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Yahoo Mail app update makes it easier to manage receipts and track deliveries
Yahoo has launched its Mail app with a number of updates designed to help users track receipts, gift cards and "free trial" subscriptions
Star Wars: The Old Republic developers detail 1.3, free trials, and free transfers
Have you been holding off on trying Star Wars: The Old Republic until the game offers a free trial? It looks like your wait is almost over. At the recent London Comic Con, the development team discussed the upcoming addition of a level-limited free trial. You'll be free to adventure up to a certain point, but to get the full game experience, you'll need to subscribe. That's the smallest part of the game's upcoming additions, however; the improvements for players who wish to play together include upcoming free server transfers as well as a substantial expansion of existing server caps. Patch 1.3 is also bringing the long-awaited group finder to the game to help get players away on party tasks in a timely fashion. Patch 1.3 won't just be about playing together, however, and the developers also spoke more on the addition of adaptive gear and new Legacy perks for characters. It's plenty to look forward to for players of the game, so if you haven't yet taken a peek at the upcoming changes, you may wish to do so. [Thanks to The_grand_nagus for the tip!]
RealNetworks to refund $2 million, 'guilt' box stays un-ticked
Paid for subscriptions from RealNetworks you didn't ask for a few years ago? You may be eligible for a refund. Washington State's Attorney General sued the company over a free trial of its Rhapsody music service, which had a pre-ticked box for additional content that went unnoticed by many who signed up. When clients stopped the trial without also canceling the extra options, charges often accumulated in the hundreds of dollars before being seen. While admitting no wrongdoing, RealNetworks agreed to discontinue the boxes, comply with federal laws and give refunds to any customers who signed up that way between January 2007 and December 2009. If that might be you, expect a postcard from RealNetworks or check their website to apply for a refund. Hopefully you'll be less, um, ticked.
SOE apologizes for delay of SWG customer loyalty free trials
Many Star Wars Galaxies players were disappointed to find that the free membership trials promised to them by October 15th had not been delivered. Well, Sony's sorry too, but don't worry: The company is making it up to players by... actually activating the free trials this time! An official post over at the Star Wars Galaxies forums apologizes for the delay and offers players free trials for five SOE titles: DC Universe Online, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, Free Realms, EverQuest, and EverQuest II. While most of these games are technically free-to-play, Sony's offer will upgrade all prior SWG account-holders to paid membership status for each game until December 31st of this year. So if you had a SWG account in good standing prior to October 15th, head on over to the official forum thread for details on how to claim your free trials.
City of Heroes retires free trials, reopens Winter Chalet
Freedom is coming for City of Heroes fans, and that means the existing free trial for the superhero MMO will soon be redundant. As of August 17th, players will find they can no longer create free trial accounts nor make use of the game's refer-a-friend feature (although Paragon Studios promises to unveil a replacement buddy program in the next few weeks). Free trial accounts opened before the August 17th deadline will last their full duration, so if you want to check out the game before it officially goes free-to-play later this year, the time is now! Current players will find even more reasons to appreciate their subscriptions: As of this morning, Paragon has toggled on a few elements of the game's winter event, including the Winter Chalet and ski slopes. It's more like sledding in August than Christmas in July, but now you have a reason to drag those cold-weather costumes out of storage.
WoW goes free-to-play through level 20
Welcome! It's a good day to be one of the few remaining human beings who isn't playing World of Warcraft. While previously players who set up a new trial account were limited by 14 days of playtime and a level cap, Blizzard announced today that players on any trial account are able to play the game forever for free. The catch, of course, is that players are capped at level 20 until they upgrade. You can try out any of the races and classes available up through The Burning Crusade expansion, including the blood elves and draenei, with no time limit and no limit on characters created. If you do get the hankering for more WoW thanks to the trial, you can get the digital Battle Chest, which includes classic WoW and The Burning Crusade, for $19.99 (as soon as the Blizzard site works again, anyway). Trying out WoW for the first time with one of these trials? Have a friend who's just starting out and needs a push in the right direction? Check out WoW Rookie, our resource for new or casual players, with topics like: Turn WoW into quality time by playing with a partner Pick the class that's right for you Learn how to run dungeons with groups For a full list of the restrictions placed on endless trial accounts, check after the break.
Perpetuum doubling world size, offering free trials
What's new in the world of Perpetuum? Well, free trials for starters, as Avatar Creations has officially introduced a 15-day grace period for each newly created account. Trial players will not be able to trade items or currency, and they also will be prevented from joining corporations in order to safeguard the game's economy from exploits. Perhaps the biggest update in the world of Perpetuum is, well, the world -- or rather, the world as it will look in an upcoming patch. Avatar's official dev blog details plans to effectively double the size of the planet known as Nia in a patch "planned for about a month from now." The new territory will include six new islands (three of them safe zones and three free-for-all areas). All of the zones will boast infrastructure, NPCs, and materials, and Avatar plans on introducing missions shortly after going live with the update.
The Mog Log: Layers upon layers of questions
There's a lot coming down the pipeline for fans of both Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XI. And there are a lot of questions to be asked, even though not all of them quite mirror those of your beloved author. (Those questions are generally shouted at the sky, insinuating it can hear me and that it needs to give me a beta key.) But while I'm not busy staring at a harsh, uncaring sky, I can certainly offer you a fair number of answers. hatri1181 asks: "I scored really low on the benchmark, but my system beats the living hell out of the min specs. Does that make any sense to anyone else?" Yes. The benchmark isn't totally accurate, as many people were screaming as soon as it was released, and it features several odd points. Points such as being sponsored by one of two major GPU manufacturers, and highlighting the most congested areas of gameplay with no options to turn settings down, only up -- the sort of things that have resulted in people being fully capable of running the benchmark and having scores telling them they could not.
WAR Grab Bag no. 7: Recruit-a-Friend, trials and more
Warhammer Online's Grab Bag 7 discusses the recruit-a-friend and trial programs, as well as a handful of quite specific questions relating to dungeons and items found later in the game -- in other words, it's got a bit of something for everyone. There's good news for Europe, as the recruit-a-friend promotion is being sorted out by GOA right now and should be available to Europeans soon. Some confusion regarding the trial client is also cleared up; yes, it is the same as the retail game client, but trialing players who want to subscribe will still need to pick up a retail copy to get an account key. Perhaps the most interesting bit of trial-related information is that a standalone trial, independent of recruit-a-friend, is on its way too. The introduction of free trials usually feels like the beginning of a new stage in an MMO's life, reminding you that they're not that new anymore and should have had time to find their feet.. Occasionally free trials are brought about in an attempt to save a sinking ship, but we really don't think that's the case here. You can read about the trials, along with the answers to some other miscellaneous questions, at the latest Grab Bag.
