I recommend everyone take a look into the local Indie game scene around your home town. If it's even a fraction of the mad craze in Portland then you are in for a treat. Recently a lot of really great games have been announced here in Portland and I wanted to wrap a few of them up for you to chew on. All of these games are being made by my friends from PIGSquad which makes this post double cool.

Laser Lasso BALL

Laser Lasso BALL is a local co-op game where two players go head to head in alien deathsport. Featuring some of the fastest mutiplayer matches I can remember, Laser Lasso BALL is a really fun experience that is easy to understand and hard to master. The amazing Alex Yao is the games creator, artist and programmer. If you are interested in trying this game out, I recommend you head to an upcoming PIGSquad event and voting for the game on Steam Greenlight.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=502924429

Mimic Arena

Mimic is a local couch multi-player game featuring a clone mechanic I haven't really seen in a game before. Everything you do the game is logged so when you die the game spawns a copy that fights alongside you doing everything you did before you died. I'll snip a bit from the game description to better illustrate the concept:

"Everything the player does, wherever they go, and where ever they fire; is recorded and then played back again as a Mimic. These clones will be an integrate part of any players arsenal. Providing distractions and supporting fire for new players and enabling more advanced strategy such as zoning and coordinated attacks for veterans. Throughout the battle players and Mimics will be able to equip themselves with an assortment of weapons."

Mimic Arena features the work of developer Tyler Edwards local artist Hagen Deloss. If Hagen Deloss sounds familiar it's because he worked on the amazing Cheerful Ghost mascot Spright art. I've played quite a bit of Mimic and, to me, this game feels like early Unreal Tournament.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=498344168&searchtext=mimic+arena

XO

I may be a bit late to the game but I would be a bit remiss if I didn't mention XO, a retro sci-fi strategy game that was recently Kickstarted. I haven't had time to sit down and play this one yet as it's early but everything i've heard of it is very good so far.

"Command a ragtag fleet of starships to escape an unbeatable enemy and save what's left of humanity."

http://jmpdrv.com/

One of my Twitter pals shared this wicked cool Amazon EC2 hack that basically shows you how to rent Amazon cloud server time to run your own personal high end Steam PC streaming service. After quite a bit of technical Amazon server bit flipping you can run high end PC titles like The Witcher 3 for about 53 cents an hour. Factoring in the cost of running your own high end PC, renting the time from Amazon doesn't seem like a bad option.

The steps listed in the blog post are pretty technical but you can skip all the way to the end by just using the EC2 image and going from there. If you didn't know, Amazon rents time in its cloud for any person or company to use. You can rent Linux or in this case, Windows servers starting from some meager specs to something that can run Witcher 3. Interested in getting one setup yourself? Check the blog post below.

http://lg.io/2015/07/05/revised-and-much-faster-run-your-own-highend-cloud-gaming-service-on-ec2.html

Blizzard is keeping the hype train real as the days march closer to to it's August release of The Grand Tournament Expansion. After a large game patch tomorrow that will knock the game out of commission for a couple hours we will be getting an all new Tavern Brawl highlighting some new cards in the upcoming expansion allowing us to try them out pre-expansion launch.

"Wednesday’s Grand Tournament Match features a thrilling Brawl between two potent forces. One, led by that mysterious master of magic, Medivh, will be packed with minions eager to heed your call to battle and power up with Inspire. Standing against them will be the mistress of the hunt, Alleria, along with a full cadre of master jousters who are poised to grow mighty with each contest won."

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19843159/a-glorious-tavern-brawl-begins-wednesday-8-17-2015

Artist Dave Delisle has recreated the Portland Trimet light rail lines in the style of Super Mario Bros. 3. I find this particularly cool as I live in Portland and ride the MAX lines when I head into work. Dave has also created version of metro lines in other cities such as Washington DC Metro, Vancouver Skytrain, Pittsburgh LRT, Toronto TTC, Calgary C-Train & the Atlanta Marta.

http://www.imagekind.com/Portland-Trimet-MAX-Map-_art?IMID=a23c5985-1fe3-41e8-9b9f-c0ff73c52203

CineFix has created some amazing 8-bit videos of popular films imaged in the graphic styling of NES and Super NES era games. The latest installment recreates Wikus van de Merwe's journey from District 9 to full prawn. If you have no idea what that means then quickly watch District 9 then come back and watch this 8-bit recreation.

According to SuperData Research Hearthstone is doing so well it is leading the pack in sales to the tune of $20 million per month! That's an impressive number considering Hearthstone started out on a small team at Blizzard. Hat tip to them though, the game is incredible and I love opening those free packs and grinding quests for gold. I've known Hearthstone has been successful for Blizzard but we've never known how successful till now.

With Bethesda and EA getting into the digital collectable card game genre it's a good time for people that want to try out different approaches to the genre.

http://venturebeat.com/2015/08/11/hearthstone-and-other-digital-collectible-card-games-becoming-a-dominant-category-superdata-finds/

Bethesda has finally brought Fallout Shelter to Android after debuting it on iOS a few months ago. iOS users will also see a Fallout Shelter update in version 1.1. What's in the new version? Check below.

What's New in Version 1.1

• To ensure your experience is as enjoyable and hassle-free as possible, Vault-Tec engineers have implemented some exiting new features!
  
• Overseers should be on the lookout for new threats to their Vault Dwellers. Some Vaults have reported attacks by burrowing Mole Rats and enraged Deathclaws - likely attracted by the sound of new construction.
  Vault-Tec has partnered with General Atomics International in order to offer Overseers their very own robot butler - the Mister Handy! Now you lazier Overseers have a friendly, entertaining alternative to tapping and collecting resources. (Crumpets not included.)


• Our engineers clearly underestimated the, *ahem*, usefulness of living quarters to stimulate Vault growth, resulting in gross overpopulation and decreased Vault efficiency. Rest assured, the simulation has been adjusted, and Vaults of all shapes and sizes should now run more smoothly.


• Not content with stealing your Vault's resources, some rather enterprising Raiders have now resorted to stealing Caps as well. (If you haven't armed your Vault Dwellers yet, now's the time!)


• As Vault-Tec does not approve of the use of unsanctioned levitation technology, all Vault Dwellers that were found floating through the air have been grounded. Permanently.


• Some of the more difficult daily objective requirements have been adjusted to more obtainable levels. You're welcome.
  Continued general maintenance to the Vault simulation. Because an efficient machine is a happy machine!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bethsoft.falloutshelter

After a time in beta Terraria officially comes to Mac & Linux to much joy. I've been playing it on my Mac and Fedora Linux machine and it works incredibly well. The Steam cross saves really make the experience really seamless. I consider Terraria a national treasure so it's good to see that anyone can play it on any of the major PC platforms.

"Mac and Linux Terrarians, your day has finally arrived!

We here at Re-Logic are thrilled to announce that we are officially launching the Mac & Linux versions of Terraria today! This has been a very long time in coming - and we know how very much the Community has desired these new Terraria platforms, so we are eagerly looking forward to hearing your reaction. :)

For everyone, please note that this will be Terraria 1.3.0.8. This version ensures compatibility between Mac/Linux and Windows - no other substantial changes come with this update."

http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-1-3-0-8-can-mac-linux-come-out-play.30287/

I've been using Ubuntu Linux as my primary Linux Desktop since it's first version, Warty Warthog. Fun fact, Travis and I first met as moderators for the Ubuntu Forums website and have been friends since. In my opinion, Ubuntu has been the best Desktop Linux for years and recently have I felt that position change. I don't want to get into a Linux distro war debate but needless to say, over time, the changes Ubuntu has been making to it's system have annoyed me. I don't particularly enjoy the Desktop they are creating or the direction they are headed. That said, I applaud them for all the hard work and as a many years loyal Ubuntu fan, leave with a lot of respect for the project.

I've been looking around for a new Linux to fill my needs as there are so many to choose from. Mint Linux aims to fix much of the strange direction Ubuntu is going, Arch seems to be a very modern take on a DIY distro for power users and Fedora Linux has always been something i've wanted to try more of. After acquiring a Fedora 22 USB install drive from OSCon this year, I decided to give it a spin in a Virtual Machine and was very happy with the results. So much so that over the next week I re-imaged my PC with a dual boot of Fedora 22 and Windows 7.

One common complaint I hear from folks is that Fedora and other Red Hat RPM based distros suffer due to package management. This was very true a few years ago, but in my experience this has all but evaporated. Want to install Handbrake, Steam or Banshee? Install the RPM Fusion repository and use the graphical program to do it. I did have to drop to the console to do a few things, but I find that to be par for the course on any Linux distro I install. I cataloged all my steps in a Github gist you can read below.

https://gist.github.com/jdodson/d2caa9de20ebfdb59ce6

Those steps will get you all you need to get Nvidia drivers & Steam running as well as tweak your fonts to look a bit nicer than the default settings. I really enjoy the Gnome 3 Desktop and I have also included steps in that gist to make it work more like a traditional Mac-like Desktop with dock and menu bar. Gnome 3 is a great Desktop it just has a few odd defaults and after you turn them off I works better(I think).

Video game performance on Fedora 22 is about what I've come to expect from Linux, which is to say very good but not quite as great as Windows for some games. Fedora 22 packages a good version of Wine so I got Battle.net to run alongside Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. Occasionally Hearthstone lags a bit but it doesn't make matches unplayable. Over the years Wine has gotten great at emulating Windows software and seeing how well it works now, gives me hope for future non native Linux gaming.

If you are looking for a nice way to start out on Desktop Linux Fedora 22 ain't a bad way to go. You could always try it out in a Virtual Machine and if things go well install it on a spare PC. That said, some of what you love in Fedora comes with SteamOS and over time I imagine that may become my primary Linux Desktop. Until then, Red Hat's bleeding edge community distro is a strong option and I have really enjoyed using it.

http://i.imgur.com/fRNMVSO.jpg

Most of us have games to last us for years. If I just played games to completion on Steam I have yet to start, i'd be playing for the next 10 bazillion years. It's a great time to be a gamer but so many choices can be a bit overwhelming. Recently i've been enjoying the Cheerful Ghost Borderlands 2 event. We get together every Monday and play through the game a couple hours at a time. If you pay any attention to the site here you also know my current standby is Hearthstone. Currently I am saving up gold for the new Grand Tournament expansion, so when it drops I can buy as many packs as I can. Currently I have enough gold saved for 20 packs and I hope to get more gold to bump that ever upward. We have the current Cheerful Ghost Terraria server going strong and I wish I could play it more. Terraria requires a huge time commitment, something I can't do right now due to juggling a plethora of life things. That said, earlier this year I completed the original Legend of Zelda and that experience left me wanting more Zelda so a few days afterward I started up The Ocarina of Time. I've played this game before always getting near the end before, for whatever reason, I don't complete it. This time may be different but it's fun to just play it again for however long that lasts.

When I come back to an old classic like the original Legend of Zelda or Ocarina of Time I try and ask myself if the game still holds up? In the case of Ocarina of Time the game holds up as well as it did in 1998 with a few exceptions. As gaming has advanced since then I noticed the frameyness and the control scheme isn't quite as polished as a modern Zelda. With that what Nintendo pulled off on the Nintendo 64 is admirable and once I started the game it's graphical low resolution and occasional play control jitters didn't bother me at all.

I am not going to get into a full review of Ocarina of Time as it's been discussed elsewhere in better detail. I will say that as to my last session I just opened up Jabu Jabu and have yet to complete that level. I am not very far into the game as I can only sit down to play it about one session per week but every time I do the games adventure brings me right back to "dat 90's magic." I have a Nintendo 64 and the Ocarina of Time cart but for this playthrough I have opted to play it over Mupen 64 on my Nexus Player. Mupens upscaled graphics and the ability to map controls to a XBox 360 controller are nice but about every hour and a half the game crashes due to what I consider to be some kind of memory leak. I save often and it's not hard to get back to where I was, but emulation is still not as good as just playing on the original hardware itself as far as stability goes for the 64. If you are looking to head back to an old classic you couldn't do much better than Ocarina of Time and if you wanted to break lots of pottery, there isn't a better way I know of to live that experience.