jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

Potions: A Curious Tale Is a Unique New Adventure Game 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

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.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/11/2016 at 05:22am

I was playing Ark recently and mentioned in global chat that I've never played WoW. The person was surprised. That said, even though I haven't been playing Hearthstone, when I found out about this bonus, I was a bit tempted. I'm still a little tempted as I might get back into the game.

Right away, I think you nailed why I might not enjoy WoW so much. I'm used to solo gaming, single player mode, etc. I played Ragnarok Online with friends and it was fun (except I hated that other people would steal my loot that dropped from enemies I killed). I played FFXI, but I started off so far away from my friends that we never met up. That game was definitely not for solo gamers. I did play a little bit of Guild Wars 2 (obviously), but I never really saw my fellow Cheerful Ghosts and I was on my own pretty much.

Right now, I'm playing Ark: Survival Evolved on an official server. I wouldn't really call it an MMORPG, but I mean it's very similar. The maximum amount of people that can play on a server at a time is 70 and the one I play on is often about half full. I enjoy it much more than I thought I would and I'm really glad I'm still playing.

Anyway, thanks for letting us know about your WoW experience! I hope the new Hearthstone unlock that you got is cool.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/11/2016 at 04:57pm

It's been 8-9 years since I was really playing WoW, but for me it was mostly a single player game. I had a buddy help run me through the beginning, and then I had some friends come and go as I played. I actually made a few friends through the game that I'm still friends with on Facebook.

Talking with Jon as he's played a bit has kinda made me want to go back and experience the game a bit. Would anyone else here be interested in a WoW free run to level 20? (Lol, right after I said I normally played the game on my own) Maybe I'll start up an event if people are interested :)

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/11/2016 at 07:00pm

When Jon mentioned he was starting this, I thought about joining him. However, Ark has a firm hold on me. I could possibly take some time away, but I don't know.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/11/2016 at 07:42pm

Ok, I have Greg down as a definite "yes" ;)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/11/2016 at 07:42pm

I wonder if we could get a group together and dedicate a Saturday, how far could we get in just one day?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/12/2016 at 01:42am

Hahaha I'd say it's a definite "I don't know." Are you talking about starting out from the beginning? Are you wanting to do it for the Hearthstone bonus? I might jump in Hearthstone again, but probably not until I watch Jon's Dailies videos.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/12/2016 at 01:48am

A bit of info on jumping in with only the Starter Edition. Because of spamming and gold traders and such you can't friend anyone in game. You also can't message anyone. So if you want to meet up or chat you will have to do it in an outside program and simply find each other by hand on the server.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/12/2016 at 04:30pm

You can't even friend people in the game? I remember that free accounts couldn't send/receive gold/items, but now they can't even talk to others? That sucks.

JaBo wrote on 04/12/2016 at 11:44pm

That's crazy. I played WoW when it released. Preordered game. I played dark age of Camelot (another mmorpg) for years and half my guild was going to WoW. I wasn't alone, we leveled up decently. I even did some pvp during the free trial. But, I never tried past the 4 week free trial. In fact, I let my brother play the final week of the game.

It's crazy to me that they grabbed the market so forcefully and took off. I played a star wars mmo (before kotor3) 3 times as long and that game flopped.

That said. I'm thinking of doing quest to get the hearthstone unlock too. I've paid for all the others. Should probably get this one.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/13/2016 at 11:19pm

> It's crazy to me that they grabbed the market so forcefully and took off.

I have some friends that have been hooked by it, but like you I don't see the appeal for myself. It just doesn't click.

> That said. I'm thinking of doing quest to get the hearthstone unlock too. I've paid for all the others. Should probably get this one.

After playing with her for about a week now I can say my time was well spent in WoW unlocking her. Curious when they are adding other heroes and if I can play StarCraft or Heroes of the Storm to unlock them?

JaBo wrote on 04/27/2016 at 01:33am

I'm pretty annoyed with the ios exclusive $5 mage hero... I use Android and couldn't get it

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/27/2016 at 05:26am

> I'm pretty annoyed with the ios exclusive $5 mage hero... I use Android and couldn't get it

Yeah, exclusives are not great for that reason. Sometimes when companies mean "exclusive" they don't mean forever, so maybe he will come back for everyone at some point?

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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?

Travis Admin wrote on 04/07/2016 at 01:19pm

omg omg omg omg I'm trying not to get too hyped, but this looks fantastic. This is the kind of tone needed for that time period. They at least got the marketing way right for it.

I would have liked to have seen more characters, but the ones we did see were compelling. The new actor for Mon Mothma really pulls it off. I find it interesting that we saw Mon Mothma for like 4 minutes total in the original trilogy but she's become so important to the non-movie canon.

Anyway, overall: STOKED.

Travis Admin wrote on 04/07/2016 at 01:31pm

A further note: I'm hyped for this more than I would be because of non-movie canon. I've been watching the beginning of the rebellion in Star Wars: Rebels. I've read about Ciena Ree's rise in the empire, and Thane Kyrell's disillusionment when he realizes what the Death Star is. I've read about Tarkin working his way up in the ranks, and meeting and working with Darth Vader. He was the only one smart enough to realize that Vader == Anakin. I've read about Vader's motivations in the Vader comics, realizing that he didn't just lose Anakin entirely when he put on the suit, understanding why he's doing what he's doing.

And now this movie is kinda the culmination of all of those. It feels like the canon has been setting this movie up without feeling like it's setting anything up.

Now the question is whether it works.

Travis Admin wrote on 04/07/2016 at 01:33pm

Although I still feel a bit salty because IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE KYLE KATARN WHO STOLE THE DEATH STAR PLANS.

That's my only problem with taking the EU out of canon: Kyle.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/07/2016 at 02:08pm

This looks very rad, and I totally look forward to seeing it! But I was incredibly distracted by the siren. My mind instantly pictured Jar Jar yelling into a bullhorn lol. I hope they change up that sound :)
Other than that, I can't wait.
I am a little worried that it won't feel as climatic, as the entire time watching the movie we know that the plans do get stolen.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/07/2016 at 09:04pm

Another December Star Wars movie, so soon? Nice!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/07/2016 at 09:20pm

December from now on will be known as Star Wars Month

(sorry Jesus)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/08/2016 at 04:53pm

> The new actor for Mon Mothma really pulls it off. I find it interesting that we saw Mon Mothma for like 4 minutes total in the original trilogy but she's become so important to the non-movie canon.

The actress playing Mon Mothma, Genevieve O'Reilly is actually the same one that played her in Episode III Revenge of the Sith. So it's cool they used her again!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/08/2016 at 04:53pm

> December from now on will be known as Star Wars Month.

Yeah. Last year we didn't have a Christmas as much as a STAR WARS!!!!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/08/2016 at 05:47pm

This is a fun little article I ran into :)

http://www.hitfix.com/harpy/mon-mothma-actress-gets-the-last-laugh-after-being-cut-from-star-wars-revenge-of-the-sith

Travis Admin wrote on 04/08/2016 at 06:57pm

I don't even remember Mon Mothma in Revenge of the Sith... Oh I started typing before reading Adam's comment. She wasn't there after all, even though she kinda was!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/08/2016 at 06:57pm

That's where I remember her from. Back in the day watching the deleted scene on the DVD! I knew she wasn't in the final cut though. Nice to see her come back.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/08/2016 at 07:49pm

I feel a little guilty because I had no idea who Mon Mothma was, even after seeing the new trailer, so I had to google her. That's how I found the deleted scene and article :)

Travis Admin wrote on 04/08/2016 at 09:45pm

She was also in the OT, very briefly, and has become kind of a fan favorite. She's in tons of books and such. I've always wondered what about her inspired that kind of non-movie inclusion.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/08/2016 at 10:51pm

Star Wars The Force Awakens Alternate HISHE
https://youtu.be/tU6uaEcpjug
Random funniness :)

Travis Admin wrote on 04/09/2016 at 04:53am

The Vulcan (not sure if Spock or Sarek) was a great addition :D

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/09/2016 at 09:47pm

As a figurehead, Mon Mothma is Galadriel-level imposing. Plus, that name "Mothma". It's just the coolest name for a leader.

That Rogue One trailer is absolutely amazing. I would almost pay money for the trailer alone. It's too much! We went for so long without good Star Wars movies, and now we're getting rained on by Hurricane Mickey. It's crazy!

Travis Admin wrote on 04/09/2016 at 10:36pm

> Hurricane Mickey

I love this.

But yeah, we still haven't seen the movie so we don't know it's good. I'm trying not to get my hopes up. But it looks SO good.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/10/2016 at 02:45am

I agree scrypt, we are. I honestly didn't think Disney would make Star Wars amazing again but holy smokes George was right about handing it over to them.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/10/2016 at 02:46am

I also think Kathleen Kennedy had a ton to do with it, she is in charge of LucasFilm and doing a really outstanding job. JJ, Johnson and Gareth Edwards. I've always thought a Han Solo stand alone film would be bad, but I am thinking it might be really good.

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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

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.

Travis Admin wrote on 04/09/2016 at 02:13pm

It's addictive and unique, adding new elements to the normal social paradigm to kinda blur social network and game together. I had a lot of fun with it.

But it's needy and overwhelming after the first few days. It wants you to add a ton of friends for achievements and bonuses, so you keep getting friend requests from people who are friends of friends, and you end up with so many answers from your friends that you'd need a decade to get through them all.

I'm kinda glad I don't actually know many people using it, so I can pare down my friends list. If I actually knew 25 people who used it, I wouldn't like it as much.

So basically they have a solid app/game with some really unique elements that needs some serious work. But we're in the first week or two, so there's definitely room for improvement.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/09/2016 at 03:50pm

> But it's needy and overwhelming after the first few days.

I agree. I unfriended someone because their feed was strange and I didn't like seeing their stuff pop up. They immediately tried to friend me back.

That said, I do enjoy my interactions with it, but I don't love seeing 50 notifications from it.

> So basically they have a solid app/game with some really unique elements that needs some serious work. But we're in the first week or two, so there's definitely room for improvement.

Since it got so much use, I imagine we will see lots of continued improvement to it.

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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

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/07/2016 at 03:49am

Thanks for posting this! I didn't pre-order it, so I'm going over to Amazon now to buy it. Me and Vinny really enjoyed watching it together even though our 3D experience was horrible. I think he really likes BB-8, because when we were in Gamestop last week he said he sees him everywhere (it didn't sound like that was in a bad way, after all he did buy some BB-8 socks around Christmas).

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/07/2016 at 01:07pm

Yeah, BB-8 really is everywhere. I remember seeing him show up all over even before I bought the movie. Disney hit paydirt with that droid!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/09/2016 at 05:59am

(Removed previous comment. I thought I sent that in a message, why did I put that in the comment section here?)

Anyway, when I went to order A Force Awakens, it looked like it wouldn't be here until Monday. However, tracking my package now tells me it will be here later today (a technicality seeing as it's about 2am) on Saturday. I don't think it's a special edition at all, but I'm looking forward to watching it again with Vinny.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/10/2016 at 12:35am

Ok, mine came with a DVD, Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray "Bonus" disc, and a code to download the digital version of the movie. No code to go online and get those bonus features you mentioned, maybe they're on the "bonus" disc. It does have a sticker on the cover that says "all new bonus deleted scenes revealed plus Secrets of the Force Awakens."

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/10/2016 at 02:48am

So if you bought the disc at Target then you can use that code on Disney Anywhere to watch the special stuff I talked about. There is a special Tunnel scene if you redeem the code in iTunes or Google plus not on the disc, but everything else is.

And it's incredible, so enjoy! Curious what your thoughts on it will be.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/10/2016 at 05:25am

Yeah, I didn't see anything about a Tunnel scene. But, it was all cool. Obviously me and Vinny enjoyed the movie, so it was good that we could enjoy it again and not with a bad 3D experience. The documentary was good and what I got from it was just how grand of an idea it was to have a new Star Wars movie including the original cast and many others who worked on the first three movies. There's so much involved and they all did a fantastic job and that's the beauty of it all. I enjoy the generational and family themes they mentioned, like giving Star Wars to a new generation. That really fits with me since it's something I got to enjoy with my son. I don't doubt that they could do a fantastic job on another movie (or more).

Travis Admin wrote on 04/10/2016 at 05:48am

No, when you redeem the code to get the digital copy, it comes with special features. There's an extra deleted scene with the digital copy that has the tunnel scene. So if you redeem it on iTunes, the tunnel scene will be available to you with the rest of the movie in iTunes. Same with Amazon or whatever else (although I hear Amazon's is just one big 4+ hour video file)

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/10/2016 at 07:46am

Yeah it is a big 4+ hour Amazon video. I see now, thanks for letting me know, Travis.

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Play This Incredible 3D Zelda Tribute In Your Browser!

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."

Cheerful Ghost Patchset 3.11 - What You Need To Know

Greetings Ghosts,

I've been spending the last few weeks working on bug fixes and interesting new core features to Cheerful Ghost and I wanted to wrap up a patchlist for you all. This doesn't quite cover everything and some stuff my be so esoteric as to not be interesting but hopefully going forward I can keep posting changes in this form to keep you all updated as to what's been happening on the tech side of this site.

Patchset 3.11

Upgraded the core Rails framework for the latest security and bug fixes. I do this whenever I need to but a few came recently and we upgraded. http://rubyonrails.org/

Upgraded to the latest jQuery 1.22.2 stable release branch. https://jquery.com

Upgraded to the latest Boostrap 3.3.6 release. Boostrap is a CSS, HTML & JS framework for designing responsive web applications. http://getbootstrap.com/

Replaced the API we use to send email.

Replace the main page post autoload with pagination.

Fixed a bug in the ATOM feed generator where we were generating incorrect URL's in feed readers. The URL pointed to the right content but was formatted incorrectly.

Fixed some bugs in Events exporting to iCalendar and Google Calendar. We also support iCalendar locations and URLs better to point back to the original Cheerful Ghost event.

Retooled the private messages UI. The new UI is a bit more clear and feels much more similar to existing interfaces.

Rebuilt the User profile pages. The new profile pages are much more clean and easier to understand and use! Clicking on your profile posts, trophies and games buttons provides a visual indication where you are and makes it clear on how to return to your base profile. This retooling has an added benefit of profile pages being easier to use on mobile and tablets as well. Profile pages can now link to your public Starcraft II and Diablo III Battle.net profiles. The social and game links sizes have increased making them easier to see and touch on smaller screens. For a live example check Travis's profile page http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis

Because of a hugely popular demand, I rebuilt the post creation system. As part of this new clean and simple design you no longer have to add a game to your personal list to write about it. Clicking the "Create A New Post" button expands the new UI and you can now write about any game in our 24k and counting game database.

As with any new set of features you may find bugs present. If that is the case you can report those in the comments thread below or private message me directly.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/05/2016 at 03:49pm

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 04/05/2016 at 06:41pm

Does it run on Windows 3.11?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/06/2016 at 03:46am

#unmasked

Travis Admin wrote on 04/07/2016 at 02:37am

You can get VNC clients for Windows 3.11.

So yes, it works with Windows 3.11 when you VNC to a computer that can handle modern web browsers :D

Travis Admin wrote on 04/08/2016 at 01:55pm

I noticed that you removed the auto-load from the end of the page, so it's back to paginating now rather than grabbing a new set of posts. Was that something that stopped working or a choice?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/08/2016 at 04:12pm

> I noticed that you removed the auto-load from the end of the page, so it's back to paginating now rather than grabbing a new set of posts. Was that something that stopped working or a choice?

I flipped that back a couple months ago, but i'll add it to the patch notes. The main reason is the implementation was OK but when it interacted with other JavaScript it created strange bugs that were hard to solve. Not that I couldn't fix those bugs, but I also like pagination more and I think it's better for the user to be able to easily skip over a ton, go to the first post than scroll infinitely.

Travis Admin wrote on 04/08/2016 at 06:54pm

Yeah there are pros and cons to the pager vs infinite, I don't have a clear opinion either way. I just noticed it :D

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/08/2016 at 07:49pm

I think it should switch daily.

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Did The Oregon Trail Lie To Us All?

In the latest episode of Game/Show Jamin talks about the Apple classic game The Oregon Trail. He starts things off with a seemingly ridiculous premise that everyones favorite squirrel shooting simulator lied to us. I recommend you watch the video to experience a really interesting and light history of the The Oregon Trail but also educational games as a genre. Apparently educational games are not very good at educating people and if they are it's generally not for what they set out to do. In the end Oregon Trail does a good job teaching us about simulation and economic basics but doesn't do a great job teaching us what it's like to have actually been on the trail. Unless we find out that the majority of the time pioneers just shot and collected game, then I totally experienced that with them!

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/05/2016 at 06:54pm

I could see that there may be an issue regarding the scholastic merit of some "educational games," but using The Oregon Trail as a test seems misconstrued when it sounds like the original creators were simply looking for a catalyst to stir young minds to inquiry, rather than to build an actual lesson plan in game form. The original Oregon Trail started as a board game, later made into a computer game (in two weeks, mind you), for teletype game play (hardly like the game we know, despite Jamin's claim, unless you think tabletop D&D and Icewind Dale for PC are practically the same experience), and existed as such for about the first decade of it's life. It wasn't made into the game we recognize until the early 80's, with very little input from it's original creators.

I'm curious to know who heralds The Oregon Trail as "one of the most important educational games, ever to exist." The closest I could find was from this old PC Gamer article, which seems more poignant in it's understanding of the scope of the game: http://www.pcgamer.com/most-important-pc-games/2/

Once again, I feel Jamin abuses hyperbole to make a point, this time to the extent of inappropriately disparaging a game for not being more than it was ever intended to be, or could have feasibly been, at it's inception. I'm confused by some of his analogies (e.g. [4:42] Rawitsch's adjusting of event probabilities, which somehow results in alternative historical experiences in the game, or [5:44] the misrepresented association between intuitive interfaces and Lusory Attitude, and the weird implication that this made the game fun, in contrast with it's earliest concept as a teletype game.), and obviously a little disappointed in the way he went about presenting what could have been a more interesting topic, without all of the typical Game/Show platitudes.

What might be more interesting to emphasize, is that the original board game, and teletype game, played in Rawitsch's classroom was an exercise in group play, which, according to an article from New York University (http://bit.ly/1Xf7vPx), is one of the most effective ways of implementing games into education, promoting mastery goal orientation, rather than individual performance goal orientation which seems to inhibit potential learning opportunities.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/06/2016 at 03:46am

> but using The Oregon Trail as a test seems misconstrued when it sounds like the original creators were simply looking for a catalyst to stir young minds to inquiry, rather than to build an actual lesson plan in game form.

I think the whole notion of Oregon Trail lying to us is also kind of silly. That said, those kinds of headlines get clicks and it seems a bit dodgy because to make it payoff in the video you have to do things that maybe don't make sense?

> I'm curious to know who heralds The Oregon Trail as "one of the most important educational games, ever to exist.

I would. I think the original Oregon Trail is heralded as a great game because it was impactful to so many. It may not have been the pinnacle of educational gaming but it was so deep and rich for me and I loved playing it on the Apple II and Commodore. Lots of kids grew up in the 90's having played it as it was a staple in tons of schools. You might not find a ton of thought pieces about it, but seeing games like Organ Trail and the like existing now kind of nod to it's influence.

> Once again, I feel Jamin abuses hyperbole to make a point, this time to the extent of inappropriately disparaging a game for not being more than it was ever intended to be, or could have feasibly been, at it's inception.

The video title is clickbait for sure, but I don't think the historical significance of the Oregon Trail was overblown. At least to me.

> What might be more interesting to emphasize, is that the original board game, and teletype game, played in Rawitsch's classroom was an exercise in group play, which, according to an article from New York University (http://bit.ly/1Xf7vPx), is one of the most effective ways of implementing games into education, promoting mastery goal orientation, rather than individual performance goal orientation which seems to inhibit potential learning opportunities.

Absolutely, but for whatever reason the method they chose might work for the large gaming audience? I'm not sure, I love a good deep dive into that sort of thing you mention so it wouldn't bother me

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jdodson1

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