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PAX Day 2: Hearts, Talks, Fortresses and Roads

My final day at PAX was Saturday and it was great. I decided to hit up a few talks and went back to the Indie Mega Booth to checkout other games I had missed on Friday.

talks

I went to a few talks this year. One called "Now that we Know Everything is Sexist, Now What" and a Q&A with the founders of Super Giant Games. Both panels were interesting for different reasons. I appreciate the Sexism talk but it depressed me a little. The Supergiant Q&A was good but I wanted a bit more time with them and the questions didn't seem to resonate with me. Super Giant Games is a great company and they have a very dedicated fan base so it was fun to hear the fans ask questions.... Read All

Keiji Inafune is TOTALLY NOT making a new Mega Man

Back this on Kickstarter!

By which I mean, yeah, he kinda is. Not that this is a bad thing!

Keiji Inafune is turning to Kickstarter to make, essentially, a Mega Man game that got cut while he was at Capcom, but now that he's no longer there he doesn't have access to the characters anymore. This is a game he's been wanting to make for a while now, and it's a game I want to play.

All the stuff you're used to from Mega Man games is present. You'll fight your way through bosses, and steal their powers to take on the other bosses. The screenshots and concept art look quite nice, and with Inafune at the helm, I'm not worried about quality.

Check out the Kickstarter here: ... Read All

A game of time travel, big guns, hats, and dancing

Awhile back I was given a review copy of No Time To Explain, a platformer/action game by tinyBuild Games. Now that I’ve made it about halfway through the main game I think it’s a good time to post my thoughts on the game so far. Especially since we’ll be giving away several copies here on the site!
(Check here for details on how to win a copy: http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1564)

First, let’s talk about the good.

The core mechanic of the game revolves around a powerful gun that your future self delivers to you in the present. In addition to working as a gun it also works as a jet pack. It’s one of those easy to learn but difficult to master game mechanics and... Read All

Death Road To Canada: Pixelated Zombie Love

Back this on Kickstarter!

As I was frolicking in the Indie Mega Booth I made my way to the Indie Mini Booth, the booth inside the Indie Mega Booth. I am wondering if next year they will feature the Micro Booth inside the Mini Booth inside the....

One game that seriously caught my eye is Death Road to Canada. I was able to talk to the developer of the game for some time and nabbed a cool Death Road Zombie pin. The game is a great looking procedural road trip pixel zombie game featuring some really neat elements. The Kickstarter video shows them off well and also includes a CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT from Tarn Adams co-creator of Dwarf Fortress.

Love the premise of the game and I can't wait to try it... Read All

PAX Day 1: Bright, Loud and Amazing

First day at PAX is always the most mind and foot numbing. I usually don't hang out in large auditoriums filled with massive art pieces, loud music and large seizure educing lights so the first day of PAX takes a while to acclimate to. @scrypt is at PAX this year so we have been co-ordinating a bit to see most of the show together and so far its worked out pretty well.

Today we decided to hit up the expo halls and check out the games developers are showing. I didn't have a huge list of games I came in wanting to play because most of the games I know about, i've played. All told, I found some awesome new stuff I hadn't heard of before and played some games that haven't... Read All

Prison Architect Alpha 13: Escape Tunnels & Policy

Prison Architect is a prison simulator from Introversion Software, the creators of Uplink and Darwinia. In the recent video for Alpha 13, producer Mike Morris and designer Chris Delay show off the new prisoner escape tunnel mechanic. The video illustrates how your prisoners can appear to be asleep but can actually be creating tunnels to escape. The game even allows the prisoners to build off each others tunnels to escape. Currently, you can detect a tunnel by searching each cell but they plan on adding search dogs to detect break out attempts as well as prisoner contraband.

Alpha 13 brings another interesting feature in that you can set your prisons policy. You can set... Read All

Reaper of Souls New Loot Systems & Auction House

In a new interview with PC Gamer, Diablo 3 Lead Content Designer Kevin Martens spoke about some reaper of souls game changes for loot drops and the auction house. When asked about loot drops and the auction house, he said that much of Diablo 3 fun revolved around the auction house...

"That’s not what we intend, and we do want to address that, so the loot system and the enchanting and crafting systems are both intended to cut the legs out from the auction house; to make it unnecessary to go on it to some degree, where the most fun way to play the game becomes the best way to play the game.”

‘Loot 2.0′ will add “smart drop” items, which are tuned to your character. More... Read All In a new interview with PC Gamer, Diablo 3 Lead Content Designer Kevin Martens spoke about some reaper of souls game changes for loot drops and the auction house. When asked about loot drops and the auction house, he said that much of Diablo 3 fun revolved around the auction house...

"That’s not what we intend, and we do want to address that, so the loot system and the enchanting and crafting systems are both intended to cut the legs out from the auction house; to make it unnecessary to go on it to some degree, where the most fun way to play the game becomes the best way to play the game.”

‘Loot 2.0′ will add “smart drop” items, which are tuned to your character. More legendaries are also planned, with extra effects, such as a staff that can spawn hydras from dead bodies. A new artisan, the Mystic, will be introduced, letting players transmute items – transferring the stats of one over to another. In addition, the new Loot Run mode will randomly generate a new 15-20 minute dungeon, letting you go treasure hunting without repeating the same locations."

If Blizzard is able to pull this off, this is a welcomed change. Diablo 3 is loads of fun, but it has always been easiest to grind for gold and head to the auction house for gear. Beyond a certain level the majority of loot drops are nearly worthless, yellows and browns included. Kind of sad to get a legendary item and think "oh well it prob sucks more than a blue I have." I hope Blizzard can change things so the dropped gear is awesome and I am really looking forward to the new "loot run" mode.

What do you think, are these changes to the auction house and loot drops something you are excited about?

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/29/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-loot-system-designed-to-cut-the-legs-out-from-the-auction-house/

**UPDATE**

It also seems that Diablo 3 will be seeing a huge 2.0 update getting much of the content around Reaper of Souls release.

"You’re going to get all the loot, you’re going to get all the new item types, you’re going to get all the new legendary affixes, you’re going to get our new gem type – which is the diamond – and you’re going to get all the changes to the rules, the smart drop system, the targeted drop system, probably you’ll get loot runs – we haven’t figured that one out yet – probably you’ll get paragon, etc, etc."

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/29/diablo-3-to-get-free-update-alongside-reaper-of-souls-expansion/

Terraria/Edge of Space Crossover

I'd been considering Edge of Space for a while now, but this makes me want to check it out even more.

Premiering at PAX, some new content from Terraria will be hitting Edge of Space. The Skeletron boss, reimagined as Omegatron, will be coming in an update.

Those of you going to PAX (ahem, jdodson, scrypt), you have to play this and tell us how it looks!

Terraria released for iOS

It doesn't "officially" go live until tomorrow-- you can't find it by searching in the App Store on your iDevice right now, but you can download it now in iTunes and sync it up that way.

EDIT: No need to do this now, it's officially out!

Happy digging, fighting, and exploring!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/terraria/id640364616?mt=8

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/29/2013 at 03:03am

Just downloaded it. Opened up and music started.

SO RAD! Must have dropped early.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/29/2013 at 03:03am

It's infuriatingly difficult to control. Might just take some getting used to.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/29/2013 at 03:06am

Not too bad here, but i've only been playing for 4 minutes.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/29/2013 at 03:12am

I've played other games that approximate a joystick on a touchscreen and also found that difficult, so it may just be me :)

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/29/2013 at 03:15am

It's not amazing, but its OK I guess.

Have to take some boss fights VERY slowly or not at all. Hell would be very hard on my iPhone not to mention hard mode.

But for a little Terraria on the go? I can see this working well for that.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/29/2013 at 03:19am

This would work much better on the Vita with the touch screen and analog controls.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/29/2013 at 03:21am

Yep. Another tick in the "pro" column for getting a Vita. It's getting close to the sweet spot for me to get one.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/29/2013 at 03:42am

Yeah, agreed.

Ok so after about 20 minutes of playing it feels a bit cramped. Occasionally I run into some issues with open doors and chests and dealing with my house. Over time I imagine it will get sorted out but I don't expect i'll clock a ton of time into this one. Compared to PC Terraria it's pretty limiting.

That said, i'll write up a review about it at some point.

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Game/Show: A New Web Series from PBS

PBS just dropped a new web series called "PBS Game/Show" on YouTube and it is well worth your time. The first episode is about classic game characters and how long they will be with us. The host Jamin Warren discusses Mario, Sonic and Link and compares them to other more modern characters to see whom will have a longer appeal. He also talks a bit about myths and stories.

I really enjoyed the the first episode and hope they keep this going. One of the reasons I started the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable was to get a pretty even discussion going about gaming that didn't contain long winded video game rants, 90's style shock jock potty humor and horribly negative discussions.... Read All