Back to the Future: The Game Message Board older than one year ago

Good news, you won't have to travel to a future where money is meaningless for a free chance to try out the PC or Mac versions of Back to the Future for free. Telltale has released the first episode of the series for the universe-defying price of zero dollars. All you need to do is visit Telltale's Back to the Future site, click the offer on the bottom of the page and create a Telltale account. Those who already have an account just have to sign in and, bam, instant Back to the Future.

And though you still have to pay for the full season after the free episode, it's on sale for $22.99 right now. Despite Telltale's previous promises to the contrary, episode one of The Adventures and Squirfle and Momo remains full price.

Lord Jimothy! Johncharlesfrederickathon! Kierovington IV! Quintin! It is I, Alexander Granville Cuthbert Meershire, Earl of Rotheringhampton-under-Thames. Quickly, come hither to me. Something most odd has occured. Some manner of iron box, mounted somehow upon four wheels and adorned with walls of glass, has arrived outside the stables. It is a fearsome thing, bellowing smoke and malodour. As I approach, its side lifted upwards, like the wing of a gull. All manner of unearthly lights are visible within, behind which is a chair of comfort such as I have never even dreamed. Should I… should I enter this machine, if machine it indeed be? There are switches, levers, pedals. As an inquiring mind of Her Majesty’s Elite Journalism Corps, I feel I must explore further. I shall just press this and….88MPH! >>

Episodic adventure crafter Telltale Games has dropped all charges for the first installment of its Back to the Future series, making it available for free download to anyone with a PC or Mac capable of playing it. More »

The plight of young Martin McFly continues today, with the PC and Mac launch of the third chapter in Telltale's Back to the Future adventure games, subtitled Citizen Brown. This time around, Marty finds himself in an alternate universe-version of 1986 Hill Valley, where he'll have run-ins with darker versions of the Doc and Jennifer -- the latter of which is voiced by the film's Claudia Wells.

The release of this third chapter provides some compelling evidence as to why these games are better than the films themselves: See, if these were the movies, the third chapter would be the last one we get. Telltale's got two more installments in the chamber, because that's how they roll.

As if A.J. LoCascio's eerily accurate impression of Marty McFly wasn't haunting enough in-game, how about some live-action joshin' between LoCascio and the original actress who played Marty's love interest, Jennifer? That's just what Telltale has delivered in the latest trailer for the third episode of Back to the Future: The Game, starring multiple versions of Jennifer (played by original Back to the Future actress Claudia Wells, who was replaced by Elisabeth Shue in the sequels).

For her part, Wells says she was "thrilled" when LoCascio asked her to reprise her role from the film. "I said, 'I wanna be Jennifer!'" she explains in the latest clip. And that's when things get ... strange. Head past the break and see for yourself.

Back to the Future returns to our relatively recent past (the protagonist's present) in "Citizen Brown," the third episode in the series, available next week for PC and Mac. In the latest episode, Marty and Doc Brown get back to 1986 to find they've mucked up the timeline again ... and not in the fun "Biff washing dad's car" kinda way. Now they must deal with a powerful version of Doc Brown, but will he be friend or foe?

BttF Episode 2: "Get Tannen!" will also be available next Tuesday on PSN. An email newsletter sent out by Telltale states that information about the European PSN and iPad launch dates for the second episode is "coming soon."

Time is finally catching up for the PlayStation Network installments of Telltale's Back to the Future games. While the first episode arrived eight weeks after its PC- and Mac-based counterpart, the second episode -- dubbed "Get Tannen!" -- is due for digi-release on March 29, just under six weeks later. If this pattern keeps up, we expect to see each subsequent PSN-bound installment arrive two weeks closer to the initial computer release; with five episodes, that means the fifth release should be simultaneous.

Right?

At a recent press event, Telltale Games' Steve Allison boasted that Back to the Future has been a real boon for the developer. "It's certainly our most successful franchise to date," the SVP of marketing revealed, without offering exact sales figures. Telltale credits the game's early success to a variety of factors, including a strong license and excellent voice talent. (We certainly weren't the only ones amazed by AJ LoCascio's Michael J. Fox impersonation.)

The first episode in the Back to the Future adventure series launched in December on the PC. Just this week, the second episode launched, along with an iPad and PSN release of the first episode. "We're pushing it out to as many people as we can," Allison concluded.

You can check out the first episode for free: Just head to telltalegames.com/bttfoffer and use that 121GIGAWATTS code.

Telltale's Back to the Future adventure game series has aligned with our timeline to deliver its second episode, "Get Tannen!" for PC and Mac. While mucking about in Hill Valley during Prohibition, Doc and Marty may have caused -- what time traveler's universally consider -- an "oopsie," which prompts the duo to go back in time to fix what went wrong. Isn't this why your mother warned you about time travel?

If you're curious about the series, make like a tree and check out our review of episode one ... unless you're chicken.

Worth its weight in plutonium?

Is the first episode of Telltale's Back to the Future game arriving two months late on PS3, or are we writing this post two weeks early? The monthly Back to the Future journey begins on PlayStation Network on February 15, which, last we checked, isn't now. (An iPad release is also planned for "later this month.")

You can purchase the entire five-episode season on the PlayStation Store for $20, a discount of 20 percent off the PC price. PS3 players, it seems Telltale loves spoiling you guys.

The future is coming.

#screengrab Jazon, your high score just saw some serious shit. If you have no idea what is going on, see here for reference (via ALBOTAS). More »

#review When Doc Brown enthuses that we're "going to see some serious shit" in this game's intro, he may have been exaggerating just a touch. More »

#pc Here's the demo reel for A.J. LoCascio, whose dead-ringer Marty McFly voice highlights the Back to the Future game now out for PC. LoCascio gets into character by remembering how he'd ask a girl out in high school. More »

Maybe it's the charming performances by the leads, the blend of comedy and adventure that never hits any one note too hard, or plain old nostalgia - honestly, it's probably a little bit of all those - but there's something special about the Back to the Future series.

This is perhaps the best compliment I can pay to Back to the Future: The Game: Episode 1. Whatever that specialness is, whatever the source of the magic that's made the series a cultural touchstone for so many, Telltale's got it to spare.

Worth its weight in plutonium?

Final days for pre-order special.

TANSTAAFL.

Those of you who snagged the recently re-released Back to the Future set on Blu-ray were no doubt thrilled to learn that you'd also been gifted a "complimentary first episode" of Telltale's upcoming episodic series based on the classic series. Those of you who didn't pick up the videos but instead read the one-size-fits-all '121GIGAWATTS' code here on Joystiq were probably also thrilled because, hey - who doesn't want something for nothing?

Once again we learn There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch. If you pre-registered for that free episode on Telltale's site, you've probably already received an email that looks something like the one found after the break. In short: While the first episode - "It's About Time" - premiers on Mac and PC this Wednesday for "full season purchasers," the freeloaders will have to wait until "February, just in time for the series' second episode." And by then you'll miss the pre-order bonuses. Curse you, inevitable march of time!

[Thanks, Nick]

#telltalegames Marty McFly's epic time traveling adventure continues this Wednesday when Telltale Games releases the first episode of Back to the Future: The Game for the PC and Mac, picking up six months after the end of the original trilogy. More »

#screengrab Couldn't Lucasarts take a Telltale game and give it a retro touch? It only seems fair, considering the modern updates for Sam & Max and Monkey Island! By Jinn. More »

Flux capacitor? Fluxing.

The ball begins to drop.

It's December 31, 2010, 11:59:50 and Devon and Samantha are breathless. All night long, Grandpa Steve has promised to display a long-dormant ability for time travel. More over, at precisely midnight, he has promised to take them into the future.

"Five!" the room shouts. "Four! Three! Two! One!" Devon and Samantha close their eyes, brace for it.

... Nothing.

"Ta-da!" Grandpa Steve looks very pleased with himself. "I took us all into 2011!"

The kids take the awkward three seconds, when all the couples kiss and the single people stare, to process this new information.

"... Bee Ess!" Devon shouts, just quietly enough that his mom won't hear over the champagne-soaked rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" on which the guests conspire. "Yeah, bee ess!" says Sam at the same volume. "I thought this was going to be time travel like in Telltale's Back to the Future, released on Mac and PC on December 22!"

Devon piles on, "Yeah, and your stupid trick didn't even come with a collector's DVD which Telltale Store shoppers got!"

Grandpa Steve shrugs with an impish smile and slinks to the kitchen, leaving Devon and Sam to reflect on how 2011 has nowhere to go but up.

Telltale Games' episodic video game take on Back to the Future fires up the Mr. Fusion on December 22 on PC and Mac. But it from Telltale Games and get a special DVD when the first season wraps up. [Telltale Blog] More »

Telltale's next episodic series starting soon.

#movies Telltale's series of adventure games based on Back to the Future will be with us real soon. Here's some footage of Marty McFly hangin' out with Doc Brown. A young, young Doc Brown. More »

Doc Brown gets animated.

The gameplay style is detailed! Find out how the five-part game will become the spiritual successor to the epic movie trilogy!

Marty McFly's eternal nemesis, Biff Tannen, will indeed rear his ugly, manure-covered head in the five-part Back to the Future: The Game series, as revealed by an update to the game's official site. Tannen, who's voiced by part-time electro-rock musician and part-time voice actor Kid Beyond (best name ever?), will play lead antagonist to Marty and Co. during their adventures. For a better idea of his role, check out the official site's recently added, slightly spoilery guide to the series' five episodes.

Wait, did we say "lead antagonist?" No, that's not right -- we imagine the real foe in Telltale's adaptation is, as ever, the very real threat that Marty will create a time paradox, sundering our reality into infinite, unsustainable sub-realities, jettisoning our very existence into the realm of oblivion. Compared to that, some jumpsuit-wearing thug isn't all that intimidating.