jdodson1

Joined 01/23/2012

I'm an Engineer and built the video game community Cheerful Ghost and text based mini-MMO Tale of the White Wyvern.

2746 Posts

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/


"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/


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


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/


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


If you played a few NES platformers you've more than likely played a Mega Man game. Capcom just released Mega Man Legacy Collection for $15 containing the original Mega Man through Mega Man 6! Capcom is advertising these to be faithful reproductions of the originals and to that they are not joking. They seem to be using some kind of NES emulation and like modern emulators offer very nice upscaled 8-bit graphics and original sound.


  • Six classic games in one – Play a piece of video game history with the original six Mega Man games and experience the origins of the classic series.

  • 8-bit style with HD flair – The games retain their retro 8-bit style with an added HD finish, giving a crisp, clean look to the charming, classic sprites.

  • Challenge remix mode for new and veteran players – The robust new Challenge Mode remixes gameplay from all six games for a new type of challenge. It provides both increasingly difficult trials for experienced players and also teaches newcomers to become familiar with the style of the games and tackle some of the trickier areas.

  • Museum of the era – The Museum Mode features a massive repository of history and art collected from the era of the games in this collection. Take a look back at the history of Mega Man with loads of information, high-res art, concept pieces, sketches and more in the Museum.

  • Developed with an all-new engine – Using the newly developed Eclipse Engine, Capcom and Digital Eclipse are able to archive these six pieces of video game history with faithful reproductions of the originals for a new generation of gamers.

  • Leaderboards and video replays – Fans will be able to watch video replays of the top players on the leaderboards, showcasing a whole new generation of Mega Man talent!


$15 dollars for all 6 games ain't bad and if you are looking at capping off your collection this might be the way to do it. Let me know if you plan on picking this up or if you are sticking with your ol' NES carts. The Mega Man Legacy Collection is out on PC, XBox One and PS4.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/363440/


When Adam and I heard there was a new Hearthstone release we started hoarding our daily quest gold. When the Grand Tournament launched today I had enough gold saved for 28 packs and he had 27. Adam had the idea that we stream our opening of our packs and the video linked above turned out way better than I expected.

We start the stream talking about some of the more interesting Grand Tournament cards then proceed to the main event, opening packs. I'd say Adam drew a much larger spread of cards than I did but I ended up pulling Justicar Trueheart. He also pulled two balls of spiders to which I pulled none.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/22276-justicar-trueheart


I've been spending the last month plus saving up my gold to open Grand Tournament packs and I can't wait for tonight to open them. One of my friends is coming over and we plan to open the packs together and stream it for anyone interested. Please let me know in the comments what cards you've pulled and any new decks you are playing with.

"Joyous fanfare fills the air of taverns everywhere today, which can only mean one thing—Hearthstone’s second expansion, The Grand Tournament, has arrived! Experience all The Grand Tournament has to offer: 132 new cards add a cavalry of noble knights, powerful steeds, potent spells, and more to your collection. A new keyword, Inspire, rallies minions to perform great acts of courage as they fight in your honor for a hard-earned victory!"

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19843158/the-grand-tournament%E2%84%A2-now-available-8-24-2015


Do you love Half-life AND Hotline Miami and ever wonder what a mashup between them would be like? If you are like me then then answer is whaaaa? but that doesn't mean that Thomas Kole's latest game isn't something worth checking out. Half-line Miami is available to download on PC for free, just hit the link below. Or should you bludgeon the link below with a crowbar? It's up to you.

http://stabberthomas.itch.io/hlm


YouTuber The iBook Guy posted a two-part video outlining how developers of retro video games side stepped the hardware limitations. iBook Guy talks about old hardware RAM limitations of 16k, 32k and 64k and how the developers used certain spriting techniques to give us the awesome games we grew up with. In many cases I didn't know they had those limitations to work with so after watching the video I have a new appreciation for how difficult old games were to make.