jdodson1

Joined 01/23/2012

I'm an Engineer and built the video game community Cheerful Ghost and text based mini-MMO Tale of the White Wyvern.

2753 Posts

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Irrational just released a new preview clip of BioShock Infinite Burial at Sea Episode Two in all it's spoilerific glory. This will be the last bit of Bioshock Infinite DLC as part of the Season Pass. I wonder if Irrational will take a tip from 2K and release more or if this will be the final bit of Bioshock Infinite story?

Only the Songbird knows for sure.


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I recently watched an interesting video by Crossroads Reviews where a charge was made that Nintendo needs to change. Nintendo has been in the news recently for the Wii U failing to attract market share and many have opined that Nintendo needs to adapt or it will die. While I don't hold that Nintendo is in that much trouble, they don't seem to be making choices that keep with the current gaming zeitgeist. Then again, Nintendo seems to dominate the handheld space.

What do you think, is Nintendo in need of some serious change? Do you think they can make the Wii U a success with gamers?

http://slashdot.org/topic/cloud/is-nintendo-doomed/


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The Far Lands is the area of the map formed at the edge of Minecraft prior to 1.8. Basically, the Minecraft planet creation algorithm breaks down going that far out and some very odd things happen to the terrain. If you traveled on foot to the Far Lands from your spawn point it would be about the same distance as about a third of the circumference of the earth at the equator. Many have made it to the Far Lands with hacks and cheats, but one YouTuber, @kurtjmac is doing it on foot one day at a time.

Not only is he making this journey, but he is recording it every step of the way on his YouTube channel and is now up to episode #318(linked above). Recently his "Far Lands or Bust" project was featured in an article for the New Yorker and I seriously recommend you read it.

"On March 28, 2011, a man who calls himself Kurt J. Mac loaded a new game of Minecraft. As the landscape filled in around his character, Mac surveyed the blocky, pixellated trees, the cloud-draped, mountains, and the waddling sheep. Then he started walking. His goal for the day was simple: to reach the end of the universe.

Nearly three years later, Mac, who is now thirty-one, is still walking. He has trekked more than seven hundred virtual kilometres in a hundred and eighty hours. At his current pace, Mac will not reach the edge of the world, which is now nearly twelve thousand kilometres away, for another twenty-two years.
"

http://farlandsorbust.com/

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/01/a-journey-to-the-end-of-the-world-of-minecraft.html


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Starcraft 2 will soon launch the 2.1 patch globally and like I mentioned in the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable s2 e1, much of the game is now going free to play. What else is included in this patch? Free arcade, Clans and Groups with scheduled meet ups, Extension Mods(similar to UT mods), League Boundaries, Increased the level cap with new rewards & a remastered score. That's right, they remastered the original Starcraft and Starcraft 2 scores and made them all available while you play the game.

2.1 Information:

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/12346797/starcraft-ii-patch-21-round-up-1-21-2014

How to configure the new Starcraft music:

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/11941668/

Full set of patch notes:

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/12346798/

Now they just need to release more details about Legacy of the Void!


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The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable Season 2 Episode 1 is upon us and as always we bring the video game talk.

Show notes & time-codes so you can skip to what you want to hear.

What we have been playing

  • 1.49m : Grand Theft Auto 5 / Online

  • 4.50m : Assassin's Creed IV / Liberation

  • 5.30m : Elder Scrolls Oblivion

  • 5.50m : GTA Online Cheerful Ghost Online Crew

  • 9.15m : Bioshock Infinite

  • 9.55m : NW Expo Game Event / Gameboy Games / Pokemon

  • 11.50m : Shovel Knight Releases March 31st

  • 13.05m : Starcraft 2 releases more as Free to Play



Valve Showcases New Steam Machines at CES

  • 16:25m : Gabes CES Steam Machine Unveiling

  • 22.25m : Are Steam Machines Going to Flop?

  • 28.46m : Are Walled Gardens Better Than Open Systems?

  • 35.00m : How Long Will PC Gaming Be on Microsoft Systems?

  • 48.15m : Wrap up & where you can find us online.



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Yacht Club Games just passed along the good news, Shovel Knight will release March 31st! Really looking forward to some shovel swinging action in this chunky looking retro 2d platformer.

"Shovel Knight is a sweeping classic action adventure game with awesome gameplay, memorable characters, and an 8-bit retro aesthetic created by Yacht Club Games. You play as the eponymous Shovel Knight, a small knight with a huge quest. Shovel Knight has come to this valley with two goals: to defeat the evil Enchantress and save his lost beloved. He wields a ShovelBlade; a multipurpose weapon whose techniques have now been lost to the ages. Always honest and helpful, Shovel Knight is a shining example of the code of Shovelry: Slash Mercilessly and Dig Tirelessly!"

Shovel Knight is also being featured in the first issue of Nintendo Force, a faux magazine that claims to showcase much of the new game. Hopefully they will make this available for people that order the game or for free as I totally want to read it. Shovel Knight will drop March 31st on PC, Mac and Linux.

http://yachtclubgames.com/2014/01/nintendo-force-cover/


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Don't Starve is a great Indie survival game with a very neat hand drawn cartoon feel. The tone of the game is very dark and I really enjoy how it weaves in with the game mechanics. Klei Entertainment, the developers of Don't Starve have released a new teaser trailer for "Reign of Giants" DLC. After watching this trailer I can't help but think of the Age of Mythology Titans expansion, which added the massive Titans to Age of Mythology.

So far all updates to Don't Starve have been free, so it's interesting seeing this new content come to the game.


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"The wait is over: The Hearthstone Open Beta Test is now live in North America! If you haven’t joined in on all of the crazy card-slinging action yet, now is your chance! Pull up a chair and prepare to start casting powerful spells, summoning mighty minions, and dueling your friends in a fast-paced strategy card game for everyone."

Hearthstone is one of the best unsung new games of 2013. Blizzard took the collectable card format popularized by games like Magic: The Gathering and tossed in some love to make a very accessible, fun and rich game. Oh righ and did I mention that the game costs you nothing?

Hearthstone is one of those great pickup and play games where you can play a game in under 20 minutes. Now that the game has entered open beta you should really try it.

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/12440010


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Stardew Valley is one of the games I am very excited about launching this year. ConcernedApe pushed the release from 2013 to 2014 and considering how big the game has become, it makes sense that happened. I appreciate that Stardew Valley isn't a game that focuses on a cosmic struggle of good and evil that spans the universe and instead is a more simple country life game focusing on growing crops and hanging out with your neighbors. I also appreciate the attention ConcernedApe is paying to the relationship "quest lines" and story. Many games tack on relationships but they are so ham-fisted and trite they aren't that compelling as great game elements.

"There are 10 “eligible” characters in the game, 5 females and 5 males (Yes, same-sex marriage/relationships are allowed!). Each one has at least 5 “events” which you’ll encounter as your relationship with the character progresses. Most of the events include conversations in which you can choose between different dialogue options. Sometimes the option you choose will affect how the rest of the event plays out. In addition to conversation options, you’ll sometimes be given a choice between multiple courses of action, which always has an effect on how the event plays out. Sometimes, choices you make in events will affect what characters end up doing in the future. Characters that you can’t marry also have these event cutscenes, but typically not as many.

I’ve been carefully going through every one of these events, adding or rewriting dialogue, new animations, props, cameo characters, settings, storylines, graphical cutscenes, sounds, music, and more! I also added a lot more cases where your choices affect how the rest of the event plays out. Additionally… while working on these events, if I encounter anything else in the game I am unhappy with I typically take a small detour and fix that as well.
"

Stardew Valley is a game that will primarily launch on Windows but there is some good news for Mac and Linux users as ConcernedApe has mentioned a possible Linux and Mac port of the game.

http://stardewvalley.net/dev-update-14


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The video showcased above it titled "Why Comcast's 300GB Data Cap is Bad for Gaming" and the subtext is "An explanation of how Comcast's 300GB data cap is bad for me, you, and pretty much everyone else in the whole wide world."

A few things before I talk about data caps. First off, the video creator notes that Comcast(the ISP in question) mentions that the majority of it's user base doesn't go over 20G of monthly data. So the assertion that a data cap is bad for everyone seems a bit off. That said, the overall concept of the video is correct, data caps are not a good thing and I do want them to go away.

I haven't paid for cable TV ever and don't plan to so having a large truck-load of fast Internet is a great thing. I stream video, download games and music and play multiplayer games and all that is getting trickier with a 300GB Internet data cap. I imagine my bandwidth usage will only increase over time and I hope the caps increase with it.