Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

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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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 23: Punch Out!!

Next month's Cheerful Ghost Games Club event is live! Come play Kid Icarus with us!
https://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/events/153/cheerful-ghost-games-club-kid-icarus

Punch Out, originally titled Mike Tyson's Punch Out before a bit of ear-biting changed Nintendo's mind, was ported from the arcade in 1987 by Nintendo R&D3. In Punch Out, players take on the role of Little Mac, fighting through three circuits and eventually facing the impossible Mr. Dream.

In season two of Cheerful Ghost Radio we are doing bite-sized NES Classic review episodes. We want to make you all part of these episodes, so if you want to join in the fun, head here and join in the event for next... Read All

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/16/2018 at 01:35am

I think I'd give Punch Out a solid Rad as well. It's something fairly easy to pick up play (except for Tim) and not get to frustrated with at first. The difficultly definitely ramps up though. I don't recall how far I normally get, but I've never beat it.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 07/01/2018 at 04:26am

I finally hooked up my NES Classic and even having just played it last month, this is the first game I fired up.

<3 Punch Out

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 07/01/2018 at 04:51am

And then Super Mario Bros. which took me an embarrassing 9 minutes to beat. I'm rusty :D

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/01/2018 at 08:26pm

God, I've never beaten SMB and I've only made it to 5-1 or 5-2. I suck at it. I did find my Wii Classic Controller though. I did play some SMB, SMB2&3, Metroid, Dr. Mario, and Super C (I suck at that one, too).

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/02/2018 at 12:42am

I think Travis warped to complete it so quickly

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/02/2018 at 12:42am

That said I stared a no warp SMB run and I’m in world 6. It’s a fun game that holds up.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/02/2018 at 01:11am

I tried to see how far I could make it without warping and I believe I did make it to level 5. That's where my progress ends. I warp there now. I even had 5 lives going into level 5 and lost all of them. :( I suck at Mario. I get stressed out, too, and being to hate Mario. LOL I didn't grow up w/ an NES, my cousin had one and friends had one, but I only had the Gameboy and the Sega Game Gear. Later, I bought a SNES, but then lost it.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 07/02/2018 at 01:44am

I feel your pain with Super C. Wow that game is hard.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 07/02/2018 at 01:45am

And yes I totally warped for that time :D

I need to do a no-warp run.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/02/2018 at 02:02am

I haven't really found a love for any Contra game outside the first one. If it's possible, they seem way harder too which might be why.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/02/2018 at 02:15am

I tried the Konami code, but it seems I failed some how. Maybe I didn't enter it in the right place or I missed something.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 07/02/2018 at 03:51am

Honestly I struggle to get into the first. That kind of grueling difficulty puts me off. It’s fun but a health bar instead of dying to one hit would make it so much more fun.

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Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Law Prohibiting Sports Gambling

https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/sites/csnma/files/styles/article_hero_image/public/2018/05/14/sportsbetting.png

There's been a federal ban on sports gambling (that excluded Nevada), but it was just struck down! This opens the way to any state deciding to make sports betting legal (and therefore taxable), with some states ready to quickly making it legal. As one who follows sports, and plays daily fantasy sports (which for whatever reason isn't considered betting in most states), I'm really looking forward to being able to place legal bets on games. I've tried some questionably legal off shore betting websites, and whilst they're ran well, it's always felt shady.

It's estimated that Americans illegally wager $150 billion a year on sports.

Here's more information:
... Read All

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 05/14/2018 at 07:38pm

(I know this isn't a typical Cheerful Ghost post, but it's gaming-related, in a way lol)

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/14/2018 at 07:50pm

Is Cheerful Ghost opening up a sports betting area?

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 05/14/2018 at 08:00pm

RAKE IN TEH MONEY

Travis Admin wrote on 05/14/2018 at 08:28pm

Haha, I feel like we’d be the wrong target audience for sports betting.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/14/2018 at 08:45pm

$5 on rollerball!

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/15/2018 at 03:03am

> Is Cheerful Ghost opening up a sports betting area?

No but oddly enough I've been approached to link to sites that provide the odds for certain scenarios like the chances the average gamer could pre-order a NES Classic. That said, I didn't do that and I don't think Cheerful Ghost will open up a sport betting aspect to the site. Interesting idea though.

That said, I heard about this today and apparently this was a unanimous Supreme Court ruling which, to me, makes total sense. I don't gamble really ever but the fact that it was outlawed in ever state EXCEPT Nevada seemed honestly like someone in Nevada paid someone off to exclude the other states. Not sure Oregon will allow sports betting, I hope they do, but this seems like a pretty good idea if you are for more states rights.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/15/2018 at 03:40am

Yeah I have mixed opinions about sports betting but it seems crazy for it to be illegal at the federal level with exceptions for NV.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/15/2018 at 04:01am

Time to open up betting on eSports!

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/15/2018 at 04:27am

> Time to open up betting on eSports!

Huh. That's not a bad idea.

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Rage 2 Reveal Trailer Brings Us Back To The Wasteland!

The new Rage 2 announce trailer dropped this morning and features a cacophony of visuals that are tonally similar to the original game. I don't love the live action parts of the trailer but i'm also not a marketing expert i'd just prefer to see gameplay. There are a few gameplay glimpses scatted throughout that look incredible and if you want even more of that Bethesda is launching a gameplay trailer tomorrow. It's a good idea Bethesda is releasing these Rage 2 trailers now before E3. There are a lot of games announced at E3 and doing this beforehand gives Rage 2 a chance to shine during a news lull. I think the original Rage game was way better than it reviewed and... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 05/14/2018 at 02:39pm

And apparently the gameplay reveal is coming tomorrow.

Bethesda always puts live action stuff in their trailers and it works sometimes. I agree that it didn’t really work for me this time. It just looked like a mid-90s post-apocalyptic sitcom intro which is honestly kinda funny and maybe what they were going for. Just not what I was hoping for.

BUT new gameplay tomorrow so I’m fine with that.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/14/2018 at 02:40pm

Also I gotta say this is a gutsy move to do this sequel. I really figured after the reception the first game got that it would just kinda be forgotten.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/14/2018 at 05:22pm

Looks like the developers behind this are Avalanche Studios the team behind Just Cause 3 & Mad Max.

https://twitter.com/AvalancheSweden/status/996068096250130432

Travis Admin wrote on 05/14/2018 at 05:33pm

Interesting. That suggests a different kind of focus for the game which may be good.

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Mega Man 2 & Mega Man X Get A New Limited Run Cart Release!

I should have posted this at the top of the month but somehow this news big got buried. That said, iam8bit and Capcom are partnering up to release two new repro collector carts for Mega Man 2 and Mega Man X for $100 each. I imagine a lot of Mega Man fans are pretty excited to get a new pressing of Mega Man and since these carts are in limited quantities what more could a collector want?

"Capcom and iam8bit are kicking off “Mega May” with the announcement of two nostalgic Mega Man collectibles: the Mega Man 2 - 30th Anniversary Classic Cartridge and Mega Man X - 30th Anniversary Classic Cartridge. These brand new, limited edition reproductions are now available for... Read All

Will Sony Make a PS4 "Switch" Console Hybrid?

After the Switch dropped and it was obvious that is was really popular I started thinking that Sony, Microsoft and even Valve might want to get into dedicated mobile gaming handheld market. With everyone having handy access to very powerful smartphones the market could get crowded but one thing Nintendo showed me that if you do something right, people will buy it. I'm not gonna lie, I've wanted a dedicated PC gaming handheld for a while and would love it if Valve made one. That all said the people over a Digital Foundry made a video recently wondering if Sony would make the Switch equivalent for the PS4. The long story seems to be no and if they did it would just be a... Read All

The NES Classic Returns June 29th!

Nintendo is finally bringing back the NES Classic as it promised and we now have a date to expect it.

"#NESClassic Edition will return to stores on June 29! This system and the #SNESClassic Edition system are expected to be available through the end of the year."

Good news to everyone that wasn't able to get a NES Classic or is having a hard time securing a SNES Classic! That said, I imagine you could take the "available through the end of the year" to mean Nintendo might discontinue them? I gotta think that they don't mean that but... well if you want one, now's a good time to get one. I know the NES & SNES Classics mostly sit unused for most but I play them a lot... Read All

The Last Guardian Review

Will_Ball gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Will_Ball gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

In The Last Guardian, you, playing a young boy, awake to find yourself in a cave with a giant dog/cat/bird thingy (let's just call it Trico). With no way to escape this cave, and with Trico looking hurt, you sympathize with Trico and help him/her. After feeding Trico and tending to its injuries, Trico warms up to you like a wounded animal would. It ends up following you through caves and castles as both of you try to escape this world filled with danger around every corner.

Oh how I wanted to love The Last Guardian. The developer of this game made some of my favorite games (Ico and Shadow of the Colossus). But by the time I finished this game, I had mixed feelings... Read All In The Last Guardian, you, playing a young boy, awake to find yourself in a cave with a giant dog/cat/bird thingy (let's just call it Trico). With no way to escape this cave, and with Trico looking hurt, you sympathize with Trico and help him/her. After feeding Trico and tending to its injuries, Trico warms up to you like a wounded animal would. It ends up following you through caves and castles as both of you try to escape this world filled with danger around every corner.

Oh how I wanted to love The Last Guardian. The developer of this game made some of my favorite games (Ico and Shadow of the Colossus). But by the time I finished this game, I had mixed feelings about it.

The things that I love about this game are the environments, the story, and the bonding the boy and his Trico have.

The environments are grand. You really get a sense of the place this game takes place in. At times you can be in tiny corridors and other times you can be jumping and running around in big open areas. The designers did a great job designing this world.

The story and the bonding between the boy and his Trico go hand and hand. As you go through the game, not only do these two characters grow to feel for each other, but you do too. There is a great dynamic here. While this bonding develops you are also given some background on both the boy and Trico, not too much to overwhelm you, but just enough to fill in some backstory and draw you in a little more.

While all that pulled you into the game, the controls and frame rate pull you out of the game. This is what made me have mixed feelings about the game.

First of all, the controls are very frustrating. I found myself fighting the camera almost all the time. I also found myself having a hard time directing Trico. Maybe the developers were trying to be too realistic with how Trico responds to your commands, but for a video game it just does not translate well. You sometimes spend minutes trying to get Trico to do simple commands. It got to the point where you just hold down a few buttons for a while and hope Trico does what you want him/her to do.

As for the frame rate, it varies. Sometimes it is pretty smooth, but other times it gets very choppy. On a PS4 I would not expect this. It feels like the developer should have spent some more time here. I hear it works better on a PS4 Pro, so maybe they left it in as an upsell?

Overall this game had a lot of promise, only to let you down with a choppy frame rate and frustrating controls. I am on the fence between a Meh and a Rad, but will lean towards Rad as the environments and story made me finish the game and somewhat enjoy it.

The Steam Link App Streaming Coming Soon To iOS and Android! Is Valve Getting Ready For a Steam Handheld?

"The Steam Link app, slated to launch the week of May 21st, allows gamers to experience their Steam library of games on their Android (phone, tablet, TV) and iOS-based (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV) devices while connected via 5Ghz network or wired Ethernet to a host system (Mac or PC), with Android access initially offered in beta. The Steam Link App will feature support for the Steam Controller, MFI controllers, and more across both platforms."

It's a good thing when you can play your games in more places and soon we'll all be able to stream out Steam games to our phones and tablets. I have a crazy fast 5G wireless router and a wired PC and when that's streaming to the... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 05/11/2018 at 08:53pm

“and now the ability to stream games that are not on Linux over WiFi”

What do you mean there? I’ve streamed plenty of non-Linux games over WiFi for years on the Link and in-home streaming before that.

But yeah this is solid news. Though I doubt they’d make it easier to play games on the handheld devices you already have if they plan on making a handheld themselves any time soon.

But as much as they’ve pushed the Link in sales (I bought a couple for five bucks a pop) and now this, they definitely want to make sure you can access your games easily. If they implement a way that you can play them over the Internet (like PS Now) and you aren’t tied down to your home network, you can play them anywhere.

I definitely look forward to trying this on my AppleTV. That device is getting more and more useful. I already can’t imagine TV without it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/11/2018 at 11:10pm

> What do you mean there? I’ve streamed plenty of non-Linux games over WiFi for years on the Link and in-home streaming before that.

Yeah, that was a bit odd there. I meant that Valve started with Linux ports of games and then they add in home streaming. At least I think that was the ordering there. So now they have a pretty good ecosystem to support a handheld built, if they want.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/12/2018 at 12:25am

Ah I see what you meant. The “now” was throwing me off.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/12/2018 at 01:01am

I wonder how they are going to allow you to use the Seam Controller on iOS? I thought it requires an attached USB dongle to your PC?

Travis Admin wrote on 05/12/2018 at 03:00am

They seem to indicate that you can. Maybe the Steam Controller hardware can do MFI with a firmware update?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/12/2018 at 03:14am

Yeah or the Steam Controller is bluetooth and they have the drive in the iOS app.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/12/2018 at 04:36am

https://steamcommunity.com/games/353370/announcements/detail/2503317299191608387

Here we go then

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/12/2018 at 01:28pm

Awesome. Thanks for sharing that.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/12/2018 at 05:05pm

Hmm. Given that it will work on the AppleTV, I will give it a try. If Bluetooth mode hasn’t made it out of beta for the steam controller, I wonder if my existing appletv game controller will work.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/12/2018 at 06:11pm

The Valve announcement said they were going to support MFI controllers!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/12/2018 at 07:30pm

Dammit Jon, you made me look up MFI.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/12/2018 at 10:14pm

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2018 at 06:07am

And Steam Link app isn't coming to iOS.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/24/17392470/apple-rejects-valve-steam-link-app-store-ios-game-steaming

The walled garden of Apple rears it's head.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2018 at 03:43pm

Hmm... with a company like Valve I’m hoping they can make some progress here. Surely someone high up the flagpole at Apple would talk to Gabe about it and figure out exactly what’s going on.

I would love to know what business process they’re referring to. It should just be treated like a Remote Desktop app.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/25/2018 at 04:33pm

Maybe they think it will eat into game sales on the App Store?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/27/2018 at 03:31am

It should be like that but I think that Apple is thinking that Valve runs a huge app store and that those games can now be played which might mean some games you might not buy on iOS which is partly true as some games are on both systems. That said, Apple should allow it anyway.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/27/2018 at 03:46am

It's hard to find any concrete info about this specific case but a theory is that the issue could have been that Apple doesn't allow any apps to be used to purchase digital content. Thus, you can't use the Amazon app to buy Kindle books, etc.

But according to some sources, Valve disabled the ability to buy games when using Steam Link on iOS and resubmitted it so maybe something will come of that?

Travis Admin wrote on 05/27/2018 at 03:50am

Ok here’s a more concrete source on that:

https://www.engadget.com/amp/2018/05/26/apple-works-with-valve-on-steam-link-ios/

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 06/22/2018 at 04:38pm

Another steam link sale. $2.50 right now + $7.99 for shipping. I ended up just ordering one instead of waiting for the ios app.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/22/2018 at 07:27pm

That’s a crazy deal. I wonder how much of a loss that is? Shipping is more than the price.

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