Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

StarCrafts Episode 23: I Spy

Think before you leap friends...

Black Mesa: Starting The Journey

I was exposed to the Black Mesa project a few months ago in frenzy of its initial release. Black Mesa is a fan recreation of the original Half-Life built on top of the amazing Half-Life 2 Source Engine. Since I never quite finished the original Half-Life I decided to give this version a shot and potentially complete the original Half-Life as it stands atop a list of games I need to complete. I loved Half-Life 2 and both episodes so coming back to the franchise is a pretty cool notion.

After booting up the game the visuals look really fresh compared to the original. The original looks good, don't get me wrong but atop the Source engine it looks fantastic. I played about... Read All

Black Mesa: Soundtrack

I just recently downloaded and listened to the Black Mesa score from the fan re-visioning of the original Half-Life game using the Half-Life 2 source engine. I really like the takes on the original score and new directions they decided to go. The score is free so no reason not to pick it up.

One song, "Apprehension" is featured above. The score seems to paint pretty awesomely broad strokes for what game scores can be and it inspired me to give Black Mesa a shot.

http://www.blackmesasource.com/soundtrack.html

Signal Boost Ep. 2

I accidentally hit a Kickstarter theme this week. Unwritten, a clever rts; Homesick, a new survival adventure game; and Blade Symphony, a sword based fighter. Check it out.

Gabe Newell: Reflections of a Video Game Maker

Very cool talk Gabe Newell of Valve gave at The LBJ School of public affairs. 9 minutes in and HAD to share this!

What do you think about his thoughts on economics? Found it really interesting some artists have "real jobs" at big game studios but make more money selling hats in TF2. I agree with him, post-internet many corporations are changing for sure!

Ur Not A Hero is Violently Awesome

I just played a new game called UrNotAHero by Peanut Butter Fingers. I heard this game buzzing around some Indie Channels and it looked really interesting. It has an almost Bonanza Brothers vibe and after playing it some, it seems to totally be in that style but takes it up 50 notches.

The idea of the game is that you partake in missions where you save hostages, diffuse bombs, steal stuff and kill gangbangers. The play control is rather simple as you can, walk side to side, go up stairs, shoot your gun, slide/duck/take cover and use grenades. The alpha provides quite a lot of gameplay and if you want some really awesome fun, you need to try it. You can alternate between... Read All

New Social Features Overview

To keep the run up to the release of Heart of the Swarm going, Blizzard released another video covering the new social features. Being able to create an in game group or clan is a pretty fun idea. I plan on creating one for Cheerful Ghost for the people that will be playing this at launch.

Community Terraria Server 2.1 Drops February 4th

I am going to run another Cheerful Ghost Terraria game server for us to all play starting next week on the 4th of February 6PM PST. We had such a fun time playing last time and I opened the game up recently and realized it would be run to play with people again.

Like last time I will keep the server up for three weeks and afterward hand out the world file so we can all have it for historical reasons. It will run 24/7 and be locked down for awesome Cheerful Ghost people like you and your friends. We only have a few simple rules, don't mess with other peoples stuff, no stealing, no greifing and have fun.

I created a new large world and the screenshot is above. Like last... Read All

vdogmr25 wrote on 01/31/2013 at 03:12am

Sounds awesome, but I can't jump in this time, though. One of my hard drives crapped out on me, and it will be a month or two until I can replace it.

Travis Admin wrote on 01/31/2013 at 03:12am

DUDE YES

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/31/2013 at 03:52am

That sucks. No laptop? Total bummer!

Travis Admin wrote on 01/31/2013 at 04:10am

It will run on pretty meager hardware if you have an older backup.

Travis Admin wrote on 01/31/2013 at 04:14am

Also, good news everyone: it looks like we may get some more content:

http://m.pcgamer.com/2013/01/26/terraria-creator-asks-what-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-possible-update

TonyJapMayo wrote on 01/31/2013 at 05:41am

Ah, I wanna join.. Got Terraria recently but when I tried multiplayer, seems that you have to put ip address and I dont know what to write ><

Travis Admin wrote on 01/31/2013 at 05:12pm

Tony, you can put in terraria.cheerfulghost.com, but it isn't up yet.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/31/2013 at 05:16pm

Yeah, the server will go live on Monday @ 6PM PST. We will give everyone the password then as well.

TonyJapMayo wrote on 01/31/2013 at 07:25pm

Kewl.. Thanks.. Cant wait to try Multiplayer =P

CapnCurry Supporter wrote on 01/31/2013 at 09:13pm

Awesome! I'm in. :)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 01/31/2013 at 09:58pm

I'm going to try and play this time!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/31/2013 at 10:13pm

Awesome, ill remind everyone when the time comes round.

Hopefully we have a full house on game drop. I plan on doing some major surgery to the area around the spawn point when it starts. Make the area mostly flat and then build ZE house.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/01/2013 at 09:45pm

I'll be on, although it'll be after 8pm PST. :)

Last time was awesome, so I can't wait to do this again with you guys!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/01/2013 at 09:47pm

Totally. Ill try and save a bit of the world for you WhiteboySlim, I don't know 2 hours later, it might be strip mined and plotted for commercial by then. Maybe a 4th acre cause were friends.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/01/2013 at 11:52pm

I am so building my base right on top of yours.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/01/2013 at 11:58pm

Then how will it go further up? OK, OK, ill ensure you have space ground up.....

So needy!

Travis Admin wrote on 02/02/2013 at 06:09am

We should seriously consider taking a tally of who is going to be on the server and roping off some sections. And leave a few on either end as well.

TonyJapMayo wrote on 02/02/2013 at 06:50am

So when can we start this multiplayer? Cant wait to try ><

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/02/2013 at 07:21am

@TonyJapMayo, times listed in the post above. Monday at 6pm PST.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/02/2013 at 07:24am

@panickedthumb we may have to have people "stake out" areas at first, I will for sure, kind of mark my spot with a sign and some blocks. But I will build a house immediately so :D

But yeah, it seems more people are joining as the word gets out so we can do some "city zoning" to ensure people don't run into each other. :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/02/2013 at 07:24am

I am thinking first come first serve, we can go out pretty far for the town I just hope its not so far as to be unfortunate to chop down trees :D And people can build down if they so desire :D

Travis Admin wrote on 02/02/2013 at 02:38pm

You can always landscape out and expand the forest, so even if tree-chopping is necessary it won't be a bad thing. I wish I had done that in our last world.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/02/2013 at 06:01pm

And we can always have more efficient tree farms as well. They can go up, not just over.

This is going to be awesome, since we learned so much with our last server.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/02/2013 at 06:06pm

It will be awesome. :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/02/2013 at 06:55pm

Hey everyone, we are extending the server time to last for three weeks. Yay, more 2D mining and building!

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/02/2013 at 07:24pm

I don't think we need to worry about running out of space. We are on a large map. As long as people space themselves out a bit we should be good. :)

Plus, if anyone decides to do a large build they can always go underground or build it away from the spawn point.

Tungsten wrote on 02/03/2013 at 04:11am

I'm in. See you there guys.

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Scott Pilgrim gets online play

This expansion has been talked about since August last year, and after a few delays, the Online Multiplayer + Wallace Pack is set to be released on Feb. 6 for XBLA. Sadly, there's no word for the PSN release, but achievements for the DLC are on PSN, so it's likely to happen soon.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/article/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world-dlc-gets-a-new-release-date-for-the-xbox-360

Thinking About the World of Ruin

To celebrate today's Retro Tuesday I decided to write about an aspect of Final Fantasy VI that I had rolling around in my head. Its odd to remember when I was still surprised by things that happened in video games. One such event happened when Kefka causes the world to become out of balance and it falls into ruin. The sequences as the world breaks were pretty shocking to me. Many people died as the world broke up and I remember being really shocked by the carnage it showed. By today's standards it is pretty tame as it was in glorious 2D, but lately I have been thinking about how powerful that sequence was and how I responded to it at the time.

After that destruction... Read All

Teodor_Spiridon wrote on 01/30/2013 at 06:24pm

I find what you mention to be a recurring trend in FF games, and Japanese sci-fi/fantasy in general. The heroes fight to try and stop the disaster from wrecking the world around them, fail, and must now fight to defeat the enemy anyway. Pick your favorite Anime/Video Game to come out Japan in the last 20 years and it generally ends up with the Kingdom/City/World/Secret Base getting badly damaged by the bad guys before the good guys finally get retribution.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/31/2013 at 01:26am

Interesting. I haven't played a FF game in the last bit so ill take your word for it. Was interested in FF 13 though.

Gary_Butterfield wrote on 02/01/2013 at 11:33pm

FF6 is my favorite game in the series, excepting possibly tactics. We did 2 episodes about it, our first 2 parter, and it holds up so so well. http://duckfeed.tv/woff/10

A quick note: FF6 has a segment I think perfectly encapsulates the best that video games have to offer. The scene where you are exploring the world as Celes after the cataclysm is all elements working in concert in the service of mood.

1) Graphically, the world is darker now. Not so much in the overworld but the towns and bleaker.
2) The music is sad, haunting, vaguely dissonant and memorable.
3) And this is the coup, the gameplay backs it up. The overland enemies are weakened and dying. They start the battles poisoned, you often can't even kill the enemies before they die of the ill defined blight.

Perfect segment in a wonderful game.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/02/2013 at 12:00am

Yeah I agree Gary, good points. Its an interesting transition because the game goes from this epic world scale set of events to only being about being on a small island helping your friend survive. Its a really refreshing interlude to the gettin' back to saving the world thing.

Ill checkout those episodes, thanks!

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