Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Diablo 3 Patch 2.3.0 Out Now Featuring Ruins of Sescheron, Kanai's Cube, New Seasons & Difficulty Levels

Blizzard isn't stopping the Diablo 3 update train post Reaper of Souls for a very interesting patch 2.3.0. I'll clip out the more interesting bits we've been talking about in the run up to the patch drop.

"The Ruins of Sescheron
The frozen wasteland that is the Ruins of Sescheron are now open for exploration! Filled with new enemies, traps, and environmental hazards, you'll be able to explore the region and learn more about what befell the barbarians of Mount Arreat. Explore the Immortal Throne and obtain the ultimate treasure: Kanai's Cube.

New Feature: Kanai's Cube
Kanai's Cube is a new artisan that offers a slew of new recipes to fully customize your items and... Read All

Mega Man Legacy Collection Blue Bombs It's Way To PC

If you played a few NES platformers you've more than likely played a Mega Man game. Capcom just released Mega Man Legacy Collection for $15 containing the original Mega Man through Mega Man 6! Capcom is advertising these to be faithful reproductions of the originals and to that they are not joking. They seem to be using some kind of NES emulation and like modern emulators offer very nice upscaled 8-bit graphics and original sound.

Six classic games in one – Play a piece of video game history with the original six Mega Man games and experience the origins of the classic series.

8-bit style with HD flair – The games retain their retro 8-bit style with an added HD... Read All
If you played a few NES platformers you've more than likely played a Mega Man game. Capcom just released Mega Man Legacy Collection for $15 containing the original Mega Man through Mega Man 6! Capcom is advertising these to be faithful reproductions of the originals and to that they are not joking. They seem to be using some kind of NES emulation and like modern emulators offer very nice upscaled 8-bit graphics and original sound.

Six classic games in one – Play a piece of video game history with the original six Mega Man games and experience the origins of the classic series.

8-bit style with HD flair – The games retain their retro 8-bit style with an added HD finish, giving a crisp, clean look to the charming, classic sprites.

Challenge remix mode for new and veteran players – The robust new Challenge Mode remixes gameplay from all six games for a new type of challenge. It provides both increasingly difficult trials for experienced players and also teaches newcomers to become familiar with the style of the games and tackle some of the trickier areas.

Museum of the era – The Museum Mode features a massive repository of history and art collected from the era of the games in this collection. Take a look back at the history of Mega Man with loads of information, high-res art, concept pieces, sketches and more in the Museum.

Developed with an all-new engine – Using the newly developed Eclipse Engine, Capcom and Digital Eclipse are able to archive these six pieces of video game history with faithful reproductions of the originals for a new generation of gamers.

Leaderboards and video replays – Fans will be able to watch video replays of the top players on the leaderboards, showcasing a whole new generation of Mega Man talent!

$15 dollars for all 6 games ain't bad and if you are looking at capping off your collection this might be the way to do it. Let me know if you plan on picking this up or if you are sticking with your ol' NES carts. The Mega Man Legacy Collection is out on PC, XBox One and PS4.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/363440/

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/26/2015 at 07:09pm

I saw this on the Steam news (that window that pops up when you open Steam and it shows you what's on sale), but I overlooked it as I didn't think it contained the original games. Thanks to your post, I decided to go ahead and buy it. I've played some of the NES games, but particularly I remember having one of them for the Gameboy.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/27/2015 at 03:26am

I will probably pick it up in the future. I have too many recent purchases that need some TLC.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/27/2015 at 06:31pm

Yep, me too. I plan on coming back to Mega Man 2 and 3 at some point and when I do will pick this up.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/27/2015 at 08:37pm

I know these games are classics, and the music is iconic, but I wonder how Adult Adam will receive them. I'm sure I'll buy this at some point, but I wonder if Child Adam loved and beat these games because his options were limited. When I run into a difficult section, how many times will I actually replay it, or simply move on to another game?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/27/2015 at 10:58pm

I played a little bit this morning and beat CutMan. I was glad to see that I could use my controller for it. I also noticed that this isn't a simple emulation, but definitely a graphically improved version of the game. What I mean is that in the original game, there were a lot of disappear sprites, but that's not so in this version. I also like that there's an auto-fire button.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/28/2015 at 01:37am

@GregoPeck... That is funny that you say sprites don't disappear. Most of the complaints that I have seen have been around performance issues that were most likely in the game to begin with.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/28/2015 at 03:56am

@Will_Ball, I hope you and others understand what I mean by disappearing sprites. If anyone's played an NES for any length of time, they'll definitely see what I'm talking about. This occurs even if you're using an emulator. However, now that technology has progressed, the game no longer has the same sprite limitations as the original hardware.

Steam says I played 11 minutes of the game. I didn't notice any issues at all. I was able to plug in my XBox 360 controller (which I have only for my PC) even while the game was running and it worked right away. This was a feature I was hoping would be included as I prefer to use a controller for these original NES games. That's because if you use they keyboard, the directional buttons (by default) are used by my right hand, not the left, which I didn't enjoy.

I didn't look at the extra stuff very much, but I think it's great that they provided it; original artwork for example.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/28/2015 at 04:42am

Good to hear it worked well for you Greg. I never actually played the original Mega Man but spent quite a bit of time playing 2 and 3.

All 6 in one pack? Mega Man for ages.

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Watch Adam And I Open 55 Grand Tournament Packs - Spoiler Alert One Of Us Gets Justicar Trueheart

When Adam and I heard there was a new Hearthstone release we started hoarding our daily quest gold. When the Grand Tournament launched today I had enough gold saved for 28 packs and he had 27. Adam had the idea that we stream our opening of our packs and the video linked above turned out way better than I expected.

We start the stream talking about some of the more interesting Grand Tournament cards then proceed to the main event, opening packs. I'd say Adam drew a much larger spread of cards than I did but I ended up pulling Justicar Trueheart. He also pulled two balls of spiders to which I pulled none.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/22276-justicar-trueheart

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/25/2015 at 04:55am

Adam is no longer talking to Jon

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/25/2015 at 04:56am

Just kidding. It was actually a great time. I'll start rebuilding decks tomorrow and see what happens!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/25/2015 at 04:58am

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/25/2015 at 12:20pm

I see a typo in your post, you put "Grant" instead of "Grand".

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/25/2015 at 01:39pm

Fixed.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/25/2015 at 08:19pm

It's still in the URL. LOL

Bina wrote on 08/25/2015 at 09:50pm

Let me know when you have a verdict on on Ball of Spiders. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/26/2015 at 05:19am

I didn't pull a Ball of Spiders so I can't comment on it. What I can so far is that i've been mostly playing Shaman and the new cards are a mixed bag so far. I am still tweaking, but so far they are not a slam dunk or anything. I've had some really fun games but few wins.

My Hunter deck is way more versatile but that needs some more tweaking to get it tuned right.

I can't wait to put together a new Paladin deck.

JaBo wrote on 08/26/2015 at 04:29pm

I did like 40-50 of the mage v. hunter brawl to play with the new cards, and I have been doing arena's now (since I had 1400 gold saved up) and I should be able to just do arenas for quite a long time (for instance, spent 150 to enter arena, got to 8 wins and won back 250 gold plus a pack). It's a fun way to play with the new cards too. There's some that are just really good!

Mukala's Champion, really great guy. I had 2 out at once and just was overpowering. https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/shacknews/assets/editorial/2015/08/Hearthstone_MuklasChampion.jpg

Lock and Load hunter card was great, I'm def feeling some more powerful burst hunter deck coming

Almost all the new priest cards I love! Those dmg to self and heal ones are great for my heal trigger combo deck. And the legendary is a fun late game card.

This card is bonkers: https://i.imgur.com/Rls4NIJ.jpg I got it an arena match and just cast it ASAP! Boom, whole deck/hand +1/+1.

Boy, so refreshing! Warlock, Shaman, even Rogue looks fun now!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/26/2015 at 05:37pm

I'm enjoying the Tournament Medic in my Warlock deck. Especially when paired with Floating Watcher
http://hearthstone.blizzpro.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/07/Tournament-Medic.png
http://wow.zamimg.com/images/hearthstone/cards/enus/animated/GVG_100_premium.gif?9786

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/28/2015 at 04:41am

I played the Mistcaller in a Brawl match and i'll agree, it is a bonkers card.

I didn't pull a Mukala's Champ but I am seriously considering crafting it.

JaBo wrote on 08/28/2015 at 08:01pm

I'm at 9 original packs, 6 GvG, 4 arena packs and 735 coins to still do more arena with. I'll keep playing until I'm spent then finally bust open packs. I like waiting til there's 10+ as I feel good that I'll at least get 1 card I'm interested in lol

Travis Admin wrote on 08/30/2015 at 06:08pm

So is this expansion only adds new cards, like Goblins vs. Gnomes, right? And expansions are separate from adventures, like Naxxaramas and Blackrock?

I'm getting back into it a little for the first time since right after release. Just unlocked all the different decks, and wow I suck.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/30/2015 at 09:45pm

Hahaha yeah, sucking at start is perfectly normal. I had a post for new players a bit back. Check that out.

The Grand Tournament is a new expansion and not an adventure.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/31/2015 at 12:35am

I'm not entirely sure what adventures are yet, but I definitely know what an expansion is from my time in Magic the Gathering.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/31/2015 at 04:56am

Adventures contain 5 tiers of boss fights where you can unlock specific cards. So far there are just two adventures, Naxxramas and Blackrock Mountain. You can pay $25 for each adventure or unlock each tier 700 gold at a time.

JaBo wrote on 08/31/2015 at 06:01pm

I opened my 27 packs that I accumulated and got 3 legendaries and enough dust to craft another legendary. I then bought 30 packs and got 1 more legendary. So, back to ladder now that I got some of the good new cards. I only have 2 legendary GT cards. The Justicar I pulled (and I like using) and I crafted the priest chick for funs. http://i.imgur.com/vnHeEty.jpg

Was torn between her and this one http://media-hearth.cursecdn.com/avatars/252/298/22264.png

A neutral legendary is always nicer, but Priest is my fav so I went there.

9 mana gets me her plus a random legendary. I never play her without mana to heal same turn.

JaBo wrote on 08/31/2015 at 06:02pm

Oh also, Murloc Knight is best new card... get 2 and use asap

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/31/2015 at 08:39pm

I've heard that about the Knight and I agree. I pulled one and will craft the other. Murladdin is a very cool new deck type.

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Hearthstone The Grand Tournament Out Now - Inspired Minions Rejoce

I've been spending the last month plus saving up my gold to open Grand Tournament packs and I can't wait for tonight to open them. One of my friends is coming over and we plan to open the packs together and stream it for anyone interested. Please let me know in the comments what cards you've pulled and any new decks you are playing with.

"Joyous fanfare fills the air of taverns everywhere today, which can only mean one thing—Hearthstone’s second expansion, The Grand Tournament, has arrived! Experience all The Grand Tournament has to offer: 132 new cards add a cavalry of noble knights, powerful steeds, potent spells, and more to your collection. A new keyword, Inspire,... Read All

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/24/2015 at 08:07pm

I'm looking forward to getting some interesting cards! I've played one battle against someone with an Inspire card, but they didn't get a chance to use it (they played it the turn before I won). I think this next week is going to be really interesting as everyone is going to be experimenting with new deck combos!

Bina wrote on 08/24/2015 at 10:40pm

Take a look:
http://2p.com/35698954_1/All-Remaining-TGT-Cards-Revealed---See-54-Brand-New-Cards-by-Corey_T.htm

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/24/2015 at 11:16pm

That's going to be a super helpful link! I want to be surprised tonight when I open my packs, but I'll be coming back to that link to check what I still need!

Bina wrote on 08/25/2015 at 01:28am

I'm still trying to unlock all of nexxramas, so I'm saving my gold for that. I did, however, allow myself to use my gold to purchase one GT pack. Here's what I opened:
Spellslinger x2 (mage class)
Murloc Knight (paladin class)
Bolster (warrior class)
Armored Warhorse (neutral)

I don't think any of these cards fit with my current builds. Next month when I start opening more GT packs, we'll see how they work out.

Bina wrote on 08/25/2015 at 01:41am

Justicar Trueheart- Play with mage class. As we saw with the GT brawl prerelease, doing two damage per turn never gets old. And combo with some of the other mage class cards, this ability gets insane.

Bina wrote on 08/25/2015 at 01:52am

Tournament Medic may be broken when added to Warlock deck. Starting turn 5 draw an extra card without losing health!

Bina wrote on 08/25/2015 at 02:03am

Spawn of Shadows paired with Greater Heal. You deal 4 damage to both heros then heal yourself for 4.
Fallen Hero!! Money. All the way.
Ball of Spiders. It might not be the best, but it's really fun. It's essentially deal three damage and draw three beast cards for six.

Bina wrote on 08/25/2015 at 02:24am

Powershot is crazy useful. Similar to Betrayal.
Sparing Partner is great. Great cost for what it does.
Ancestral Knowledge is only good if you benefit from overload. Otherwise terrible.
My priest deck is going to love Holy Champion.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/25/2015 at 03:26am

Opened 27 packs tonight! I'm going to have to go through these more before I can really comment, but it was a lot of fun seeing all the new stuff!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/25/2015 at 04:56am

Yeah, i'm not in love with ancestral knowledge either. But it's at least some kind of card ramp I suppose?

I agree about Fallen Hero, when wouldn't that be a good card to put in a Mage deck?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/25/2015 at 04:57am

I am thinking the Murloc Knight might be a good card to put into a Paladin Deck. I have a few Murloc cards so it might be worth experimenting with.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/25/2015 at 05:04am

We have to think up cool deck names before others (like zoolock).

I suggest Murladin!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/25/2015 at 02:02pm

Here is a video of someone going lethal with a refreshment vendor because they have the card that makes healing cause damage.

http://gfycat.com/AmbitiousSparklingBison#

Bina wrote on 08/25/2015 at 09:48pm

@jdod That video is too much fun. I watched it on loop about 3 times.

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Half-Line Miami Is a Unique Half-life / Hotline Miami Fan Mashup

Do you love Half-life AND Hotline Miami and ever wonder what a mashup between them would be like? If you are like me then then answer is whaaaa? but that doesn't mean that Thomas Kole's latest game isn't something worth checking out. Half-line Miami is available to download on PC for free, just hit the link below. Or should you bludgeon the link below with a crowbar? It's up to you.

http://stabberthomas.itch.io/hlm

What Were The Limitations Of Old School Video Game Hardware And How Did Developers Overcome Them?

YouTuber The iBook Guy posted a two-part video outlining how developers of retro video games side stepped the hardware limitations. iBook Guy talks about old hardware RAM limitations of 16k, 32k and 64k and how the developers used certain spriting techniques to give us the awesome games we grew up with. In many cases I didn't know they had those limitations to work with so after watching the video I have a new appreciation for how difficult old games were to make.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/24/2015 at 01:05am

I'm assuming you found this on Facebook, since I tagged CheerfulGhost in a post I was tagged in. =) This was particularlly interesting to me because my first computer was a Commodore 128D. It's fascinating how engineers were able to make colorful images on screen despite the limitations at the time. An artist made a really awesome picture using that old tech.

Even though ANSI and ASCII weren't discussed, I'm reminded of a funny quote I saw many years ago, "ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI." LOL

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/24/2015 at 01:05am

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/24/2015 at 03:53am

I think I find this in a retro blog I am subscribed to? It may have been Facebook.

I played quite a few games on DOS that used ANSI graphics. I actually think they are pretty cool looking but I am also very old

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Interview With Justin Baldwin of Sleep Ninja Games About Upcoming Multiplayer Deathmatch Arena Super Splataclysm

Being active in the Portland Indie Game scene is pretty incredible as you get to meet a ton of great people and can see games from an early form to final release. One game you might see shown at any upcoming PDX event is being made by my friends over at SleepNinja Games called Super Splataclysm. Splataclysm is a multiplayer arena that focuses on violent fast paced combat reminiscent of Smash TV or Thunderdome. Even in a very early stage the game is great and watching people enjoy the carnage is quite a bit of fun. A few moons back I asked Justin Baldwin over at SleepNinja games if I could talk to him about the game and how the studio was doing in a post Monsters Ate... Read All

Classic Game Final Fantasy VII Comes To iOS. Head Back To Gaia On Your Tablet!

Classic game Final Fantasy dropped on iOS a few days ago and so far is getting good reviews. Pricing in at $15 this is one of the more expensive iOS titles but for as beloved as this is and as much time as people have dedicated to it, it doesn't seem to bad. Final Fantasy VII may be a beloved classic but it's a game that came out on a system I never owned. Because of my lack of access to a Playstation I never picked this up and have no nostalgic love for it. I wonder if I play this now how I will take it compared to how I would have appreciated it back then?

It seems like a perfect fit for a phone or tablet so if you pick this up let me know what you think of it.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/24/2015 at 01:39am

Your video is broken!

Travis Admin wrote on 08/24/2015 at 01:40am

But Jon...

"Because of my lack of access to a Playstation I never picked this up and have no nostalgic love for it. I wonder if I play this now how I will take it compared to how I would have appreciated it back then?"

Dude, you need to play the PSX Final Fantasy games. All three are great, in different ways.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/24/2015 at 03:57am

Video updated.

I am seriously considering playing VII on PC. After that, I might continue I've hard hoot things about 8.

JaBo wrote on 08/24/2015 at 06:50pm

6-7-8-T are the glory days of FF, I can't express my love of them properly.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/24/2015 at 09:36pm

People had some issues with the way some of the mechanics worked in 8, some reasonable, but I loved it.

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Portland Indie Greenlight Roundup - Laser Lasso BALL, Mimic Arena & XO

I recommend everyone take a look into the local Indie game scene around your home town. If it's even a fraction of the mad craze in Portland then you are in for a treat. Recently a lot of really great games have been announced here in Portland and I wanted to wrap a few of them up for you to chew on. All of these games are being made by my friends from PIGSquad which makes this post double cool.

Laser Lasso BALL

Laser Lasso BALL is a local co-op game where two players go head to head in alien deathsport. Featuring some of the fastest mutiplayer matches I can remember, Laser Lasso BALL is a really fun experience that is easy to understand and hard to master. The amazing... Read All

Run Your Personal Game Streaming Service Using Amazon EC2 and Steam

One of my Twitter pals shared this wicked cool Amazon EC2 hack that basically shows you how to rent Amazon cloud server time to run your own personal high end Steam PC streaming service. After quite a bit of technical Amazon server bit flipping you can run high end PC titles like The Witcher 3 for about 53 cents an hour. Factoring in the cost of running your own high end PC, renting the time from Amazon doesn't seem like a bad option.

The steps listed in the blog post are pretty technical but you can skip all the way to the end by just using the EC2 image and going from there. If you didn't know, Amazon rents time in its cloud for any person or company to use. You can... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 08/18/2015 at 03:04am

That's WAY cheaper than Playstation Now.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/18/2015 at 03:08am

True, but you have to bring your own games. I think part of the cost involved with PS Now and the like is the game is included? Or something?

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/psnow/faq/

Looks like you can rent most PS Now games for $1 a day? So this would be more expensive because it's 50 cents an hour. PS Now also seems to offer a Netflix style service for $20 a month? Thing is, that price doesn't include the hardware, something the Amazon services offers.

That said, I wouldn't go PS Now as the overall cost of the hardware + fee would be more than buying Steam games + Amazon rental fee with this option. Oh I guess that means you're right then

Travis Admin wrote on 08/18/2015 at 03:52am

A few things:

First, I read "53 cents an hour" as "53 cents a day" at first, so there's that.

But to determine which is cheaper (or rather, a better value)l, there are a lot of factors to take into account. You buy the Witcher 3 for example and you can play it whenever you want when you have the beefy hardware. It isn't a game rental, really, like PS Now.

You don't need any additional hardware for PS Now, it all runs on Sony's servers, you don't pay for those. BUT, the cost of a new PS4 if you don't already have one is way higher than something that can stream Steam games.

But I think the prices have dropped on PS Now since the last time I checked, so I was definitely wrong about it being cheaper. Overall.

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