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Cheerful Ghost Roundtable S2 E4: BioShock Infinite

In this episode of The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable we are talking all about BioShock Infinite. This episode is special in that it features the guys from Sleep Ninja Games making the upcoming Indie awesomery, Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake. We talk a little about what we've been playing, what we are drinking and I do a quick Q&A about how Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake development is going.

We then tear into a rabid discussion about the amazingness that is BioShock Infinite. I warn you as with things we love, we have some critiques of it. Put your nerd-fi hats on, this episode clocks in at a whopping 2+ hours. And really, did you want it any other way?

What We are... Read All

New Blizzard Video Shows Off The Huge Diablo 2.0.2 Update

If you are still a bit hazy as to what the new Diablo III 2.0.2 patch contains, Blizzard made a pretty cool video explaining the big points. Diablo III 2.0.2 is pretty much a new game and if you have Diablo III and haven't checked it out, I seriously recommend you do.

You can read about the entire set of Diablo III 2.0.2 changes here:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/12671560/

Crawl: An Upcoming Multiplayer Dungeon Crawler

After hearing that Crawl hit Steam Greenlight today I decided to watch the trailer. The Indie scene is packed with current and upcoming pixel based hack-n-slashes but the Crawl trailer really got me interested. Crawl seems to focus on multiplayer and part of that is you taking your turn being the bad guy. Looks like you can use whatever is at your disposal to take down the "good guy" and then after you kill them take your turn as the good guy while everyone else tries to kill you. Seems like a really unique take on some FPS modes like "Last Man Standing" or "Mutant."

Take a minute to watch the trailer and if you like what you see, give it an upvote on Greenlight.

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Escape Goat 2 Beta: Puzzle Based Platforming Done Right

I am pretty excited to be part of the Escape Goat 2 beta. If you haven't played the original Escape Goat, I recommend you head to Steam and check it out. I have only played the first few levels of Escape Goat 2 and so far it already exceeds my expectations for a sequel. I really liked the pixel art quality of the original but find the hand drawn nature of Escape Goat 2 to be more to my liking. In fact, every element of Escape Goat 2 seems way more polished from the original. The play control, levels and game pacing all seem to be much tighter this time around.

If you are curious how the new game looks and plays, I made a quick video above showing off the first few... Read All

Twitch Plays Pokémon has beaten the game

If you haven't heard of Twitch Plays Pokémon, here's a brief synopsis: The people behind the channel set up a bot that would pass commands entered in the chat window to an emulator running the original Pokémon.

Of course, with anything like this, trolls were rampant. But the Borg collective of Twitch users playing the game managed to get through all the trolls throwing them off ledges and worked together to beat the game. It took about 16.5 days but they did it.

A message on the stream says that a new adventure will be starting in 19 hours as of this post, so we haven't seen the last of them. I wonder how far they'll take it? I'd love to see it keep going through all... Read All

Learn fission vs. fusion with GLaDOS

NASA got Ellen McLain to voice a supercomputer in this educational video. It does a fantastic job of explaining just what these concepts mean, while also staying true to character.

I mean it's corny, yeah, but it's fun.

Prison Architect Alpha 18: Reform Programs & Tazers

"It’s been another massive month, with several major successes. This month we tackled one of our big end game features : prisoner reform. You can now run prisoner reform programs which aim to train, educate and reform your inmates. Reform programs are expensive to run, take a long time to complete, and the success rates are often very low unless your prisoners are very well taken care of. Some bring substantial benefits to your prison and the inmates that take part, others are a longer term investment in your prisoners that may provide little short term benefit.

We have continued to expand the armoury originally introduced in alpha 17. You can now unlock tazers for... Read All

Game/Show: What Makes NPC's Great?

"NPCs (non-playable characters) are a massively important part of the gaming experience, so we thought we'd show our love and appreciation. Though they're fictional computer-generated characters, we often develop real feelings for these beings. Sure, they serve functional roles, guiding you through the game. But their presence and personality can allow us to form strong bonds and real emotions, leading us to truly care about their wellbeing. So which NPCs are our favorites?"

What NPC's have stuck with you over time?

Nintendo to Drop Wii & DS Online Game Support May 20th

Nintendo will be shuttering online play for its Wii and DS games on May 20th. They are keeping online game support for the Wii U and 3DS however. Whereas I wasn't a huge consumer of the Wii online play, I did use it and find it say they are shuttering it.

Nintendo generally does right by its customers, but this is a bit disappointing. I understand it's impossible to keep a service going forever but in the face of companies like Blizzard still providing Battle.net support for Starcraft, one wonders why everyone can't do the same thing.

There are rumblings that Nintendo farmed out the online functionality to Gamespy and that this has to due with a recent acquisition of... Read All

Angvik - Small Scale in a Big Space

Angvik is a platform action game set in a joyful but unforgiving land. The castle has been taken over by a barbarian and no one else has the courage to confront him, so take up your father’s gear and set off on a wondrous journey! And you’re not alone: you’ll find many birds and items to aid you along the way, and you’ll encounter all sorts of creatures to fight as well. But watch your step! You have only one life, so if you die, you stay dead.

I really enjoyed stepping into Angvik, as small of a game it is. A peaceful, fantasy, perma-death platformer, set to an idyllic score. Make your way through 5 levels, picking up loot from chests and fallen foes, with a few... Read All