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.

2755 Posts

Watch LGR Restore An IBM PC XT 286 from 1986
LGR is one of those really unique YouTube channels that focuses on all kinds of retro tech and one of his latest videos hit me right in the feels. My Grandmother had an IBM PC XT 286 and it was one of the coolest computers I used as a kid because it was my first experience dialing up a BBS. On one visit to my Grandmothers she showed her new computer that could dial up the Library and that you could search through the book catalog and put something on hold. The whole process of dialing up the library was magical and I remember staying up late just searching the library for books like The Hobbit and The Big Friendly Giant. There wasn't much to do beyond looking for books but the next time I came over I had a few BBS numbers and dialed those up and tried a fun game called Legend of the Red Dragon which was the inspiration for Tale of the White Wyvern.

The IBM PC XT 286 is a beautiful computer and LGR is able to restore one to working order from the parts of two systems he had around. If I had more space in my house i'd have more classic PC systems so until then I can dream vicariously through him.

"Cleaning, upgrading, and overall reinvigorating a vintage IBM computer system from 1986! The Model 5162 here is a bit of an uncommon beast at this point, combining the classic case design of the XT with the 286 internals of an IBM AT. Let's fix it!

The Untold History of Arcane: Dishonored / Prey / Ravenholm / LMNO / The Crossing
"Noclip travels to France and Texas to tell the story of Arkane's twenty year history. Featuring exclusive first looks at the gameplay of three cancelled projects; The Crossing, LMNO & the Half-Life spin-off "Ravenholm"."

Noclip, the YouTube documentary channel is back at it with a very strong documentary about Arcane Studios the creators of Dishonored and Prey. One thing I didn't know before watching this was that Arcane was working on a Half-Life 2 episode that featured Father Gregory that looked pretty damn cool until Valve cancelled it.

Download Borderlands The Handsome Collection Free on the Epic Store!
If you somehow missed playing Borderlands 2 or Borderlands The Pre-Sequel or simply don't own them on PC yet you are in luck as they are both free on the Epic Store.

Borderlands 2 is one of the best looter shooters and the Pre-Sequel is well worth checking out and now that they are free it's even better.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/bundles/borderlands-the-handsome-collection

On May 20th Nintendo Online Gets Four New Games!
If you were looking for some new to you retro games to play Nintendo Online is getting 4 new ones on May 20th in Wild Guns, Panel de Pon and Operation Logic Bomb on Super Nintendo and Rygar on Nintendo.

Rygar is a classic Nintendo title I've yet to try and am interesting in giving it a go but Wild Guns has my attention. Apparently Wild Guns is a space western shooting gallery game that looks incredible. Plus if you've played for Nintendo Online free is a great price.

2020's Best Monitors for PC Gaming: A Digital Foundry Guide
Recently I purchased a new Ultra Wide monitor as I am Software Engineer by trade and work from home. I've been doing that now for 8+ years and also provide myself all of my peripherals, monitor, desk, chair and office. About the same time ago I purchase a Dell Ultrasharp that has run like a champ from job to job and StarCraft II to Rage 2 over those 8 years. I recently started a new role at Salesforce and decided that after 8 years it was time for a new monitor. In the end I went with a fresh new Dell Ultrasharp Ultra Wide and it's a dream. It's not something i'd recommend for gaming but if you are looking for a new gaming display Digital Foundry has a great video guide you need to watch.

Digital Foundry makes a few recommendations starting at the best overall gaming 1080p monitor that has a great low price to some superb 4K displays. One thing I've noticed is that if you want to get a very high refresh rate at 140hz - 240hz it's easier to find 1080p displays. You can find a great refresh rate with higher resolution but your options begin to be more limited. That said, keeping the price of a great PC in mind and pushing as many frames as possible 1080p isn't a bad choice for an incredible display.

Let me know what kind of display you are using in the comments and any tech specs you can spare such as size, resolution and refresh rate/hz.

LGR Builds An Incredibly Powerful PC!
I'm not sure this is video game news in a general sense but I found this LGR video to be entertaining and awe inspiring. Awe inspiring because it's really incredible how powerful computers are now and I felt like it was worth talking about. Yeah, yeah, we have blazingly capable computing devices in our pocket, the Nintendo Switch and any smartphone being chief among them but it still feels special to me when we hit certain computing milestones and somehow when I watched this LGR video it felt like one.

What are the specs on his latest PC?

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X Processor
MSI Creator TRX40 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 128GB (4 x 32GB) DDR4-3600 RAM
EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER FTW3
2TB+1TB+1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2
4TB Samsung 860 QVO SSD
Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro TR4 CPU Cooler
LG Blu-Ray Burner WH16NS40
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
EVGA SuperNOVA 1000W PSU
Fractal Design Define XL R2 Case
Asus ROG PG348Q 34" Monitor

I want to highlight the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X that starts out at $1,800 bells and contains a whopping 32 CPU cores. I remember when dual core machines were hot on the market but extremely expensive. For a time quad core machines were the fastest tech and most expensive tech around but now quad core CPU's are quite common place. To me, 32 core CPU's seem like some kind of incredible leap and noteworthy. What's also noteworthy is that most gaming doesn't use much beyond a few cores if any and we are quite a ways from them taking advantage of 4 cores much less 32. Still, video editing and CAD pipelines can take advantage of that kind of CPU tech and it might not be too far away from games to be able to as well.

So if you had a bunch of cash burning a hole in your pocket and wanted to flex on some kind of crazy future proof Desktop PC, LGR's latest video editing machine may be something to consider. Or just click play on the video and dream of a 32 CPU core future.

Elder Scrolls Blades is Now on the Switch!
Blades released on iOS and Android in March of 2019 and was a pretty good Elder Scrolls game considering the free price. The game looks stunning on my iPhone XS Max and when Bethesda mentioned it would eventually come to consoles and PC I was excited. I played it starting at the beta and stopped a month or so after I started. Blades is a good phone RPG but it didn't have a lot to do and I felt the missions were all very similar.

Since I left Bethesda has been continuing work on Blades and recently they released it on the Nintendo Switch. Since Blades is an online game it seamlessly loads your account from the phone version to the Switch. Your progress, inventory and anything you may have purchased is available to play on the Switch in handheld mode or docked to your TV. Blades was made for mobile but it feels like a great match on the Switch. Blades looks good on the Switch hardware in handheld mode and on the TV but it does feel a bit "last gen." It's a good balance between low download size and graphical fidelity and considering the Switch isn't as powerful as modern consoles or PC's it's fine.

The best part about Blades on Switch is the controls. The touch controls of Blades on mobile works well it's just not how I enjoy playing Elder Scrolls games. Now that the game is fully playable on the Switch joycons and Switch Pro controller Blades feels better. You still can only engage with one enemy at a time as with the mobile game but hitting buttons feels more at home with the other Scrolls games I've played.

Hopefully Blades comes to PS4, XBox One and PC because i'd love to see if Bethesda includes increased visuals to match. Even if it doesn't there is a lot of fun here to play even though Blades contains some annoying free to play trappings.

Behold The Wonder of Terraria 1.4!
ChippyGaming has a fun new Terraria 1.4 gameplay video out showing some of the new game features and they look superb. The biggest standout are the updated graphics and polished UI improvements.

Dare I say this looks to be the biggest Terraria update yet? Glad this game made a zillion bucks so they can give it this final send off.

This has been shared in some comment threads but wanted to give it more visibility.

The Evercade is a New Retro Handheld That Looks to Offer Something Special!
The Evercade is an upcoming retro handheld that improves on the sea of off brand handhelds in that it supports officially licensed retro collections you can purchase on collectable game carts. Evercade also worked with many prominent emulation developers to bring an extremely similar experience to the original hardware. DF Retro examines the system and gives it a solid review score comparing it to original and best of breed recreation hardware.

The Evercade price point seems solid at $80 for the main unit or $100 for the base unit and three pack in game collections and $20 for each game collection. For quite some time I've hoped we'd get a brand new retro system that you could make physical games for and this seems to be the answer. It makes sense that this would start out as a handheld and I appreciate it has an HDMI out to play on the television.

https://evercade.co.uk/

If you are looking for more on the Evercade check out Metal Jesus review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHOchWVYe-E

The Final Super Mario Maker 2 Update Gets A World Creator!
Looks like Super Mario Maker 2 is getting its last big free update and it’s incredible. Folks thought we’d get a new Super Mario 2 theme and they didn’t quite add that but we did get a SMB2 mushroom which looks to add those mechanics to the game.

“ A free update to Super Mario Maker 2 for the Nintendo Switch system adds a new World Maker mode, as well as a host of new content and features on April 22.

In World Maker mode, multiple courses created by a user can be tied together on a path from the starting point on a world map to the end castle. The look of the world map can also be customized. Up to eight worlds containing a total of up to 40 courses can be combined, creating a mini Super Mario game that can be shared* with others.

In addition to World Maker, guess who else is making an appearance in Super Mario Maker 2? The Koopalings! All seven of these troublemakers, each with his or her own movement pattern, can be added to user-created courses. Other enemies added to the game include the key-chasing Phanto and the wind-up Mechakoopas.

Additional power-ups and course parts are also coming to Super Mario Maker 2 as part of the free update. This includes the SMB2 Mushroom, which transforms Mario and friends into their look from the Super Mario Bros. 2 game and allows them to pick up and throw items and enemies – just like in that classic game! With the Frog Suit from the Super Mario Bros. 3 game, Mario can swim through water with ease, and even run across its surface! Other power-ups added to the game are the Power Balloon first introduced in the Super Mario World game, the Super Acorn from the New Super Mario Bros. U game and the Boomerang Flower from Super Mario 3D World. There are also five variations for wearables like the Cannon Box and Propeller Box from the Super Mario 3D World game.”