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Digital Foundry Got To Peek at the Tech Behind Doom Eternal

Doom Eternal's launch date of March 20th is fast approaching and as such certain media outlets are covering it before launch. Digital Foundry got a peek at the game for a few hours and interviewed the folks at iD about the game.

"As well as sitting down for *three hours* to play the upcoming Doom Eternal, Digital Foundry's John Linneman also had the opportunity to discuss the new id Tech 7 engine upgrades with Doom Eternal executive producer and id software studio director, Marty Stratton. From engine upgrades to ray tracing to Switch to next-gen consoles, there's a ton of new info in this one."

WarCraft III: Reforged Is The Best Coat of Paint on Azeroth!

WarCraft III: Reforged launched yesterday and being a huge fan of the original and the Frozen Throne expansion I was heavily anticipating it's launch. Now that the game's out I've downloaded it and played it on my PC and started the Orc prologue campaign. Back in 2002 Blizzard released the Orc prologue campaign as a standalone game demo that setup the events of WarCraft III. I always felt like it was a unique way to release a demo, with original post game content but as Blizzard recently noted, most fans had no idea it existed. Later on they patched in the prolog into the main game as a playable option but it didn't contain the incredible voice acting and most people... Read All WarCraft III: Reforged launched yesterday and being a huge fan of the original and the Frozen Throne expansion I was heavily anticipating it's launch. Now that the game's out I've downloaded it and played it on my PC and started the Orc prologue campaign. Back in 2002 Blizzard released the Orc prologue campaign as a standalone game demo that setup the events of WarCraft III. I always felt like it was a unique way to release a demo, with original post game content but as Blizzard recently noted, most fans had no idea it existed. Later on they patched in the prolog into the main game as a playable option but it didn't contain the incredible voice acting and most people we're either focused on multiplayer or were done playing WarCraft III to notice. All that said, WarCraft III: Reforged is back and it might be a cliche thing to say at this point but it's more true with this game than most but if you loved the original you need to play Reforged.

Let's Start With The Controversy... Because There's Always Controversy

The strongest part of WarCraft III: Reforged is the thing it's getting some negative reaction from in that originally Blizzard said that they'd change up aspects of the single player campaign considerably and it seems like they let that go in favor of giving you the original game with a new visuals. As you can see from the video above the way they showed the scene at Blizzcon this year is not how the game shipped. It seems Blizzard took the fan critique they heard from players that preferred the original WarCraft III camera and reverted back to that forgoing the more modern cinematic style they showed at Blizzcon. This has caused quite a negative fan reaction but I frankly can see both sides and I'm with Blizzard on reverting the camera style to the original.

Put simply, HD remakes are better served with fewer changes to the original source material and deciding to prefer the original camera angles is best form of respect to the original material. I know the original WarCraft III is still available to install and that version will always exist but focusing HD remakes on making fewer changes to the base game is the better choice because HD remakes are generally more more accessible because they are newer and in the case of WarCraft III: Reforged seamlessly connect to modern Battle.net and are available in the launcher making them more accessible. There's also a charm to the hokey camera angles of WarCraft III that firmly date it back in the 2000 era of PC gaming that should be experienced by a modern audience in 2020.

I Don't Care About Camera Angles, Is This Game Any Good?

If you like hero focused real time strategy games then uh yeah, WarCraft III is good, it's actually really good. But you know, I'm also incredibly biased because every couple years I come back to play the campaign. In fact when I heard Reforged was on it's way I stopped playing WarCraft III and decided to play the Reforged campaign from the start again ... for the first time.

And like I said before, this is WarCraft III with a 4K coat of paint and it's superb. The gameplay is crisp and that 2000's PC era awkward polygons of the original game are rounded out to create quite a visual treat. Blizzard did such a great job respecting the original game it's actually pretty hard to notice many changes. That said the biggest change to the game are the visuals, something they took the most inspiration from being World of Warcraft. Because, see kids, before World of Warcraft hit the streets WarCraft III was the king of Azeroth. As World of Warcraft became the biggest MMO of all time it also developed a more of a unique visual identity that was originally rooted in WarCraft III. That said, as visuals evolve and 3D tech to match it certain characters look different in World of Warcraft than in WarCraft III. One big change I noticed right away is that Thrall in WarCraft III: Reforged looks quite different than in vanilla WarCraft III. It's not a big deal but as the original is burned forever in my brain I noticed. And a lot of other models have changed too to fit World of Warcraft better and this is a change I don't mind. It's less keeping WarCraft III: Reforged for strict purists but it's not abandoning the World of Warcraft players either.

I heartily welcome WarCraft III: Reforged because it's Blizzard giving one of my most beloved games a very purist treatment. But I do understand that some people wanted what they saw at Blizzcon and I can't say I blame them for that. With that I also agree with Blizzard for keeping to the original game because at the end of the day, the game was already great it just needed a 4K coat of paint.

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 01/30/2020 at 10:00am

I've played the first two WarCraft games and that's it. I'm not sure how I over looked WarCraft III. I'm glad they did this, that means I have something to look forward to playing, whenever I get around to it. It's difficult to play classic games in modern times, because they look awful in comparison, that's why I love these HD remakes.

Travis Admin wrote on 01/30/2020 at 03:55pm

All that I’ve read about this game controversy-wise seems to be that it’s way unoptimized and buggy but it seems like you haven’t seen that at all.

It could have been neat if they kept the changes they presented at blizzcon with the option of switching to what they shipped with. Best of both worlds. There’s lots of speculation as to why they ended up shipping what they did but this wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/30/2020 at 05:21pm

> but it seems like you haven’t seen that at all.

Last night the game seemed to hard lock near the end of a mission but it just paused and continued and I was REALLY nervous i'd have to replay it. So i'd say so far, everything is fine, but there are little pauses from time to time that I imagine Blizzard will fix. Seen nothing beyond that but i'm running a pretty beefy Desktop and Windows 10.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/31/2020 at 03:43am

Uh, this isn't very cool.

"All your Warcraft 3: Reforged custom games belong exclusively to Blizzard"

https://www.pcgamer.com/all-your-warcraft-3-reforged-custom-games-belong-exclusively-to-blizzard/

I guess they are still sore about DoTA.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/01/2020 at 08:38pm

I saw this reddit comment breaking down some of the critiques. The one about them removing the old client for online play and forcing that download, while removing features is problematic. Even if you don't buy this, your current version of War 3 gets downgraded.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/ex1927/warcraft_3_reforged_has_a_record_low_08_score_on/fg5y8pp/

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Season 7 of Star Wars: Clone Wars Arrives Feb. 21

The seventh season of the Star Wars animated show Clone Wars arrives on Feb.21. If you haven't checked out Star Wars: Clone Wars, now is a good time to get started. I watched all current seasons on Netflix and enjoyed it, so I recommend it for Star Wars fans. It will be on Disney+ and you can find more information here: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-wars-clone-wars-season-7-release-date-reveale/1100-6472475/

"How Star Wars: Clone Wars’ Final Season Crosses Over with Revenge of the Sith" https://youtu.be/cftmJIXFOsQ

Feel free to share some thoughts and comments!

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 75: Top Ten Games of the Decade

This is the kind of episode that only comes once every decade. We cover our favorite games from the 2010s, and if you've been paying attention, some of these will be expected. But which one will take the top spot for each of us? Listen and find out!

Get Minecraft For Windows 10 For Free Until April 20th, 2020

If you bought Minecraft: Java Edition before October 19th, 2018 you can get the Windows 10 Edition for free! Hurry, this offer ends on April 20th, 2020! I think this is pretty important news, so I'm sharing it here. I think the offer expired some time ago, but it's back once again. If you have not yet taken advantage of this opportunity, I pretty much strongly recommend you do so. This version of Minecraft is called the "Bedrock Edition." It's the same game that is on consoles, (Switch, PS4, XBox One), Android/IOS phones and tablets and more. This also means that cross-play is a feature. Perhaps one of the best parts about the Bedrock Edition is performance. This... Read All

Archive News Footage Interviews Fans about The Empire Strikes Back

A local news station interviewed fans after seeing Empire Strikes Back open back in 1980 and from the outset you can tell they have absolutely no experience with film or Star Wars fans. Many of the people in line saw Star Wars multiple times, one guy saw A New Hope 17 times and you can tell the interviewer was quite surprised. The line started a couple hours before the showing of the film and again, this seemed surprising for the time and it really was. The Rise of Skywalker was a film that I decided to come to early even though my local Regal finally converted to reserve all the seats. I wanted to have one last hurrah with showing up a bit early and waiting with the... Read All

"You Are Nothing But a Usurper, A False Idol." The New Doom Eternal Trailer Rips!

You can "Raze Hell" in Doom Eternal on March 20th and if the new trailer is any indication iD really did kick up the Doom lore with this game. If you remember back to Quakecon of 2019 the game developers mentioned that they are building a whole Doom universe of lore and story and Doom Eternal would be the game to bring it. I appreciated the simplicity of Doom 2016 in that right away there was a bit of story and the Doom Slayer throws the monitor to the side that your were hearing it from. I appreciated the fun nod and wink to the game being focused on quick run and gun gameplay quite a bit. With that iD has treated the new Doom franchise well and I imagine this will... Read All

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/15/2020 at 04:40pm

Looks crazy.

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 01/16/2020 at 10:57pm

I never quite realized the lore of the game, maybe because I only played through it once. If you want to find out more, there's a cool story trailer breakdown from IGN you can watch here: https://youtu.be/CE1ACcYwJ70 In case you haven't finished the 2016 game, this video may contain spoilers.

I'm not sure whether or not I'll get this at launch. Anyone else thinking of doing so? I know Travis is.

Travis Admin wrote on 01/17/2020 at 04:12pm

Damn right I am Greg! 😂

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 01/17/2020 at 06:42pm

>Damn right I am Greg! 😂

I knew that, because we've already talked about it. Before this video got posted here, I was thinking of posting it as a comment in that other post, I think I made that one. But, I hesitated and Jon beat me to it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/17/2020 at 08:45pm

> But, I hesitated and Jon beat me to it.

Damn right I am Greg!

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 01/17/2020 at 10:06pm

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 03/14/2020 at 07:13am

Gaming Bolt has been making videos about Doom's lore, so if you're a fan, I'd recommend checking them out. They're not very long, but they are cool to watch, even providing info I either forgot about or didn't know. I'll give you a link, but look on their channel for more. It seems they started posting this about a week ago and you'll also notice links to the other videos at the end of each video, so it's not easy to miss out or overlook them. Here's one about Samuel Hayden: https://youtu.be/qFM7TUsiOng

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 03/17/2020 at 06:41pm

PC Gamer gave it a really good review! https://youtu.be/PgE0UWBf-kM

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SUPER NINTENDO WORLD JAPAN!

There has been news of Nintendo working to launch it's first theme park and today we got a trailer that shows off a very CGI heavy dance themed trailer for Super Nintendo World in Japan. If the trailer is to be taken seriously we'll all be wearing VR glasses in a choreographed dance number looking incredible the entire time while magically not sweating. That said, it looks like your smartphone will play heavily into the theme park and a Mario Kart experience is top of mind for Super Nintendo World. I'm interested in what this will be but the tippy top of my theme park bucket list is checking out the new Star Wars experience at Disney Land. All that said I have no... Read All

The History Of Speedrunning

Since speedrunning is often topic on Cheerful Ghost, and we run Speedrunning competitions at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, I figure this is a fitting video :)

It covers the history of speedrunning, from the super old school "demo" days of Doom to the current Games Done Quick.

Bethesda Updating Doom & Doom II with 60 FPS, Add-ons, Original Aspect Ratio & More!

When Bethesda launched Doom on Switch there was some complaints about the port such as lack of 60 fps gameplay, an online requirement (something they immediately removed) and stretched visuals. In a huge update to Doom & Doom 2 on PC, Switch, iOS, PS4, XBox One and Android Bethesda brings all these features as well as quick save and load, level select, weapon carousel, added dpad weapon select, brightness options and new split screen HUD for split screen multiplayer. They also added some updated graphics that brings the health packs more in line with the original release but something they had to change because of trademark issues with the Red Cross(apparently no... Read All