Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

I know many players are looking to Blizzard to fix many of

I know many players are looking to Blizzard to fix many of the problems Diablo 3 shipped with to make it a more fun experience. Today, Blizzard dropped some details on the upcoming 1.0.4 patch meant to address many of the issues plaguing players right now. I delved through the post and am bringing you the best bits from my perspective:

You will get your individual gold find and magic find in co-op games. They averaged the ability with your party which led to decreased drops when you played with friends compared to what you could get soloing.

They are lowering the health multiplier for monsters in co-op games. Hopefully this makes co-op games less brutal and more fun.

... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 08/10/2012 at 07:08pm

This will make me come back. It seems that they focus too much on making it easier, rather than making it less frustrating, though. Those aren't the same. Invulnerable minions was fine, just not with some of the other crazy things.

In addition to increasing legendary drops, they're also buffing the stats on legendaries to make them more, well, legendary. Can't wait to see the further changes to legendaries.

hardeyez wrote on 08/10/2012 at 11:08pm

Yeah, I might come back after this, if drops improve and the time spent doesn't feel like a waste (like it does now, I haven't upgraded my equipment since about 4 acts ago...) and the repair costs stop bankrupting me :)

Chowda wrote on 08/10/2012 at 11:28pm

This is only one update of several coming from the dev team. I think we'll see 5-7 blog posts in total detailing the changes. They are definitely saying the right things! Let's hope they deliver and sooner than later.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/11/2012 at 05:30am

I agree, looking forward to the next posts about it to drop.

Tungsten wrote on 08/11/2012 at 02:52pm

Looks good. Still really waiting for PVP. Nerfing the leet packs will make HC a little less... scary as hell.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/11/2012 at 06:04pm

Agreed. Still in Nightmare act 3 though.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/12/2012 at 12:43am

Hell is a lot of fun. Inferno is just brutal for my tastes though. I think they could keep the difficulty where it is, but simplify and improve item drops and elite packs (which they are doing) to make Inferno seem less of a chore. I am really looking forward to getting back into Inferno when 1.4 comes around.

Tungsten wrote on 08/12/2012 at 05:10am

Random Suggestion: What about a horde mode? Just stick a group in an arena and sick elite packs on 'em until they crack.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/12/2012 at 05:43am

That would be loads of fun. I love the jar of souls event but thought it ended just when it was getting good. I figured it would at least end with an elite pack.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/12/2012 at 06:11am

That kind of mode would be fun. See how many rounds one could survive. Kind of like ut2004.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

A popular video game site recently wrote an article about

A popular video game site recently wrote an article about everything they knew about Borderlands 2. Its a really great high level primer on Salvador The Gunzerker, Maya The New Siren, Zero the Assassin and Axton the Soldier. It also goes into detail a bit about the arch villain Handsome Jack and the other enemies you will fight this time around on Pandora.

If you have read everything ive posted on Borderlands 2 so far, not much is new, but if you missed a few posts and want a good view of what the game will be, you should check it out.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/08/08/everything-about-borderlands-2.aspx

Picked up this gem out of the bin at a GoodWill today. Even

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7CWtrFuiqMM/Trf8dd2s9BI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/ozuFgEG0XMQ/s1600/civilization33.jpg

Picked up this gem out of the bin at a GoodWill today. Even if I only get through one complete game it will be well worth the $1.99

Timogorgon Member wrote on 08/09/2012 at 11:14pm

Wow! Nice find for a bargain bin. I usually only find terrible shovelware games in the bargain bins.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/09/2012 at 11:55pm

You gotta love Goodwill finds. That's a particularly good one!

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/10/2012 at 12:51am

I have it as well. Tried my hand at it a few times. It's pretty hard. Let me know how you fairs and if you have any hints.

Tungsten Post Author wrote on 08/10/2012 at 01:16pm

This was a good one. It had StarCraft, Diablo II, and Total Annihilation (best RTS ever) . I would have gotten Total Annihilation instead, but it was missing the second disc. I'm pretty sure you could play it without it, but I didn't want to risk the $2. :)

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/10/2012 at 06:48pm

I believe I have Total Annihilation on GoG and should try it out as I have heard awesome things about it.

Tungsten Post Author wrote on 08/11/2012 at 04:20pm

If you do have it, find the 5000 unit patch. Trust me, it makes the game... epic.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/11/2012 at 06:05pm

Really? Cool. I got it for like $10 with a few other games once so I have it and will check that out.

Tungsten Post Author wrote on 08/12/2012 at 02:43am

I just picked it up (for the 4th time?) off of GoG. Couldn't resist the temptation.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

I couldnt resist posting this picture!

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/304725_518656818151763_1828683181_n.jpg

I couldn't resist posting this picture!

Recently Blizzard updated Starcraft to version 1.5 and

Recently Blizzard updated Starcraft to version 1.5 and changed the UI and added several interesting features. Snipped from the article:

"Patch 1.5.0 Arcade has finally arrived, and it brings sweeping changes to the Battle.net experience. The new Arcade offers the StarCraft community an exciting new way to discover, rate, and play a wide array of community and Blizzard created games, as well as a plethora of options that will help you swiftly find the kinds of experiences you’re looking for. Meanwhile, the StarCraft menu has consolidated all the competitive and cooperative StarCraft II gameplay you’re familiar with into one easy to navigate place. With the new Battle.net... Read All

Blizzard dropped Diablo 3 profiles today. The profile for

Blizzard dropped Diablo 3 profiles today. The profile for my most recent character, a Barb by the name of Discipline is shotted above.

Here is the profile for my account:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/jdodson-1332/

This is my highest level character, Snuggy Bunny a Witch Doctor:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/jdodson-1332/hero/3331502

Snipped from the D3 site:

"View your heroes’ gear, stats, and skills. How high have you raised your characters’ attributes? What are they wielding in each slot? What are their most prominent gear bonuses? What skills comprise their current build? Nuance awaits you in the Heroes tab.

Track your game progress. How many acts have you... Read All

Tungsten wrote on 08/07/2012 at 03:34pm

Here's mine:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Tungsten-1411/hero/24042013

Not the highest level, but it's my highest HC Character (hence the 13k HP)

hardeyez wrote on 08/07/2012 at 11:45pm

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Hardeyez-1191/ with my 2 chars (the DH is mine, the witch dr is my daughter's)

hardeyez wrote on 08/07/2012 at 11:54pm

oh and here's insano chowda's http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/chowda-1109/ he's spent WAY too much time on it... :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/08/2012 at 02:06am

Tungsten: Like how many of your char names are Steaks! :)

Hardeyez: Cool. Looks like we don't create many characters either. I only have 3 and its because I didn't like the Female Barb's voice, rolled a dude.

Tungsten wrote on 08/08/2012 at 09:45pm

I decided to name all of my HC characters after meat. Helps me get into the frame of mind that they could die at any time. Kind of macabre.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Finished John Carmacks yearly Quakecon keynote today. It

Finished John Carmack's yearly Quakecon keynote today. It comes in a little over 3 hours and is jam packed with information about all things gaming and tech related. The video is linked above and I took notes on the things I felt were interesting.

First part of the keynote he talks about Rage and apologizes for the PC launch.

He talked about Doom 3 BFG Edition and that it will run at 60FPS on consoles and higher on PC.

He wants to Open Source Doom 3 BFG Edition but its unclear if thats possible. Might be able to just release parts of it.

Talked about what part of the Doom 3 codebase has changed. Much is similar in Tech 5.

The rendering engine was improved over... Read All

First part of the keynote he talks about Rage and apologizes for the PC launch.

He talked about Doom 3 BFG Edition and that it will run at 60FPS on consoles and higher on PC.

He wants to Open Source Doom 3 BFG Edition but its unclear if thats possible. Might be able to just release parts of it.

Talked about what part of the Doom 3 codebase has changed. Much is similar in Tech 5.

The rendering engine was improved over time.

Carmack wants to port Doom 3 to the Wii U, Vita and iPhone. Development and time constraints won’t allow it.

Doom 4 will be done when its done, no date to announce.

People felt Rage would be like Borderlands or Fallout 3 and that wasn’t what they were trying to do. People understand Doom, so Doom 4 will be an easier sell.

iD is closing down its mobile development.

Doom 3 BFG Edition is less of a survival horror game and now an action shooter with the recent changes:

They brightened things up.

The flashlight is attached to your gun now.

Less ammo stinginess, more liberal amount of ammo.

He thinks its more fun now and less masochistic as gamers are much less hardcore these day.

Recently he played Super Mario 3 and it was pretty hard, newer games are fun, but not really challenging.

iD games can’t take 6 years to create anymore. Hopefully Doom 4 won’t.

Feels like he has grown a lot in the last year as a software engineer.

NASA’s software engineering reports are not too useful to Carmack.

He is doign much more software engineering stuff like code reviews and helping the team learn best practices.

Carmack thinks Cloud Gaming is the unquestionable future of gaming. When he sees Gabe Newell he tells him this.

Its faster to send a packet over the web to Europe than it is from the back of your computer over a cable to your monitor. He thinks that is wrong and we shouldn’t put up with it.

Carmack is very interested in head mounted displays.

Doom 3 BFG Edition will work with head mounted displays and 3D tvs.

He doesn’t care about Windows 8. XP and 7 are just fine for him.

Here are the rest of the Quakecon panels featuring people from iD, Bethesda and Valve:

http://www.bethblog.com/2012/08/04/quakecon-2012-keynote-panels/

Tungsten wrote on 08/07/2012 at 05:37am

I love that guy. He talks about video games like an engineer. I read an interview with him a while back about voxels and octrees... stuff that I still only half understand. He's a genius, and he devotes that genius to helping me destroy the minions of hell. Sounds like fun to me.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/07/2012 at 05:59am

Yeah, Carmack is awesome and his yearly keynotes are great. This one was especially long which was good.

hardeyez wrote on 08/07/2012 at 11:58pm

That's surprising that they are closing down their mobile development, they made so much money off it (I thought that most of there recent profit was from mobile -- Rage didn't do so hot)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/08/2012 at 02:12am

I heard from Carmack the year earlier that they paid peoples salaries from it? He mentioned that some people can do 20mil+ sales but they didn't. Didn't say it wasn't good sales, just not AAA sales they are used to apparently.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/08/2012 at 02:12am

Rage made money, according to sources I saw it sold maybe a million + units? A few bucks but not a Skyrim.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

I spent far too long on this.

I spent far too long on this.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/06/2012 at 05:20am

Thats really cool. Too long? No. Long enough? Yep. ;)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/06/2012 at 12:51pm

It only took about 5 minutes to put it in the CG world, but I did a lot of experimenting with materials, etc in my world first. Then I had a template to go by and it was easy. I am thinking of more ambitious ones now.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/06/2012 at 02:24pm

Im thinking of Link.

Tungsten wrote on 08/06/2012 at 07:11pm

Bowser

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/06/2012 at 07:18pm

Sweet.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/07/2012 at 12:43am

This: http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2011/07/TerrariaMarioLarge.jpg

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/07/2012 at 01:17am

Wat? Wow people are really creative.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/07/2012 at 03:20am

Yeah, no kidding. That's just insane.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/07/2012 at 05:31am

Link: http://i.imgur.com/BWSwn.png

Not awesome, but turned out ok.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/08/2012 at 03:20am

Well *I* think it's awesome.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/08/2012 at 03:52am

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/25/2014 at 01:02am

Awesome!

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Mindwedge, an indie game company recently released its first

Mindwedge, an indie game company recently released its first game called Monster Minis Extreme Off-Road and I was able to virtually sit down with Dave and ask him a few questions about it all. You can easily snag the demo for Monster Mini's on the website and the full meal deal is available on Beamdog and Desura.

jdodson: What was the inspiration for Monster Mini's?

Dave: For inspiration I look to my creator first. It's my feeling that I can do no greater honor to him than to emulate him by being creative.

But on a more practical level, I think that there were a few influences in play. I really enjoyed off-road ATV as well as off-road truck racing games. One day I was... Read All

I have wanted more major players to port games to Linux for

I have wanted more major players to port games to Linux for years. For along time iD was the only AAA developer that ported its games to Linux. Occasionally other companies would dabble in it but it was largely ignored.

As Windows 8 is nearing release some people are not happy with the direction Microsoft is headed. Gabe Newell recently called Windows 8 a catastrophe and make no secret that they were going to be porting Steam to Linux in response. Valve has stated the first game they are porting to Linux is Left for Dead 2 and have posted an update about it.

Snipped from the Valve blog post:

"After this work, Left 4 Dead 2 is running at 315 FPS on Linux. That the Linux... Read All

Tungsten wrote on 08/04/2012 at 06:08am

...hmmmm... i just started liking windows again, don't do this to me.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/04/2012 at 02:14pm

I'm sure it will still be around :) having choices isnt bad plus I imagine this may be a pre-cursor to a Steam console.

Tungsten wrote on 08/05/2012 at 06:03am

I'm all for a linux based Steam. Actually, if they can pull some more gamers and publishers, maybe linux will finally be used by more than geeks.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/06/2012 at 01:28am

I hope so. Its a fine operating system and after playing the newest humble ports on Linux I am pretty convinced its ready for prime time gaming. Might have been a few years ago, but the UI and such has finally come into its own and its pretty damn good right now. Then again, I am programmer.

hardeyez wrote on 08/08/2012 at 12:17am

Linux FTW! :)

Actually, I've wanted to use linux boot disks with games as a console-like experience for games for a long time. That is, ship a bootable disk that used linux and a linux version to make the game as fast as possible on pc hardware. I pushed at several companies for linux versions -- but it always fell on deaf ears because of the install base, ignoring the fact that you could just tell people to reboot and the game would be MUCH faster... and gamers go to great lengths to eek out more performance. We (as developers) would spend so much time working around and just not being able to control windows at a low-level that it was painful... And those of use who loved being able to code for consoles and eek out every last shred of performance from the machine, LOVED it... Until xbox came around and brought along the windows-isms to consoles (including the painful directx rendering performance). I can't tell you the amount of time I spent lobbying Microsoft for just a couple changes to directx on xbox to vastly improve performance... ah so sad. (I got out of the game before the 360 hit shelves, so maybe they got better there, but I doubt it).

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/08/2012 at 02:11am

I remember Gentoo doing something you mention back round 2005 or something. I found a Linux distro for gaming:

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=linuxgamers

But I remember Gentoo making a bootable CD or DVD with Wolfenstein Enemy Territory that booted from the disc, with the right drivers and such to just play games. I don't remember that is was really popular, but it was something I remember being tried out back in the day. I am not sure if there were any performance gains, I imagine going right off the CD/DVD was kind of a hit right there?

I really notice how much better gaming is on my PC than the PS3. Load times are cut considerably, nicer graphics and the game is just a smidge more responsive. Still, in general the console experience even with a reduced FPS is a bit more polished in the UI.

Anyways, not sure where that last part came from but rad-sauce!

Tungsten wrote on 08/09/2012 at 04:37am

As a side note, which distro are you using now?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/09/2012 at 08:05am

Latest Ubuntu LTS. Server and desktop depending on the context.

MoonWyrd Supporter wrote on 08/09/2012 at 02:32pm

At one time there was a company doing nothing but ports of games to Linux - Loki Entertainment. I played many hours of Civ:CTP on Linux. I think they were ahead of their time sadly.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/10/2012 at 01:22am

Loki was cool. Too bad they folded. A few good things happened from it though, SDL, the Loki installer and Ryan Gordon :)

I have a hunch he is working on Steam and Left 4 Dead 2 for Linux but he hasn't said officially. If I see him at PAX ill ask :)

hardeyez wrote on 08/10/2012 at 01:50am

There is also http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/ but I never actually bought anything off them... (something about their site/messaging/communication that made them feel fly-by-night).

Also Neverwinter Nights (the first version) has a linux version... Not to mention the humble bundles have linux versions.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/10/2012 at 02:15am

I played Neverwinter on Linux, it was a good port!

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.