Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Escape from Burger Town

Zac Gorman, the one man wrecking-crew behind the awesome Magical Game Time series released a new web comic "Escape from Burger Town." Very cool and worth checking out. I really enjoy Gorman's style, even if I don't always know what he is trying to say with a given strip. Art need not be accessible to be compelling.

http://escapefromburgertown.tumblr.com/
http://magicalgametime.com/

A.N.N.E. 2D Sidescrolling Pixel Amazingness

Back this on Kickstarter!

"Set on Planet Gomi, A.N.N.E. is a Metroidvania-style platformer with a unique focus on open exploration. So many places to go! So many things to see!

High level enemies are blocking your path, are you skilled enough to take them on now, or will you venture down a less risky path and come back later?"

After watching the Kickstarter video for A.N.N.E. my first thought is that this game looks heavily inspired by Blaster Master, a NES game I __LOVED__. Blaster Master lacked a save feature so when I borrowed it from my friends I could never beat it in one sitting. That said, Blaster Master was awesome as you had a badass tank that you explored the overworld in and then had... Read All

DoTA 2 Int. Coming to Seattle Aug 7th - 11th

"The first team invited to The International are the returning champions, Invictus Gaming. Twelve more teams will be announced over the coming days. Just like in last year’s event, the winners of the East and West Qualifiers will each receive an invite. As you’ve probably noticed, that only adds to 15 teams. Right before The International begins, the Wild Card event will determine the final spot in a match between the runner-ups of each qualifier.

The West Qualifier will be hosted by GDStudio from May 13th through the 19th and the East Qualifier by BeyondTheSummit from May 20th through the 26th. All matches will also be available for free through DotaTV."

I am SERIOUSLY... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 04/27/2013 at 02:24am

Having played DOTA 2, this doesn't interest me at all. It's not all eSports, I've enjoyed watching other tournaments in the past, I even spent far more time than I'd care to admit watching MtG tournaments, but I'll pass on this.

I find it interesting that this game is still in beta and they have championships already.

rettisawesome wrote on 10/08/2013 at 09:43pm

There were many awesome games. Very worth watching if at all interested in esports.
this is the event that changes the meta of public DOTA games for the rest of the year.

Teams really step up their games. And pull out all their tricks. I guess 2.5 million bucks worth of prizes is a big deal.

DOTA might have been in beta. But it is more stable than most other competitive games. I dont think it had anything to do with the quality of the game. Or bugs. I think it was a marketing decision.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/09/2013 at 01:59am

Yeah, I didn't get to watch the DoTA 2 international this year. And yeah, I think one big reason teams step up the game is the prize money, its nice to see that kind of cash come to e-sports.

JaBo wrote on 10/10/2013 at 06:03pm

It's still available to be viewed AFAIK (easily on youtube). And I've been watching dota2 or MTG tournaments/matches at work for the last couple months. Both are fun to watch and both have good broadcasters.

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Interview with Sean Velasco about Shovel Knight

Shovel Knight is the awesome retro styled 2D sidescroller that was recently catapulted to Kickstarter success blowing by its initial $75k level to land on a cool $350k. The fans of this upcoming game spread the message far and wide and as such gained some awesome stretch goals such as Linux & Mac ports, playable boss characters, a gender swap mode(woot), challenge mode and a 4 player battle mode.

Since I am very interested in dispensing shovel justice to evil in 8-bit I decided to reach out to the Shovel Knight team. They were awesome enough to respond and what follows is the historical accounting of that conversation.

Oh and for all of you wondering, we did talk... Read All

Money, Money, Money!

http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/products/6577/6577073_sa.jpg

Earlier this month I bought a new laptop from Best Buy. Just received a $25 Rewards Zone reward certificate.

I think I'll roll that into a $50 Steam card and get it half-off lol.

Just a random post today. Yay for free money!

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 05:43pm

THIS POST HAS BEEN FLAGGED BY YOUR WEB CLIENT AS SPAM!

*clicks not SPAM*

Though, in all seriousness thats totally awesome. Let me know what you get.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 04/26/2013 at 05:51pm

LOL, sorry to spam man ;)

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 05:52pm

No, just the title "MONEY, MONEY, MONEY." Its cool :D

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 05:53pm

After I read that I was like, what? Money? Can I get money from Zimbabwei from my long lost uncle?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/26/2013 at 07:51pm

Free money is probably the best money. Preferable to blood money, or dirty money, and especially Monopoly money. Happy shopping!

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 08:23pm

I don't know... Dirty money is just regular money that isn't yet cleaned right?

Bueller, Bueller...

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Revisiting Old Friends

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/40/BatenKaitosCover.jpg

Just had a chat with an old friend of mine this evening, and whilst perusing Cheerful Ghost, I was reminded of some old friends I left behind in a video game once.

Baten Kaitos is a game with a couple of *really* unique mechanics. The first is that your items are stored in card format - everything from your armor to your weapons to your quest items are stored on cards. And I don't mean abstracted out for combat or gameplay, I mean the characters talk about needing to find a blank card to suck up the essence of something or other.

The second is that your cards evolve in real time. As in, if you pick up a card with a fruit on it (that you would use to heal someone in your... Read All Just had a chat with an old friend of mine this evening, and whilst perusing Cheerful Ghost, I was reminded of some old friends I left behind in a video game once.

Baten Kaitos is a game with a couple of *really* unique mechanics. The first is that your items are stored in card format - everything from your armor to your weapons to your quest items are stored on cards. And I don't mean abstracted out for combat or gameplay, I mean the characters talk about needing to find a blank card to suck up the essence of something or other.

The second is that your cards evolve in real time. As in, if you pick up a card with a fruit on it (that you would use to heal someone in your party), and you stand around for an hour... that fruit will rot on the card. Likewise, ice melts into water, fire goes out, and peaches inexplicably turn into heroes called Momotaro after a number of hours (just leave the game running overnight).

But the third - and the one that really endeared this game to me - is that you're one of the characters. You, personally, the player. See, your title character Kalas has a link to a Guardian Spirit. This Guardian Spirit is a being from another world, who has a limited capacity to communicate and work with whoever's linked. Especially in terms of succeeding in combat and making pivotal decisions. You are the Guardian Spirit.

Now, this is a little meta and weirdly philosophical, but hear me out. With this Guardian Spirit mechanic, the characters are free to talk to you and about you without breaking the fourth wall. It's easy to think of your actions as more real, because you're not *controlling* the main character, you're just offering suggestions that he's all too happy to take you up on.

The net result was that I felt like I was actually part of the party, that I was role-playing a character who happened to be myself, and when I got my suspension of disbelief good and amped up, that the interactions between me and Kalas were governed not by the rules of the game but rather by the nature of the gap between our two worlds. At the end of the game, I found myself saying farewell to characters who had somehow become a kind of a friend. A week later, I felt like I should visit, so I played through the ending again.

Of course, this is a deeply personal experience and your mileage may vary. It might be that I played the game during a particular mental sweet spot that somehow let me recapture a six-year-old's wonder and imagination for one special round with a game.

Or... maybe there's something just a little bit magical on that tiny Gamecube disc.

SNES-ish action RPG incoming!

So I was skimming through some Steam Greenlight games and noticed this game with a serious Secret of Mana / Secret of Evermore vibe was recently greenlit.

This game was nowhere on my radar, but I am glad I stumbled on it by chance 'cause it looks seriously cool. A retro action RPG with on-line co-op? sign me up!

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 04:39pm

This game looks great and is now on my radar. Have you read anywhere about a release date?

caffo wrote on 04/27/2013 at 01:19am

Q: When will the game be released and on what platforms can I play it?
A: We hope that the game will be ready for release in 2013. As of now, it will be for the Windows platform only!

Love it. SoM / Ragnarok Online feelings.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/27/2013 at 01:57am

Caffo: I got the same feels from look at it as well. Ragnarok Online was awesome until they kept changing the graphics to something really far away from what it was at the start.

Timogorgon Member Post Author wrote on 04/27/2013 at 06:05pm

Yeah I meant my original post to be a little more informative, but my newborn son had other plans. :p I ended up having to type the post one handed.

It seems like there is a lot of retro styled games coming out and I love it! Can't wait for more news on release dates for all of them.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/27/2013 at 07:21pm

Its as if all the triple A companies cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced by Indie Developers.

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Hearthstone: New Matchup - Paladin vs. Warrior

Every time I watch a new Hearthstone video I get more excited about playing it. I will dump all my thoughts to the video as I watch it so prepare yourself...

Right away the player is dealt a pretty poor hand and is allowed to redraw cards with no penalty. This is noteworthy because games like Magic: The Gathering penalize you for a Mulligan. Or so the official rules say, when I play with my friends we don't observe that rule. :D

The player gets a "Leroy Jenkins" card. Hat tip to the designers, this kind of thing is awesome to see.

One nice UI bit of polish I like, when the opponent card is played you can see it with all of its abilities.

There are a ton of sick cards... Read All

Portland OMSI After Dark

Last night I went to OMSI After Dark. The After Dark events up the age restriction to 21 and serve some local beer and wine as well as some local delicatessen selections. They also have an area dedicated to local the local Portland gaming scene.

Last nights event featured a wall of retro games sponsored by Ground Kontrol and the upcoming Portland Retro Gaming Expo. Also showing was Guardian Games as well as the Portland Indie Game Squad. I was able to play a few awesome Indie Games from local PDX'ers such as Clobbr, Major Magnet and PewPewPewPewPewPewPewPewPew.

Clobbr

The video featured above are peoples reactions to playing Clobbr. TOTAL SELF PROMOTION WARNING I am the... Read All

Left 4 Dead 2 is finally coming to Linux!

http://media.steampowered.com/steam/news/10451/peng.jpg

Valve has announced that NEXT WEEK there will be a beta of Left 4 Dead 2 coming to Linux. In addition to testing Linux support they're also testing some new features for modders.

Valve's initial Linux testing was done with Left 4 Dead 2, so I had been wondering why the game was taking so long to get to Linux. Soon, my friends.

http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=10451