Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

It's official: Amazon set-top box, out today, plays games

We've heard rumors for months about an Amazon set-top box or console, and recently saw some very convincing leaked images of an Amazon controller. All the rumor and speculation ends today, however, because Amazon is now shipping the Fire TV, their new set top box that will stream your media and play games.

What's more, Amazon has formed Amazon Game Studios to develop games for the device. One game, out now, is called Sev Zero and looks like a pretty good shooter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXI898kyBgM

It's pretty impressive to me that they managed to keep an entire game studio secret for long enough to pull this off.

The FireTV itself will set you back $99, and the... Read All

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/02/2014 at 09:21pm

This is huge. I would expect Apple to follow suit, probably as early as this fall. I'm really surprised (and disappointed) that Apple didn't do this first, actually. They've had everything in place for years. Now Amazon has the infrastructure, hardware, and customer base, to be one of the hottest thing in home entertainment (no pun intended). If it works. I like the idea of the mic on the remote. Looks like it has double the gpu power that the Ouya has, too. Very, very interesting.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/02/2014 at 10:05pm

Eh, I don't know how well this is going to do. It's interesting as a media device, but with more and more TV's being "smart," most of the features of the box are being built directly into TV's. And as far as games, I think the kid who gets this as a game system will feel like the kids back in the 80's who got a VTech Socrates rather than a Nintendo.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/03/2014 at 04:05am

@scrypt I agree. I expected Apple to do this first so it's cool and strange to see Amazon head in. That said, I am happy they have as this set top box is the most powerful of the bunch and I hope it sparks a "cheaper set top box spec war."

@Adym It isn't the greatest offering as far as games go right now for sure. That said, over time I imagine more developers will port games over and things should work pretty well. Amazons Android store isn't too bad and it's catalog of games is growing. It hits the right price point and has enough power to play some games. That said, this ain't gonna run BioShock Infinite.

Orionnoir wrote on 04/03/2014 at 03:18pm

Well maybe its because Apple 'sort of' did this... e.g., AppleTv + Airplay? I push whatever I am playing to it at times. Ironically just to record videos for demos... I don't really use it for anything but capturing a stream now that I think about it. I did demo a few games to my kids with it. Ok so maybe its not even remotely a single purpose console device experience. But my point is Apple might feel like they already HAVE entered the market... That is a very un-researched opinion. I do believe Apple is a horribly small company for the revenue stream they achieve. And at times it feels like they are holding this stuff together with bailing wire and duct tape. Covered in a a very pretty surface layer... but underneath there is chaos and hell chained with fury and just waiting to crack the surface and spew forth its vitriol onto the consumer or developer in some fashion if allowed.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/04/2014 at 12:28am

Apple does have Apple TV for sure and like you say you can fling stuff from your iPad, iPhone and Mac to it. I think what we were talking about it not doing was having an app store and official controller. Right now you just get the apps it comes with, which is nice BUT no app store. So for me, it seems like Apple is right on the line of having something that could be WAY better.

On thing that keeps me away from the Apple option is I serve all my media off a NAS. Apple TV requires you fling content on it through the iPhone through AirPlay. If Apple TV had an app store I could use my NAS and uPNP.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/04/2014 at 01:15am

One thing you can do is configure something else to act as an Airplay server. It's a little cumbersome, I've never done it, so I don't know how predictable it is.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/04/2014 at 01:16am

As far as serving media, Apple TV primarily works through iTunes on a network Mac/PC. iOS apps require mirroring from an iPhone or iPad. Like you say, Jon, without access to native, downloadable apps, it is quite lacking compared to a Roku or Fire TV. That said, I love my Apple TV, and hope that, someday, Apple sees it's full potential. I hope the Fire TV will do just that. I tried Airplay once for gaming, and it's not optimal, or even playable. They have much work to do.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/04/2014 at 01:19am

Airplay is great for Apple gear and I love the idea, I just hope it becomes a more open standard so you don't need to only use Apple stuff with it.

That said, if Apple TV got the full app store treatment i'd be more down with it so I can use non-Apple internal file sharing and such. But as is, it's kind of Apple only and whereas I do use iTunes, my NAS is always on for the reason of file sharing, I don't need to have my laptop on for it to magically work, Apple just makes me have use it.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Sign Up / Log In

April Fools 2014 Video Game Fake Story Roundup

Every year the Internet explodes with fake news on April Fools. Since some of the stories in gaming can be fun, I decided to catalog them here. If you have a particular story that isn't noted, hit up the comments.

Blizzard Outcasts is the new fake brawler by Blizzard. That said, fighting as Deckard Cain sounds pretty rad. http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/outcasts/

While not gaming related, Think Geek has a pretty fun Flux Capacitor USB car charger. http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/1ba1/?srp=2

Guild Wars 2 set all the in game players heads to bobble. http://i.imgur.com/m4GmxvB.jpg

Path of Exile just went pay to win. Candy Crush players rejoice. ... Read All

Humble Bundle: PC And Android 9

"Humble Bundle: PC and Android 9 features six brilliant games ready to play on four platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. Pay what you want to receive the mind-bending puzzle adventure series, Broken Sword 2, the physics-based construction puzzler, Bridge Constructor, the stylistic typographic puzzler, Type:Rider, and the visually stunning action-adventure game, Ravensword: Shadowlands. If you pay more than the average, you'll also get the award-winning tower defense game, Kingdom Rush, and the retro-style pixel-art RPG, Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition."

I have been waiting to nab Kingdom Rush & Knights of Pen and Paper on PC for quite some time. Now that... Read All

Final Fantasy Game Lore In a Minute

Like many of you, I grew up on the Final Fantasy games. I found this video pretty interesting as I wasn't aware how the series started. I also knew(from watching it in the theaters) that The Spirits Within wasn't great, but I didn't know that it nearly bankrupted Square!

Game Pricing in The Download Age

One of the coolest parts of being in gaming is how many awesome games we have access to. Steam, GoG, Origin, iOS and Android stores all let you buy a ton of awesome games for much less than the traditional $60 console price point. That said, many triple A games that come out sell digitally and physically for the same price. YouTube gaming sensation Boggie2988 made a video recently that caught my attention I linked above. He asks Microsoft and Sony to change the pricing model for digital content because the digital versions of games don't allow trading and loaning yet are cheaper to distribute.

This is something that's bugged me for quite a long time that doesn't stop... Read All

Lokani Addicting Space Runner -- Launching April 1, 2014!

Lokani Addicting Space Runner is a 80's-future-style endless runner now launching on iOS. Our first ever game and we definitely have more to come! http://www.lokani.com

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/31/2014 at 10:37pm

So what is this game?

lokani Post Author wrote on 03/31/2014 at 11:02pm

Updated! Thanks for the necessary clarification :)

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/31/2014 at 11:55pm

Is it always the same platforms and background? Played for a while and nothing changed, except for the color of the player orb as the pace quickened. Also, your ads are broken. Tried to access the "No Ads" area, to see how much you are charging, then coming back to the game the ad space just says "Request timed out".

lokani Post Author wrote on 04/09/2014 at 07:24pm

Hi guys, the game has kind of progressive levels in it. So far platform timing increases in speed, music moves up in a crescendo and the colors of the avatar change. Also: the In app Purchases are fixed! You may now remove the ads without struggle (and we thank you for that! :) ) More to come, have a good week!

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Sign Up / Log In

FTL: Advanced Edition Will Release April 3rd

"As a reminder, FTL: Advanced Edition is a free content expansion for FTL. All current (and future) customers will receive this update regardless of where they purchased it. Prior to release, we will post detailed instructions on how to get the update from whatever digital vendor you originally purchased FTL.

The iPad version of FTL will require an iPad version 2 or higher (iPad 1 is not supported) and will cost the same as the PC version, $10. It will be the complete game, including the new Advanced Edition content, and will not have any in-app purchases. We are proud to say that the iPad version is a true equivalent to the PC in the experience it provides, which is... Read All

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/30/2014 at 05:04pm

I have it on good authority that the iPad version is a near perfect representation of the PC version, and understand it to be a "new joy" to experience it through touch interaction. :)

Timogorgon Member wrote on 03/30/2014 at 06:19pm

I am beyond excited about this! I don't own an iPad, so I won't be picking up that version. But I will be rockin' the PC version after the kids go to bed on 4/3. :D

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/31/2014 at 02:48am

I love how the "introducing the ipad" shows you dying lol

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/31/2014 at 07:00pm

GET READY TO DIE ON YOUR IDEVICE. OR SHOULD I SAY iDIEvice?

Orionnoir wrote on 04/03/2014 at 03:37pm

Nice. FTL will port to a touch paradigm very nicely. It almost already works on my windows 8 tablet *almost*. I wish more games (even my own) did the 'full game' thing more more on mobile touch based tablets (i.e., the market would bear the cost of full development) The turning point in my opinion about experiencing 'real/serious gaming' on a mobile device for me was 2k's latest xcom in iPad. It impressed me having been playing the PC version (my only gripe is they washed out some of the lower level micromanagement bits in some of the gear.) My situation has been such give up gaming if its not on a mobile device for a while now. Firing up the PC was too much of a commit. actually it is a dangerous trap as of late... I would never come to bed once I started playing... so this is about self preservation really... maybe... but I digress. But am I alone that I find myself on the PC gaming less and less??? I do miss it, I miss the time to sink into it. Maybe this is a mid-life two jobs married father of two syndrome... o.O One last thought are we past 'gaming on a mobile device' is not gaming arguments?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/03/2014 at 07:03pm

@Orionnoir, I have to believe that anyone seriously opposed to the idea of gaming on a mobile device, or considering it a serious gaming platform, has either never really experienced what can be done (uninformed), or just doesn't much care for mobile gaming (i.e. Gameboy, et al.) (biased). It's a way to enjoy games, and a good one at that.

Also, I just want to say, you're doing a noble thing in sacrificing your hobby for your family. I have a good number of friends that struggle with the same thing. Games are fun, but family is so much more important. I take it, by your "even my own" comment, that you are a game developer to some extent? Very cool! I'd love to try your game, if it's available.

I'm relatively new to PC gaming, having been on consoles most of my life, so I'm kinda eating it up. Honestly, it's all Microsoft's fault. I'm disappointed with what they've done with the XBox platform. I'll get an XBox One eventually, because I love games, and exclusives are a stupid reality, but I'm not looking forward to it. I don't know. Of all the systems I have available, I'm the most content when I'm on Steam. That could change, and probably will once Destiny comes out on PS4 :).

Orionnoir wrote on 08/07/2014 at 05:30pm

I concur! I have traded much of my time to be with the family and its been great. They have also stod by while I chased a dream with what little time I had too. So its not all take!

Its been a crazy 5 months, but I quit my day job just over a month ago (July 4th 2014) to make games full time working with a good friend in a partnership at Appsomniacs. We've had more people in the past, I've been slinging code at our problems part time since July 2011. Everyone else involved has pretty much walked away or stopped showing up, mostly because of the work entailed. Specifically how much work. that work can be viewed at http://www.appsomniacs.com (shameless plug!) ;)

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Sign Up / Log In

WowCraft Episode 1: The Creation

WoWCraft is a fun new cartoon from the creator of the amazing Starcrafts series. The opening episode of WowCraft is pretty spot on with how hard it can be to start a new character in an MMO.

Prison Architecht Alpha 19 Cash Horde

"After a long playthrough of the game, we concluded that the Finance system was most in need of some development love this month. It has become common practice to cheat your way to $1,000,000 in the bank because there is simply no other way to raise that kind of capital, and the game becomes boring when you have to wait for it to roll in. There are many mods that filled the gap by adding more grants to the game. Furthermore, if you use all the official grants up (all four of them) and still have a negative cashflow, you have literally no way to recover other than cheating, because your bank balance will be decreasing every day and you won’t be able to afford to build... Read All

Burial At Sea - Episode 2, Available NOW

The final piece of the puzzle is here. The swan song of Irrational Games, and what Ken Levine has said should be a very satisfying end to the Bioshock saga as IG has told it. My Steam download queue shows the file coming in at 9.1GB, so if bandwidth is an issue, start downloading it ASAP.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/26/2014 at 07:36pm

SPOILER ALERT

Yep, saw this hit last night while I was playing Reaper. VERY excited to give this a shot and I hope it delivers a really great ending to BioShock Infinite. Totally love the idea of playing as Elizabeth and escaping rapture or whatever needs done.

I'd love it if it were a game where you went to other areas and looked for other Bookers to take down.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/26/2014 at 08:18pm

I read a very little bit about it, and I'm stoked. D3 is taking up all my gaming time right now but I'm really looking forward to playing this very soon.

scrypt Supporter Post Author wrote on 03/26/2014 at 08:30pm

My intention was to take a bunch of old games down to GameStahp and trade for Reaper, but I just haven't made it in yet. This week, for sure :).

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/27/2014 at 05:45am

Not a bad idea.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/29/2014 at 04:20pm

Curious if anyone has played this yet and if so what they think of it? I am still pretty deep in Reaper. That said, i'll be playing this one next.

scrypt Supporter Post Author wrote on 03/29/2014 at 04:52pm

Haven't had time to finish it, but spent an hour or two in it, and it's quite interesting, so far. The stealth aspects are a nice change, and, tied with being back in the environment of Rapture, gives a more nostalgic feeling of fear and anticipation from the first Bioshock, more so than the first episode could conjure. Stealth is an option, which I appreciate. Hopefully tonight I can wrap it up and give a better opinion.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/29/2014 at 06:05pm

Cool. I just checked it out and I like how it has a "Previously in Bioshock" which sums up the entire first game.

scrypt Supporter Post Author wrote on 03/29/2014 at 09:34pm

Kind of a bummer that they did this, even though it is a very vague and general summation of the first game. I guess it works, mostly, to give an idea of who certain characters are, and events that transpired, though I don't like that they use specific scenes from the game to do it. Now that Infinite is leading into the deeper depths of Rapture (if you will), I think it's more important to play the original Bioshock.

scrypt Supporter Post Author wrote on 03/30/2014 at 03:27am

Just finished. That was intense. Now it's imperative that you play the first game :). After the fact is fine, though it spoils some of the surprises. Still, very cool. Bravo, Irrational Games!

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/30/2014 at 07:24pm

Awesome. Can't wait to try it out. About how long is it?

scrypt Supporter Post Author wrote on 03/30/2014 at 09:07pm

I took my sweet, sweet time, and I think I was in there for 6 hours.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/31/2014 at 04:08pm

Not too bad. Looking forward to it!

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Sign Up / Log In