jdodson1

Joined 01/23/2012
  Admin

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

2731 Posts

Looks like Nintendo Power is going to be closing up shop.

http://i.imgur.com/btwrH.jpg
Looks like Nintendo Power is going to be closing up shop. It had a fantastic run in the late 80's and early 90's and whomever had a subscription I was always envious of. I read each issue cover to cover many times.

I remember reading the issue with Secret of Mana detailed and I couldn't put it down for weeks. The way Nintendo stiched together images and game hints was magical to my young video game addicted brain.

A few years ago I got a subscription to Nintendo Power again and some of the spark remained but my habits changed and I didn't read them as eagerly as I once did. Oh and they talked about Nintendogs too much for my tastes. I should have kept my original issues of Nintendo Power but like so many, I tossed them out.

I DO have 2009's special 25th anniversary issue with the special silver cover and poster. I also have a somewhat tattered copy of the Super Mario 3 guide as well as the Final Fantasy VII guide. That said a few site online have archived all the old issues to obtain. Hopefully Nintendo issues an app that has them all available or puts them on some kind of web archive.

I salute you Nintendo Power an amazing relic of a era long since gone!

Oh and the top Nintendo Games in 1988 for Nintendo Powers First issue:
http://i.imgur.com/VHY0c.jpg

-
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/08/source-nintendo-power-magazine-to-cease-publication/

Blizzard dropped the news today that Heart of the Swarm will
http://i.imgur.com/I0g11.jpg
Blizzard dropped the news today that Heart of the Swarm will enter multiplayer beta "very soon." I enjoy the Zerg quite a bit and am looking forward to the single player game. Wings of Liberty was very well done and I anticipate Heart of the Swarm to be just as good or better! I know, perhaps my expectations are too high for a post Diablo 3 Blizzard? I certainly hope not.

Relevant bits from the blog:

"We are preparing to invite testers for the Heart of the Swarm beta very soon! To be clear, this test will be for the multiplayer experience only. We will begin with a select group, including many players who assisted us in testing Patch 1.5, as well as some pro-gamers and press. Over time, we will add more and more testers into the mix.

If you are interested in participating in the beta test, please make sure you are opted in for beta testing. You can do this by clicking "Beta Profile Settings" under the Account Management section of your Battle.net account. Note that the opt-in doesn't guarantee entry, but gives you a chance at joining the beta test. Also, we'll be working with your favorite fansites and community personalities to give away more entries to the beta test, so keep an eye out for invites coming from the greater StarCraft community over the coming weeks."

Really hoping to get in the beta to try the new units!

http://us.battle.net//sc2/en/blog/6983561

Second Terraria World Comes To a Close
http://i.imgur.com/sTSWu.jpg
I turned off the Terraria server tonight. It was awesome to see what people did with the game. I was honestly surprised people built as much, mined as much and killed as many bosses as we did. The screenshot is of the final state of the game at night and as you can see, the village is fairly dense.

We mined down to the underworld, killed Skeletron, The Eye of Cthulhu, Eater of the World, survived countless Blood Moons, Goblin Invasions put the world in hard more and then defeated the hard more bosses.

Some of my favorite moments were on the first night spelunking underground with @chowda, exploring the underground Jungles with @panickedthumb and killing the wall of flesh 10+ times with everyone before we set the world to hard.

I really enjoyed the world and as such plan on having other game events we can play together if people are able. That said, I promised to share the world file after it was over and here it is.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1oRZK7IvLFZM21aWjNFemJSNVU

Everyone can now install the DoTA 2 spectator client to
http://i.imgur.com/H99Wk.png
Everyone can now install the DoTA 2 spectator client to watch existing DoTA 2 games and the upcoming DoTA 2 international. I just installed it and watched a game and it was pretty interesting. Couldn't figure out how to train on watch just one hero, but it was fun to see the game play out in real time.

If you want to nab DoTA 2 now, you can pay $30 for some DoTA items and beta access to play right now. I think ill just wait for the actual release, but its really tempting... I might pay to play it earlier.

Check out the DoTA 2 spectator client and let me know what you think. Is DoTA 2 something you are interested in?

Today Valve announced the Team Fortress 2 update: Mann VS
http://i.imgur.com/eY2SL.jpg
Today Valve announced the Team Fortress 2 update: Mann VS Machine in a Left 4 Dead blog post:

http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=8648

There is a link at the bottom you might find interesting. When you click it, it takes you to the Team Fortress 2 update page but if you typed in the ACTUAL url it took you to a special Steam profile of someone called "Chase."

Here is the clickable secret URL in question:

www.teamf6rtress.com/mvm/

The interesting part about Chase? He is playing Half-life 3: Indev. Is this the start of a new ARG or Valve having a bit of fun with players?

-
http://www.dorkly.com/comic/39783/releasing-the-valve?yes-its-a-repost

A bit ago I finished watching another presentation from
A bit ago I finished watching another presentation from QuakeCon "The Game of Making Games" with Todd Howard (Bethesda Game Studios), Jens Matthies (MachineGames), Raphael Colantonio (Arkane Studios), and Ted Price (Insomniac Games).

Fun to hear about how different studios approach game development and design. A few awesome moments when the audience asked questions you should check out. At one point someone in the audience asked how it feels to have your games go to the bargain bin faster than others. I have a new sense of respect for these leads and what they do.

So then I got this in the mail. @chowda and I are headed to
http://i.imgur.com/TgPAu.jpg
So then I got this in the mail. @chowda and I are headed to PAX this year and I am really excited. To be able to see games exhibited with full wall art work, developers possibly answering questions and the ability to play it before launch? To experience an event in person which I only read about on blogs is a really cool thought.

PAX recently posted a schedule and speakers here if you are interested:

http://dev.paxsite.com/schedule
http://dev.paxsite.com/speakers

PAX Also dropped there will be a few tourneys and seeing people play games like League of Legends should be fun. Over the next few days I am going to digest the schedule and plan out what I want to do. I want to checkout the floor, talk to the companies and see what games they are showing. I want to meet other gamers and talk about Cheerful Ghost. I imagine some people might find what we do as a community interesting.

That said, I will be writing everything I learn here first so don't worry about that!

Ive heard Notch is throwing a party at PAX and in the next bit I am going to try and figure out how I can go to said party. I imagine creepers as waiters serving beer and cheeses! Truth be told I like a good cheese plate now and again.

If there is anything you want me to try and find out from someone showing or speaking, let me know. Its cool to be able to go to something like this and its a first for me, hopefully I don't nerd joy puke the entire time! Here's to hoping.

EXTRA BONUS RAD:

If you were wondering what some of the rules of PAX are, they are listed on the back of the badge. Simple and fun. See kids, rules can be informative and fun too!

http://i.imgur.com/Lul7O.jpg

The Game Genie is Magic
http://i.imgur.com/NfkeN.gif
To celebrate Retro Tuesday today I am dialing the time machine back to awesome and talking about Galoob's magnificent Game Genie. Buckle up kids, the Game Genie allowed you to enter video game worlds you didn't know possible and often times more glitchy than before!

First time I was exposed to the Game Genie was when @WhiteboySlim showed it to me. It was a gold half cart that connected to the end of any Nintendo game. After you switched on the Nintendo a screen came up to enter a code and after the code was entered you could start the game. Game Genie came with a manual for how to essentially mod or cheat at a game. The only mod I remember was in Super Mario Brothers where Mario could jump really high. This allowed you to jump over the flag and if you did that and continued right, the map would continue without end.

Oh right, check out this awesome Game Genie commercial from the 80's. I remember this one as it was released during the Bill and Ted era and the commercial totally rides that 80's skateboard to paydirt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xi4m2qnZaY

The Game Genie manual recommended you try out random codes on games and see the effect. I remember us trying a bunch of random codes on Gradius and most of them scrambled the screen and other less awesome things. I am not sure if we hit pay dirt with any of the codes but it was fun trying things out. We always wrote them down in case we hit Genie gold so we could do it again.

Game Genie lives on in PC gaming now in that some games offer a console mode to change things if you desire. Proliferation of mods allow you take your game to a level Game Genie didn't, Skyrim being one modern example. That said, the ghost of Game Genie lives on in most emulators as all the major emulators support game genie codes.

Game Genie is one of those awesome things from the past that I don't see make the transition into the modern console era. In a world where console manufacturers are making systems more closed, a system to allow you to mod your game sanctioned by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo seems unlikely. The openess of the PC system allows this but not as retroly awesome or one stop as the Game Genie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Genie
http://gamehacking.org/w/images/2/2a/Game_genie_nes_screen.png (the code screen)

New Borderlands 2 trailer dropped this morning. This one
New Borderlands 2 trailer dropped this morning. This one features the villain Handsome Jack and showcases a little of the four playable classes.

Can't wait to head back to Pandora. Thinking of playing the Gunzerker or Assassin at launch. What class will you roll?