Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

The Steam Console Is Just Around The Corner

For the last year or so I have bought PC games that refuse to work with anything other than the USB XBox 360 controller. I have been happy to use my Logitech USB gamepads but I have really started to use them more on my PC recently and have been a bit annoyed they just don't work with certain games. Since I don't buy PC hardware that ONLY works on Windows, I looked into the 360 controller support on Linux. It seems a few enterprising folks added support for it in the Linux Kernel and they have reported it works very well. So after a few months of mulling it over I decided to drop a few bucks and pick up the 360 controller.

If you know me, you know I am not a Microsoft... Read All For the last year or so I have bought PC games that refuse to work with anything other than the USB XBox 360 controller. I have been happy to use my Logitech USB gamepads but I have really started to use them more on my PC recently and have been a bit annoyed they just don't work with certain games. Since I don't buy PC hardware that ONLY works on Windows, I looked into the 360 controller support on Linux. It seems a few enterprising folks added support for it in the Linux Kernel and they have reported it works very well. So after a few months of mulling it over I decided to drop a few bucks and pick up the 360 controller.

If you know me, you know I am not a Microsoft fanboy. For the most part, most of what they create isn't interesting to me. That said, over the years I have come to love a few things they have created. Most notably the Microsoft ergonomic Keyboard and after using it, the 360 controller for PC. Holeee crap, this thing is wicked awesome. Force feedback, feels great in your hands, well set buttons and the analog sticks are superb. Oh and did I mention it works great on Linux too?

That said, the controller doesn't work on Mac out of the box so you must install this driver to get it working.

http://tattiebogle.net/index.php/ProjectRoot/Xbox360Controller/OsxDriver#toc1

After the driver installed and I rebooted the controller worked on my Mac without a hitch. I hope Apple adds the 360 controller as supported hardware in a later OS patch!

I fired up some of the games that refused to work with my old Logitec gamepads and they worked great with the 360 controller. Whereas I think game developers should make their games work with a wide array of controllers, its nice to just have the damn thing work right.

One of the things I wanted to try after picking up the 360 controller was how well Big Picture Mode worked in Steam. Big Picture Mode is a mode in Steam that allows you to control Steam and launch games with a gamepad. I wondered how seamless it would be to start up Steam in Big Picture Mode and launch games and play them with ONLY my gamepad. I know Valve has been putting much love into Big Picture Mode and I wanted to see just how well a Steam Box would work now.

I first started with Windows. I figure this should work the best as it supports the most games and because of this should be the most used. While you are in Big Picture Mode many of the games have a controller icon visible that lets you know how well the game is gamepad supported. Many games have a full black controller letting the user know this game is VERY well supported. Some games have a half white half black controller letting the user know the game has some controller support BUT may require you use a keyboard and a mouse to set that up or get the game to launch correctly.

A few games worked flawlessly in Big Picture Mode on Windows such as Borderlands 2, Awesomenauts, Skyrim & Portal 2. A few other games worked well enough, but required a keyboard and mouse to set them up correctly. All in all things seemed to work VERY well and I was surprised how seamless it all was.

I decided to test big picture mode on my Mac and wasn't left with as awesome results as Windows. Many games opened and required a keyboard and mouse to switch to the gamepad and the switch from Steam to the game was a bit jilted. Overall it wasn't awesome but worked ok. I won't be using my Mac laptop as a faux Steambox as I planned, it just doesn't feel right.

The last thing I tried was Big Picture Mode on Linux and it worked as well as Windows. I have personally found Steam's support on Linux to be better than the Mac. There are more games on Mac to be sure, but things seem a bit more clean and games run a bit smoother. That said, Linux big picture mode worked well and launched awesomely for the few games I had installed.

After picking up the 360 controller for PC and checking out Big Picture Mode again I am considering never purchasing a console again. That said, I may drop Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft in favor of Valve's Steambox. With Steam Cloud Saves and the thought of playing a game in my living room and then on my PC is VERY compelling to me. Apparently the first "Steambox" will be released this December if all goes according to plan. At this point it looks like a smaller form factor PC and I hope it works out well for Valve. Because, really shouldn't our games seamlessly move from the PC to the living room by now? Seems like few companies are setup to do that and I put Valve at the head of the line for making it happen.

New Kickstarter Ravensdale Allows Much Orc Killing

Back this on Kickstarter!

"Ravensdale is based on classic arcade shooters like Contra and Metal Slug, but focuses heavily on co-op interactions between players. For example, while you rapidly pull yourself towards and past your buddies, they block projectiles heading your way and feed an overdrive mode to boost the entire team! We’re also pushing for strong interactivity between player characters, enemies and the levels to provide a wider range of tactical options to both solo players and assault teams."

Ravensdale is an awesome looking 2D Orc kill-fest that blends elements of Unreal Tournament and Killer Instinct... which is to say, what I took away from the Kickstarter video. Ravensdale is... Read All

Jim Guthrie & Friends Weekly Humble Bundle

"Eleven albums, a game, and a movie... This week, pay what you want for the albums Takes Time; Takes Time: Instrumentals & Demos; Sword & Sworcery LP - The Ballad of the Space Babies; Indie Game: The Movie (Soundtrack); The Scythian Steppes: Seven #Sworcery Songs Localized for Japan; Children of the Clone; Corporeal; Now, More Than Ever; Morning Noon Night; A Thousand Songs; and FREE-P. Every purchase also includes a 50% off coupon for a double LP vinyl of Indie Game: The Movie (Soundtrack) (while supplies last). If you pay more than the average, you’ll also receive the game Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP and Indie Game: The Movie. The top 10... Read All

It Ended With an Axe

I've played Skyrim all the way through once, and started multiple characters, but decided to run through the unification of Skyrim as fast as possible.

I started a new character and the first thing I did was run to Solitude to join the Empire. I've normally played as part of the Stormcloaks, and I wanted a different game this time. I also decided to go with a different play style. Usually I'm most comfortable in games as a tank type, but decided to be a sneaky caster for this character. So I worked on my Sneaking and Illusion skill trees, along with Destruction at times. I found that far enough up the Illusion tree, there's a perk to cause all your magic casting to be... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/19/2013 at 12:40am

I haven't decided in terms of if I am with the Rebels or Empire. Travis says I need to go Empire because the Rebels are evil, but so far they both seem just as bad as the others. Haven't been down either path very far to be fair.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 07/19/2013 at 01:37am

After unifying Skyrim under both groups, neither one feels more like the "good" guys. But, the Empire feels more politically correct. "Just trying to do our job and keep the peace"

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/25/2014 at 06:04am

Awesome! I created a new character a few months ago and the last thing I was doing was some of the quests in Solitude, which is not the direction I took with my first character (whom I spent over 300 hours with). I haven't played much further with my 2nd character, probably because other games have grabbed my attention (like Terraria).

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 01/25/2014 at 05:19pm

I know what you mean. I actually haven't played this character since I wrote this post!

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Hammerwatch Preorder Drops + Dev Min-terview

Hammerwatch is an upcoming Gauntlet styled hack-n-slash featuring 4 player co-op. Travis and I featured this game on the site a few months ago with an interview and early gameplay review. I am happy to let you know that Hammerwatch is available to pre-order from the Humble Store for $8. When the game is ready to ship the pre-order gets you access to the game, game score + Steam Key.

Seriously, this a crazy deal and its not even on sale.

No secret I am very excited for this game to launch and as such shipped over a few questions to the Hammerwatch developers about the pre-order and final release. I want to thank them for taking the time to talk with me and I wish them... Read All

Indie Game: The Movie - Special Edition

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0158/0850/t/1/assets/carousel-item-2.jpg?134

Just announced, the creators of Indie Game: The Movie are releasing the long awaited Special Edition, which includes a ton of new footage, as well as the original theatrical film (if you purchase the box set). Shipping on this new edition starts on July 24th, so get pre-orders in before then, and save $10 on the DVD, or $20 on Blu-ray. Digital options are there as well, and if you already have the movie, you can download just the bonus features for $4.99.

The Special Edition footage follows the aftermath of the film, and looks to fill in more details around the events that took place with each individual story.

Head over to the site for details, and get those orders... Read All

Hands On With the Dota 2 Mac and Linux Clients

Recently, Dota 2 left beta for its final free to play release on Windows. During its Beta it wasn't available for Linux or Mac but recently Valve made a test build available for both platforms. Recently I downloaded both clients on Linux and Mac to give them a shot. If you have Steam for Mac or Linux you can simple download the Dota 2 test from your games list.

Mac Test Build

This build works well enough that I recommend it for Mac users if they prefer gaming from their Laptop or iMac. That said, I don't recommend it for serious Dota 2 playing but if you want to have a bit of fun with bots or friends, it works well.

A few issues I noticed:

When the character selection... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 07/17/2013 at 01:59pm

"It wasn't a huge deal, but my Macbook has an SSD and 16G of RAM, it doesn't need to slow down."

What's the video card in the Macbook? That could explain the slow down.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/17/2013 at 05:50pm

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB
2.6 GHz Intel Core i7

Dota 2 should be fine :D

Travis Admin wrote on 07/17/2013 at 06:20pm

Aye, I think it should.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/17/2013 at 09:35pm

It's probably just the ghost of Steve Jobs, trying to tell you to keep those dirty games off of his dream!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/18/2013 at 01:42am

HAHAHA yeah I bet.

I have found that many games on Mac are not as speedy as they seem they should be. I have a Linux box with lesser specs in some respects that totally smokes it for games. Its a strange thing because I have the latest Retina Macbook with the highest specs. Kind of should be enough horsepower for most games I think.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/18/2013 at 02:31am

Are you running 10.8? Ever since I made the upgrade to Mountain Lion, I've noticed significant decrease in performance on my iMac. Mine is an older system (3ghz Intel Core 2 Duo), but I can imagine that it might be part of the problem.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/18/2013 at 02:37am

Yeah, I am running Mountain Lion. For everything else it seems fine, just games are a bit more laggy than they should.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/18/2013 at 01:03pm

From what I read, 10.9 should fix some of those speed drop problems, so maybe gaming will get better as well.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/18/2013 at 03:20pm

That's good news. From my very non scientific research it seems Steam games on Linux are on par with Windows and a bit better than the Mac. But, again, just a "feel" no benchmarks or anything.

Hat tip to Valve, the porting effort is very good.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 07/22/2013 at 12:00am

I think a key reason for the performance difference could be that Valve is tightening up their engine in preparation for the Steambox. Since it's purported to be Linux-based, it would make sense that there are optimizations in Linux that don't exist in Mac OS.

I have noticed that since the beta launch of Steam for Linux, a great number of the Valve titles have been through multiple revisions, with each one performing slightly better than the last. When TF2 was first available for Linux, I experienced serious performance hits on my woefully underpowered Intel HD 3000. Two updates later, however, and the framerate got to an acceptable-but-not-yet-playable-with-humans point.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/22/2013 at 04:59am

Good to hear they are improving performance. If vendors are to release different versions of the Steam Box with different hardware then they will need to optimize as well as they can. Then again, modest hardware now days is pretty beefy all told.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 07/22/2013 at 06:02pm

True, yet there is still a bottom end to the hardware. My laptop was right at the base spec for the Steam Linux beta. The desktop I'm on now has some pretty low specs: Core 2 Duo 2 GHz, NVIDIA GT220, 4 GB DDR 800 RAM running off of a slow SATA drive. Still, most of the Valve titles run really well and keep getting better. That's why I'm itching for Portal 2 to get to Linux. Or HL3. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Sorry. That happens any time I think about HL3. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/22/2013 at 06:06pm

When they get Portal 2 ported to Linux that will be awesome. Have you played it yet?

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 07/22/2013 at 06:19pm

Oh yeah. Finished the single-player on the PS3 and the laptop was just barely fast enough to play it in Windows, but I rarely booted to Windows so I'm itching to play it again and/or co-op this time around.

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Super Time Force Continues To Look Amazing

Capybara Games just released a new trailer for Super Time Force and it is worth a watch. The trailer features examples of how the time travel game mechanic works during game play. When you rewind time you can also select another character to play, making it possible to play different parts of a level with different characters. The game boasts the ability to play as a Dinosaur but that aspect isn't shown in the trailer. The trailer does show off a Luke Skywalker character as well as others that resemble various iconic 80's action stars.

As with any Capybara game, the trailer features a really great music. The trailer itself is fairly unique in that the last minute is a... Read All

Development Progresses: Fruit, The Beach & Elves!

"Fruit trees are a long-term investment for your farm. They don’t need to be watered, but they are expensive to buy, need a lot of space, and require a full year of growth before they’ll produce any fruit. However, once it’s established, your tree will provide you with juicy morsels every day during its fruiting season!

What will you do with your new fruit?

Sell it? Cook with it? Give it to your sweetie?

Throw the pungent little thing into an oak barrel and spend the winter guzzling strong wine? (don’t do that)"

http://stardewvalley.net/mini-dev-update-8/

The Power of Glove Documentary

" 1989. In an era of Nintendo-mania, toymaker giant Mattel unleashes a bold technological experiment to an eager public. The POWER GLOVE: the first video game controller that allows players to operate Nintendo games with intuitive hand gestures.

Despite immense hype surrounding its release, the product is a critical failure, disappointing thousands of children with its subpar gameplay. More than two decades later, however, dedicated fans continue to repurpose the Power Glove for art pieces, hacking projects, electronic music, and more.

For the first time ever: the story behind the world’s most notorious video game controller."

The Power Glove is one of those awesome... Read All