jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

New Hyper Light Drifter Gameplay Trailer Surfaces

"In Hyper Light Drifter you'll travel a ruined land with a twisted past, delving deep to collect lost technologies and unveil secrets long buried. Hyper Light is comprised of various elements: combat that's lightning quick, brutal, never unfair and always satisfying; a highly stylized, lush and varied world to explore with an intense atmosphere; a strong narrative and character interactions expressed through visual design."

The more I see the gameplay and hear Disasterpeace score I want to play this. Heart Machine is planning on releasing Hyper Light Drifter in mid 2014 for the PC, Mac, Linux, PS4 and Vita.

Cheerful Ghost Roundtable: S2 E5 The Indelible Nature of ...

In this episode of The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable we are talk about a smattering of game related bits such as the new Steam Controller re-design, Gauntlet Reboot & Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls. We also chat about what games we've been playing as well as other awesomery not found anywhere else(except for the other places you can find them).

What We are Playing & Drinking

0.25m scrypt: Darksiders & Darksiders II, Dark Souls & Pinball FX2

2.00m WhiteboySlim: GTA V Online & Ocarina of Time Remaster

5.00m Travis: Portal 2, Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake & Super Mario World

6.30m jdodson: Portal 2, Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake, Diablo III 2.0.X & Nom Nom Galaxy

This Episodes Roundtable Topics

10.15m WB Announces Gauntlet Reboot. Coming to PC Steam and SteamOS.

19.40m Diablo III Reaper of Souls.

32.40m Steam Controller Redesign with ALL NEW BUTTONS!

39.30m Leaks of the new Amazon controller for a probable new Amazon console.

Valve's Free To Play Documentary Launches on Steam & YouTube

"FREE TO PLAY is a feature-length documentary that follows three professional gamers from around the world as they compete for a million dollar prize in the first Dota 2 International Tournament. In recent years, E Sports has surged in popularity to become one of the most widely-practiced forms of competitive sport today. A million dollar tournament changed the landscape of the gaming world and for those elite players at the top of their craft, nothing would ever be the same again. Produced by Valve, the film documents the challenges and sacrifices required of players to compete at the highest level."

You can watch it right now on YouTube linked above or download it on Steam for free. Write your thoughts in the comments or post your review.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/245550/

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/20/2014 at 05:58pm

I thought this was a very interesting documentary. Really makes me want to quit my job and just play video games all day though lol.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/21/2014 at 02:57am

It was pretty good. I didn't want to quite my job to play DoTA 2 though, it seemed.... very hard to get to a level where it would be worth it. Plus, didn't the video seemed to say old people can't win at professional DoTA 2?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/21/2014 at 02:57am

Being that I am both old and very near death.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/21/2014 at 02:26pm

Yeah, but I have too much ego to let a 20-something year old tell me that I'm "too old."

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/21/2014 at 04:31pm

PROVE THAT Kid WRONG!

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Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake Early Preview is Fantastic!

I just sat down to play the Kickstarter Early Access for Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake. Needless to say the game is awesome and I was really impressed by it. After playing many Early Access games on Steam I have come to accept a certain amount of broken and bugginess from early previews. The Kickstarter Early Access for Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake transcends all of that and throws you into a very polished game oozing with charm. If I had any questions about how good this game will be, they were answered in first few minutes of playing.

Once you start the game you are brought right into the games story and meet the main character Niko. Niko wakes up on his birthday morning and finds that his cake has been stolen by the dreaded Boogin King. As you leave your house you head through the village and talk to the elder Altus and he imbues you with your first Biblio Monstrum. Your Biblio Mostrum acts as your guide cataloging all you know about in game characters, collected items, costumes, enemy boogins and the current level objectives.

After the brief introduction you head out into the world and the game teaches you it's puzzle mechanics. Like all great games it slowly teaches you each new mechanic in turn giving you plenty of time to understand the games elements. I found this a very nice touch as the game ramps up the puzzles quickly in a way that is fun and challenging.

The game art, tone, writing and music all lend to it's immense charm. If this is just an early access preview, I can't wait to play the final version.

The early access preview was released on Mac and Windows and the Mac version ran without a hitch. The Kickstarter backer email had a few bits of info I found interesting.

Q: But it’s still coming out on mobile, correct?
A: Absolutely. iOS and Android.

Q: Linux?
A: We’ve gotten this question a lot, and yes, we are seriously considering a Linux version. However, as it is not a part of our original timeline, it will probably be released a bit later.

Q: When is the full game coming out?
A: This summer.

Can't wait to play the final version this summer and when there is a final release date, i'll let you all know. If you are itching to see more of the game, here is another screen grab I took of the games over world. I may do a let's play of the first part of the game so stay tuned.

http://i.imgur.com/MhEC1ZQ.png

If you are interested in reading our interviews with SleepNinja Games, look here:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1887
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/919

New Gauntlet Game Announced for PC and SteamOS

I have been itching for a new version of Gauntlet for quite some time and it seems WB Interactive is tapping Arrowhead Studios to the task. They have announced the game will initially ship on PC with Steam and later come to SteamOS.

Snip from the press release...

"... Gauntlet, a completely modernized action RPG version of the celebrated dungeon crawler, will be available this summer via Steam for PC, offering full support for SteamOS and the upcoming Steam Machines shipping the second half of this year."

The trailer for the game looks like a nice next step for Gauntlet but I am curious how they will improve the hack in slash formula the game invented so long ago. What do you think of the Gauntlet reboot?

I may be wrong, but this also seems like the first game by a major publisher to be announced for SteamOS. Now that GDC is upon us till PAX East in April, I expect to hear about more games coming to SteamOS.

Are There More Secret Levels To Super Mario Brothers?

Game Trailers show Pop Fiction recently produced a really great episode about the secrets of Super Mario Brothers. In this episode they find out if there are more secret levels in Super Mario Brothers than just the minus worlds. It's a very technical episode and goes over mechanisms on how people found these levels and how you can go about playing them now.

If you love Nintendo lore and knowing as much as you can about Super Mario Brothers you need to watch the video linked below, your inner nerd will thank you.

http://www.gametrailers.com/full-episodes/bbcd7o/pop-fiction-episode-35--the-lost-levels

Travis Admin wrote on 03/14/2014 at 01:57pm

No freakin way. I wouldn't really call -1 a secret world, it's more a bug than a secret, but I'm still all over this.

Also, *Travis pushes his glasses up on his nose* he got through the wall in world 1-2 the hard way. Ducking makes it harder to pull off.

I'm going to have to check this out when I can watch it with audio, but even without I'm already intrigued. I can't wait to test these out over the weekend!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/14/2014 at 02:18pm

Well, finding these levels isn't really something you can do with the standard game as it involves using Tennis and a Nintendo without the lockout chip. The minus worlds were a bug as are these too BUT I appreciate how they were found and that people are still hacking on these old games.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/14/2014 at 04:26pm

Ah damn. I have Tennis, but (again without sound) I didn't realize you needed an NES without the lockout chip.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/15/2014 at 02:32pm

OK having watched it finally, with audio, I want a toploader even more. Or perhaps I'll attempt to take the lockout chip out of my spare NES.

But back to my point about what the video calls a secret, there's a lot of disingenuous language in that video. It probably isn't intentional but it gives the wrong idea. The words "secret," "lost," and "hidden" keep being used but they're neither. The video makes it sound like Miyamoto put 255 worlds in there and just never turned them on or something, rather than what actually happened-- there are 8 worlds and bumping the world number past that makes the game bug out in a unique way. 255 is just the maximum value of the byte. If that's a secret, then modifying Firefox's memory as it's running to call it Mozzarella Firebox is also a Firefox secret. This is really not as big a deal as I'm making it but there you go. :)

Don't get me wrong though, I still dig the video. I love the explanation of how using Tennis (probably other games as well) fakes the system into bumping the world number past 8. I had noticed some games save some data through a reset and always wondered how. Now I know!

And this plays on the same kind of thing as the Game Genie. With the right codes, you could access these as well, just by using the same codes you would use to start at world 8, only bumped past the actual max. In fact some of these seem to do just that: http://supermariogamegenies.webs.com/

I used to attempt to write my own game genie codes. Most of them did nothing noticeable, locked up the game, or made things worse, but some were incredibly useful. I had the book of course but I had pages of codes that I wrote myself. I guess I was learning about editing memory and hex long before I realized what those even were! There was one that started me in an almost unplayable world, with the -1 designation like these. I really wish I knew where those codes were now to see if that's what I actually did.

I love that in Mario 2 (the lost levels in the US) there's a world 9 that pulls from some of the effects that showed up in these bugged-out levels. I'd actually like to see a 2d Mario game where the dimensional structure is breaking down or some other crazy plot reason and you can play through overworld levels that have been flooded, etc. With NES Remix on the Wii U, that's actually something I could see crop up, in 20 second segments anyway.

It's kinda sad that this kind of thing is mostly lost now. With these massively designed levels in most games, just changing a single value in memory really can't bug out a level to the point of creating that kind of experience.

So that was kinda long. In conclusion: Awesome, I wanna do it!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/16/2014 at 10:23pm

"The words "secret," "lost," and "hidden" keep being used but they're neither. The video makes it sound like Miyamoto put 255 worlds in there and just never turned them on or something..."

Yep, your right. These are not extra levels just a bugged out way to play the game.

I'd love to try this too but i'd need to get the top loader NES too. Maybe they omitted the lockout chip because at the top loader came out the NES was at the end of life.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/17/2014 at 02:03am

I was thinking about that the other day. Since Tengen and so many others had figured out a way to overload the lockout chip, maybe they just gave up. Since the lockout chip was no longer doing what it was intended to do, it would probably save a little money to just omit it altogether.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/17/2014 at 05:08pm

I bet it saved a bit of money for sure. Plus, like you say, if it's easy to get around what's the point? I guess maybe keeping licensees paying?

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Is Dark Souls the Future of Videogame Storytelling?

"Videogames generally suck when it comes to storytelling. Their stories are often ineffective, clumsy, or just plain unnecessary. And so many cutscenes!!! We're disengaged, and it breaks our immersion. WE want to play the game, not have it told to us. Enter Dark Souls: the plot may seem threadbare, but when you dig in, whole new backstories and depth begin to emerge as you interact with the things you find. Is this the future of storytelling? Or should games even be TRYING to tell stories?"

This episode of Game/Show is pretty interesting as it brings up a point that was made in a recent Cheerful Ghost Roundtable, typically games contain pretty bad stories. Jamin talks about Dark Souls and how it goes about telling the story. Dark Souls lets you know the game narrative throughout the gameplay as you experience the game and collect items. Seems similar to how Portal 2 unfolds, as you play the game and solve puzzles the story is fed to you bit by bit.

What game have you played that had a memorable story and how did they tell it?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/14/2014 at 09:16pm

It seems that there are two things being discussed here: Games with poor story material (Far Cry 3, per the video), and games that tell their stories poorly (a majority of games). I do love it when games introduce story elements through discovery, but I don't think that Dark Souls is the first to do this (Ico, Portal, Bioshock?). Dark Souls uses diagetic elements to tell it's stories, but there is a balance of the mimetic, as well (cut-scenes, npc dialogue, allowing player notes, etc). Bioshock did this to a great degree, though it was heavier in the dialogue department. Both of these games, and others, lend themselves well to the silent protagonist, which, as we might remember, has also been a topic of critical debate. The point, I think, is to make the game you want to make. Asking whether games should even be trying to tell stories, seems ridiculous. Some people make games that have stories. If your game has a story, you should certainly try to tell it, in whichever way suits the play of the game. There are many ways to tell a story. I don't think that video games should have one specific way.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/15/2014 at 04:40pm

I agree, there can be many ways to how a video game tells a story. One recent example of a really unique game was Little Inferno. I don't want to spoil it, but it had one of the best narratives and total switcheroos in recent memory. In fact I rank the few hour experience I had with the game up there with one of the best movie or book experiences of all time.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/15/2014 at 08:45pm

I really like Little Inferno. It has that same kind of Portal depth to it, where you have this fairly simple, somewhat comfortable, beginning that leads you into a deeper, unsettling mystery. They are both very linear games, but the timing used to give you, or allow you to find, certain pieces of information, grant the illusion of independent discovery.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/15/2014 at 09:01pm

Another story that I really like is Beyond Good & Evil. Most of it's story progression is told through cut-scenes (If I remember correctly. It's been a while), but there were areas that you could walk around and listen to conversations, or radio broadcasts, or observe objects that would give you a greater sense of the whole story. Plus, the musical score went a long way toward doing that, too.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/16/2014 at 10:24pm

I've heard really great things about Beyond Good & Evil but I have only played the Beyond Good & Evil HD demo when it was re-released on the PS3. The game was fun but I never picked up the full version.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/17/2014 at 04:17am

It's good. Really good. I'll totally let you borrow it anytime you like, if you have the ability to play Gamecube games.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/17/2014 at 05:09pm

I can play Gamecube games on my Wii. That said, I have a few console games I want to play before it. Like Read Dead Redemption. I've heard great things about that one.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/17/2014 at 06:28pm

I've only made it as far as the path opening up to Mexico in RDR, which, I hear, is where it really gets good. It's a beautiful game, and a lot of fun to play. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/18/2014 at 03:12am

Awesome. I have heard so many great things about the game I doubt I will be. My only gripe is that it isn't available on PC, it would be much more convenient to play it that way.

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Blizzard Drops A New Video Showing the Crusaders Abilities

Not gonna lie, I am excited about Reaper of Souls launching in two weeks. That said, when I see something new drop about the expansion, I want to share it and this latest video showcasing more about the Crusader is pretty awesome

It seems the Crusader is very similar to the Diablo II Paladin except he seems to bring a few Barbarian like things to the table. It seems the Crusader has "auras" but also seems to have an ability that makes him almost giantlike.

Are you getting Reaper of Souls when it launches and if so will you play the new class? I know I will be.

CRYENGINE Comes to Linux: Steam Machines Rejoice

"During presentations and hands-on demos at Crytek's GDC booth, attendees can see for the first time ever full native Linux support in the new CRYENGINE. The CRYENGINE all-in-one game engine is also updated with the innovative features used to recreate the stunning Roman Empire seen in Ryse – including the brand new Physically Based Shading render pipeline, which uses real-world physics simulation to create amazingly realistic lighting and materials in CRYENGINE games."

Valve should be letting us know the publishers that will be coming to SteamOS soon and I hope this signal from the Cryengine folks is a recipe of what is to come. The Cryengine powers games such as: Crysis, Far Cry, MechWarrior Online & more. If you want to see more games come to Linux and SteamOS this is really good news.

http://www.crytek.com/news/conference-attendees-can-also-see-a-brand-new-mobile-game-extra-engine-updates-and-much-more-at-crytek-s-booth

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

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/12/2014 at 02:09am

Very good news, indeed! What other 3D game engines support Linux now, besides Unity and Source? Any hope that Unreal will make that step? Frostbite?

Travis Admin wrote on 03/12/2014 at 02:17am

As far as major engines go, those are the biggies, I think. I'm hoping for the Skryim/Fallout engine, but perhaps I'm getting my hopes up.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/12/2014 at 07:04pm

@scrypt Many. Recently though Torque and when Ryan Gordon ported Dungeon Defenders to Linux, now Unreal 3. But historically Unreal and Unreal 2 engines were on Linux because of... Ryan Gordon :D

iD tech all the way up to 3 had Linux ports. Since they ported Rage to Mac, the port to Linux shouldn't be much harder.

Other engines are available on Linux like Ogre 3D and the like.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/12/2014 at 10:57pm

Ah yeah, for some reason I put a "major" in your question, scrypt. Yeah there are tons. Disregard my comment.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/12/2014 at 11:06pm

My question kind of implies major engines, but it's good to know all the love that's out there :). Mostly thinking of the environments that would cause the biggest waves for change. For Linux to be a viable, lasting platform for games, it has to have majority support, natively, from the big players. I'd love to see that day come, and it feels like it's right around the corner.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/13/2014 at 03:21am

I think we are mostly at that point now. Most major engines support it, some outliers don't but it wouldn't be impossible to make it happen if the company were incentivized to do it. I kind of think "if the engine supports the PS3, PS4, XBox 360, XBox One, Windows and possibly Mac, the road to Linux shouldn't be impossible."

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The Crusader Is Very Pious As He Smashes Demons In The Face

http://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/blog_header/Z21O8HA65X081394474289710.jpg

As the days to the release of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls count down, Blizzard is letting out more information about the expansion. In this latest update they kicked out some really interesting bits of lore about the Crusader. I'll clip out a few things I found interesting:

"While there is some debate among scholars as to the true nature of Akarat’s prophecy—specifically, whether the "being" Akarat saw was the archangel Yaerius or simply an echo of Uldyssian’s sacrifice at the end of the Sin War—its significance is undeniable. It is said that the vision, manifesting as a magnificent flash of light and energy across the sky, ignited the fundamental belief within Akarat that humans were powerful vessels of light, and that all should seek their "inner light" in order to live good lives."

There is debate amongst scholars in Diablo's world of sanctuary as to if the being Akarat saw was the archangel Yaerius or is the echo of some warriors sacrifice? If I could portal myself into the world of Diablo III I would enjoy listening in at that scholarly debate.

OLD MAN THAT LOOKS LIKE DECARD CAIN BUT ISN't DECARD CAIN 1: "So yeah, I think it was homeboy Yaerius himself, in the flesh. I mean in angel-skin and not flesh, but it was totally him."

OLD MAN THAT LOOKS LIKE DECARD CAIN BUT ISN't DECARD CAIN 2: "Nah dude, it was just an echo of Uldyssian's sacrifice and I have some non-science to prove it!"

OLD MAN THAT LOOKS LIKE DECARD CAIN BUT ISN't DECARD CAIN 1: "Nah, I totally don't believe in your non science because I have some of my own that I actually think is true."

OLD MAN THAT LOOKS LIKE DECARD CAIN BUT ISN't DECARD CAIN 2: "Huh well thats a bummer, I felt good about my position. Hey, I have a question? Why don't we learn how to swing a sword, it seems like whever the undead return we all get murdered?"

Blizzard also posted a Q&A with fans on Twitter. I thought a few of the questions were pretty interesting.

"Golf Mike: Why did you choose the flail as the main weapon for Crusaders?

Blizzard: A heavily armored, deeply driven warrior is traditionally depicted with a flail or mace. Maces generally learn towards the clergymen or clerical type of character, and the Crusader definitely leans more towards the martial side of things. Plus, they’re just awesome!"

I don't know what church the people at Blizzard go to but it sounds really dangerous. That said, they are right about one thing, maces are totally awesome. And because of that, I will play the Crusader class when the expansion drops. I mean, why not play a member of a religious order way more dogmatic than a Paladin? They might not be fun at parties but I bet they are very pious as they smash demons in the face.

You can read the entire history of the Crusader:

http://us.battle.net//d3/en/blog/13183881

You can read the entire Blizzard Crusader Q&A:

http://us.battle.net//d3/en/blog/13183883

jdodson1

2746 Posts

New Hyper Light Drifter Gameplay Trailer Surfaces

Cheerful Ghost Roundtable: S2 E5 The Indelible Nature of ...

Valve's Free To Play Documentary Launches on Steam & YouTube

Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake Early Preview is Fantastic!

New Gauntlet Game Announced for PC and SteamOS

Are There More Secret Levels To Super Mario Brothers?

Is Dark Souls the Future of Videogame Storytelling?

Blizzard Drops A New Video Showing the Crusaders Abilities

CRYENGINE Comes to Linux: Steam Machines Rejoice

The Crusader Is Very Pious As He Smashes Demons In The Face