A good video recap of 2012's Portland Retro Gaming Expo. It covers the show floor pretty well as far as the whole vibe of the event.

If you are in the area for PRGE 2013, you should definitely attend. There might be a event in your local area as well, so check into that! Go, go, go!

Dr. Mario is one of my favoriate puzzle games and this video is an epic way to kick off Retro Tuesday! I sort of wonder if this video was an epic setup or just a random happening? Regardless, its fun to watch. Oh and stick with it until the end, thats when it goes straight to awesomeville!

Are you picking this up? If you have how does it play? Did you get it as part of the season pass or on its own?

Yarrrr!

At this years Portland Retro Gaming Expo I was able to try out the new GameDock for iPhone, an awesome device that turns your phone into a console. The GameDock features retro styled NES controllers and using them makes iPhone games much more awesome to play. I was able to ask one of the Cascadia Games developers Chris some questions and he awesomely shipped me back some information.

Please friend, read on:

jdodson: So Cascadia Games started with iPhone games. I wonder at what point you decided, "Hey, we need to make the iPhone a console!"

Chris: I honestly don’t know when it clicked. I was in the middle of developing Cavorite 2. A lot of folks complained about not liking the touch-screen for controls in the first one. I’d added iCade support, but the big arcade stick didn’t fit the retro console vibe I wanted. I had the Super Nintendo in mind with the games. I was also playing around on my old SNES quite a bit for inspiration. So somewhere around that time, the idea popped into my head that a phone could be the ultimate game cartridge.

jdodson: How long did it take you from the concept of the GameDock to building a prototype you could play
a game with on your TV?

Chris: I pitched my friend Andi on it in January (or so). By March, he had come up with a prototype based on our ideas and research. We decided we had something worthy of Kickstarter. So we got in contact with a small company up here called FunGizmos, who helped us polish it into a better prototype.

jdodson: Apple isn't known as the most open of companies to work with, what is required to get permission or licensing to build for the iPhone?

Chris: If you want to send data across the 30-pin port, you need to be part of their MFi program. It’s fairly involved to go that route. We opted instead to make the GameDock work like a keyboard in the same fashion that an iCade works. That sidesteps the direct need to seek Apple approval. Eventually, however, we’d like to be involved with MFi.

jdodson: The GameDock dock doesn't look to be tooled(iPhone 5 uses a new dock connector) for the newer iPhone 5, is it still compatible with iPhone 5?

Chris: It won’t charge your phone since we don’t have lightning-compatible parts. But the game controls are sent over bluetooth. So you can still play games with the iPhone 5 without it being docked.

jdodson: You funded your Kickstater campaign(congratulations on that btw), when do you anticipate the GameDock will ship to your project funders?

Chris: Thanks! We’re pushing to get them out by December. It’s not totally in our hands, of course. We need to get stuff from our suppliers in time, for example. We should have a better shipping date estimate by the end of this month.

jdodson: Do you plan on selling the GameDock as a stand alone product outside the Kickstarter?

Chris: Yes. You can actually pre-order them from us now at http://iosgamedock.com/preorder. We’re building more than we need to fulfill the Kickstarter requirements. After that, it will depend on demand. Ideally, we’ll be able to find a distribution partner and go for a big production run.

jdodson: What was the trickiest part of building the GameDock you didn't anticipate?

Chris: Easily the biggest issue is just explaining how it works. The fact that your phone doesn’t need to be docked (since the video adapter isn’t built into the board but rather is a separate cable), for example, has confused a lot of folks. There have been a lot of questions about which devices it works with (answer: iPhone 4 and up, iPad 2 and up, iPod 4th gen and up). Even just the goal of recreating the entire console experience isn’t clear to everyone. (Though I think when a person has a gamepad in his or her hands, it sinks in.) Additionally, people wonder where the games come from (answer: the App Store). That’s been a lot more work than I thought. We haven’t been clear enough explaining the benefits either. For example, now your mobile game can double as a console game; you can start a game on the TV then finish on the bus. Local two-player games are an added benefit too that you won’t get elsewhere.

jdodson: At what point where you testing out the GameDock and it "just clicked" for you and you realized it was going to be awesome? (Note: I tried it out, it is)

Chris: Easily when we first tried Mos Speedrun on it. The game just worked and it played great. Using the gamepads really changed some of these iPhone retro games from just evoking a style into games that were exactly like what we experienced growing up.

jdodson: GameDock ships. The majority of people love it and it is getting positive reviews. What is the next move for Cascadia Games?

Chris: The first thing is to make it an easy to reach and rewarding niche for developers to hit. We obviously want lots of games on there working well. Fortunately, so far developer response has been great given how early we are in the process.

After that, I’d like to look at iPhone 5 charging and other mobile phone support. Ideally, we could find a distribution partner and really turn this into something big. Short of that, I imagine we would Kickstart a version 2.0 with a few improvements based on what we learn from this first run. We have some other ideas as well, but I’m not giving away any secrets!

jdodson: Thanks Chris and congratulations and good luck with the GameDock!

http://iosgamedock.com/
http://cascadiagames.com/
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cascadiagames/gamedock-for-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch-devices

Angry Birds Star Wars will be released November 8th! It makes sense this paring is happening as Angry Birds is now a huge household game. After Angry Birds space it makes sense that Star Wars comes afterward. I wonder what elements it will bring to the franchise besides John Williams music? Don't get me wrong, John Williams music is superb I am just wondering what else it will have.

If all it brings is the Star Wars music and art we all love I will have to say that's enough for me to play it! I have Angry Birds Space on my phone and still have yet to get past more than the first two levels. Look forward to knocking my birds into Storm-pigs, Wampa-pigs, Sand-pigs, Jabba-pigs, Bounty Hunter-pigs & Jar Jar Binks.

Are you going to pick this one up or will you let it pass you by? Remember it only costs .99 midichlorians!

http://www.starwars.com/news/angry-birds-star-wars-announce.html

Blizzard recently posted a two part interview with the Starcraft 2 creative team and I wanted to share a few interesting bits. I am excited about Heart of the Swarm and I am still awaiting my beta invite. And if anyone from Blizzard reads this, I would certainly love a beta key!

Some of these questions drop game lore which may contain some kind of spoilers.

"
Question: How do units like the mutalisk and banshee fly in space if there is no air?

Answer: Another great question that has been the subject of internal debate, hair pulling, and furniture throwing. Basically, mutas produce a gas that pushes against their own mass as it’s excreted. Even in a vacuum, this causes propulsion, because the gas is pushing against the muta as it’s expelled. Maneuvering is difficult for a muta, but it can release the gas in a range of directions.

When mutas are in an atmosphere, they simply use their wings. The gas is reserved for space travel. And if anyone's wondering why they flap their wings in space? Instinct. Just like a dog pumping its hind leg when you scratch its belly.

For any terran or protoss unit, the answer is even simpler: it’s outfitted with standard propulsion equipment only for use when traveling in space.
"

"Question: In StarCraft, the Queen of Blades told Mengsk that she isn't interested in revenge. Why is killing him suddenly her life's purpose, according to the most recent trailer?

Answer: The Queen of Blades and Sarah Kerrigan are not quite the same person. The Queen of Blades is essentially Sarah Kerrigan under the influence of some devastating forces: incredible power, a dominating level of psi energy, and the presence of Zerg mutagen from the cellular level up.

To be clear, the Queen of Blades is not a separate entity that possessed Kerrigan. Kerrigan is (certainly in her mind) responsible for the terrible things she's done. She has immense guilt for those actions, but she was not completely in her "right mind" in Brood War.

All of that is a roundabout way of saying the Queen of Blades felt no need to kill Mengsk. She did not see him as a threat. Sarah Kerrigan, on the other hand, knows that Mengsk wants her dead, and she very much holds a grudge for his abandoning her on Tarsonis."

"Question: At the end of Wings of Liberty, Mengsk's empire was collapsing. The zerg had overrun most of the fringe worlds and were encroaching on the core worlds. Raynor had revealed Mengsk's genocide of Tarsonis to all the people of the Dominion, and they were in open revolt and rioting out in the streets of the major cities, including Augustgrad. His son had then commandeered half the fleet in a desperate move to kill the Queen of Blades. How has Mengsk maintained control of the Terran Dominion with all this war and conflict?

Answer: With a mix of brutality, incredible intrigue, and old-fashioned cunning. Mengsk's empire at the time of Heart of the Swarm is by no means secure, but he is crafty and has many mechanisms to hold on to power. If the Swarm had been out to dismantle his empire, that would have been too much to withstand...or if the Kel-Morians had still been a viable enemy at that time, that could have been the tipping point. But remember, the Swarm was taking planets only to search for the artifact, and the Swarm fractured when the Queen of Blades disappeared. And the Kel-Morians were barely holding it together at that time.

Check the blog entries posted for all the Q&A you can handle. As more entries are posted we will keep up updated.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7493439/StarCraft_II_Creative_Development_QA_-_Part_1-10_8_2012
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7597722/StarCraft_II_Creative_Development_QA_-_Part_2-10_15_2012

YouTuber Timtimfed recently posted one of his new creations "When Gordon met Chell." People have mused about a possible Portal and Half-life mashup and this video delves into that territory.

I think its pretty fun that both characters sign in the video to keep cannon with both games having silent protagonists.

This comic gets at a little problem I have in games now.... Must loot every corpse... Must collect every item. I haven't played many hours of Skyrim but mu chest in Breezehome is already quite full. In Borderlands 2 even though I have full ammo I still open each case, locker and ammo container... Then again Eridium can be anywhere.

How much do you hoard in you games? Or do you breeze by corpses and chests with ease?

facepunch recently dropped some leaked art information from an un-named source at Valve about a new title they are apparently working on called "Stars of Barathrum." Again, this is rumor but this rumor comes with some leaked artwork that someone chopped up into the video above.

From facepunch:

"An inside source has confirmed that SOB (Valve's new IP) is an unannounced game entitled Stars of Barathrum (working title). Plays like privateer/freelancer but also with the ability to command larger cruisers and capital ships. It's a very vast and open-world game where you choose your own adventure, a lot of internal resources are being put into SOB."

This is interesting as if true, Valve is working on some new IP. I like the art style but the way they warp the faces is unsettling in a few of the shots. I wonder if that style is to outline the "bad" vs "good" or if its something different. The images do look valve like and I hope with the advancement of technology that the game comes out to look much like that art.

Does a new franchise from Valve interest you? What do you think of the leaked art?

For the entirety of the goods, check facepunch direct:
http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1217651

A few weeks ago I was able to volunteer at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo and during my time I met the awesome guys that run the podcast "Watch Out for Fireballs!" Watch out for Fireballs! is a cool retro themed podcast that covers topics close to our hearts like Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Bionic Commando, Secret of Mana, Earthbound and the recent episode on Super Mario World.

The most recent episode is interesting in that it features a plethora of stories and opinions on the fantastic Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo. They set up a TV and SNES playing Super Mario World and recorded people's thoughts on the game. I point this all out, not only because it is awesome but because I contributed my own audio story in the podcast of a level I initially hated, but have since grown to love. A bit of context, I was playing the level as I was talking, I don't know why but I felt that was worth sharing.

Nab the episode and for your information my story starts at 34.10. You have me at Beck's Loser, yeah I talk about that song too.

Grab the episode here:
http://duckfeed.tv/woff/30

If you are interested in more retro rad, check out the Fireball guys on the web here:
http://www.watchoutforfireballs.com/

For more backstory about Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2012 and my involvement, look see here:
http://cheerfulghost.com/assets/social/cheerfulghost_mini.png

More information for you all that love to clicky click:
http://floatzel.net/smw/levels/
http://www.smwiki.net/wiki/List_of_Super_Mario_World_levels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_World