jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

Fan Recreation of The Another World Intro

When I first saw the intro scene for Another World, I was really impressed. The kind of 3D graphics it showcases blew my mind as it seemed computer graphics had leaped years into the future. I really liked playing the demo of Another World and then the full version at my friends house, but due to not having the full version I never beat it.

Can't tell you how many times I watched this intro scene and played the first parts of this game. To this day, I am pretty good at jumping over the worm and dodging that wolf thing at the beginning of the game because that's about as far I made it.

Checkout a fan recreation of the original intro scene above. The recreation is pretty accurate and does the original game quite a bit of justice.

You can watch the original here. The original brings a lot more subtle and lonely horror and is a bit better in my opinion. That said, it's nice to see different versions of classic game scenes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1EGP2EyWe0

Cheerful Ghost Will Publish It's First Game By Years End

I started Cheerful Ghost because I wanted to create a place where I could talk about video games with my friends. When the site shipped it needed to do three things: hold my video games to my list, allow me to write about any game in my list and share that conversation on the everyone on the web. As the site marched on we started interviewing people in gaming, the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable started & the event system was built. Over the last year I have been involved in the Portland Indie game scene and in our last Roundtable episode, was able to get Will Lewis, the founder of PIGSquad to join us.

As Cheerful Ghost has evolved as a community we have become much closer to the Indie Games movement and as such am happy to announce that by years end we will publish our first Indie Game.

As I have been thinking about this announcement I decided the best way to convey the information is to break it up into two parts. Feel free to read it all or just the relevant bits for you.

What Does This Mean For The Cheerful Ghost Community?

If you love Indie Games, this will give you a better look at them as we will have a unique perspective of the games we will publish. I have talked to a few community members before this announcement to get a list of concerns they had and because of this I think we will get the balance right between talking about awesome stuff and not being annoying.

One of the things community members have mentioned is transparency about what games we are publishing. Since I love talking about stuff I love, this seemed like a no-brainer. We will note on the site if a particular game you are looking at is published by us so there is no confusion what is going on.

We will still be covering other games as we are currently have no plans to change that. Ultimately anyone can post an article to Cheerful Ghost and if it isn't junk or SPAM it gets promoted to the main page. This won't change because we publish games.

What Does This Mean For Indie Game Developers?

As we have been talking to the developer of our first game we are publishing I have been thinking a lot about how to approach publishing. I want to create a system where it's easy to join as a creator. As someone who created this site and plans on making video games too, I want to create a system that I would want to join. Because of that I think way we approach publishing is pretty special.

Most publishers make you sign away the exclusive right to publish your game until the end of time. With us, it's a few years and developers love this.

Most publishers take a huge cut of the game price, leaving you with little in return. With us, you get the biggest slice of the pie and developers love this.

We will take care of helping Indie Game developers get their games out on all the digital game stores we can and work to promote their games. Since we start with a vibrant community, this allows us a pretty unique perspective to do good work.

If you are making something amazing, we would love to know about it to see if we can help you release it.

A Few Ending Thoughts

Cheerful Ghost is walking humbly into an area very close to our hearts. The independent games movement is one that I am really passionate about and I can't wait to help game developers release great stuff. At the end of the day if Cheerful Ghost can make Indie game developers happy by helping them find an audience of people that love the games they build, we are doing what we set out to do. Hopefully you are intrigued by this news and if you have any questions, feel free to drop them on this thread or send them to me directly.

-jon

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/03/2014 at 01:51am

Interesting. I could see a bit of a conflict of interest, and ambiguity where a review from a community member might be mistaken as advertising. Will the community arm and the publishing arm fall under the same "Cheerful Ghost" name? That sounds... challenging.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/03/2014 at 01:52am

I do think it's a cool idea, the publishing!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/03/2014 at 01:56am

Thanks for the input.

Cheerful Ghost is a great community site that will also be publishing games. The trick in that no video game site, to my knowledge has ever done this. Can we do it right? I am confident we can and am open to ideas people have on it.

The site will get a few changes to support the games better and before I do anything i'll run them by a few people. If you want to be on that list i'd love to discuss them with you.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/03/2014 at 02:17am

This is interesting news, indeed! I'm curious as to what this entails and I may need to do some research on my own about video game publishing so that I can better understand this news. I'm looking forward to seeing more about this new aspect of Cheerful Ghost and I'd be glad to help out.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/03/2014 at 03:04am

Exciting stuff! I can think of few things in gaming more rewarding than bringing awesome stuff to gamers.

Side-note: do we use the word "awesome" too much? :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/03/2014 at 03:08am

@Travis: Cut down on the awesome's per minute in the release. And yeah, I do use that word to much.

Sungorth wrote on 06/03/2014 at 05:19pm

hopefully i didnt skim too much - whats the game? Genre, developer ..

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/03/2014 at 05:31pm

@Sungorth we aren't talking about the game yet, but don't worry.. we will.

That said, I can say that it's fun and will ship on Windows, Mac and Linux.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/03/2014 at 06:05pm

This is great! I really can't wait to see what happens!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/03/2014 at 07:10pm

What parts of video game publishing will CG be participating in (licensing, marketing, financing, etc.)?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/03/2014 at 07:14pm

It really is a cool thing, and I hope it really takes off! Sorry to be an initial naysayer. It was a rather unexpected post :D. I guess we aren't like most other video game sites, not strictly 'journalists', per se, nor bound by any such creed. I think you can make it happen, and the bit about clarity would be a good thing. Exciting times! :)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/03/2014 at 08:08pm

@scrypt Conflict of interest was one of the first things I asked about to Jon in person. It's a totally legitimate question :)

Timogorgon Member wrote on 06/04/2014 at 01:35am

Say whaaaaaaaaat? That's crazy, and awesome, and awesomely crazy. Damn it, I think I used awesome too many times...

Does this mean you can go to E3? Or maybe send a CG representative? Like someone who already loves games and lives in California? :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/04/2014 at 01:44am

Yeah it was a bit unexpected. Honestly as I was writing it and then thinking about it after I posted, it was surprising to me to. Surprising in that it's so odd for a game site to publish games. Because of the kind of community Cheerful Ghost is, it makes more sense but it still kind of loops me sometimes.

That said, lets keep talking and if anyone has any ideas to make it better, let me know.

GregoPeck: What we are doing is partnering with people making games to help them get the word out. So i'll help them get it on digital game stores, figure out pricing and the like. Also figure out how to talk about the game, make some videos of it, help them refine it some and take care of a ton of other hard to see details. Basically help them such that they can focus on making the game great.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/04/2014 at 01:46am

WhiteboySlim: I imagine after we publish a few games it will open up for us to go to events we didn't go to before. As to which, no idea but if E3 presents itself and I can't go, i'll think of you.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/04/2014 at 02:22am

That's cool, Jon. It sounds like you're focusing on the marketing aspect of it. I think it's a cool idea! I'm not familiar with many digital game stores and don't know how many there are, but I imagine Steam is one of the big ones to consider.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/04/2014 at 04:04am

Steam is on my list for sure.

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Prison Architect Alpha 21: Prisoner Drug Addition & Reform

"Prisoners can now take drugs (typically smuggled in through visitation), and develop addictions. Addiction gets stronger with each use of a drug, and prisoners go into withdrawal if they do not get their drugs fix quick enough. Some prisoners arrive with existing addictions, other prisoners try drugs when bored or dissatisfied. All drugs have a chance to cause an overdose, which is lethal unless immediately treated by a Doctor.

Two new Reform programs have been added to help combat drug addiction:
- Methodone program, a chemical suppliment that helps remove the craving of addicted prisoners
- Alchoholics anonymous meeting, a group therapy session aimed at reducing the psychological dependence on booze."

Introversion is a company I would point to as doing the Greenlight/early access game model right and it just keeps getting better. For this next month they are going to be focusing on fixing bugs and if you had one you wanted to see fixed, you can head over to the Introversion bug tracker and vote for it.

http://forums.introversion.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=48851

Broforce Double Bro Impact Update Looks Bro-tacular

So Broforce looks great. Shooting, killing, pixel art, tons of bad-ass characters to play as. What's not to love? Honestly the game looks really awesome and I want to pick it up, I just have this new aversion to games on Steam Greenlight. That said, I played a few minutes of Broforce at a friends house and it was fun for the few minutes I played. My friend mentioned that the game needed more Bros as well as levels which fits a common complaint on Steam in the game is too short. This update adds 3 new bros as well as new game mechanics, levels and an update to Indiana Brones. Oh and the new mech? Awesome.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/30/2014 at 03:53am

I'll echo your new aversion. Greenlight and Early Access are showing their flaws lately.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/30/2014 at 03:55am

More to the point, this game looks awesome. Like Metal Slug with more action and worse/better graphics. Depending on how you feel about graphics.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/30/2014 at 04:25am

I really like the Broforce graphics quite a bit. People said they need an update but I don't see it, I like the chunky pixels.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/31/2014 at 05:04am

I agree. I think it's charming as hell. Which may be an odd adjective to use with this kind of game, but there you go.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/31/2014 at 04:51pm

Yeah, that sounds right. I wonder what the people that don't like the graphics would replace them with?

Travis Admin wrote on 06/01/2014 at 03:45am

Gritty, brown realism?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/01/2014 at 05:47am

Huh. I think the comical nature and simplicity of the graphics plays into the bro-nature of the game.

But yeah, more realistic and gritty would be pretty interesting!

Travis Admin wrote on 06/01/2014 at 05:55am

I mean I don't agree with wanting gritty, brown realism. I was making a tongue-in-cheek jab at the modern realistic shooters.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/01/2014 at 05:57am

Hahaha yeah. That genre is pretty well served.

Sungorth wrote on 06/03/2014 at 05:17pm

What are the flaws with greenlight and early access?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/03/2014 at 09:36pm

Basically that the game I bought is really disappointing. Some games are so bad it's frankly disturbing they want to sell it. Some are just at the state where you get a bad dose of what the promise of the game is.

When I started with early access I thought it was a bunch of games mostly finished with some cleanup to do. Yeah, not really.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/03/2014 at 09:36pm

So it's cool it exists for the people that love it, but I haven't bought an early access game since a few big dissapointments I had.

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Sadly, Steam Machines Will Be Delayed Till 2015

http://media.steampowered.com/img/steamuniverse/SteamControllerNotes.jpg

Valves news to delay the launch of Steam Machines until 2015 makes sense when you think about it. The Steam Controller has received some pretty mixed reviews so far and seems to have taken quite a bit longer to perfect than Valve originally may have thought.

"We’re now using wireless prototype controllers to conduct live playtests, with everyone from industry professionals to die-hard gamers to casual gamers. It's generating a ton of useful feedback, and it means we'll be able to make the controller a lot better. Of course, it's also keeping us pretty busy making all those improvements. Realistically, we're now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014.

Obviously we're just as eager as you are to get a Steam Machine in your hands. But our number one priority is making sure that when you do, you'll be getting the best gaming experience possible. We hope you'll be patient with us while we get there. Until then, we’ll continue to post updates as we have more stories to share. "

Ultimately I want my Steam Machine to be awesome and if pushing it out another year can do that, so be it. We have in home streaming now, you can download SteamOS and install it if you want and Living Room mode works great. So, if someone were so inclined they could go ahead and build their own.

Can't say i'm not a bit upset by this news, but ultimately I want it to be great and hope things come together with the Steam Controller.

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse#announcements/detail/1820891223906967821

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/29/2014 at 04:10pm

This is disappointing, but I trust them that it'll make for a better experience in the future. Maybe I'll just build my own :)

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/29/2014 at 04:31pm

I'm becoming more and more a fan of delayed production of technology. Let it simmer, perfect it, and then maybe it will be something worth buying. Rather than just enter the console market, what Valve is attempting is more along the lines of a revolution.

"But our number one priority is making sure that when you do, you'll be getting the best gaming experience possible."

I want that more than I want a Steam Machine, and I really want a Steam Machine.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/29/2014 at 08:24pm

I'm ok with this. I want that thing to be as close to perfect as possible.

Sungorth wrote on 06/03/2014 at 05:18pm

I dont expect this controller to make much of an impact, but I am not really a believer in the steam OS

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/03/2014 at 09:38pm

Fair point. Because it's so different, Valve has a lot of ways to go to make the new controller great. I hope it works out for them but I am thinking I may have to buy a bunch of controllers to make my steam machine work right.

But either way, it should be awesome anyway.

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Watch 15 Minutes of Borderlands Pre-Sequel Character Athena

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is the new game from Gearbox that is a prequel to Borderlands 2. Featuring a playable Claptrap, the pre-sequel looks to be an interesting version of Borderlands. If you need more Borderlands, this is something you should take a look at.

Are you interested in picking up Borderlands the Pre-Sequel?

Fast Facts About Borderlands 2

Did you know that Handsome Jack was just a placeholder name but since 2K loved it so much they kept it in? Now we are both smarter.

Stardew Valley Shaping Up To Be A Beautifully Unique Game

http://stardewvalley.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Fest3.png

In the last roundtable I mentioned that Stardew Valley is one of my most anticipated Indie games of 2014. I have been following the games development since I first heard about it and have been really happy with the progress it's made. It's a long time coming, but with the recent bout of disappointments i've had with super early access games, I appreciate the long brew Stardew Valley has taken.

Stardew Valley music is shaping up well. The songs seem to fit the game well and I especially liked the theme song.

https://soundcloud.com/concernedape/stardew-valley-theme

One of the unique features of Stardew Valley is that it is a country life game that features the ability to partake in county festivals like...

"Egg Festival - Everyone gathers in town for a celebration of new life after a long winter. The festival concludes with an egg hunt.

Flower Dance - The townsfolk congregate in a secret meadow to feast and socialize. The young people pair up and participate in a time-honored tradition, the “Flower Dance”. It’s your chance to show a special someone that you care… just hope that you don’t get rejected!

Luau - The summer luau is one of Stardew Valley’s most beloved events. The beach is decked out with tropical adornments and a huge buffet is provided for everyone to enjoy. The Regional Governor makes a special trip each year to see what the valley has to offer… something that Mayor Lewis takes very seriously. The highlight of the luau has to be the potluck soup… a huge, simmering cauldron full of ingredients provided by the community. (screen shot above)

Dance of the Midnight Jellies - On a warm summer night every year, the midnight jellies pass through Stardew Valley on their long migration home.

Harvest Fair - A celebration of the harvest season. Artisans, farmers, and craftspeople alike prepare exhibits to show off their hard work from throughout the year. A panel of judges awards medals to those with the most compelling displays."

ConcernedApe recently spent some time working on another project, but is back to working on the game full time. I appreciate that he is taking the time to stop and enjoy life, yet focus on the game at the same time. I think i'd rather have Stardew Valley released a bit later and have him be happy and not-stressed than see the game ship tomorrow.

Can't wait to play the final version and hopefully, we can all play it this year!

If you want to listen to all the music for Stardew Valley composed so far:

http://stardewvalley.net/dev-update-16/

Even more updates:

http://stardewvalley.net/dev-update-17/

Happy Memorial Day: A Few Thoughts

Today, the United States celebrates Memorial Day. It's a holiday that remembers the people that died serving in our armed forces. I just want to say thanks to anyone that serves in government that contributes to making the country I live in so much fun to be a part of. It isn't always perfect, but lots of people that work in government make this country great to be part of and for your time and dedication, I thank you.

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone that comes to Cheerful Ghost to read an article, watch a video, add a game to your list, post an awesome bit of news, watches or joins in a Roundtable and joins in the site conversation in the comments. Cheerful Ghost is one of the coolest things i've been a part of and the reason why it's so great is because of the people that are part of it. Which is to say, you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/26/2014 at 07:11pm

Thank you, again, for creating this site. I've been enjoying it as well. I also agree that the people we have here are awesome. I love how active we are here. As I told you, I always have an open tab for GMail, but I've been keeping an open tab here as well. I like how many games there are that many of us are playing. I also like how we are also playing different games and learning from each other about games we haven't played before. This site has definitely had a positive impact on my gaming. If it wasn't for this site I might never have played or known about games like Terraria, FTL, Starbound, and Diablo III.

As a life-long (self-proclaimed) writer, I really enjoy having a place I can go to write about the games that I'm enjoying. I also enjoy reading about what others are playing as well.

Thanks again, Jon, and thank you, my fellow Cheerful Ghosts.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 07:45pm

Happy Memorial Day! I like to think that our country is more than the sum of it's parts. I'm thankful to be here, for the people that lay down their lives for me to be here, and I have hope for where we're going.

I'm also thankful for the community here at Cheerful Ghost. I'm grateful for all the different voices that come together and share this passion of video games. Something I look forward to week after week.

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EGVA GeForce GTX 750 Is Well Worth The Upgrade

I have been really happy with the Gateway PC I picked up a few years ago. My PC shipped with a good video card at the time in a Nvidia GeForce 440. Recently I picked up a new monitor that has a max resolution of 2560x1600 and I have wanted to play games at that setting. Most Indie titles fair well but most AAA games suffer on higher resolutions so I decided to start looking for a replacement.

Last week I purchased an EVGA GeForce 750. The GeForce 750 is Nvidias Maxwell architecture retooled to a lower power draw and form factor. If you are bound to a PC with a lower end power supply, this card will work systems as low as 300 watts. The form factor is nice and easily fit in my PC. I have heard that this card will be featured in many new Steam Machines and it makes sense, this card is a good value for the performance.

But you know, that is all well and good but how does well does it work with my games? Since all my Indie titles ran well before, there is no change in that department so I loaded up a few AAA games and maxed them out. First game in my list was Wolfenstein: The New Order. Maxing this game out to 2560x1600 with everything dialed to 11 is incredible. My wife noted that the game "looked like real life." I'd say we haven't hit that level of graphical detail yet but Wolfenstein turned all the way up is an amazing sight to behold. Shooting Nazi's has never been as beautiful.

Next up was Skyrim, the only game that still lagged when I dialed everything to 11. I imagine this has to do with the high res texture pack I was using or some other thing that wasn't immediately obvious. That said, the game looks fantastic, it's just a slideshow at 2560x1600. I dialed it down and it ran fine but I was a bit bummed it didn't work at full settings.

Columbia never looked so stunning at max settings. I noticed a smidge of a frame rate drop at full settings but dropping it down slightly improved things considerably. I don't mind losing a few FPS if the overall picture is great and even at max settings it was a treat.

I tried a few older games that all ran without a hitch at max settings. Half-Life 2, Portal 2 and Rage all looked and played great. Portal 2 looked especially crisp and clean. I was also finally able to max out Diablo III without any frame-rate issues, which is awesome because killing Diablo should be a "high quality experience."

If you are looking for a graphics card replacement and want to go with something that won't break the bank and deliver good performance, you might want to consider a GTX 750. I picked it up on Amazon and you can by clicking the link below.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IDG3NDY?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B00IDG3NDY&linkCode=shr&tag=jdodsonorg-20&linkId=GNR643LIS7RM35GL

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:02pm

"Remove protective film before use"

I would think if you're putting in your own video card you'd be able to figure that one out. :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:04pm

Yeah, I did remove it too. Funny thing is I didn't notice those words until I posed the image. Funny. Kind of like the signs that say "DO NOT DRINK TOILET WATER." I mean, it makes sense for 99% of the time, but sometimes you just need too, like in Fallout 3.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:07pm

On another note, I had to migrate Linux distros because the one I was using didn't support the GTX 750 in any sane way. I upgraded to Ubuntu 14.04 and it's been the best Linux distro i've used yet. I only got the max resolution out of my monitor after installing the normal nvidia driver but after that everything is buttery smooth.

No idea what they've done, maybe it's just the new kernel and updated software, but it's easily the fastest and most performant PC desktop i've ever used.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:12pm

Interesting about Ubuntu being the fastest-- I've seen some chatter from some old LoCo contacts on Facebook about people jumping to Debian because 14.04 was dragging. I still need to upgrade at some point.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:14pm

I was running the last Debian stable and 14.04 is so much more smooth compared to that. Perhaps under the hood Debian is faster, but the UI certainly isn't.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 09:43pm

I was looking for the GPU chart I found months ago that convinced me to get the GTX 690, but it's apparently been updated for May 2014. Sadly my GPU isn't on the new chart (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-8.html), your's is (well the Ti model). Even though my card is worth about 10x that of yours, I'm happy for you. I've been enjoying throwing games and my new PC to see how they perform and I have not yet been disappointed. I have not yet tinkered with resolution settings. My desktop is currently maxed at 1920x1200.

I don't understand the "dialed everything to 11" part of your post. I guess that's a setting some where I haven't yet explored.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 09:48pm

"Even though my card is worth about 10x that of yours"

Damn, Greg put you in your place Jon! ;)

"Dial everything to 11" is a reference to Spinal Tap. It just means turn everything up to the maximum graphical settings.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 09:53pm

Also, wait a minute-- you said "I have not yet tinkered with resolution settings."

Does that mean you haven't tweaked graphical settings in your games? Because often the defaults are lower than your capabilities and with your rig you could be getting way more out of it.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 09:56pm

Hahahahaha, I wasn't trying to belittle Jon and his new GPU. Ah, well I guess that makes sense since I'm only familiar with Spinal Tap by name. As I said in my Skyrim post, when I installed Skyrim it detected my hardware and put everything on "Ultra High" settings. Still, Jon's getting more resolution in his set up than I am. My guess is that my 24" Dell monitor is the source of my resolution limitation.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 09:57pm

Yes, Travis, that is exactly what it means. Perhaps I should look into that. I believe the GeForce Experience can help me with that, too.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:00pm

Oh man yeah. Even the ultra quality on Skyrim doesn't have *everything* cranked up. You're probably getting far less out of your games than you can.

But yeah, if your monitor only goes to 1080p, that's as high as you'll get in terms of resolution-- but there's so much more that gives you shiny graphics. Shaders, shadows, lighting, occlusion, so on. You should definitely do that :)

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:00pm

Er... not 1080p-- 1200p it looks like for yours.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:05pm

I did turn all the fancy FOV, Anti Aliasing and the like up as high as I could.

As far as me getting the best video card on the market, this ain't it. But for the price, power draw and form factor I am not sure what is better. Plus, I don't play AAA games all day so in a way it's a tad overkill BUT will last me for many years to come.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:06pm

Ok, I just updated my GeForce Experience and for the first time I went in to configure my games. Well, I only tweaked Skyrim for now. I couldn't tell which settings it was changing because my configuration for it looks the same as what it suggested, but I told it to optimize anyway. With the old PC, I was unable to utilize this feature of GeForce experience as my 8800 GTS wasn't supported.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:07pm

Greg:

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-750-vs-GeForce-GTX-690

AT 10X less the price the 750 holds it's own pretty well against the 690. That and, due to it's high power draw, I don't think I could use it in my PC much less it's form factor. :godmode:

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:10pm

Ok, I was able to optimize Starcraft II and Diablos III. Why didn't I think of this before? I was playing those two games on lower quality settings. So, thank you Jon for your post and Travis for your comments. Now I have some optimized games. I wonder how they look now....

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:10pm

Also, the 690 looks like a spaceship. Which is to say, awesome.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:13pm

Thanks for the link, Jon! That is an awesome comparison. What I gather from it is that while mine costs about 10x more, your's does a really good job of coming close to my performance. It seems as though you got a good deal. =) That's something I learned with that chart on TomsHardware.com, that just because a model has a higher number doesn't mean that it's better. One thing that surprises me (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) is that mine is quieter than your's. I'm not sure that this makes sense, but I do know that my new PC is VERY quiet.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:15pm

Yup. The 690 smokes the 750.

http://www.hwcompare.com/17305/geforce-gtx-750-ti-vs-geforce-gtx-690/

Still, for what it is and the price, I dig it. For my next PC I might trick it out to be a bit more like yours Greg. That said, I kind of like starting with something modest and upgrading it over time too. Oh well, i'll have lots of options for when the time comes that's for sure. I love that the guts of my PC (I7, 8G RAM) are still really great.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:16pm

Haha, imagine that, a spaceship-looking GPU in an Alienware PC. This isn't the default GPU that came with this build, I was able to customize it and specifically chose the 690 because TomsHardware.com showed me that even though it's expensive, it's a bad ass GPU.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:17pm

Also worth noting, that when you bought your card Greg, the 750 wasn't out yet. Nvidia just launched it a few months ago and I was waiting to read reviews and see how they faired with gamers before I bought one.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:17pm

What GPU came with your rig initially?

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:19pm

Also, Greg, the Geforce experience still may not get your games tweaked as well as it could. If you go into the game settings once you've launched the game, try bumping things up that the Geforce Experience didn't bump all the way up, and see how it looks/feels.

For example, it wanted me to turn my Skyrim settings all the way down for some reason, but I can play it just a few settings away from the Ultra High defaults. It isn't perfect.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:20pm

Greg: Also, that 690 has 3 DVI ports are you running dual monitors on it? When I work I have my Macbook screen and then my Monitor thus giving me a dual monitor setup, which is great.

I haven't done it for a gaming yet, but it's nice for work for sure.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:21pm

Looking at the Alienware website (http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-aurora-r4/pd?oc=dpcwny2&model_id=alienware-aurora-r4), it looks like it comes with a 770 by default, which has half the memory of the 690. I'm not sure if that option has changed since I got mine.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:23pm

I'll look into it, Travis. I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

Jon, I used my 50" Samsung plasma TV as a "second monitor" on the old PC. I have not hooked the new PC up to it.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:50pm

Skyrim settings are maxed out, I believe they've been maxed out this whole time I've been playing. The game is beautiful and it doesn't seem to have any lag. Granted, objects are still behaving strangely. The last time I talked to Maven Black-Briar, a few objects took flight after I opened the door and entered the room. A wooden plate was stuck on Maven's neck, like a collar. I should have taken a screenshot before she moved, which is what removed the plate from her head. I also found a Mammoth stuck in ice. Oh and one of the dragons I fought kept nose-diving down and flew back up after it hit the ground with it's head.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 12:52am

I think your card is better than mine. I'm using a Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1Gb. I know little about the relevance of certain features on cards these days. I like that yours has a low power draw. I'm sure that keep the system nice and cool. With the demands of some of the newer games, I was contemplating upgrading processor and GPU sometime this year, but this upgrade would be significantly expensive. Is there a market for selling used components?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/26/2014 at 01:25am

Craigslist has a healthy PC used market.

What's your CPU?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 02:15am

Core i5 2500K @ 3.3GHz

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/26/2014 at 03:52pm

That should still be great right?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 04:50pm

It is, and it's been working really well. There are instances where I'd like to see a game perform at higher settings (Rage, Skyrim, etc.), but maybe an updated GPU would suffice. What I'm getting at the moment is still gorgeous, so I'm not complaining by any means. Just curious to see how much more there is to see :).

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