Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Stardew Valley Shaping Up To Be A Beautifully Unique Game

http://stardewvalley.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Fest3.png

In the last roundtable I mentioned that Stardew Valley is one of my most anticipated Indie games of 2014. I have been following the games development since I first heard about it and have been really happy with the progress it's made. It's a long time coming, but with the recent bout of disappointments i've had with super early access games, I appreciate the long brew Stardew Valley has taken.

Stardew Valley music is shaping up well. The songs seem to fit the game well and I especially liked the theme song.

https://soundcloud.com/concernedape/stardew-valley-theme

One of the unique features of Stardew Valley is that it is a country life game that features the ability to... Read All In the last roundtable I mentioned that Stardew Valley is one of my most anticipated Indie games of 2014. I have been following the games development since I first heard about it and have been really happy with the progress it's made. It's a long time coming, but with the recent bout of disappointments i've had with super early access games, I appreciate the long brew Stardew Valley has taken.

Stardew Valley music is shaping up well. The songs seem to fit the game well and I especially liked the theme song.

https://soundcloud.com/concernedape/stardew-valley-theme

One of the unique features of Stardew Valley is that it is a country life game that features the ability to partake in county festivals like...

"Egg Festival - Everyone gathers in town for a celebration of new life after a long winter. The festival concludes with an egg hunt.

Flower Dance - The townsfolk congregate in a secret meadow to feast and socialize. The young people pair up and participate in a time-honored tradition, the “Flower Dance”. It’s your chance to show a special someone that you care… just hope that you don’t get rejected!

Luau - The summer luau is one of Stardew Valley’s most beloved events. The beach is decked out with tropical adornments and a huge buffet is provided for everyone to enjoy. The Regional Governor makes a special trip each year to see what the valley has to offer… something that Mayor Lewis takes very seriously. The highlight of the luau has to be the potluck soup… a huge, simmering cauldron full of ingredients provided by the community. (screen shot above)

Dance of the Midnight Jellies - On a warm summer night every year, the midnight jellies pass through Stardew Valley on their long migration home.

Harvest Fair - A celebration of the harvest season. Artisans, farmers, and craftspeople alike prepare exhibits to show off their hard work from throughout the year. A panel of judges awards medals to those with the most compelling displays."

ConcernedApe recently spent some time working on another project, but is back to working on the game full time. I appreciate that he is taking the time to stop and enjoy life, yet focus on the game at the same time. I think i'd rather have Stardew Valley released a bit later and have him be happy and not-stressed than see the game ship tomorrow.

Can't wait to play the final version and hopefully, we can all play it this year!

If you want to listen to all the music for Stardew Valley composed so far:

http://stardewvalley.net/dev-update-16/

Even more updates:

http://stardewvalley.net/dev-update-17/

Happy Memorial Day: A Few Thoughts

Today, the United States celebrates Memorial Day. It's a holiday that remembers the people that died serving in our armed forces. I just want to say thanks to anyone that serves in government that contributes to making the country I live in so much fun to be a part of. It isn't always perfect, but lots of people that work in government make this country great to be part of and for your time and dedication, I thank you.

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone that comes to Cheerful Ghost to read an article, watch a video, add a game to your list, post an awesome bit of news, watches or joins in a Roundtable and joins in the site conversation in the comments. Cheerful... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/26/2014 at 07:11pm

Thank you, again, for creating this site. I've been enjoying it as well. I also agree that the people we have here are awesome. I love how active we are here. As I told you, I always have an open tab for GMail, but I've been keeping an open tab here as well. I like how many games there are that many of us are playing. I also like how we are also playing different games and learning from each other about games we haven't played before. This site has definitely had a positive impact on my gaming. If it wasn't for this site I might never have played or known about games like Terraria, FTL, Starbound, and Diablo III.

As a life-long (self-proclaimed) writer, I really enjoy having a place I can go to write about the games that I'm enjoying. I also enjoy reading about what others are playing as well.

Thanks again, Jon, and thank you, my fellow Cheerful Ghosts.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 07:45pm

Happy Memorial Day! I like to think that our country is more than the sum of it's parts. I'm thankful to be here, for the people that lay down their lives for me to be here, and I have hope for where we're going.

I'm also thankful for the community here at Cheerful Ghost. I'm grateful for all the different voices that come together and share this passion of video games. Something I look forward to week after week.

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EGVA GeForce GTX 750 Is Well Worth The Upgrade

I have been really happy with the Gateway PC I picked up a few years ago. My PC shipped with a good video card at the time in a Nvidia GeForce 440. Recently I picked up a new monitor that has a max resolution of 2560x1600 and I have wanted to play games at that setting. Most Indie titles fair well but most AAA games suffer on higher resolutions so I decided to start looking for a replacement.

Last week I purchased an EVGA GeForce 750. The GeForce 750 is Nvidias Maxwell architecture retooled to a lower power draw and form factor. If you are bound to a PC with a lower end power supply, this card will work systems as low as 300 watts. The form factor is nice and easily... Read All I have been really happy with the Gateway PC I picked up a few years ago. My PC shipped with a good video card at the time in a Nvidia GeForce 440. Recently I picked up a new monitor that has a max resolution of 2560x1600 and I have wanted to play games at that setting. Most Indie titles fair well but most AAA games suffer on higher resolutions so I decided to start looking for a replacement.

Last week I purchased an EVGA GeForce 750. The GeForce 750 is Nvidias Maxwell architecture retooled to a lower power draw and form factor. If you are bound to a PC with a lower end power supply, this card will work systems as low as 300 watts. The form factor is nice and easily fit in my PC. I have heard that this card will be featured in many new Steam Machines and it makes sense, this card is a good value for the performance.

But you know, that is all well and good but how does well does it work with my games? Since all my Indie titles ran well before, there is no change in that department so I loaded up a few AAA games and maxed them out. First game in my list was Wolfenstein: The New Order. Maxing this game out to 2560x1600 with everything dialed to 11 is incredible. My wife noted that the game "looked like real life." I'd say we haven't hit that level of graphical detail yet but Wolfenstein turned all the way up is an amazing sight to behold. Shooting Nazi's has never been as beautiful.

Next up was Skyrim, the only game that still lagged when I dialed everything to 11. I imagine this has to do with the high res texture pack I was using or some other thing that wasn't immediately obvious. That said, the game looks fantastic, it's just a slideshow at 2560x1600. I dialed it down and it ran fine but I was a bit bummed it didn't work at full settings.

Columbia never looked so stunning at max settings. I noticed a smidge of a frame rate drop at full settings but dropping it down slightly improved things considerably. I don't mind losing a few FPS if the overall picture is great and even at max settings it was a treat.

I tried a few older games that all ran without a hitch at max settings. Half-Life 2, Portal 2 and Rage all looked and played great. Portal 2 looked especially crisp and clean. I was also finally able to max out Diablo III without any frame-rate issues, which is awesome because killing Diablo should be a "high quality experience."

If you are looking for a graphics card replacement and want to go with something that won't break the bank and deliver good performance, you might want to consider a GTX 750. I picked it up on Amazon and you can by clicking the link below.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IDG3NDY?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B00IDG3NDY&linkCode=shr&tag=jdodsonorg-20&linkId=GNR643LIS7RM35GL

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:02pm

"Remove protective film before use"

I would think if you're putting in your own video card you'd be able to figure that one out. :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:04pm

Yeah, I did remove it too. Funny thing is I didn't notice those words until I posed the image. Funny. Kind of like the signs that say "DO NOT DRINK TOILET WATER." I mean, it makes sense for 99% of the time, but sometimes you just need too, like in Fallout 3.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:07pm

On another note, I had to migrate Linux distros because the one I was using didn't support the GTX 750 in any sane way. I upgraded to Ubuntu 14.04 and it's been the best Linux distro i've used yet. I only got the max resolution out of my monitor after installing the normal nvidia driver but after that everything is buttery smooth.

No idea what they've done, maybe it's just the new kernel and updated software, but it's easily the fastest and most performant PC desktop i've ever used.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:12pm

Interesting about Ubuntu being the fastest-- I've seen some chatter from some old LoCo contacts on Facebook about people jumping to Debian because 14.04 was dragging. I still need to upgrade at some point.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:14pm

I was running the last Debian stable and 14.04 is so much more smooth compared to that. Perhaps under the hood Debian is faster, but the UI certainly isn't.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 09:43pm

I was looking for the GPU chart I found months ago that convinced me to get the GTX 690, but it's apparently been updated for May 2014. Sadly my GPU isn't on the new chart (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-8.html), your's is (well the Ti model). Even though my card is worth about 10x that of yours, I'm happy for you. I've been enjoying throwing games and my new PC to see how they perform and I have not yet been disappointed. I have not yet tinkered with resolution settings. My desktop is currently maxed at 1920x1200.

I don't understand the "dialed everything to 11" part of your post. I guess that's a setting some where I haven't yet explored.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 09:48pm

"Even though my card is worth about 10x that of yours"

Damn, Greg put you in your place Jon! ;)

"Dial everything to 11" is a reference to Spinal Tap. It just means turn everything up to the maximum graphical settings.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 09:53pm

Also, wait a minute-- you said "I have not yet tinkered with resolution settings."

Does that mean you haven't tweaked graphical settings in your games? Because often the defaults are lower than your capabilities and with your rig you could be getting way more out of it.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 09:56pm

Hahahahaha, I wasn't trying to belittle Jon and his new GPU. Ah, well I guess that makes sense since I'm only familiar with Spinal Tap by name. As I said in my Skyrim post, when I installed Skyrim it detected my hardware and put everything on "Ultra High" settings. Still, Jon's getting more resolution in his set up than I am. My guess is that my 24" Dell monitor is the source of my resolution limitation.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 09:57pm

Yes, Travis, that is exactly what it means. Perhaps I should look into that. I believe the GeForce Experience can help me with that, too.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:00pm

Oh man yeah. Even the ultra quality on Skyrim doesn't have *everything* cranked up. You're probably getting far less out of your games than you can.

But yeah, if your monitor only goes to 1080p, that's as high as you'll get in terms of resolution-- but there's so much more that gives you shiny graphics. Shaders, shadows, lighting, occlusion, so on. You should definitely do that :)

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:00pm

Er... not 1080p-- 1200p it looks like for yours.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:05pm

I did turn all the fancy FOV, Anti Aliasing and the like up as high as I could.

As far as me getting the best video card on the market, this ain't it. But for the price, power draw and form factor I am not sure what is better. Plus, I don't play AAA games all day so in a way it's a tad overkill BUT will last me for many years to come.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:06pm

Ok, I just updated my GeForce Experience and for the first time I went in to configure my games. Well, I only tweaked Skyrim for now. I couldn't tell which settings it was changing because my configuration for it looks the same as what it suggested, but I told it to optimize anyway. With the old PC, I was unable to utilize this feature of GeForce experience as my 8800 GTS wasn't supported.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:07pm

Greg:

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-750-vs-GeForce-GTX-690

AT 10X less the price the 750 holds it's own pretty well against the 690. That and, due to it's high power draw, I don't think I could use it in my PC much less it's form factor. :godmode:

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:10pm

Ok, I was able to optimize Starcraft II and Diablos III. Why didn't I think of this before? I was playing those two games on lower quality settings. So, thank you Jon for your post and Travis for your comments. Now I have some optimized games. I wonder how they look now....

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:10pm

Also, the 690 looks like a spaceship. Which is to say, awesome.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:13pm

Thanks for the link, Jon! That is an awesome comparison. What I gather from it is that while mine costs about 10x more, your's does a really good job of coming close to my performance. It seems as though you got a good deal. =) That's something I learned with that chart on TomsHardware.com, that just because a model has a higher number doesn't mean that it's better. One thing that surprises me (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) is that mine is quieter than your's. I'm not sure that this makes sense, but I do know that my new PC is VERY quiet.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:15pm

Yup. The 690 smokes the 750.

http://www.hwcompare.com/17305/geforce-gtx-750-ti-vs-geforce-gtx-690/

Still, for what it is and the price, I dig it. For my next PC I might trick it out to be a bit more like yours Greg. That said, I kind of like starting with something modest and upgrading it over time too. Oh well, i'll have lots of options for when the time comes that's for sure. I love that the guts of my PC (I7, 8G RAM) are still really great.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:16pm

Haha, imagine that, a spaceship-looking GPU in an Alienware PC. This isn't the default GPU that came with this build, I was able to customize it and specifically chose the 690 because TomsHardware.com showed me that even though it's expensive, it's a bad ass GPU.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:17pm

Also worth noting, that when you bought your card Greg, the 750 wasn't out yet. Nvidia just launched it a few months ago and I was waiting to read reviews and see how they faired with gamers before I bought one.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:17pm

What GPU came with your rig initially?

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:19pm

Also, Greg, the Geforce experience still may not get your games tweaked as well as it could. If you go into the game settings once you've launched the game, try bumping things up that the Geforce Experience didn't bump all the way up, and see how it looks/feels.

For example, it wanted me to turn my Skyrim settings all the way down for some reason, but I can play it just a few settings away from the Ultra High defaults. It isn't perfect.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:20pm

Greg: Also, that 690 has 3 DVI ports are you running dual monitors on it? When I work I have my Macbook screen and then my Monitor thus giving me a dual monitor setup, which is great.

I haven't done it for a gaming yet, but it's nice for work for sure.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:21pm

Looking at the Alienware website (http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-aurora-r4/pd?oc=dpcwny2&model_id=alienware-aurora-r4), it looks like it comes with a 770 by default, which has half the memory of the 690. I'm not sure if that option has changed since I got mine.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:23pm

I'll look into it, Travis. I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

Jon, I used my 50" Samsung plasma TV as a "second monitor" on the old PC. I have not hooked the new PC up to it.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 10:50pm

Skyrim settings are maxed out, I believe they've been maxed out this whole time I've been playing. The game is beautiful and it doesn't seem to have any lag. Granted, objects are still behaving strangely. The last time I talked to Maven Black-Briar, a few objects took flight after I opened the door and entered the room. A wooden plate was stuck on Maven's neck, like a collar. I should have taken a screenshot before she moved, which is what removed the plate from her head. I also found a Mammoth stuck in ice. Oh and one of the dragons I fought kept nose-diving down and flew back up after it hit the ground with it's head.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 12:52am

I think your card is better than mine. I'm using a Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1Gb. I know little about the relevance of certain features on cards these days. I like that yours has a low power draw. I'm sure that keep the system nice and cool. With the demands of some of the newer games, I was contemplating upgrading processor and GPU sometime this year, but this upgrade would be significantly expensive. Is there a market for selling used components?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/26/2014 at 01:25am

Craigslist has a healthy PC used market.

What's your CPU?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 02:15am

Core i5 2500K @ 3.3GHz

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/26/2014 at 03:52pm

That should still be great right?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 04:50pm

It is, and it's been working really well. There are instances where I'd like to see a game perform at higher settings (Rage, Skyrim, etc.), but maybe an updated GPU would suffice. What I'm getting at the moment is still gorgeous, so I'm not complaining by any means. Just curious to see how much more there is to see :).

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Wolfenstein: The New Order is a Masterpiece of Mayhem

Wolfenstein: The New Order puts you back in the shoes of B.J. Blaskowicz, Nazi-killer extraordinaire, for another adventure. The game was developed by a new team at Bethesda, MachineGames, and uses the id Tech 5 engine that debuted in RAGE. The Wolfenstein franchise needed something big, and id Software has been struggling a bit and needed a win. The New Order really had a lot to prove.

And it certainly has.

For those who are unfamiliar with the franchise, Wolfenstein takes place during an alternate World War II, where The Third Reich's research into the supernatural and advanced technology pays off. Where other WWII games strive for realism, Wolfenstein has always... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:18pm

Awesome review, thanks Travis.

A few questions:

* I am at the part where I got out of the sub. About how far am I though the game percentage wise?

* How long did the game take you to beat? So far, I think I am at 10 hours.

* What difficulty do you play on? I am playing it on the... middle one? The one that is harder than normal.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:19pm

Oh and did you beat the Wolf 3D homage level? I tried it 3 different times and died each time getting just a little further each time.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:22pm

ALSO, Polygon did a nice video on the history of Wolfenstein that is quite good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SKK74gDUDw&app=desktop

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:26pm

* I guess I would ask-- which sub? Are you referring to the thing you pilot yourself as a sub or are you talking about the sub you stow away on? If the first, you're about halfway through chapter 10, if the second, you've just started chapter 11. There are 16 chapters.

* It took me about 10 hours to complete. For my first playthrough I didn't focus on exploration. I plan on playing through a second time and scouring the place.

* The same, I think. I changed it a few times while playing so I'm not sure where I ended up.

* I did not beat it. It's surprisingly hard!

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 08:28pm

Yeah the Wolf 3D tribute is really hard. I'll get it one of these days.

OK so I am still at chapter 10 then. 10 hours into the game myself. I am exploring everything and taking my time. I am also stealthing wherever I can, which means levels take longer to complete than otherwise. Well, that and dying. I am at a higher difficulty so I die more than I have in other games. I dig it though, it's a fun challenge.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 01:00am

Awesome! Can't wait to play :)

You'll go to many different amazing places, including a secret underwater compound, and one that's so awesome I don't even want to mention it here.

Is it the Fuhrermuseum?! That would be kinda sick if it was.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/26/2014 at 06:52am

It isn't, but now I want one.

Actually, do you remember the secret area in the final boss stage of Quake 2 that had a "credits" room, where pictures of the dev team plastered the walls? I'd love something like that with a retrospective of Wolfenstein enemies. You start off with the Wolf 3D sprites and work your way up to The New Order enemies.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/26/2014 at 03:50pm

I'd like a level made out of Burritos.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/26/2014 at 04:19pm

Uhhhh...

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/26/2014 at 04:35pm

But I bet iD tech 5 couldn't handle it so I'll just dream.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 04:52pm

iD tech 5 = too week for burritos

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/26/2014 at 06:46pm

Travis, I just wanted to say this is a stellar piece of writing. Someday I might be able to crank something out like this

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/26/2014 at 07:02pm

I had a bunch of links I wanted to put into a post BEFORE the game dropped, but I didn't have time so here you all go.

Interesting comparison art of the new game VS the old:

http://imgur.com/a/lAIRj#0

The Onion did a for pay video about the new Wolf game, it's very funny, as the Onion is.

http://www.theonion.com/video/sponsored-new-wolfenstein-game-lets-players-choose,36009/

New(old) launch trailer. (it would have been new if I posted it a week ago )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENTC-mAQ0tI

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 07:30pm

That Onion video is hilarious. Oh, Canada...

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/26/2014 at 08:24pm

I went to see XMen: Days of Future Past last night and there was a Wolfenstein trailer. They spoiled the location Travis didn't want to spoil in the trailer. I was like "FUCKING SPOILER ALERT I'M NOT AT THAT PART YET!"

Fucking movie trailers with spoilers. Is nothing sacred anymore?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 09:15pm

Agh, that's horrible! And lame that they showed that spoiler! ;)

Kidding! Was X-men any good?

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/26/2014 at 09:45pm

We just got back from it. It's awesome. Better than all of them except maybe X2. But maybe better than that.

Also, damn they spoiled the burrito factory?

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/26/2014 at 11:21pm

HAHAHAHA No, they spoiled the thing I don't want to spoil. Duh.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/27/2014 at 02:04am

I know, I was being funny. Trying to be anyway :)

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/27/2014 at 02:11am

:godmode:

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/27/2014 at 03:30am

One major complaint I have on my second playthrough-- for a game that has so many hidden items, it really punishes people who are trying to find everything. If you miss something and go to a different section of the map, it's often impossible to backtrack without restarting the whole level. Oh I slid under that obstacle and there was an enigma code 5 feet before? Well, I guess I'm screwed. That's getting a little annoying.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/28/2014 at 12:04am

USPS forgot to put my package on their truck today. Fuckers. I'll get it tomorrow. Hopefully.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/28/2014 at 01:17am

Damn. What system are you getting it for?

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/28/2014 at 03:19am

You know, scrypt, I keep reading today about how over-promised Watch Dogs was. I think you may have made a good call. I still want to play it-- from what I hear it's still fun-- but there's a lot that just seems unfinished about it.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/28/2014 at 04:11am

@jdodson - PS4
@Travis - Confession: I got both. I saw some picture of an Asian child shrugging her shoulders, and it moved me. Trying out Watch Dogs as I'm typing this, and I'm really liking it. It's less like Assassin's Creed and more like Red Dead Redemption, but in Chicago, with hackers. I haven't read the reviews, but the gameplay feels like it's on par with what has been shown in pre-release videos. Granted, I'm only an hour or so into it, but I've covered a lot of the city (underground, and water systems). It's quite the playground.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/28/2014 at 04:14am

Interesting. Honestly Watch Dogs doesn't intrigue me at all. Since I don't understand the draw of it... What's the draw of it?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/28/2014 at 02:35pm

I tend to favor sci-fi/tech over fantasy, even though the margin is thin. The significant things about Watch Dogs are the nuances that separate it from the other sandbox titles. The size of the world isn't that big of a deal, though it is absolutely beautiful. The way you can observe and affect the environment, and people in it, however, is creepily fun. You can hack cameras in the city to map out your plan of attack, or use the cameras themselves as extensions of you. Everything is connected, as they say, so you can jump from camera to camera, then hack a remote detonator on a guard, the explosion will draw the attention of another guard who has a camera on his phone, hack into that, then he carries you over to his post, where on the wall you can see the security panel for building access, hack that, and keep going. Or you can just take the guards out John McClane style.

There are problems with it, evident even in what little I've played. Everyone in the city has an identity. Everyone. Ubisoft did a pretty good job at making them diverse, but you can see repeating patterns here and there. Dialog could have been a little more diverse, too. In one motorcycle ride across town, I can't tell you how many times I heard the exact phrase "We have roads for a reason!" A "Hey, asshole, keep it on the asphalt!" or "Unless your mowing it, stay off the lawn!" would have been nice. I did swing around a corner once, taking out several newspaper racks and a light pole, and some lady shouted a very timely "What...the...fuck!" That was entertaining :).

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/28/2014 at 04:47pm

That makes sense, thanks scrypt.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/28/2014 at 07:08pm

Scpyt, she's totally Hispanic, not Asian :) That picture is taken from an Old El Paso commercial.

And yeah, I didn't have as much hype for Watch Dogs as many people did. I still definitely want to play it. I'm thinking $30 is the right price so I'll wait it out.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/28/2014 at 09:25pm

My bad! I was going from memory. All I remembered was dark hair and not white. Shoulda looked...

Finally got to play a bit of Wolfenstien. Just a bit passed the sex scene. Really, really liking it. This is the new standard for shooters this generation (at least for consoles). Everything feels and looks and sounds so good.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/28/2014 at 10:59pm

Yeah I know why you like it.

"the sex scene. Really, really liking it"

Yep.

;)

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/29/2014 at 12:25am

Hahaha.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/29/2014 at 01:52am

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The Witcher 2 Comes to Linux/SteamOS

The Witcher 2 was just ported to Linux and SteamOS and they are celebrating by having an awesome 80% off sale. If you were wanting to build up your catalog of native SteamOS games or simply wanted to pickup The Witcher 2, $3.99 isn't a bad price!

Been impressed with the third party SteamOS support i've been seeing lately. I hope more developers join the trend to port to SteamOS. *cough* Bethesda *cough* 2K *cough* iD!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/20920/

Travis Admin wrote on 05/23/2014 at 07:35pm

It's worth noting that there are some *major* problems with this port right now. They apparently wrapped it instead of doing a full port, and the wrapper they used is causing problems on certain hardware. I guess a better way to say it is, it's only working properly on certain hardware.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTY5ODM

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/23/2014 at 08:22pm

Hopefully this eon thing gets better OR they release a native port. I picked it up but plan on playing it when I get my steam machine. Hopefully it's sorted by then. I sort of dot care about the HOW porting happens as long as it isn't shit.

That said, native seem like the best approach even if it may be the most technically complicated in certain cases.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/23/2014 at 08:46pm

Yeah exactly. I don't care if it's native as long as it works as you would expect. But single threading, and only working on certain models of a certain vendor's cards is not good.

They've got a good track record of fixing problems though. Hopefully they get to it soon.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/23/2014 at 10:09pm

Fair enough, and I went to the steam community thread where a developer of the company that provided the wrapper tech responded. I kind of don't blame people for being so upset, that said it says in the fine print that it doesnt work with AMD or Intel cards. No one really reads that and maybe Steam should pop up depending if the hardware they are buying it on doesn't pass the spec.

That said, people should be civil BUT maybe this is all kind of a good case for a sane 1-2 day refund policy or something based on it working like shit on your system(if it passes spec and crashes or something). Anyways, lot's of edge cases but I bet Valve is thinking about it because getting an unfortunate port isn't awesome.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/23/2014 at 10:32pm

You can't expect civility from the Steam community forums. :)

But damn, I didn't realize they had said it doesn't work with AMD and Intel. That's a big chunk of the market. But even top of the line nvidia cards are underperfoming significantly. That's something I bet they can fix though.

Apparently Wine does just fine with the game, even on AMD. So it's a bit of a surprise they went with a proprietary vendor for their wrapper.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/24/2014 at 05:23pm

It was my understanding that SteamOS, as a whole, doesn't support AMD and Intel graphics at the moment.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/24/2014 at 05:44pm

Well, they released it for Linux as a whole, not just Steam OS.

BUT, there is support for AMD and Intel in Steam OS now. There wasn't initially, and the page for it still says it's "coming soon," but support is now in there as of January.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/24/2014 at 06:10pm

Thanks for clarifying :). I see that they've pulled the whole Witcher 2 store page down on Steam. They'll get it sorted. Valve has magic faeries on retainer.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/24/2014 at 11:43pm

Yeah, I guess so many people complained that they pulled it. I hope it gets updated because I bought it before it was pulled

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2014 at 03:02am

It will, I'm sure. How does it work with your new video card in Linux? Just curious if your nvidia is one of the ones it has issues with.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 03:19pm

I haven't tried it yet. I want to wait until they sort out most of the issues first.

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Cheerful Ghost At OMSI After Dark

https://www.omsi.edu/sites/default/files/OAD_MAY_SB.jpg

Do you like eating and drinking? Do you also enjoy video games? Do you live in the greater Portland area? If you are experiencing an intersection of values with facts in what I noted above, I recommend you come to OMSI after dark. Not only can you try some great local food and drink but also do things for FOR SCIENCE! Yeah, science, I mean it's in the OMSI title and everything. You know, the S in OMSI... it's for science.

To make the offer even more interesting, Cheerful Ghost will have a booth you should check out. We will be showing next to some great local Indie developers as well.

OMSI After Dark will be this Wednesday from 6p-10p. Check the events link below for... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 05/23/2014 at 01:19am

Geez, I need to move to portland.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/23/2014 at 02:08am

Yes you do. When you figure out the details let me know and i'll help you unpack at your new place.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/24/2014 at 05:42pm

This sounds awesome! Sorry I can't make it. I mean, I guess it's ONLY a 16 hour drive assuming I make no stops except for gas...

Travis Admin wrote on 05/24/2014 at 05:46pm

It's so weird, it took us 15 hours, not counting stops, to get from VA to Kansas City, but it takes 16 hours for you to go two states. We divided up this land mass in a very odd way.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/24/2014 at 07:19pm

California is a very long state.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/24/2014 at 11:43pm

It is at that.

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Cheerful Ghost Roundtable: S2 E8 Indie Games II The Revenge

In this episode of the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable we re-boot a topic we covered in detail in our first Roundtable episode, Indie Games. What do Indie Games mean in 2014, does it make sense to call them Indie Games at all? Featuring special guest, Will Lewis the founder of the Portland Indie Game Squad we navigate the seas of Indie, stopping along the way to make fun of people with no friends as well as pixel art. But, as with all things, we kid what we love the most.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/22/2014 at 10:27pm

That thumbnail is just way too happy. How dare you!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/23/2014 at 12:41am

Pharrell liked it.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/25/2014 at 02:32am

Listened to the RT while cooking dinner tonight. Great episode everyone!

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/25/2014 at 05:14am

It was a fun romp. Nice to sit in with Cap again. You were missed!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2014 at 03:18pm

Yeah, this was a fun one. Can't wait for the next episode.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/26/2014 at 05:25pm

I was just on another game site (for shame...) watching a dev diary for Valiant Hearts, a new game in the UbiArt pipeline coming out next month. One of the comments under the post said "Ubisoft are doing indie better than the indies." This is a ridiculous statement, and is exactly what I'm talking about. When did "indie" become an aesthetic? No wonder people want to dump the monicker. It's been misappropriated to the point of falling under vague urban definition. Next step: games that are solely created in the state of Indiana = Indie games.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/26/2014 at 06:41pm

If Ubi can't produce a game more polished that a few people working for free then we have a problem. And yes, I agree, that statement is very ignorant and i'd hazard a guess the comment was from someone that doesn't play many Independently developed games OR doesn't like them. Too bad too, lots to love.

That said, Ubi, like many huge companies are realizing that making many smaller games can be a better way to go. Blizzard is too and Hearthstone is one such game. Doesn't mean they are Indie though.

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The Mayhem Game Jam Games 2014 [ Part II ]

Mothership of Mayhem

http://stuff.mboffin.net/games/unity/mom/

Mothership of Mayhem is a missile command style base defense game. As objects fall from the sky you must shoot them down to protect your base. As things fall you need to time your shots properly so you can hit the falling debris. This sounds a lot easier than it is and I found myself frantically clicking to clear the ever increasing waves of spaceward refuse. You get a limited amount of ammo so you must keep that in mind as you blast away, making each bit of the game more intense.

Giant Rampaging Monster

http://stuff.mboffin.net/games/pigsquad/GiantRampagingMonster.zip (Windows)

Giant Rampaging Monster is a... Read All

The Mayhem Game Jam Games 2014 [ Part I ]

Cheerful Ghost was a sponsor of this years PIGSquad Mayhem Game Jam. The Mayhem Jam gave game makers of all experience levels, skills, and backgrounds a 48 hour opportunity to develop a new game amongst friends. I was able to make it for a bit of the Jam and was pretty impressed how people quickly met up and worked together to create interesting stuff. Will Lewis, founder of PIGSquad collected all the games and you are about to read a mini-review of each of the games.

http://pigsquad.com/

There were 8 games made at this years Jam and we decided to split them up into two posts. If you are interested in any of the games from the jam, feel free to click the link for each... Read All

Valve Launches Steam in Home Streaming

"When you log into Steam on two computers on the same network, they automatically connect, allowing you to remotely install, launch, and play games as though you were sitting at the remote PC.

When you play a game using In-Home Streaming, video and audio are sent through your home network from your high-end gaming PC to another device in your home."

In home streaming is a great idea for solving the problem of not having all your Steam Windows games playable on SteamOS. Can't wait to try this out because i'd love to play some Wolfenstein: New Order on my TV through my Mac laptop.

Drop your thoughts and experiments with in home streaming in the comments!

... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/21/2014 at 09:35pm

This is interesting, although I'm not sure it's something I will use. However, if I could stream my Steam games to my PS3, that would be awesome! I would then be able to use my big screen TV instead of this smaller monitor. Then I could lie in bed and play all the Steam I want. I don't think the PS3 is included, but it would be really cool if it worked!

Streaming is a new-to-me feature I'm still learning about and getting used to. When I got the new PC, I did not hook it up to my TV, like I did the old one. This is because I finally started using a PS3 media server on my PC to watch videos I have on here via the PS3. I love that I can do that, it seems to simplify what I'm trying to do by removing the need for me to attach the PC to the TV as a second desktop and configure video and audio settings for use and reconfigure them when I'm done with what I'm watching. Setting up the PS3 server on the PC is incredibly simple and effective.

JaBo wrote on 05/21/2014 at 11:40pm

Oh, I'll be trying this! I generally play games in the living room on my laptop and neglect my desktop. Now I can finally play some of the higher end games on my laptop while in the living room with the wife. Hello Civ5, looking at you!

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/22/2014 at 02:56am

This is really exciting, and the thing I've been looking forward to the most out of the whole SteamOS environment, even though I've recently downsized to one computer. The future looks promising :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/22/2014 at 05:46am

Ok, I just took in home streaming for a more extensive ride and WOW is it already pretty awesome. I tried a few games: Risk of Rain, Wolfenstein: New Order, Borderlands, Borderlands 2 and Skyrim.

Risk of Rain worked amazingly well EXCEPT it requires you to use a mouse in selecting something to start a game. Everything else is controller only and it streams beautifully.

Wolfenstein: The New Order is the game that suffered a bit during steam play. It's so much more smooth on the PC with a mouse. The game was fine with a controller, but I just do SO much better with a mouse and keyboard. That said I notice some network lag with it, nothing major but I notice a bit.

Borderlands: The game is smooth and VERY responsive and works right out of the box with the 360 controller. A seriously epic upgrade to 1080p from the 720p on the PS3.

Borderlands 2: Just as smooth as Borderlands if not more so. Again, 1080p looks incredible and the game works flawlessly over streaming.

Skyrim: You need to use the keyboard to put it into the 360 controller mode but after that things are as smooth as the PC experience. The game suffers from some noticeable video artifacts with streaming, but it wasn't too horrible.

Overall this is a SOLID launch of in home streaming to my Mac laptop. If steaming is this amazing to SteamOS most people should have a great experience with their games library that won't run SteamOS native.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/22/2014 at 05:07pm

I tried this a bit earlier on in the beta and I dig it. Some games didn't work well with it. Assassin's Creed 4 was unplayable, but Skyrim and Borderlands 2 were great. The awesome thing is, non-Steam games that you have in your Steam library work too. I was able to stream Diablo 3 with no problems.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/22/2014 at 05:15pm

Too bad Blizz won't add controller support to the PC version. That would be awesome to play in the living room without re-buying it.

Then again, I guess I could always just get out the keyboard and mouse to go big screen..... Hmmm.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/22/2014 at 05:51pm

I've tried keyboard and mouse in the living room, and for me it just feels weird. Like, I still need to be at a desk, in the living room, to have the right feel. Am I the only one? What about the new Steam controller? Does that still support key-mapping?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/23/2014 at 12:42am

You can remap the Steam Controller any way it's capable of to my knowledge.

That said, I think I could see where I might want to play D3 on a big TV in the living room and, yeah, i'd prefer a controller BUT a keyboard and mouse might be fine enough to try. I'd need something that worked well in that context though.

JaBo wrote on 05/28/2014 at 08:12pm

Wait, you can stream non-steam games?? Holy balls... my wife isn't much of a gamer...in fact, fairly anti gamer lol. But there are some games she likes. Zoo Tycoon for instance. If I can stream that to her non-gaming laptop so she can play it in the living room...that'd make all happy =]

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