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.

2744 Posts

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus Drops October 27th And Looks Incredible!
I think I could handle a new Wolfenstein game released every few years that continues the fucking bananas storyline that MachineGames created in the epic Wolfenstein: The New Order that they are continuing in The New Colossus. Looks like BJ survived the events of the first game(spoiler alert) and is going to be a father of twins! I like how everyone that survived the first game is back and that they've added some all new characters to the game that look like a lot of fun. MachineGames New Order was one of the best story driven shooters i've played in years and is a game i've actually come back to play a couple times over. In The New Colossus BJ is set on seeing America free of Nazi control and looks to be trying to build a coalition with other rebel groups in America.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus drops on PS4, Xbox One and PC October 27th and let me know your thoughts on the E3 reveal trailer in the comments below.

Edmund McMillen's New Game "The End Is Nigh" Drops July 12th On Steam!
The End Is Nigh is an upcoming platformer by Edmund McMillen, the creator of Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Issac and Tyler Glaiel. It features the voice acting by Red Letter Media's own Rich Evans and music by Ridiculon. I really like the trailer but it doesn't seem to give away too much of the game except that it looks like a platformer that mixes up Super Meat Boy & Gish.

"I’m extremely proud to announce that Tyler and I finally finished something! After months of working in secret I can now say that our game is called The End is Nigh and it will be releasing on Steam, July 12th (in 5 weeks!).

A little back story….

In September of last year Tyler and I announced that we were working on a new game called 0uroboros, a platforming shooter with randomly generated environments. after a year of working on it, it felt 10% done. In order to avoid it becoming another mewgenics, we needed to figure out how to refocus it before it grows out of hand.

while working on 0uroboros we would take small breaks to prototype a few other ideas, but it wasn’t till December that we actually sat down and decided to do a full game jam and see what would come out. within a week what we had was a completely stripped down platformer with an adventure game “open” feel where the levels were all locked into tidy little boxes but attached in a way where they could be explored… it felt a bit like VVVVVV meets 1001 Spikes with a Spelunky control setup and it felt perfect.

once again what started as a 2 week mini project sprawled into, by far, the largest game (level wise) I’ve ever worked on. I’m extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished with this game, it embodies aspects of basically every game I’ve ever created and I’m super excited to see what you guys think."

The End Is Night is coming to Steam on PC July 12th and even though it has a Steam page isn't yet available for pre-order. I don't think i'll pre-order this but will wait to pick this up after hearing a more about how it plays.

What do you think, are you interested in playing The End Is Nigh?

http://edmundm.com/post/161553453240/the-end-is-nigh

Nintendo Is Getting Closer to a Netflix Like Subscription Service
When details of the Switch were vague I noted that if Nintendo offered a Netflix like service where you could pay them a fee and play as many of their old titles as you wanted, that would be pretty awesome. As the Switch was closer to launch Nintendo talked about it's new online service for the system and they said that it would eventually be a paid system where one benefit was a free retro title that was timeboxed to only be playable for a month. Most fans didn't love this idea and Nintendo seems to changing course, according to a new Kotaku article.

"Fans were frustrated by what they saw as yet another oh-so-Nintendo move. As Kotaku commenter Nicholas Payne wrote: “Yeah, I’ve gotta hope that ‘for a month’ thing is just Nintendo being characteristically bad at explaining things, because if the best they can offer is putting up a single 20-30 year old game a month to try and then give back... yeesh.” Others wrote editorials begging Nintendo to change course. The reactions were unanimously negative.

Then, Nintendo did something unusual: it listened. Last night’s messaging was typically Nintendo, requiring a Kotaku request for clarification to find out exactly what was happening, but the news was widely cheered. Not only will the Switch’s online service be significantly cheaper than its competitors, at $20/year, it will give subscribers access to a library of classic games, still enhanced with online play. No more monthly releases. You won’t have to worry about time running out. As long as you maintain your subscription, you can play as much as you’d like."

$20 a year for online play seems like a great deal too compared to the $60 XBox gold and PSPlus subscription. So far the games you get aren't cutting edge but for $20 that might not be a big deal at all.

http://kotaku.com/switchs-netflix-like-classic-game-service-is-a-rare-exa-1795766912

Heroes Of The Storm 2.0 Thoughts + Upcoming Free Stuff
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Recently Blizzard dropped a massive 2.0 update on Heroes of the Storm and this last weekend I was able to play a couple matches. I paired up with a friend that plays a ton of Heroes of the Storm and we made our way through about 6-8 games together. As part of the Heroes of the Storm 2.0 launch celebration Blizzard let you select a Heroes pack that focused on certain types of Heroes such as Assassins, Bruisers, Specialists and Support. I picked the Bruisers bundle and as such played mostly of that type and focused on Muradin, XUL & Valla. Heroes of the Storm has come a long way since it's original launch and i'd say it's a really fun pickup and play hero brawler that is fairly easy to learn. Blizzard has also added a ton of different maps with unique objectives making Heroes of the Storm a very unique MOBA that feels more like Unreal Tournament than DoTA 2. If you're like me and not a great player you can practice with bots only OR play games with human players on your side against bots. Heroes also has human team matches and full ranked system so if you are interested in that it's available.

So Much Free Stuff

If giving away the Hero packs with Heroes 2.0 wasn't enough Blizzard is giving away a few more things over the next month if you play the game. Starting back May 30th and ending June 12th if you play one match per day you get a free loot chest. Loot chests are like Hearthstone packs and you have the chance to open a hero, new player skin or any kind of spray, taunt, emoji or voice line. This weekend I opened the new hero D.VA and I can't wait to try her out.

To celebrate the Necromancer coming to Diablo III if you play 15 games with a friend as a hero from Diablo from June 13th - 26th you will unlock 1 epic loot chest, Leoric’s Phantom mount and Ghost Kerrigan wings in Diablo III. I am going to see if I can clock that many games as the Diablo III wings seem pretty epic and i've enjoyed the few pairs I have already.

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/20719773/
http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/20811888/

Relabeling Your Destroyed NES Carts
The 8-Bit Guy has a cool new video about relabeling destroyed NES carts. He created the Pitfall and Wrestlemania labels by hand, which is no small feat. 8-Bit Guy also talks about some criticism where people shouldn't restore original game carts because history is being changed. 8-But Guy notes that restoring a personal game cart is like restoring an old car and since they will stay in his personal collection it's not a big deal.

I Played The Diablo III Necromancer Beta And It's Incredible
jdodson gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
jdodson gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
A week ago I was let in to the Diablo III Necromancer Beta and to put it simply the Necromancer is a ton of fun. If you loved Diablo III and Reaper of Souls and want a new reason to jump back into the game to play all the new updates you should check out the upcoming Necromancer update. To be clear, The Necromancer will be a separate DLC that you will need to buy and is launching this summer(no word on the pricing yet).

"As a master of the dark arts, you wield the powers of life and death necessary to restore the Balance! Necromancers are powerful spell casters who lay waste to their enemies using curses and reanimation—along with an obedient cadre of pets. This new class employs a controlled gameplay style using the raw materials of life: blood and bone."

The Necromancer is a class that feels at home in Diablo III. It was my most played class in Diablo II and I was expecting it to be a near clone of the Diablo II class and I was surprised that it plays differently but feels very similar in tone to the original. My current Necromancer character "DeathsDoor" has the dual Scythe as his main attack(it sends out two Scythes that hit all enemies in front of him) and a long ranged bone spear alternate attack that takes up mana. This bone spear is a good powered attack for taking down enemies at a distance and travels through all enemies in it's path. That said the main fun of my current Necromancer build is my massive army of Skeletons, Corpse Explosion, the Flesh Golem and Bone Armor.

When you play as the Necromancer whenever you kill an enemy a corpse drops on the ground. The Necromancer has many abilities to use corpses and one that's my favorite is Corpse Explosion. This allows a crazy chain reaction where you start exploding enemies in a chain to take down a huge mob. The only downside to sinking most of your abilities into corpse attacks is that if you don't have any corpses available you can't do much. Corpse explosion works well for huge mobs but not bosses so having good alt abilities here is useful.

Another cool ability is Bone Armor which is activated when you select it over a group of enemies and it yanks out their bones and you wear them as armor for a time. It's a fun and totally gross ability that fits the Necromancers theme well.

I haven't leveled my Necromancer to max yet but already have had a blast just taking it as far as I have. The Necromancer is a very fun addition to Diablo III and one I am very interested in playing more of when it launches this summer. With that, I still wonder what the future of Diablo III is and I hope they add another campaign to the base game as I really enjoyed the last one in Reaper of Souls. That said, the Necromancer update should be well worth checking out and if you want to jump back in to Diablo III it might be a good time to do it.

https://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/20698502/necromancer-beta-now-live-5-23-2017

The New Far Cry 5 Trailer Is Out And It's Making Some People Angry
I don't have a problem with shooter games and violence. I also think it's good that video games branch out from the same kinds of plot lines and story beats. The new Far Cry 5 trailer dropped on the Internet recently and besides Ubisoft taking the game visuals to a new level (it really does look very good) the game is getting a bit of a backlash from gamers for it's setting. Basically the game is set in rural Montana where a religious cult takes over the town of Hope Springs. Since all of what I described is not only a crime in America, but also total bullshit if you enjoy the freedom to do what you want with your life, in Far Cry 5 you are the player set to take the cult down and free the town. With that, some gamers feel that this game is an attack on certain heartland values and American loving rednecks. I can understand some of this criticism as typically games don't feature the modern day US heartland as it's backdrop. Many might find this shocking but frankly... it shouldn't be as shooters have been waging war in countries all over the world for quiet some time. Now that the game is in rural Montana now we have a problem? I don't see it. If games can explore new ideas and settings why not a game where you take down a religious cult in Montana? I get that this hits close to home for many gamers in America but... shouldn't this be OK too? Maybe the only kinds of shooter settings palatable for some are yet another WW2 shooter, Nazi killing simulator or yet another jaunt through Hell?

Regardless of the controversy I love the new take and I hope Far Cry 5 doesn't go all hamfist with this game. Ubisoft can say something interesting here and I hope they do because they now have everyones attention.

Far Cry 5 will drop on PS4, XBone & PC February 27, 2018.

The Trailer For The New Castlevania Anime On Netflix Is Out!
Netflix is spending a ton of money on original new content and one of the new shows that will be coming to the streaming service this July 7th is Castlevania. The new trailer doesn't pull any punches as it starts with someone putting a Castlevania game into an old Nintendo and then the Netflix logo and 8bit video morph into a few clips of the show. The animation style looks solid and I wasn't sure how i'd feel about a dark adult Castlevania but this looks like it could be pretty interesting.

What do you think of the new Castlevania trailer? Is this something you are going to watch when it drops on Netflix July 7th?

Didn't Get An NES Classic? John Riggs Reviews An NES Classic Bootleg.
For $20 this NES Classic bootleg is quite the deal and it comes with 500 games but is it any good? From the video I have serious doubts AND it doesn't even include The Legend of Zelda or at least I didn't see it when he scrolled through all 500 games.

My Continuing Adventures In Link Between Worlds
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As i've said before, one of the main reasons I wanted a 3DS was to play Link Between Worlds, the direct sequel to A Link to the Past. I plan on writing on my journey through the game as it's quite good and think it might be interesting to read. Link to the Past isn't a very difficult game but it's fun, engrossing and a very tight and focused gameplay experience which is why it's always topped my list for one of the best games of all time. That said, Link to the Past is pretty easy if you play it in the right way and Link Between Worlds ups the ante some to make for a more interesting game. For instance, in traditional Zelda games death has no real effect on how you play the game. In fact starting with Link to the Past you can collect Fairies in bottles to bring you back to life each time you die. Effectively this means that if you have the maximum number of bottles and play the game reasonably well, death has no negative effect on gameplay. Link Between Worlds tries to change this with item rentals. At a certain early point in the game you meet a purple rabbit named Ravio that takes over the house you start in to rent and later sell you items. If you die in a dungeon Ravio takes you to the house again and removes your item rentals. It's an interesting mechanic where dying actually has some kind of downside and I think it's pretty cool. Even though you can store fairies to restore you back to life if you lost an item you need to complete a dungeon, you still have to go and get it. Later on in the early part of the game Ravio allows you the ability to buy items for 800 gold, which removes some of the negatives of dying but buying out all the items takes along time and I've only purchased a couple of them. Buying items is also different than the traditional Zelda way of finding them in dungeons which is a fresh take on how Zelda games work.

Recently I just gathered all three pendants and collected the Master Sword. This mirrors the original Link to the Past and I wonder what the Link Between Worlds equivalent of the Dark World is? Maybe it's the Dark World again? I'm not sure as I haven't read many spoilers about the game but when I find out i'll let you know.