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WarCraft & WarCraft II Are Finally On GOG DRM Free!

Today GOG.com released the WarCraft Bundle which includes WarCraft and WarCraft II: Tides Of Darkness + Beyond The Dark Portal expansion. Much like the Diablo re-release earlier, you can choose between two version of WarCraft II which is the original Battle.net edition or the revamped version that works better on modern computers.

The GOG release below talks about the anticipation of the 25th anniversary of Warcraft which may imply that they will launch the WarCraft III HD Remaster around that time. I hope that includes a mention of a WarCraft IV but I wonder if Blizzard is interested in making that kind of game again?

"In anticipation of the upcoming 25th anniversary... Read All Today GOG.com released the WarCraft Bundle which includes WarCraft and WarCraft II: Tides Of Darkness + Beyond The Dark Portal expansion. Much like the Diablo re-release earlier, you can choose between two version of WarCraft II which is the original Battle.net edition or the revamped version that works better on modern computers.

The GOG release below talks about the anticipation of the 25th anniversary of Warcraft which may imply that they will launch the WarCraft III HD Remaster around that time. I hope that includes a mention of a WarCraft IV but I wonder if Blizzard is interested in making that kind of game again?

"In anticipation of the upcoming 25th anniversary of Warcraft, we brought you the real-time strategy classics that started it all Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft II Battle.net Edition, including both the original Tides of Darkness and the Beyond the Dark Portal expansion. Starting today, players can once again explore these universe-defining games as they become available digitally and DRM-free for the first time ever!

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans takes players back to the original battle for Azeroth, challenging players to pick a side and raise an army of human or orcs capable of bringing ruin to their enemies. Warcraft II and its expansion take the battle to the high seas with a host of naval units, and introduces more of the races that make up the Alliance and the Horde, bolstering the human and orc forces with elves, trolls, dwarves, and more.

The first part of the legendary series plays and feels just like the original from 1994, it’s just updated to run flawlessly on modern operating systems. Warcraft II Battle.net Edition, similarly to the release of first Diablo on GOG.COM, comes in two versions, which players will choose from the launcher. The classic one allows for the authentic experience and a fully functional multiplayer with Blizzard’s Battle.net online gaming service. The updated version comes with a number of fixes to provide full compatibility with modern machines as well as hi-resolution support and upscaling."

https://www.gog.com/game/warcraft_bundle

Celebrate 25 Years Of The Elders Scrolls With Morrowind For Free And More!

The Elder Scrolls turned 25 and to celebrate Bethesda is giving away Morrowind for free on Bethesda.net with the promo code TES25TH-MORROWIND. Head over to the link below and redeem now because it's only going to be free until Sunday, March 31st. They have been experiencing some massive server issues due to the high demand of free Morrowind so I've waited to post until now because the servers are now responsive.

https://elderscrolls.bethesda.net/en/tes25

Polygon has a huge new interview on the "Morrowind: An oral history" so head over there if you want an epic accounting of one of the best RPG's of all time.

... Read All

Mayhem Is Coming Tomorrow!

Gearbox dropped an all new trailer teasing the upcoming Borderlands game they will reveal via a livestream tomorrow at PAX East! There have been some leaked details but I won't spoil any of that for you as I imagine most of it will be revealed tomorrow in the Gearbox livestream.

It's not known if the game will be called Borderlands 3 but it seems like it might feature quite of bit of off Pandora adventuring as teased at the end of Borderlands 2.

"Mayhem is coming! Tune in tomorrow at 11am PDT / 2pm EDT at Borderlands.com for Gearbox’s PAX East livestream."

https://borderlands.com/en-US/

We've Got This Shit Sis!

Wolfenstein: Youngblood has a shiny new trailer out as well as launch date of July 26th along with some pretty fun news. Not only will Youngblood ship on PC, PS4 and XBox One on launch but also the Nintendo Switch! It's awesome to see iD Software treating Switch as a first release platform and if the Doom and Wolfenstein II ports were a tell, the game should run really well. The best way to play this will be on a fully maxed PC but the Switch offers a cool option to people that have the system and don't care about 60fps 4K graphics.

That said, the game is set in the 80's where BJ Blazkowicz is missing and his twin daughters attempt to find him in Paris. Hmmmmm,... Read All

Watch Jack Black Eat Brussel Sprouts On His New YouTube Gaming Channel!

Jack Black recently started a YouTube channel dedicated to gaming and is already at 4 million subscribers. Jack posts videos once a week and they are typically about 15 minutes long and are a sort of variety show where he plays games with his kids and then does some game streaming. Lately he's been playing Brutal Legend (the game he lent his voice to as the main character Eddie Riggs) and in the video linked above he continues that session. Jacks YouTube channel is called JablinskiGames and seems like part video game show deconstruction / genuine admiration for anything gaming adjacent. If you love Jack's humor or just want to watch something fun, you really should... Read All

All Robots Defeated - Now Wily!

Mega Man 11 might be a perfect game on the Switch. It's a fun platformer with a ton of charm and quite challenging in all the right ways. When I first started out with Mega Man 11 the style took some getting used to as I am most familiar with Mega Man 2. The biggest difference is Mega Man 11 isn't meant to be played start to finish in one sitting, it's a game that leans into longer boss stages and modern consoles ability to save your progress. Plus you start out quite underpowered and can gain screw currency to unlock abilities and items to make the boss stages much easier. Starting out, Mega Man 11 was so difficult I spent some time grinding to collect screws to... Read All Mega Man 11 might be a perfect game on the Switch. It's a fun platformer with a ton of charm and quite challenging in all the right ways. When I first started out with Mega Man 11 the style took some getting used to as I am most familiar with Mega Man 2. The biggest difference is Mega Man 11 isn't meant to be played start to finish in one sitting, it's a game that leans into longer boss stages and modern consoles ability to save your progress. Plus you start out quite underpowered and can gain screw currency to unlock abilities and items to make the boss stages much easier. Starting out, Mega Man 11 was so difficult I spent some time grinding to collect screws to unlock everything I could. The most notable thing this did was make the boss stages much easier and as such I completed them all last week. Each stage is quite unique and just like the bosses you fight, the robot powers you acquire are really unlike anything I've played in a Mega Man game yet. One of my favorite boss items is the Acid Shield you get from killing Acid Man. The Acid Shield surrounds you for a time and absorbs bullets and some enemy damage. If you do a power move each bullet that is absorbed into the shield is reflected as an acid attack which makes this item a must have for level segments where you have to jump on small ledges while avoiding enemy fire.

I was getting into a good rhythm with the Mega Man 11 boss fights and stages and thought that would translate right into the Wily stages. Good news is much of what you learned does translate but the first stage is SO MUCH harder than any before it. If you do make it to the end of the first Wily stage the Yellow Devil MK-III awaits which is a revision of the Yellow Devil fight from the original Mega Man. Not sure if this is harder than the original game but I haven't been able to kill it yet.

Mega Man 11 is the right amount of Capcom/Mega Man hard while also remaining fair. I'm not sure I could do well in the game without buying all the power-ups but then again, it's a fun way to play it and if I want more challenge I can do it again with stock Mega Man.

Konami Is Releasing Three New Incredible Retro Collections: Castlevania, Contra & Arcade Classics!

Starting April 18th of this year Konami is going to release three all new retro game collections to celebrate its 50th year anniversary! Kicking things off with an Arcade Classics pack taking them back to their early company roots they are including Haunted Castle, Typhoon, Nemesis(Gradius), Vulcan Venture(Gradius II), Life Force, Thunder Cross, Scramble and TwinBee. Each of these Collections are digital releases that will drop on PS4, XBox One, Steam and Nintendo Switch and the first pack is only $20!

They are continuing the hype train with two more releases in early summer of this year with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection as well as the Contra Anniversary... Read All Starting April 18th of this year Konami is going to release three all new retro game collections to celebrate its 50th year anniversary! Kicking things off with an Arcade Classics pack taking them back to their early company roots they are including Haunted Castle, Typhoon, Nemesis(Gradius), Vulcan Venture(Gradius II), Life Force, Thunder Cross, Scramble and TwinBee. Each of these Collections are digital releases that will drop on PS4, XBox One, Steam and Nintendo Switch and the first pack is only $20!

They are continuing the hype train with two more releases in early summer of this year with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection as well as the Contra Anniversary Collection. So far the announced games for the Castlevania Collection are Castlevania, Castlevania III Dracula's Curse, Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge on Gameboy & Super Castlevania IV. That Castlevania Collection is already incredibly good but they also have four more games they have yet to announce and as such I'm sure you have some games you'd like included so let me know what you'd love to see in the comments. The Contra Anniversary Collection is also coming and so far they have announced Contra, Super Contra, Super C and Contra III The Alien Wars and as with the Castlevania Collection they have four more games yet to announce.

If Konami keeps the $20 price point per collection, this might be one of the best retro game digital download values of the year. Castlevania and Castlevania II were included on the NES Classic but I felt like not adding Contra in favor of Super C was a missed opportunity so now you can relive the glory on your PC, PS4, Switch or XBox One!

"In celebration with the 50th anniversary since KONAMI was founded, this Anniversary Collection series highlights many of the iconic arcade games and classic console titles that have been loved by fans throughout the years, and are made available on many of the latest platforms. From the shooters to action, these collections are packed with beloved titles that are simple to play and yet addicting to the core.

KONAMI welcomes everyone, from those who were glued to their CRT TVs or the arcade machines back in the day to first-time players, to enjoy a part of our history. All collections will be digital-exclusive and can be downloaded from the various online stores. We give our utmost gratitude to each and every fan from all over the world for playing our games throughout the years!"

https://www.konami.com/games/50th/ac/arcade/us/en/
https://www.konami.com/games/50th/ac/castlevania/us/en/
https://www.konami.com/games/50th/ac/castlevania/us/en/

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 52: Super Mario Bros. 2

We're throwing vegetables at short guys in masks in this episode, as we review Super Mario Bros. 2 on the NES!

This is the second of a three-part series on the NES Mario trilogy. Next month we'll be finishing the series with Super Mario Bros. 3, so come play it and talk with us about it, and we'll include your thoughts in the next NES Classic review episode!

Join the event here: https://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/events/172/cheerful-ghost-games-club-super-mario-bros-3

Is The Future of Game Streaming Google Stadia?

Google unveiled its next gen video game streaming service Stadia today at the Game Developers Conference. The response on social media was pretty standard, lots of jokes about lag and a general "meh" attitude. The "who cares" attitude makes a lot of sense with just some basic information in hand, that said after I watched the above Digital Foundry Stadia spec explanation and comparison of it alongside current generation consoles it seems much more compelling.

Stadia First Generation Machine Specs

The first thing that's compelling to me about Stadia is that Google is focusing the first generation offering on a cloud system spec that blows current consoles out of the... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 03/20/2019 at 04:06am

I'm kinda all over the place on this. I don't know what to think. In terms of utility I don't see this being significantly different *for me* than PS Now (which I've played around with, and it works very well, but the cost put me off a bit). Now that said, people without gaming hardware or gaming-capable PCs could find a lot of utility in this, especially if it's a monthly fee.

On the tech side, though, I'm very interested. I can't wait for the inevitable comparison videos of all the different game streaming services. At minimum, a new major competitor will drive others to improve their services. Can you imagine paying a small monthly fee to Valve to be able to stream anything you own over the internet? That would be a different way to do it.

The service pricing and/or game cost is going to be the big thing here, plus controller performance. Streaming already introduces some lag and the Wifi controller will a bit too.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/21/2019 at 12:46am

When I heard what Google Stadia is and that it’s gonna be based on Linux and Vulcan I immediately realize why Valve might be working in that arena. Imagine a world where Linux and Vulcan powers the Valve game cloud and they use their fresh new Wine to emulate all your other games.

If Valve launched that with the ability to play all you existing games, it might be game over for everything else.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/21/2019 at 12:47am

Plus Steam can stream games around your house already. Step 2 might be out of their data centers.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/22/2019 at 08:55pm

Yes, that would pretty much be game over man. I'm drooling at the thought.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/23/2019 at 05:06pm

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/03/googles-multiyear-quest-to-overcome-ids-stadia-streaming-skepticism/

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Come play Super Mario Bros. 3 with us and pretend it's 1988 again!

It's that time again, Cheerful Ghost Games Club is back with Super Mario Bros. 3!

In season 3 of Cheerful Ghost Radio, we are starting our NES Classic reviews with Super Mario Bros. 1-3. We're finishing things off with Super Mario Bros. 3! Come play the game and discuss it with us, and we’ll include your thoughts in the episode!

And it's not like you need an excuse to play this incredible game, right!?

Super Mario Bros. 3 was the last game on the NES, and it pushed the system and the series to new heights with the new feature set, improved graphics, and new elements. The third game introduced some Mario series staples, like the overworld, power-ups you could use outside... Read All