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12 Days of Starcraft

Happy Holidays and Merry Starcraft!

BioShock Infinite: An Amazingly Sad Story of Altered America

I picked up BioShock Infinite in the recently Steam Sale for $9.99 looking for a game to play over the holidays. Since the Steam version has a Mac port I installed it on my laptop and decided to cut into it the other night. First off the game is beautiful. Really, this game is one of the prettiest games I have seen in quite a long time. The amount of visual candy present in this game is astounding and the fact that it holds up is a testament to the games league of programmers.

Right now I am alternating between playing the game straight up on my laptop, plugging it into an external monitor and using HDMI to put it on a TV. I am also playing the game with a keyboard and... Read All I picked up BioShock Infinite in the recently Steam Sale for $9.99 looking for a game to play over the holidays. Since the Steam version has a Mac port I installed it on my laptop and decided to cut into it the other night. First off the game is beautiful. Really, this game is one of the prettiest games I have seen in quite a long time. The amount of visual candy present in this game is astounding and the fact that it holds up is a testament to the games league of programmers.

Right now I am alternating between playing the game straight up on my laptop, plugging it into an external monitor and using HDMI to put it on a TV. I am also playing the game with a keyboard and a mouse as well as a USB controller and the game works well with both control schemes. I can bullseye things WAY better with the mouse but I prefer playing the game with a controller.

I don't want to write about the games story because some of you haven't played it, I don't want to spoil anything for you. That said, I want to talk some about the games themes. The game deals with racism and classism in a way few games do and I think this is worth noting because the game isn't ham fisted when it does it. I found the games version of altered America and Columbia to be quite sad and can't help but consider how the United States turned out. I think the game asks some questions about societies in general in terms of treatment of certain classes I found very interesting. Columbia is a beautiful and bright shining beacon of American exceptionalism with an ugly core of hatred and racism.

So far the game seems to be more heavily geared to the art, story and overall tone than the shooter part of the game. Personally I totally dig the games pacing and find that I am having a great time simply walking through the game and experiencing the world of Columbia. That said, the action is starting to ramp up and have found it all to be quite fun and enjoyable.

Like I said earlier, I think I am a little under halfway and have really enjoyed myself so far. I hope BioShock Infinite comes to SteamOS because i'd love to play this on my Steam Machine. I know I am __VERY__ late to the BioShock Infinite bandwagon, but am happy with the game and if you haven't picked it up, I recommend you do.

Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures first impressions

Yeah, that face. I had that face a lot.

But I'm not done and if not for a family gathering in a couple of hours I'd be playing it right now. And dying, and cursing, and laughing, and feeling that same kind of frustration and addiction that some of the best NES games gave us.

Yes, the game is hard. But it's not broken-hard it's "Nintendo hard" as it's come to be known. Imagine Super Meat Boy.

If you watch the AVGN's videos you'll recognize a lot of the gaming tropes that he hates. A game based on the AVGN would have to. But the core gameplay is solid, very solid.

The humor is funny at first, and kinda what you'd expect, but after 20 minutes it gets a little old. Every... Read All

Game/Show: 2013 Biggest Ideas in Gaming

"We've assembled a collection of the BIGGEST IDEAS in gaming of 2013! Yes, there are numbers, but we swear, it's totally not a list. From voice activated control to consoles, from ASCII to narratives, see what was on our list, and then complain about all the things we forgot about!"

This is a good episode of Game/Show to end out the year with. Discussing some of the bigger ideas of the year, some of which I am happy to see take shape. I think the games as vehicles for social change is something I am very interested in personally. I wouldn't have expected when I first saw Super Mario Brothers that video games could get as far as they are now. It's a great time to be... Read All

FTL: Advanced Edition - The Lanius

"The Lanius are scavengers – metallic lifeforms that rely on the absorption of minerals to sustain themselves. Their society ebbs and flows in hibernation cycles; they may lie dormant for many years, even while hurtling through space. As soon as they become aware of significant metal deposits they reawaken. Usually this occurs in the dying stages of a galactic civilization or in the wake of intergalactic war.

Reports of reawakened Lanius have appeared in many of the war-torn and abandoned sectors of Federation Space. Their arrival has created panic as they indiscriminately seek our sources of metal – although more diplomatic individuals have suggested that they can be... Read All "The Lanius are scavengers – metallic lifeforms that rely on the absorption of minerals to sustain themselves. Their society ebbs and flows in hibernation cycles; they may lie dormant for many years, even while hurtling through space. As soon as they become aware of significant metal deposits they reawaken. Usually this occurs in the dying stages of a galactic civilization or in the wake of intergalactic war.

Reports of reawakened Lanius have appeared in many of the war-torn and abandoned sectors of Federation Space. Their arrival has created panic as they indiscriminately seek our sources of metal – although more diplomatic individuals have suggested that they can be reasoned with."

More details came out today about the FTL update in the form of a new race of creatures, the Lanius. I really don't want to meet up with them as they only seem to be hostile and seem to be pretty menacing. I wonder if they are enemy only or if you could get a Lanius on your ship? They seem to naturally destroy the ship so... perhaps not.

The FTL developers let us know some rather large details about the update:

It will contain a ton of new content and improvements: although the larger additions can be disabled if you prefer FTL “vanilla.”

This large update is free for those who already own the game on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

FTL is also coming to iPad; it will be the full version of the game including the new “Advanced Edition” content.

FTL on iPad will have to be purchased separately from the PC version.

An exact date for release has not been decided but we are aiming for early 2014.

I really appreciate the "FTL vanilla" setting. Some of the new content will change the game very much and it might be nice to return to basic FTL if one would want. For newer players it might also be nice to see what the game was before the Advanced Edition as well.

I am seriously considering picking FTL up on the iPad as well, something about it seems like a great idea. Anyone else with me on this?

http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=621

If you haven't seen it already, you need to watch the announcement trailer:

http://vimeo.com/79104930

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls releasing March 25

Reaper of Souls is coming out March 25, and you can pre-order it now! It costs $39.99 for the standard edition and $59.99 for the digital deluxe edition.

I'll probably wait for the physical version if that's an option. I'd like to see what kind of swag comes with any potential physical version of the game.

One interesting thing to note about the system requirements:
"Requires the Battle.net Desktop App "
Looks like they're ready to move forward with the B.net app. I'm still hoping for the ability to actually use it as more than a game launcher, like chatting with B.net friends outside of games, etc.

More info: ... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/20/2013 at 03:11am

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/11867681/reaper-of-souls%E2%84%A2-unleashed-on-march-25-2014-prepurchase-now-12-19-2013

"If you're looking for even more loot, the Reaper of Souls retail-exclusive Collector's Edition comes fully equipped with all the in-game goodies from the Digital Deluxe, plus a range of premium collectible items:
Malthael mouse pad, bearing the impenetrable visage of the Angel of Death
Hardback Collector's Edition art book, chronicling the game's artistic development
Behind-the-scenes Blu-Ray/DVD two-disc set, featuring in-depth interviews with the development team and members of the Diablo III community"

I will be nabbing the collectors as well. I really enjoyed the CE of SC2, HoTS and Diablo 3. The only unfortunate bit is that Reaper of Souls CE doesn't come with the game score. That's been a pretty large staple of the CE for me and it's a bummer it's not included here. That said, the art book, behind the scenes, mouse pad and in game pet do seem worth it to me.

I am still using the HoTS mouse pad right now, so maybe switch it out. :D

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/20/2013 at 03:13am

So far it seems Amazon is the first retailer to list the CE, I hope Best Buy or someone can get it so I can just walk in and pick it up game launch day.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 12/21/2013 at 05:43am

Fear not: https://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/10972387439?page=1#3

Blue post about the soundtrack says it's in!

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/21/2013 at 06:17am

Awesome! Then I have reservations about pre-ordering this the second I can.

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Cheerful Ghost Roundtable Ep 9: The Holiday Special

This is our last episode of the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable in 2013. We talk about what we've been playing, the recent Starbound beta, SteamOS and Steam Machines beta launch, our top 3 most played games in 2013. We also ask Baby New Year to grant us some wishes when we look forward to 2014 in gaming.

Also, WhiteboySlim shows off his holiday sweater and I get a bit upset when I hear Steam Machine beta recipients are installing Windows..... Barbarians.

Papers, Please: http://store.steampowered.com/app/239030/

Starbound beta: http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/1784

SteamOS: http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1782

Terraria 1.2: ... Read All

Earthbound in 3D looks amazing!

I loved the original pixel art style of the original Earthbound, but I would play the hell out of a 3D remake if it looked this good!

3D designer Christopher Behr did an amazing job recreating Earthbounds starting town, Onett. More (and bigger) pictures can be found at: http://www.christopherbehr.com/Onett

Steam Holiday Sale: What Are You Getting?

Tomorrow is the day for the Steam Holiday Sale. Any games you are looking to pickup?

I still have yet to play BioShock Infinite & Dishonored but I have so many games already!

Join the CG event for the discussion:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/events/44

You can read a bit of our discussion on SteamOS:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1782

Tales and Nevewinter Lore

When Neverwinter Nights for PC released in 2002 I was really excited because I heard lots of great things about it. I bought it second hand off a friend and dug into the main story. Neverwinter Nights was a little long, but it offered a rich story that I found really interesting. By the end of the game I had a really epic Cleric that could kill nearly anything with a few spells. I enjoyed the Shadows of Undrentide expansion and really loved Hordes of the Underdark.

Recently watched the above Neverwinter Lore video and though it was worth sharing. You can play the Neverwinter MMO on Steam now or the entire 2002 Diamond Edition on GOG.com for $5.

... Read All