Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

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

Book Review: Ready Player One

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PGDQHfJYvnw/T9t_VgqXjRI/AAAAAAAAEss/373ImsWc8PY/s1600/Ready+Player+One+Paperback+Cover.jpg

Take The Matrix in one hand. In your second hand take Second Life. In your third hand take World of Warcraft.

Now mash them all together. Oh, and mix in some ALF.

This is the world of Ready Player One.

It’s 2044, and Earth has become practically inhospitable, but people don’t seem to mind because they all live in OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory-Immersive Simulation), a free-to-play massively multiplayer online simulation game created by James Halliday. James Halliday suddenly dies, but has left a will stating that whomever can find his Easter Egg in OASIS will inherit his wealth ($240 billion) and control of OASIS.

The book’s main character is Wade Watts,... Read All Take The Matrix in one hand. In your second hand take Second Life. In your third hand take World of Warcraft.

Now mash them all together. Oh, and mix in some ALF.

This is the world of Ready Player One.

It’s 2044, and Earth has become practically inhospitable, but people don’t seem to mind because they all live in OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory-Immersive Simulation), a free-to-play massively multiplayer online simulation game created by James Halliday. James Halliday suddenly dies, but has left a will stating that whomever can find his Easter Egg in OASIS will inherit his wealth ($240 billion) and control of OASIS.

The book’s main character is Wade Watts, known as Parzival in the game. He is one of many egg hunters, or “gunters” dedicated to finding the egg. James Halliday was obsessed with the 1980’s, so OASIS is full of 80’s pop references, and the gunters spend their time pouring over everything from the 80’s, from arcade games to movies to television to music and more. The more 80’s trivia you know, the more impressive you are. Parzivial is a low level gunter (in OASIS, you can travel anywhere, for a price, and most gunters, when they’re not studying the 80’s they’re leveling up their avatars through quests), but one obsessed with Halliday and the 80’s. He and his only friend Aech (pronounced “H”) spend all their free time playing arcade games and watching movies together, in hopes of finding clues to the location of Halliday’s egg.

Racing against the gunters is the corporation IOI (Innovative Online Industries), who want to monetize OASIS, charging for access, and for advertising space (on any and everything). The gunters are not only trying to locate the egg for wealth, but to continue the vision of Halliday, and despise anyone that works for IOI.

Now for my review

First, I will say that this book was fun to read. Entertaining and pretty quickly paced, I read this in a short amount of time. I do recommend it to anyone that 1) loves the 80’s, 2) loves virtual worlds, or 3) loves puzzles. Not that there’s really any puzzle solving for the reader. There’s no way to read a clue and actually figure something out before someone in the book does. But, it’s still fun to watch the characters explore. The action can be fun, as in a virtual world, any type of weapon can be created, from guns to magic spells and more.

A couple of times there’s some references that take me out of the story, like when someone mentions Wikipedia. I suppose that website might still be around in another 30 years, but I would have assumed something better would have come around. It just felt strange hearing a few terms that are used currently.

It’s not a very deep book. You can tell where things are going for the most part. There’s a few twists that are fun to find out, but for the most part it’s pretty heavy handed when it comes to things like “This will be Wade’s love interest.”

Overall, think of this book like an action movie. It’s fun to let yourself be drawn in and watch, but don’t expect too much in the way of a compelling story or wonderful acting.

Out of 17, I give this book an 11.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 02/27/2014 at 10:30pm

To show the amount of 80's this book contains, here's every movie mentioned in the book :)

http://letterboxd.com/bbbgtoby/list/every-movie-referenced-in-ready-player-one/

scrypt Supporter wrote on 02/27/2014 at 10:42pm

Love this book, and highly recommend. Waves of nostalgia for children of the 80's, and the Willy Wonka/Matrix association is dead on. This book is pure tribute to what made that decade a great time to be a very nerdy kid ;).

gaidalcain85 wrote on 03/03/2014 at 03:37am

This is an amazing book, a must read for any gamer, especially for children of the 80's :D

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 04/02/2018 at 08:00pm

Quick movie review. It was ok. I saw it in IMAX 3D, so the visuals were a lot of fun, but the story was a little worse than the book (and the book story wasn't the greatest to begin with). It does really look great, but I probably won't bother seeing it again, unless it's free on demand or netflix and I'm bored.

A funny point that relates to my original post about the book. In the book, when they mention Wikipedia, it took me out of the story, and similarly, in the movie, someone mentions Twitch, and I had the same immersion-breaking thought "why is Twitch still around 30 years in the future?"

Oh, also T.J. Miller voices an avatar in this, and that totally took me out of the movie each time. Instead of buying his character, in my mind's eye, I could only see him in a voice booth, reading his lines. I think that was a poor voice acting choice.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 04/02/2018 at 08:01pm

Using the new Cheerful Ghost game rating scale, I give the book a Rad and the movie a Meh unfortunately.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/02/2018 at 11:21pm

This movie seems up my alley, in fact someone at work asked me if I saw it. Strangely enough i've thought the trailers have looked like a movie i'm in no way interested in seeing. The trailers make this movie seem like NOSTALGIA THE MOVIE and i'm just not really in to that. I'm going to start reading reviews for it now, but it's not something i'm actively making my way to watch.

Curious why you thought it was meh? Uninteresting characters? Was it a generic story?

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 04/02/2018 at 11:45pm

The story is fairly generic: poor kid saves the world and finds love, but that was in the book, so I can give that a pass. Basically, the book has a lot more narration, and you understand the "why" more so than the movie. The movie doesn't seem to give you a good reason why the OASIS needs to be saved. Obviously, the big, bad corporation having control is obviously bad, but the book spends more time building the world and how the OASIS is "the world" to most people. Kids go to school in it, every works in it, there isn't much of a "real world" anymore. The main character lives in some futuristic slums, so it makes sense that he'd want to escape, but you don't get a sense of how the rest of the world looks/works. The movie looks amazing, but just isn't much more than a CGI reference extravaganza.

I'd call the movie REFERENCE THE MOVIE and the book NOSTALGIA THE BOOK. The book seems to care about the references more. Maybe it's easier as the nostalgia in the book is just from the 80's, and the author loves the 80's, whereas the movie has references from the 80's, 90's and 2000's, and they're just there.

Also, another gripe I have with the movie is the "B roll" type shots of people using VR. The main character has an omnidirectional treadmill, so he can run in any direction and not move in actual space, but so many times you see random shots of people running around the real world streets, with their headsets on, but fighting in OASIS. They should have been running into each other and buildings, but somehow they're just able to avoid everything. Also, there's some scenes where a lot of people die in OASIS (you can see some big battle scenes in the trailers), and you see people in the real world being kicked out of OASIS in the same pattern people died in OASIS. For instance, in a big battle scene, someone shoots a laser and kills a line of people. The movie then cuts to a line of people in the real world having to take their headsets off. But that's not how the OASIS works... they've been running around, battling, there's no relation to their real world presence and their presence in the game.

So, between a generic story and too many points that broke the movie magic for me, I can only give it a meh. It's beautiful, and fun at times, but the book is much better (and it has it's flaws already).

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/04/2018 at 03:31am

Thanks Adam. That really helps me understand it better.

Travis Admin wrote on 04/15/2018 at 02:36am

Katie and I just got back from it. She's read it, I haven't. She liked it more than I did but I'd still give it a Rad, though maybe not a high rad.

It was a daunting task to make the film, and you can tell Spielberg loved it (though he rates it one of his hardest films ever). The cast was fantastic except for, unfortunately, the lead. A lot of the narrative is told through voiceover and those segments just didn't land for me. The ending was incredibly saccharine and heavily changed from the book apparently. Katie explained the book's ending to me and it sounds much stronger.

I think the problems come from the compressed story, as is frequently the case with adaptations. They didn't have enough time to explore things as they needed to.

But it was a LOT of fun. I cared about the story even if it was the typical plucky band of heroes vs. the evil corporation plot. That plot comes back up so often because it works, I guess. I DO greatly wish that it hadn't relied so much on voiceover.

The action was fun and very well done and the animation felt accurate for the interface players use. Not perfect, not an uncanny valley, a lot of goofy stuff mixed with realistic stuff. The kind of hodge podge you'd expect from something with user-created content. It really sold itself as a futuristic VR game/world.

Ultimately Adam I think I agree with almost all your criticisms and have some that you didn't mention but it didn't pull it down as much for me. Mostly it made me want to read the book and to see an extended edition with an alternate ending.

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Huge Diablo III Loot 2.0 Update Dropped Today

http://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/blog_header/XNTDTRI2WF0A1393390353921.jpg

If you have Diablo III I seriously recommend you check out the update Blizzard dropped today. Diablo III 2.0.1 adds the new Loot 2.0 system, difficulty system, cursed events, class updates, monster and boss updates, crafting updates, paragon 2.0, pools of reflection & clans and communities.

In fact you should join the Diablo III: Cheerful Ghost clan too. Do a clan search for "Cheerful Ghost" and when I join the game next, i'll add you.

The update took a while as Diablo III had to move a few files around and download over 8 gigs of updates. After the process was over I loaded the game to an entirely new screen and was presented with a very different set of game... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 02/27/2014 at 06:59pm

The loot is top notch. That's the obvious thing to note, but it's very true.

I definitely welcome the simplified crafting and potions. My inventory thanks Blizzard for that.

Speaking of, I hear we're getting a new tab in the stash with RoS!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/27/2014 at 09:31pm

A new tab? Interesting. I never maxed out the current chest myself and want to ditch what I have now because its just more fun to earn it on your character anyway.

I think I have a few browns though, maybe i'll keep those.

hardeyez wrote on 03/02/2014 at 02:15am

Ok, now I've played this for a couple hours. It's a lot improved. WIthin the first hour of playing I had replaced 6 pieces of equipment... That used to take hours for each piece. Then in the next hour of playing I got a very useful legendary... So I'm enjoying it again. I also moved up a full level (I'm currently only 55 on my main character, never got to 60 as hell mode was so punishing, I was barely able to keep my gear repaired most of the time).

The new difficulties are wild. I started off at "Master" as I was playing in hell before, but it was just a smackdown with my crappy equipment, so I dropped down to "Expert" which was better, still very hard, but I was progressing that is until I hit some elite packs which were impossible. So I them went down to "Hard" and that is playable until I gear up better. I can work at elite packs and get good drops and progress.

It's been fun enough, that I might now buy Reaper of Souls...

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/02/2014 at 05:49pm

Yeah, Reaper is looking better after this patch for sure. If you are thinking of getting it, join the event.

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/events/49

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Playing Through Portal 2 Co-Op

Recently I decided to play through Portal 2 again and afterward wanted more to play. Originally when I played Portal 2 it was such a great experience I felt no draw to play the co-op missions. The Portal 2 co-op missions take place directly after the single player story is complete and feature Atlas and P-body, two testing robots sent forth by GLaDOS. I asked Travis if he wanted to play the co-op missions and he was happy to oblige. Tonight we started through the missions together and I am happy to say, it was lots of fun.

Portal 2 co-op reminds me more of the original Portal than anything. The co-op game focuses way more on straight testing than story which make... Read All

Oh, it's you: Portal 2 beta for Linux

http://cdn4.steampowered.com/v/gfx/apps/620/ss_f3f6787d74739d3b2ec8a484b5c994b3d31ef325.1920x1080.jpg?t=1382638717

One of the last Valve games waiting to get the Linux treatment is now in beta. You can opt-in to it to play it now!

Very few games from Valve's library are left now. It may only be CS:GO? Not sure. But it's good to see another high-quality game join the Linux circle, even if it was one that was obviously coming.

Starbound: More Information On Improving Player Progression

"As we said before, the current progression is entirely temporary, existing to provide temporary gameplay whilst we work on the engine. Today I want to share more with you about the games new structure and the beginning of the game.

First of all we’re removing the different universe sectors. In the final game there will be only three sectors. The sector the majority of the game takes place in, a pvp sector and a creative sector without dangers.

Instead of progressing through the game sector by sector, you’ll advance by upgrading your tech to allow you to visit planets that were otherwise inaccessible due to hazards. An example being a planet with no breathable air.... Read All "As we said before, the current progression is entirely temporary, existing to provide temporary gameplay whilst we work on the engine. Today I want to share more with you about the games new structure and the beginning of the game.

First of all we’re removing the different universe sectors. In the final game there will be only three sectors. The sector the majority of the game takes place in, a pvp sector and a creative sector without dangers.

Instead of progressing through the game sector by sector, you’ll advance by upgrading your tech to allow you to visit planets that were otherwise inaccessible due to hazards. An example being a planet with no breathable air. Progression will be less linear and more akin to the kind of progression you find in modern metroidvanias.

We’re building the game with 3 main paths of progression that branch off later on. Farming, adventuring and building. We want players to be able to advance through the game whilst doing whatever they enjoy most.

At the beginning of the game (what would be the alpha sector in the current progression) you start on a ship with a broken fuel module, giving you access to only one planet. Through a series of quests you’re taught how to farm, find trophies in dungeons and build the beginnings of a settlement. Completing these quests will give you the pixels you need to use your ships 3d printer to produce a new fuel module. Which in turn allows progression to the other planets in your current solar system.

At this stage were introducing a new planet type called an outpost. A small and safe planet populated by members of every race. A safe haven for trade and quest taking. You’ll learn how to generate pixels through selling crops, taking quests, selling trophies found in dungeons and renting out houses in your settlement.

From here each of these roles will expand outwards as you progress (for example animal farming becomes an optional part of the farming progression)."

Really looking forward to see the games progression change. Whereas the core mechanics can be fun, the main game progression with sectors seemed very arbitrary. I like the natural progression where you would need to get a breathing system to make it to a planet with no oxygen. I only hope that certain races wouldn't need that as the Glitch really don't need oxygen as they are robots.

I can't wait to see some of these changes make it to the core game and also have the game get way less buggy. I recently started my game and all my chests disappeared including my ship locker. I know it's still early beta, but it's still not great to have that happen. Hopefully things iron out a bit more and we enter a pretty bug free part of the beta.

Curious how long it might be for them to hit 1.0. At this pace it seems like it might be end of 2014 or .. beyond?

http://playstarbound.com/23rd-february/

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/25/2014 at 01:21am

I really enjoyed seeing this post, as I keep imagining Starbound as Terraria 2, and I'm just not really a fan of Terraria. (I know, I know! BLASPHEMY!!!)

But this sounds like a cool game. I will look to pick it up when it finally comes out I think.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/25/2014 at 01:33am

> I really enjoyed seeing this post, as I keep imagining Starbound as Terraria 2, and I'm just not really a fan of Terraria. (I know, I know! BLASPHEMY!!!)

Please delete your account now..

> But this sounds like a cool game. I will look to pick it up when it finally comes out I think.

I think waiting is a good idea. I haven't played it much because you don't really ever "play a game for the first time" again.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/25/2014 at 03:55am

This all sounds good. The massiveness of the galaxy was a little unnecessary really, and while it was awesome seeing what the random number generator could come up with, it felt a little empty. A smaller galaxy with more activity is very welcome.

hardeyez wrote on 02/28/2014 at 02:20am

Ah you got hit by the chests disappearing bug also... It was only there for like a day, but I got hit also (popped on to see the new update and blammo). As a programmer the bug was interesting (non-programmers skip this: they had a issue going to and from lua data structures coupled with the way lua treats nils and silently ignoring objects not loading, this caused storage items to get truncated, then not loaded, and thus disappeared when the world saved). However, a minimal amount of testing should've exposed it before it hit people... I mean I lost my ship's locker.... so I have to wipe my ship to get it back. I also need to wipe the worlds that loaded at that time as they also deleted chests/etc...

hardeyez wrote on 02/28/2014 at 02:21am

oops posted before I meant to...

But, this is the first unexpected loss I've had in the game and it's still early beta...

hardeyez wrote on 02/28/2014 at 02:23am

Also, I'm finding the game quite enjoyable as is. And it will only get better with those listed updates. I'm not as worried about the "play a game for the first time" issue with this one, it's not that kind of an experience. Just like I don't mine that minecraft is constantly updating, (and really changed along the course from alpha).

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RetroLiberty's Top 10 Mario Games

"Its near impossible to pick a favorite Mario game, what games get left out and Aaron has a few top choices that normally are not in the top 3!"

I like this list because it places Mario 2 quite high. I know, Mario 2 was Doki, Doki, Panic, but like the video states, that doesn't make it a bad game. Thing is, i'd love to see a new Mario game riff Mario 2 ideas and have been bummed it hasn't happened yet.

That said, this list is quite good and features a segment from YouTuber MetalJesus! So, you know, watch it.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/25/2014 at 01:17am

That really is a hard list to make. I've never played any of the Mario RPG games, and have limited experience with the Party games, but of the games I've played, my list would have to be:

1. Super Mario World
2. Super Mario 64
3. Super Mario Bros 3
4. Super Mario Bros 2
5. Super Mario Land
6. Super Mario Bros (Hard to argue with the original, but I enjoyed all of the other games more when I first played them. I loved Super Mario Bros, but I also didn't have many options at the time)

They're all great games though :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/25/2014 at 01:39am

Super Mario Land was fun but... I don't think it ages as well as some of the other Mario games. 6 golden coins was a bit better and it was still first generation Gameboy.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/25/2014 at 04:02am

1. Super Mario Galaxy. Yes, really. More than World, more than 64, this game is amazing.
2. Super Mario World
3. Super Mario Bros 3
4. Super Mario Bros 2
5. Super Mario 64
6. Super Mario Bros (although I have probably played this more than any other. I got my speedrun down to 6 minutes without tool-assist before I realized I could be playing more games instead of playing one over and over).

You know, I'm going to stop there. This is futile. The difference between 2-6 is so minor really it's difficult to sort them. The games in the "main" series are all so damn good, it's just hard to place them. At any rate, the end of the list...

...
...
n. Super Mario Sunshine. Again, all the main games are really good, this one included, it just never clicked with me.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/25/2014 at 04:09am

Yeah, Galaxy is really, really great. Too bad it's not on PC. 😄

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/25/2014 at 04:10am

The original game will always be awesome. The first levels will always be burned into my soul :D

rettisawesome wrote on 02/28/2014 at 12:22am

Why doesnt anyone have mariokart?
Mariokart is easily number 1. Haha

Sunshine was actually pretty great too.
But all of them are fantastic.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/28/2014 at 12:45am

Oh man! I totally forgot to list the Mariokart games!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/28/2014 at 02:36am

MarioKart is great, no question. The original is great too and next time I think about a Mario game I will include it.

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How Can I Delay My Inevitable Destruction in FTL: Faster Than Light?

Well, that's the question that comes to mind when playing FTL, because that is exactly what I'm working on. I've found out that my standard double laser beam is more effective than I thought. Sometimes I use it after I use a missile on their weapons, but I've found that sometimes I need to use it to disable the their shields in order to get a missile in. So, those are the two that I usually end up targeting.

As for upgrades, I like upgrading my shields to two, which requires power and system upgrades. Whenever I can afford a Drone Controller Subsystem, I like to get it because the Drone that does Hull Repair is a life saver! The Defense Drone hasn't seemed very... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 02/22/2014 at 12:38am

You should definitely explore, just keep the rebel progression in mind.

How far have you gotten?

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/22/2014 at 12:46am

I think my stats say I've reached Sector 5.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/22/2014 at 12:54am

Unless you I with a ship that has drones at the start (Have you unlocked the Engi ship yet?), buying the drone controller subset is too expensive for me. That said, I do enjoy using them :)

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/22/2014 at 02:01am

I've apparently only unlocked the Torus. I just discovered that and haven't tried it. Do you recommend it?

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/22/2014 at 02:11am

Yeah, it's definitely a fun build! It's difficult (of course), but fun.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/22/2014 at 07:27pm

I use to never bother with drones but I've since warmed up to them. :) If you are going to use drones though, definitely pick up the drone recovery arm augment for your ship. It will save you a lot of money on drone parts and (more importantly) you are much less likely to find yourself running out of drone parts in the middle of a fight.

As far as improving your survivability goes, I'd say make sure you have a pilot and engineer and then put a few upgrades into your engines. Bumping up your evade % really helps. Buy a cloaking device when you can, and time your cloaks right as the enemy is firing missiles/bombs at you. Don't worry about cloaking to evade laser fire, that's what your shields are for. Two shield pips should be fine until you start getting into the later sectors, but if you have the resources to upgrade, getting that third pip early certainly doesn't hurt. I rarely go for the fourth shield upgrade.

That defense drone was likely working better than you realized. The mark I drones will shoot down missiles every couple seconds. In the early sectors it's rare to find an enemy with more than one missile weapon equipped, so you will only need to worry about energy weapons. If your enemy only has lasers or beam weapons, then the defense drone is useless. Also, if you're in an asteroid field the drone will target asteroids coming at you, which may keep it too busy to shoot down missiles. The mark II drone fires faster and can also shoot down lasers (not sure how that works exactly).

I could go on a lot more (I love this game!) but I think I'll stop here. I don't want to overwhelm you. :P

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/22/2014 at 09:55pm

I tried the Torus, but didn't get very far. In that one, it seems you disable their systems with your weapon, while using drones to attack.

Tim, that's a really good post and I don't think you should hold back. If there's more you want to say, please feel free to! I didn't really consider the evade % that much, that may be something I'll have to look into. I've had the cloaking device a couple of times and probably just need to get to it and when my enemies fire to make it more effective. I think there might have been only one time I bought drones.

You've provided some great input, Tim, thanks!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/23/2014 at 02:28am

My first gold star: http://i.imgur.com/0Pak5Bo.jpg

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/24/2014 at 09:06pm

I've reached Sector 7 twice: http://i.imgur.com/s9FmjAN.jpg

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/24/2014 at 10:01pm

Hey, not bad!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/24/2014 at 10:53pm

=) I've managed to upgrade my engines and shields to almost max. I've also recently learned (after my first gold star) how to level up crew. The music has stayed in my head the last few days. I've been trying to do some more research on guides and strategies. There are still aspects of the game I'm trying to figure out, especially when it comes to strategies. I'm often not sure if I should save scrap or spend it on an upgrade and which upgrade if any. I guess that's a bit of the nature of the game.

I'm also not quite sure if sensors are a reasonable upgrade since they seem to always be disabled in the nebulae. I've started opening most outside doors, to help work on fires if and when they happen. This means 3 rooms of no oxygen on the Kestral. I think this strategy has helped me maintain fires and intruders, who I sometimes try to suffocate.

I don't usually buy weapon upgrades, I usually find then. I've also been learning better power management skill. For instance, the Medbay doesn't always need to remain powered unless crew are healing.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/25/2014 at 01:37am

> I've managed to upgrade my engines and shields to almost max

For most games, i'd agree with your thinking here. That said, I wouldn't go past 3 shield dots. It's just that the fourth is very expensive and you don't really need it during the Rebel Flagship fight.

I can't speak to the engines, BUT like with most systems in FTL, maxing them out isn't really a pre-requisite.

> The music has stayed in my head the last few days.

Ben Prunty's score is really awesome. I have it in my music player as I always want to listen to it :D

> There are still aspects of the game I'm trying to figure out, especially when it comes to strategies. I'm often not sure if I should save scrap or spend it on an upgrade and which upgrade if any. I guess that's a bit of the nature of the game.

Yeah, the game is very strategic. I'd say it depends on what build you are going for, where you are at and what's going on.

> I don't usually buy weapon upgrades, I usually find then. I've also been learning better power management skill. For instance, the Medbay doesn't always need to remain powered unless crew are healing.

Yep. This is really useful during a battle when you need to shuffle things around to power a system that is out for whatever reason. I use pause a ton and then shuffle things around depending on what I need, it's fun.

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ZeldaVR: The Legend of Zelda BETA on the Oculus Rift

This is a VR clone of The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The gameplay and artwork are virtually identical to the original NES classic, however in this version you see the world through Link's eyes, in all of it's virtual 3D 8-bit glory. Explore the world, find weapons, kill enemies, collect items, discover secrets, buy upgrades, delve into dungeons, defeat bosses, restore the Triforce, and rescue Princess Zelda from the evil Ganon.

First thought:
Zelda in VR? That's so rad!
Second thought:
Hmmm, 8-bit graphics don't translate well
Third thought:
Has this guy never played Zelda before?
Final thought:
I'd like to see more

Any thoughts on this? The... Read All

Valve's Free to Play Movie Coming March 19th

"FREE TO PLAY is a feature-length documentary that follows three professional gamers from around the world as they compete for a million dollar prize in the first Dota 2 International Tournament. In recent years, E Sports has surged in popularity to become one of the most widely-practiced forms of competitive sport today. A million dollar tournament changed the landscape of the gaming world and for those elite players at the top of their craft, nothing would ever be the same again. Produced by Valve, the film documents the challenges and sacrifices required of players to compete at the highest level."

Apparently Valve is getting into the business of doing everything... Read All