I want to wish everyone a very Happy Holdays and I hope you spend it with amazing people. Some of us will be opening some presents from Santa so if you get anything particularly noteworthy feel free to share it in the comments.
I'm an Engineer and built the video game community Cheerful Ghost and text based mini-MMO Tale of the White Wyvern.
2761 Posts
A few days ago I posted about a Kickstarter project to make a handheld system that can play retro games built on the Raspberry Pi. If you are interested in building the ultimate retro emulator to hook up to your TV pparently building a Raspberry Pi console isn't too hard and Gizmodo made an awesome video about it. You can even buy a kit that includes all the parts you need right now on Amazon for $70 while we are all waiting for that NES Classic to be back in stock. I don't recommend you pirate all these games but if you want a one stop shop to play all the games you do own, this is a great option.
https://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-COMPLETE-Starter-Black-16GB/dp/B01EKBJ1I6/
Lifehacker also has a pretty good guide below if you need a step by step in text to read.
http://lifehacker.com/the-advanced-guide-to-setting-up-a-diy-game-console-wit-1790381861
https://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-COMPLETE-Starter-Black-16GB/dp/B01EKBJ1I6/
Lifehacker also has a pretty good guide below if you need a step by step in text to read.
http://lifehacker.com/the-advanced-guide-to-setting-up-a-diy-game-console-wit-1790381861
Mega Man I-VI are coming to Android and iOS this January. Don't misunderstand me, I really have fond memories of Mega Man 2 and 3 but I'm not sure how well these games will play on a phone? I suppose the controls are fairly simple but Mega Man has a fairly tight control scheme so i'm a bit concerned the translation will be worthwhile. Still, accessing these classics in a new way is a good thing and I hope they will be great ports.
Introversion said that Prison Architect was complete and wouldn't be getting more features and a couple months later... more features! It's a prison miracle and what new things did Santa Warden bring us? Prison staff needs!! Just what we always wanted! Well, maybe not for me but it's a really neat feature and also optional which means if you don't want to worry about it in your current or upcoming prisons you won't need to.
"This frosty December, we give you guard needs: no longer can you treat your hard working prison officers as robot gaolers. They're going to need their own toilet and canteen and your staff room is about to get a whole lot busier....
Failure to look after their needs will result in a whole gamut of industrial accident that's going to have a very bad effect on the welfare of your prison."
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=60364
"This frosty December, we give you guard needs: no longer can you treat your hard working prison officers as robot gaolers. They're going to need their own toilet and canteen and your staff room is about to get a whole lot busier....
Failure to look after their needs will result in a whole gamut of industrial accident that's going to have a very bad effect on the welfare of your prison."
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=60364
If you've been looking to get more into retro gaming on the go and Raspberry Pi you might want to check out funding the Raspi Boy Kickstarter project.
"The idea came when I saw on internet projects of "GameBoyZero", awesome raspberry pi based consoles. I was amazed, but it looked pretty difficult to build one, it was a 3 months work and over 100€ for all components! And last, you need an old gameboy to rip open.
RaspiBoy is conceived such that everything fits together perfectly and the build is a 5 minutes task without soldering!
The RaspiBoy comes as a kit, with easy mounting tutorial PDF and video. Don't worry ! It's super easy and we will guide you step by step. It's very much like a puzzle ! Moreover I hope you will find the tutorial interesting as there will be lot of interesting facts on product design, PCB design, prototyping and so on! "
"The idea came when I saw on internet projects of "GameBoyZero", awesome raspberry pi based consoles. I was amazed, but it looked pretty difficult to build one, it was a 3 months work and over 100€ for all components! And last, you need an old gameboy to rip open.
RaspiBoy is conceived such that everything fits together perfectly and the build is a 5 minutes task without soldering!
The RaspiBoy comes as a kit, with easy mounting tutorial PDF and video. Don't worry ! It's super easy and we will guide you step by step. It's very much like a puzzle ! Moreover I hope you will find the tutorial interesting as there will be lot of interesting facts on product design, PCB design, prototyping and so on! "
In this special episode of the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable we talk the new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and wax philsophic about ATAT walkers which some question the utility of(not naming names). This episode features Cheerful Ghost community member Adam who is filling in to bring his take on what he's been playing(FTL) and his thoughts on Rogue One.
We break the review in two and start things fresh spoiler free so rest assured that if you watch start to finish we will give you plenty of time to bail during the spoiler section.
Bullets for your pleasure:
We break the review in two and start things fresh spoiler free so rest assured that if you watch start to finish we will give you plenty of time to bail during the spoiler section.
Bullets for your pleasure:
- Westworld - Apparently people are watching this HBO show?
- Super Mario Run - Is Nintendos latest game great or merely good? Something else? Perhaps.
- Rogue One - It's the main event and may contain a star war or two.
If you like behind the scenes videos featuring Tim Schafer this is something you need to watch as this video is both! Yay!
#allaboardthehypechopper
#allaboardthehypechopper
Nintendo dropped it's second mobile offering on iOS last week and it's great. Super Mario Run is just the right amount of Nintendo polish and classic Mario game play feel to make it a near home run. It suffers from a few things I don't love though like it's always on DRM and in game store. I don't mind DLC or buying things in game for the most part, but it seems the Toad Rally being ticket gated and the only way to unlock tickets is limited in game to completing levels seems a bit strange. That said, if you focus on the core game, it's fantastic and so far I've only played the first level.
Super Mario Run is a free to download game that comes with the first three stages at no cost. If you want to play the rest of the game you can unlock it for $10. I didn't plan to do this going in to the game but so far I've just been playing the first version of world 1-1 with the attempt to collect as many coins as possible. So far my high score is 237 but I think I can bump that to 240 with a fair amount of work. I've never spent time optimizing a run in a game before and it's very rewarding to keep doing a bit better than before. I've learned a few things about optimizing a Super Mario Run and might make a tips video for how to collect as many coins as you can. I'm not sure the things I've learned hold over to later stages but they work well in 1-1.
If you have an Apple device and some time you should download Super Mario Run. It's a fun game and even if you just play the first level for way too many hours like me, there a lot to like.
Super Mario Run is a free to download game that comes with the first three stages at no cost. If you want to play the rest of the game you can unlock it for $10. I didn't plan to do this going in to the game but so far I've just been playing the first version of world 1-1 with the attempt to collect as many coins as possible. So far my high score is 237 but I think I can bump that to 240 with a fair amount of work. I've never spent time optimizing a run in a game before and it's very rewarding to keep doing a bit better than before. I've learned a few things about optimizing a Super Mario Run and might make a tips video for how to collect as many coins as you can. I'm not sure the things I've learned hold over to later stages but they work well in 1-1.
If you have an Apple device and some time you should download Super Mario Run. It's a fun game and even if you just play the first level for way too many hours like me, there a lot to like.
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.
The latest Hearthstone expansion The Mean Streets of Gadgetzan has been out a little under two weeks now and I've played enough now to finally be able to talk about it. If you are curious how my first experience with the expansion went, I recommend you check out my pack opening and crime boss quests video. It was a fun time and, to date, it was the most packs i've ever opened in one sitting. I also opened far more legendaries than I've seen so if anything, watch it to see my incredible luck!
Now that Hearthstone has been out for a few years and received quite a few expansions and adventures how do you keep it fresh? It's an interesting question for one of the most popular multiplayer games around and the developers answered it in a couple ways. First, in the last expansion Whispers of the Old Gods they dropped a new game concept of Standard Mode and Wild Mode. Standard ensures that the game constantly rotates in and out sets in a yearly cycle keeping the game meta fresh. If you want to keep playing with your old cards, Wild Mode allows this and thus Hearthstone took a page out of the Magic the Gathering model of keeping the competative game fresh while allowing you to keep playing the cards you love. Mean Streets of Gadgetzan builds off that but takes it one step further by adding factions. There are nine classes in Hearthstone and in Gadgetzan they fall into one of three factions called the Kabal, the Goons and the Jade Lotus. Each faction has special cards and mechanics that can only be used by the factions themselves creating a interesting way to share neutral cards. Each faction has a theme that carries over to their card design such as the Goons buffing cards in your hand, the Kabal providing magical potions and upgrades and the Jade Lotus stealth and Jade Golem cards. The factions bring an interesting play element to the game and really spice up the classes and have thrown WAY more competitive and varied decks into the game meta.
After I opened Gadgetzan packs I held out on crafting new cards until the meta stabilized. Whereas people are still refining decks and trying out different play styles I think things have settled enough for me to craft a bunch of cards for decks I find really interesting. I really enjoy Reno decks and so far have had a blast playing Reno Priest and my favorite deck of all time, Reno Warlock. Both require you to scrap in the early game for a win but if things snowball in your favor the games can be very rewarding.
So far the cards i've crafted are a Dirty Rat, Kazakus, Aya Blackpaw, Bloodmage Thalnos, Jade Lightning, 2 Mortal Strikes, another Doomsayer, Buckaneer and 2 Jinu Waterspeakers. I'm really happy with those crafts and was lucky enough to open cards such that I had enough dust to craft them.
If you are looking to head back in to Hearthstone or have yet to make the plunge now might be a good time to play it. I am completely free to play and have found the grind VS fun to be a very balanced element. Early on things were rough but I think the game is worth plunking some time into and for people that only have a handful of minutes per day, Hearthstone really fits well.
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3189/i-had-the-craziest-luck-opening-my-hearthstone-gadgetzan-packs
Now that Hearthstone has been out for a few years and received quite a few expansions and adventures how do you keep it fresh? It's an interesting question for one of the most popular multiplayer games around and the developers answered it in a couple ways. First, in the last expansion Whispers of the Old Gods they dropped a new game concept of Standard Mode and Wild Mode. Standard ensures that the game constantly rotates in and out sets in a yearly cycle keeping the game meta fresh. If you want to keep playing with your old cards, Wild Mode allows this and thus Hearthstone took a page out of the Magic the Gathering model of keeping the competative game fresh while allowing you to keep playing the cards you love. Mean Streets of Gadgetzan builds off that but takes it one step further by adding factions. There are nine classes in Hearthstone and in Gadgetzan they fall into one of three factions called the Kabal, the Goons and the Jade Lotus. Each faction has special cards and mechanics that can only be used by the factions themselves creating a interesting way to share neutral cards. Each faction has a theme that carries over to their card design such as the Goons buffing cards in your hand, the Kabal providing magical potions and upgrades and the Jade Lotus stealth and Jade Golem cards. The factions bring an interesting play element to the game and really spice up the classes and have thrown WAY more competitive and varied decks into the game meta.
After I opened Gadgetzan packs I held out on crafting new cards until the meta stabilized. Whereas people are still refining decks and trying out different play styles I think things have settled enough for me to craft a bunch of cards for decks I find really interesting. I really enjoy Reno decks and so far have had a blast playing Reno Priest and my favorite deck of all time, Reno Warlock. Both require you to scrap in the early game for a win but if things snowball in your favor the games can be very rewarding.
So far the cards i've crafted are a Dirty Rat, Kazakus, Aya Blackpaw, Bloodmage Thalnos, Jade Lightning, 2 Mortal Strikes, another Doomsayer, Buckaneer and 2 Jinu Waterspeakers. I'm really happy with those crafts and was lucky enough to open cards such that I had enough dust to craft them.
If you are looking to head back in to Hearthstone or have yet to make the plunge now might be a good time to play it. I am completely free to play and have found the grind VS fun to be a very balanced element. Early on things were rough but I think the game is worth plunking some time into and for people that only have a handful of minutes per day, Hearthstone really fits well.
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3189/i-had-the-craziest-luck-opening-my-hearthstone-gadgetzan-packs
1999 was a good year in gaming that gave us one of the best strategy game sequels Age of Empires II. So many elements were improved making Age of Empires II one of the most beloved strategy games of all time and one I still play with my friends. When Age of Empires II HD came to Steam I was very excited and was thrilled when Microsoft let us try it out before launch on Steam. Age of Empires II HD is the base game you know and love updated for modern Windows and hooked in with Steam multiplayer to make it simple and fun to play epic matches with friends or total Internet strangers. I'd have thought that porting the game to modern systems would have been the end of development but since Age of Empires II HD dropped in 2013 we've received 2 proper expansions and on December 19th we'll get a third.
So far details on Rise of the Rajas is sparse but we do know that it will feature performance updates as well as some major balance fixes.
"This awesome expansion is set in southeast Asia, and brings tons of new content as well as some serious upgrades to the quality of life for our Age of Empires II HD. We’ve had an open beta over the past few months to identify and correct a few performance issues, and with your help we’ve managed to reduce desyncs by 90%! With today’s announcement of Rise of the Rajas, we’re also pushing these performance upgrades live to all of our players for free. Among other things, this makes multiplayer matches much more stable, AND we’ve added multiplayer restore back in, so if you ever DO lose a match in progress to a desync, you can get it back and pick up where you left off!"
https://www.ageofempires.com/news/2016/12/13/announcing-age-of-empires-ii-hd-rise-of-the-rajas-dlc/
So far details on Rise of the Rajas is sparse but we do know that it will feature performance updates as well as some major balance fixes.
"This awesome expansion is set in southeast Asia, and brings tons of new content as well as some serious upgrades to the quality of life for our Age of Empires II HD. We’ve had an open beta over the past few months to identify and correct a few performance issues, and with your help we’ve managed to reduce desyncs by 90%! With today’s announcement of Rise of the Rajas, we’re also pushing these performance upgrades live to all of our players for free. Among other things, this makes multiplayer matches much more stable, AND we’ve added multiplayer restore back in, so if you ever DO lose a match in progress to a desync, you can get it back and pick up where you left off!"
https://www.ageofempires.com/news/2016/12/13/announcing-age-of-empires-ii-hd-rise-of-the-rajas-dlc/
I reacted the same way when I got my N64 for christmas, but I was 20.
I got the NES Classic! (It's super fun, but I'm just impressed my wife found one!)
Awesome Adam!
Damn lucky Adam.
The main fun stuff I got was the new 3DS and a few movies like The Hateful Eight and Star Trek Beyond. The new Metallica album and the Breakfast Club on Bluray. Can't wait to watch Bender smoke it up in HD!
The new 3DS also doesn't come with a charger. I remember something about that a while ago. I guess it works with the old ones and they don't include it. Not expensive but annoying as it's my first DS.
Yeah the new 3DS no charger is lame.
I got a PS4 slim with uncharted 4.
Lucky guys! Gaming wise I got a $30 Gamestop gift card, which I'm thinking of taking to Gamestop and buying $30 in Steam gift cards. LOL Gaming wise, my son got an ocarina from his mom! He also got a Skylanders thing, but it's for XB1/360 (which we don't have), so it's going to get returned for something else.
Oh and as for the N64, I remember that Christmas when I got mine. I got enough money for Christmas that I went to Wal-Mart and bought one. It was sometime around or after high school (which ended in '98 for me). I still have it!
That's super lame that the 3DS doesn't come with a charger, since it's a proprietary connector.
@Travis, I agree. I read about that issue and forgot about it. Since I have already paid for a 3DS and 2 3DS XLs, I already have more than one charger for the 3DS family, so that mattered little to me. I seem to remember reading that they did that to reduce the cost of the system (which is currently about $200), although it seems like a charger would be only a slight cost and not including one just seems like a stupid idea.
I forgot about the charger too! I already had a charger, so I didn't think much of it. I would have rather paid a few more dollars for a bundled in charger than not having one. Think of all the poor kids (and Jon) that get one as a present and then can't use it due to not having a charger. Sometimes I just don't understand Nintendo.
Did you get any 3DS games Jon?
Besides immediately going to Amazon for a charger I also bought Ocarina of Time 3D and Yoshis New Island. I already got a few old DS games like New Super Mario Brothers from Goodwill and that's a really fun game.
I will get the Link Between Worlds and a few others st some point too.
Also there are a ton of demos for the 3DS which should keep me occupied for awhile. Demos, remember those?
Yeah! I know Nintendo has demos, because I've downloaded some of them from their online store. I haven't played OoT 3D, but I bet it's pretty sweet (as the original and other ports are). I have Link Between Worlds, or at least I bought the golden Triforce 3DS XL that came with it. Well it was really a code I had to enter to get it downloaded from the store.
Jon, did you get the New 3DS XL or just the New 3DS? Apparently that "New" model you got has better hardware. I was told that the Hyrule Warriors game for the 3DS doesn't play well on the original system, but works fine on the "New" model.
The New 3DS so not the XL and it was a Black Friday special for $99, so a pretty good deal.
Man, "Nintendo hard" is a real thing! These games are fun, but I kinda feel like I'm banging my head against a wall when playing them lol. I am determined to play through Zelda II, but it's really slow going! (Zelda II is a super smooth game though. The controls feel really good)
What have you played so far? Zelda 2 is really rough. I've never beat it myself.
OMG Zelda 2 is freaking hard. I never was able to figure it out when I played it on the NES. I finally found another way to play it (many years later) with cheats and then looked up what I was supposed to do. I really don't know about that game, it's perhaps one of the most mind boggling games I can think of!
So far my favorite games are Zelda 2 and Final Fantasy. I've played (and loved) FF 2, 3 and 7, but never played the first. It appears it's going to be a long grind (I made my 4 person team to be, 1 black magic, 1 white magic and 2 fighters. I really had no idea what I was doing, but it seems to work) as my team is going to need to level up A LOT before even going through the first dungeon/castle. But I love the sounds! It's kind of a "duh" now, but the FF sounds originated in the original! I was pleasantly surprised to find this out :)
I've tried out most of the other games, and my wife laughs at me when I play for 1 minute, the feels impossible, and I press Resart and go to a different game :)
Which ones feel impossible Adam? "Nintendo hard" is definitely a thing :D
Please note: I'm not asking so I can say HAHA YOU SUCK I'm interested in hearing which ones, as an adult, feel impossible. Our interpretation of difficulty has changed since the 80s. I think we were more willing to grind something really hard when we had all the time in the world and only like 15 games to choose from.
Don't worry, my wife already says that to me, all the time...
Looking back at the list, the only game that feels *impossible* is Super C. The controls feel bad for Ice Climber and Kid Icarus. I might not bother playing those again. I get Galaga and Gradius mixed up, but both were too difficult to put much effort in. Ghosts'N Goblins and Megan Man 2 felt really hard, but beatable (I got through a couple Mega man levels before getting interested in trying something else). Both Castlevania games seemed fun, but didn't keep my attention. I'll come back to those at some point. Kirby and Tecmo Bowl were way too easy, I stopped playing them quickly after starting but will probably pick them up at some point when I'm bored. Zelda 2 is super hard, but fun enough to keep trying. Final Fantasy is grinds, but I'm giving it time.
So I guess the only *impossible* game is Super C :)
Kid Icarus is one of my faves, clunky controls and all. I can see why you might lump it in with that (tangentially)
I need a Game Genie Classic now ;)