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Modern Warfare 3 Elite Premium getting Spec Ops mission, three Faceoff maps tomorrow on 360 [update]
Modern Warfare 3 "Elite" premium subscribers on 360 are getting a brand new Spec Ops mission and three new Faceoff missions tomorrow. That's according to the Twitter account of Infinity Ward Executive Producer Mark Rubin, who named the three maps "Vortex," U-Turn," and "Intersection," and the mission "Arctic Recon."Activision's official content calendar isn't updated to reflect Rubin's tweet just yet, but we expect it'll show up not too far from now. Despite the calendar showing three pieces of content – dubbed "map," "mission," and "classified" – don't panic. Rubin said "those guys need to update the categories to be more accurate," which translates to "I swear this is really the truth, regardless of what that silly old calendar says."As always, the content will show up a bit later for MW3 players on PlayStation 3 and PC, per Microsoft's long-standing exclusivity agreement with Acti. We reached out to the publisher for more information, screens and video, and will update this post when we know more.Update: The Infinity Ward Twitter account just dropped the image above of Spec Ops mission "Arctic Recon," and said that only two of the three Faceoff maps Rubin spoke of – "U-Turn" and "Vortext" – will go live tomorrow. The same account posted earlier that three Faceoff maps are included. We're trying to clarify the situation with Activision.Update 2: The tweet was deleted and updated to reflect all three maps. Okay then, to be clear: three Faceoff maps ("Vortex," "U-Turn," and "Intersection") and one Spec Ops map ("Arctic Recon").
All Points Bulletin: Reloaded offers free one-day premium membership with patch 1.8
All Points Bulletin: Reloaded's patch 1.8 is now live, and GamersFirst is offering a special deal for players who want to jump in and experience some cops-and-robbers mayhem. Any APB players who log in within the next seven days will find a free one-day premium membership code on their accounts. These codes can be redeemed for, as the name would suggest, one free day of premium membership, which grants bonuses such as a 20% discount on the new cash-shop items. The one-day premium bonus makes this the perfect time for veteran and new players alike to jump into San Paro and experience all of the new features of 1.8 and the recently released patch 1.7, each of which introduced a wealth of content such as fight club challenges, new weapon mods and skins, and more. To get in on the action for yourself, head on over to the game's official site.
Behind the Mask: The Silver Archetype
In all my time playing Champions Online, never in a million years would I have expected the game to go F2P. Considering just two years ago, Jack Emmert said "microtransactions make me want to go die," I don't think anyone could reasonably anticipate this bold of a financial move. On top of this, Cryptic is adding Archetypes -- essentially premade character classes -- to streamline character creation for new players. For players used to the classless gameplay of CO, this is going to be more than a little weird. There's so much ground to cover on this news. I'm sure you all have a lot of blind speculation, and I do too. A lot of people will be doomsaying about the future of CO, but I think this is the biggest set of positive things for the game we've seen since... ever.
Tom Hale talks Second Life premium accounts
Back in September, when we first noticed the hiring of Tom Hale (T Linden) as Linden Lab's new Chief Product Officer, we had a little difficulty envisioning quite what Hale's role would even be, given that Linden Lab and Second Life was very platform-oriented and had very little product-focus. Apparently, adding that focus as an extra consideration throughout the business seems to be the thing. Initially, we were more or less expecting Hale to be more focused on, well, the sort of thing that Rivers Run Red's Immersive Workspaces is providing. Perhaps there's some of that in there too. Right now, Hale's looking at Second Life premium accounts and stipends and how they can be improved; a topic which has been much on the Lab's mind of late.
Premium accounts and the Second Life business model
Much has been made of a statement recently by Linden Lab's new CEO, Mark Kingdon, that 'Premium subscriptions are immaterial in our overall business.' You see, in a sense that's pretty much spot-on. Unless a premium account owns more than 512 square metres of the Linden Estate (colloquially known as the Second Life Mainland), that account is either only very small revenue for the Lab, or actually represents an ongoing cost to them. Linden Lab's CFO, John Zdanowski said, 'The revenue we generate from premium subscriptions is largely offset by the stipends we pay out to these account holders, so this decline doesn't have a material impact on our business.' Either you're on an older premium account with a 500 Linden Dollar per week stipend grandfathered in, or you're on a newer premium account with 300/week. There's also a choice of plans, ranging from monthly to annual. Let's take a look at the relative values.
Dungeon Runners now accepts Paypal
Just when you thought NCsoft's Dungeon Runners just couldn't get any better, they break out with a new way to pay. Now, Paypal is an option when paying for your premium membership. Of course the free-to-play option is still available, but they just make it so enticing to get that premium membership with extra storage space, better items and freedom from ads.This Paypal usage does have some restrictions, of course. It only applies to those products purchased from the PlayNC Store and NCcoin purchases. It's also important to note that Paypal is not a payment option for any recurring subscription fee payment plans, only for the premium membership itself.
