jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

I played Age of Empires Online when it launched a year ago

I played Age of Empires Online when it launched a year ago but it didn't stick with me. At PAX this year someone handed me an Age of Empires Online card and recently redeemed it on Steam and gave the game another go. Before I had to download the game through Games for Windows Live but it is now all managed through Steam. You need a Games for Windows Live account but if you already have an XBox account that may work as well.

I encourage you give Age of Empires Online a shot because the game is very fun. They recently released an update that fixes some gripes people had with the game at launch. The game has since adopted a model similar to League of Legends in that you can outright buy Empire Points to get the later Civilizations OR you can do things in game to earn Empire points.

Age of Empires Online has a very unique stylized art style. It can also run on older hardware which is nice for some with older gaming rigs. As I played the game I noticed the game feels much more at home with Age of Empires 2 than any of the latter games. After reading more about it, the developers modeled Age of Empires Online after Age 2, which is a great homage to the classic play style.

It sounds odd that a MMORTS would even work at all, but they pulled it off very well. I am only level 6 and there are tons of quests still to complete and things in the game I haven't yet tried. The early level quests are things like, "build a few farms" and "go kill some bandits" but then the game opens up and soon enough you are tasked with dispatching the enemy in the typical Age of Empires fashion to gold and xp.

The game offers 1v1 and 2v2 PvP after you hit a certain level. You can also go into Skirmish modes and try your hand with all flavor of bots or play co-op with friends. Let me know what you think of the game and if enough people are interested, it might be fun to play it some night together!

Decided to take a break from Skyrim and the PC and decided

Decided to take a break from Skyrim and the PC and decided to play a console game. I decided to start a new game on 2009's Wolfenstein by Raven/iD. Back with I picked up the game I was gaming about 99% on my PS3 but now I am about 80% PC. Right away I noticed the 720p graphics and some lagging game-play at times. The game is very well done, its just not as sparkly as the PC games I am playing right now. I do have it on the PC and will try it out to see how different the versions are.

Raven/iD really polished the game on the ps3 into a really fun shooter. They added some fun mechanics to the game in the way of gold you can collect for in game item upgrades. You also get Veil Powers that allow you certain fun abilities in the game. One that comes to mind is the ability to create a shield around your player to block most incoming bullets for a time. The shooting is very well done too as you have some fun WW2 guns as well as some "veil energy" enhanced lazer gun type weaponry.

I guess I am sucker for killing Nazi's and Wolfenstein doesn't disappoint in this way. Add in a paranormal element and BJ Blaskowitz and the game feels like something out of an Indian Jones film.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/13/2012 at 01:38pm

I really hate that you can't get this on Steam anymore. I guess because the publisher pulled support? I was looking forward to it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/13/2012 at 02:09pm

Yeah, at some point I saw it on Steam but it's not available anymore. Publishers was Activision... I think they have games on Steam.

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/14/2012 at 04:35am

Well Activision was recently let go from Blizzard East weren't they? That could have something to do with it. Some type of right issues or something. I've always wanted to play Wolfenstein and I'd probably agree with you 100% jdodson. There is no substitute when it comes to fps games. Having 60fps and a mouse to aim with makes them immeasurably more enjoyable.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/14/2012 at 05:55am

Yeah the PC version is much more smooth. If you wanted, you could go box copy off Amazon. Or wait for Steam to catch back up.

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With the passage of September 15th we will see an end to the

With the passage of September 15th we will see an end to the Cheerful Ghost Borderlands 2 Haiku Contest. We have been very pleased with the results and have had fun reading and voting on your entries! Please get all your friends to vote and your submissions in by Sept. 15th @ 4p EST.

You can read over the original post here:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/485

Someone asked for some clarification on the rules for entry. Specifically if we would allow someone to win if the Haiku was not properly formatted. After conferring with the other judge on this contest and reading the original wording we have decided that we will allow a improperly formatted Haiku to win this time. With our next contest we will be much more explicit about this in the future. The original wording of the post compelled people to craft a Haiku appropriately but it was not an explicit requirement.

The contest is still anyone's game as there is 6 days left to go.

That said, we will not accept multiple user account votes. I have noticed that some users have created duplicate accounts and voted on their own Haiku. According to the rules, each duplicate vote(even if it looks like its from a different account, but its actually you) will not be counted.

Here are all the entries so far, please look over them and vote on the one you like the most in the comments section of the Haiku post with a "+1." Remember, you can only vote for one.

Maju: http://cheerfulghost.com/Maju/posts/543
POP3D: http://cheerfulghost.com/POP3D/posts/531
XeSpace52: http://cheerfulghost.com/XeSpace52/posts/529
RadaR: http://cheerfulghost.com/RadaR/posts/518
vdogmr25: http://cheerfulghost.com/vdogmr25/posts/511
WittyAdrian: http://cheerfulghost.com/WittyAdrian/posts/510
Dark_Dragon: http://cheerfulghost.com/Dark_Dragon/posts/507
Adym: http://cheerfulghost.com/Adym/posts/504
Kurrus: http://cheerfulghost.com/Kurrus/posts/503
Axel_Miller: http://cheerfulghost.com/Axel_Mller/posts/502
Shierzhi: http://cheerfulghost.com/Shierzhi/posts/499
Jacob_Richardson: http://cheerfulghost.com/Jacob_Richardson/posts/495
Jason_C: http://cheerfulghost.com/Jason_C/posts/494
Journ: http://cheerfulghost.com/Journ/posts/490
Reginald_Coop: http://cheerfulghost.com/Reginald_Coop/posts/489
Joshua_Aerni: http://cheerfulghost.com/Joshua_Aerni/posts/488
hardeyez: http://cheerfulghost.com/hardeyez/posts/487
Brav: http://cheerfulghost.com/Brav/posts/552
Jermatoo: http://cheerfulghost.com/Jermatoo/posts/551

If I didn't include you Haiku in the list above, let me know and I will add it!

Bethesda just released more details of what will be shipping

Bethesda just released more details of what will be shipping with Doom 3: BFG Edition. A snip of some interesting bits:

"ONLINE multiplayer for Xbox 360 and PS3:

DOOM: 2-4 players per map
DOOM II: 2-4 players per map
DOOM 3 and Resurrection of Evil: 2-4 players per map
Lost Mission: N/A

OFFLINE multiplayer for Xbox 360 and PS3:

DOOM: 2-4 players per map
DOOM II: 2-4 players per map
DOOM 3 and Resurrection of Evil: N/A
Lost Mission: N/A

PC Multiplayer:

On PC online Multiplayer for DOOM 3 and Resurrection of Evil is 2-8 players.
On PC there is no multiplayer options for Doom and Doom II."

Bummed that the PS3 version won't ship with split-screen multiplayer. Bethesda notes that the reason for that is Doom 3: BFG Edition is based on the PC version and split-screen only shipped with the XBox version. Kind of a bummer thats not available for Doom 3 but I am seriously excited about playing Doom and Doom 2 split-screen with my friends!

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1408944-doom-3-bfg-edition-faq/

Travis Admin wrote on 09/07/2012 at 07:11pm

Why. the. hell. is there no Doom 1/2 multiplayer on PC?

BR Supporter wrote on 09/07/2012 at 08:18pm

I feel like the PC should have more content then the consoles considering it is a much better system. Lately, I feel as though the PC players have been getting jipped. They never seem to put as much effort into the PC version of games.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/07/2012 at 09:31pm

I can understand some PC game having less, but it's obvious that all of these started on PC, so you'd think it would make the most sense that the PC version would have all the bells and whistles.

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/07/2012 at 11:15pm

True thats a huge disappointment as me and my brother BR and some friends are really looking forward to playing multiplayer together. Doom was such a classic in my generation i remember playing it when i was young.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/08/2012 at 12:03am

Doom was a classic for me as well(its why I keep posting about it). I carried my floppy of it around with me everywhere so I could play it wherever I went.

It is unfortunate that the multiplayer is out for Doom and Doom 2 on PC. I understand the reason but yeah... Pretty lame. I am getting it first on PS3 so ill have it but it would be pretty awesome to go through it with you all in co-op. That would have been fun.

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/08/2012 at 01:32am

This is a bit offtopic but have you seen the "remake" more like "remastered" version of baldurs gate being made? I've always wanted proper multiplayer support for easy playability with friends. If the multiplayer is easy to access this time around I'll have a blast with it as I don't like controlling 6characters by myself.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/08/2012 at 04:11am

Jon: "I understand the reason but..."

What's the reason? I don't understand it at all, and would appreciate some enlightenment :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/08/2012 at 06:10pm

panickedthumb: They released Doom & Doom 2 for XBox and it included multiplayer. I imagine the multiplayer had some console only elements to it. In the article, they list that as the reason I believe.

Jacob_Richardson: I did hear about the remake and plan on picking it up when it ships as I never played Baldurs before.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/08/2012 at 08:19pm

Ah, I didn't see that in the article. Still, you could do multiplayer over dialup on PC back in the day ;)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/08/2012 at 08:27pm

It's true. I think it's sort of a cop-out but it's less servers they have to sort out I imagine. At least LAN would have been something.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/08/2012 at 08:33pm

LAN or splitscreen even. I don't know how possible that would even be on the old code, but I imagine it's a "new" engine or at least updated enough to run properly on new machines. You can do splitscreen multiplayer with two mice and keyboards on some PC games these days.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/08/2012 at 08:38pm

I know, but it's also a matter of time and the return on that time spent. I'd do it personally but I'm not sure the time constraints at iD.

Ah well, well always have the Doom open source projects.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/09/2012 at 01:31am

Some of those are amazing too. I haven't even looked into them in about 5 years, but back then they were already amazing.

I know what I'm doing with my Sunday.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/09/2012 at 04:42am

Let me know what you find :D

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Fun is learning the ROH in your FUS from the Greybeards.

Fun is learning the ROH in your FUS from the Greybeards. Awesome is learning how to run really fast as a Dragon Shout and then using it right away. Rad is entering a sweet catacomb and having some statues rise out of the water.

The above screen grab is right out of a sweet moment where I entered the "final chamber" of a dungeon trying to find something for the Greybeards. As I entered the room statues rose up from the water and I was really having fun with it. Bethesda is good at crafting those moments and I sure felt that at times with Fallout 3.

That said, I made the tough choice the other day to travel WITH A COMPANION! Seriously though, I want to be the loner in Skyrim. I want to travel the endless expanse by myself, survive off the land and catch butterflies all by lonesome. That's the way I want to play my Dragonborn, she is a loner than can take on the world. Thing is, the game is really hard that way and I won't drop down the difficulty. So I capitulated and now I roll with Lydia. Lydia is a very apt knight person, she follows me around and joins the battle and keeps quiet. From time to time she clears her throat but I think deep down she knows I prefer keeping to myself in Skyrim.

And I do. Sometimes ill just walk a direction because I can. A few times a cougar or bear sort of just runs out of the brush and scares the shit out of me. A few times it ended in my death, but not while Lydia is on the case. I send those bears straight to Yogi in heaven. (ask me more about that if it makes little sense. I readily admit it doesn't even make much sense to me).

Recently I read an article from Time online about some new awesome Skyrim mods. Read it here, its pretty cool.

http://techland.time.com/2012/08/31/the-10-best-new-skyrim-mods-for-august-2012/#bear-musician

The Skyrim community keeps bringing the awesome, but a few noteworthy points:

A Bear Musician Mod? Thank you Zeus!

A Space Travel Mod? I hope it comes with Chewbacca as the pilot!

A Frost Flame Spell? Jeez guys, what next an "up down" jump?

Skyrim footprints? I do have a lot of RAM free I guess!

Left hand rings? Cool.

Bat vampire travel? Only if I can make it so I sound like Count Chocula when I turn!

Skyrim School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Holy %#$$ing $@#$ that is incredible. Hogwarts in Skyrim? Big Harry Potter fan so that sounds incredible.

Seriously though, that stuff really does look cool and Skyrim on PC keeps on being one of the best games you can buy due to the community alone. Hope it has an even longer life to it in the coming years!

According to 2K the Mecromancer will be released October

According to 2K the Mecromancer will be released October 16th and will cost $10. That is, unless you pre-order Borderlands 2 then it will be free. Totally excited about picking up this class to try out, its not quite the Borderlands 2 normal class.

Gearbox also said they will be releasing at least 4 DLC packs for Borderlands 2 and if you wanted, you could purchase a season pass to all of it for $30 at game launch.

Nice to have options but, I don't know, is this a bit too much DLC talk before the game has even shipped? I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, its awesome to get great content, on the other hand...

Borderlands 2 is set to be released on September 18th.

Axel_Mller wrote on 09/05/2012 at 10:27am

Atleast the previous Borderlands DLC's has been really well thought out campaigns. I think 20 dollars is reasonable enough for 4 new campaigns, not 30 dollars though.

Tungsten wrote on 09/05/2012 at 10:27am

Price of a game:
$60 (Game) + $10 (Addon) + $15 (DLC) + $15 (DLC) + $15 (DLC) + $15 (DLC) = $130
Remember when they it to be like $40 for the expensive ones?

How long until publishers start releasing a third of a game and charging you full price?

Oh... wait...**cough**starcraft**cough**

something in my throat

BR Supporter wrote on 09/05/2012 at 02:54pm

That's why I only buy games that are on sale. I can't afford to buy $100 games.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 09/05/2012 at 05:35pm

I'm not a fan of DLC. When I buy a game, I want the game, not *part* of the game. I'll wait longer between games if developers need more time stuffing all their ideas into a game before it ships, but after it ships, I don't want to have to buy more.

But of course, I will pay more when it looks cool ;-)

"Thank you sir, may I have another?"

Timogorgon Member wrote on 09/05/2012 at 11:05pm

I think DLC can be awesome. As long as the pricing seems fair and it's purely optional/extra content that adds to the existing game then I'm totally cool with it. It can extend the life of the game sales, and give the developers a way to make a little extra money from the used game crowd (which is so much better than trying to punish them for buying it used).

Shipping an incomplete game and then charging for the missing pieces is not cool. Making people pay to access content that's already on the disc they just bought is just as bad if not worse.

Tungsten wrote on 09/06/2012 at 12:36am

Which fighting game was it that got in big trouble with this?
Hidden characters on the disc, and you have to pay to unlock them
What's worse, some of the characters they won't let you unlock for any reason, even though they're actually on the disc.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/06/2012 at 01:11am

@tungsten It was Street Fighter IV.

I agree with everyone here. Typically what i've done is wait until the GoTY has been released and then get it all in one go. That has been fine up to this point(I nabbed Fallout 3 this way) but I find I pass up on an awesome group experience. You know the feeling, where you and your friends go through a game together and squee with excitement over how awesome it is. When I wait it out, its just me, which is awesome but you know, not as awesome as rocking through a game with friends and sharing it.

That said, I imagine ill go from BL2 => GoTY and opt out of the DLC hits as long as I can handle it. I don't mind devs coming back to the watering hole, I just mind the consumption mechanism.

If its a console I prefer getting all the DLC on a disc so I can share it with a friend, and I do that too so its a nice thing.

If its Steam, well then ill wait for a GoTY sale which is pretty often.

All told, I want everyone to do what works for them, but yeah, kind of don't LOVE the DLC hits but find them tolerable.

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/07/2012 at 03:37am

To me as much as i hate paying for dlc. I'm usually okay with it as long as it doesn't simply "hand you" things. I've always hated the new age of dlc where a dlc simply means "do you want free items instantly given to you with no work?" I like the feel of earning things. Hope the dlc's this time around feature many raid bosses that are extremely challenging.

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/07/2012 at 03:39am

Sorry can't edit I'd also like to say that. I wish they'd go back to the old version of the word. Expansions. I prefer'd expansions rather then dlc. dlc is usually small and petty for most things. Where as an expansion is usually met with more positive connotation and largely improves and adds to a game you love and is more of a hard thought out effort on the developers part.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/07/2012 at 03:46am

Right. I think the difference is now that DLC isn't something you get a physical copy of. Then again, you don't get a physical copy of a Steam game either...

Well anyways, yeah the term expansion is something id prefer as well. Getting a Neverwinter Nights expansion or something like The Frozen Throne was something more than just 6 hours of new content. It was a pretty long experience.

Axel_Mller wrote on 09/07/2012 at 04:23am

Then again, the expansions pack were a bit more expensive than regular DLC, right?

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/07/2012 at 06:47am

Not necessarily. DLC comes out in bunches at 10-20dollars a piece. I too remember neverwinter nights expansion packs and they were about 20-40(40 might even be pushing it they may have never reached that high) but they also had about as much content as 5DLC's and usually more types of content. Neverwinter nights added new character classes, races, a whole new story and new mechanics in each expansion.

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/07/2012 at 06:51am

I think the physical copy thing is a give and take. I hated not having physical copies at first. I still have my Lunar 2 eternal blue complete collection. (anyone ever remember the complete collection stuff?) Those things come with as much bonus's and extras in real life as they do in the game itself. However, most times now i can't imagine having to leave my home on a release game night to have to go buy it. When on steam you can preload it the day before and be ready to play the second it releases.

Tungsten wrote on 09/07/2012 at 01:30pm

It's called micro transactions. Someone figured out a while back that people will buy more smaller, cheaper chunks than big $40 expansions. Unfortunately this has pushed a lot of developers into the whole 2 NEW GUNS FOR $5.99 OMG thing.
How does this compare to the modding community? Both of Skyrim's DLC's have interested me far less than the free mods offered all around the web. Frankly, I'm surprised that publishers haven't put the kibosh on this sort of thing. I'm telling you right now that I am significantly less likely to purchase DLC because of the availability of these mods.
+1 to Valve for pushing the Steam Workshop. Now if they just backed off a bit on their EULA, we'd all be set.

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/07/2012 at 06:35pm

TBH thats why im very happy indie games have become a huge hit lately. Hopefully as some of the more popular indie games release this year and next they will show big business that consumers are angry with the large prices being waved at us.

Axel_Mller wrote on 09/07/2012 at 07:13pm

I agree on the Indie games part. But it's a double-edged sword. There is a lot of obnoxious pretentious games getting a ton more attention than they deserve.

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/07/2012 at 07:15pm

That is pretty true. I think the steam greenlight is evidence of that. Some games are clearly above in quality and effort then others but yet dont have hardly any votes while some that arent nearly as invested in have tons.

Axel_Mller wrote on 09/07/2012 at 07:48pm

I know a lot of people love Braid. But I despise it because of how uninspired the gameplay is. I also dislike John Blow.

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/07/2012 at 08:34pm

Hopefully the future will be games with the quality of borderlands 2 with the same amount of passion they put into it without the need for publishers dictating what can and can't be done.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/08/2012 at 12:07am

Publishers shouldn't be the reason why a game doesn't get created, so I agree with you Jacob. I also think its a good thing indie games are getting a life now because it lowers the barrier to entry for people that want to make games. If its great, it should be seen.

Then again, some new games are junk so there is that....

Steam Greenlight is cool and from the games that are highly rated they seem to be of pretty good quality too. I think Valve is trying to take the choice for putting games on Steam to the hands of the people and that always seems like a better strategy than a curated garden to me.

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/08/2012 at 01:28am

I agree to a certain extent. In a golden world greenlight would be the best thing ever. However theres the matter that some people literally get their joy of life from just being annoying to others. So games get downvoted by sites or groups of people for no reason other then to downvote it. Blockscape was downvoted a lot by minecraft players but what they dont realize is if they really cared about the game theyd want competition in a competitive genre games turn out better. Minecraft really opened up the door to voxel created games and I for one would like to see their idea improved upon.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/08/2012 at 06:16pm

Ah, good point I hadn't considered that. Groups trolling other games isn't awesome, I agree and competition in any kind of genre space is great.

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One treat of PAX this year was being able to get my hands on

One treat of PAX this year was being able to get my hands on the new Doom 3 BFG Edition. The level they demoed was the bonus "lost mission" that will ship with the game. The system I played on was Doom 3 BFG Edition in 3D on the XBox 360.

I didn't have to wait in line too long and in a few minutes I put on the 3D glasses and extremely comfortable earphones and I was of exploring. Took me a minute or so to orient myself to the 360 controls but in a minute I was having fun. I have never enjoyed playing a game in 3D as much as this and I was really enjoying how immersive the 3D was. Switching weapons was fun, shooting the bad guys far away was fun... everything was really... well... fun in 3D! This is a pretty new thing for me as my vision doesn't lend itself to enjoying 3D much less actually being able to experience it but somehow, it worked really well.

The game never suffered from slow down or lag, it was all very "John Carmack smooth" on the 360. This kind of thing is pretty apparent to me as I was walking around PAX and other more simple DLC games had some serious frame rate issues compared to Doom 3 BFG Edition. I remember walking by one game and @chowda and I both commented how laggy it looked for being a simple downloadable title.

That said, I noticed a few other things I wasn't in love with when I played the demo. The game was easy. I hope it was just someone putting the game into wimp mode or something because it wasn't as much fun as the original in this respect. The original Doom 3 wasn't impossible, but it was challenging and you had to choose your weapon wisely and conserve on ammo somewhat. The game had liberal amounts of ammo and I got the really good guns way faster than I did in the original game. Getting the sweet guns faster makes sense as the "hidden mission" is a fairly short campaign. I am pretty sure the game will ship with difficulty modes that one can crank up, so I am not too concerned, it was just something I noticed.

That said, I hope Doom 3 BFG Edition comes with difficulty levels and that those levels offer more of a challenge I experienced. All in all though, I am very excited to get this game and am seriously considering picking up some 3D glasses to compliment it.

http://i.imgur.com/mVaHo.jpg

Oh right, the flashlight is totally gone in favor of you being able to flip a gun light on each of your weapons. I think this is a mistake, but making a game more accessible for a modern audience is most likely a good move, even if it changes something I loved about the original.

That all said, I am more excited that I was before about picking this title up and will enjoy heading back to Mars base to make right what was made wrong by the horribly uncouth Malcolm Betruger.

One of the interesting new things I checked out at PAX was

One of the interesting new things I checked out at PAX was the Wii U. I watched someone play a game where they explored/sniped with the new Wii U tablet controller. I took a quick picture of him giving it a go:

http://i.imgur.com/uj1d0.jpg

I was interested in talking to someone from Nintendo about the Wii U to ask a few questions. A Nintendo rep asked if I wanted to play a game and I said I wanted to take a picture of the "normal" controller without a screen on it. He said that I couldn't but he could "clarify things" for me. I said ok and asked him...

"So you obviously have two controllers here, the tablet one with a screen and then the other that has no screen. Will they both ship with the new Wii U?"

The Nintendo rep said that information hasn't been shared with anyone yet and that I should check the website for more information. I kind of wanted to get some "clarity" on the non tablet controller and asked another.

"So the controller without the tablet screen, that's kind of interesting, Nintendo had one they released on the Wii for the classic Nintendo and Super Nintendo games, is this for that or is this kind of a new direction for Nintendo away from the Wii-mote?"

The Nintendo rep said that the controller existed and it had a use for the games they were demoing but didn't say more than that. Felt bad for the guy at this point, he couldn't really say much about anything. I thanked him and went to another station and took some quick pictures of the Wii U and other stuff.

A few observations about the Wii U...

The size is physically smaller than my first run PS3. The Wii U is rumored to be about as powerful as the current gen PS3 or XBOX 360.

It has the red sync button available on the front in plain view. The Wii has this hidden behind a flip panel.

Bigger air vents on the side. The Wii had them, but the Wii looks smaller than the Wii U.

I really wish I could have flipped the top down to see what it sported underneath. I wonder if there are SD or USB ports up front?

http://i.imgur.com/C9gVz.jpg [a picture of the new nintendo controller with no tablet screen. someone else took this, sorry]
http://i.imgur.com/1Symo.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gPtVT.jpg [sorry this is grainy I had to take it quick]

Unsure how the new Wii U will fit in with my gaming future, if at all. Still, it could be awesome, I just don't know much about it and Nintendo wasn't really sharing much to make me too excited about it.

What do you think of the new Wii U?

Timogorgon Member wrote on 09/05/2012 at 10:53pm

Maybe it's just me, but nothing I've seen about the WiiU is really all that exciting. I'm curious about the tablet controller, but if it turns out to be as gimmicky* as the Wii's motion controls have been, I dunno how this new console will do. Did you have a chance to play any of the games with the new controller?

*Just to clarify, it's not that I think the motion controls suck in general, it's that they're largely poorly implemented. Also, some games just don't benefit (and many are actually hindered) by motion controls.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/06/2012 at 01:14am

I didn't get my hands on the controller because, I wasn't really interested in playing with it. I was more interested in watching others use it and talk to the Nintendo reps.

I think the Wii Motion controls are fine for what they do, Bowling is fun. But when I hit the couch for a shooter, I kind of don't want to flail around. That said, Zelda with more arm movements could be awesome, but I reserve judgement until I try it more.

Oh and I did the Twilight Princess thing, the controls were fine by me, the water temple sort of caused me to walk away.

DAMN YOU WATER TEMPLE!

Timogorgon Member wrote on 09/06/2012 at 08:54pm

Some games pulled the motion controls off really, really well. My main complaint is that that didn't happen often enough. What's worse, motion controls were shoehorned into some games that really didn't need it. Wii Sports and (especially) Wii Sports resort are awesome, and some of the few Wii games I still play once in awhile. Twilight princess was fine except I found some of the special sword techniques a little hard to pull off with the motion controls. I haven't tried Skyward sword yet, but I hear it is much better control wise.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/07/2012 at 03:12am

I have Paper Mario on the Wii and the motion controls were a tack-on for sure.

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I have a ton of free PAX Beta keys and Free DLC to give-away

I have a ton of free PAX Beta keys and Free DLC to give-away to all you awesome people. Apparently some of this PAX exclusive stuff is on Ebay selling for real cash money. Like the Doom 3 BFG Edition Pink Avatar I nabbed from the iD booth is selling for $10. Since I love you all so much, they will be free to you all.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAX-Prime-2012-Exclusive-DOOM-3-BFG-Pinky-Xbox-Avatar-DLC-Item-/261091710181?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cca4754e5
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAX-Prime-2012-Exclusive-Dishonored-Corvo-Mask-Xbox-Avatar-DLC-Item-/261091708569?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cca474e99

I know, I know. Mother Teresa has nothing on my generosity. Well, enough about me, you need free stuff.

I have all your email addresses, so the first people to claim something in the comments I will give it to. When its gone its gone so comment quick like if you want something. Limit yourself to a few codes if you can. If by Friday they are not all gone, feel free to come back and ill give you the remaining stuff.

I will update this post with what has been claimed as I hand out the goods.

Without further ado... Here are the goods you can claim and how many I have to give away in no particular order...

2 Doom 3 BFG Edition Pinky Avatars for XBox 360[ALL claimed]

2 Dishonorder Corvo Mask Avatar Items for XBox 360[ALL claimed]

[CLAIMED]1 Smite Beta Key

[CLAIMED]1 Tribes Ascend in-game item or something[hard to tell, but its something special]

5 FireFall Beta Keys [3 left]

1 Offensive Combat Closed Beta Key

1 Blacklight Retrobution Weapon Tag[claimed]

[Claimed]1 D&D Neverwinter MMO Beta

1 Age of Empires Steam Starter Pack[claimed]

1 End of Nations 7 day 50% xp boost redemption codes

1 Need for Speed World Speedboost/special item codes

2 Battlefield Hero's in game item codes

2 Battlefield play 4 free in game item codes

2 Warhammer online Wrather of Heros in game item codes

2 Command and Conquer Tiberium Alliances in game item codes

2 Lord of Ultima in game item codes

vdogmr25 wrote on 09/02/2012 at 06:54pm

I'd like the Tribes: Ascend Item please. :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/02/2012 at 07:54pm

@vdogmr25: sent.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/02/2012 at 09:31pm

Firefall looks like it could be tons of fun. So does Smite. I'll claim A FireFall key, and the Smite key only if nobody else wants it. :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/02/2012 at 09:36pm

@panickedthumb smite & firefall sent.

BR Supporter wrote on 09/03/2012 at 07:32am

I'd like the Dishonored Avatar mask and If its not too big a deal, the firefall beta would be cool too. Thanks for the opportunity! :D

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/03/2012 at 09:44am

I'd like the D&D neverwinter mmo beta. and if its not to much extra i'd like one of the doom 3 bfg edition pinky avatars.

Steven_Dodson wrote on 09/03/2012 at 02:52pm

I'll take what you give. Sounds cool.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/03/2012 at 05:45pm

@br items sent.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/03/2012 at 05:46pm

@Jacob_Richardson items sent.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/03/2012 at 05:46pm

@Steven_Dodson sent

Axel_Mller wrote on 09/04/2012 at 04:18pm

That dishonored mask is cool. I'm no xbox guy though. Nice of you to be giving away them like this. :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/04/2012 at 04:50pm

Yeah, no problem! Hope people enjoy the stuff!

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 09/04/2012 at 07:15pm

Thank you jdodson. Saw the stuff yesterday but was having a party and couldn't post a comment. Very awesome did you actually go to pax?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/05/2012 at 01:16am

I did go to PAX this year. Posted a bit about it:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/520
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/523

First video game conference and I plan on hitting it up again next year!

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PAX day 2 was pretty awesome. I realized that I had

PAX day 2 was pretty awesome. I realized that I had accidentally missed a TON of expo floor so Saturday I spent the day exploring the rest of the expo floor, listening to talks and watching a few League of Legends matches.

I also spent Saturday collecting a ton of Beta keys and DLC vouchers, so checkout a later post for give-aways!

http://i.imgur.com/OVIVa.jpg [crossing the street at PAX]

The first talk of the day was a panel on the future of multiplayer games. It featured Andy Williams [Nexon], Scott Hartsman [Trion Worlds], Matt Higby [Planetside 2], Max Schaefer [Runic Games], Scott Youngblood [Red 5 Studios], Craig Morrison [Age of Conan], Joel Bylos [The Secret World]. This was one of the best panels at PAX and I enjoyed how honest it was. It really opened up during the Q&A and I am glad I attended. They handed out a TON of beta keys for Planetside 2 and FireFall, check a later post if you want to snag one.

After the panel @chowda and I hit the expo floor.

http://i.imgur.com/Z8KRJ.jpg [if you figure out what I am doing in this picture that would be super. in retrospect it looks like I am pretending to put on a power glove but I am not really sure.]

I noticed much more cosplay on Saturday. Some of it was pretty impressive and funny. One guy was dressed like a Republic commando and walked around with a boom-box playing some kind of dance music. The Halo guys didn't seem to mind the cross of worlds.

http://i.imgur.com/EZgat.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ltXWL.jpg [yes, he could walk in that]
http://i.imgur.com/3LhRg.jpg [at the d&d neverwinter area, yes this dragon apparently died this way]
http://i.imgur.com/Gsvq8.jpg [aliens colonial marines area]
http://i.imgur.com/jVbE3.jpg [d&d area. no smiles for the camera!]
http://i.imgur.com/ABNvp.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/O9zaR.jpg [ac3 area]
http://i.imgur.com/J1zdc.jpg [practicing duck and cover because I have no prior experience with yeti protection.]

Mojang had a pretty interesting area at PAX. The outside was Mojang community art and inside was a museum.

http://i.imgur.com/X5u7E.jpg [community art]
http://i.imgur.com/1y04L.jpg [guncraft had a showing]
http://i.imgur.com/E1wQP.jpg [mojang museum]
http://i.imgur.com/0Vz3T.jpg [the anatomy of a creeper]

Playstation had a pretty impressive showing this year. They were showcasing God of War Ascension, Little Big Planet Karting & Playstation Allstars Battle Royale.

http://i.imgur.com/T7Jnm.jpg [playstation area]
http://i.imgur.com/7DOXe.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/tGDyx.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/zVWAw.jpg [playstation allstars]
http://i.imgur.com/tBjvB.jpg [god of war]

Oh right and sorry many of the shots are so muddy. Next year I plan on using a much nicer camera. Apparently the iPhone 4S doesn't thrive in low light conditions. Who knew? Well maybe you did and I blame you for not telling me ahead of time!

jdodson1

2753 Posts

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I have a ton of free PAX Beta keys and Free DLC to give-away

PAX day 2 was pretty awesome. I realized that I had