jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

Plantera Fan Art By VladBacescu

http://38.media.tumblr.com/9541d87288cdffcb775f018227cae24e/tumblr_n7lcn1fcsl1sdqpmho1_1280.png

I really loved this Plantera fan art by Reddit user VladBacescu. Plantera is a pretty menacing boss for anyone and taking it on in this version of the world.... Uh. Yeah.

Beautiful, but frightening.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Terraria/comments/28tof3/plantera_digital_painting/

Is Sonic, The Most Overrated Game Ever?

Jack and Rich Evans from RedLetterMedia have a new video up that asks the question "Is Sonic, The Most Overrated Game Ever?" While those are fighting words for some, they bring up good points in the video.

After I picked up my Wii and the luster of Wii Sports wore off I started collecting used games for the Gamecube(The Wii can play Gamecube games, YAY!). One game I picked up was the Sonic Mega Collection. The Sonic Mega Collection was fun in that I was able to play all the classic Sonic games but it wasn't fun enough for me to spend much time playing them. Somehow, the fun, just never arrived for me with Sonic.

What do you think, is Sonic awesome or something else?

Oh right and Sonic apparently would have eaten his own poop if the game were more realistic... So yeah, watch the video below for more that and more scientifically accurate Hedgehog facts with music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvNEZ4WWQIk

Travis Admin wrote on 07/31/2014 at 02:56am

The video is a little long for me right now, but I can say with no hesitation that the Genesis-era Sonic games are some of my favorites of all time. The first few forays into 3D were solid, but they got boring fast. Kinda like Mario Sunshine. The mechanics all work well but there's not much fun.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/31/2014 at 07:21pm

I never got into Sonic games, mostly because I always felt like I wasn't any good at them, or I was playing them completely wrong. A lot of the same frustration that Jack and Rich express in the video, actually. They weren't hard games, like Mega Man was hard. Sonic games just felt really unfairly torturous.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/31/2014 at 07:29pm

I agree scrypt, besides the first level I didn't have much luck with them.

Travis, did you ever beat a Sonic game?

Travis Admin wrote on 07/31/2014 at 08:55pm

Oh yeah, I never played the first one, but I beat 2, 3, and Sonic and Knuckles, including the various ways you could combine them (Sonic 2 + Knuckles, Sonic 3 + Knuckles. That whole mechanic was awesome). I beat the first episode of Sonic 4 that was released recently, but it just feels mushy, I didn't care for it much. I *think* I beat Sonic Heroes on PS2.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/31/2014 at 10:16pm

The only recent Sonic game I remember playing was Sonic Unleashed on the 360. I didn't mind the werehog stuff as much as a lot of people apparently did, even though it was completely out of place. The daytime stages were near perfect, however, and if they could do (or have done?) something solely like this in an arcade style game, I'd play that.

Zach_Foster wrote on 08/02/2014 at 03:37am

The Sega Genesis being my very first console, I had a lot of time into Sonic games at a very very young age. I'll admit that to this day i've never beat a Sonic game, but they will always hold a strong nostalgic value to me because they're some of the first games i had ever played. Other than that though, I would say that Sonic eventually turned into more of a fanfare device for Sega. They were trying to achieve what Nintendo had done with Mario, and it just didn't really work out for them.

The only post-Genesis Sonic game I can remember playing was Shadow the Hedgehog, which i distinctly remember as being a classic sonic running-style game in a semi nicely done 3D third person, but it was also a shooter which I thought was very odd considering the point of the original sonic games was to save animals, not kill people.

I did enjoy the old television series also, if any of you guys remember that.

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Smoking Simulator - It's Time To Smoke Virtually!

Smoking Simulator is the latest installment in a long line of humor based concept games like Goat Simulator and Surgeon Simulator(All three games are made by separate companies).

In smoking simulator you start off by sitting at your desk at work. You can surf the web, which isn't available because all websites have been blocked. You can play a game, but the games were uninstalled on your computer so the last option at your desk is to do work. As you play your cigarette meter goes down and if it goes down to far you enter rage mode and can destroy the entire office.

I like the idea of a simulator game that manages your addiction but it was hard to really understand what was happening. That said, the game is on Steam Greenlight and I have no doubt it will be Greenlit because it's a really funny concept.

You can play Smoking Simulator right now and vote for it on Steam Greenlight.

http://smokingsimulator.com/

Best Indie iOS Game Of 2014 So Far

1. Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake

Mobile games are a cacophony of choices. Do you go free to play and get annoyed by waiting? Do you take the chance and spend a few bucks on a game that is ultimately disappointing? Or should you get a game that works magically on your smartphone, tablet AND has a great PC version with full SteamOS support?

You should clearly do the latter and it should be Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake. I've played it on Steam, it's great and i've played it on mobile and it's also great. How great? So great my wife... wait for it. beat the game before I did. Seriously, that's like a 10/10 right there. I mean, it's an even deeper sell when you consider the amazing visuals, writing, score and gameplay too.

Borderlands Update Removes DRM Allows PC Users Steam Copy

The original Borderlands was one of my most beloved games of the last few years so it's awesome to see it get some useful updates. It seems Gearbox pushed an update to Steam to get rid of the SecuRom DRM from the base game and all DLC. They also created a tool that grants you the Steam copy if you purchased the PC version outside Steam.

http://steamcommunity.com/games/8980/announcements/detail/175956536787509775

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/30/2014 at 02:33am

...Allows owners of the game a free Steam copy. Thought they were handing out Steam codes to everyone for a second there ;)!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/30/2014 at 02:34am

Ha yeah, that would be awesome. I kind of want them to hand out Steam keys for people with PS3 and XBox 360 copies, but... Not everyone is Valve and this isn't Portal 2.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/30/2014 at 02:34am

Still, a Steam copy from any PC version is pretty nice.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/30/2014 at 02:42am

The article states that the Granting Tool works with retail discs. Will it work with non-Steam digital copies? Some people commenting are saying you have to have the disc in the drive when using the tool.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/30/2014 at 02:52am

I am not sure. That said, if you had the retail PC disc I guess you pass it around to your friends for a free copy each?

Travis Admin wrote on 07/30/2014 at 03:03am

I downloaded the tool to convert to Steam, but I can't get any further in the process because the first step is to verify your disk, but I assume it also requires you to put in a product code later? But it may be so long into the game's life that they don't really mind if you share it with your friends.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/30/2014 at 03:03am

At any rate, scrypt, yeah it seems like you have to have the game disk. Maybe, if it does key verification later, you can use someone else's disk with your key? Who knows...

Travis Admin wrote on 07/30/2014 at 03:05am

FINAL COMMENT in this chain, sorry for spamming up the place: based on comments on that Steam topic, it does seem that it requires a key after verifying the disk.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/30/2014 at 03:07am

Ah. That's good to know. So they have some kind of Gearbox key they verify and then hand out a Steam copy if it all works right. :godmode:

Travis Admin wrote on 07/30/2014 at 03:09am

So it seems. It's apparently getting hammered right now though, some people are reporting some issues connecting.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/30/2014 at 03:16am

Most retail disc games (all, that I'm aware of...) come with a CD key for registration. I would assume if the tool requires the disc, it would then verify the CD Key, as a two-step proof of ownership. Just glad they moved away from SecuRom!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/30/2014 at 03:27am

I am glad too, that's why I posted it mainly. I have less of a problem with DRM is the companies remove it at some point. There is a slight usecase for DRM around launch I guess and if they strip it away at some point, it makes the whole concept of it less stupid.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/30/2014 at 03:33am

Here's something to think about. When the Witcher 2 released, the version that showed up on The Pirate Bay wasn't the DRM-free version from gog.com that would have been trivial to pirate, it was the Steam version with the SecuROM cracked out. People in that scene were just used to doing it that way. That's how trivial it is to crack. DRM only screws with paying customers who want to play fair, having to have the disc in to play, or in some cases having to keep a constant internet connection to the publisher's servers. But if you have to have DRM, Steamworks DRM is the least obtrusive of all of them I've seen. You just have to have Steam open and occasionally connect it to the internet. I suppose Origin is the same way.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/30/2014 at 03:52am

I agree with you and, for sure, history and is on your side here. It's just that if DRM has a purpose it's only in the run up to the game launch and a bit thereafter. Certainly it isn't useful during a big ass Steam sale where the game costs $5 or in the games 5th year of life.

I guess I am just trying to strike a middle ground somewhere so publishers can feel better and DRM gets removed in some known period.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/30/2014 at 04:04am

Excellent point. Another something to think about (or speculate over, as the case may be): Concerning the implementation of DRM, do you think most companies are worried about losing profits, or annoyed that someone is getting something for nothing? Put another way, if all the people that pirate games (or any digital content) lived on some remote island with amazing satellite broadband, but TSA level shipping restrictions, would anyone really care if their product was pirated? Would digital piracy even be an issue at that point?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/30/2014 at 04:07am

Lost profits) Yes, I think that's the point entirely, with games at least. I think DRM is made to stop people from simply copying files to a friends computer so they can play it for free.

Remote island) Piracy wouldn't be as popular in terms of downloads but in countries with bad internet they have dealers on the street selling DVD's and such. Like life, piracy finds a way.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/30/2014 at 04:38am

My point is that pirates will pirate, they won't purchase. As long as they don't sell what they pirate, and the people that purchase content legitimately continue to do so, what harm does piracy do? Transformers 4 grossed $300M worldwide in its first three days. I'll take a presumptuous guess and say that it was pirated at least 100,000 times, which is likely a low figure. If someone steals something from a stockpile of infinite supply, what does it matter if a handful consistently go missing?

Travis Admin wrote on 07/31/2014 at 02:47am

> My point is that pirates will pirate, they won't purchase.

That's not entirely true. Netflix won over a lot of pirates because there was finally a better product than piracy. Many people chose to pirate the first Assassin's Creed game on PC because of the draconian DRM. Plus it isn't unheard of to pirate a game as a demo and buy it later, but that example is the exception rather than the rule.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/31/2014 at 06:07am

I'll amend my hyperbolic statement, and say instead that pirates don't want to purchase. I wasn't thinking so much of the people that dabble in blue moon piracy, as DRM isn't built for these people. Netflix streaming service hasn't offered much in the way of new content in years, and I'll bet that most of those pirates that "converted" are really just ripping Netflix discs as they come in the mail.

Free to Play is an excellent solution to piracy (maybe the only pure solution, as it is essentially legalized piracy), although it doesn't always seem applicable. How would Wolfenstein: New Order work as a Free to Play game? And this is what I was vaguely and sloppily coming around to: Could there be more room to innovate in the Free to Play model? Do you think we might see a big game, like Uncharted 4 or Half-Life 3, released in some F2P hybrid?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/31/2014 at 04:37pm

> My point is that pirates will pirate, they won't purchase.

I think that scrypt is right for some people. I know this guy that was an avowed pirate, he bragged how little he bought and pirated a ton of content. He lauded that he bought stuff he loved, but I didn't really buy that from him, he wasn't terribly trustworthy as a person anyway. Not saying all pirates are bad people, but he seemed to have the value of "I don't pay for stuff and am happy about it." He had money to buy it, he just didn't want to and was happy to stick it to someone. Games, movies, whatever.

Netflix does offer new films in rotation. I just recently watched The Master, World War Z, Oldboy(Spike Lee remake), Machete Kills, Pain and Gain & Don Juan. Maybe not all triple A movies, but I wanted to see them all and was happy I didn't have to rent. That said, I love films but don't need to see each triple A movie release, waiting or never is fine for me.

I hear from many people that they rip discs from Netflix and Redbox too, that seems to be really common. I think that shows that digital movie pricing is a bit high for some, and i'd tend to agree. I think the only digital pricing that seems to have come to a norm are some ebooks, music and indie games. Everything else needs to catch up to a better model.

Free to play seems to work for multi-player competitive games, but perhaps, not a ton else. Well, Candy Crush works too I guess. That said, Wolf: New Order wouldn't work well in F2P and it doesn't need to because, if memory serves, it sold pretty well.

I hope we don't see games like Half-Life 3 come F2P because it doesn't make a ton of sense to and they'd make enough money through normal sales anyway. Will Valve make more money over time from DoTA 2 than Portal 2? I think so but I hope they still make non F2P games, because I honestly play more of them anyway.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/31/2014 at 08:52pm

Ugh, you watched the Spike Lee remake? I've heard it's at best OK if you haven't seen the original, and atrocious if you have.

Also, Half-Life 3 could be free-to-play if they gave Gordon tons of hats to wear. It seems to have worked for TF2.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/31/2014 at 08:59pm

The Oldboy remake was fine but the original one was much better.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/31/2014 at 09:53pm

I've heard good things about the original Oldboy. I haven't seen either, though. All consumed with Guardians of the Galaxy coming out this Friday, which, I read on the internet somewhere, will be better than both Oldboys combined.

Say that Gabe sends out a memo to Team Half-Life, stating that he wants the third iteration to be Free to Play. Half Life is a universe serious in tone, and you don't want to throw gimmicks at it to monetize it, and no way in hell will there be ad placement. Beyond the typical Free to Play structures we've seen, how could you go about monetizing a "free" experience, without cheating the player or the story? I apologize if I just keep repeating the same thing in different words. It's fascinating to think about it, and each time I post a comment I feel like I'm close to progressing the conversation with an actual idea, but then I get trapped in my head, thinking about what I'm thinking about, and that turns into a desire for cinnamon rolls, and then I lose the thought.

I'll have something later, I promise!

Travis Admin wrote on 07/31/2014 at 10:56pm

Well, now *I* have a desire for cinnamon rolls, so thanks. :)

scrypt Supporter wrote on 08/01/2014 at 12:07am

There is a place here called Ginger Browns and they make amazing cinnamon rolls. Not gooey, or overly cinnamony, but dense and rich and chewy and you pretty much die after eating one. It's ridiculous.

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Steam Music Beta Open For Everyone

Valve has opened up the Steam Music Beta to everyone and the steps for enabling it are below. Currently Steam Music only supports MP3's but they plan on adding other files as the beta progresses. After enabling the beta I pointed Steam at my music library and it spent some time listening to a few albums.

If you are looking for a spartan way to play music, Steam Music is it. That said, over the years I have been spoiled by certain features like playlists and the ability to look at your collection by album cover art(This mode is available in Big Picture but not Desktop, yet). I imagine Valve will work on adding some of these features but if you are looking for a simple way to play music in Steam, you can.

Steam Music ships with in home streaming support, so if you have your music collection on your Desktop you should be able to steam it to your Steam console or other connect Steam accounts. Many people are asking for features like Pandora integration and such but I am happy they are starting with the ability to play our personal music libraries because that's currently how I listen to music.

"Opting in or out of a client beta can be done by opening the Steam Client and clicking on the Steam button located on the menu at the top left. Once you have the menu open click on Settings.

If an open beta is available or you're already opted in, it will be displayed within the beta participation section of the Settings page. To adjust your beta participation status click the Change button.

Once you've clicked Change a window will appear with a drop-down menu. From the menu you'll be able to choose from the available betas. You'll also be able to opt-out of all betas by selecting the menu option.

When you've made your selection click Ok.

You'll then be required to restart Steam. Once Steam has been restarted it will begin updating."

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steammusic#announcements/detail/197348634580485495

Travis Admin wrote on 07/28/2014 at 02:58am

OK this may be a dumb question. I'm in the Steam beta channel, I pretty much live there. I've made Steam check for beta updates, and I'm up to date. Where is the music?

Travis Admin wrote on 07/28/2014 at 03:02am

Never mind, I found it. You have to trim down your library to show music in the filter. That's an awkward way of getting there.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/28/2014 at 03:10am

No support for network locations yet. You have to map a network drive. That's fine on Windows, and Linux mounts stuff in the filesystem by default. It's a bit trickier on Mac.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/28/2014 at 03:14am

I was messing around with this a few months ago, and found it to be functional, but lacking. I'm sure they've made some improvements since then. Too comfortable in my bed to check it out right now, though...

Travis Admin wrote on 07/28/2014 at 03:23am

A few months ago? Wow, where have I been?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/28/2014 at 02:37pm

You've been working hard! There was an option to join the Steam Music user group early on, and they were granting early beta access that way. I was hoping it would be a viable solution to iTunes, which I usually love, but seems to be lacking in support on "the bastard platform" (i.e. Windows). WinAmp would be my next choice, but it's in corporate-buyout limbo. It still works, but man is it in need of a good designer.

Has Valve said that they would integrate music purchasing through a third party service?

Timogorgon Member wrote on 07/28/2014 at 04:35pm

I'm glad they're adding this since this will help flesh out the Steam OS a bit more. However I can't really see myself using this much. I primarily listen to music through Spotify (laptop or iPod) or I use my iPod plugged into a speaker to listen to the music I own.

I have iTunes but I only ever load it up when I need to sync my iPod to it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/29/2014 at 01:44am

scrypt: No music purchasing yet SAVE the soundtracks you can already get through Steam. Interesting you mention WinAmp because the bare bones aspect of the Steam Music beta reminds me heavily of WinAmp.

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Realistic Mario: He Didn't Use His Head

If you are looking for some daily LOL's this Pete Holmes video will foot the bill. That said, I want everyone to read the next few sentences with the nerdiest fanboy stereotypical vibe imaginable.

Mario hit blocks with his clenched fist, not his head. Seriously. I mean, here.

http://global3.memecdn.com/when-you-realize-that-mario-hits-the-block-with-his-hand_fb_1381489.jpg

Box cover proof.

http://www.mobygames.com/images/covers/large/1033208935-00.jpg

Same in Mario 3.

http://www.significant-bits.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Super_Mario_All_Stars_3_1.png

Super Mario World.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-2010k0wfSOw/UYqFEudIcXI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/8PqBcJ-j4sc/s9000/SuperMarioWorld.jpg

That said, it's still a funny video even after initially laughing I go into full comic book guy mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzyd91NFx-Y

Buzz, Buzz & The Reason Behind Fuzzy Pickles

For years, Earthbound has been a huge blemish on my "gaming wall of shame." As I have been playing Far Cry 3 I have wanted to play something with a less serious tone so I started Earthbound. Earthbound is a retro RPG that has a pretty interesting history and fan community. This post isn't a primer on that history or community, but a few thoughts on the game itself and how well it holds up today.

Since I don't have the "warm fuzzies" of Earthbound nostalgia love, I think my perspective is interesting. Many times i've tried to head back into older titles and haven't loved the result. Some games from the NES or SNES era don't hold up as well as others and that's disappointing to experience. That said, Earthbound moves beyond all that as it holds up really well now.

From the initial screen, to the first parts discovering your mission, Earthbound weaves interesting story telling with superb art and music. Since Earthbound came out after the Super Nintendo was established the game reflects this by providing a really polished experience.

If you haven't played the game and are looking to check it out, I recommend you do. You can pick it up on the Wii, Wii U, Gameboy Advance or Super Nintendo. Each version is basically the same, but some alterations were made from the initial Super Nintendo version to accommodate the platform.

Oh and by an awesome set of circumstances, Nintendo has decided to post the entire Nintendo Power Earthbound guide online, for free.

http://earthbound.nintendo.com/playersguide/

Oh and checkout STARMEN.NET, an awesome community of Earthbound and Mother fans.

http://starmen.net/

GOG Now Supports Linux

"The first 50+ titles we've have in store for you come from all the corners of our DRM-Free catalog. Note that we've got many classic titles coming officially to Linux for the very first time, thanks to the custom builds prepared by our dedicated team of penguin tamers. That's over twenty fan-favorite GOG.com classics, like FlatOut&Flatout 2, , Darklands, or Realms of the Haunting we've personally ushered one by one into the welcoming embrace of Linux gamers. That's already quite a nice chunk of our back-catalog, and you can expect more from our dedicated Linux team soon!"

Linux is becoming more of a first class game platform and this news from GOG seems to solidify that. The list of titles they brought to the platform is very unique and I can't wait to see what else they add to the list over time.

Coupled with the news of GOG Galaxy this puts GOG in a really unique position.

http://www.gog.com/news/gogcom_now_supports_linux

OCRemix Super Mario 64: Portrait of a Plumber

"OCR does Mario!! Super Mario 64: Portrait of a Plumber is the 48th FREE community arrangement album published by OverClocked ReMix and arranges music from the legendary Nintendo 64 launch title Super Mario 64.

Portrait of a Plumber features 21 tracks arranged by 16 artists that re-envision the original compositions of Koji Kondo in a variety of styles."

Like all OCRemix albums, Portrait of a Plumber is available for free. You can download the full 250M MP3 Album+Art OR get the 1.02G FLAC+MP3+Art+Trailer bundle. Portrait of a Plumber is OCRemix 48th community album collaboration and both discs clock in at 1 hour and 24 minutes or Mario 64 jams.

http://plumber.ocremix.org/

jdodson1

2732 Posts

Plantera Fan Art By VladBacescu

Is Sonic, The Most Overrated Game Ever?

Smoking Simulator - It's Time To Smoke Virtually!

Best Indie iOS Game Of 2014 So Far

Borderlands Update Removes DRM Allows PC Users Steam Copy

Steam Music Beta Open For Everyone

Realistic Mario: He Didn't Use His Head

Buzz, Buzz & The Reason Behind Fuzzy Pickles

GOG Now Supports Linux

OCRemix Super Mario 64: Portrait of a Plumber