For quite some time EA has been saying Star Wars: The Old Republic will go free to play. They recently dropped some details on how that will work.

http://www.swtor.com/free/features

I think the big take away from this list is that everything will be limited for free to play users with the story being one exception. The limitations don't seem to restrictive, but we will know more when free to play is available.

If you make any purchase at all the game unlocks:

• The ability to run faster (Sprint) starting at Level 1.


• Cargo Hold access (Bank Slots) and higher login queue priority.


• Increased access to Chat and Secure Trading.

The ability to run faster has me wondering if we are not entering a strange new world of DLC similar to DLC quest? As long as your player doesn't crawl along, it might not be too bad, but still... Pay to run faster?

They also have a pretty extensive FAQ as well:

http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/6449

Wondering when all this will be available? According to the site "The Free-to-Play option will become available later this fall."

Are you interested in checking out Star Wars: The Old Republic when it goes free to play? Do you play MMO's and if so what are you playing right now?

If you have been reading my posts over the last few days I have been posting a lot about Doom because of the release of Doom 3: BFG Edition. I decided to write a few of my thoughts down about the board game that brought the love I have for board games back, Doom: The Board Game.

Also check the site tomorrow as I will post an interview I gave with Kevin Wilson. Kevin Wilson is the designer of such amazing board games such as Doom: The Board Game, Android, Descent: Journies into the Dark, Arkham Horror and Civilization: The Board Game! Yep, that Kevin Wilson! Incredible.

I was going through a Doom craze about 5 years ago and in a off the cuff moment I decided to purchase a game I wasn't sure about. I mean, Doom as a board game? Honestly I wasn't into board games but at the time I wanted to try it out. After the game shipped and I opened it immediately I realized this was going to be better than I expected. The plastic game pieces are really great quality, the tokens looked great and the rule book and scenarios were compelling.

My wife even got into helping me baggy up the pieces and organize things to put back in the box. I think that helped me get her to play with me the first few times as she wasn't to keen to play the game at first. I really wanted to play the Marines so she took the duty of playing the invaders. After reading the rules and playing the first mission I was in love.

The game play was deep, interesting and the thing I never expected was the board game felt like the video game. The way the game was built allowed it to come alive on the board and over the next few months my wife and I would play it "cat and mouse" against each other. It was a really fun time.

That said, the game is hard as hell. Literally, it is very hard for the Marines. So if you are expecting an easy time or to always win, this isn't your game. I'll admit we got into more than a few arguments over some aspect of the rules(they later issued some clarification online about many of the problems) or difficulty.

Doom: The Board Game allowed me a window into how awesome board games can be. I even got into Magic: The Gathering around that time as well. Now I have many board games in my closet and look forward to getting awesome new ones. That said, Doom: The Board Game got me back into table top and for that it will always have that special place in my heart.

Check the site tomorrow for my interview with game designer Kevin Wilson!

I want to meet up with you all and play Quake Live next Wednesday the 24th @ 6pm PST. Quake Live is a modern port of Quake 3 Arena that is sponsored by iD Software and free to play at http://www.quakelive.com.

See you Wednesday!

One addition to Doom 3 I loved was Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3. It's a really funny game which nods to the original Doom. There is a Arcade Cabinet of Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 in the Mars Base Kitchen you can play right at the start.

The only thing you can do in the game is punch and kill Turkeys. One thing I noticed during this play through of Turkey Puncher is that if you hit the punch button faster you get a higher score for killing a Turkey. With that knowledge I punched turkeys to my current high score of 26,220.

I issue a challenge to all Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 fans, attempt to beat my score and post your results. I claim current champion status until proven otherwise. :D

I picked up Doom 3: BFG Edition on launch day because I love all things Doom. I was blown away with the original Doom and how it ushered in the era of shooters. I love Doom 2 and the double barred shotgun. When Doom 3 came out and I had a computer good enough to play it I enjoyed it for its dark horror style. A few years later I replayed Doom 3 and again, enjoyed its dark atmosphere but that time I turned off the lights and cranked up the sound.

When iD Software announced Doom 3: BFG Edition I was excited. Doom 3: BFG Editions big additions are the original Doom & Doom 2. It also includes some new content for Doom 3 in the Lost Levels. It can also be played in 3D, if you have the right hardware for it.

I have Doom 3 on PC and wanted to try it out on a new platform so I picked it up on the PS3. From the reviews I read and by playing it in person at PAX on XBOX 360 and now the PS3 I can say that Doom 3 plays buttery smooth. If you are console bound, love shooters and want something that doesn't lag for second, Doom 3: BFG Edition is for you.

When I got the game the first thing I did was boot up the original Doom to show my wife and see how well it played. It played very well but she was unimpressed with the game as it is now 19 year old. I look at it with love, but if you didn't play it I can see how it wouldn't impress. I then started a new Doom 3 game and was immediately flooded with awesome memories and a wave of excitement for entering Mars base again.

The beginning of Doom 3 has a compelling pulp sci-fi horror premise. After spending a ton of time messing around in base and getting a high score in Super Turbo Turkey Puncher(i'll make a separate post about that) I went on the first mission and header into Mars city basement. I won't spoil the story but not too long after you get your pistol the S hits the F and you are shooting zombies and demons just like iD intended.

One thing I noticed playing the game is that you can't zoom to aim. Modern shooters allow you to zoom your gun in to aim better, Doom 3 does not. This isn't something they took out of the game, it simply wasn't present in the original. After playing modern shooters you sort of realize you cant zoom and wherein its not a big deal, is something worth noting as games march ever onward.

So far all I have played of Doom 3: BFG in length is the original Doom 3 campaign and it seems pretty much as I remember it. They sprinkled more ammo in places than I remember, things are way brighter but that doesn't make the game easier. I haven't spent any time worrying about ammo conservation, just which gun to use to dispatch my foes.

The big change in Doom 3: BFG Edition is that they allow you to turn on the flashlight while you hold your gun. Now this isn't as bad as I thought, though I do appreciate I have the original Doom 3 discs so I can go back and play it the way it was. That said, when you turn on the flashlight holding a pistol the light beam comes in from the side in a way that seems odd. Its like the Marine is holding the light way out to his side at an angle. Its strange and sort of threw me off when it turned on. I was like "how can he be possibly holding the light that way?" But then again, its a game about demons and eventually you do go to hell... It's not a big deal, it was just something I noticed.

I still haven't played much of the original Doom, Doom 2 and the lost levels. When I do, ill post more.

I found a few interesting bits posted online about Doom 3. Here they are for you to enjoy:

HD Play posted a video side by side of BFG Edition and the original Doom 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HPSVLI6lEoI

Someone Photoshopped their own pet Hamster in the game:
http://imgur.com/a/y1rpF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_(video_game)

Awesome video for a new feature to drop from Good Old Games. Now with book... errr Mac Support!

Here are a few of the offerings on Mac on sale:

http://www.gog.com/en/promo/mac_games_launch_promo_18_10_12

For all 50 GoG games on Mac hit this link then filter by system:

http://www.gog.com/en/catalogue

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