jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

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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Epic Games Announces New Gears of War Styled MOBA Called Paragon

Epic just announced that it will be launching a new MOBA in 2016 called Paragon. From the gameplay trailer above it looks like it pulls some elements from Gears of War, Unreal Tournament and their iOS game Infinity Blade. If you are a MOBA fan 2016 will be a good year as 2K's Battleborn is coming out as well as the very popular League of Legends, DoTA 2 and Heroes of the Storm are getting more attention than ever.

Paragon will launch in 2016 to a paid early access and then later with a summer beta on PC and PS4.

"Today Full of Energy Mario Runs" - Did You Know The Super Mario Theme Had Lyrics?

You can file this in this "what the..." section but apparently the Super Mario Theme has official Nintendo sanctioned lyrics. See if we take our time machine and go back to 1985 Nintendo fans submitted lyrics for the theme song to a Japaneese radio contest. The winner was selected and the song pressed to a vinyl record that someone later recorded and posted above. Some awesome person at Destruction later translated the song to English and what follows will really give you a deeper understanding of Mario and the entire series.

Oh and the title of the song? Go Go Mario of course!

"Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running
Go save Princess Peach! Go!
Today, full of energy, Mario runs
Today, full of energy, jumping!
Today, full of energy, searching for coins
Today, keep going, Mario!

Get a mushroom - it's Super Mario!
Get a flower - it's Fire Mario!

Goomba! Troopa! Buzzy Beetle! Beat them all!
Mario is always full of energy and strong!

[Spoken] The only one who can reverse the spell that has captured the Mushroom People is Princess Peach. But Princess Peach is hidden underground, in a far-off castle. Ah, the days of peace... if we could once more return to those days... to save Princess Peach and bring peace back to the Mushroom Kingdom, that is why Mario is on his journey today.

Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running
Go and beat the Koopa tribe, go!
Today, full of energy, Mario runs
Today, full of energy, jumping!
Today, full of energy, searching for coins
Today, keep going, Mario!

Get a star - become invincible!
Quickly, go save Princess Peach!

Lakitu! Blooper! Cheep Cheep! Beat them all!
Mario is always full of energy and strong!

Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running
He's made it to the castle and gets fireworks!
Lightly sidestepping the Hammer Bros.
Show the last of your power, Mario!
It's been a long journey but it's nearly at an end
You've done it, you've done it! You've defeated Bowser!

Princess Peach says "Thank you"
Mario's got a great big heart!

Mario's adventure is over for now, but
Mario's dream lives forever..."

http://www.destructoid.com/super-mario-bros-theme-has-lyrics-30498.phtml#skePQ8mQwzRvQ8Rd.99

Day of The Tentacle Remastered Is Going To Take On The World March 2016

Day of The Tentacle was one game in a batch of 90's adventure games I have fond memories for. It contained such a unique sense of humor and figuring out each puzzle felt like you were some kind of genius because most of them were so bizarre. On the heels of Grim Fandango Remastered, Double Fine has been spending time polishing up Day of the Tentacle for the same kind of HD treatment and will drop the game on March 2016 on PC, Mac, Vita and PS4.

Oh and Tim Schafer also noted that they will be relaunching Full Throttle Remastered in 2016 as well. So many remastered games, so little time.

"Now, over twenty years later, Day of the Tentacle is back in a remastered edition that features all new hand-drawn, high resolution artwork, with remastered audio, music and sound effects (which the original 90s marketing blurb described as ‘zany!’)

Players are able to switch back and forth between classic and remastered modes, and mix and match audio, graphics and user interface to their heart's desire. We’ve also included a concept art browser, and recorded a commentary track with the game’s original creators Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, Larry Ahern, Peter Chan, Peter McConnell and Clint Bajakian.

Day of the Tentacle was Tim Schafer’s first game as co-project lead, and a much beloved cult classic! This special edition has been lovingly restored and remade with the care and attention that can only come from involving the game's original creators. It’s coming to Windows, OSX, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita early next year!"

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/06/2015 at 10:30pm

That's cool. I believe Day of the Tentacle is supposed to be a bit of a sequel to Maniac Mansion, which was one of my favorite games on the NES. I played DotT maybe once. Perhaps I'll pick it up when it the remastered version gets released so I can play it again.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/07/2015 at 05:25am

I still have the 3.5 inch floppies!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/07/2015 at 05:42am

Nice! I had DOTT on CD and it was one of the games that used the sound blaster for full voice audio!

Timogorgon Member wrote on 12/07/2015 at 05:58am

Awwwwww yeah!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/07/2015 at 05:28pm

@jdodson, now that you mention it, I think it is CD.

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jdodson1

2746 Posts

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

Epic Games Announces New Gears of War Styled MOBA Called Paragon

"Today Full of Energy Mario Runs" - Did You Know The Super Mario Theme Had Lyrics?

Day of The Tentacle Remastered Is Going To Take On The World March 2016