freemium
Latest
Tinder is rolling out its own in-app 'coins'
Tinder will introduce a virtual in-app currency designed to help users spend more time on the site and eventually pay real money.
Sega's new app lets you remotely win prizes from a real claw machine in Japan
If you've ever wanted to play around on a claw machine without all the hassle of leaving your house -- or even standing up -- technology has come through for you. Sega has launched a new mobile apps, Sega Catcher Online, that lets you do exactly that: play on a real life claw machine (also known as UFO catchers) via a video feed on your phone. Also, the machine is literally located in Japan, and if you win something it'll be delivered to you free of charge -- but that doesn't mean you don't have to pay to win.
Here attacks Google Maps with new freemium website plan
When visiting the website for a local restaurant or other small business, you'll likely see Google Maps embedded to show the location. Developers of such sites were recently thrown for a loop, however, when Google announced new, more expensive pricing and demanded a credit card and Google Cloud account for all API access to Maps. To profit from this discord, Here has unveiled a new "freemium" plan that offers many more free "transactions" (page loads) than Google Maps, with no need to provide a credit card.
Zynga's new CEO was also its first
Zynga's attempt to restore its former glory by hiring an Xbox executive as its leader hasn't exactly panned out. The game developer has announced that CEO Don Mattrick is leaving, effective immediately, with founder Mark Pincus once again taking the reins. It's not clear what prompted the sudden exit, but Pincus swears to the New York Times that Mattrick isn't getting the boot. Reportedly, the two agreed that it was a time for the changing of the guard.
Puppet Punch brings arcade action to center stage, literally
Puppet Punch is a new game for iPhone and iPad. Originally only in the Canada, Brazil and Austria App Stores, the title is now available in the United States. The game has a clear bias against puppets. Gameplay is similar to a whack-a-mole concept, just tapping to punch the puppets. There are various power-ups that come your way as well, plus coin bags to collect for missions and level up. Take out all your stress on some harmless puppets: Puppet Punch is free with in-app purchases for iOS. Don't be mistaken, Puppet Punch is far more than the aforementioned whack-a-mole comparison. It's just the core playing that's similar. Outside of that, the game feels like much of what you'd expect from games in its genre in the App Store. Naturally, there's a path to follow when leveling up, plus the app has loads of in-app purchase opportunities. The story revolves the character Pablo, whom you play in the game. Pablo enters an arcade and finds a hidden room with a game called Puppet Punch where he slips on boxing gloves and climbs a ladder to get punching. The various objects require different levels of force. Standard puppets need three punches to defeat while coin bags need one punch to collect. Puppet Punch also has bosses which require numerous punches to defeat. If you're affected in any way, you lose one "heart" or life. Lose all of them and sayonara. The puppets are just as angry at you as you are at them for some reason, since they all carry weapons of some sort. If you don't defeat them quickly enough, they unleash their weapons, which need a separate punch of their own to get rid of. To aid are a variety of power-ups like a slingshot, gun, fireballs and more. It's worth mentioning that Puppet Punch is an indie game, and for an indie game it's truly impressive. It's well-developed with excellent graphics and negligible bugs or hiccups. Playing the game is genuinely entertaining too. It definitely keeps you on your feet and if you miss a beat, you risk the chance of losing. What I'm not a huge fan of is all the in-app purchases and unnecessary complexities. While the game is free, the coins and mechs you earn go toward skipping obstacles, playing on after losing and "aura" shields for Pablo. Plenty of other games use this method for monetization, but in a simple punching game it feels off. I'd gladly pay US$0.99 or even $1.99 for the game in its entirely straight from the App Store to ditch all the bells and whistles that come with the now standard freemium model. That said, Puppet Punch is both charming and alluring. The graphics alone can attract anyone to the game, but chances are they stay for the fun playing experience. It's not that addictive or frustrating, but it's still quite gratifying in its own right. Grab Puppet Punch for iOS, out now.
PAX South 2015: Pox Nora is the coolest online card game you've never heard of
Pox Nora is a game that's hard to categorize. It's like Hearthstone, you see, because it's an online card game. But it's also like Civilization because it uses turn-based combat on a variety of maps with terrain that affects the battle. And maybe it's like Minecraft as well because it was built by a tiny team and developed incrementally through the feedback of a passionate fan base. Pox Nora was free-to-play before free-to-play was a thing. It's gone from tiny little indie to SOE-backed product and back again. And through its eight years, it's managed to fly quietly under the radar while its developers continually churn out content, implement community ideas, and expand its possibilities. At PAX South over the weekend, I sat down with Arthur Griffith, CEO of Desert Owl Games and co-creator of Pox Nora, to learn more about the game and its latest content additions.
PAX South 2015: Moonrise and State of Decay shine at the Undead Labs booth
Most media appointments at an event like PAX South 2015 work like this: You meet the person you're supposed to meet, that person shows you the game her studio is working on, and then you rush off to the next booth on your list while cursing yourself for not scheduling time for a snack. Undead Labs handled my PAX appointment a bit differently, sitting me down for back-to-back play sessions with brand-new tablet game Moonrise and a remastered version of State of Decay, the zombie survival game that put the studio on the map. It was a little jarring to go from adorable pet battles to being torn in half by a zombie, but the two-for-one session provided a nice glimpse of where Undead Labs has been and where it intends to go.
PAX South 2015: Slaying giants in Motiga's Gigantic
Motiga's Gigantic is one part Team Fortress, one part Dota, and one part Monster Hunter. The basic match structure will sound familiar to MOBA lovers -- two teams of five slug it out for superiority by controlling resources, leveling up, and killing one another -- but the skill-based mechanics, multiple maps, and shifting strategy priorities make the game more than a three-lane farm fest. Gigantic isn't about last-hitting or memorizing meta. Instead, it's about slaying giants and aiming true. I hopped in on a quick Gigantic match with some other press folks this afternoon at PAX South 2015, and in the midst of delivering an absolute drubbing to the scrubs (kidding!) on the other side of the table, I was able to get a feel for the game's combat system, characters, and the way its massive guardians change the way battles play out.
Choose My Adventure: A bit of TERA sightseeing
There's no question that TERA is one of the most beautiful MMOs on the market. Its open world features gorgeous terrain, cool set pieces, and lots of variation for the screenshot-obsessed. So when Choose My Adventure's voters elected to send me exploring last week, I was more than happy to oblige. I wouldn't accomplish much Fate of Arun stuff, but at least I'd get to see some sights! I also, somehow, learned a bit more about the Warrior class and how to effectively deploy it in combat. It's been a long, hard crawl, but I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of my combo abilities and my evasion techniques. I'm definitely dying less and even occasionally having moments when I feel totally in control of the actions my character is taking and the reasoning behind them. I almost feel... good. Until the next BAM smacks me down, of course.
Choose My Adventure: Air travel is not very safe in TERA
Massively multiplayer online games are collections of interlocking systems. A character's skills allow her to interact with the world, interacting with the world gives her experience points, experience points give her levels, levels give her skills, and so on. Inventory, items, professions, quests, and social interactions are also systems, layered on top of the core combat and gameplay mechanics. When you have mastery over an MMO, you don't just have mastery over skill rotations; you have mastery over all of the systems underneath. By the time a normal person hits 60 in En Masse's TERA, for example, that person can probably tell the difference between good gear and bad gear, organize a character's inventory, and use the game's menus. This is the stuff you take for granted when you've been playing an MMO for weeks, months, or years. Leaping into expansion content with a near-max-level character but little core game experience is, thus, not very smart. But I did it anyway, charging into TERA's Fate of Arun with a brand-new-yet-level-60 Castanic Warrior for Choose My Adventure. It went okay.
Choose My Adventure: TERA's Fate of Arun
As was mentioned many times during our end-of-year awards and the comments surrounding them, 2014 was a much better year for adding to existing properties than releasing new ones. Some of the biggest launches of the year came in the form of expansions like Rift's Nightmare Tide, Star Trek Online's Delta Rising, and Star Wars: The Old Republic's Shadow of Revan. Choose My Adventure even took the expansion route last month by investigating World of Warcraft's Warlords of Draenor. En Masse's TERA, too, received a huge update in 2014, though it launched with significantly less fanfare than some of the other major expansions of the year. Fate of Arun introduced new zones, added new dungeons, and raised the level cap (as expansions are wont to do). It also brought a new game mode in The Coliseum, a PvP/PvE hybrid arena-type thing. Perhaps most notably when compared to the other expansions of 2014, Fate of Arun is free to all TERA players. Since TERA so often flies under the radar with MMO fans, I thought it might be fun to dedicate this month's CMA to Fate of Arun. So get ready because it's time to start slaying some big-ass monsters.
Soloing through SWTOR's Shadow of Revan
Some people question how you can be a solo player in an MMO. To be honest, I, too, question how someone can do the whole game solo, but I do understand the desire to experience the game at your own pace. I believe the creators of Star Wars: The Old Republic understand this, too. Game director James Ohlen said that the biggest thing players wanted was the continuation of Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2. Although part of the SWTOR story did continue the Revan and Exile stories, a lot of players haven't even touched on that storyline. In a multiplayer game, it's hard sometimes to experience the story solo with all the group-only material. However, Shadow of Revan creates an amazing opportunity for the solo MMO player to really experience the full story it has to offer. Fair warning: I will not spoil major plot points for the expansion, but I will reveal some key characters in order to talk you through this leveling experience.
Battlefields open in Sevencore's first expansion
Sevencore may have just enjoyed its global launch at the beginning of this month, but there's already an expansion just around the corner. On December 2nd, Webzen will release Occupation War for the English server Balmung. This expansion includes the battlefields Tillau and Crimson Plateau, where players can earn victory points (VP) to spend on weapons, armor, random boxes, and even mounts from the PvP vendors. Each Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EST, one guild will compete against the others for control a certain area. Winners of this contest will be able to collect taxes and manage prices in regional goods as well as access the Presidential election for Inadar. [Source: Webzen press release]
Why App Store apps are now labeled 'Get' instead of 'Free'
If you're searching on either the Mac or iOS App Stores today, you might notice a little change in the way Apple labels free apps. Before, even if such an app contained costly upgrades, it would carry the label 'Free.' However, following the company's latest App Store refresh, that description will now read 'Get.' But why? Well, it likely has something to do with the pressure Apple has been under from European regulators to better protect children (and parent's bank accounts) from the shady world of in-app purchases.
Apple changes App Store "Free" button to say "Get"
Back in the day (as in yesterday) you could go to the App Store and tap a button that said FREE to download a free app. Today, you'll be tapping a button that says GET. Why? Speculation is that issues regarding in-app purchases and litigation overseas may be to blame. I guess it makes sense, as many "free" apps are really "freemium," meaning that to unlock more features or levels you have to pay for in-app purchases. Still, I think "Get" is a little silly at best and at worst, confusing to some users. We speculate that some may wonder that if they tap that button they will "get" a virus. Also, I think many people will wonder what the app actually costs -- because now the pricing info isn't up top. What do you think of Apple's change in terminology?
South Park pokes fun at freemium mobile games
Trey Parker and Matt Stone set their sights on free-to-play mobile games in the latest episode of South Park, skewering predatory game design tactics in the process. Titled "Freemium Isn't Free" (okay, that's maybe a little bit too self-referential, guys) the episode explores the creative process behind the addictive mobile game Terrance & Phillip: Give Us Your Money, which attempts to ensnare users through a combination of fake currency and flattery. It's ... surprisingly accurate, actually. Watch and think carefully about your next purchase in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. [Image: Comedy Central]
South Park skewers 'freemium' games
If your business model is conning kids into spending their parents' hard-earned app-store cash on in-app purchased "rewards," it's fair to say you deserve to be ripped. South Park did the honors with its "Freemium isn't Free' episode involving a Terrence and Philip-branded Candy Crush-style game created by Canada's "Minister of Mobile Gaming." After he exposits that it's just "harmless fun" (see the clip below) it turns out that its a diabolical scheme involving Satan and addiction. The (delightfully silly) plot is just a wrapper for the satire, of course -- which points out that such games suck players in by letting them spend virtual cash before introducing real lucre. As any Farmville addict can attest, they're also just "barely fun" enough to keep you playing. It starts off a bit slow, but ends with a rollicking finish including Satan's spot-on sum-up of the whole phenomenon. You can grab the episode here (US-only, sorry to say).
Choose My Adventure: Closing off our time in Swordsman
I've spent quite a bit of time in Perfect World Entertainment's Swordsman this month. Thanks to the unique layout of October 2014, Swordsman ended up getting an extra week compared to most Choose My Adventure endeavors. And while I'm ready to move on to the next game, it was nice to have some extended time with Swordsman before sending it to that magic hard drive in the sky. Sometimes a few extra days can give you time to see things in a game you didn't see before. Swordsman is definitely a game that grows on you. The experience continually improves. If you're willing to stick through the slow opening and limited early experience, there's a pretty interesting game waiting to be discovered.
Choose My Adventure: The once and future Swordsman
For the last three weeks, I've been whipping and kicking every bad guy I can find in Perfect World Entertainment's Swordsman in the hopes of understanding this peculiar wuxia MMORPG. My Choose My Adventure experience thus far has been mixed; I've enjoyed Swordsman's theme and setting, but its mechanics and hard-to-follow narrative have made the experience a touch less manageable. Swordsman from 1-30 seems at best like an extended tutorial and at worst like a game that plays itself. That's not just my opinion. All of the feedback I can find on the game seems to point in one direction: Swordsman's early levels aren't the main attraction. The real Swordsman exists in PvP (unlocked at level 30), guild quests (unlocked at level 35), and instances (unlocked at 15 -- not bad). Last week's combat discipline discovery at 25 further cemented the idea that Swordsman is a game designed to reward players who stick through the initial grind. I didn't have much time to play this last week, but I did get a chance to sit down with PWE product manager Gabrielle Heiland to talk about Swordsman's first expansion, the future of the game, and how Perfect World feels about the game's current "wait and see" design.
Premium Tinder features will help you find love before hitting a new city
If you don't count buying a few drinks or other niceties, finding love on Tinder is essentially free, but it looks like that'll change come next month. The app's CEO and cofounder Sean Rad recently teased at Forbes' Under 30 event that new features will be added that users have apparently been clamoring for. What's more, he thinks they'll offer enough value that a specific subset of its user-base will be willing to pay for them. The core experience of swiping left or right on potential matches to like or dislike, respectively, won't see any fees tacked on, but an ability to expand your Tinder reach beyond your current location and into other cities is coming in November. Perfect for striking up conversations before you start traveling, it'd seem. As you'll see in the video below, Rad isn't keen to say just how much this will cost as of now, only that monetizing these "hacks" will allow the outfit to reinvest in itself. With how the application has handled location data in the past, however, let's hope this turns out for the best.
