Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Angry Video Game Nerd Reviews The Home Alone Games With Macaulay Culkin

Macaulay Culkin has been showing up in a few YouTube shows I watch regularly including the most recent episode of The Angry Video Game Nerd talking about all the Home Alone Games. The Nerd has reviewed a few Home Alone games before but talking about each one with Mac himself is pretty incredible.

Macaulay Culkin has also showed up in two Red Letter Media shows re:View and The Best of the Worst. In re:View Jack and Mac talk about the 90's incredi-bad film Hackers and in Best of the Worst he reviews a couple terrible films alongside Home Alone 4!

re:View (Hackers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM7_oyCZqj0

Plinketto (Best of the Worst) Prototype, Quigley & Home Alone... Read All

SIGIL Is An Upcoming Free Megawad For Doom by John Romero

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Doom, designer John Romero is releasing SIGIL a free Doom megawad that continues the original Doom campaign. Can't use enough words to say how badass this is and how simple the concept is. John Romero is releasing a free Doom wad you can play for free but also, if you want, get a Limited Run pressing of it for a $40 box and $166 Beast box.

The box copy comes with a 2 CD jewel case with the Megawad plus original music by Metal God Buckethead. For original Doom fans the Megawad seems like a must play and for avid PC game collectors this Limited Run pressing seems just as important. Please believe I'll be playing the Megawad on launch... Read All

Blizzard Halts Heroes of the Storm E-Sports And Cuts Team To Focus on Other Projects

"Over the past several years, the work of evaluating our development processes and making hard decisions has led to new games and other products that we’re proud of. We now have more live games and unannounced projects than at any point in the company’s history. We’re also at a point where we need to take some of our talented developers and bring their skills to other projects. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to shift some developers from Heroes of the Storm to other teams, and we’re excited to see the passion, knowledge, and experience that they’ll bring to those projects. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to make tough choices like this. Games like... Read All "Over the past several years, the work of evaluating our development processes and making hard decisions has led to new games and other products that we’re proud of. We now have more live games and unannounced projects than at any point in the company’s history. We’re also at a point where we need to take some of our talented developers and bring their skills to other projects. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to shift some developers from Heroes of the Storm to other teams, and we’re excited to see the passion, knowledge, and experience that they’ll bring to those projects. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to make tough choices like this. Games like Diablo II, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Overwatch, and more would not exist had we not made similar decisions in the past.

Despite the change, Heroes of the Storm remains our love letter to Blizzard’s worlds and characters. We’ll continue actively supporting the game with new heroes, themed events, and other content that our community loves, though the cadence will change. Ultimately, we’re setting up the game for long-term sustainability. We’re so grateful for the support the community has shown from the beginning, and the development team will continue to support Heroes with the same passion, dedication, and creativity that has made the game such a unique experience.

We’ve also evaluated our plans around Heroes esports—after looking at all of our priorities and options in light of the change with the game, the Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm will not return in 2019. This was another very difficult decision for us to make. The love that the community has for these programs is deeply felt by everyone who works on them, but we ultimately feel this is the right decision versus moving forward in a way that would not meet the standards that players and fans have come to expect."

Heroes of the Storm is a very cool MOBA (Multiplayer online battle arena) set in the Blizzard-verse where characters from Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft and the Nexus get together and duke it out. Heroes of the Storm is different in that it's a bit more accessible, exp is earned as a team and has a huge assortment of different maps and objectives(most MOBA games feature just one map). That said, it's struggled to find a massive audience even though it's totally free to play and has the backing of Blizzard in the wake of titans such as League of Legends and DoTA 2 and it looks like that struggle has cause Blizzard to halt it being a top tier game in it's crown after 3 years.

The good news is that Blizzard supports games for a long time after they've been released so the servers should remain online nearly indefinitely. The sad part is streamers, pros and the community will falter a bit and eventually lessen to a dedicated few. Still, Heroes of the Storm is a great free game to get in and play with friends and if you are looking to give the whole MOBA craze a shot I can't think of a better game to start with.

https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/22833558/heroes-of-the-storm-news

Unforeseen Consequences: A Half-Life Documentary

The latest documentary from Noclip is out and it's all about the history of Half-Life. Noclip wasn't able to talk to anyone from Valve about the game but managed to create an incredible documentary from interviews with Geoff Keighley, Scott Smith, Randy Pitchford and a lot more. One thing I learned while watching this is that Gearbox got It's feet wet as a game developer making a ton of Half-Life expansions and then jumped into their own IP to create the Borderlands franchise. The doc covers Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike and other Half-Life mods and maps as well as Episode 3 and Mac Laidlaw's Epistle 3 as well as fans trying to finish up the Half-Life story... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 43: Castlevania NES Review

We're in a Castlevania mood this month! If you liked our recent review of Castlevania on Netflix, then listen to us talk about the game that started it all, way back in 1986, and started one of the most-loved game series of all time!

The Desktop Games Pack - New Cheerful Ghost BBS Games!

Good morning Ghosts! Today is fairly special as we are launching the Cheerful Ghost BBS 1.4 Update: The Desktop Games Pack! This themed game pack is focused on the old school Desktop Games Packs of yore and specifically harkens to the Microsoft Entertainment Packs of the 90's. These three open source games are pretty special and very addictive so brace yourselves!

2048

Designed by Italian web developer Gabriele Cirulli. The game's objective is to slide numbered tiles on a grid to combine them to create a tile with the number 2048. However, one can continue to play the game after reaching the goal, creating tiles with larger numbers.

2048 has been described as very... Read All

Counter-Strike Global Offensive is Now Free With The New Danger Zone Update!

Counter-Strike Global Offensive just went free to play with the addition of it's all new Danger Zone Battle Royale mode. So Counter-Strike is going... Fortnite? Well, sort of, Danger Zone is a mode where you jump in to an area and fight it out with everyone else or in a squad but it's at a much smaller scale with each match having a max of 18 players. But much like Fortnite or PUBG, Danger Zone has you collect weapons and items to shoot it out with other players until the last gamer is standing.

As the update went live I downloaded CS GO to give it a shot and found the whole game download process and install to be fairly quick as the game is only about 17 gigs. After... Read All Counter-Strike Global Offensive just went free to play with the addition of it's all new Danger Zone Battle Royale mode. So Counter-Strike is going... Fortnite? Well, sort of, Danger Zone is a mode where you jump in to an area and fight it out with everyone else or in a squad but it's at a much smaller scale with each match having a max of 18 players. But much like Fortnite or PUBG, Danger Zone has you collect weapons and items to shoot it out with other players until the last gamer is standing.

As the update went live I downloaded CS GO to give it a shot and found the whole game download process and install to be fairly quick as the game is only about 17 gigs. After the game started it perfectly set itself up and I was in and playing an old school CS Dust 2 round with bots in no time. After playing the classic Counter-Strike I cut my teeth on in the early 2000's I decided to give Danger Zone a shot. Took me a handful of minutes to get into a match and after a few minutes of waiting around in a map for everyone to start, the game began. I collected a few items, some cash and had a drone deliver me an item I purchased. After picking up a few more items I had a tussle with another player and was killed handily by them. I wasn't the first person to die, but 12th.

After a couple more matches I'm happy Danger Zone is a new mode but more happy that Counter-Strike Global Offensive is now free. I'm kind of kicking myself for buying it a few years ago as I haven't really played much of it and for my usecase it makes more sense as a free to play game. That said, it's cool now that the base Counter-Strike game is free to play for anyone and it makes sense too as CS GO has had the micro-transactional lootbox to get weapon skins thing going for it for a long time. Plus it will be awesome to be able to play it with any of my friends regardless of if they own it.

"Introducing Danger Zone — a fast-paced battle royale game mode built on CS:GO’s tactical gameplay where players use their wits, skill, and resources to fight to the finish. Play solo, or work together as a squad of two or three!

CS:GO is now FREE TO PLAY

So there’s never been a better time to bring in your friends.

All players who played CS:GO before today’s update will receive a commemorative Loyalty Badge they can display on their profile. You were there from the beginning, so show it off! Additionally, all existing CS:GO players have had their accounts upgraded to Prime Status.

As before, Prime Status matches you with other Prime Status players. Additionally, your Prime Status will give you access to the new Souvenir MP5-SD | Lab Rats (available by earning XP while playing Danger Zone matches) and the all new Danger Zone Case."

https://steamcommunity.com/games/CSGO/announcements/detail/1709576801693341616

Obsidian's New Game, The Outer Worlds, looks like a Funny Fallout in Space

The folks at Obsidian, the original creators of Fallout and the developers of Fallout: New Vegas (which they're keen to point out in the trailer, for good reason) have a new game coming next year that looks like everything good about Fallout, but in space!

PC Gamer has a good breakdown of what they know. They say it looks like Fallout meets Bioshock meets Firefly and that's a pretty apt comparison.

The big thing for me is the focus on player choice, which I feel Obsidian does very well.

In addition to the trailer, Game Informer has a brief gameplay video that shows the game and makes me want to play it even more. It feels like a modern take on more classic First-Person... Read All

Avengers: Endgame Teaser Trailer!

The most important information from this trailer is seeing that the movie release date has been moved from May to April!

**The comments are going to be full of speculation (at least by me lol). I don't know what will be spoilers or not***

I'm a little underwhelmed by the title, but that's only because of all the endless speculation on what it might be.

Watch the trailer and let's discuss theories in the comments!

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/07/2018 at 03:29pm

Doctor Strange was right, we’re in the endgame now!

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 12/07/2018 at 03:41pm

I'm guessing Captain America's plan isn't going to work (possibly time jumping through the Quantum Realm with Ant-Man?). "Because I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't" probably will lead to a sacrifice that he has to make to save everyone else.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 12/07/2018 at 04:01pm

Also, when Tony is making his recording for Pepper, he says the word "rescue," which there's speculation could be Pepper's hero name with her own suit :)

Travis Admin wrote on 12/07/2018 at 04:03pm

This does make me wonder how Scott got out. I was kinda assuming someone from the Avengers would get him out but they seem to be surprised that he’s alive.

Someone posted a comic that all Scott would need to do is get small, fly into Thanos’s butt, and get big again and we’d be done. So... I doubt they’re going that direction.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 12/07/2018 at 04:12pm

Lol!

Obviously Scott taps his heels together and says "There's no place like home."

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/07/2018 at 04:26pm

The THANOSRECTUMANUVER needs to be a thing. Travis, why are you not a Hollywood writer?

Also, someone said at the end of Ant Man there are two dust clouds and that The Wasp wasn't directly shown to be dusted therefore she might not be? Could be a fun surprise that she is in Endgame.

Also makes sense they are gonna push back this movie, it's huge and they had a year to finish it.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/07/2018 at 08:39pm

Ah that's an interesting detail if Wasp is still out there. But then I bet Scott was pissed that she just left him in the quantum realm!

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/07/2018 at 09:51pm

She might not have.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/07/2018 at 11:37pm

I guess tone doesn't do well over text, or I'm bad at telling jokes. The way they left it seemed like he was totally stranded, and I was riffing on that, poorly apparently.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 12/08/2018 at 12:31am

Lol Travis :)
But I just watched to post credit scene again and there's clearly 3 dust clouds.

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/08/2018 at 03:13pm

I need to stop listening to people. I remember someone saying there were two and I believed them w/o checking. Sorry guys.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/08/2018 at 04:13pm

Hawkeye is going to kick some ass!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/08/2018 at 04:24pm

Captain Marvel coming out in March and this in April seems too close together. They should have spaced them out better.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 12/09/2018 at 12:47am

I love that they'll be practically back to back. The next Spiderman movie is coming out soon after too. GIVE ME ALL THE MARVELS

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 12/13/2018 at 01:56am

Another wild speculation:
Cassie (Ant-Man's daughter) isn't dusted, and somehow she finds the van and is able to pull him out of the Quantum realm. He and Cassie then drive cross-country to Avengers HQ, but no one is there. They do find Shuri and Hawkeye and form the Secret Avengers. Then there's a time jump, a new bad guy shows up to earth and Captain America and Scarlet Witch try to fight him "This will work because I don't know what else we'd do," lose, then find out that Ant-Man is still alive from the archive footage, then track him down, finding Hawkeye/Ronin and the rest of the Secret Avengers.

I'm not sure how Stark fits into this though.

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/13/2018 at 04:28am

> They do find Shuri

I think she was dusted as she shows up in the trailer as someone they lost. But that might be a red-herring?

> I'm not sure how Stark fits into this though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz-SaMu8k3w

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/13/2018 at 03:12pm

Stark just floats in space all movie and is emo.

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/13/2018 at 04:43pm

*First five minutes fade from black*

Stark: “Hey pepper floating in space oxygen and food gone. All I think about is you. Rescue.”

5 minutes later he asphyxiates and as the lights go out an oxygen mask drops from the ceiling.

*Smash cut to opening crawl*

ENDGAME

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 12/13/2018 at 08:30pm

LOL to both of you :)

I believe the Russo brothers (or someone else close to the movie) confirmed that Shuri survived the snap, but we now know that they lie about upcoming movies occasionally, so who knows lol. In the trailer it looks like Scott Lang, Peter and Shuri are listed as "missing." I think they're all unaccounted for and probably assumed dusted, but not confirmed.

Between her missing and claims that she's still alive, that's where I'm guessing she has gone underground with other former Avengers.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/14/2018 at 10:59pm

Did Howard The Duck make the cut, or is he dust? Maybe he shows up in this one.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 12/15/2018 at 01:03am

Oh man, I hope he's there!!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/15/2018 at 02:38am

Howard is the linchpin.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/15/2018 at 03:15am

Howard is Thanos.

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Rage 2 Will Scorch The Wasteland May 14th 2019!

I don't have time to play each new release in gaming, but in some rare cases I'll make the time and Rage 2 is one of those games I'm gonna make time for. The open world trailer dropped tonight during The Game Awards and I was happy enough to watch it and then nab the link on YouTube to share with you here. The game looks even better than what they previously showed and the artistry shown in how the trailer is cut is superb. My only question is how much like the real game is this? If they can deliver on most of what we see here this game is going to be bloody great.

Oh and the Russo Brothers just came out at The Game Awards making a finger snap joke and delivered the... Read All