks on Bandcamp right now and buy the whole album for $5.

https://benprunty.bandcamp.com/album/deep-space-deluxe-ep

Cheerful Ghost GoTY Awards Nomination Thread

We are going to do this years Cheerful Ghost GoTY Awards similarly to last year with a fun new addtion. Please submit your nominations in the comments along with the category they should go in. On December 24th i'll take all the nominations and put out a 3 polls where we can all vote for the winners. Like last year we will have the "2015 Triple A Game of the Year", "2015 Indie Game of the Year" and the all new "2015 Update of the Year". Games that quality for the "Update of the Year" are games that received a significant update or were ported to a new platform in 2015. Games such as Hearthstone(The Grant Tournament, The League of Explorers) & Terraria (1.3 update) quick someone nominate those games!

Thanks for taking part in the GoTY process and I hope 2016 is a great year in gaming!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/19/2015 at 01:43am

Update of the Year: Terraria 1.3
Early Access GotY: Ark: Survival Evolved
GotY Noms: Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3 I'd kinda like to nom. Legacy of the Void, but I've hardly played it, which will probably change soon.

I think it'd be cool if some of us made a post on the site talking about our favorite games that we've played this year. This includes games that are new or ages old.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/19/2015 at 01:56am

Thanks Greg. I do plan on doing my own list.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/19/2015 at 04:09am

Are we submitting single nominations for each category? If so, my nominations are:

Indie: Rocket League

AAA: Psych! I'm nominating The Talos Principle. Fallout 4 is epic, but it's practically the only AAA game I played this year, besides Destiny, which makes me feel kind of ashamed. I feel like I would nominate Bloodborne, if I had only played it :(. Maybe I'll go rent it tomorrow...

Update: Terraria, especially since it was my first time playing.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/19/2015 at 05:04am

Triple A: Fallout 4
Indie: I was lacking in indie games this year.
Update: Terraria, Hearthstone
Mobile: Fallout Shelter, Hearthstone

Travis Admin wrote on 12/19/2015 at 05:09am

Another Mobile nom: Crashy Road. No, not Crossy Road. That one got all the acclaim last year. :D

Travis Admin wrote on 12/19/2015 at 06:53pm

Oh! A nod for Mobile and Update: Monument Valley. It was released last year, but got DLC this year. Monument Valley is a masterpiece.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/21/2015 at 06:57pm

AAA:

Witcher 3
SC2: Legacy of the Void
Fo4
Fallout Shelter
Mario Maker

Updates:

Grim Fandango: Remastered
BioShock Infinite (Linux port)
Hearthstone

Indie:

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
Crypt of the Necrodancer
Broken Age
Undertale
Nuclear Throne

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/21/2015 at 08:03pm

Every year GameFAQ's polls become a competition between games, people vote on which is better. Final Fantasy VII usually wins, or at least makes it to the end. This year it was defeated by Undertale. I downloaded the demo and briefly played it.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/23/2015 at 04:38am

I've heard nothing but good things about Undertale.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/23/2015 at 04:39am

Also I don't really pay attention to gamefaqs polls, because they're usually gamed heavily by whichever forum is more popular at the time.

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Join Us For the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable Star Wars The Force Awakens Livestream!

Join us on December 23rd @ 6p PST for a special Cheerful Ghost Roundtable livestream where we discuss our thoughts on the new Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. We start each show talking a bit about what we have been playing in video games and then our main event, Star Wars. We will have a spoiler free section and then move into spoilers but fear not, you will be warned before we get spoilery.

You can watch the live stream and let us know by following the URL below and clicking "Yes" to watching it.

https://plus.google.com/events/cf2l2epi6oah57hmq3o43q9e9i8

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/17/2015 at 10:30pm

I think I'll have to skip this episode until I watch the movie, due to spoilers.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/17/2015 at 10:36pm

We will have a segment of the episode spoiler free. We will say when we move into spoilers!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/17/2015 at 10:40pm

I know, I read that part.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/17/2015 at 10:56pm

Ok. It will be recorded so you can catch it after you see it if you want!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/18/2015 at 12:00am

Yeah, I figured. =) I don't know when I'll see it. I would like to know what you guys thought of it, whether or not you liked it and/or whether or not you liked it better than the prequels.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/18/2015 at 12:48am

Leaving to see it in the next 12 minutes so i'll know in the next couple hours

Travis Admin wrote on 12/18/2015 at 01:57am

"whether or not you liked it better than the prequels."

Yes.

Honestly I don't know how that answer could not be yes.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/18/2015 at 02:33am

I like the prequels, but it seems I'm almost alone in that.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/18/2015 at 03:23am

They're... not terrible. Just majorly disappointing after the originals.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/19/2015 at 01:44am

Well, I've decided to take Vinny to see the movie tonight in 3D. So, I'll probably join the conversation after all. =)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/19/2015 at 01:55am

That sounds great!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/19/2015 at 05:44am

Well I thought the movie was good, but our 3D experience was horrible. I don't know what was wrong, whether it was the glasses or the projector, but it was hardly 3D. It was more like "beer goggles" vision. But, I liked the movie and so did Vinny. =)

Travis Admin wrote on 12/20/2015 at 07:02am

Simply amazing. Easily better than the prequels, by leaps and bounds. Possibly higher than fourth place.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/20/2015 at 03:12pm

I need to watch it again (and again, and again) but I'm thinking it's at least number 3, maybe number 2 for me. But that could just be the hype. It's so significant for me because it's the first Star Wars film I've seen in theaters for the first time that didn't disappoint me, so I'm still riding that high.

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Get Caught Up On Star Wars By Watching Them All At Once

Many Star Wars fans are marathoning all the Star Wars films before they see The Force Awakens. Seriously, I sort of respect that sort of thing but it doesn't really work for me. In days past i'd do that and then go see the new film with the fresh thoughts of the old ones in my mind. Often it creates a very hard situation where since the thought of the other films are so fresh, I compare it more than I would if some time has past since my last viewing. That said, if you can marathon films and enjoy the new ones, more power to you and if you want to do it faster than ever check out the fan edit above of all 6 Star Wars films at the same time.

Or We Can Keep It In The Box!

Star Wars week continues with this hilarious new Saturday Night Live short. They really capture the disparity between kids and nerdy adult toy collectors. I really want to keep all my awesome stuff behind glass too because dammit, these toys are not for playing with!

An Inside Look At Hardware Manufacturing At Valve - Take a Peek at Valve's Robot Factory

"When we first started designing hardware at Valve, we decided we wanted to try and do the manufacturing as well. To achieve our goal of a flexible controller, we felt it was important to have a similar amount of flexibility in our manufacturing process, and that meant looking into automated assembly lines. It turns out that most consumer hardware of this kind still has humans involved in stages throughout manufacturing, but we kind of went overboard, and built one of the largest fully automated assembly lines in the US. Our film crew recently put together a video of that assembly line, showcasing exactly why robots are awesome."

As more manufacturing comes back to the US it will look a lot likes Valve's robot manufacturing Steam Controller plant. Apple has a plant similarly to this that makes the new Mac Pros and they are looking into moving more things stateside as well. It's really interesting to see these plants in action and I wonder how economical this is vs the current method of manufacturing in China.

For even more information on Valve's Steam controller manufacturing check the link below.

http://store.steampowered.com/controller/update/dec15

60 Minutes Segment on John Williams New Force Awakens Music

This 60 minutes inside look features John Williams scoring the new Force Awakens opening scene. It also features and interview with JJ as well as an all new never before seen scene with BB8 and Rey. It's a scene from the film and doesn't spoil anything, but skip over this entire video if you want to avoid seeing parts of the film beforehand. The tone and feel of the shot is 100% Star Wars and if the whole movie is like this, we are all in for a good time!

Star Wars Week Kicks Off With Jack & Rich Reviewing Star Wars Battlefront

Star Wars The Force Awakens releases this week and like many I have had my tickets pre-ordered for a few months now. Thursday can't come soon enough but to keep us all in the mood until we see it, I'll be posting about Star Wars and Star Wars in gaming all week. So ignight your lightsabers and count those midichloreans because this Falcon has a new hyperdrive!

Jack and Rich reviewed EA's latest Star Wars Battlefront and I have to say that I entirely agree with how they look at the game. It's pretty. Very pretty and the music and sound effects are great. The shooting is also good but at the end of the day it didn't really do much for me. EA put forward a solid effort but after playing a few matches in the beta I wasn't interested it continuing with it. Which is good because my love for Star Wars may have seen me buy it at some point and I would have been seriously bummed for doing that. If team shooters are your thing then this is worth looking into but if they are not then you might just want to try a demo.

Winter Veil Comes To Everyones Favorite Blizzard Cash Creation Engine

https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/gallery/KOYUKLN4X91M1449535529201.jpg

"Oh the weather outside is frightful,

but the Inn is so delightful.

With our decks all good to go,

Play Hearthstone! Play Hearthstone! Play Hearthstone!"

It's nice to see Blizzard getting in the holiday spirit with Hearthstone. Then again, it's not too hard getting excited for something that makes more money than Donald Trump. To celebrate Winter Veil Blizzard is replacing the standard Hero greeting with a special Winter Veil line as well as decorating the boards with a nice festive theme. They are teasing more to come, which might take the form of a fun Tavern Brawl or ... possibly ... some free stuff? If Winter Veil Claus brings us all a free pack or two that would really make the holiday bright!

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19975320

The last part of League of Explorers just unlocked today making the whole adventure and card set available and now wonder what people are thinking of the new League cards? At first I was a bit harsh on the expansion as I felt it came quick on the hells of The Grand Tournament. But it's been a very fun set of boss fights and the new cards are all very interesting. I wonder for you what are the cards you are having the most fun playing with? I'd say the most immediately useful to me are the Jeweled Scarab and Tunnel Trogg. I've built a deck around Reno Jackson and whereas it's awesome to have it come out and take you back to a full 30, sometimes he doesn't always come around when I need him. So far I have access to the first two tiers and will finally unlock the last two when I grind enough quest gold for it. So far i've been entirely free to play, which is fun but I don't have access to everything quite as fast as others that bought the adventure outright.

http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Jeweled_Scarab
http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Tunnel_Trogg
http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Reno_Jackson

JaBo wrote on 12/11/2015 at 04:48am

So, one thing I noticed is that there's 10 extra packs when you buy 40, so it's $50 for 50. I did that just now. I pulled 8 cards I didn't have yet lol. 7 were golden versions, 1 legendary I didn't have (I did pull a 2nd ragnaros). Then I disenchanted the rest and gained over 3200 dust so I crafted two more legendary cards.... all in all, can't complain.

I finished the heroic mode today and gained the new card back (and the rest of the cards). I haven't played yet with these weeks cards, but so far, I like Ethereal Conjurer, Entomb, Jeweled Scarab, pretty much any discover card is awesome and good for value. The spider, the mech, all card advantage. Thinking of crafting gold versions of some of them (then they give "discover" gold cards).

If anyone needs tips on the boss fights, I'd be happy to share my tactics.

Good expansion

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/11/2015 at 08:33pm

> so I crafted two more legendary cards.... all in all, can't complain.

What cards?

Entombed Spider is great and works really well in Hunter beast deck. It added so much to it already. That and Glaivezooka.

Was talking to a friend and we both think this will be the new model for Hearthstone going forward. A yearly expansion + adventure in that order plus anything new they plan on adding, not sure what that would be though

JaBo wrote on 12/14/2015 at 05:08pm

Don't remember exactly which two, I have a few new ones I've crafted lately. I got the 2 good mage ones (I already had pulled the flame tank thing), and the dragon that gives +5 spell damage.

I'm kinda running out of legionaries to care about. I do have epics I need though. I had only pulled 2 giants, so I'm working on getting those now. Frost Giant seems decent in a control deck. In priest or warrior I easily use my ability over 10 times, so those would be 0 cost 8/8s w/o me having to be at 10 life, or having cards in hand, or full board... I may try them out.

This should be public vieable, but here's my collection: http://www.hearthpwn.com/members/Nardraug/collection

Not sure what my legendary I want next... I may just keep grabbing some epics. I'm tempted to also craft some golden cards I use a lot.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/14/2015 at 06:30pm

It seems to require a login to see it.

JaBo wrote on 12/14/2015 at 06:44pm

Hmm, well HearthPwn is a really great site to read up on decks/ideas/cards. I haven'r used it too much, but it's cool for comparing your decks vs others similar to see what others try (and see how popular they are with the community). You can search for decks filtering down to certain card combos.

JaBo wrote on 12/14/2015 at 06:50pm

It also shows you how much dust is needed for the deck.

Like this dragon priest deck, it costs over 10k dust. http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/394674-loe-shadow-reno-dragons
But it tells me I only need 1600 to complete it based on my collection. (missing one legendary for it)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/15/2015 at 06:13pm

Nice, i'll sign up for an account then.

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jdodson1

2759 Posts

Watch The History Of Psychonauts In This All New 3 Part Double Fine Documentary Series

Ben Prunty Releases A New FTL Inspired Album "Deep Space Deluxe"

Cheerful Ghost GoTY Awards Nomination Thread

Join Us For the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable Star Wars The Force Awakens Livestream!

Get Caught Up On Star Wars By Watching Them All At Once

Or We Can Keep It In The Box!

An Inside Look At Hardware Manufacturing At Valve - Take a Peek at Valve's Robot Factory

60 Minutes Segment on John Williams New Force Awakens Music

Star Wars Week Kicks Off With Jack & Rich Reviewing Star Wars Battlefront

Winter Veil Comes To Everyones Favorite Blizzard Cash Creation Engine