jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

Valve Developer and Designer Robin Walker Shows Off The New Steam Controller

YouTuber OMGchat interviewed Valve's Robin Walker about the new Steam Controller and it's intense customization. Valve is really doing something different in allowing gamers the ability to remap the controller anyway they want. If you want to pick one up starting at $49.99 it won't break your wallet.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/353370

Valve's new Steam Controller drops November 10th.

Whats Your Most Played Game So Far?

http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1536/15366587/2528795-m_top10_doom_02eps.jpg

We've all had games that we loved so much our time with them spiraled a bit out control. I remember playing so much Fallout 3 one weekend that as I left my house with my partner to go shopping I couldn't drive because I was so light headed. In the end I should have stopped playing a bit sooner but I had a great time.

Curious what everyones most played game is at this point? If you do the majority of gaming on Steam you can use Steamdb's calculator to let you know what games you spend the most time on. Plug in your public Steam profile and then sort by hours. It also calculates your Steam account value based on sale price of games but it doesn't take into account bundles or sales.

https://steamdb.info/calculator/76561197973806622/?cc=us

According to my report above my most played games on Steam are Terraria at 170 hours, Borderlands 2 at 54 hours and Prison Architect at 36 hours. That's pretty impressive but I bet I've clocked way more time on Zelda: Link to the Past and Hearthstone is fast approaching one of my most played games. Hopefully Blizzard lets us see our time spent in game at some point.

What game have you spent the most time playing so far? What does Steamdb say about it?

https://steamdb.info/calculator/

Travis Admin wrote on 09/10/2015 at 02:19am

My standings:

Terraria: 755 hours

Borderlands 2: 133 hours

Batman: Arkham Origins: 81 hours, but this was when Steam kept thinking I was playing games when I wasn't, so it's way inaccurate

Really number 3: Assassin's Creed 3: 77 hours

Travis Admin wrote on 09/10/2015 at 02:20am

That said, including more than Steam, Fallout 3 over all my playthroughs would probably be number 2, I estimate it at about 600 hours, and Skyrim would probably be number 3, I estimate it at about 500 hours.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/10/2015 at 02:22am

Here's my Top 6 (everything else is less than 100 hours)

Game Hours
Terraria 712
Starbound 295
ARK: Survival Evolved 240
Oblivion 141
Skyrim 108
GTAV 107

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/10/2015 at 02:29am

Yeah, those are my Steam only numbers. I've played Skyrim, Oblivion, Terraria, and GTAV on the PS3, so you could probably add 100 hours to those games (maybe not Terraria). Fallout 3 could make this list if I added my PS3 hours to my 71 Steam hours.

Travis, I'm not surprised at your Terraria hours, but I'm impressed that I've come close to catching up with you.

My 77 hour game, which is right below GTAV, is Salt. I decided not to include anything that was less than 100 hours.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 09/10/2015 at 04:58pm

Holy cow guys, that's a lot of hours! Is that actual play time on Terraria, or do you sometimes leave it running when not playing? Technically Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 is my most played game, but many times I've found the computer still logged on by my daughters and the game sitting on pause lol

According the the Steam Calculator, my most played game (that only I play) is Dota2 at 66 hours. I played Skyrim on my Xbox 360 back in the day, and I probably put 60-80 hours on that.

I would imagine my most played game ever is probably NFL Head Coach 09. I loved all the data mining that game entailed. I've written up a lot on the game back when CG started, so I won't go into it now on how much I love that game, but it is super detail oriented. (This doesn't take into account my childhood playing days when I had limited options and practically unlimited free time lol)

Travis Admin wrote on 09/11/2015 at 06:07pm

There was one Friday night that I played Terraria, went to visit family on Saturday, and came back to it Saturday afternoon still open. Other than those probably 12ish hours, everything is legit.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/11/2015 at 10:31pm

> Holy cow guys, that's a lot of hours! Is that actual play time on Terraria, or do you sometimes leave it running when not playing?

Nope, my hours are "too legit to quit." =)

jaelte wrote on 09/15/2015 at 06:20am

Name Time
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 173.3h
Fallout 3 - Game of the Year Edition 102.9h
Dragon Age II 70.3h
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition 59.2h
Terraria 58.9h
Fallout: New Vegas 57.9h
Mass Effect 2 52.1h
Mass Effect 47.7h
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition 43.0h
Jade Empire: Special Edition 38.7h

As others have mentioned, these are just the games I have on Steam. I'm pretty sure my Oblivion and Mass Effect 3 times are up there with Fallout 3 and my Witcher 3 (which I haven't come close to beating), and Dragon Age 1 & 3 times are approaching my other Witcher/Dragon Age games.

That said, nothing comes remotely close to the time I spent playing World of Warcraft. I know I had well over a year of played time on just one character in that game. I'd bet that in actuality, second, third, fourth, and fifth place are probably all MMORPGs (Everquest, Rift, Star Wars: The Old Republic, maybe WildStar).

So yeah, I've spent a halfway decent amount of time over the years playing a video games and I do not regret it in the least.

JaBo wrote on 09/16/2015 at 06:01pm

Here's my steam profile:

https://steamdb.info/calculator/76561198027651522/?cc=us

As mentioned, MMORPGs though yeah... I played a solid 4 years of Dark Age of Camelot and had 200+ days played on my main character, 100+ on another, and on average another 30 hours played on 20 other characters.. Some of those were dual or triple booted though (I owned 2-3 accounts at most times) and I did buy, sell, swap accounts a few times. (Although my main characters were all mine from beginning.)

Aside from that, I'd have to give honorable mentions to games like FFVII where at least one play through I maxed out the hours at 99 and of course I played through multiple times, so probably 200ish hours there. Probably (definitely) more on FFTactics.

I played a lot of Madden games too, from 2004-2009 I played a lot of seasons. I mean, it took 30 minutes a game, 13 games a season, plus playoffs, plus off season managements and player management and etc etc... Definitely a lot there.

Hearthstone would be interesting to see. Been playing that every day almost for a year and a half.

JaBo wrote on 09/16/2015 at 08:32pm

On average another 30 DAYS, not 30 hours played on those other characters...

Hey Jon, why no edit button??

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/16/2015 at 08:38pm

JaBo: Basically because I don't want people to "ninja edit" posts. At some point i'll allow editing with some kind of history of edits, but it hasn't come yet

JaBo wrote on 09/16/2015 at 09:04pm

Gotcha, yeah typically I just highlight my post, copy it, delete my post, paste and correct it lol

Timogorgon Member wrote on 09/17/2015 at 04:55am

My wife and I use to play FFXI, and we each logged in well over 100+ days each.

Other than that, I've maxed out the timer on FFTactics several times. :P

Travis Admin wrote on 09/18/2015 at 04:02am

That's a good point. FFXI is probably my top game. Guild Wars 2 might be close to Terraria and Fallout 3.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/18/2015 at 07:14am

Ok then, you want to bring Final Fantasy into this, fine! LOL FFVIII is my king of hours. I remember playing it so many times while I was at college (with Travis). I even began to play it at least once every year. I'd spend about 100 hours on it each time and I still never did everything! I've played FFX and VII multiple times, too, but probably not even close to as much as I played FFVIII (my all-time favorite). I wasn't going to mention it because we were talking Steam hours. LOL

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/18/2015 at 03:27pm

I think Steam is something we can get actual numbers from so I listed mine. From there is a mixture of games that do and don't track that, but I imagine our college years had us playing other games longer as we had way more time on our hands. At least I have way less free time now

Travis Admin wrote on 09/18/2015 at 05:20pm

Actually, now that I'm back in college I have way less free time than I did before. Go figure :D

JaBo wrote on 09/18/2015 at 05:44pm

Yah hah, same. But then I'm working full time while going to school and have 2 little kids. I still jam game time in at night though damn it!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/20/2015 at 06:41pm

Hearthstone is a really great game to play if you are busy. Hearthstone

JaBo wrote on 09/21/2015 at 03:57pm

Indeed, and that's why I don't mind spending money on it. It gets me better things which increases my enjoyment and I spend a lot of time on that game

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/21/2015 at 04:03pm

At this point I don't have a reason to spend money on it because, I think if I did it might lessen my want to play it. I've heard friends spend money in game then wonder what there is to do. I don't think that way, but I can see what they think. Like part of the game, for me, is the time I spend collecting gold and unlocking stuff. Then again after I unlock all the adventures it's all opening packs then as I only have a few more tiers till I unlock Blackrock finally.

JaBo wrote on 09/22/2015 at 06:55pm

Ya, I've done that in other games, spend money to unlock stuff then been like well, what am I working towards now?

But for me, I'm not working towards getting things unlocked, I'm unlocking things (or new legendary cards) to let me make more decks and let me play in higher quality matches against ranked opponents.

So if I had all cards unlocked as golden versions, I'd still be playing as there are just so many decks to make and play and my objective is to get my heroes to 500 wins and climb the ranked ladder. I also still really want to get a 12 win in the arena. So, spending money increases my enjoyment and puts me more on track to play for my goals rather than negate one of my goals.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/23/2015 at 03:08am

That makes sense.

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Lord Jabu-Jabu Why?

http://cdn.brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comics/2011-06-23-344-JabuJabu.jpg

Thought this was pretty funny and wanted to share it. Now pass me that boomerang.

http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/

Jack & Rich Review Current Gaming Craze Rocket League

Rocket League is a game I first heard about from Indie Developers at PIGSquad talking about a game they were having a hell of a lot of fun playing. It's a simple premise you never expect to work which is to say, cars playing soccer with added rocket boosting. At 18k reviews that are "Very Positive" on Steam, Rocket League looks like something we'd all have a blast playing.

Drop your experiences with Rocket League in the comments or let me know why you haven't picked this up yet? Do you plan to? Or does the idea of rocket car soccer not impress?

Doom SnapMap Looks To Be One Of The Games Coolest Features

Bethesda is pushing the new Doom demon-train hard as they continue to talk about features of the upcoming triple A "demon murder simulator." SnapMap is my most anticipated part of the game as it highlights what I think is a current void in modern shooters. It was very simple back in the DOS based Wolfenstein and Doom days to create a map and share it with your friends. In the modern age of Call of Duty and Far Cry these features have been lost in favor of multiple map DLC packs and very focused multiplayer modes. Doom aims to break with this and take us back to provide players with a great tool to build maps and share them with each other across consoles and PC.

As with when Portal 2 shipped the in game level editor, expect that I will be sharing a few Doom maps. What do you think of this new feature? Will you be creating any Doom maps?

Guild Wars 2 Is Now Totally Free To Play

Arena.net just let loose Guild Wars 2 for free for everyone. This is totally awesome, but why? PCGamer recently asked and I thought the response was interesting.

""We believe that if people love Guild wars 2, they’re gonna buy the expansion pack," O'Brien says when I ask why ArenaNet is doing this. "The expansion pack is such a great value. There’s so much content, not only in the expansion pack but in all the free updates that will come past that." While Guild Wars 2 is now free, it won't receive future content updates—including the newly announced raids. Those are earmarked for Heart of Thorns, which will essentially become the live version of the game"

If you haven't picked up Guild Wars 2, you officially have no excuse. With that, is anyone picking up the Thorns expansion?

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/play-for-free-today/
http://www.pcgamer.com/guild-wars-2-core-game-is-now-free/

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/02/2015 at 04:32am

Well darn. I say that because I paid for it, but I got it at a really great deal, so I don't really have much room to complain. I wonder how much the expansion is going to cost.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/02/2015 at 04:53am

They have a range of pre-purchase options for Heart of Thorns starting at $50 and finally ending up at $100.

http://buy.guildwars2.com/store/gw2/en_US/html/pbPage.heartofthorns?cid=91:5::::Global:166:::

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/02/2015 at 05:28am

Wow! $50-100 for an expansion? No wonder they went "free-to-play." It's been a while since I've played and I didn't get as hooked as Travis. I might play again some day, I'm not sure when. Right now I don't really see the point in buying an expansion, because I haven't fully explored what I paid for. So, maybe a time will come when I decide I want to buy an expansion, but that probably won't be for a while.

Now if only we could get Square-Enix to go free-to-play with Final Fantasy XI.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 09/02/2015 at 10:20pm

I think I just found something to do this Labor Day weekend when the wife and kid are out school shopping :)

Travis Admin wrote on 09/02/2015 at 10:30pm

Free-to-play accounts are hampered in a few ways to prevent spammers/botters/sellers, so your already purchased version is better than what free accounts have.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/02/2015 at 10:30pm

(and also to make them money by people upgrading, of course)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/02/2015 at 10:44pm

Do you have a link to the freemium restrictions? I'd love to see if they get lifted at some point or are FOREVER locked.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/02/2015 at 10:48pm

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/play-for-free-today/

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/02/2015 at 11:02pm

Awesome, i'll update the post with that link thanks. That said, I don't think this is to prevent botting/spamming but I also don't find it unreasonable either:

"First, free accounts start with fewer character slots and bag slots than the paid version of the game. But they still get the full complement of slots as soon as they buy Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns."

The rest of the restrictions are totally reasonable and if someone wants them lifted, buy full. I think I bought in when the game was $10 and even though it's free now I still think I got a good deal.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/02/2015 at 11:04pm

Some of them are. The lack of map chat, the inability to send gold, and the inability to go outside of certain areas until you get to a certain level are definitely to prevent spam and abuse/trolling. The item restrictions are just to give people a bigger incentive to upgrade or buy the expansion.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/03/2015 at 01:40am

Well freemium limitations makes me feel good that I paid for the game and therefore have none of those restrictions. Being able to remove them by paying for the expansion seems like a good way to get people to buy. I can only imagine and assume that the price of the expansion means a lot of quality content. But, I'm afraid that since I've only just begun (as of a few months ago) and haven't really progressed very deep into the game, that I still wouldn't really see anything from the expansion for a while. I hope that makes sense. I guess I'm kind of envisioning the expansion like the FFXI ones, which I have, but never even really accessed, especially because I was only just beginning. I didn't play very long either.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/03/2015 at 03:40am

Yeah there's not much point in buying it til you're max level.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/03/2015 at 04:09am

I'm not sure what level my one character is, but I believe it's over 10. I still feel like a newb in the game. I still don't think I've decided whether or not I'm into it. So yeah, right now I'm not interested in the expansion, but maybe I will be in the future.

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The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 2D Is An Amazingly Ambitious Fan Project

"OoT 2D is a 2D remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that is styled like ALttP. It has been attempted many times and by many different authors, the first attempt of which was over a decade ago!

This embodiment of OoT 2D will use no already-existing engine and no utilities such as Game Maker. While building it from scratch is slow and old-fashioned, this method of programming will grant full control over everything, resulting in a high-quality product! We hope you all like it!"

Ocarina of Time 2D is a really interesting fan project that seems to be well into development. I tried to download it to run it through some paces but it was taken down on MediaFire due to a Nintendo of America takedown notice. I hope the project lives on as this remake seems to be something i'd love to play. It mashes up the magic of the Link to the Past era graphics with the most beloved entry in the franchise.

http://oot-2d.com/

Unlock Diablo For Free In Heroes Of The Storm

http://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/blog_header/c2/C2VD7XWGNAPE1439515941762.jpg

If you purchased Diablo 3 and play Heroes of the Storm you might want to head back to unlock something neat. Blizzard is handing out the playable hero Diablo for anyone with a valid Diablo 3 license and all you need to do is log in to Heroes of the Storm before September 8th to claim it.

"Immediately following the next Heroes patch, any player with a Diablo III license on their Battle.net account will receive the Diablo Hero in Heroes of the Storm for free. Simply log in to Heroes of the Storm to claim the Lord of Terror and start unleashing hell on your foes. Don’t wait though— this offer ends at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 8!"

http://us.battle.net//d3/en/blog/19867266

Shovel Knight Plague Of Shadows Update Gets A Trailer And Is Coming Soon!

When Shovel Knight came to Kickstarter it's amazing retro graphics and fun premise catapulted it to much success. So much so that they hit each stretch goal they set. Yacht Club Games decided to ship the main base game and after the initial launch bring a lot of the stretch goal features later. The in-game stretch goals were the ability to play as 3 bosses, gender swap mode, challenge mode, 4 player battle mode, ability to play all bosses in battle mode & the Linux & Mac ports (already released).

From what I imagine is the first of the playable boss modes, Plague of Shadows is coming as a free update and it looks to be a entirely separate story and play experience than the base Shovel Knight game.

"Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows is a free expansion for Shovel Knight, a sweeping classic action adventure game that won over 70 Game of the Year Awards in 2014. You play as Plague Knight, the villainous master of alchemy, in a quest all his own. Using his maniacal scientific mind, Plague Knight is seeking to concoct Serum Supernus, the Ultimate Potion. However, to retrieve these ingredients, he must extract them from his former allies… the villainous knights of the Order of No Quarter! World class platforming, music, storytelling, and art all return in Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows; an explosive quest with a new play style, new story, new bosses, and more!"

http://yachtclubgames.com/plague-of-shadows/

Diablo 3 Patch 2.3.0 Out Now Featuring Ruins of Sescheron, Kanai's Cube, New Seasons & Difficulty Levels

Blizzard isn't stopping the Diablo 3 update train post Reaper of Souls for a very interesting patch 2.3.0. I'll clip out the more interesting bits we've been talking about in the run up to the patch drop.

"The Ruins of Sescheron
The frozen wasteland that is the Ruins of Sescheron are now open for exploration! Filled with new enemies, traps, and environmental hazards, you'll be able to explore the region and learn more about what befell the barbarians of Mount Arreat. Explore the Immortal Throne and obtain the ultimate treasure: Kanai's Cube.

New Feature: Kanai's Cube
Kanai's Cube is a new artisan that offers a slew of new recipes to fully customize your items and catalogue your Legendary powers. Several recipes are available to players immediately upon acquiring Kanai's Cube.

New Feature: Season Journey
Each player approaches a new Season a little differently and we wanted to celebrate individual player successes. Beginning in Season 4, you'll be able to track your personal progress through the Season Journey interface.

Torment VII-X difficulty levels have been added to the game"

For the lowdown on the new armor sets and full blog post and patch notes check the links below. I think this patch will bring me back to the game to check out the new zone and Cube.

New armor sets in this patch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq-SFJ-eG4M

Full patch blog and notes:

http://us.battle.net//d3/en/blog/19859662

jdodson1

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