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SWToR Free to Play Details

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... Read All

BR Supporter wrote on 10/21/2012 at 02:49am

I feel like having to pay to run is a little ridiculous. I mean, maybe if you couldn't have mounts or something, but running? That is stupid. Might as well take away other basic things such as attacking and wearing armor if your going to start taking away stuff like that.

Anyways, I do think the game will do better free to play. I most likely will not try it, but I think more people who are on the fence will at least give it a try.

jaelte wrote on 10/21/2012 at 05:54am

The referenced Sprint ability is normally available at level 14 (or 15, I don't remember). It appears that paying just makes that ability available at level 1 instead.

jaelte wrote on 10/21/2012 at 05:56am

Erm. Or I could be wrong about that; looking at some patch notes from a couple months ago, it looks like the ability is now at level 1 normally. Hrmph.

Move along. Nothing to see here.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/21/2012 at 05:56pm

Yeah paying to run faster is a bit odd. But, it looks like just buying anything unlocks that set of things so hopefully you can buy a lightsabre or something for .99 cents.

The other MMO I play at times is Lord of the Rings Online and the only reason I picked it up because it was F2P. I haven't sunk any money into it but a few friends I have did as a results of us all playing together.

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Yes Virgina, Doom: The Board Game is Fantastic

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... Read All 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!

Nerf Gun Challenge Continues

Parody of my own game play? What do you do when you don't have enough money for weapons? You kill other players for money. Hooray! Give me 20 dollars.

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/21/2012 at 05:58pm

Killing others for money? YOU PLAY APB LIKE AN ASSASSIN!

Speaking of, how much money do you make per kill?

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/21/2012 at 05:59pm

Thats cool you can hang out of the car and shoot, I haven't seen that in a game before.

Missile_Drop_Kick Post Author wrote on 10/22/2012 at 03:04am

Haha, well, not much, it's like 15 per criminal (for me at least, it goes up if your threat level is higher for killing and completing missions. 15 is near enough for the twenty dollars song.) However, if you arrest them I think it's anywhere between 15 to 1000. I guess you get about 1000 for killing one or arresting one with a threat level of 5 (which means the player has killed at least 5 in a row without dying once).

Missile_Drop_Kick Post Author wrote on 10/22/2012 at 03:07am

I love shooting out the windows, it is good stuff.

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/23/2012 at 12:35am

Thanks for the details, look forward to checking it out. And shooting out the windows!

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The first mission.. A bad failure.

Here I am trying to get enough money for the lethal weapons and play with the keyboard instead of a controller. I don't think this mission went well. You can really tell I have limited mobility with the keyboard.

Missile_Drop_Kick Post Author wrote on 10/20/2012 at 06:37pm

Huh, video won't load. - http://www.twitch.tv/themissiledropkick/c/1707143

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/20/2012 at 06:38pm

For me it's the other way around, I can totally do better w a keyboard and mouse than a controller. You can plug in the USB Xbox controller into a PC if you find that easier for some games.

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/20/2012 at 06:40pm

Yeah, I am going to fix the twitch embed as it only works in Firefox the right way.

In the next few days all should be better but I don't know when I'll do the embed in a way that will work on all platforms until twitch supports that. Hopefully soon!

Missile_Drop_Kick Post Author wrote on 10/20/2012 at 06:41pm

Haha, I"m getting better at it. But, it is sucking out the joy from my gaming. Although, I did hit people more often. I guess I'm mostly a controller guy.

BR Supporter wrote on 10/20/2012 at 10:07pm

Keyboard really has a much higher skill curve than a controller. Once you get better it offers a lot more possibilities than a controller does, at least in my opinion. Keep practicing and you'll get a lot better.

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/20/2012 at 11:30pm

Ok so I changed the twich embed to have the logo be a bit smaller and less whitespace under it.

When Twitch supports embed on all platforms, ill update it. Still nice to see the logo and a straight click through at the top.

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/20/2012 at 11:30pm

Oh and I agree with BR, keep up the keyboard+mouse, its a whole new awesome world. I can understand it feeling really different though, it totally does at first.

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Going Live with the Nerf Gun Challenge

I'm streaming APB with a brand new character. Trying to use keyboard and non lethal. This will probably go badly.

Bring Me....Red Pages

http://mystolgia.angelfire.com/Images/Myst-MystIslandIn-GameMap.png

In the first Watch Out For Fireballs, we did a show about the evolution of a series. For the second, we went with something closer to a revolution. Adventure games simplified their parser through the years, starting with straight up text (Use lamp on torch) to a verb based system (like Monkey Island) and eventually moved to this entirely contextual, one click interface. How did this change the game?

Myst is a product of this entirely. The puzzles deal with mechanics, literally, because when you only have one possible interaction with something, "operate" makes the most sense. The nouns you interact with in Myst generally are just switches, buttons and levers: perfect... Read All

killz

Had a few good games. Killed about 12 players. Wee. Have to start learning how to play with keyboard and mouse.

Online Game Meetup and Play: Quake Live

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!

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 10/19/2012 at 05:54am

My cousin is extremely into this game. He is really competitive. He played it a heck of a lot. He's pretty interested in the new E-Sport type game Shootmania.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/19/2012 at 02:14pm

Haven't heard of Shootmania. I'll have to look it up. Interesting, they seem to be promoting the map editor pretty heavy.

Travis Admin wrote on 10/20/2012 at 04:48am

I'm installing the stuff necessary for Quake Live now. So weird that at the turn of the century my PC could barely handle Quake 3, but now I'm playing it in a browser.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/20/2012 at 10:44pm

:D I know it's awesome how things progress.

Travis Admin wrote on 10/24/2012 at 05:52pm

Still happening? I haven't seen anything about it since this post.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/24/2012 at 06:04pm

Yep, still on! Ill post something to the main page again to remind folks.

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Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 High Score

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... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 10/20/2012 at 02:17pm

I simply don't think I have the drive to get a score that high in a button pressing simulator, but I'm impressed at your dedication :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/20/2012 at 03:04pm

Noooooooo, it's skill. SKILL!!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/24/2013 at 04:57am

Travis you really must try for my high score. I know you technically might not want to, even now many months later but have you thought about the future?

For instance you may very well be on your death bed thinking..... "Why didn't I press that button more times?"

The more you know...

Travis Admin wrote on 04/24/2013 at 02:34pm

You're just digging up all kinds of old posts lately :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/24/2013 at 02:38pm

This one I actually remembered. And really, you don't want to die with regret.

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The Devil is Real. I Know Because I Built his Cage

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,... Read All