Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
After playing Doom 64 recently, I got Doom 3 BFG Edition on Steam. It was certainly different. The best description Iāve found is put simply in the embedded video as the original Doom games were action games, while Doom 3 is a "realistic" horror game. This made the game unappealing to me at first and is a bit still, but I see other parts of the game that make me think itās not bad. Iām not a fan of horror games, but Iāve played a few Resident Evil games. Itās just not the kind of game Iām into.
Instead of running around killing already spawned in demons in a mostly open area like the original, Doom 3 leads you through a mostly linear path down corridors. Although all... Read All
After playing Doom 64 recently, I got Doom 3 BFG Edition on Steam. It was certainly different. The best description Iāve found is put simply in the embedded video as the original Doom games were action games, while Doom 3 is a "realistic" horror game. This made the game unappealing to me at first and is a bit still, but I see other parts of the game that make me think itās not bad. Iām not a fan of horror games, but Iāve played a few Resident Evil games. Itās just not the kind of game Iām into.
Instead of running around killing already spawned in demons in a mostly open area like the original, Doom 3 leads you through a mostly linear path down corridors. Although all Doom games can have you running in circles, confused about what youāve missed, where youāre supposed to go, but thereās plenty of info on the web to help you find your way around when you get stuck. Youāll need to find PDAs to get security clearance to access some places. They may also contain some of the gameās lore, but not forcing you to listen to recorded audio. Youāll also collect some inventory items along the way, which are important for the task at hand. For instance, sometimes youāll have to remove a power cell from one generator and place it in another.
There are some scary lighting effects going on, there is a lot of darkness, flashing lights, and you canāt always walk with your flashlight on, sometimes it has to charge. It can be hard to see enemies at times, but itās best to look all around as much as possible. Usually monsters will spawn in with a noticeable sound and flash in an area. There are also plenty of ājump scaresā and pieces of the environment falling out of place at times to scar you, too. It is a bit of a thrilling experience.
The demons all look different than weāre used to seeing them in the Doom series, you should take a look at them, if youāre a fan. Their design is definitely close to ārealisticā horror. Some are difficult to recognize, while others are easily recognizable. Perhaps the scariest of them are the bosses, which can be ābullet sponges.ā Some take strategy to defeat, while some just take enough fire power.
Console issue: I like cheating in these kinds of games (Doom in particular), it makes it more fun for me. I thought that I might turn on cheats eventually, but that moment never came. As soon as I started a new game, the game told me achievements were disabled because the console was being used. After some troubleshooting this seems to be an issue in the game and thereās a simple remedy for it. You just need to add āseta com_allowconsole 0ā (without quotes) to the ādefault.cfgā file thatās in the folder at āC:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\DOOM 3 BFG Edition\base\ā as noted by āIcyDeadPeopleā here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/208200/discussions/0/828925849197513340. This resolved the issue for me, although it may have allowed me to get achievements even if I used console commands, but I never reached the point of deciding to cheat, so I never looked into those commands.
Technically, the game runs extremely well. Granted this could be expected with modern hardware and the gameās age, but I still canāt help but be impressed just how little time it takes to load. This version of the game also comes with the original Doom and Doom 2, however theyāre a bit functionally different than the recent Doom Classic Complete Collection I recently wrote about here: https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4401/getting-the-doom-complete-collection-to-run-on-windows-10 That is because that version wouldnāt run on itās own. Instead, I had to copy the .WAD files to a source port and play it that way, however thatās not necessary with the versions in this edition. These work well with no extra configuration needed. I find this impressive, but also confusing as to why the two versions donāt just simply work in the same way. Since this version of those games lets them run just fine, you can work on getting their achievements, too.
I should also note there is a source port for this, which seems to work more for Doom and Doom 2, although it does come with some extra features for Doom 3. It's called Doom 3: BFA Edition. I started out with this version, but it didn't really connect to Steam and I didn't find it necessary. In fact, I enjoyed the game(s) just fine without it.
Itās kind of hard to say whether I recommend this or not. If youāre into horror games and Doom, then youāll probably be into this. It does have a āvery positiveā score on Steam. Personally, I think I like the action kind of Doom game better, like Doom (2016). If youāre a Doom fan, you should at least take a look at some video of it. Iāve embedded a video that talks about why it is a good game.
Doom 3 BFG Edition is an interesting port. I'd say in some ways it goes back on the original horror design that made the original so special creating a somewhat confused game, sort of.
For instance, in the original game you had to pick whether you had a flashlight in your hand to see in very dark areas or a gun. That made the horror hype WAY more felt and real. I remember playing this game with the lights off and it was, and is a great experience. Doom 3 BFG Edition allows you do tape a light on your gun and also makes the game WAY less dark which kind of makes it ... i'd say a confused sort of game. It's sort of horror, but not really and it takes away some of the choice elements that made the first edition special.
Azurephile Super Member Post Author
wrote on 05/02/2020 at 09:53pm
Yeah, I read about that. I think I like that the flashlight can work with weapons in BFG Edition. I'm not sure if I'd like it in the original, though it would have made the game a bit more scary, sure. What's sad is that now that I've played it, I'm going back to playing Doom (2016) and wishing I had that flashlight. Even replaying original Doom and Doom 2 I would sometimes hit "F" to turn on my flashlight, although I didn't have one of course.
I think that Doom 3 did a lot right and also went for something unique. The series in in different territory now and most people seem to like that a lot, which I appreciate, but I really enjoy Doom 3 even though you can't right click to aim (prob my biggest issue with it if I have one).
Azurephile Super Member Post Author
wrote on 05/05/2020 at 04:20am
That's a surprise. I feel a bit neutral about it. At first it was mostly negative and I wasn't even sure that I really wanted to complete it, but I did and it's not a horrible game, but it's not a favorite. Doom 64 impressed me much more, actually. Those were the only two Doom games I've never played that I played recently. Seeing that we seem to lack a review for DOOM (2016), I might write one up as I finished completing it only for the second time, though I loved it.
At the time Doom 3 was an incredible visual feat that stood out in a very sparse PC game landscape. Not like now where it's a VERY crowded shooter market and Doom 2016 hit and makes it look somewhat pale in comparison.
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Azurephile gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale
This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.
Azurephile gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale
This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.
Iāve recently taken a trip back into the 90ās by getting some gaming nostalgia. Recently, I got the Doom Classic Complete collection, which contains Doom, Final Doom, Ultimate Doom, Doom II, and the Master Levels for Doom II. I write a post about getting it to run as it was actually a bit difficult to play right away and without a source port. Having copies of the games on Steam is quite helpful, because it gives you the .WAD files youāll need to use with a source port. If youād like, you can check out my post about that here: https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4401/getting-the-doom-complete-collection-to-run-on-windows-10
As for Doom 64, I never played this... Read All
Iāve recently taken a trip back into the 90ās by getting some gaming nostalgia. Recently, I got the Doom Classic Complete collection, which contains Doom, Final Doom, Ultimate Doom, Doom II, and the Master Levels for Doom II. I write a post about getting it to run as it was actually a bit difficult to play right away and without a source port. Having copies of the games on Steam is quite helpful, because it gives you the .WAD files youāll need to use with a source port. If youād like, you can check out my post about that here: https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4401/getting-the-doom-complete-collection-to-run-on-windows-10
As for Doom 64, I never played this when it originally came out, even though I still have my N64. I wish I had gotten this game back then. I don't know why or how I ignored it, after all I played the Doom and Quake games during high school. This looks and feels much like the Doom and Quake games, although itās unique and possibly not what youād expect for a N64 game. Granted, everything in the game looks different from the original, itās still wonderful. The game controls beautifully with a mouse and keyboard with no need to use a source port. Although, you can check out Doom 64 EX, if youāre interested. The embedded video goes into some detail about porting EX and making it as close to the original game as possible. For just $5 on Steam, this is a must own if youāre a fan of the series!
There are ways in which this iteration of Doom surpasses the original, especially when it comes to keyboard and mouse controls. I also really appreciate the excellent distinction between yellow and red keys, in the original games these colors looked way too similar, yellow looked more orange. Perhaps the one thing that this game does not match the original is when it comes to music. This game doesnāt exactly have music as the original did, instead itās more of a scary ambiance, which is still nice, but itās not the awesome rock riffs weāre used to.
One thing Iāve always loved about these games was being able to cheat. Gaming can be fun and challenging, separately or in balance, but for me I have more fun when Iām able to ease and relax without much of a challenge. I did try the game out without cheats, but I knew Iād reach a point where Iād enable them. The only downside is that this disables your ability to get achievements on that save file, but Iām ok with that, there seems to only be 10 of them anyway and I already got one. Doom 64 has the ability to save and load games, but it also uses a password system. You can look online for passwords to input into the game. One of them will open a āfeaturesā option on the main menu and you can select the cheats you want to use or you can press ` to access the debug screen and type them in such as ānoclipā (without quotes). I believe I read that you have to get all three keys in level 32 without cheating to unlock āfeatureā in the main menu without having to input a password, but it really looks tough to do. There are also other passwords that will bring you to different levels or just do different things. You can check the guides section on Steam or you can also refer to IGNās N64 cheat guide here: https://www.ign.com/wikis/n64-cheats/Doom_64_Cheats
I really do give this a strong recommendation. I canāt stress enough how even a base price of $5 for this game is extremely and surprisingly low. I think itās worth a bit more at least, but this just adds it to the list of great games that are at or under $5. Do yourself a favor, if you like the Doom and Quake games and havenāt checked this out, do so, I donāt think youād regret it.
The Evercade is an upcoming retro handheld that improves on the sea of off brand handhelds in that it supports officially licensed retro collections you can purchase on collectable game carts. Evercade also worked with many prominent emulation developers to bring an extremely similar experience to the original hardware. DF Retro examines the system and gives it a solid review score comparing it to original and best of breed recreation hardware.
The Evercade price point seems solid at $80 for the main unit or $100 for the base unit and three pack in game collections and $20 for each game collection. For quite some time I've hoped we'd get a brand new retro system that... Read All
The Evercade is an upcoming retro handheld that improves on the sea of off brand handhelds in that it supports officially licensed retro collections you can purchase on collectable game carts. Evercade also worked with many prominent emulation developers to bring an extremely similar experience to the original hardware. DF Retro examines the system and gives it a solid review score comparing it to original and best of breed recreation hardware.
The Evercade price point seems solid at $80 for the main unit or $100 for the base unit and three pack in game collections and $20 for each game collection. For quite some time I've hoped we'd get a brand new retro system that you could make physical games for and this seems to be the answer. It makes sense that this would start out as a handheld and I appreciate it has an HDMI out to play on the television.
Looks like Super Mario Maker 2 is getting its last big free update and itās incredible. Folks thought weād get a new Super Mario 2 theme and they didnāt quite add that but we did get a SMB2 mushroom which looks to add those mechanics to the game.
ā A free update to Super Mario Maker 2 for the Nintendo Switch system adds a new World Maker mode, as well as a host of new content and features on April 22.
In World Maker mode, multiple courses created by a user can be tied together on a path from the starting point on a world map to the end castle. The look of the world map can also be customized. Up to eight worlds containing a total of up to 40 courses can be combined,... Read All
Looks like Super Mario Maker 2 is getting its last big free update and itās incredible. Folks thought weād get a new Super Mario 2 theme and they didnāt quite add that but we did get a SMB2 mushroom which looks to add those mechanics to the game.
ā A free update to Super Mario Maker 2 for the Nintendo Switch system adds a new World Maker mode, as well as a host of new content and features on April 22.
In World Maker mode, multiple courses created by a user can be tied together on a path from the starting point on a world map to the end castle. The look of the world map can also be customized. Up to eight worlds containing a total of up to 40 courses can be combined, creating a mini Super Mario game that can be shared* with others.
In addition to World Maker, guess who else is making an appearance in Super Mario Maker 2? The Koopalings! All seven of these troublemakers, each with his or her own movement pattern, can be added to user-created courses. Other enemies added to the game include the key-chasing Phanto and the wind-up Mechakoopas.
Additional power-ups and course parts are also coming to Super Mario Maker 2 as part of the free update. This includes the SMB2 Mushroom, which transforms Mario and friends into their look from the Super Mario Bros. 2 game and allows them to pick up and throw items and enemies ā just like in that classic game! With the Frog Suit from the Super Mario Bros. 3 game, Mario can swim through water with ease, and even run across its surface! Other power-ups added to the game are the Power Balloon first introduced in the Super Mario World game, the Super Acorn from the New Super Mario Bros. U game and the Boomerang Flower from Super Mario 3D World. There are also five variations for wearables like the Cannon Box and Propeller Box from the Super Mario 3D World game.ā
I just recently picked up the āDoom Classic Completeā collection for less than $5 and I came across something I thought Iād share. First of all, this collection contains Ultimate and Final Doom, Doom II, and the Master Levels for Doom II. I recently re-discovered a CD I have for Ultimate Doom, but the game wouldnāt run the way I wanted it to. However, I made a discovery then and ran into the issue again with my recent purchase of this collection, so I thought Iād share my tip.
As a PC gamer, Iāve gotten used to playing games with a keyboard and a mouse. WASD keys move forward, left, back, and right. The mouse looks up, down, left, and right. I canāt recall how I played... Read All
I just recently picked up the āDoom Classic Completeā collection for less than $5 and I came across something I thought Iād share. First of all, this collection contains Ultimate and Final Doom, Doom II, and the Master Levels for Doom II. I recently re-discovered a CD I have for Ultimate Doom, but the game wouldnāt run the way I wanted it to. However, I made a discovery then and ran into the issue again with my recent purchase of this collection, so I thought Iād share my tip.
As a PC gamer, Iāve gotten used to playing games with a keyboard and a mouse. WASD keys move forward, left, back, and right. The mouse looks up, down, left, and right. I canāt recall how I played the Doom games back in the 90ās, but it certainly feels odd now. This is because moving the mouse forward or backward will move your character in that direction. I found this to be quite odd and annoying. I did some digging online and I found a few different solutions. Some werenāt helping, the game would still lock up and such, but I found another, perhaps easier, solution.
This Steam version of the collection uses DOSBox and I have played around with it a bit starting a few weeks ago. Sure, if you load a separate instance of DOSBox, mount your Doom directory and run ānovert.comā (a file you can download for free on the Internet) before ādoom.exeā it might work properly, but itās a bit of a hassle to have to go through that every time.
The simplest solution I found is to use a free āsource portā and the one I have the most experience with is Chocolate Doom, which was incredibly easy to set up. After downloading and extracting the program, run the included setup file and under the āmouse configurationā make sure āallow vertical mouse movementā is unchecked. Then copy the .WAD file from wherever you have it stored and drop it into your Chocolate Doom directory. Then all you have to do is run Chocolate Doom. This works for all the .WAD files included in this collection. Without a .WAD file, the game will run the shareware version of Doom II. There are other source ports out there with different features. Iāve barely played with some others as I decided I wanted to stick with the most authentic experience and Chocolate Doom gives me exactly what I want.
As for getting each of the .WADs in the Master Levels for Doom II to work, you may need to use some command lines or another source port, like ZDoom. In Chocolate Doom, you can open the setup file, hit F2 for warp and W to add a .WAD. Put the .WAD file in the same directory and just type in the name of the .WAD file (including the file extension). You may need to read the .TXT file that comes with the .WAD to make sure you're on the right level. ATTACK.WAD was easy to get going, but BLACKTWR.WAD was more difficult, until I read that it's on level 25 and I had to warp to it, which I did the Chocolate Doom setup file.
I did check out GLDoom and GZDoom (or ZDoom). GLDoom didn't have an obvious way of disabling vertical mouse movement, like Chocolate Doom does, but you can turn the vertical sensitivity down to zero. GZDoom (or Zdoom) is like GLDoom in that it runs on OpenGL, but as far as I can tell it does a whole lot more than any of the other source ports I've tried. It has tons of features and even allows you to look around and jump.
I havenāt tried Doom 64 yet, in fact Iāve never played it. However, I did learn in recent weeks about Doom 64 EX. I think you donāt have to worry about this, because, I believe the Steam version was a port. Jon made a post about it, so I recommend checking that out as the included video is pretty informative. You need the .WAD file to run Doom 64 EX, which does not come with the software, but if you purchased the game via Steam and installed it, then Iām sure itās just a matter of copying a file over into a single directory as described above for the other classics.
I hope this helps. If you need help, feel free to ask, I can try to help you out as best as I can. Have you played these games recently? Have you run into similar issues? If so, how did you get them to work?
I think i'd recommend Crispy Doom over Chocolate Doom but it requires a bit of tweaking to get it just so to map WASD and get the mouse aim right. That said, it's good iD Software updated The Ultimate Doom & Doom II to the modern Unity Ports as those DOSBox versions are really rough on modern systems (as you note).
It's also fun to see how far things have come since April. Since then we got the Unity ports on Steam and Doom 64 remaster released!
Now that I've completed the original 3 1993 Doom campaigns I'm thinking of trying Sigil or Doom II but I'm not sure which one. Never fully completed Doom II so I think I might play that next.
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I used to play a lot of fantasy sports. You'd generally pick a team of players (football, basketball, baseball, etc) from all the guys playing that day, and then as they compile stats (points/rebounds/steals/etc in basketball, passing yards/catches/touchdowns in football, just to name a few), you get a cumulative point total for your team.
But now there aren't any sports being played... at least no sports being played by humans.
In the video above you'll see 2 virtual NBA games being simulated by a Playstation. No one is playing the characters, it's just a simulation. (My wife thinks this is the dumbest thing ever lol) On the various fantasy sports apps, before the... Read All
I used to play a lot of fantasy sports. You'd generally pick a team of players (football, basketball, baseball, etc) from all the guys playing that day, and then as they compile stats (points/rebounds/steals/etc in basketball, passing yards/catches/touchdowns in football, just to name a few), you get a cumulative point total for your team.
But now there aren't any sports being played... at least no sports being played by humans.
In the video above you'll see 2 virtual NBA games being simulated by a Playstation. No one is playing the characters, it's just a simulation. (My wife thinks this is the dumbest thing ever lol) On the various fantasy sports apps, before the games, you can choose lineups, just as if they were real games, and then watch along and root for "your" players. The website https://www.awesemo.com/ has been running both NBA and NFL simulations, and I've found it really fun to watch along with. And really, I don't see much of a difference in passively watching real players play games, or simulated players play games (my wife strongly disagrees and thinks this is the dumbest thing ever lol)
I'm not really into NASCAR, but today I stumbled upon eNASCAR/iRacing, and I might become a full-time fan. Actual NASCAR drivers race virtually against each other, using realistic multi-monitor simulators on their computers. The graphics of the simulation look really, really good. Here's an example of what a race looks like (this was on FOX, and had real racing commentators) https://youtu.be/g75HghckIyY?t=474 And here's an example of what their racing setups look like: https://youtu.be/nHDH0pL_qBM
There are a ton more Esports/Virtual Sports out there. I've seen Virtual Golf (sometimes there are simulated players like Happy Gilmore and Shooter McGavin lol), Virtual Baseball in addition to various Virtual basketball and football simulations. And fantasy apps are venturing into Reality TV as well. You can create a "team" of players for the show Survivor, and you get points for things like Wins Immunity/Cries on camera/Catches Seafood.
Almost all the Virtual/ESports contests are free to enter, and many allow multiple entries, so you can try different lineups and see how they score. It's a fun thing to fill the time with, and occasionally you can win 5-10 cents lol. My favorite app is FanDuel, which you can download from any app store, or go to this website https://www.fanduel.com/
We have been wanting to change the fight run mechanics for quite some time, and recently had time to simplify how it works. Before these changes, the fight run mechanic was needlessly complicated and allowed you to run away essentially every time. Iif the run attempt was unsuccessful, you could just try again without consequence, so with enough patience in spamming run, at some point you'd run away and suffer no ill consequence of hitting it a bunch of times.
We just pushed up a change to the fight run mechanic in that you have a random 1 in 4 chance to successfully run. If your run attempt fails, you take half the incoming damage or at least one damage from the enemy.... Read All
We have been wanting to change the fight run mechanics for quite some time, and recently had time to simplify how it works. Before these changes, the fight run mechanic was needlessly complicated and allowed you to run away essentially every time. Iif the run attempt was unsuccessful, you could just try again without consequence, so with enough patience in spamming run, at some point you'd run away and suffer no ill consequence of hitting it a bunch of times.
We just pushed up a change to the fight run mechanic in that you have a random 1 in 4 chance to successfully run. If your run attempt fails, you take half the incoming damage or at least one damage from the enemy. This means that you can take damage from running away and could possibly die.
Before this change, the Mage Teleport spell was a spell few used; it would always take you out of battle, but running was free, would accomplish the same thing. We believe the update to run will give players more reason to choose Mage, and to buff Mage a bit further, Teleport now costs 3 MP (down from 4) and Healing now costs 7 MP (down from 8).
As always we look forward to your input and would love to hear what you think in the comments.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 04/19/2020 at 07:45pm
I think this is a great mechanic! I've recently been playing FF3, and I love the run away animation. That's how I'm going to imagine running away in Wyvern now!
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 04/20/2020 at 05:54am
Wow! I just realized you attached this video!
Also at you guys looking like gang members with your faces covered.
Looks like Run had been working more-or-less how I thought it did *and* what I encountered was not a bug, but a change. Thanks for pointing me to this! Also, folks weren't playing Mage? It's always felt like the strongest to me due the sheer number of battles I win due to being able to use a single Magic Missile. I almost always start Mage and switch to Rogue late so I can blast the Wyvern from the shadows. I never use Teleport or Healing, though, so it's nice that those may get to be decent options now.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 04/21/2020 at 06:56am
Yeah, sorry we kind of buried this update. Maybe it would help if we had something in the news section to let us know of changes like this.
Wow people play as a Mage? I always felt like the Rogue was the best, because a wyvern can't hit what it cannot see. As soon as I learned about Invisibility, I never went back to another class.
I like the Disappear ability specifically for Wyvern and now Fish fights, but I died so... many... times in the forest as a Rogue and that was when running away was essentially free. There aren't nearly enough uses of Disappear to use for every Angry Rich Boss or Xenomorph in a given day.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 04/21/2020 at 10:14pm
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 04/22/2020 at 03:20am
One feature Travis and I are working on now is how to let people know in Wyvern about updates and changes to the game... in the game. Folks don't read Cheerful Ghost daily, but for folks that do play the game daily why not just alert you in game? So yeah, we're sorting that out now as something we'd like before we release 1.0 among a few other things.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 04/22/2020 at 04:29am
Yeah, I thought about that most recently. Perhaps if we had a town crier or some way a CG post about the game could find it's way into the daily news of the game. Perhaps it could stay there for a period of time to give players enough time to be aware of it.
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On the YouTube channel, Today I Found Out, Simon Whistler answers the question of why Nintendo products are more durable than their competitors. For some more information about Nintendo including how they got started, stick around for the bonus facts about half way into the video.
Yeah, Nintendo products are pretty durable, although I broke my first Game Boy and my son accidentally dropped his first 3DS in water. Neither system recovered, but we still have so many other Nintendo products around that still work just fine.
What about you? Do you have a Nintendo durability story to share?
On the YouTube channel, Today I Found Out, Simon Whistler answers the question of why Nintendo products are more durable than their competitors. For some more information about Nintendo including how they got started, stick around for the bonus facts about half way into the video.
Yeah, Nintendo products are pretty durable, although I broke my first Game Boy and my son accidentally dropped his first 3DS in water. Neither system recovered, but we still have so many other Nintendo products around that still work just fine.
What about you? Do you have a Nintendo durability story to share?
All of mine still work. I have one Gameboy with a dead line of pixels and my N64 is a little wonky, if there are any vibrations itāll lock up. Those are both old ass systems though. However I think the build quality has gone down. One of my Switch joycons stopped working after a week and Iāve read a lot of similar stories. I was able to exchange it with no problem. Also, the joysticks on the joycons are notorious for drifting over time but the DIY fix is pretty simple.
That said, Iāve had good luck across the board. My PS3 finally got the yellow light of death but I used that thing so extensively, I canāt really complain about quality there. Otherwise Iāve never had console problems at all than the ones listed.
Azurephile Super Member Post Author
wrote on 04/18/2020 at 11:44pm
Cool. That sucks about the drift, I hate that problem. My PS3 is still working, though it still shuts off sometimes. My TV is showing it's age as well.
My NES and SNES are dead but they were under some intense wear while a family member had them and I question how well they were tended to.
That said, Nintendo stuff, I've found, is pretty hearty which is great considering it's the most popular retro game gear around. The Gameboy is legendary for it's durability.
My PS3 and everyone elses I knew that had one. Sadly Sony didn't seem to build a hearty console there but it could have just been everyone I knew that got unlucky.
There's also the Xbox 360 red ring of death we should mention here, even though I got mine later in the cycle once they'd mostly fixed it, every single launch 360 will eventually get the red ring of death, or already has. But that said the 360 I have is probably in that same camp, just on a longer time scale than the launch 360s.
Actually I have three Xbox 360s, the one I bought in the first hardware reiteration, the one that looks like launch but they mostly fixed the thermal problems, and two launch 360s-- both of which came from a friend of mine, both had the RROD, both just for parts. I've tried various fixes I've found online to kinda piece together fixes, but came out with nothing. Microsoft really hosed the launch last gen. Thankfully it seems like they all seem to be better this gen, with the exception of the Nintendo joycon drift.
Two things occurred to me, I've been thinking about this topic a lot.
First, my original NES needed a new connector eventually because it was basically impossible to play any games. That's a design flaw of the NES that they fixed with the top-loader model. It definitely got a few years under its belt before that happened, but it's still a thing. It was probably only a year or two longer than my PS3 lasted, which is a very odd thought. Each year goes by so much faster than the ones before. Measuring my life in when I got consoles makes that feel even faster.
Also, I forgot that I had a Wii go out on me randomly. It cut out on me mid-game and that was that. It just wouldn't power on anymore.
So I guess when you consider percentage of consoles that developed problems, Nintendo has a worse track record than the others for me anyway. 5/9 of my Nintendo consoles/handhelds have developed some kind of problem, 1/5 of my Sony consoles/handhelds, and neither of the two MS consoles I purchased (aside from the two I got from a friend that were DOA to me).
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How better to spend your time in quarantine than listening to us talk about the next generation of consoles? We dive into the next generation and talk about what Microsoft and Sony might bring to the table. But first, we update you all on how we've been coping with the pandemic and all the stuff we've been playing and watching.
How better to spend your time in quarantine than listening to us talk about the next generation of consoles? We dive into the next generation and talk about what Microsoft and Sony might bring to the table. But first, we update you all on how we've been coping with the pandemic and all the stuff we've been playing and watching.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 04/17/2020 at 03:52am
I heard the new consoles will feature ray tracing. I also saw something about the PS5 will probably have limited stock during it's first year.
Travis Admin Post Author
wrote on 04/19/2020 at 03:50am
I had a feeling I knew what that youtube link was going to be before I clicked it.
Glad to know I was right! :D
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 04/19/2020 at 03:58am
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 04/19/2020 at 07:27pm
Actually, I meant teraflops as you can see here: https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/31/21187430/ps5-xbox-series-x-specs-comparison-next-gen Here's a brief article with an included video about what's a teraflop: https://www.polygon.com/2016/6/14/11932910/what-is-a-teraflop-explainer I think it's a different calculation than what I'm used to seeing regarding GPUs and CPUs where they're measured in megahertz or gigahertz. In a way, I kind of feel like "teraflops" is a bit of a "buzz word" to make the new consoles sound super amazing (and they may very well be). I haven't dived into their details as my interest in them isn't great, but I'm glad they're finally getting SSDs, Since I got one last summer, I realized just how awesome they are, if for nothing else other than greatly speeding up the load time from power off to desktop (at least in my Windows 10 experience). So, at least just being where the OS resides, it can give a dramatic performance increase. I think this is perhaps the single most important hardware upgrade someone could make to make their PC feel faster or notably improved
LOL! Yeah, I think we all knew what that YouTube link was going to be ;) I've listened to about half the podcast, and I'm glad that it sounds like everyone's doing as well as can be expected!
Also, as far as what I'm watching, some good trash on Netflix is The Circle (so far I've watched the original and Brazil, and now I'm watching France).
It's the perfect show right now, as we really are living in The Circle.
The killer feature im hoping will go well is streaming. My company (engineering/architectural) has moved to 90% virtual machines using Workspots (Microsoft Azure). I am drawing complex 3D models, and aside from a few hiccups when rolling out the new computers, my virtual experience is better than when I worked on my local computer in my office. I hope Microsoft is able to utilize what they've learned in Workspot, and really nail the streaming environment. I've not bought a system since the Wii U, but if I could get a high-powered game streaming service, I might look at getting back into hard-core gaming.
Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member
wrote on 04/22/2020 at 08:38pm
I will probably get the Xbox Series X first. I have the OG Xbox One and it is a little sluggish playing Fallen Order. I want to upgrade to a One X, but I figure it is best to wait for the Series X.
Digital Foundry has another incredible review of Doom 64 up on YouTube and as with most of their coverage, you need to watch it. As the interview unfolds they bring in some really fun perspectives of the Nightdive developers working on this port. Nightdive studios doesn't just emulate these old games but ports them brining new features and enhancements to old games giving them a level of love and polish games like Doom 64 deserves.
"In a DF Retro exclusive, John Linneman talks with Nightdive Studios about the process of bringing the classic, totally original Nintendo 64 rendition of Doom over to the current-gen platforms. In this video, you'll see what made the... Read All
Digital Foundry has another incredible review of Doom 64 up on YouTube and as with most of their coverage, you need to watch it. As the interview unfolds they bring in some really fun perspectives of the Nightdive developers working on this port. Nightdive studios doesn't just emulate these old games but ports them brining new features and enhancements to old games giving them a level of love and polish games like Doom 64 deserves.
"In a DF Retro exclusive, John Linneman talks with Nightdive Studios about the process of bringing the classic, totally original Nintendo 64 rendition of Doom over to the current-gen platforms. In this video, you'll see what made the original release so fascinating, while Nightdive staff tell all on how the game was reverse-engineered and delivered on current-gen platforms. Oh - and is this the first 1440p Xbox One S game?"
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 04/14/2020 at 04:27am
Cool! I have had the game on my wish list for a bit now, since those days I told you I was watching LGR. At that time, I decided I wanted to dive back into all of Doom, I only played Doom, Doom 2, and Doom 2016. Thanks for sharing! I've seen so much Doom content on YouTube lately, I love it! I can't wait to get Doom Eternal, but I'm hoping to catch it on a good discount, maybe during Steam's summer sale, maybe at a later one, I'm not sure yet, but I do want it.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 04/15/2020 at 03:23am
This the season... of DOOM!
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Doom 3 BFG Edition is an interesting port. I'd say in some ways it goes back on the original horror design that made the original so special creating a somewhat confused game, sort of.
For instance, in the original game you had to pick whether you had a flashlight in your hand to see in very dark areas or a gun. That made the horror hype WAY more felt and real. I remember playing this game with the lights off and it was, and is a great experience. Doom 3 BFG Edition allows you do tape a light on your gun and also makes the game WAY less dark which kind of makes it ... i'd say a confused sort of game. It's sort of horror, but not really and it takes away some of the choice elements that made the first edition special.
Yeah, I read about that. I think I like that the flashlight can work with weapons in BFG Edition. I'm not sure if I'd like it in the original, though it would have made the game a bit more scary, sure. What's sad is that now that I've played it, I'm going back to playing Doom (2016) and wishing I had that flashlight. Even replaying original Doom and Doom 2 I would sometimes hit "F" to turn on my flashlight, although I didn't have one of course.
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I think that Doom 3 did a lot right and also went for something unique. The series in in different territory now and most people seem to like that a lot, which I appreciate, but I really enjoy Doom 3 even though you can't right click to aim (prob my biggest issue with it if I have one).
That's a surprise. I feel a bit neutral about it. At first it was mostly negative and I wasn't even sure that I really wanted to complete it, but I did and it's not a horrible game, but it's not a favorite. Doom 64 impressed me much more, actually. Those were the only two Doom games I've never played that I played recently. Seeing that we seem to lack a review for DOOM (2016), I might write one up as I finished completing it only for the second time, though I loved it.
At the time Doom 3 was an incredible visual feat that stood out in a very sparse PC game landscape. Not like now where it's a VERY crowded shooter market and Doom 2016 hit and makes it look somewhat pale in comparison.