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WarCraft III Gets A Horde of New Updates!

WarCraft III finally received the 1.29 update and it's got quite a few things in it worth coming back to if you haven't played it in a while. The biggest is that the game now finally supports 16x9 widescreen! WarCraft III was made in the ol' 4x3 era and even though the 16x9 world wasn't too far away the game was never updated to support different aspect ratios. They've handled this in a few ways by adding black pillars in the menu and then allowing the in game interface to properly scale to handle the resolution. It means the actual in game experience is now properly sized and avoids you having to run the entire game in 4x3! Blizzard has also expanded support to... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/24/2018 at 04:57am

I bought the Starcraft HD remaster and enjoyed it. I've never played Warcraft III, so I'm hoping it gets a remastered re-release.

Travis Admin wrote on 04/24/2018 at 12:41pm

You can't beat Blizzard's long term support for their games.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/25/2018 at 04:37pm

No you can't and they've released a couple follow on fix updates afterward! To me, WarCraft III is one of the best Blizzard games of all time and it's in that place of having good enough 3D graphics to still be good now and it's strategy elements with heroes is pretty unique.

Travis Admin wrote on 04/26/2018 at 03:16am

Yeah I love what they did with Starcraft Remastered, but seeing the improvements they made there only made me realize that War 3 really only needed modern resolutions. It still looks really good. The cartoonish style and the fact that the models aren't pixelated like they were in Starcraft help that along. I think Starcraft used 2D sprites?

Watching some videos of this 1.29 patch, you'd think it was already remastered in some ways. Definitely not in others: the menus are still 4:3, and the character images in the bottom... toolbar? Control center? Whatever you call that. Those images are obviously aging a bit.

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Valve Has Purchased Campo Santo, Developers of 'Firewatch'

Firewatch by Campo Santo is an indie darling that released to great reviews and scored a movie deal. It's on my backlog, and I hope to play it soon. The art style and the narration in the trailers really sell a one-of-a-kind experience.

Valve was apparently sold on the game as well because today it was confirmed that Valve will be acquiring Campo Santo, and the team will keep working on their current project, In the Valley of Gods which will release on PC in 2019. This new game is an adventure game set in Egypt, where you play as an explorer and filmmaker searching for discoveries and filming the process.

It's not Half-Life 3, but it's a new story-driven game from... Read All

Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass is coming, details at E3

So far we don't know much, but Serious Sam 4 is coming and there are lots kamikazes AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH-ing like you'd expect.

Croteam launched the Steam store page today with a teaser and a promo image. More info is coming during E3, according to the trailer.

The Serious Sam games are some of my faves, so I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Terraria 1.3.6 Spoilers

Since Terraria: Otherworld's cancellation I've been checking out what's coming in Terraria 1.3.6. Today, a new feature was teased that I had to come talk about: Block Replacement. If you're like me, you start building and then get the ability to get better stuff, so you tear down your build and start over. I rarely build anything permanent until near Hardmode, or at least post-Skeletron. This feature will let you replace blocks if you have a pickax equipped that is strong enough to mine the block you're replacing. You can even change out chests, and it will keep the contents. This could also help when you want some ore that happens to be holding in a lake and you... Read All

Timogorgon Member wrote on 04/17/2018 at 03:06am

I think we're going to need to host another server once the update hits. ;)

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/17/2018 at 03:28am

Cool and I agree w/ Tim.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/17/2018 at 06:51pm

Hey look! I've already talked about some of the spoilers we've seen in the last year. I included some good videos from ChippyGaming. :) https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/3355/1-3-6-spoilers

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/17/2018 at 10:04pm

Oh man, that was almost a year ago. I get why people are clamoring for 1.3.6 now.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/23/2018 at 03:26am

Whoa! No more NPC constipation! Check out the latest spoiler explained by ChippyGaming. https://youtu.be/sj7x47ul2d0

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/23/2018 at 03:35am

OMG, that has to be a joke right? I mean... right?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/23/2018 at 04:04am

Ugh, I can't seem to find it. I think he said it was on Tumblr, but I go there and it looks like a mess and I can't find this new spoiler. I trust ChippyGaming. If you want to look for it and verify it, go right ahead. LOL

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3D Realms Is Back With a New Game On an Old Engine: Ion Maiden

Longing for the old days of first-person shooters? 3D Realms has you covered with Ion Maiden. Running on the same engine as Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior, and others, this game aims to reclaim the mayhem of the 90s shooters. Because, basically, it IS a 90s shooter.

Ion Maiden is currently in Early Access on Steam, with the first level set playable. Reviews are Overwhelmingly Positive, with only 13 negative reviews out of 554 total.

What do you think? Are you in the mood for a new classic FPS?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/562860/Ion_Maiden/

Sega Megadrive (Genesis) Mini Coming in 2018

No doubt capitalizing on the massive popularity of the NES Classic and SNES Classic, Sega will be releasing their own famous home console, the Megadrive or Genesis depending on which part of the world you lived in during the 16-bit era.

Details are sparse at the moment, but the retro revival is still strong. I grew up with a Genesis because SEGA DOES WHAT NINTENDON'T amirite? So I'm super excited about this, because unlike some of my other classic systems, my Genesis is a little flaky, and maybe this new mini-Genesis will come with some of the games I drooled over as a kid but never got to play.

It's important to note, however, that this hasn't been announced outside of... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/14/2018 at 03:54pm

I hope this is awesome. My friends got the flash back and that would have been cool except the input lag was terrible so they returned it. I hope this is incredible and if so, I’ll buy one. These mini systems can be really great if done well.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/16/2018 at 10:27pm

I noticed in the CNet link that this is only going to be available in Japan, "for now."

I bought the Flashback, but haven't really messed with it. I do have the Megadrive & Genesis collection on Steam, although it doesn't include every game I'd like to see.

This could be cool, like the Nintendo re-releases.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/17/2018 at 01:52am

Yeah I mentioned that in the post so that it wouldn't get people's hopes up yet, but I would be shocked if it stays in Japan.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/17/2018 at 03:29am

I'm sorry, I overlooked it.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/17/2018 at 04:10pm

No worries, it definitely bears repeating!

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Terraria: Otherworld Has Been Canceled

Unfortunately, Terraria: Otherwold has been canceled. Re-Logic today announced the cancellation of a greatly anticipated kinda-sequel to Terraria which has seen many development issues over the years.

From the announcement:
"Our team has a clear vision for this game – one that we shared with all of you with much shared excitement – and, in spite of all of our efforts, the current state of the game remains equal parts far from that vision and beyond behind schedule from our initial planning when we shared Otherworld with all of you three years ago. Progress has absolutely been made during that time – but unfortunately, a very thorough status review of the game versus its... Read All Unfortunately, Terraria: Otherwold has been canceled. Re-Logic today announced the cancellation of a greatly anticipated kinda-sequel to Terraria which has seen many development issues over the years.

From the announcement:
"Our team has a clear vision for this game – one that we shared with all of you with much shared excitement – and, in spite of all of our efforts, the current state of the game remains equal parts far from that vision and beyond behind schedule from our initial planning when we shared Otherworld with all of you three years ago. Progress has absolutely been made during that time – but unfortunately, a very thorough status review of the game versus its intended design showed both the Re-Logic and 505/Pipeworks teams that things were quite a bit further away from the finish line than we had imagined. Taking the massive amount of work that would be remaining to complete along with the extensive time it would take to get that done, and how that would greatly interfere with the pursuit of other projects on behalf of Re-Logic – it becomes clear that this leaves things in a very undesirable state.

As a result, we have made the decision to terminate development of Terraria: Otherworld."

I'm disappointed because it looked very interesting, but I'm not surprised. They've been open about all the development issues that have plagued the game, and it seems as though they were never quite able to manage those issues.

They also shared the next steps for Re-Logic:

In hindsight, it goes without saying that we never should have spoken publicly about this game as early-on as we did. We will fully own that error in judgement. Moving forward, we will be far more judicious about only sharing information on projects in which we are fully confident in regards to timing, etc. We can only apologize for all of the emotional rollercoaster this caused.

Trying to outsource development of such a critical title for our company – even if just in part – was not the way to go. Moving ahead, our focus for the core development of new/future titles will be more inward and will seek to utilize our own people. We will share more information there just as soon as we have it.

Re-Logic has possession of the game (design, code, art, sounds, etc.) as it exists today, and there are still a ton of amazing ideas under the hood here – many of which have never been publicly shared. These are ideas that we have not and will not forget and that you will very likely see implemented in our future titles.

Active development of Terraria continues - 1.3.6 is still very much in active development. We know that we have not shared a lot in the way of spoilers there – but rest assured that the team has been working tirelessly on our next PC wave.

This keeps our partners at 505/Pipeworks wholly focused on Console/Mobile/Switch – and there is still a TON to get done there, so that should be good.

Overall I see this as simultaneously disappointing and good news. We may never see what might have been, but we can stop wondering about it and look forward to what Re-Logic has for us in the future.

Full announcement: https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/this-is-the-end-otherworld-development-cancelled.68594/

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/14/2018 at 01:35am

Dang, I was really looking forward to Otherworld. At first I wasn't so sure about it, but then I guess it grew on me. I want more Terraria. I'm glad they're still working on 1.3.6, it has been a year or so since I've seen anything new about it.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/14/2018 at 02:16am

Cennxx posted some new spoilers about 1.3.6 recently. Some sort of thing that can locally change gravity maybe? And underground fossils.

https://twitter.com/Cennxx

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/14/2018 at 02:18am

Cool thanks for sharing! (I left Twitter a couple years ago or so.)

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/15/2018 at 02:55am

I don't do this for a lot of games but whatever Terraria sequel comes out, i'm going to buy it. Sad to hear this one isn't coming out but I don't think I quite got what it was. I don't think they talked much about it for it to form in my mind what kind of game it was. It seemed to be a story based Terraria open game but I'm not really sure about that.

Making games is hard and open ended games more so. Wish them well on what they are doing and if history is a guide we'll keep getting trickling Terraria updates, which is all I guess I could want. Frankly we have a great game, a sequel would be awesome but how much more awesome could a new Terraria game be? I don't know, I guess we'll see.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/15/2018 at 05:59am

@Jon from what I read it was supposed to be a Terraria tower defense game. At least that seems to be what I remember. Also, the wiki does state Terraria 2 under future projects or whatever.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/15/2018 at 03:14pm

Yeah there were going to be tower defense elements at least. It seemed like the the whole motivation was to purify the world. That was something you could do in Terraria but it’s kinda boring. The tower defense in Otherworld was about keeping the corruption from spreading.

I’d like to see some of that in a future Terraria update. A tower at the edge of the corruption to keep it from spreading would be way more fun than digging a 5 block cavern all the way to the underworld

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/18/2018 at 12:42am

Tower defense 2D sidescroller? Huh. Ok. I really wonder how far they got and sad they couldn't show more of it just to share what they made. That said, I imagine that would drive some fans a bit nuts.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/18/2018 at 01:35am

Yeah I don’t think it was like 100% tower defense driven that was just part of it

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 20: Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong is an arcade platformer created by Shigeru Miyamoto when he was tasked with converting the arcade game Radar Scope, a game that did poorly, into something that was more fun. In Donkey Kong the main character Jumpman, who would later be known as Mario, needs to climb a series of construction themed levels on his way up to rescue his girlfriend Pauline. Donkey Kong started out on the Arcade and has seen ports on the Game & Watch, NES, Atari 2600 and a ton of other systems.

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 head over to the events section and join in... Read All

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/12/2018 at 06:07pm

Just a funny aside, I was watching a review of Ready Player One the other day on YouTube, and one of the YouTubers referred to her first game she was really into as "Donkey Kong," but after talking more, it was clear she was actually referring to Donkey Kong Country.

Kids these days... lol

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/12/2018 at 07:24pm

You think that’s weird, I know someone whose favorite game when he was a kid was God of War 3. We’re getting old!

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/15/2018 at 02:57am

Heh. One fun thing in DKC is that Cranky Kong is actual Donkey from the original game and Donkey is actually his son.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibiNy4d4gc

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/15/2018 at 02:57am

I mean, i'm sure we all knew that but we didn't mention it in the Podcast so ... oblig factlet everyone knows to get more nerd cred.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/15/2018 at 04:10am

OK I had no idea honestly. That's cool

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Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 & 2 Coming July 24th!

We've known for a bit that the Mega Man X collections were coming and now we have the release date, July 24th! If you have a Switch and want every classic Mega Man game the Legacy Collection is coming and now both X Collections as well! I still have yet to take up Mega Man X on the Super Nintendo classic but after I wear out Mega Man 2, i'll get over to it. That said, I have NO idea when that will be as I honestly enjoy just replaying Mega Man 2.

That said...

"The entire X series dashes onto Nintendo Switch! Mega Man X Legacy Collection contains side-scrolling classics Mega Man X, Mega Man X2, Mega Man X3, and Mega Man X4. Continue the adventure with Mega Man X Legacy... Read All

DigitalFoundry Compares A Decade of Evolution Between Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 5

I picked up Far Cry 2 at the mid point in the PS3's lifespan. It was about $17 used at a game store and since I hadn't really played a Far Cry game yet, it seemed like a good time to give it a shot. I heard the open world gameplay was fun, but the game insisting that you had to deal with malaria was not. I completed the whole game on PS3 and didn't find the malaria aspects too frustrating. If you continue through the game at a good pace you got enough pills to keep things moving forward. I wonder what would have happened if you avoided the main story?

Now that Far Cry 5 is out Digital Foundry has a new video comparing Far Cry 2 to the latest release and it's really... Read All