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Aika item shop opens
Aika has been generating some buzz here on Massively as a new PvP-focused free-to-play game with some interesting gameplay mechanics. It's been in open beta for a little while now, and the game has taken the first cautious steps toward their business model: the item shop for the game has gone live. Considering what happened when the last gPotato free-to-play game launched its item shop, it's hard not to be a little... leery of what might ensue when the fans look at the pricing. Sure enough, there have been threads popping up in reaction, but the overall response has been fairly low-key. It would seem that the impact of what happened to Allods Online and its price model were taken to heart. The shop still isn't quite live on the official site, but it promises to make life at least mildly easier and offer several convenience features to players. So if you've been waiting to try Aika until you see how the cash shop plays out, you might want to go over and check the open beta out now.
Champions Online gives a mini-state of the game
It's been a bit of a rough ride lately for Champions Online. Their initial plan for a paid mini-expansion met with a reception that could best be described as "frothing rage," and even their later reversal didn't exactly calm the waters. To make matters worse, their large "Kitchen Sink" patch met with equally mixed reviews at the same time. In hopes of stepping up their community relations, Cryptic has been pushing out a great deal more news to the players, including both their new GM Blog feature and a recent pint-sized State of the Game letter. A re-examination of the "Kitchen Sink" patch, affectionately dubbed the "Kitchen Sink Scrub," is being pushed out in the near future, with a week or so to go before it hits the live servers. The mini-expansion, dubbed Champions Online -- Revelation, should also be going live sometime in the middle of March. Players hoping to get a bit of an early start on it will be happy to note it's also going to be hitting the test servers some time within the next week, letting the new zone get a thorough examination. With the promise of an upcoming site devoted specifically to the expansion, it seems like Champions Online is really trying to wash out the bad taste of their missteps.
