Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Initial thoughts on S&S EP

So I just picked up Sword and Sworcery through the recent Humble Bundle for Android. I had been hesitant to try it mostly because of how big my gaming backlog already is, even with jdodson singing its praises earlier this year. Now that homework has leveled out, and I'm spending late nights on duty in the lab, I grabbed the bundle so I could play some games on my MacBook while I waited out my shift. I was more than pleasantly surprised when I booted up the game. Here's a few things I noticed.

First, the game was subtle in how it taught you how to play. It either let you figure it out, or gave a small visual or textual hint on how the controls work. Instead of flat out... Read All

User Interview: Panickedthumb Part 1

As part of my series of Interviews with Cheerful Ghost users I started up a conversation with panickedthumb. He had and idea that we have a Interview but sort of trade ideas back and forth. Its a good format, one I plan continuing with the next few interviews.

It is a bit long so it will be broken up into two parts.

jdodson: Recently you picked up Dishonored. What are your thoughts on this one? Are you interested in seeing more of this game made?

panickedthumb: I love it. It's so incredibly engrossing, and yet... I haven't been able to motivate myself to play much of it. I feel like this is the opposite of pick-up-and-play, and I haven't had a lot of time at a stretch to... Read All

Minecraft World!

This is a quick ~7 minute video showing off my minecraft world. I've only been playing on the world for a few hours so there isn't much to show. I just wanted to document the changes from beginning to end of my minecraft world. Plus, this will help me start my youtube channel off. I've been really wanting to start recording LP's and such for youtube but haven't been able to get it up and running. Mainly because I have been displeased with a lot of the recordings I have done.

My voice is kinda quiet in the video, my apologizes. I forgot to increase my mic before starting. So yeah, listen carefully or just turn the volume up.

Please leave some critique. I would really... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/15/2012 at 04:54am

I like the random mountain thingy that went far up like a sculpture. Its cool what the random generator can do.

I handnt considered building a house like that, good idea. I am currently building a treehouse and I might takes some of your design ideas and incorporate them.

Oh, wondering, what recording software did you use? Frapps? I am using the Quicktime screen recorder built into my Mac for now. It works well but any of my Windows games are out for recording until I find a solution to work on Windows.

BR Supporter Post Author wrote on 11/15/2012 at 12:40pm

Yeah, I use Fraps. I don't know how large videos are when you record with quicktime, but if you decide to use fraps, make sure you have lots of space. That 7 minute video took up 6.5 gb.

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/15/2012 at 03:48pm

QuickTime videos are very small. My 38 minute video was 1.2 gigs. Perhaps Fraps can encode with less space with a setting tweak?

BR Supporter Post Author wrote on 11/15/2012 at 11:33pm

I really have no clue. I need to mess around with the settings on it. Just haven't yet. I think fraps records in higher quality which is why it takes more space. I also need to figure out the correct dimensions for youtube videos. My current render options on sony vegas make it so I have those black bars on the left and right.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/16/2012 at 12:50am

Very cool video. Just my second LP I've ever seen (the first being jdodson's Minecraft), and it looks like such a good game! I really like the floor plan of your house and I look forward to seeing progress!

hardeyez wrote on 11/17/2012 at 04:46am

Here's a crazy way to record the screen that works great for my kids (doing minecraft videos). Open up a google hangout, choose to share screen instead of camera, set it to broadcast, record your video that have it archive to youtube... and viola...

hardeyez wrote on 11/17/2012 at 04:50am

Ah, it's now called "Enable Hangouts On Air" and you do it first when starting the hangout. That lets you live broadcast to the world and also auto-archive to youtube...

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/17/2012 at 07:27am

Wow thats a great idea, plus it would work in Linux too :D

BR Supporter Post Author wrote on 11/17/2012 at 05:53pm

Recording live would work for me when i want to do longer videos

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/17/2012 at 08:26pm

Yep. Going to check that out.

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New Video Game Web Series "Game Shop"

YouTube channel START has a new comedy web series called Game Shop. I have been watching it for a few episodes and thought this episode was worth sharing. The first few episodes delve into some fairly well covered territory but I enjoy that its about people in a Game Store. I like that the episodes are somewhat threaded and over time they revel more about certain characters.

You can go back and watch all 3 previous episodes of Game Shop. They contain people I have seen in other things, like episode 2 had one of the kids from JJ Abrams last film Super 8.

After watching it what did you think?

Nintendo Cereal System: So Awesome It Hurt

To celebrate today's retro Tuesday I won't be talking about a game. The Nintendo Cereal System was a thing released in Nintendo's golden age when they released branded products for everything. The Nintendo Cereal System came with two options, Mario cereal and Zelda cereal. The Zelda Cereal was my personal favourite not because it tasted better but because I liked Zelda more. Oh and being able to eat Octoroks for breakfast is bad-ass.

I never actually convinced my parents to buy it for me(at least that I can remember) but I did get to have a few bowls at my cousins.

Were you lucky enough to have tried this as a kid? What other Nintendo products do you remember loving in... Read All

Timogorgon Member wrote on 11/14/2012 at 01:58am

YES! Oh man, that commercial is such cheese-tastic goodness. I remember the cereals too (I was the aforementioned cousin). Zelda was indeed much better, if for no other reason than it was Zelda. :D

As far as other failed Nintendo products go there was also a Super Mario brand of soda's (http://www.smbhq.com/soda.htm). They were pretty good from what I remember, but the cans were smaller than a typical can of soda, so it was kind of a rip off. Shocking right?

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/14/2012 at 02:06am

Loved the Zelda cereal! For the exact same reasons.

And now I'm in an old Nintendo commercial vortex on youtube...

Travis Admin wrote on 11/14/2012 at 02:44am

I loved the NES cereals. I'm not sure if it was good or I just wanted it to be good because of the branding. TMNT cereal was also goo.

I used to get sticker packs all the time. I had a Mario backpack at one point. Nintendo had me hook, line, and sinker.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/14/2012 at 05:09pm

@WhiteboySlim: I sort of remember something about Mario soda. It seems like this time Luigi got the better end of the deal.

@Adym: Any of those old commercials worth sharing? I think I remember one about kids yelling all over the world... For Mario 3?

@panickedthumb: I don't remember having the TMNT cereal. Jealous you had the backpack, I had a Mario lunchbox but lost it over time somehow. Still have my Dukes of Hazzard lunchbox somewhere though. Less awesome than my Mario one.... *sniff*

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/14/2012 at 05:10pm

I just realized, the kids have boxes around their heads like they are TV's. Only in the 90's...

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/14/2012 at 08:36pm

@jdodson http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v02WFh_Kdl0 Here's a compliation of 17 Nintendo commercials from the 80's and 90's.

I think I remember the Dr. Mario Witchdoctor commercial. There's a commercial for Metroid, and the Mike Tyson's Punch Out commercial is cool.

There's a "rad" Legend of Zelda rap. And there's a Zelda II commercial that actually makes me want to go back and play it again!

Travis Admin wrote on 11/15/2012 at 01:02am

Speaking of lunchboxes, I have a hand-me-down Hulk lunchbox from the mid 70's. I remember feeling like a dork for having it in elementary school, but that thing is probably worth a ton of money.

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New Season of Clap Trap's Web Series

You might not have known that during the original run of Borderlands Claptrap had his very own web series. Gearbox recently released a new season and episode. Ill link to the previous episodes at the bottom of this post. Now you can get even more Claptrap!

A few other interesting Borderlands 2 bits. You can now pre-order the new Art of Borderlands 2 book. Sort of thing they should have released in the collectors edition but better late than never I suppose.

Gearbox is also outsourcing the Mac port and it should be released sometime soon. I hope this means Mac/PC Steamplay. The original Borderlands had a Mac port but it wasn't available via Steamplay, it was available on... Read All

Starcraft 2 will Release March 12, 2013

Blizzard just dropped the release date Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm! I actually mark game release dates on my calendar and March 12, 2013 will be no different.

This release is a bit different from past Blizzard releases as they are not only releasing a physical collectors edition but also a digital deluxe version to include:

Digital Deluxe:
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/buy-now/digital-deluxe

Heart of the Swarm for PC and Mac

Torrasque Ultralisk skin, 3 Portraits, and 3 decals in Starcraft II

A Baneling pet in World of Warcraft

Blade Wings & Banner Sigil in Diablo III

Collectors Edition:
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/buy-now/collectors-edition

Heart of the Swarm for PC... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 11/13/2012 at 07:13pm

I'm kinda surprised the Collectors edition doesn't have Wings of Liberty.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/13/2012 at 11:42pm

Thats a good idea but I imagine a mousepad is cheaper to include.

Did you get the original Wings of Liberty?

Travis Admin wrote on 11/14/2012 at 02:15am

Nope, still haven't picked it up. I might do that between now and Heart of the Swarm.

BR Supporter wrote on 11/14/2012 at 03:30am

I would really like to try star craft 2. I've been interested in getting it since it first came out but never had the extra cash to buy it. I enjoy rts games so I feel like if I learned to play I could really get into it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/14/2012 at 03:33am

If you do let me know so we can skirmish with bots. SC2 is really fun with bots. Otherwise its just fail city population me.

BR: Starcraft 2 is a VERY well polished and extremely well done RTS. In many ways its a recreation of the original Starcraft with polished graphics updated for the modern pro-circuit.

The single player is VERY well done and the multi-player p0wns entire countries.

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All of the Arks: Completing Rage

A few days ago I finally completed the single player campaign of Rage. I had a roller coaster experience with the game and recently just picked it back up to complete it. I would say if you want a good shooter with plenty of car combat, Rage is your jam. The game isn't perfect but the shooter aspects of it are very good.

After starting it up for the first time on PC I was blown away with how awesome the graphics were. The story was compelling and I really enjoyed the voice acting of John Goodman as your main contact for the first 30% of the game(he vanishes after that never to be heard from again). In fact, the first 40% of the game is paced very well and plays... Read All A few days ago I finally completed the single player campaign of Rage. I had a roller coaster experience with the game and recently just picked it back up to complete it. I would say if you want a good shooter with plenty of car combat, Rage is your jam. The game isn't perfect but the shooter aspects of it are very good.

After starting it up for the first time on PC I was blown away with how awesome the graphics were. The story was compelling and I really enjoyed the voice acting of John Goodman as your main contact for the first 30% of the game(he vanishes after that never to be heard from again). In fact, the first 40% of the game is paced very well and plays awesomely. Rage even contains a few fun mini games, one such game, Rage Frenzy is a collectable trading card game where you collect cards in the game to build and play against NPC's.

The game is broken up by you flying to Subway Town and never needing to go back to the first part of the game. This is the part where Rage sort of broke down for me. I didn't really dig Subway Town as much and in general the missions you get are not as awesome. After hitting up Subway town and playing through a few missions I sort of stopped playing the single player and only just picked it back up to beat it recently.

I liked Rage a lot but in the end I really wanted more. I wanted more missions like in the first half of the game. I wanted more boss fights. I wanted more shooting and less driving. I didn't mind the driving but the game paced with an epic shooter level and then some occasional mandatory racing or driving to another location was odd. I don't mind driving to another location but the driving broke up the shooting awesomeness that Rage brought to the table. I guess in a way all the driving was good because without it the game would have even shorter. That said, in the beginning of the game I did enjoy building up from my 4 wheeler to my buggy.

At the very end of the game you get a rather big gun and head out for your last mission. Its kind of funny as the characters even tell you "this is your last mission." The last mission isn't too hard as they give you a very awesome gun and keep the ammo stocked well in the level. I was using the less powerful guns in the last mission and realised there was so much BFG ammo I was just trolling myself for not using it. The last few minutes of the game you are reprogramming satellites and as you wait you simply mutants and then the game is over.

The last level was beautiful and it was fun to be overpowered for a mission but it left me wanting a bit. All told I liked Rage quite a bit and look forward to coming back to play it in the future. I have heard rumblings that iD will release some kind of DLC for Rage and if that were true I would be interested in playing it.

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One sort of aside note... At the very end of the game they don't allow you to race in Subway Town because of the Authority occupation. I believe this prevents you from racing in Subway Town on that game save. A bummer because I wanted to go back and play all of those races but can no longer do so for Subway Town.

Another round of Linux perma-bans in Diablo III

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AfIQ2AogLLc/TLHS69ofqXI/AAAAAAAAALg/mDp50HYkNDI/s1600/banhammer1.jpg

It looks like more people have recently gotten Blizzard's ban hammer for playing Diablo III on Linux, through Wine. Wine is a compatibility layer that enables you to run Windows executables on Linux, some with better results than others. Diablo III works perfectly through Wine, but the evidence is mounting that playing it this way results in Blizzards anti-botting measures thinking you're doing something more nefarious.

What's worse is that they won't engage in discussion about it. You pay $60 for a game that you're required to play online, and you can get banned for doing something that they say is fine. Unfortunately the US doesn't have any potent consumer protection,... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/12/2012 at 08:54pm

I agree this is pretty bad and seems to be getting worse. I am hoping with enough community appeal, Blizzard takes this up and does something about it soon!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 11/12/2012 at 09:36pm

It's quite possible that the bans are legit, I suppose, but "we checked into it and the ban sticks, you have no recourse, case closed" is not a good way to do business. They need to communicate more.

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/12/2012 at 09:42pm

I think more communication would be good. I mean, is there some benefit Wine gets you for cheating? There may very well be and Blizzard would know if there was.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 11/12/2012 at 09:47pm

Bashiok, a community manager, said there was no problem with running in Wine, and specifically said Wine wasn't the problem. People have also been doing it in WoW for years with no problems.

That said, the community managers seem to contradict each other from time to time, and the lack of communication only adds to us not knowing what the heck is going on.

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/15/2012 at 05:43am

Whoa: http://m.cinemablend.com/games/Blizzard-Admits-Linux-User-Was-Wrongly-Banned-Offers-Refund-49339.html

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 11/15/2012 at 02:48pm

Whoa! That's awesome.

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/15/2012 at 03:49pm

Yup. Wonder how many more people ill get to play again now.

MoonWyrd Supporter wrote on 11/17/2012 at 04:32am

This is the sort of thing that worried me about the required online aspect, it even caused a friend to decide to pass on D3. It's good that Blizzard is on this, but the response seems a bit slow.

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/17/2012 at 07:26am

I agree, the response was slow.

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Groupees Build-a-Bundle 4 is live!

Occasionally Groupees abandons the standard bundle formula from their BeMine bundles and gives you a choose-your-own-adventure bundle. You pay what you want and get to pick more games the more you pay.

In this bundle, the games without Steam keys all have Desura keys, but they are all on Steam Greenlight and Steam keys will be given out if they make it through the Greenlight process.

The big title in this bundle is Velvet Assassin, a game that was critically panned when it came out a few years back, but some people like it.

Snag it here. http://groupees.com/bab4