Introversion let loose a pretty massive Holiday update to Prison Architect in the form of Alpha 16. They added the ability to generate prison maps with lakes, trees and different terrain types. They updated the AI and enhanced the ability to segregate your prisons by prisoner threat. They also fixed a pretty long standing bug in that you can now build multiple kitchens and the cooks properly work with that. One new feature I find really interesting is the ability to plant and harvest trees. You can immediately sell the trees OR you can take them to your workshop to process.

Oh and if you wanted to forever immortalize yourself within the game, you can now.

"For starters, all ‘Name in the Game’ customers can now customize the size, face type and colour of their prisoners by using our new Name in the game system which you can find here. For two weeks only, we're offering all alpha customers the chance to upgrade to our Name in the Game tier for only $10. This will enable you to name a prisoner, write a short bio about why he's inside and customize his look. This is your opportunity to permanently stamp your personality on the game and prove that you were one of the generous few that helped Prison Architect to become a reality."

Read the entire update list here:

http://forums.introversion.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=46615

There have already been some awesome prisons posted on the Steam Workshop. Take a peek at the time lapse video, it's neat.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=204431832

"Bill Gates was the man - he had the money, the power, the world's premiere spreadsheet program, but he also had a terrible secret: The Microsoft Ski Resort.

One fateful night, at the annual Christmas Party, an employee described his vision of the PC going beyond the realm of word processing and slideshow presentations, and in a fit of rage, Bill banished him to the cold, never to return. However, his exile didn't kill him - he instead survived the only way he knew how... by setting fires to trees and eating wild dogs that had somehow wandered onto the slopes."

SkiFree is a classic PC game that has a rich legacy shown in this new video. Interesting to know the history of this classic game and how the abominable snow monster came to ravage the slopes. Ski, if you dare.

"To help celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year, we've put together a fun little papercraft project for our creative community. In true Diablo fashion, this particular papercraft is of a Treasure Goblin, complete with his very own papercraft Treasure Bag.

We call him Lewt."

If you dig papercraft, Blizzard has posted a fun crafty creation you can make for holidays. I am going to print this out and make it so check back for a picture of how it turned out.

If you want to make a Lewt of your own, head to the Diablo III blog:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/12099016

Happy Holidays and Merry Starcraft!

I picked up BioShock Infinite in the recently Steam Sale for $9.99 looking for a game to play over the holidays. Since the Steam version has a Mac port I installed it on my laptop and decided to cut into it the other night. First off the game is beautiful. Really, this game is one of the prettiest games I have seen in quite a long time. The amount of visual candy present in this game is astounding and the fact that it holds up is a testament to the games league of programmers.

Right now I am alternating between playing the game straight up on my laptop, plugging it into an external monitor and using HDMI to put it on a TV. I am also playing the game with a keyboard and a mouse as well as a USB controller and the game works well with both control schemes. I can bullseye things WAY better with the mouse but I prefer playing the game with a controller.

I don't want to write about the games story because some of you haven't played it, I don't want to spoil anything for you. That said, I want to talk some about the games themes. The game deals with racism and classism in a way few games do and I think this is worth noting because the game isn't ham fisted when it does it. I found the games version of altered America and Columbia to be quite sad and can't help but consider how the United States turned out. I think the game asks some questions about societies in general in terms of treatment of certain classes I found very interesting. Columbia is a beautiful and bright shining beacon of American exceptionalism with an ugly core of hatred and racism.

So far the game seems to be more heavily geared to the art, story and overall tone than the shooter part of the game. Personally I totally dig the games pacing and find that I am having a great time simply walking through the game and experiencing the world of Columbia. That said, the action is starting to ramp up and have found it all to be quite fun and enjoyable.

Like I said earlier, I think I am a little under halfway and have really enjoyed myself so far. I hope BioShock Infinite comes to SteamOS because i'd love to play this on my Steam Machine. I know I am __VERY__ late to the BioShock Infinite bandwagon, but am happy with the game and if you haven't picked it up, I recommend you do.

"We've assembled a collection of the BIGGEST IDEAS in gaming of 2013! Yes, there are numbers, but we swear, it's totally not a list. From voice activated control to consoles, from ASCII to narratives, see what was on our list, and then complain about all the things we forgot about!"

This is a good episode of Game/Show to end out the year with. Discussing some of the bigger ideas of the year, some of which I am happy to see take shape. I think the games as vehicles for social change is something I am very interested in personally. I wouldn't have expected when I first saw Super Mario Brothers that video games could get as far as they are now. It's a great time to be alive and paying attention.

"The Lanius are scavengers – metallic lifeforms that rely on the absorption of minerals to sustain themselves. Their society ebbs and flows in hibernation cycles; they may lie dormant for many years, even while hurtling through space. As soon as they become aware of significant metal deposits they reawaken. Usually this occurs in the dying stages of a galactic civilization or in the wake of intergalactic war.

Reports of reawakened Lanius have appeared in many of the war-torn and abandoned sectors of Federation Space. Their arrival has created panic as they indiscriminately seek our sources of metal – although more diplomatic individuals have suggested that they can be reasoned with."

More details came out today about the FTL update in the form of a new race of creatures, the Lanius. I really don't want to meet up with them as they only seem to be hostile and seem to be pretty menacing. I wonder if they are enemy only or if you could get a Lanius on your ship? They seem to naturally destroy the ship so... perhaps not.

The FTL developers let us know some rather large details about the update:

• It will contain a ton of new content and improvements: although the larger additions can be disabled if you prefer FTL “vanilla.”


• This large update is free for those who already own the game on Windows, Mac, or Linux.


• FTL is also coming to iPad; it will be the full version of the game including the new “Advanced Edition” content.


• FTL on iPad will have to be purchased separately from the PC version.


• An exact date for release has not been decided but we are aiming for early 2014.

I really appreciate the "FTL vanilla" setting. Some of the new content will change the game very much and it might be nice to return to basic FTL if one would want. For newer players it might also be nice to see what the game was before the Advanced Edition as well.

I am seriously considering picking FTL up on the iPad as well, something about it seems like a great idea. Anyone else with me on this?

http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=621

If you haven't seen it already, you need to watch the announcement trailer:

http://vimeo.com/79104930

This is our last episode of the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable in 2013. We talk about what we've been playing, the recent Starbound beta, SteamOS and Steam Machines beta launch, our top 3 most played games in 2013. We also ask Baby New Year to grant us some wishes when we look forward to 2014 in gaming.

Also, WhiteboySlim shows off his holiday sweater and I get a bit upset when I hear Steam Machine beta recipients are installing Windows..... Barbarians.

• Papers, Please: http://store.steampowered.com/app/239030/


• Starbound beta: http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/1784


• SteamOS: http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1782


• Terraria 1.2: http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1674


• BioShock Infinite: http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/1156


• Master of Orion 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Orion_II:_Battle_at_Antares


• Monaco: http://store.steampowered.com/app/113020/


• Stardrew Valley: http://cheerfulghost.com/game/24035

I want to thank you for watching The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable and will see you for season 2. If you are new to the show or want to go back and binge watch the entire first season, please do:

http://cheerfulghost.com/roundtable

Tomorrow is the day for the Steam Holiday Sale. Any games you are looking to pickup?

I still have yet to play BioShock Infinite & Dishonored but I have so many games already!

Join the CG event for the discussion:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/events/44

You can read a bit of our discussion on SteamOS:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1782

When Neverwinter Nights for PC released in 2002 I was really excited because I heard lots of great things about it. I bought it second hand off a friend and dug into the main story. Neverwinter Nights was a little long, but it offered a rich story that I found really interesting. By the end of the game I had a really epic Cleric that could kill nearly anything with a few spells. I enjoyed the Shadows of Undrentide expansion and really loved Hordes of the Underdark.

Recently watched the above Neverwinter Lore video and though it was worth sharing. You can play the Neverwinter MMO on Steam now or the entire 2002 Diamond Edition on GOG.com for $5.

http://www.gog.com/game/neverwinter_nights_diamond_edition
http://store.steampowered.com/app/109600/