I am not a huge Team Fortress 2 fan, but this mashup trailer of the Hotline Miami universe with the Team Fortress 2 universe is pretty epic.
That said, it is also pretty violent so be forewarned.
Compare it to the original Hotline Miami 2 trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exg_OxsaHyY
I am not a huge Team Fortress 2 fan, but this mashup trailer of the Hotline Miami universe with the Team Fortress 2 universe is pretty epic.
That said, it is also pretty violent so be forewarned.
Compare it to the original Hotline Miami 2 trailer:
"Tangiers is a tense stealth game set within the confines of a dark, self-destructive world. Disregarding the analogue, 'puzzle' trappings common to third-person examples of the genre, Tangiers closely follows the emergent 'immersive sim' mould of Thief. While reverent to the roots of the stealth genre, Tangiers also exists as an homage to the darker avant-garde of the 20th century. Unfolding as the player progresses into a world built in the shadow of William Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, Dada, Early Industrial and many, many others."
Features:
Sandbox, shadow based stealth gameplay closely modeled on the Thief series (not the fourth one).
Steal language, re-using it to... Read All
"Tangiers is a tense stealth game set within the confines of a dark, self-destructive world. Disregarding the analogue, 'puzzle' trappings common to third-person examples of the genre, Tangiers closely follows the emergent 'immersive sim' mould of Thief. While reverent to the roots of the stealth genre, Tangiers also exists as an homage to the darker avant-garde of the 20th century. Unfolding as the player progresses into a world built in the shadow of William Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, Dada, Early Industrial and many, many others."
Features:
Sandbox, shadow based stealth gameplay closely modeled on the Thief series (not the fourth one).
Steal language, re-using it to spread disinformation and to further your goals.
An original dark ambient, early industrial tinged soundtrack.
A world that corrupts and rebuilds itself in response to your actions.
Journey through a paranoid, visually unique world.
I remember playing Thief on the PC years ago, and feeling a sense of fear and aprehension for what I was trying to attempt in a virtual world. The sneaking and hiding, and variety of ways I could navigate the world to reach my objective was an entirely new and captivating experience. Tangiers looks to take that spirit and dip it in the industrialized trippy sauce, and deliver it to us sometime later this year. Successfully Kickstarted in August of 2013, developer UK Studio Andalusian seem to have a proper and well fleshed nightmare on their hands (in the best possible way). I especially like the bit about stealing language and using that to your advantage. Sounds promising. Coming to PC, Mac, Linux, and currently undisclosed consoles.
Remember when the tide started turning and publishers were coming on board to port more games to SteamOS and Linux? I do too, because that time is now as seen in this latest news of XCOM Enemy Unknown coming to Linux. 2K has tapped Feral Interactive to do the port, which is interesting considering they port games to Mac.
If this is a broader move by 2K to port successful titles to SteamOS/Linux this will make for a very interesting year.
Remember when the tide started turning and publishers were coming on board to port more games to SteamOS and Linux? I do too, because that time is now as seen in this latest news of XCOM Enemy Unknown coming to Linux. 2K has tapped Feral Interactive to do the port, which is interesting considering they port games to Mac.
If this is a broader move by 2K to port successful titles to SteamOS/Linux this will make for a very interesting year.
When I first saw the intro scene for Another World, I was really impressed. The kind of 3D graphics it showcases blew my mind as it seemed computer graphics had leaped years into the future. I really liked playing the demo of Another World and then the full version at my friends house, but due to not having the full version I never beat it.
Can't tell you how many times I watched this intro scene and played the first parts of this game. To this day, I am pretty good at jumping over the worm and dodging that wolf thing at the beginning of the game because that's about as far I made it.
Checkout a fan recreation of the original intro scene above. The recreation is pretty... Read All
When I first saw the intro scene for Another World, I was really impressed. The kind of 3D graphics it showcases blew my mind as it seemed computer graphics had leaped years into the future. I really liked playing the demo of Another World and then the full version at my friends house, but due to not having the full version I never beat it.
Can't tell you how many times I watched this intro scene and played the first parts of this game. To this day, I am pretty good at jumping over the worm and dodging that wolf thing at the beginning of the game because that's about as far I made it.
Checkout a fan recreation of the original intro scene above. The recreation is pretty accurate and does the original game quite a bit of justice.
You can watch the original here. The original brings a lot more subtle and lonely horror and is a bit better in my opinion. That said, it's nice to see different versions of classic game scenes.
I started Cheerful Ghost because I wanted to create a place where I could talk about video games with my friends. When the site shipped it needed to do three things: hold my video games to my list, allow me to write about any game in my list and share that conversation on the everyone on the web. As the site marched on we started interviewing people in gaming, the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable started & the event system was built. Over the last year I have been involved in the Portland Indie game scene and in our last Roundtable episode, was able to get Will Lewis, the founder of PIGSquad to join us.
As Cheerful Ghost has evolved as a community we have become much... Read All
I started Cheerful Ghost because I wanted to create a place where I could talk about video games with my friends. When the site shipped it needed to do three things: hold my video games to my list, allow me to write about any game in my list and share that conversation on the everyone on the web. As the site marched on we started interviewing people in gaming, the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable started & the event system was built. Over the last year I have been involved in the Portland Indie game scene and in our last Roundtable episode, was able to get Will Lewis, the founder of PIGSquad to join us.
As Cheerful Ghost has evolved as a community we have become much closer to the Indie Games movement and as such am happy to announce that by years end we will publish our first Indie Game.
As I have been thinking about this announcement I decided the best way to convey the information is to break it up into two parts. Feel free to read it all or just the relevant bits for you.
What Does This Mean For The Cheerful Ghost Community?
If you love Indie Games, this will give you a better look at them as we will have a unique perspective of the games we will publish. I have talked to a few community members before this announcement to get a list of concerns they had and because of this I think we will get the balance right between talking about awesome stuff and not being annoying.
One of the things community members have mentioned is transparency about what games we are publishing. Since I love talking about stuff I love, this seemed like a no-brainer. We will note on the site if a particular game you are looking at is published by us so there is no confusion what is going on.
We will still be covering other games as we are currently have no plans to change that. Ultimately anyone can post an article to Cheerful Ghost and if it isn't junk or SPAM it gets promoted to the main page. This won't change because we publish games.
What Does This Mean For Indie Game Developers?
As we have been talking to the developer of our first game we are publishing I have been thinking a lot about how to approach publishing. I want to create a system where it's easy to join as a creator. As someone who created this site and plans on making video games too, I want to create a system that I would want to join. Because of that I think way we approach publishing is pretty special.
Most publishers make you sign away the exclusive right to publish your game until the end of time. With us, it's a few years and developers love this.
Most publishers take a huge cut of the game price, leaving you with little in return. With us, you get the biggest slice of the pie and developers love this.
We will take care of helping Indie Game developers get their games out on all the digital game stores we can and work to promote their games. Since we start with a vibrant community, this allows us a pretty unique perspective to do good work.
If you are making something amazing, we would love to know about it to see if we can help you release it.
A Few Ending Thoughts
Cheerful Ghost is walking humbly into an area very close to our hearts. The independent games movement is one that I am really passionate about and I can't wait to help game developers release great stuff. At the end of the day if Cheerful Ghost can make Indie game developers happy by helping them find an audience of people that love the games they build, we are doing what we set out to do. Hopefully you are intrigued by this news and if you have any questions, feel free to drop them on this thread or send them to me directly.
Interesting. I could see a bit of a conflict of interest, and ambiguity where a review from a community member might be mistaken as advertising. Will the community arm and the publishing arm fall under the same "Cheerful Ghost" name? That sounds... challenging.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/03/2014 at 01:56am
Thanks for the input.
Cheerful Ghost is a great community site that will also be publishing games. The trick in that no video game site, to my knowledge has ever done this. Can we do it right? I am confident we can and am open to ideas people have on it.
The site will get a few changes to support the games better and before I do anything i'll run them by a few people. If you want to be on that list i'd love to discuss them with you.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/03/2014 at 02:17am
This is interesting news, indeed! I'm curious as to what this entails and I may need to do some research on my own about video game publishing so that I can better understand this news. I'm looking forward to seeing more about this new aspect of Cheerful Ghost and I'd be glad to help out.
It really is a cool thing, and I hope it really takes off! Sorry to be an initial naysayer. It was a rather unexpected post :D. I guess we aren't like most other video game sites, not strictly 'journalists', per se, nor bound by any such creed. I think you can make it happen, and the bit about clarity would be a good thing. Exciting times! :)
Say whaaaaaaaaat? That's crazy, and awesome, and awesomely crazy. Damn it, I think I used awesome too many times...
Does this mean you can go to E3? Or maybe send a CG representative? Like someone who already loves games and lives in California? :D
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/04/2014 at 01:44am
Yeah it was a bit unexpected. Honestly as I was writing it and then thinking about it after I posted, it was surprising to me to. Surprising in that it's so odd for a game site to publish games. Because of the kind of community Cheerful Ghost is, it makes more sense but it still kind of loops me sometimes.
That said, lets keep talking and if anyone has any ideas to make it better, let me know.
GregoPeck: What we are doing is partnering with people making games to help them get the word out. So i'll help them get it on digital game stores, figure out pricing and the like. Also figure out how to talk about the game, make some videos of it, help them refine it some and take care of a ton of other hard to see details. Basically help them such that they can focus on making the game great.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/04/2014 at 01:46am
WhiteboySlim: I imagine after we publish a few games it will open up for us to go to events we didn't go to before. As to which, no idea but if E3 presents itself and I can't go, i'll think of you.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/04/2014 at 02:22am
That's cool, Jon. It sounds like you're focusing on the marketing aspect of it. I think it's a cool idea! I'm not familiar with many digital game stores and don't know how many there are, but I imagine Steam is one of the big ones to consider.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/04/2014 at 04:04am
Steam is on my list for sure.
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I just dusted off my Nintendo DS and made sure it still worked.
Retro Game Challenge (the western title for Game Center CX: Arino no ChĹsenjĹ), was one of the best games I played for the Nintendo DS. There was a sequel, only released in Japan, that I've been longing for ever since.
The game series is based on the TV show Game Center CX, or Retro Game Master in Kotaku's translation. It's a charming show that is hard to find in the US, unless you know Japanese. Arino, the host, interviews people in the gaming world, and plays through classic games. You can check out the first episode here-- definitely not the best but the easiest to find with subtitles: ... Read All
I just dusted off my Nintendo DS and made sure it still worked.
Retro Game Challenge (the western title for Game Center CX: Arino no ChĹsenjĹ), was one of the best games I played for the Nintendo DS. There was a sequel, only released in Japan, that I've been longing for ever since.
The game series is based on the TV show Game Center CX, or Retro Game Master in Kotaku's translation. It's a charming show that is hard to find in the US, unless you know Japanese. Arino, the host, interviews people in the gaming world, and plays through classic games. You can check out the first episode here-- definitely not the best but the easiest to find with subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMsv0Y7Ny1w
The games have you playing as a young Arino, playing fake Famicom games that draw inspiration from real games. You can collect game magazines to give you hints and cheats, read the manuals, etc. all to appease a Demon Arino... you know, the plot really doesn't make sense, or matter :)
It's important to note that you'll have to use a DS emulator or have a cartridge that lets you play roms on your DS. The legality of those cartridges is iffy at best, so I won't go into the details but if you'Re looking 4 it, gOogle seaRches Can alwaYs show you Craptons of resuLts On how to Do thiS.
"Prisoners can now take drugs (typically smuggled in through visitation), and develop addictions. Addiction gets stronger with each use of a drug, and prisoners go into withdrawal if they do not get their drugs fix quick enough. Some prisoners arrive with existing addictions, other prisoners try drugs when bored or dissatisfied. All drugs have a chance to cause an overdose, which is lethal unless immediately treated by a Doctor.
Two new Reform programs have been added to help combat drug addiction: - Methodone program, a chemical suppliment that helps remove the craving of addicted prisoners - Alchoholics anonymous meeting, a group therapy session aimed at reducing the... Read All
"Prisoners can now take drugs (typically smuggled in through visitation), and develop addictions. Addiction gets stronger with each use of a drug, and prisoners go into withdrawal if they do not get their drugs fix quick enough. Some prisoners arrive with existing addictions, other prisoners try drugs when bored or dissatisfied. All drugs have a chance to cause an overdose, which is lethal unless immediately treated by a Doctor.
Two new Reform programs have been added to help combat drug addiction: - Methodone program, a chemical suppliment that helps remove the craving of addicted prisoners - Alchoholics anonymous meeting, a group therapy session aimed at reducing the psychological dependence on booze."
Introversion is a company I would point to as doing the Greenlight/early access game model right and it just keeps getting better. For this next month they are going to be focusing on fixing bugs and if you had one you wanted to see fixed, you can head over to the Introversion bug tracker and vote for it.
Looks fun! I will say, the main Prison Architect trailer is probably the funniest early release trailer I've seen on Steam, possibly anywhere. "Look at this guy...his prison's on fire!"
"Transistor is a sci-fi themed action RPG that invites players to wield an extraordinary weapon of unknown origin as they fight through a stunning futuristic city."
Transistor is richly decorated, savory/sweet, ear, eye and soul candy. It even tastes good. Yeah, I licked my screen. It hurt a little, but it was delicious.
No, I didnât really lick my screen. But I want to. I want to immerse into Transistor with as many senses as I have. For how barren the world is, Transistor absolutely drips with life. A world of death, where everything is alive. Lonely, but not alone. You don't really quite know what's going on at the start, but you get the feeling that you are caught... Read All"Transistor is a sci-fi themed action RPG that invites players to wield an extraordinary weapon of unknown origin as they fight through a stunning futuristic city."
Transistor is richly decorated, savory/sweet, ear, eye and soul candy. It even tastes good. Yeah, I licked my screen. It hurt a little, but it was delicious.
No, I didnât really lick my screen. But I want to. I want to immerse into Transistor with as many senses as I have. For how barren the world is, Transistor absolutely drips with life. A world of death, where everything is alive. Lonely, but not alone. You don't really quite know what's going on at the start, but you get the feeling that you are caught up in the middle of something. Something big. You see a man lying on the street with an odd weapon stuck in his chest. The Transistor. It calls you Red, tells you to pull it from him. When it speaks to you, it seems to know you. You take to the streets to try to find answers. There are interactive kiosks scattered about, offering news updates, citizen polling, weather predictions... Sometimes Red will interact by posting a comment for the city to read, which can give keen insight into what she's going through, emotionally. A pseudo-multiplayer experience exists, somewhat similar to Dark Souls, where you see the ghosts of other players skittering through the streets. There are also in-games statistics that seem to represent global activity in certain polls or weapon use percentages, but I wasnât able to verify whether this is actually tied to global statistics, or just made to represent such a thing. Either way, even an echo of life can be reassuring when youâre fighting alone. Story information is fed to you from the environment, from Functions you equip - offensive and defensive executable actions - and even from the enemies. They all join together, in a very synergetic way, to flesh out the mystery of this ghost town known as Cloudbank. This is one of the things I love most about Transistor, how it unravels itâs mysteries.
Style plays just as much a part in telling the story, too. Since there arenât really many people around town, to speak of, the change in tone and color, in the design of the layout, can go to significant lengths to convey poignant emotion. Music and other sound cues are also masterfully designed. Logan Cunningham, known for his voice work in Bastion, developer Supergiant Gamesâ previous debut hit, returns as the voice of the Transistor, giving sometimes cryptic, but often specifically contextual, commentary on what transpires here. This voice reminds me of all the good things about Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite. Very little to do with impacting your direct gameplay, but a constant presence with significant influence on how you participate with the game. The Voice is very much the soul of the experience.
Not your typical RPG, Supergiant has successfully combined party management, ability management, and ability modification, all within the same mechanic. That is to say, your abilities (Functions) are imbued by the spirits (called Traces) of the party member that hosts it, and when you combine said abilities, you not only kick a little more ass, but also learn more about your party members situation. It plays out in a more simplified fashion, but I found it clever, and it works really well. If you want the full story, you have to accept the challenge of trying out different Function combinations. Youâll unlock most Functions as you level up, but some will come in other, more story-driven ways. While Iâm on the topic, if you fall to zero health in battle, rather than die, youâll temporarily lose an assigned Function, and then your life bar is filled back to full, and then the process continues (pun intended). Now you finish the fight, but with less of a punch. Oh, and the Functions are lost by priority of most powerful. Makes for interesting challenges when assembling your arsenal. Go with one heavy hitter and a few light backups, and youâll find yourself quite underpowered should you take a fall. All ability assignment and modification is managed at save points, which are, thankfully, abundant. Your lost Functions will eventually be recovered here as well. Youâll also unlock Limiters, which are fancy trinkets that allow you to modify the combat challenge.
I highly recommend Transistor to anyone looking for a soulful, strategic, action combat adventure. If you do pick it up, words of advice: Soak it all in. Pay attention to the voice(s). Play with headphones. Play with a controller (if you get it on Steam, like I did). Play in the evening, and if youâre lucky, when itâs raining. Sea Monster is really the only option. Read between the lines. Play with Luna. Stick around after the credits. Play it twice (the Recourse allows continued use of retained Functions, and leveling up, as well as subtle story changes). This isnât Bastion, and it doesnât try to be. This is a good thing. Donât be sad. This is a good thing.
This sounds really cool. I only read about half your post, as I want to get into the game knowing nothing about it. But I will definitely have to check this one out!
scrypt Supporter Post Author
wrote on 05/30/2014 at 04:41pm
@Adym: I tried to be vague, or intentionally cryptic, with things that had to do with actual story, and anything that is specific happens literally within the first minute of the game. Figuring everything out, even the mechanics, is part of the fun, too, so I respect that :).
I'm a little over an hour in, and loving it. It's nice to have Logan Cunningham back as a kind of narrator, though in a very different way, and a very different character.
The game is absolutely beautiful, and the soundtrack just blows me away.
scrypt Supporter Post Author
wrote on 05/31/2014 at 03:23pm
I was thinking of springing for the soundtrack, but for some reason it didn't sound as good to me outside of the game. I'm assuming I was just in a mood, or something, because it really is an amazing set of songs. You can listen completely, and repeatedly, to the whole thing for free on Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/3vrhY9tG4lA8Z16LVGqok5
Really interested in picking up something after Wolfenstein and this looks like a great candidate. Super Giant seems to always drop their games for Mac & Linux a bit later so I imagine they will port it at some point.
That said, this seems like a couch laptop game.
Does it work with a controller?
scrypt Supporter Post Author
wrote on 06/03/2014 at 01:43am
So Broforce looks great. Shooting, killing, pixel art, tons of bad-ass characters to play as. What's not to love? Honestly the game looks really awesome and I want to pick it up, I just have this new aversion to games on Steam Greenlight. That said, I played a few minutes of Broforce at a friends house and it was fun for the few minutes I played. My friend mentioned that the game needed more Bros as well as levels which fits a common complaint on Steam in the game is too short. This update adds 3 new bros as well as new game mechanics, levels and an update to Indiana Brones. Oh and the new mech? Awesome.
So Broforce looks great. Shooting, killing, pixel art, tons of bad-ass characters to play as. What's not to love? Honestly the game looks really awesome and I want to pick it up, I just have this new aversion to games on Steam Greenlight. That said, I played a few minutes of Broforce at a friends house and it was fun for the few minutes I played. My friend mentioned that the game needed more Bros as well as levels which fits a common complaint on Steam in the game is too short. This update adds 3 new bros as well as new game mechanics, levels and an update to Indiana Brones. Oh and the new mech? Awesome.
What are the flaws with greenlight and early access?
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/03/2014 at 09:36pm
Basically that the game I bought is really disappointing. Some games are so bad it's frankly disturbing they want to sell it. Some are just at the state where you get a bad dose of what the promise of the game is.
When I started with early access I thought it was a bunch of games mostly finished with some cleanup to do. Yeah, not really.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/03/2014 at 09:36pm
So it's cool it exists for the people that love it, but I haven't bought an early access game since a few big dissapointments I had.
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Valves news to delay the launch of Steam Machines until 2015 makes sense when you think about it. The Steam Controller has received some pretty mixed reviews so far and seems to have taken quite a bit longer to perfect than Valve originally may have thought.
"Weâre now using wireless prototype controllers to conduct live playtests, with everyone from industry professionals to die-hard gamers to casual gamers. It's generating a ton of useful feedback, and it means we'll be able to make the controller a lot better. Of course, it's also keeping us pretty busy making all those improvements. Realistically, we're now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014.
Obviously... Read All
Valves news to delay the launch of Steam Machines until 2015 makes sense when you think about it. The Steam Controller has received some pretty mixed reviews so far and seems to have taken quite a bit longer to perfect than Valve originally may have thought.
"Weâre now using wireless prototype controllers to conduct live playtests, with everyone from industry professionals to die-hard gamers to casual gamers. It's generating a ton of useful feedback, and it means we'll be able to make the controller a lot better. Of course, it's also keeping us pretty busy making all those improvements. Realistically, we're now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014.
Obviously we're just as eager as you are to get a Steam Machine in your hands. But our number one priority is making sure that when you do, you'll be getting the best gaming experience possible. We hope you'll be patient with us while we get there. Until then, weâll continue to post updates as we have more stories to share. "
Ultimately I want my Steam Machine to be awesome and if pushing it out another year can do that, so be it. We have in home streaming now, you can download SteamOS and install it if you want and Living Room mode works great. So, if someone were so inclined they could go ahead and build their own.
Can't say i'm not a bit upset by this news, but ultimately I want it to be great and hope things come together with the Steam Controller.
I'm becoming more and more a fan of delayed production of technology. Let it simmer, perfect it, and then maybe it will be something worth buying. Rather than just enter the console market, what Valve is attempting is more along the lines of a revolution.
"But our number one priority is making sure that when you do, you'll be getting the best gaming experience possible."
I want that more than I want a Steam Machine, and I really want a Steam Machine.
I dont expect this controller to make much of an impact, but I am not really a believer in the steam OS
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/03/2014 at 09:38pm
Fair point. Because it's so different, Valve has a lot of ways to go to make the new controller great. I hope it works out for them but I am thinking I may have to buy a bunch of controllers to make my steam machine work right.
But either way, it should be awesome anyway.
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