Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Batman: The Arkham Series

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.

Review

Recommended

Open-world

Simple combos (attacks) including use of gadgets

Familiar characters

Slight RPG elements

Auto-saves, never lose much progress

Different levels of difficulty and plenty of challenges

I haven’t had very many reasons to get a PS4, but I’m really loving the fact that some of the games I wanted to play have come to Steam. Batman: Arkham Knight is one of those games. I had played the Arkham series before on the PS3 and really enjoyed them. Arkham Knight was very similar, yet very different. This was the first time you could actually drive the Batmobile around. It was an exciting addition that made the game feel a little more like GTA. The... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:32am

I have Arkham Asylum and the next game in my Steam library and I haven't played much more than the original demo on the PS3, which I enjoyed. This is partly why I've limited myself to 5 game purchases this year because I have so many amazing games in my backlog yet to play.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:37am

The Arkham games are all great. Origins is definitely the weak link, but it was also outsourced and doesn't have the same voice actors. It's still fun though.

I felt like Arkham Knight really put too much focus on Batmobile combat and the Riddler trophies were just .... there were way too many to be fun to collect them. But still, it's probably my number two behind Arkham City.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:37am

LOL Well you can't go wrong w/ the Arkham series! I think I mentioned in my post that Arkham Asylum is "ok" in my opinion, but the series gets better, especially w/ Arkham City and Arkham Knight.

I understand, I have games that I either haven't played or haven't played much because I don't want to. I want something specific, I think, something deeply engaging, something to capture my heart, like Ark, Minecraft, and Terraria have done. Being a full-time gamer, it really sucks when you have no idea what to play.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:41am

Travis, I agree with you about Origins. I did play it thrice, I think. I'm just not a fan of Christmas and this one was based on Christmas Eve. I liked being able to fast travel. I really loved Arkham Knight though, I don't quite agree w/ you there. I don't recall the trophies very much at the moment. I think I already wrote a review here for Arkham Knight, but I recently played the other three again, so I thought I'd write a review for the series. I also wanted to leave positive reviews for them on Steam, since I recently bought them (for a second time) on Steam (first time was on PS3).

Oh and I do recommend using a controller, though I don't know how they play w/ KB/M, I just felt that the controller was just right.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 03:01am

You seemed to agree with me before! :)

https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/3548/arkham-knight

Travis Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 03:02am

Again I adore the game, those two things I mention are minor.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/31/2018 at 03:19am

Ah, so I did. I just don't remember them very well because I haven't played it since I wrote that. In general (across all games in the series) the Riddler "trophies" were sometimes fun, cool, and sometimes frustrating. Arkham Asylum was cool, because it contained maps that just brought up that "?" on the map, but didn't tell you exactly how to find it. Arkham City did a really good job w/ them (I think). I wasn't so impressed w/ the one for Arkham Origins. Yeah I like the series and have very few complaints about it.

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Do You Need To Run PC Games At Max Settings?

Some PC Gamers spent a lot of money on super powerful PC's. Upgrading a PC like a tricked out roadster is a pretty cool hobby and one reason why you'd want to do this is to be able to run PC game settings at high settings to get as much visual and gameplay fidelity out of them as you can. But do you really need to run games at max settings and if you did would they actually look better? In many cases the answer is yes but not every setting works that way and DigitalFoundry made a video explaining why.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/28/2018 at 12:14am

There are some settings where I legitimately can’t see any difference by turning them on and off, but I can get big performance boosts by turning them off.

I heavily customize video settings to get the best visuals while maintaining performance, but I don’t really bother upgrading parts until I can’t play a game I want. I can play on low-mid settings and be just fine. They still usually look better than games from 5 years ago.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/28/2018 at 01:44am

As a lifelong budget gamer, I've never really been able to afford a top of the line PC to run the highest settings on anything new. :P
I've learned to live with playing new games at medium settings and enjoying when I can bump older games up to higher settings.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/28/2018 at 02:13am

Oh hell yeah, of course! I've your not playing at 10k, what's the point? Everything looks ugly w/ less than that! Gotta have max resolution and 1 million frames per second! Hahaha I was being silly. I like to run on max settings, so long as my PC can handle it. I don't do 4k and high FPS, because my monitor is not capable. I like to see what GeForce Experience recommends and if I decide to, I'll adjust settings to fit my desire.

I started having to play Ark with low settings, because it couldn't do SLI (a key feature of my original GPU). But, I decided to upgrade and now I can run most things on high settings.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/28/2018 at 09:41pm

High settings when I can, but graphics have gotten so good, that I think even lower settings look good too. IMHO we are to the point that you don't really need to upgrade every 2 years. But, maybe I am old. :)

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/29/2018 at 05:15am

My PC is almost 5 years old @Will_Ball. I have, however, replaced the GPU. I was able to customize my order and selected a GTX 690, so that's what it came with. Unfortunately, since the GPU is 2 GPUs in one, at least one of my favorite games wasn't able to take advantage of it fully, so I replaced it with a GTX 980Ti (Classified Edition aka overclocked). So, obviously I haven't followed the every two year cycle that you mention. I believe I picked really good hardware and that's why it's lasted so long (along w/ the GPU change). The only thing I'd want to change about it now is adding an SSD hard drive instead of this standard old school hard drive (what do they call them?).

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/29/2018 at 08:48pm

I have a good gaming laptop with a pretty solid card somewhat like Greg has. For the PC games I play it works well and depending on the game I can run at reasonable setttings. If I were wanting to run everything at 120 FPS at 4K I’d be running a much beefier PC but the portability of the laptop is really nice.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/29/2018 at 08:49pm

Right now the most visually intense game I’ve been playing in my PC is Hearthstone and Binding if Issac so I’m able to max those out well

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/29/2018 at 09:10pm

Yeah, as for me I'm perfectly ok with 59-60FPS. I'd have to upgrade my monitor if I want to go higher. I haven't seen the necessity to do that though.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/29/2018 at 09:17pm

My monitor caps at 60FPS too which has been fine for me so far. When I get another one I’ll see if it can do 120hz

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/29/2018 at 09:23pm

59fps?! How can you handle not getting a perfect 60 Greg? :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/29/2018 at 09:41pm

Recently i've been looking at high def curved displays for computing and some of those look really great. Some have the same deal mine has which is a 60 FPS cap, which isn't a huge deal but I would like to go to 120hz if it's possible. I have a pretty large Dell Ultrasharp which I consider one of the best tech investments I've ever made. I bought it well before the 4k craze and it sits at 2560x1600.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/29/2018 at 09:58pm

LOL @Will_Ball I hardly notice unless my frames get really low. I do also have screen tearing at times, so I pretty much always use Vsync.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/29/2018 at 10:15pm

I love Adaptive V-Sync. It turns on V-sync at higher fps and turns it off below that, so you don't tank at low framerates.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/01/2018 at 05:09am

Check this out! Apparently Ark is the new Crysis! You kind of can't run Ark on maximum settings even with the best hardware. https://www.pcgamer.com/ark-survival-evolved-is-the-new-crysis-of-pc-hardware/
Watch the benchmarks in action! https://youtu.be/fNbvWbFfeNw

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Unreal 20 Years Later: An LGR Retrospective

Recently Unreal passed it's 20 year birthday and GOG was giving it away for free. During that giveaway I shared a behind the scenes making of Unreal video that focused on the original single player game and what later became Unreal Tournament. LGR made an Unreal 20 Year Retrospective video that goes much more into detail about the Unreal base game alongside some of it's great and not so great parts. It also talks about the Unreal multiplayer and expansions you can get as part of Unreal Gold edition.

Unreal Gold Is Free On GOG

The Unreal franchise is legendary. Unreal Tournament GoTY, Unreal Tournament 2004 & UT3 are all best of breed deathmatch shooters. But Unreal didn't start with the Tournament games it started with Epic creating the base Unreal game in 1998. GOG is giving away Unreal for the next bit so head over now and pick it up if you haven't before. I've included a history of Unreal video above which showcases much of the franchise story including how Unreal came by it's multiplayer Tournament mode.

"Believe dat.

It's been 20 years since we crash-landed on a planet full of ugly aliens, snazzy guns, and conveniently places power-ups. Today we're going back for a nostalgic trip... Read All

Will Nintendo Create A GameCube Classic?

After Nintendo created the amazingly popular Nintendo and Super Nintendo Classic I've wondered if a Nintendo 64 Classic would come this year? Some people have speculated that Nintendo might also bring a GameCube Classic to market and a YouTuber Nintendrew looked into how practical that was. Spoiler alert he actually builds one but it's not cheap, a reason why Nintendo might not be building one anytime soon. That said, computing prices drop fast enough a GameCube classic might come in the next handful of years and if it did, I'd buy one at launch.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/22/2018 at 05:47am

Wow that would be cool. What's interesting to me is that for us in North America, the GameCube is almost 17 years old! Yet I feel like I still see it as kind of "new." Whereas I feel like the N64 is older and much more doable as a mini. I would like to see a miniN64 and a miniNGC though. I really enjoyed my GameCube, I still have it.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/22/2018 at 04:47pm

Based on this video I'd say it's possible. Nintendo could more easily minify their own architecture, but they'd need really high demand for it to make it a good business decision. I'm still betting we see an N64 Classic, and that will be the last one for a while.

What I'd love is a GBA Classic loaded with GB, GBC, and GBA games. A DS Classic runs into hardware limitations probably.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/23/2018 at 05:11pm

The 64 Classic is coming this year. My guess is it will be announced in June or July.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailystar.co.uk/tech/gaming/704683/Nintendo-64-Classic-CONFIRMED-Nintendo-trademark-suggests-N64-Mini-console-coming-soon/amp

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/23/2018 at 05:59pm

Cool!

Travis Admin wrote on 05/23/2018 at 06:54pm

That isn’t real confirmation but it’s about as close as you can get without an announcement. Awesome!

I’m looking forward to this one because my N64 is a little broken. I kinda hope they do multiple colors like they did with the originals.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/24/2018 at 03:43am

I'm curious if they will do 4 player? They don't have to include 4 controllers but it would be neat if they did. My only game recommendation is they included Dr Mario 64, I think they'll get everything else right.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/24/2018 at 03:55am

I never played Dr Mario 64, I played the Gameboy version. That's something I'd like to see on that list and I think it seems like a good one for them to include, in other words, I think they would include it. I also think Mario 64 would have to be included, that's a classic N64 game. I doubt Smash Bros. will be on it, but that was one of my favorites. I also liked Goldeneye, but I don't expect to see that on there as it's not directly Nintendo.

This leads to a great discussion. Maybe we can come up with our own ideas about what may be included or what we'd like to see included.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/24/2018 at 01:24pm

I bet they’d put Smash on it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/24/2018 at 01:36pm

I think Smash would be a great addition.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/24/2018 at 01:39pm

Ideas:

Mario 64
Ocarina
Majoras Mask
Mario Kart
Smash
Dr Mario 64
Excite bike
Gauntlet
Earthbound 64 (because they go back and finish it, which they won’t but one can dream)
Star Fox 64
Donkey Kong 64

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/24/2018 at 05:42pm

Shit yeah I forgot about the Zelda games and Mario Kart. Star Fox 64 would be great, I've seen it, but never played it. Great list Jon! Hopefully Smash would be in there. Are N64 games small enough to fit on something? Well, I do know that the Zelda games are small enough to fit on a Gamecube disc (because I have that disc).

Travis Admin wrote on 05/24/2018 at 06:30pm

N64 games are very small by today’s storage standards. 32-64mb. So you could fit ten large N64 games on a standard cd rom. They’d have plenty of room to put 30 games on a 2gb sd card.

I would like to see GoldenEye and Perfect Dark on there but I highly doubt they’d get on there due to licensing since Microsoft owns Rare now, so the only Rare games would be properties owned by Nintendo like Donkey Kong 64

Travis Admin wrote on 05/24/2018 at 06:31pm

Oh and you know that Wave Race game is going to be on it.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/24/2018 at 10:55pm

Cool, thanks Travis. I'd like to try Perfect Dark. I'm not sure, but I may have played or seen Wave Race.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/26/2018 at 03:37am

Oh! And I want Pokemon Stadium (1 & 2?) on there. Ogre Battle 64 would be a good addition, too, I've read or heard that it's a good game (similar to Final Fantasy Tactics).

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 24: The Killing Snoke

When will Cheerful Ghost Radio finally jump the shark by talking about Star War way too many times? In this episode we’re going to circle back and talk a bit more about Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. The Last Jedi was recently released on digital and Blu-ray and we wanted to revisit the discussion and talk the special features. The Last Jedi has received some mixed reviews by fans and this extra review isn’t really an attempt to change anyone’s thoughts on the movie, we are just big Star Wars fans and wanted to talk a bit more about the film.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/22/2018 at 12:58am

My list has changed since we did this. A New Hope has jumped up a spot, and I’d now put Return of the Jedi as tied with the one I originally had above it.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/22/2018 at 01:02am

Mine is the same. So drop your full list here then I’m having a hard time remembering it all. I know Empire was first and Clones was last

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/22/2018 at 03:33am

What I have determined is that I can't come up with a list. I was about to post it as you asked, but then I started thinking about it again. I then complicated matters by asking my wife her list and we made hers, while talking about the merits of them all, and I may have changed my list again. I have at least moved RotJ back to its original place.

There's legitimately no Star Wars movie I don't like. Attack of the Clones definitely tests that. There are so many great things in each of the prequels, they just get bogged down by the bad stuff. Obi-Wan and Palpatine are always a delight, especially Palps. His machinations to take power are the most interesting bits of at least the first two.

And I also have problems with literally all of them. There are some groan-worthy moments in all of them. Tosche station, ewoks, gungans, "I'm holding for general Hugs." But people take them too seriously. I'm guilty of that too.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/22/2018 at 03:34am

Anyway, my list. I had to break this into three comments because I got long in the tooth here.

Empire Strikes Back: Sooo good. It's just nearly the perfect Star Wars film for me. The groan-worthy moments are few and far between, the weight of every decision is palpable, and we first meed Yoda and learn about the mystical parts of the force.

A New Hope + The Last Jedi: I initially had The Last Jedi above A New Hope, but I tie them now. I wouldn't have A New Hope nearly this high if it weren't for the emotional attachment and its impact and importance, if I'm being honest, because it's a bit rough in places, but so perfectly edited and the last half is just pure joy. The Last Jedi is up here because, while there are issues, some big ones even, the major choices made worked so well for me. I understand why those choices didn't work for some people but they really do for me.

Rogue One: A major part of why I like this one so much is its effect on the original trilogy. Vader never seemed as threatening as he does in this, and it gives the rebellion more personality. We see some darkness in the rebels that we've never seen otherwise. Jyn's journey is so compelling. I may actually put this higher in the list but I CAN'T KEEP CHANGING IT. Come on Travis, keep it together.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/22/2018 at 03:35am

This should start with 4, but since I had to break it into another comment I can't do that.

The Force Awakens: JJ brought the franchise back in a major way. It was a delight to be back in the universe again, and the plot was compelling, the new characters had depth, and it ended with me wanting more. It's been knocked down a peg or two over the last couple of years but I still really like it.

Revenge of the Sith: I know what you're thinking. I haven't gotten Return of the Jedi in yet and I'm talking about the prequels? Yeah I am. I really like this movie. The opening scene showed that the tone of the OT had returned. The humor worked very well. Anakin's internal conflict was painful to watch (for the right reasons) and his emotional performance from when he decides to join Sheev to the end of the movie is some of my favorite Star Wars content ever. Obi-Wan's "You were my brother" speech at the end still gives me a lump in my throat. Honestly if not for the cheesy UNLIMITED POOOWWWAAAAAHHH scene I might bump this one up a notch.

Return of the Jedi: I feel like I have to say this since I put a prequel above it: I don't dislike this movie, not at all. It's very good. But it felt like a bit of a letdown after Empire and the scenes on the moon of Endor haven't aged well with me. There was a time when I would have put this in the number two spot but I dunno. I still watch it regularly and will continue to do so. The scenes with Luke's family reunion in the Death Star still give me chills.

The Phantom Menace: I.... kinda.... like this. Kinda. There's a lot of good stuff in there but so much Jar Jar and "Yipeee!" and "That's a good trick!" If you watch the De-Cheesed version of this on Youtube it's so much better and ... well, less cheesy.

Attack of the Clones: I love Obi-Wan's search for the missing planet, the fight with Jango, the battle of Genonosis... there's stuff to love here. But the borderline-or-maybe-not-even-borderline abusive relationship and the suuuuuper cringy dialogue in some places weigh it all the way down.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/22/2018 at 03:55am

Katie didn't grow up with these movies so she didn't have any emotional attachment to them. She'd seen them all but The Force Awakens made her go back and reevaluate them so she has a more recent view of them all.

Empire Strikes Back + The Last Jedi: Apparently Katie likes the middle of trilogies. Except Clones. She prefers these because they have the weightiest choices that put characters into tough spots with real consequences. Plus they both go into the mystical nature of the force and explain a lot about that.

Rogue One: This one is just a badass movie but it also has a lot of those tough choices mentioned above. And in this one you really see the consequences of those choices. They all freakin' die! And the Vader scene, right?

Revenge of the Sith: Basically read my rundown above but she likes it more than me!

The Force Awakens: From here down it's basically "which one do I have the most fun watching?" And this one got her way into Star Wars (maybe more than me... yeah definitely more than me) so this one has the nostalgic connection for her.

A New Hope: Would be higher if not for the whiny protagonist. It makes sense and it was an intentional choice but before getting off Tattooine she struggles a bit with this one.

Return of the Jedi: It's good but it's a little too "Yay, happy ending!" and feels too simplistic after Empire, and she says she may strain her disbelief watching teddy bears defeat the Empire.

The Phantom Menace: The thirty minutes that aren't painful are really, really good. The Darth Maul fight is amazing, with great music, and tells you a lot about the characters.

Attack of the Clones: This one feels like it's more about the relationship between Padme and Anakin than anything else, and it has the most abusive relationship in any movie that isn't explicitly about abusive relationships. It also makes her very sad for Natalie Portman.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/22/2018 at 03:01pm

I asked a friend about this who grew up during the prequel era. He was in third grade when Revenge of the Sith came out and he makes me feel like an old man. Here's his list.

Empire Strikes Back
Rogue One
A New Hope
Return of the Jedi
Force Awakens
Revenge of the Sith
The Last Jedi
Attack of the Clones
The Phantom Menace

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/23/2018 at 05:10pm

This is great, thanks for sharing.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/25/2018 at 12:27am

I've been trying to figure out my list, but it's really difficult! I didn't watch the originals as a child, so I don't have the same nostalgia for them, but they're still the originals...

I think my list is this:

Force Awakens
Empire Strikes Back
A New Hope
The Last Jedi
Return of the Jedi
Rogue One
Revenge of the Sith
Attack of the Clones
The Phantom Menace

(I'm really not sure on my ordering of the last 4 though. Rogue One is just as bad as the prequels to me, but at least in a different way)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2018 at 01:16am

Adam, same here, I didn't watch them as a kid either really. I saw them on USA or TBS or whatever but got bored, mostly because I'd never start at the beginning.

I got way into them during the re-release in the 90s. I was 15 I guess when A New Hope released. It was fine. When Empire re-released I was in. Went and bought a Yoda poster, couldn't wait for Jedi. I watched all the prequels on opening night and thought they were all fine on first watch but they kinda fell apart.

The Force Awakens made me remember being 15 and how I fell in love with them and got me back into it, and more than ever.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/25/2018 at 06:03am

The Force Awakens is a great movie and was a fun theater experience. So much love for that movie and watching it in the theater opening night was magic. To compare, watching Solo on opening night wasn't as electric and there weren't as many people. It was fun though, but I wonder if the "Star Wars juice" or whatever is fading somewhat?

More on out Solo thoughts in the upcoming Radio episode should be out next Monday!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/25/2018 at 02:02pm

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Solo!

But I don't think the Star Wars juice is fading. I am already hyped to see Episode 9, and I'm sure that will be a big event. Sure, there'll be the people who loudly complain about it online, but I'm guessing the majority of people will have mostly good feelings about this current trilogy (even with its flaws).

The juice that does seem to be waning, in me at least, is the reference/rehash juice. We ultimately knew the end of Rogue One. We know that Han, Cherie and Lando all survive Solo (and that Lando's droid and Daenerys probably die, since they're not part of the original trilogy, or ever mentioned by Han or Lando. But I've not seen any spoilers, so I'm not spoilering anything here lol) we even knew ultimately how the prequels were going to end (we just hoped for a better ride). The new trilogy is something new. I've been surprised at where it's gone so far and I look forward to being surprised in future movies in the Star Wars Universe :)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2018 at 03:37pm

We definitely know where their stories eventually go but there’s always more context to provide. We basically knew how Rogue One would end but that film informed a few details about A New Hope that really elevated it for me. I’m hoping for the same thing with Solo, or if not that, then a fun romp with some of our favorite characters.

I kinda like the balance of having new stuff alternating with these anthology films that fill in context. We know that Rian Johnson has a trilogy coming and D&D from Game of Thrones have a series (never confirmed as a trilogy or anything so we don’t know how long it will be), and that both of these will be unexplored parts of the universe. As long as the fan service keeps getting balanced with new stuff I’m happy with it.

Honestly I have been thinking that Solo wouldn’t do as well as the others ever since the final release date was announced. Not only is it only a few months since the last Star Wars, people have just seen Infinity War and Deadpool 2. It’s a busy time for big, nerdy action. I kinda wish they had just pushed the standard release date to December. Even spacing and no summer blockbusters to compete against.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/25/2018 at 04:45pm

Good points. We've talked about anthology vs new films and we just disagree lol. But, I hope Solo is fun :)

(And I highly recommend both Infinity War and Deadpool 2!)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2018 at 05:02pm

Yes, I also highly recommend those. We’ve already talked about Infinity War on CG Radio, but keep an ear out for our Deadpool 2 episode soon!

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Site Feature Update: Tech upgrades, some new design

Hi folks,

We have upgraded some of the frameworks we use on the site -- Bootstrap has a new major version that's been stable for a few months, and that required an upgrade to jQuery as well. As we plan out future changes to the site, these new tools make things easier for us and better for you.

Some of the tools from Bootstrap 3.x we were using are gone in 4, so we had to re-work things a bit. Fortunately, the tools that replace it in Bootstrap 4 are better, and it gave us an opportunity to improve those things with some redesigns.

For now, we just tried to make things look like the site pre-upgrade for the most part, but in situations where that wasn't possible we put... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/19/2018 at 05:28pm

Travis did the majority of the work here, so toss all the good will to him.

One problem I've noticed for a while now was that when you were on the game list each entry looked pretty bland and samey. Each game is different and some games have a pretty rich legacy and I wanted to differentiate them when you are look at the games list. So an idea I had was to put an icon next to each game depending on what console it primarily came out on. And in the case where we have an icon for the game, display that as some do. I like the way it turned out and Travis and I iterated on the algorithm to select the right icon based on the game for a bit and like what we came up with.

https://cheerfulghost.com/games/most_popular

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/19/2018 at 05:37pm

Thanks Jon!

And the games list changes Jon mentions carry over to viewing other people's games and your own game list.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/19/2018 at 06:23pm

Cool! Some things do look better, nice work! I like Jon's link to most popular games. It's actually kind of surprising to find out that some games have more posts than others, like Terraria isn't higher up on the list.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/20/2018 at 02:08am

Shut up and take my money! $$$

Thanks for managing the site Travis and Jon! It is an awesome site.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/20/2018 at 02:51am

Thanks guys!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/20/2018 at 02:57am

I'm pretty impressed, really. You know how frustrated I got with advanced programming. I can do simple HTML, but I'm clueless when it comes to more advanced web design. Good job!

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/20/2018 at 03:29am

Yeah. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been way better since I somehow convinced Travis to help.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/22/2018 at 12:14am

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Take A Look At The Grandfather To The Switch, The Sega Nomad!

I didn't know that Sega released the Nomad which was a full blown Genesis that you could play on the go or connected to a TV. It's a great idea and something that people love about the Switch but Nintendo wasn't the first to do it. DF Retro talks about what worked about the Nomad and other consoles that tried to do that before the Switch became so popular.

"Nintendo Switch is rightly lauded for its hybrid console concept - the idea of having a fully mobile console you can also use for living room play, with full multiplayer support. But whether through design or through sheer luck, Sega actually got there first with its Nomad, way back in 1995. John picks up the story.... Read All

Nintendo's New Switch Online Service Is A Step Closer to A Nintendo Netflix Subscription

Today Nintendo dropped the details of it's Switch online service and it looks quite interesting. I don't love that consoles charge you money for online play as that's typically included in the price of PC games. That said, the way Nintendo is rolling it out isn't too shabby because the first year of service will just be $20. But what do you get for that first year?

Online Play

20 NES games with added online play

Save data cloud backup

Nintendo switch online app & special offers

I haven't heard great things about the online app & special offers just sound like discounts on things we'd already get. The interesting part is the 20 NES games with added online play... Read All

Rage 2 Gameplay Looks Kill-tastic!

If there was any question if Rage 2 looked good that’s been answered in the gameplay featured in this new Rage 2 trailer. They are boasting a fully open world, something the original Rage lacked(it was more of a hub world system) as well as the ability to drive any vehicle you see. Visually this does look like the best kind of follow up to Rage and doesn’t look to entirely wipe the original game away as Rage 2 picks up 50 years after the events of the first game.

One part of the original Rage I enjoyed was the multiplayer co-op system. I played a lot of split screen co-op on the PS3 and then on PC online with Travis. Hopefully Rage 2 brings this back because it was a... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 05/15/2018 at 05:23pm

I agree with you about the Co-op Jon. It was unique. Whereas with Borderlands you’re playing basically the same game but with more people, the dynamic in Rage’s co-op changed the feel of the game dramatically.

The fully open world could be nice if done well. I just hope it doesn’t lose what made the first game unique, although many people would argue that major changes needed to happen to the core of the game.

But Rage 2’s gameplay looks insanely chaotic which is something id has been doing well for a while now. I have really high hop a for this.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/15/2018 at 05:45pm

I’m comforted to know that this isn’t just shopped out, id is developing it WITH them. It’s possible that the scale was something they hadn’t dealt with before and who better to get than the team who did Just Cause 3?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/16/2018 at 01:23am

> I agree with you about the Co-op Jon. It was unique. Whereas with Borderlands you’re playing basically the same game but with more people, the dynamic in Rage’s co-op changed the feel of the game dramatically.

Yup. I also liked that the Multiplayer was car based.

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