jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

Get Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 Free On Origin

Remember when in-game live action filmed shots were incredible? Remember when real time strategy games shipped separate campaigns on different CD's? We might not ever return to that but if you want to trip back to the early 2000's EA is giving away Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 free on Origin right now.

I am a big fan of Red Alert and Red Alert 2 really advanced the series in terms of gameplay, graphics and multiplayer. I put the original Red Alert games up on the wall of amazing RTS with Warcraft, Age of Empires, Rise of Nations and Starcraft.

https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/free-games/on-the-house

Travis Admin wrote on 09/18/2015 at 05:21pm

Speaking of games we played in college!

Snagging this. I haven't played it in ages, I don't know how well it will hold up, but I LOVED this game.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/18/2015 at 05:22pm

Let me know if multiplayer is still on for this.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/18/2015 at 05:34pm

Wasn't it like the old multiplayer, where someone set up a host and the other people connected? If so, it will always be on.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/18/2015 at 07:30pm

Whoa, it's Laura Palmer's dad as the president! I knew he was familiar when I saw him in Twin Peaks.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/18/2015 at 07:34pm

Oh yeah, "speaking of games we played in college!" =)

Travis Admin wrote on 09/18/2015 at 07:39pm

Huh. This think plays as if I was trying to coax Skyrim out of a Voodoo 2. More investigation needed.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/18/2015 at 09:09pm

I didn't realize until I started my download that it includes the expansion, Yuri's Revenge, which I thought was awesome. I wish they would have done that with Dragon Age: Origins (included the DLC)! I still have a couple of copies of this game, but I'm getting it on Origin anyway.

(After install completed.) Ok, this experience is pretty bad. I try to change the resolution, but it goes green and everything gets bunched up on the left side of the screen. The max resolution by the way is 1024x768 with 16 bit colors. I managed to change the resolution. I had to click on the screen where the buttons should be to exit and relaunch the game. However, at the highest resolution setting, the game seriously suffers. Everything moves incredibly slow! At the default (lowest) resolution, things move much quicker, but Tanya dies as soon as you have access to her. On the medium setting, things move more normally, but Tanya still dies just about right away.

I don't know if my other copies of the game would behave differently, but I imagine there may be some ways around these issues. Perhaps we need to change some settings in our Nvidia Control Panel (creating a profile for the game). "More investigation" is indeed needed in order to actually play this.

"Trying to coax Skyrim out of a Voodoo 2," that's really hilarious, Travis! Perhaps someone else with different hardware may have a different experience (especially if their hardware is 15 years old LOL).

Travis Admin wrote on 09/19/2015 at 05:38am

I'm thinking of installing a VM for this, I should have some Windows ME discs around here somewhere.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/19/2015 at 06:47am

That was one recommendation I saw in my Google "investigation" into the issues. It seems that the executable properties should be edited for compatibility with XP. There were also some .ini file configurations. I try anything out, though, but it seems that solutions to the issues are available.

Does Windows 10 have a virtual machine? I thought 8 had it. Maybe that's a feature for one of the higher level versions (like Professional or Enterprise), which I don't have. I noticed my VMWare trial expired, so I uninstalled it. I could try it again and run the game in an XP VM.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/19/2015 at 01:56pm

Hyper-V comes with the Pro editions, but I don't hear many kind words about it. VirtualBox is free and Free.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/19/2015 at 07:29pm

See, I knew you knew what I was talking about, you always know what you're talking about. =) I don't think I was aware of VirtualBox, so thanks for telling me about it.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/20/2015 at 04:11am

VBox is great. It doesn't have the performance of VMWare, but it also doesn't have the price tag.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/20/2015 at 06:40pm

Yeah Virtualbox is superb. Let me know if compatibility mode or Virtualbox work better.

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StarCraft II Legacy of the Void Launches November 10th

To keep with tradition, Blizzard has released the Starcraft II Legacy of the Void opening cinematic with the new November 10th launch date. The games launch is only a few short months away but Starcraft II LoTV will launch the same day as Fallout 4. It makes sense, release a few months before the holidays but I wonder how sales will be impacted with the competing with Fallout 4? On one had both games have wildly different audiences but on the other hand, i'll be buying both.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/19893687/legacy-of-the-void-launches-1110-watch-the-cinematic-now-9-13-2015

Does The New Apple TV Compete With Consoles Or Is It Something Entirely Different?

During Apple's latest showcase they unveiled an updated Apple TV. As we have been postulating for the last few years the new Apple TV will supports apps, a brand new Wii like controller(when plugged into an iPhone) and support for 3rd party game controllers. The new Apple TV starts at $149 and while inexpensive will be locked to 1080p and come in 32G and 64G storage options. During the keynote they demoed a multi-player version of Crossy Road. While Crossy Road looks fun I wonder how powerful the new Apple TV will be? Will we see publishers like 2K drop games like Borderlands & X-Com on Apple TV? Will Apple TV support Steam styled game streaming from Macs? Time will tell but for now it's an interesting option and one I imagine many people will pursue.

http://www.apple.com/tv/

Learn How Your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Attributes Work In Fallout 4 With This Informative Video

Greetings vault dweller! Do you know what makes you S.P.E.C.I.A.L? In this informative Vault-Tec video you can learn more about how to approach your new wasteland home. Make sure to watch it twice for safety!

Do you plan on exiting the vault on November 10th and if so what operating system will your Pip-Boy run on?

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/

Travis Admin wrote on 09/10/2015 at 02:16am

What am I missing?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/10/2015 at 02:46am

Did you play Ocarina of Time? I can explain but it's spoilery

Travis Admin wrote on 09/10/2015 at 02:55am

I did, but it's apparently been way too long! :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/10/2015 at 03:17am

So in the game you head to the Zoras Domain. As you arrive you find out Princess Ruto is inside Lord Jabu-jabu and you need to head inside his belly and help her out. Inside his belly is basically you find her and the boomerang as well as a map and compass like the usual Zelda dungeon. Which is odd considering you are literally walking inside him in those levels.

Zelda things.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/10/2015 at 03:18am

http://zeldawiki.org/Lord_Jabu-Jabu

Travis Admin wrote on 09/10/2015 at 04:11am

OK, that makes perfect sense, yeah. It was always odd that the map to Zelda dungeons was inside the dungeon. It makes sense gameplay-wise, but in-world it seems a strange place to put it.

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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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jdodson1

2755 Posts

Get Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 Free On Origin

StarCraft II Legacy of the Void Launches November 10th

Does The New Apple TV Compete With Consoles Or Is It Something Entirely Different?

Learn How Your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Attributes Work In Fallout 4 With This Informative Video

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

Whats Your Most Played Game So Far?

Lord Jabu-Jabu Why?

Jack & Rich Review Current Gaming Craze Rocket League

Doom SnapMap Looks To Be One Of The Games Coolest Features

Guild Wars 2 Is Now Totally Free To Play