Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Interview With Ryan Rothweiler About Miniverse!

Miniverse is a new puzzle game by Ryan Rothweiler of Ryt Games. Ryan is a local Portland game developer and I first got my hands on the Miniverse beta at a few events we both we boothing at. Miniverse is a pretty unique game in that you take control of planets to move people around the universe. So far, my wife and I have been playing it together in that we both alternate the iPad to complete levels. The game is very challenging as Miniverse starts out straight forward and ramps up the difficulty. It never seems impossible, but the timed missions and quick turn arounds mean you have to be quick.

Miniverse is available for free with in game DLC on the iPad, right now.

... Read All

Recreation of Star War IV: A New Hope In Minecraft

"I am recreating ‘Star Wars – A New Hope (Episode IV)’ the FULL film in vanilla Minecraft.

Minecraft – Star Wars – A New Hope is a transformative fan-film spoof parody based on the 1977 film ‘Star Wars – Episode 4′ It will be 100% FREE to view! NO money or profit is to be made from this project and monetization is disabled. It is being created by a fan, for the fans.

This project has been 3 years in the making and some of the individual sets have taken upto 6 months just to build. No mods have been used, just custom textures and art.

To watch the final film with sound you will need the original 1977 version of the film in your DVD/Blu-ray player."

I am very interested in... Read All

Great RPG Shooter. Cliched Narrative.

I love open world games. I can't wait for Fallout 4 and "yet another Skyrim game?" Yes please. That's why Far Cry 3 was the game I was the most interested to get in the last Steam sale. So when I saw the entire Far Cry franchise pack on sale for $15 I jumped at it.

To start things off properly, I installed the original Far Cry. I've heard great things about it and to date, haven't played it. After playing it for a few hours I can say I had a pretty good time and I now see why people hold it in high regard. That said, it's really fucking hard, the story isn't great and the play is a bit stiff. There was little to keep my interest in advancement so I didn't complete it,... Read All I love open world games. I can't wait for Fallout 4 and "yet another Skyrim game?" Yes please. That's why Far Cry 3 was the game I was the most interested to get in the last Steam sale. So when I saw the entire Far Cry franchise pack on sale for $15 I jumped at it.

To start things off properly, I installed the original Far Cry. I've heard great things about it and to date, haven't played it. After playing it for a few hours I can say I had a pretty good time and I now see why people hold it in high regard. That said, it's really fucking hard, the story isn't great and the play is a bit stiff. There was little to keep my interest in advancement so I didn't complete it, but I do see why people love it. For the time it was a beautiful, open world experience at a time where that kind of game wasn't very popular.

Originally I played Far Cry 2 on the PS3 I acquired from a Gamestop bargain bin sale and for the $5 I payed for it, thought it was great. Far Cry 2 improves on the Far Cry game play and graphics in nearly every way I can think of. That said, the version I picked up in the Steam sale is far superior to the PS3 version graphically and the game is still, very good. It's a fairly dark game as your start by picking a mercenary character to play as. You fly into a war-torn African country and complete for-hire jobs from two sides of the countries conflict. Over the course of the game, you hunt down The Jackal and attempt to stop him from arming both sides.

That said, I was more interested in Far Cry 3 and after a few hours of Far Cry 2 on PC I started Far Cry 3.

The first cut scene is the video above and as you can see, the game starts up with some bro worthy shenanigans. I was hoping there would be some kind of satirical element at play or a wink and nod to this kind of bro-culture, but it was played straight. It's as if the writers of Far Cry 3 are trying really hard to get "dat white guy" audience to love the game but it just comes off as some really bad version of some MTV reality show. That said, the intro sequence doesn't last forever and you are thrust into the part of the game where you can ignore the main story, because honestly, this game is best served that way.

It's not so much the intro sequence as the entire setup of the main narrative entirely. Basically the point of the game is that your are Whitey McDude on a vacation with your bro-squad living life to the X-treme when you take a totally questionable sky dive jump into a camp of pirates. The story does get sightly more interesting as you are called "a little bitch" by the pirate leader Vaas. Again, the games narrative gets more interesting when the super X-treme bro-squad get's imprisoned by pirates, if only for a minute. That said, the shit gets real fast and you escape the camp to later be knocked unconscious. You wake up in the hut of "one of the good island natives" and he proceeds to say you are going to save the island because you are a warrior. Nothing to this point proves you are a warrior, except deep down, this guy feels it. He then proceeds to tattoo you up and hands you a gun and you set out to save his people.

As much pandering as that is, I think this game might have been more interesting if you were some islander who got fed up with the pirates and decided to take action. But instead of that it's Whitey McDude on the case and does he ever look good in that plain white shirt and those tribal tattoos.

That said, if you ignore the story and focus on the gameplay that's where the game shines. The game is a fantastic open world extravaganza of interesting gameplay and great shooting mechanics. It's awesome to just simply walk around in this world as the art is so beautiful. As you walk around the island, wild dogs will chase other animals like pigs and goats. In fact, there are tons of animals on the island and experiencing them all is fun. Getting attacked by a shark for the first time scared the shit out of me so much I decided to take revenge by going on a great white killing spree with a Jetski. Jaws couldn't top the carnage I inflicted on his children and many sharks were lost.

Nearly every element of the game is upgradable by collecting some in game item and crafting it. For instance, if you want to upgrade an ammo pouch, hunt a wild boar and craft a better one from the skins. The game doesn't skimp on the gore as it shows the player taking out a knife and cutting up the animal you are hunting.

If you are looking for a really neat RPG open world shooter, Far Cry 3 is for you. If you are expecting a game that goes beyond seriously cliched plot devices you will be disappointed but there is a lot of awesome here to love. And if it's any consolation, Far Cry 4 drops the white savior main character and opts for something a bit more interesting. Because if there is anything i've come to expect is the next version of Far Cry should be a ton better than the previous one.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/18/2014 at 01:56pm

A bit of trivia: Vaas is played (VO and Mo-Cap) by Michael Mando, He plays Vic "the Dick" in Orphan Black, which is about as far from Vaas as you can get. Great actor.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3103126/?ref_=tt_cl_i8

A few questions for you--
1. How long did the game last you?
2. Did you also play Blood Dragon? I've heard it's basically an 80s campy extravaganza set on the same island.
3. Did you get any motion sickness from it? I played it for a few hours and the room was spinning. Apparently there's a fix for that but I haven't tried it yet.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/18/2014 at 04:04pm

1. Still playing it. I'll let you know total hours if/when I beat it.

2. Blood Dragon was part of the far Cry pack but since it came after FC3 I'll play it afterward. I played the demo though, it's fun.

3. No motion sickness so far.

Zach_Foster wrote on 07/18/2014 at 06:49pm

I played the original game on PC right after it came out. I was thoroughly impressed with the game and it more than held my attention for the amount of time i played it (probably a total of 20 hours) until i got a new game and simply moved on.

I played a little bit of Far Cry Vengeance on the WII and I'll say that the game was fun and fairly well built, but playing it on the WII ruined it for me. It was just too much effort trying to do all the controls it required while still trying not to get shot, so i didn't put a whole lot of time into it.

I believe i've played a bit of FC2 but i dont remember enough about it to comment. Haven't played FC3 but a friend told me that i should buy it for the sole purpose of playing Blood Dragon, even though i later found out it's a stand-alone game and you don't need FC3 to play it.

Sounds good to me though, next time i see FC3 on sale i'll give it a go.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/18/2014 at 09:05pm

Yeah, Blood Dragon is stand alone and doesn't require Far Cry 3 at all.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/19/2014 at 10:29pm

@Travis: OK yeah I got a bit sick after steaming it on my TV. When I sit down to play it "PC Style" without a controller things are generally fine.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/20/2014 at 03:33pm

How far had you gotten in the game, story-wise, at the time you posted this article?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/20/2014 at 04:12pm

Met up with the woman that runs the tribe I fight for.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/20/2014 at 09:52pm

I actually enjoyed the story, and I'd say that it does get much more interesting as it progresses. I remember thinking something similar when I started playing, that it was a bit heavy handed with the rich-kid American all of a sudden becoming a warrior, but there are twists later on that give it a little more depth, and offer insight as to why Jason Brody is being pushed to "save the island." It's definitely more Clive Cussler than Daniel Defoe, but I don't know that I'd go so far as to call it cliche.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/20/2014 at 11:55pm

Cliche, trope, whatever you want to call "white guy saves the natives" storyline. Ubi or Disney, it's a pretty trodden plotline. That said, it doesn't make the game bad OR the story bad, but the start of the game sort of rubbed me the wrong way. Like I said though, the game is pretty bad ass.

That said, maybe they will open things up a bit as the game continues. It's possible the game creators decided to do something pretty tropey and then do something different later.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/21/2014 at 02:11am

I haven't played it that much due to the aforementioned motion sickness issues, but I took the plot to be poking fun at the trope. It didn't seem to be taking itself seriously to me.

I could be wrong, or seeing what I want to see, but I found it enjoyable *because* I thought they were making fun of it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/21/2014 at 04:05am

They may very well have done that. Interesting if they did because it was, in my case, super effective

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"Livin' on the Edge" of Space

I recently found Edge of Space by looking on the Steam Store at Terraria to see what games were similar to it. I've already played Starbound. It seems Edge of Space was inspired by Terraria. In an addition of the game, Terraria content is included. All three games are being developed by different companies, even though the Terraria artist worked on Starbound.

I really enjoyed Terraria and am looking forward to new game content. As for Starbound, I enjoyed it most the first time I played it, but then I hit a part where I had the highest minerals and gear. Eventually, I really had no reason to continue mining. After exploring a variety of planets and biomes, I began to... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/17/2014 at 04:02am

Sounds interesting. I wonder how deep the game goes?

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/22/2014 at 10:22pm

I've spent 25 hours in the game so far. The tutorial is helpful, but it never mentions restoring your health points. I've done some research and it seems that this is either not yet implemented or there is only one thing that can do that. I find this to be a major set back. Therefore, death is frequent. However, you get regenerated back at your spawning point, which is a Cryopod (http://edge-of-space-game.wikia.com/wiki/Cryopod). By using this station (I use a right-click), you can add Cryo Rods (http://edgeofspace.gamepedia.com/Cryo_Rod), which essentially become your "lives." Once you run out of Cyro Rods, you are given a penalty for dying.

One thing that's not great about the Cryopod is that it cannot be moved nor can you remove the tiles beneath it. This seemed important, because when creating your base, you need to put other machinery on top of and around player-created tiles, not ground, such as a clay wall. I've created a flooring with clay wall along with walls and a ceiling. I also used clay wall to replace the background tiles, which was easy to do by pressing the Tab key.

Once you get a Command Control Center (http://edgeofspace.gamepedia.com/Command_Control_Center) craft, you can press B to see the range of its connected tiles. This is important for placing other machines as they will need to be connected to it. I've learned that by building machines closer together and in a bit of a small, square, two-floor structure works best. At one point, I had a machine that couldn't work because it wasn't getting connected or enough CPU. I think it needed to be better placed and I needed more upgrades.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/22/2014 at 10:22pm

As for progressing, aliens drop consumable items which increase a variety of your character's statistics. Increasing these unlocks new "research" and makes additional items available for crafting. So, killing aliens becomes important. Other upgrades can be unlocked by accessing other "pod" looking structures that are located some where within the world.

After a while, I created a new world because I needed more materials like aluminum and I wasn't finding more in my world. Granted, I later found more materials in my world, but it seemed as though there were not enough around. The world is "shattered" and is pretty much contained of rock formations of different sizes. Some have caves and some are like small stepping stones. There are are also right and left edges of the world. Going further down can cause you to fall to your death or become exposed to radiation. These areas can often be "off-limits" until further armor upgrades are obtained.

Although killing aliens is needed in order to obtain a lot of upgrades, this task has become harder since the latest patch. The developers have added or re-added creatures, which are more dangerous. This has made the game more difficult and challenging, which can be fun and dangerous.

Crafting recipes aren't extremely picky. Every available material is useful, including dirt. I've often collected a lot of dirt and have used it to help make things such as torches. Dirt can be used in just about every recipe, which is definitely helpful when needing resources. Unfortunately, other resources like aluminum aren't as common, but still needed.

So far, I've created a new world or character a few times. It has been a learning experience as I'm still trying to learn the game. I'm not sure how far it will progress, but I look forward to seeing more.

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Dorkly loves "the next big idea" in gaming

http://0.media.dorkly.cvcdn.com/41/53/69c05d3aef6aa58977e6061e714dc90c.jpg

This made me laugh. I hope you enjoy it.

Spider Fighter Is One Of The Best Atari 2600 Games

"The object of the game is to protect your fruit orchard from insect fruit thieves, scoring points by exterminating the attackers."

I file Spider Fighter in the "awesome Atari 2600 games most people never heard of" category. That said, even though it wasn't well known it was my favorite 2600 title. Spider Fighter stood out to me because the game started as a fast paced shoot em up and as you completed levels got even faster. The game got so fast at points that I could beat a level in seconds. That said, the quick pace often meant you could die very quickly if you weren't careful.

After my final Atari 2600 controller broke I decided to sell my Atari collection. Even... Read All

100 Amiga Games in Ten Minutes

I had friends that owned Amigas but my PC history started with the Commodore and then moved to DOS. That said, this video shows off 100 of the best games from the Amiga system and many of them shared ports with DOS.

Did anyone in Ghost land have an Amiga?

The Cave

This was a flash sale game on PS3 for 99 cents. Glad I grabbed it! It harkens back to the days of Maniac Mansion (for good reason, Ron Gilbert, creator of Maniac Mansion, helped develop this game).

You pick 3 of 7 unique characters to explore "The Cave." You swap between them similar to how you did in Maniac Mansion; needing to use one person to trigger a switch so that another person can go through a door, etc. I really liked the puzzle solving (simple as it was). It seems so far (on my 2nd play through) that you don't do the exact same play through each time. First, each character has a unique skill to use and they have their own quest to solve. So there's kind of a... Read All

Artists vs Turtles!

I feel like I'm 11 again and just automatically love anything TMNT related lol.

Granted, the Turtles get blown away by the real Leo, Don, Raph and Mikey, but it's still rad!

And I love the inside joke/puns throughout the rap.

Enjoy this Monday morning!

Did Blowing on Nintendo Cartridges Actually Work?

Joe Hanson of "It's Ok To Be Smart" takes on this topic, Mythbusters style. According to Joe, blowing into your NES cart didn't work at all and in fact, hurts it. The video answers the retro-mythical question "why did we all think blowing on our carts work, when it didn't?" It's a fairly in depth look at cognitive dissonance associated with certain actions we all do.

Zach_Foster wrote on 07/14/2014 at 01:38am

I dug through a lot of things like this when i picked up a couple non functioning NES consoles a few years back. I learned that pretty much everything i did to "improve" my games playing on my cartridge consoles was actually just destroying the games. Things like blowing on them, swabbing the contacts with rubbing alcohol, and smacking them against my knee turned out to be bad ideas. They seemed pretty good when i was six though.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/14/2014 at 02:30am

I did some research into this back in the day.

http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/1541/breathe-some-new-life-into-your-nes

Travis Admin wrote on 07/14/2014 at 02:34am

And to add to that, something I should have mentioned in the linked CG post-- I noticed when I was about 12 or 13 that blowing and trying again was about as effective as just changing the position slightly. You can just power off, push the cart left or right a bit, and try again, and it will work about as well as blowing.

I've replaced the connector in one NES, and bought a backup NES with a freshly replaced connector. I recently came into possession of a third, because you can never be too safe, and I need to replace the connector on it as well, but I've been testing the blow theory on it, and I have yet to get it to work on the first post-blow attempt, but just shifting it a bit works wonders.

So, in short-- when in doubt, just give it a little nudge.

JaBo wrote on 07/14/2014 at 03:36pm

We had one that would be fuzzy or discolored or wavy screen after you powered it on. The fix, every single time was to give it a smack on the right side after you powered it on. Worked every time and the picture was messed up like 90% of the time at least if you didn't do this. Maybe Rett can chime in if he reads this.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/14/2014 at 05:45pm

I bet the smack moved the game cart OR moved some faulty wire or something.

Zach_Foster wrote on 07/17/2014 at 03:47am

Or perhaps you got the haunted ghost NES! (limited edition). I believe at one point I had a haunted ghost Sega Genesis.

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