I don't have time to play each new release in gaming, but in some rare cases I'll make the time and Rage 2 is one of those games I'm gonna make time for. The open world trailer dropped tonight during The Game Awards and I was happy enough to watch it and then nab the link on YouTube to share with you here. The game looks even better than what they previously showed and the artistry shown in how the trailer is cut is superb. My only question is how much like the real game is this? If they can deliver on most of what we see here this game is going to be bloody great.

Oh and the Russo Brothers just came out at The Game Awards making a finger snap joke and delivered the win for on-going game of the year and Fortnight won! No surprise there, Fortnight owns the gaming world right now and it's a well deserved win.

"The wasteland of RAGE 2 is your playground – your very bloody playground –and in a world where there are no rules, insanity rules. Go anywhere, shoot anything, explode everything. RAGE 2 will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on May 14, 2019."

Psychonauts 2 is an upcoming game by Double Fine and just today received a new official trailer! Rasputin is back and this time he's not at Summer Camp anymore and much of the game seems to take place in Psychonauts headquarters! The trailer is big on plot mystery which makes the anticipation for the final game all the more fun. One thing I've come to love about Double Fine is the game narratives are always top notch. The last Double Fine game I loved my way through was Broken Age and I felt like the second half was way too obtuse puzzle wise but the story was great and I wanted to finish the game simply to see how things turned out. I wasn't disappointed in Broken Age and Psychonauts 2 looks to deliver on the core Double Fine strength of a fun game world and narrative experience.

The new year is fast upon us and as such a new year of 2019 gaming predictions need to be made! This year we're going to do things a bit more fun in that all our collected Cheerful Ghostradamus 2019 predictions will be read aloud in our upcoming New Years episode! If you want to be part of the gaming festivities please read the following.

How To Be Part of the Cheerful Ghostradamus Radio 2019 Predictions Episode

You're a gamer and as such have an opinion on things you'd like to see happen in gaming in 2019. Maybe you have a thought as to what might happen that you don't want to happen but you feel might anyway. Take those thoughts, write them down and send them to us in a few ways.

1. Send me a private message on Cheerful Ghost. This is a good way to send me your ideas and keep the surprise private for the other listeners.
2. Email them to me. You can get my email address on the Cheerful Ghost about page so send those predictions along!
3. Comment on this thread. It's an easy option but the surprise for some might be lost.

Retrospective on Our 2018 Predictions

Firstly, I'm terrible at telling the future of gaming. That's not gonna stop me from making more predictions this year but my one lone wish to see a Nintendo 64 Classic did not come true.

Will Ball got close with his Virtual Console on the Switch prediction. Virtual Console on the Switch is not coming but the online service + NES games is a start and Nintendo is only going to keep adding to it over time. Will was right on though, the Switch was the number one console of 2018.

Travis struck out wanting to know more about Final Fantasy VII remake. It seemed like such a slam dunk too, why wouldn't we learn more about the game? Cheerful Ghostradamus knows for sure.

I'll have to ask Adam about this prediction because I don't know enough about the industry to score it. "VR will continue to become more and more valuable in architecture and engineering design and presentation to clients."

Travis pretty much hit the nail directly on the head with his prediction about loot boxes save one detail. "While we certainly haven’t seen the end of loot boxes, the Star Wars: Battlefront 2 outcry will make EA rethink their purpose a bit and others will hopefully follow suit, making pay-to-win hard to find in a game you have to pay for up front." Whereas this murdered EA during that time, I'm not sure how much pause it's giving other developers?

At the time I found Wills prediction about The Last Jedi funny because we hadn't seen the height of the backlash yet. At that time it was fairly mild and it only got worse over time. I personally loved The Last Jedi and find the whole fan reaction to be quite sad not that people don't like a movie but the depths some go to voice that. That said, this didn't happen and it doesn't look like it will. "What would a Cheerful Ghost article be without some Star Wars? After the fan backlash of The Last Jedi, and JJ’s carefully laid plans being ripped apart, Lucasfilm will release a JJ Abrams’ cut of The Last Jedi. This will set up Episode 9 so it can be true to JJ’s vision. It will also make The Last Jedi the highest grossing movie ever."

Whereas I'm not going to cover each prediction I wanted to end on one that i'll just respond to with a chuckle. "Travis: Valve will learn to count to three and we’ll get news of either Half-Life 3 (unlikely), Portal 3, Team Fortress 3, CounterStrike 3, Left 4 Dead 3, or DotA 3."

Read them all below.

https://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3595/cheeful-ghostrdamus-2018-gaming-predictions

The second Captain Marvel trailer just dropped on the Internet and I wanted to share it here for you to watch and comment on. Captain Marvel takes place in the 90's as Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel heads back to Earth for reasons unknown with some incredible super powers.

MCU Lore Because Why Not?

I'm not gonna pretend i'm the person with the most Marvel knowledge but it seems Captain Marvel's Kree connection is a huge focus on this trailer and I remembered something about the Kree from past MCU films so I looked it up.

Yondu had a line from Guardians of the Galaxy 2 about being enslaved by the Kree.

Yondu: "I was a Kree battle slave for twenty years when Stakar freed me."

Seems Ronan from the original Guardians of the Galaxy was a Kree and not a particularly nice one.

"They call me terrorist. Radical. Zealot. Because I obey the ancient laws of my people, the Kree, and punish those who do not. Because I do not forgive your people for taking the life of my father and his father and his father before him. A thousand years of war between us will not be forgotten!"

Are all Kree bad? Apparently not but it seems they aren't viewed well in the Galaxy so Captain Marvel might not be fighting for the right side? Who knows, but the movie looks incredible so I guess we'll see.

http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Kree

Oh and the "Something from my past is the key to all this" reminded me of George Lucas saying something similar about Jar-Jar Binks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz-SaMu8k3w

I'm pretty sure that's a hot take connection you won't see anywhere else so you're welcome for that and I imagine we'll see a Gungan crossover in the MCU soon enough.

I thought Anodyne was one of the coolest Indie games to come out in 2013 and was happy to hear Anodyne 2 is in development. Recently developers Analgesic Productions have released more details of the game and one big one featured in the linked video above, is the ability to switch between 3D and 2D game modes. The 2D game graphics are in the style of the original game and the 3D looks very reminiscent of early Playstation or Nintendo 64 games.

"Anodyne 2: Return to Dust is coming early 2019 for Windows and Mac OSX. Much like Final Fantasy, there's no need to play Anodyne 1 to understand Anodyne 2's story, but longtime fans will find connections to Anodyne 1! It's also available on Steam."

https://analgesic.productions/

Bethesda recently tweeted that Elder Scrolls Blades isn't going to launch this year and that it's coming early in 2019. Elder Scrolls Blades is one of my most anticipated games (it looks awesome) and it's a bit unfortunate to hear it's pushing out a bit but if the game is better for it then why not?

"The Elder Scrolls: Blades will release in Early 2019 for iOS and Android devices. We are incredibly excited for you to play Blades and you can still sign up for Early Access at http://PlayBlades.com ."

https://twitter.com/ElderScrolls/status/1068225011163504640

If you frequent this site you know I love watching speedruns. I think a great speedrunner is not only skilled at the game they are playing but can also explain the history of the run as well as how certain strategies were discovered. Certain YouTube channels do breakdowns of Speedruns and their history and Summoning Salt is one of the best. Check out the historical breakdown of the Super Mario Bros. 3 100% Speedrun above and learn about Mitch Flower Power and the rest of amazing runners that have traded the world record over the years.

If this speedrun historical breakdown isn't enough for you, strap in because in a couple days i'm going to post my final 2018 GDQ Express wrap up series and one run features Mitch and Grand Poo Bear speedrunning Super Mario Bros. 3 co-op!

Half-life is a classic PC game that I bought to play Counter-Strike. I knew it was a fun game, but discovered that later after playing a ton of Counter-Strike. Truth be told I was never really good at LAN Counter-Strike but I was pretty good at Half-life as it was one of the first first person shooter games to blend puzzle solving with a first class sci-fi story.

"Few games have made an immediate impact quite like Half-Life. From the narrative, to the level design, to the numerous spin-offs and mods! The original 1998 PC gaming classic is well worth revisiting."

Looks like Valve isn't making any more of it's Steam Linux streaming mini boxes you can use to play your PC games on your TV. It's currently marked down to $2.50 on Steam right now and it looks like when they sell out you won't be able to buy them any more. Valve continues to be committed to it's Steam Link Android App but hasn't been able to release it on the Apple app store after they initially submitted it due to a violation of the App store policy. Hopefully Valve can work out something with Apple because I've recently replaced my Steam Linux under my TV with my Wii U. I always thought the Steam Link was a cool device but now that Steam streaming comes installed on some TVs and Smartphones it makes sense that Valve won't be making more.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/353380/Steam_Link/

https://steamcommunity.com/games/353380/announcements/detail/2533733726684325037

Super Metroid/ALttP Combo Randomizer by Andy and Oatsngoats in 3:16:22 One of the coolest parts of this years GDQ Express was Andy and Oatsngoats playing the Super Metroid and Link the Past Randomizer co-op. The Super Metroid & Link to the Past randomizer run is a super new speedrun and it was really fun to watch two of the best players in Zelda and Metroid play such an incredible co-op run. The randomizer seed isn't particularly kind to them and when one of the worst item spawns happens it's a very fun moment but Oats and Andy pull it out for a very fun run to experience.

Earthbound by Ultimoice in 2:15: 57 Earthbound is a classic SNES RPG that can be completed incredibly fast due to some really obscure game bugs. In this years GDQ Express Ultimo speedran the game under the all photos category to a crazy speed of 2:15:57.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IlknOBqSu4

Donkey Kong 5: The Journey of Over Time and Space by theboyks in 7:02 Donkey Kong 5: They Journey of Over Time and Space is a bootleg Gameboy cart that recreates the first five levels of Super Mario Bros using the Donkey Kong Gameboy sprites and music from games like Pokemon pinball. The game is pretty terrible and looks quite difficult but Theboyks runs it flawlessly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOjW1EVIPpE

Star Wars NES by Indy in 11:30 Star Wars on NES isn't a particularly great game and if you're not as familiar with it this run by Indy is a good way to get aquatinted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q7wKzdR81c