Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Mortal Kombat X Looks Like A Fighting Game Killer

It's a pre-rendered fight scene but even if the game looks half that good with some of the mechanics they showed, it should be fun. I played a bit of the latest Mortal Kombat incarnation and I was a pretty big fan.

Hopefully it skims a nice balance between doing service to the old characters and game as well as bringing something new to the table.

The game will ship in 2015 on PS3, PS4, 360, XBox One and PC.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/05/2014 at 01:21pm

That was probably the most brutal game trailer I've ever seen! Jeebus! Poor Sub-Zero...

While some of that is pre-rendered, I'd be willing to bet that the fighting from the side-view perspective is pretty close to what they'll be able to pull off in-game on the new consoles, if they aren't doing it already. Might be a stretch, but I wouldn't be surprised. It's just nice to see Mortal Kombat back in the spotlight, after such a long string of crap games.

I enjoy fighting games with the company of good friends. Most of the time I get my ass handed to me, unless I'm Paul Phoenix or Ryu. Then it's 50/50. I wanted to pick up the last MK or Injustice, but there isn't as much incentive to play, without friends nearby.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/05/2014 at 03:11pm

*watching* "That's not that brutal of a traile.... oh wait. Yeah, that's Game of Thrones worthy"

I love fighting games when company is over, but I'm also looking forward to the online gameplay.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/05/2014 at 08:44pm

Yeah, it's hard to make of this what will be real and what won't be. If it's about half of what's show then i'll be pretty happy.

I agree, with you scrypt, fighting games are best played with friends.

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Are All Games Worth $60? Uhm, No, Not Really.

Boogie2998 is one of the YouTube personalities I enjoy watching. Not only do I enjoy his Francis character rage against the latest video game news, but I enjoy listening to his commentary too. In this latest vlog he talks a bit about AAA pricing and dat $60 price tag. I agree with him that not every AAA game is $60 and he notes that will most likely or is already changing.

He also notes that he felt, to make the game FEEL like it was worth $60 that the fetch quests in Wolfenstein were tacked on. He also though missions were added in to make the game longer and give people more value. Whereas I don't feel that when I play it myself, I can see the criticism. Often time... Read All

Hotline Fortress 2: Wrong Number

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

Awaiting Arrival - Tangiers

"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

XCOM Coming to SteamOS/Linux This Summer

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.

Fan Recreation of The Another World Intro

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

Cheerful Ghost Will Publish It's First Game By Years End

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

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/03/2014 at 01:51am

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.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/03/2014 at 01:52am

I do think it's a cool idea, the publishing!

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.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/03/2014 at 03:04am

Exciting stuff! I can think of few things in gaming more rewarding than bringing awesome stuff to gamers.

Side-note: do we use the word "awesome" too much? :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/03/2014 at 03:08am

@Travis: Cut down on the awesome's per minute in the release. And yeah, I do use that word to much.

Sungorth wrote on 06/03/2014 at 05:19pm

hopefully i didnt skim too much - whats the game? Genre, developer ..

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/03/2014 at 05:31pm

@Sungorth we aren't talking about the game yet, but don't worry.. we will.

That said, I can say that it's fun and will ship on Windows, Mac and Linux.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/03/2014 at 06:05pm

This is great! I really can't wait to see what happens!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/03/2014 at 07:10pm

What parts of video game publishing will CG be participating in (licensing, marketing, financing, etc.)?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/03/2014 at 07:14pm

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! :)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/03/2014 at 08:08pm

@scrypt Conflict of interest was one of the first things I asked about to Jon in person. It's a totally legitimate question :)

Timogorgon Member wrote on 06/04/2014 at 01:35am

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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Retro Game Challenge 2 fan translation completed

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 Chōsenjō), 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

Prison Architect Alpha 21: Prisoner Drug Addition & Reform

"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

Transistor - See You in the Country

"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 didn’t 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 didn’t 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 wasn’t 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 you’re 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 it’s mysteries.

Style plays just as much a part in telling the story, too. Since there aren’t 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 Games’ 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. You’ll unlock most Functions as you level up, but some will come in other, more story-driven ways. While I’m on the topic, if you fall to zero health in battle, rather than die, you’ll 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 you’ll 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. You’ll 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 you’re lucky, when it’s 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 isn’t Bastion, and it doesn’t try to be. This is a good thing. Don’t be sad. This is a good thing.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/30/2014 at 02:00pm

I didn't realize this was out! I need to get this. After Bastion I have a lot of trust in SuperGiant Games.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/30/2014 at 03:02pm

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 :).

Travis Admin wrote on 05/31/2014 at 01:37am

Also it's worth noting, this game will be coming to Mac and Linux later on, if you swing that way.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/31/2014 at 05:01am

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

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/03/2014 at 12:39am

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

My opinion, it works best with a controller.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/03/2014 at 01:51am

That's great. The game seems to be suited best for it too.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/03/2014 at 02:23am

Jon, see my comment from a few days ago-- they have announced that it's coming out for Mac and Linux, it's just not ready yet.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/03/2014 at 02:24am

NICE! Maybe i'll wait till it comes native then.

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