Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Epic Games Announces New Gears of War Styled MOBA Called Paragon

Epic just announced that it will be launching a new MOBA in 2016 called Paragon. From the gameplay trailer above it looks like it pulls some elements from Gears of War, Unreal Tournament and their iOS game Infinity Blade. If you are a MOBA fan 2016 will be a good year as 2K's Battleborn is coming out as well as the very popular League of Legends, DoTA 2 and Heroes of the Storm are getting more attention than ever.

Paragon will launch in 2016 to a paid early access and then later with a summer beta on PC and PS4.

"Today Full of Energy Mario Runs" - Did You Know The Super Mario Theme Had Lyrics?

You can file this in this "what the..." section but apparently the Super Mario Theme has official Nintendo sanctioned lyrics. See if we take our time machine and go back to 1985 Nintendo fans submitted lyrics for the theme song to a Japaneese radio contest. The winner was selected and the song pressed to a vinyl record that someone later recorded and posted above. Some awesome person at Destruction later translated the song to English and what follows will really give you a deeper understanding of Mario and the entire series.

Oh and the title of the song? Go Go Mario of course!

"Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running
Go save Princess Peach! Go!
Today, full... Read All You can file this in this "what the..." section but apparently the Super Mario Theme has official Nintendo sanctioned lyrics. See if we take our time machine and go back to 1985 Nintendo fans submitted lyrics for the theme song to a Japaneese radio contest. The winner was selected and the song pressed to a vinyl record that someone later recorded and posted above. Some awesome person at Destruction later translated the song to English and what follows will really give you a deeper understanding of Mario and the entire series.

Oh and the title of the song? Go Go Mario of course!

"Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running
Go save Princess Peach! Go!
Today, full of energy, Mario runs
Today, full of energy, jumping!
Today, full of energy, searching for coins
Today, keep going, Mario!

Get a mushroom - it's Super Mario!
Get a flower - it's Fire Mario!

Goomba! Troopa! Buzzy Beetle! Beat them all!
Mario is always full of energy and strong!

[Spoken] The only one who can reverse the spell that has captured the Mushroom People is Princess Peach. But Princess Peach is hidden underground, in a far-off castle. Ah, the days of peace... if we could once more return to those days... to save Princess Peach and bring peace back to the Mushroom Kingdom, that is why Mario is on his journey today.

Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running
Go and beat the Koopa tribe, go!
Today, full of energy, Mario runs
Today, full of energy, jumping!
Today, full of energy, searching for coins
Today, keep going, Mario!

Get a star - become invincible!
Quickly, go save Princess Peach!

Lakitu! Blooper! Cheep Cheep! Beat them all!
Mario is always full of energy and strong!

Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running
He's made it to the castle and gets fireworks!
Lightly sidestepping the Hammer Bros.
Show the last of your power, Mario!
It's been a long journey but it's nearly at an end
You've done it, you've done it! You've defeated Bowser!

Princess Peach says "Thank you"
Mario's got a great big heart!

Mario's adventure is over for now, but
Mario's dream lives forever..."

http://www.destructoid.com/super-mario-bros-theme-has-lyrics-30498.phtml#skePQ8mQwzRvQ8Rd.99

Day of The Tentacle Remastered Is Going To Take On The World March 2016

Day of The Tentacle was one game in a batch of 90's adventure games I have fond memories for. It contained such a unique sense of humor and figuring out each puzzle felt like you were some kind of genius because most of them were so bizarre. On the heels of Grim Fandango Remastered, Double Fine has been spending time polishing up Day of the Tentacle for the same kind of HD treatment and will drop the game on March 2016 on PC, Mac, Vita and PS4.

Oh and Tim Schafer also noted that they will be relaunching Full Throttle Remastered in 2016 as well. So many remastered games, so little time.

"Now, over twenty years later, Day of the Tentacle is back in a remastered edition... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/06/2015 at 10:30pm

That's cool. I believe Day of the Tentacle is supposed to be a bit of a sequel to Maniac Mansion, which was one of my favorite games on the NES. I played DotT maybe once. Perhaps I'll pick it up when it the remastered version gets released so I can play it again.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/07/2015 at 05:25am

I still have the 3.5 inch floppies!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/07/2015 at 05:42am

Nice! I had DOTT on CD and it was one of the games that used the sound blaster for full voice audio!

Timogorgon Member wrote on 12/07/2015 at 05:58am

Awwwwww yeah!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/07/2015 at 05:28pm

@jdodson, now that you mention it, I think it is CD.

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Interview With Travis Newman Creator Of Indie Sensation Animator's Nightmare

In the wake of this years many gaming disappointments, community fiascos and the ever growing disappearance of the sacred dollar menu at restaurants many wonder about the future of gaming and culture. Will the industry see a new wave of games that captivate us in the same way as the ones that came before? Or are we to be held in a creative limbo where everything created is the exact same as the things that came before? In a world of sequels, reboots and DLC packs some developers are taking the gaming basketball down the court and jumping up for a slam dunk. I was able to experience one such effort in developer Travis Newman's brand new game Animator's Nightmare. After... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/05/2015 at 07:12pm

This game is so hard, I only scored 5!! Is there any way you could possibly tone down the difficulty? I mean it said to press the ANY key to jump, but I can't find it!!!!! Do I need to upgrade my keyboard? Also, the my GTX 690 had severe issues with the graphics. I didn't see the amazing graphics Jon mentioned, should I upgrade my PC? I mean my computer could barely run it. It was kind of slow. This is a terrible game and you should be ashamed that you made it. I am going to call upon my fellow trolls and make you afraid to step outside of your hows!!!!!!

HAHAHAHA I'm kidding as much as you guys. Good job, Travis! Good interview, too!!! =)

Travis Admin wrote on 12/05/2015 at 10:25pm

My high score is like 40 because I got bored. The next version will be harder. :D

But yeah this was fun to make. All the backgrounds and obstacles were from previous animations I've done throughout the semester. The plot, such as it is, I fall asleep at the PC and have a dream that I'm trapped in the Flash software with all my creations trying to kill me. The timeline and titlebar you see the player running on are parts of the Flash interface, and the panel with the score and health are the symbol properties for the player symbol. The title and game over screens are wrapped in the Flash interface, with a ton of the panels hidden so I could make it feasibly sized and still have the content show up.

I'm super proud of the concept, it works without any noticeable bugs (as mentioned in the interview :D) but I seriously might change it up a bit for a more general audience who hasn't seen all my previous animations, and make it actually have some difficulty.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/05/2015 at 10:51pm

If you want the context of all those animations you see riddled throughout that make no sense: http://nrccstudents.org/newmant/flashprojects.html

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/05/2015 at 11:22pm

> Also, the my GTX 690 had severe issues with the graphics. I didn't see the amazing graphics Jon mentioned, should I upgrade my PC?

You don't ask if Animator's Nightmare should change to fit your PC, the proper reasoning is to change your PC to work better with Animator's Nightmare.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/06/2015 at 12:11am

That's what I said Jon, you even quoted me saying "...should I upgrade my PC?" Maybe if I upgraded my GTX 690 to a 3dfx Voodoo 2, it would look amazing! I'm not sure I'm ready to have a $1,300 graphics card though. Steam says I've spent 1,000 hours playing this game and I still think it sucks! Granite, I think the conpect is neice becuz who woold of thout to have a charakter jumping over thing?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Do you like what I did there? Seriously, good job, Travis! I hope you enjoy my humor as I've enjoyed the humor of your interview. Remember your good ol' roommate when you get rich! =)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/06/2015 at 12:19am

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/06/2015 at 01:59am

I first played Animator's Nightmare back on 12/4/15, before it was cool, and it terrified me. Everything about it seemed so REAL, especially the horror. I'm glad there was a jump ability, because there was no way I was going to lose another fight to a dancing baby! No one should have to relive that moment...

My only complaint is that this game suffers from what I call "coercive nostalgia." The past is so present in such a way that it causes me to forget any recent knowledge I've acquired of video games, and how to play them. Granted, this works to the games advantage, but it really sucks when I then go on to play The Talos Principle, forgetting how to apply logic, or even push other non-jumping buttons.

I have to hand it to Newman, though. Only the bravest son-of-a-bitch could take those very personal, haunted dreams and push them on people in such a simple, yet not condescending way. A masterful stroke, almost frighteningly so, proving once again that Canadian game developers should definitely be taken seriously.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 12/06/2015 at 05:23am

After awhile the level design starts to feel recycled. Also, I felt there were too many dancing babies and not enough Humping Robots. I also think it could have used more anime cat girls.
4/10.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/06/2015 at 05:36am

**account deleted**

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/06/2015 at 06:24am

After searching for a few hours on local a BBS, I found out that in order to run the game properly, I had to upgrade my Netscape Navigator to 2.0. I can't afford to buy the brand new 3dfx Voodoo 2 nor can I afford to upgrade my 14.4 modem. Luckily, I was able to play the game again and I got a better score. I did notice a significant boost in proformance of the game and golly, the graphics are amazing!!! I also found out that there's this gaming company called "Copcam" and they have this game called "Megamain" or something like that. Anyway, the karakter jumps just like yours in the game. You clearly made your game first and so you should sue them for cofyright infrengiment. I hope you'll hook me up with some of that money you get when you win that lawsuit, since I'm the furst to pont it out two your!!!!

Hahahaha I looked at your other work, too. Good job! Parallax Background was probably most notable to me because I remembered seeing that "Parallax" option in Terraria and didn't really know what it was about. I don't even think I looked it up.

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Double Fine Launches New Crowdfunding Effort For Psychonauts 2

Tim Schafer and Double Fine are at it again with a new Crowdfunding campaign to launch the development of Psychonauts 2. As seen in the video above they are enlisting the help of many people associated with the original game to cook up what looks to be a nice follow up to the original. The video is very fun and features a cameo by Valve overlord Gabe Newell and writer Eric Wolpaw that is work the price of admission alone.

To date Double Fine seems to have navigated a few Crowdfunding snafus with Broken Age and Spacebase DF9. I can't speak to Spacebase but I found Broken Age to be an incredibly fun game even though the funding efforts were a bit shaky at times. To... Read All

Epic Mark Hamill Interview on Star Citizen, Wing Commander and Star Wars

Mark Hamill is one of the many actors that will appear in Star Citizen, the extremely well funded Kickstarter Space simulation game that has raised an estimated $99 million dollars with pre-launch crowdfunding. Apparently Star Citizen is bringing on some very talented actors such as Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson & John Rhys Davies to help tell the games story. Hamill is no slouch to lending his voice and acting abilities to gaming as my first memory of him outside Star Wars* was Adrian Ripburger in Full Throttle and went on to later star in Wing Commander and the voice of the Joker in the Batman comics as well as video games. In this interview with PC... Read All

Get Jade Empire Free On EA Origin!

EA is giving away the classic BioWare RPG Jade Empire so head over to Origin to redeem it while supplies last! While the digital supplies last. So basically until they run out of keys? Or does it expire? They don't really say so just click that link down there.

https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/free-games/on-the-house

Kirby's Dream Land - An Amazing Retro Platformer That Is Incredibly Easy To Beat

One of the retro karts I picked up as this years Portland Retro Gaming Expo was Kirby's Dreamland on Gameboy. I have fond memories of Kirby on NES and since I wanted to pickup a Gameboy Advance at this years PRGE I decided to also get some classic Gameboy titles such as Metroid Return of Samus and Kirby's Dreamland.

A week ago I snapped Kirby's Dreamland in my Advance and started it up. Immediately I was reminded of how much fun Kirbys Adventure is on the Nintendo as it's nearly perfectly translated here to Gameboy. The play control is great and the platforming is super smooth. Kirby can suck in enemies and air that he can then shoot out as a projectile weapon as well... Read All

Tales From The Void - My Thoughts On The First Half of Starcraft II Legacy of The Void

I am a StarCraft zombie from way back so when news of the final chapter of the StarCraft II series was releasing I zerg rushed to get it. Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm took the series into a much deeper and more interesting place and as seen in my numerous play sessions of both games. Legacy of the Void continues the epic saga and I can safely say that it's quite enjoyable and so far, a very entertaining ride. I don't want to spoil the game for anyone so I am going to not get too specific about anything I feel is related to the plot.

As the game launches you back into the StarCraft-verse things happen that I didn't expect but make sense with how Blizzard like... Read All I am a StarCraft zombie from way back so when news of the final chapter of the StarCraft II series was releasing I zerg rushed to get it. Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm took the series into a much deeper and more interesting place and as seen in my numerous play sessions of both games. Legacy of the Void continues the epic saga and I can safely say that it's quite enjoyable and so far, a very entertaining ride. I don't want to spoil the game for anyone so I am going to not get too specific about anything I feel is related to the plot.

As the game launches you back into the StarCraft-verse things happen that I didn't expect but make sense with how Blizzard like to tell stories. After the initial couple missions things get very bleak, which makes sense considering they want you to feel like the odds are against you and you might not win. But since you always win in video games that you spend the time to complete this trope is honestly starting to feel a bit played out. It's not that I don't mind the odds stacked against you in a game, it's just that the lengths Blizzard goes to accomplish that seem entirely transparent. I'll try to explain what I mean without getting too specific about the story but at one point you come across a race that did very well in the last couple games and should be quite strong yet in one mission they are unbelievably devastated. "You mean all the stuff I did in the last games to build things up are wiped out in a mission or two? *sigh* sure Ok then." The only other thing I found a bit obnoxious was the Protoss have very well reasoned plans with clear objectives that keep getting figured out for not apparent reason. The game makes it plain that you are on the cutting edge of an idea and means to make you believe you arrive on location before the enemy does to only be hoodwinked by them as they have already arrived and are extremely well prepared. The game basically wants you to believe that when you come to some news first and leave right away the bad guys beat you to the punch... every... single... time. Again, this isn't a bad trope if you do it once or twice but it happens all the time.

That said the other aspects of the game are solid and extremely enjoyable. The diversity of missions is solid, the art direction is incredible and the music is top notch. If you loved the earlier StarCraft games you'd do well to play this one as it's a fitting end to the series.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/01/2015 at 02:22am

I must admit that I still haven't played it. Fallout 4 and Ark: Survival Evolved are to blame. Well, that and my anxiety with even the first Oblivion mission. As I've said, I intended to play Fallout 4 first. I've also thought about starting LotV and going back to the Oblivion missions when I feel more comfortable with the Protoss, since it's been so long since I've seriously played some StarCraft II.

Thanks for your input! How many missions have you played through? Or, how many hours have you put into LotV?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/01/2015 at 05:55am

I've played through a bit more than half of the game. Hours? I don't know Blizzard doesn't make it easy to see that. By the end maybe 25 or 30?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/20/2015 at 08:33pm

I finally just finished Whispers of Oblivion. It was a bit difficult to get into it and proceed through the first two missions, I had to look up some help after a few attempts. I failed a few times with the last mission, but ended up finishing it. I played on Normal difficulty. At first, it was because I wasn't used to Protoss units and wasn't sure how to proceed. In the first mission, I built some very strong robotic ground units, which was helpful. For the second one, I used a good group of air units.

So, what do you think about LotV now that you finished?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/20/2015 at 08:56pm

Ah, good question I should get a review out. In general i was hapoy with it but it wasnt as great as Wings or HoTS. That said it had a very satisfying prologue ending.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/20/2015 at 09:08pm

Did you pre-order the Nova thing yet? I'm thinking about it, there is a sale going on for it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/20/2015 at 09:34pm

Yep, I will.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/20/2015 at 09:45pm

I did. It's only $14.99. =)

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Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/241930/header.jpg?t=1447180561

http://store.steampowered.com/app/241930/?snr=1_7_15__13

I picked it up since it's on sale for $17 for the GotY edition and it's been one of the most fun games I've played in a long time. I played 4 hours last night and I'm so eager to play more tonight.

Pick it up if you don't have it!

It's similar to assassin's creed or batman where you can sneak and stealth around and the combat is really interactive, so that's fun. But to me so far, what's really cool are the enemy captains you come across. The orcs have all their normal grunts, but then they have a pile of captains, veteran captains, elite captains out there. Each with their own personality and traits.

I came... Read All http://store.steampowered.com/app/241930/?snr=1_7_15__13

I picked it up since it's on sale for $17 for the GotY edition and it's been one of the most fun games I've played in a long time. I played 4 hours last night and I'm so eager to play more tonight.

Pick it up if you don't have it!

It's similar to assassin's creed or batman where you can sneak and stealth around and the combat is really interactive, so that's fun. But to me so far, what's really cool are the enemy captains you come across. The orcs have all their normal grunts, but then they have a pile of captains, veteran captains, elite captains out there. Each with their own personality and traits.

I came across this guy that was a veteran captain, and I was a little new to be facing him, so I ran and hid. I'm hiding and hiding, but unlike in other games where you are generally safe after hiding for a while, not so here. This captain was a tracker! He and his posse followed me around this cliff, through some other areas, up a ladder, down a ledge.... I mean, I didn't know where to go lol. I used all my bow power shots on him but he was still only half dead (and he was supposed to be weak to bow shots).

I eventually lead them to a big rock wall and and they went around to the left and I circled behind them and picked off some of the guys at the end with a bow. Then was able to finish the captain with 4 more powered up shots. (I only get 4 at a time, then have to recharge them elsewhere). He died and was crossed off the captains list.

I thought sweet. I picked up a power-up from him and went on my day.

Well, I came across him again, except he was wearing like a bandage on his head. He said, you thought you killed me?! And we fought again. This time, I ran away and he lead the chase. I turned and attacked him while his posse was a little lagged behind. I dropped him to half health pretty quick, and he said he was retreating and tried running. He ran behind his orcs and dropped off a ledge. Well, I sprinted past his group, dove off the ledge and clipped him with my sword, then turned and did a wicked finishing move on him!

This game is uber fun. Grunts get promoted to captain when there's room and enough time passes (or you die). There's tons of side missions and power struggles between the captains... I haven't been so excited for a game in ages!

PS: Jon, I couldn't find this game on the game list to talk about.

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/30/2015 at 06:00pm

I added it so you can now add it to your list: http://cheerfulghost.com/game/28042/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/30/2015 at 09:39pm

The game sounds great and it's FAR up my list of games to play. What with Fallout 4 and Legacy of the Void I have quite a bit of game for the time being. That said the Steam Holiday sale is coming too and I might pick this up then(if it's on sale).

This game keeps getting recommended to me by friends, I will pick this up it's just a matter of when I can play it

JaBo Post Author wrote on 11/30/2015 at 11:42pm

Hopefully it is, it's 66% off right now for the full package. maybe it'll be same or cheaper for Christmas. It is worth every penny. I'm just dying to get off work and go play!

And I hear ya, far too often I pick up a game because it's on sale, but then never make time to play it. Or I buy it full price and never play it lol. I'm pretty bad about it, honestly. I was nervous I'd do the same here, but watching the 8.5 minute video on steam sold me so hard. (Watch that if you haven't, it talks about some of the aspects of gameplay and you'll be drooling after).

It's definitely an action game, not an RPG game, but that's totally fine by me, I don't have much time for RPGs anymore... I can't dedicate enough time to them.

JaBo Post Author wrote on 12/01/2015 at 05:28pm

I played another 5 hours last night..... I'm starting to get into the power struggles of the orcs with each other. I had a quest which basically is a lead in to me flexing my influence. The quest involved a scrawny whiny orc working with me. I basically killed a captain and this little guy cut his ear off and took credit for the kill so he'd be captain. Then I killed an elite captain for him and finally a Warchief. I had not previously faced a warchief. I had to infiltrate his fortress first (not interior) and kill a bunch of guys to get his attention. So now, this scrawny orc is the new warchief, but he supposedly will follow my commands... I know at some point (probably now that I did this little intro into it) I can mindmeld with orcs to dominate their mind and make them my puppet. Then I think I can manipulate the power struggles to get them to rise to higher ranks as my puppet. We'll see!

My combat skills are definitely on the rise, I can face down a hundred melee grunts. I still die to javelin throwers (pesky bastards) and captains are still hard, especially with a swarm of enemies or other captains. This one captain was particularly hard to kill, he had loaded armor on, huge shield and unblockable spear attacks. He slashed me and threw me around for half my health... lot of dodging. But he was also a learner. The same tactic didn't work more than once on him. He was immune to ranged attacks. I couldn't jump/dodge over the top of him to get him from behind easier.. He called reinforcements often. The only way I finally won after running away ragged was to keep sprinting away, climbing this platform and then sneak kill his allies to get him alone before more showed up. Even 1v1 he was super hard to fight since he blocked any head on attack.

(cutting post due to 3000 characters)

JaBo Post Author wrote on 12/01/2015 at 05:28pm

I finally killed this other bastard that rose all way up the ranks and kept surviving encounters with me which earned him promotions. He killed me as a grunt a long time ago which promoted him to captain. Then every time I faced him he was with 3 other captains and I couldn't win. He finally got to a high power that he was strong 1v1, he had this bloody wicked long knife that dug into me. But I got him last night! He was doing a recruitment mission to get orcs to join him. I snuck in to disrupt him. Well, I shot down a nest of angry hornet things and he happened to be afraid of them, so he ran for it and the recruits were like, I'm not going to follow that guy! So success there, plus I left the outpost he was in and chased him as he fled. I caught up to him and since he was in a fleeing state, I was able to land a 1 hit KO on him.

The little personality quirks are really cool. Some guys are scared of beasts, some get enraged by you hurting their guards, each captain has different strengths and weaknesses. Also, the dialogue is fun. One captain I kept facing was a cannibal and he kept making eating jokes. I'm excited to start getting more into the power struggles and trying to get a foothold against these warchiefs.

Game is so fun! A solid 9+ hours played now and I'm still so ready to play more!

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