Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

John Riccitello Steps Down as EA's CEO

EA CEO John Riccitello has announced he's stepping down at the end of March. The one reason most sources agree upon is loss of revenue, but others mention botched product launches, so I can't help but wonder if the Sim City launch has anything to do with it. Losing revenue is par for the course these days, with competition from mobile games rising, but that much loss of face may be something they can't let slide.

EA used to be the bad guys of gaming, then Activision kinda took that role for a while, but over the past few years it seems EA has been trying to get that title back. Requiring one-use codes to enable multiplayer on their games, requiring you to give them... Read All

BR Supporter wrote on 03/19/2013 at 05:50pm

Hopefully this will change the way they look at gamers to actually people instead of walking money bags. If they honestly changed their ethic to producing games they could become a favorite to me. They could start by not releasing day 1 dlc.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/19/2013 at 05:52pm

+1 to progress.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 03/19/2013 at 07:27pm

Day 1 DLC can be good if it's done for the right reasons. After the game is done you have a while to wait before it hits stores, and even before completion there are some teams who won't be working on bug fixes. So it can make sense that there might be some DLC completed in time for release date.

What I hate, though, is when the day 1 DLC is just a few k in size. You can tell the content is already on the disc and you're just paying for an unlock.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 03/20/2013 at 12:50am

I don't expect things to change any time soon. The micro-charge-you-till-you-die approach from mobile gaming seems to be bleeding into all other gaming. Large studios have stopped taking chances on new IP and are content to regurgitate the same 4 titles ad nauseum.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/20/2013 at 01:36am

Good thing indies are making awesome stuff. Plus they all seem to be doing cross platform, which is awesome.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/20/2013 at 04:21pm

EA player appreciation sale:

http://store.origin.com/store/ea/en_US/html/pbPage.origin-deals

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Fez hits Steam May 1, OS X version planned

Probably fed up with XBLA; and spying a bright, shiny, Steam-Box-powered future; Fez is slated to come available on Steam with a Windows release in May. [Insert obligatory missed deadlines joke.] However considering XBox -> Windows port, it's probably not that much of a brainer, and wouldn't expect it to take terribly long, so May is probably pretty realistic.

In any case, being console-less, I'm excited to finally get to play this game.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/get-excited-brain-bending-platformer-fez-finally-coming-to-steam-and-os-x/

What Should I Play Next?

I was just talking to @scrypt on Steam about this and I am wanting to ask you all as well. Now that I have completed Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm what should I play next? I mean, I am totally getting Age of Empires II: HD but, beyond that, what should I play?

A few thoughts on games I could buy:

* FTL
* The Walking Dead
* Dishonored
* FarCry 3

Games I own I haven't started yet:

* Bastion
* Fallout: New Vegas
* Braid

So what do you think I should play next? Ill make a choice based on your suggestions and let you know how it turns out.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/19/2013 at 03:16am

You already own three amazing games that you haven't played. I would suggest New Vegas. If you want to ease your way in before going into another hardcore game, Braid can be completed in just a few hours.

jaelte wrote on 03/19/2013 at 04:06am

While I know I do not follow this example at all, it's probably best to go for a game you already own. If you've played Fallout 3, you probably have an idea of how much time you'll be putting into New Vegas. Should you be up for a long game, I'd say go for that one. I haven't played Braid, but I can definitely vouch for Bastion. I beat it in 11 hours, but you could spend a lot more time going for various challenges if that was the sort of thing that interests you.

jaelte wrote on 03/19/2013 at 04:09am

All that said, you really do need to play The Walking Dead. So if you have a little extra money burning a hole in your pocket, get that one.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/19/2013 at 04:22am

All that makes sense, thanks guys. Leaning to New Vegas, because I own it already and LOVED Fallout 3.

Then again, Bastion, FTL and Braid.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/19/2013 at 03:27pm

You also should watch LOST lol

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/19/2013 at 04:52pm

Ok its down to FTL and Fallout: New Vegas.

Gary_Butterfield wrote on 03/19/2013 at 05:27pm

New Vegas is so fucking good and it's easily twice the game FO3 is (and I love FO3). I think the answer is clear.

2nd runner up? Bastion is a pure joy and is short.

BR Supporter wrote on 03/19/2013 at 05:55pm

Definitely New Vegas since you already own it. Although, the waflkig dead is an amazing game I'd wait till you can get it on sale because it is a small game, content-wise (huge game story-wise though)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/19/2013 at 05:57pm

Yeah, I am edging to Fallout: New Vegas. Already have it, seems to be double awesome over Fallout 3 so can't go wrong there.

For sure will play The Walking Dead and FTL and Bastion at some point though.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 03/20/2013 at 12:24am

I know your mind is made up, but here's one more vote for Bastion. Beat it once, but there is so much that I left undone, I'll be going through it again.

Also, The Walking Dead (the Telltale adventure, not the travesty that just came out) is a must-play if you enjoy the comics or television show. It's not a feel-good, romp-a-minute action game, but it'll stop your heart once or twice.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/20/2013 at 01:35am

Ill take a swing through Bastion at some point for sure!

Travis Admin wrote on 03/20/2013 at 01:08pm

Anyone else wanting Bastion can get it for as low as a buck this week: http://www.humblebundle.com/weekly

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Achievement Unlocked: Game Complete.

So I beat the single player missions of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. This time I put it away in less than a week, which is a personal best. I drew out Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty to take 2 weeks to complete because I wanted to savor the game more. I can't say which experience was better, but I am a bit biased to Heart of the Swarm. Not sure if its because it was a better single player experience or because I just played it.

tone & story

Tonally the two flow well together. Wings of Liberty single player might be a tighter game and overall a bit better experience but Heart of the Swarm takes it up a few notches. All said, I really appreciate the ambition of... Read All

Zelda Starring Zelda

"Earlier this week, I read about that awesome dad who edited Donkey Kong to let his daughter play as the Princess. I wished I had someone who could have done that for me. Then I remembered. I'm an adult now. If he could work it out, I could too.

I'm hobbyist animator and my boyfriend is a professional video game programmer. I sent him the article and I asked, "How do I do this?"

"I think he's just using an existing rom editor, so he just went in and changed the sprites."

"I want to switch around Link and Zelda."

That got his attention. We'd been talking about a Zelda-centric game ever since the first Tropes vs Women in Games video was released. He's a huge fan of the... Read All

I Totally Want This Card

Its pretty good too, regenerates and only costs 3 mana? Not bad.

Means the only way this thing goes bye bye is with some kind of lock down or exile.

A New Feature: Post Tracking

I just rolled out a new feature many of you have been asking for called "post tracking." Post tracking is the star to the right of the comment button. The star lets you know by it being highlighted or not if you are tracking a post.

If you track a post you will get notifications whenever anyone comments on the post. If you want to stop getting notifications on a post, click the star to stop tracking it.

If you create or comment in a post you will automagically track it.

Tracking specifies you and everyone else's interest in the post over time. You might be interested in a post in the beginning and over time might want to exit the conversation. You also might just want to... Read All

Timogorgon Member wrote on 03/16/2013 at 11:49pm

Woot!

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 03/16/2013 at 11:53pm

Fantastic news.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/17/2013 at 12:17am

Very cool new feature!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/17/2013 at 12:55am

Thanks everyone, its been a long process of thinking about it after all that it was really only maybe a few hours to add it in.

BR Supporter wrote on 03/17/2013 at 01:16am

Yay, now I won't get 1 million notifications when I comment on something. :P

All jokes aside, this is a really cool, and simple to use, idea.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/17/2013 at 01:19am

Glad you guys like it! Personally I love getting notifications and only recently didn't know people didn't like that. :D

Travis Admin wrote on 03/17/2013 at 03:19am

Yeah there has yet to be a conversation I wanted out of, but I can understand with things like the Terraria server, if you weren't in on it and didn't need to get updates, etc.

Looks awesome!

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GCW Zero. An Awesome Looking New Handheld.

For many years I have wanted a mobile gaming handheld that is better than my iPhone. For some the iPhone is an amazing device for gaming and it has some great games, but I find the touch interface to be a bit limiting. So much so that I find the original Gameboy to be a better gaming device than the modern iPhone. I know some may not agree, but its not about the power of the system or the graphics its about the games, gameplay and controls. Maybe my mind is forever set on thumb controls for mobile games, maybe its just a better way to play them?

Even if the touch screen can be made to work with an old game port, often its totally crapped up to the point of being a... Read All

Timogorgon Member wrote on 03/16/2013 at 11:52pm

I currently have my retro gaming needs handled pretty well with my hacked wii, but I would love to have that experience in a portable. I've been playing PSone games on my PSP lately, and it's been awesome. I might look into this when it hits the general market if it's not too expensive.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/17/2013 at 12:54am

Ill let you know how much it is. I am fairly certain ill pick one up if I can and of course report back :D

Travis Admin wrote on 03/17/2013 at 02:26am

WBS, you can hack your PSP quite easily and get emulators there as well. I've played SNES games on my PSP more than actual PSP games.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 03/17/2013 at 05:59am

Already hacked. :P I didn't feel like buying all my PSone games again on the PSN store just so I could play them on PSP. I haven't looked into an SNES emulator though, but that would be cool.

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Speaking At GameStorm 2013

GameStorm is March 21st-24th at the Hilton in Vancouver Washington. I am going to be speaking on a few panels this year about some really cool topics. Ill also be frequenting the event over the weekend in between my panel time as well with my laptop hacking on Cheerful Ghost when I can.

If you are planning on attending GameStorm you should totally let me know so we can hang out. Plus this will be my first set of speaking engagements about Video Games since I launched the site.

The Panels I Will Be Part Of:

* What's On Kickstarter Right Now: Friday March 22nd @ 11am. http://schedule.gamestorm.org/sessions/708
* Community Organizing: Friday March 22nd @ 3pm. ... Read All

Call of Juarez: gunslinger trailer

Looks like call of juarez is going back to it's roots. Can't wait for this game. Western atmosphere done right.