jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

StarCraft Co-Op Missions Look Incredible

Co-Op is one of my favorite game modes to nearly any game as I have more fun playing alongside a friend that competing with one. Competition can be fun but it's great to tank up with a friend and take on a challenge together. Blizzard recently renamed it's former "Allied Commanders" feature to "Co-Op Missions" and it not only makes more sense to me I bet it's also easier to talk about. Not sure if you can play with friends that don't have Legacy of the Void but when launch time comes I wonder if some of you might be interested in checking this mode out?

StarCraft II Legacy of the Void is out November 10th on PC and Mac.

Hi-Rez Studios Celebrating 20 Years Of Tribes By Giving The Series Away For Free

http://www.mmohall.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/tribes-ascend-image-1.jpg

"Welcome! Join Hi-Rez Studios in celebrating over twenty years of the TRIBES Universe! Below you will find links to download the legacy games in the series. We love these games and hope to let you share the experience of the World's Fastest Shooter."

http://www.tribesuniverse.com/

Wanted to share this with everyone as I imagine some of you have played the Tribes series of games and would be interested in picking up the back catalog for free.

3 Died On Halloween - The Seven Stages Of Console Grief

I was at the PIGSquad Halloween Horror Game Marathon when my wife texted me the news. My PlayStation 3 finally passed and it is a sad time around our house. It's been doing strange things for the past month so we kind of saw this one coming. Rebooting spontaneously and constantly needing to check itself for errors,it wasn't too happy in it's last days. Every time we'd boot it the "jet engine cooling system" would rev up and loudly proclaim it was in pain. It's nice to see it finally be at peace.

Over the last few years we've used the PlayStation 3 to play DVDs and Bluray films. I imagine that hurt 3 and deep down, 3 couldn't find a way forward knowing I had moved on to PC gaming. I'll never forget 3 and I spending 8 hours a day over the weekends playing Fallout 3 or completing Borderlands. I had the Orange Box and 3 was right there beside me and even though it was a bit buggy it was magical all the same.

Every year I have a Halloween party and this year I have setup a "Wake Station" above for attendants to pay last respects to my old friend. If you have any memories of PlayStation that you'd like to share, please feel free to do that in the comments I know 3 would like that very much.

Travis Admin wrote on 10/31/2015 at 06:58pm

You gonna replace it? I still found it to be the most affordable, capable Blu Ray player so even though I don't game on it as much as I used to, I replaced mine.

But gone are the saves. The games I played since cloud saving came around are fine, but 100% completion of LittleBigPlanet 1 and 2, I will miss you. My various Rock Band and Guitar Hero careers (which took a damn long time, mind) are at an end. GTA IV, Niko's life in New York has been erased from time. Red Dead Redemption, God of War 3, one set of Fallout 3 and Oblivion saves (but I have plenty of others on other platforms)... the list goes on.

Rest in peace, progress. You're still in my memory, but I can never revisit you again. Not the way you were.

Travis Admin wrote on 10/31/2015 at 07:00pm

3D-capable Blu Ray player, that is. You can get some cheap ones, but it seems the 3D ones are above $100, and I replaced my PS3 for $112

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 10/31/2015 at 07:04pm

It's in a better place.

My fondest memories of 3 definitely include watching RedLetterMedia movies.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/31/2015 at 10:05pm

My PS3 started acting up years ago.. It would shut itself off, even after only being on for a minute or so. Then it would have to check for errors. That was years ago, I can't say how many though. I thought it would die soon. However, it's still alive and seems to be doing fine now. I haven't really been using it, especially since I got my new PC. I was using it with the PS3 media player. Vinny's used it for various games including, but not limited to, Minecraft and Terraria.

Some of my best memories of it are especially of playing Fallout New Vegas, Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim, Oblivion, GTA IV, GTA V, and Batman Arkham City.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 11/01/2015 at 05:27pm

Rest in peace PS3.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 11/01/2015 at 06:49pm

Alas, poor Jon's PS3. I knew him well.

I'll always remember that one time we played Borderlands. And that other time we played RAGE and Unreal Tournament. Those were the days.

Farewell old friend, may you find peace in that big games room in the sky.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/01/2015 at 10:23pm

> You gonna replace it? I still found it to be the most affordable, capable Blu Ray player so even though I don't game on it as much as I used to, I replaced mine.

That's a really great question. I am not sure right this minute. I am going to try and see if I can open it up and see anything obvious. If I can't fix it and I really don't think I'll be able to, I am edging to just buying a nice Sony wifi Bluray player. As much as I'd like to get another PS3 or PS4 I really don't play console games anymore.

I set aside all my PS3 games the majority are on the PC. In fact, the games I enjoyed most like Borderlands, Fallout 3, The Orange Box, Borderlands 2, Rage and UT3 would be the only ones I'd want to play again and I own many of those on PC already.

Looking at a brand new PS3 they seem to start around $250 and might dip less depending. That's more than i'd want to spend for a device I only use to watch DVD and Bluray. If I go used that would be fine but it would just break again. I only know one person (well now with Greg 2) that still have their original PS3, they usually all break. So a used one isn't a great option, it's just a ticking clock till death.

So right now a fancy Bluray player but I could go another direction.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/01/2015 at 11:26pm

$250? Damn! Anyway, when I researched the issue with my PS3, I came to the conclusion that the issue has to do with the thermal paste on the processor. I also had mine standing vertically, which isn't recommended, so I set it down horizontally. I did find some solutions to that issue, but none of them seemed simple. Those solutions also said that they could only extend the life of the PS3 for a little bit more until it happened again.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/02/2015 at 03:54am

Start around $250? The most expensive I can find is $219 at Best Buy.

Since you already have a hard drive you can just get a 12gb for cheap and pop in the old drive. The key is finding one now, I think I lucked out. If you're ok with refurbs you can still get them way cheap.

But yeah, if 3D isn't a factor, you can get a Blu-Ray player for like $60

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/02/2015 at 06:07pm

I just checked the 12gb has no HD mounting tray, so that option is out. I didn't check Best Buy I checked Amazon and for the new quieter PS3, they start at $250 if I want to put in my old HD. Refurb and used are not an option i'd do.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2015 at 04:23am

"I just checked the 12gb has no HD mounting tray, so that option is out."

You can buy a mounting tray for $6, but you don't even need the tray.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2015 at 04:25am

More detail: The mounting tray just means the piece of metal the drive sits into so that you can easily slide it in and out of the PS3. The 12gb PS3 has the ports for the hard drive, just no mounting tray. But the tray itself is super cheap.

However, all you need is a piece of something non-conductive to make a wedge, or even a piece of electrical tape to hold the drive in securely. But if you don't want to live dangerously you can just buy the cheap one.

Proof: I have a 12gb PS3 and my hard drive is living there quite happily.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2015 at 04:27am

This dude goes super high-tech :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWrI6U7fMvI

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2015 at 04:59am

And yeah, oddly, Amazon is about the most expensive option in this case. That's very odd.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/03/2015 at 05:15pm

That's all really good to know, thanks Travis. That does make the whole prospect cheaper. Still wondering what the chances i'll ever play a game on it again are?

Good thing Portal 2 came with a free Steam copy

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2015 at 07:41pm

Eh, if Portal 2 hadn't come with a free Steam copy, you definitely would have gotten it one of the few times they gave it away for free. Gotta love Valve :D

JaBo wrote on 11/05/2015 at 11:46pm

I have a backwards compatible (PS1 and PS2) 60GB HD original PS3 still working fine. My cousin took great care of it and I bought it off him a year and half or two years ago. There's hope!

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I Recently Completed Link To The Past Four Swords

At Portland Retro Gaming Expo I picked up a new Gameboy Advance alongside Zelda: Four Swords & Link to the Past Advance. Originally I wanted to play a few original Gameboy titles but couldn't because of battery save issues so I decided to play Link to the Past instead. If you grew up in the SNES era, you've played Link to the Past. I didn't know the game could be improved but the simple act of playing it on a handheld made the experience that much better. It's still the same game I remember but being able to play it anywhere I want is so much better. The game isn't as long as I remember nor are the dungeons as annoying as I remember some being. Because I only had a few games as a kid and played Zelda a zillion times, I bet my annoyance with certain parts were due to my constant replay of it.

The game has been reviewed into the ground and I have said a ton about the game here already but I will say this game is still a classic and hasn't lost anything over the years. If I had a slight gripe I guess the story and characters are a bit thin but it's a really streamlined game and is because of it.

Get All Fallout History In 5 Minutes

IGN posted a great video outlining the history of the Fallout series in a video you need to watch. The Fallout universe diverged from ours in a few significant ways and this video does a good job of outlining them, the most significant being the Fallout universes failure to invent the transistor. The transistor thing makes sense, unless you consider that the Fallout universe also has very complicated robots and then it breaks down. That said, the video is still fun and well worth checking out if you are going to be picking up Fallout 4 come launch day.

Happy 30th Birthday NES - One Of The Best Gaming Systems Of All Time

On October 17th the Nintendo Entertainment System turned 30 and to ring in the occasion CygnusDestroyer made a video showcasing the original 17 games in original NES launch lineup. Funny to consider it's been that long that I obsessed over getting one. I remember the Christmas morning opening it up and being able to finally play Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt whenever I wanted.

Mod Mass Recall Recreates Entire Original Game And Brood War In Starcraft II

If you cut your teeth on PC gaming you might have played the original Starcraft and Broodwar. These games were LAN staples at parties of days past and that love has translated to the new series in Starcraft 2. As with most things in the mod community, they have awesomely remade the original Starcraft and Brood War single player experience in Starcraft II. Using the original levels, cues and voice acting they cut it in with the Starcraft II engine to build a really polished final product. If this interests you head over to the mod project and install it.

The installation directions seem complex but it's a really easy process and worked for me the first time. As old games are lost to time, it's nice to see the mod community breathe life into this gaming classic.

http://www.sc2mapster.com/maps/starcraft-mass-recall/#w-auto-install-using-the-scmr-installer

Doom Alpha Drops As iD Software Releases More Footage

The Doom multiplayer alpha is out and iD is focus testing on one map to run the online portion through it's paces. This isn't the beta we all got as a pre-order bonus for Wolfenstein: New Order but I imagine that isn't too far behind. The multiplayer footage looks great and for a non FPS multiplayer looks like something I might try.

Now I wonder how many face stomp finishing moves I will be able to pull off with actual humans when the game launches? The little demon on my shoulder says a lot, the other one isn't as optimistic.

Stream Steam Games To Your PC or Android With Moonlight

http://moonlight-stream.com/images/steam_framed.png

I just found an awesome open source project that allows you to stream Steam games to any PC, Amazon or Android device called Moonlight. If you have an NVidia card setup with the NVidia experience for streaming, Moonlight is an open source client that can connect to it. Want to stream your PC library to your Android phone or tablet? You now can.

One cool thing about Moonlight is I was able to get my Steam games to stream to my television through my existing Nexus Player. After installing Moonlight on my Nexus Player I paired it with my PC and could start streaming games. It detected the games on my PC and after that was able to near seamlessly stream Borderlands 2 to my television. Some games don't pickup the controller though so not everything works but it's an amazing step to getting PC streaming to my TV using my already existing hardware.

If you have an NVidia powered PC and an Android device you should check this out and let me know how it worked out.

http://moonlight-stream.com/

Cheerful Ghost Roundtable: S3 E6 - Hallowon't

Welcome to the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable Halloween special. We talk about what we've been playing, if it's good to release two triple a games at the same time a few retro games and the new Star Wars trailer.

This is a shorted Roundtable as we take off a bit early to stream a bit of Telltales the Walking Dead which you can watch below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HE42nZac-Y

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/22/2015 at 08:38pm

Tim, there are other Final Fantasy games for the PSP you might want to check out. We may have talked about them long ago, I've forgotten. I refer to FFVII: Crisis Core and FFI and FFII. There's also Dissidia, but I'm not sure if I'd recommend it and its sequel. I spent a lot of time playing the first one, though. Oh and there's also FFIV: The After Years, which I also have.

That's cool, Jon, that you have Kirby's Dream Land. I remember playing that on my Gameboy, too. I'm not sure if I still have the cart for it. Oh and there are some Final Fantasy games for the original Gameboy as well, but again I'm not sure I'd recommend them, though I have them.

I don't recall the original Gameboy having a wall charger. I do remember the Super Gameboy, the SNES cart that lets you play Gameboy games.

As for the new Star Wars trailer, I think it looks cool. I also wonder where Luke is. I think I read that he may be in hiding. Also, I liked the newer movies for the first three episodes. I'm not saying they're the best movies ever, but I liked them. I realize many people don't though.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/23/2015 at 01:54am

> That's cool, Jon, that you have Kirby's Dream Land. I remember playing that on my Gameboy, too. I'm not sure if I still have the cart for it. Oh and there are some Final Fantasy games for the original Gameboy as well, but again I'm not sure I'd recommend them, though I have them.

I played Final Fantasy on Gameboy and at the time thought it was OK. It didn't standup to FF Mystic Quest or FF 2/IV, FF 3/VI but it was fun enough.

> As for the new Star Wars trailer, I think it looks cool. I also wonder where Luke is.

IT'S THE MYSTERY OF THE STAR... AGES? But yeah, I don't know either. I think it may be a significant plot point of the new film.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/23/2015 at 02:08am

You know what, I was referring to a different Final Fantasy game and didn't specify that. Final Fantasy Legends, I think is the series I really meant when talking about the Gameboy games. I didn't really like them, but I didn't give them much of a try. Weapons were used as consumables, I didn't like that.

As for Mystic Quest, I was disappointed with that one. It seemed to be too short. However FFII and III on the SNES are awesome! I do have those carts and their later ports. I paid about $50 or more for each of them (the SNES carts) maybe 15 years or so ago. I have no idea what happened to the SNES I used to have around that time, too, though I have a suspicion about how it disappeared.

As for Star Wars, one of the "teaser" trailers had Luke talking about how his parents had the force "and so do you." I don't know if he'll be in the movie, but it makes me think that he or Leia (did I spell that right?) had a kid (or more) and that's one of the main characters in the new movie. Seeing as how I wasn't disappointed with EpI-III, I probably won't be disappointed with VII either.

Travis Admin wrote on 10/23/2015 at 02:14am

Luke is confirmed to be in the movie, but we don't know in what capacity he'll appear.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/23/2015 at 02:18am

> As for Mystic Quest, I was disappointed with that one. It seemed to be too short.

I played Mystic Quest after Final Fantasy II/IV and I was disappointing with it to a point, but finished it because it was a fun simple adventure. The biggest bummer was that Adam had Final Fantasy III/VI and hew as playing it and I was borrowing Mystic Quest from him. Again, it was fun but I really wanted to play III

And yeah, Luke is confirmed as he was in the now iconic shot of the cast meeting before shooting the film.

http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE0LzA0LzMwLzVhL3N0YXJ3YXJzZXBpLmZhNjQ4LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTk1MHg1MzQjCmUJanBn/bffc1745/1e5/star-wars-episode-7-cast-announce.jpg

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/23/2015 at 02:23am

Mystic Quest was a simple adventure. I'm not saying it was bad, but after having experienced many of the other FF games at the time I played MQ, I expected more.

Thanks for the Luke confirmation!

Travis Admin wrote on 10/23/2015 at 02:33am

Mystic Quest was released to be Final Fantasy for Dummies basically, to try to get Americans into the series more.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/24/2015 at 12:35am

Right. Still enjoyed it, even if it did have the bumpers on