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Free for All: Five popular cash-shop item types
Over the next few weeks, I would like to take a look at cash shops. Despite many good experiences I have had with them, even my referring to a cash shop can conjure up not-so-happy images for many players. For myself, a cash shop gives me a sense similar to a visit to a toy store -- a toy store where everything is dirt cheap. Good cash shops can not only make you want to spend money, but give you an item or experience that was well worth your cash. Before getting into the heavy-lifting topics, I will go over five of my favorite cash-shop item "types." Bear in mind that there is always some game that features some variant of each of these types. Also remember that there are always more categories, but that these represent what I think are the most popular and make the most money. Feel free to suggest any categories that you think do something similar, or correct me where you think I'm wrong.
Indian company purchases fifty percent stake in Codemasters
While some gamers in the US may not be immediately familiar with Codemasters, we know our readers across the pond will immediately recognize them as the company with the rights to publish Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, and (the "who-knows-when-it-will-release") MMO Jumpgate Evolution overseas. With that said, last year we heard that the COO at Codemasters, Tony Williams, decided to step down from Chief Organizational Officer. Not too long after that, there were rumors that Warner Brothers was looking into buying the company. Today, it seems that a company from India called Reliance Big Entertainment has pounced, and now owns a 50% stake in Codemasters. Apparently, Reliance Big Entertainment is very well known in India. It's subsidiary company, Zapak Digital Entertainment, owns the largest online gaming portal in the country as well. This gaming-specific company will be the one in charge of overseeing the investment in UK-based Codemasters. As to what this could mean for MMO gamers in the EU, we'll have to wait and see. Perhaps Reliance/Zapak will see fit to close the gap in differences from the Turbine-controlled version of Lord of the Rings Online. Or perhaps this new company will finally roll the Codemasters version of Dungeons and Dragons Online over to the same free-to-play model that has been such a huge success for Turbine in the States. No matter what, this is going to be interesting to watch. [via Joystiq]
PAX East 2010: Turbine on renting vs. owning in the MMO market
Blizzard's presence at PAX East 2010 was even smaller than I was expecting, with two or so Community reps there to oversee the StarCraft II tournaments going on. Boston-based Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine, though, had a very large demo area which saw a lot of traffic over the course of the three-day event. Con-goers could stop by and demo LotRO, as well as Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, and hobnob with the Community reps and developers present. With the WoW-specific news at the event registering somewhere between "literally nothing" and "nearly nothing" on the newsy scale, I decided to stop by Turbine and ask them a few questions about their MMOs. I ended up speaking with their Design Director, Ian Currie. "I'm from WoW.com," I said, "so obviously I don't normally do a lot of reporting on your games. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever even played DDO, and I've only played a little bit of LotRO." Currie smiled and said "You really don't know what you're missing, then, do you!" "Apparently not," I acquiesced, "but maybe you can help fill in the blanks."
One Shots: Rain on the docks
As we saw this morning in our Daily Grind topic, many eyes are turning back to Turbine's Dungeons & Dragons Online. We're hoping that with the influx of new people headed there we'll see bunches of great One Shots from there like today's image. This one was sent in to us by Tsyris, who sent in a quick note about this image: [Here's a picture of] my fighter looking at a beautiful rainy evening at The Harbor in Dungeons and Dragons Online.Are you wandering in a world we don't often see? We want to see images from you, if so! Just email us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it out here and give you the credit!%Gallery-9798%
Atari files Turbine D&D suit under 'frivolous'
With a flick of its wrist, Atari has motioned to dismiss Turbine's lawsuit against the publisher, calling the Dungeons and Dragons Online developer's recent legal actions "frivolous" and "a great disservice to D&D fans and to the MMO community at large." Turbine alleges in its lawsuit that Atari failed to uphold a licensing agreement associated with the D&D MMO and did not devote the necessary resources to market the game, due in part to a supposed "strategy" to promote its Champions Online MMO instead.Unsurprisingly, Atari has filed to dismiss Turbine's suit and, in addition, filed a secondary complaint seeking "monies" allegedly owed to the publisher by Turbine (as supposedly uncovered by a third-party audit). In its official statement, posted in its entirety on IndustryGamers, the publisher adds, "While Atari hopes for a quick and fair resolution, it remains fully committed to the D&D communities worldwide and will vigorously protect the franchise and its own integrity in this matter." Oh, by the way, did you see that Champions Online was released this week!%Gallery-71416%
Turbine sues Atari over Dungeons and Dragons Online licensing
Stick with us, because this could get confusing: Courthouse News reports that Turbine – the Massachusetts-based developer behind the Dungeon and Dragons Online MMO – is suing Atari, publisher of the title. At issue is Turbine's claim that Atari has "breached a licensing agreement" related to the development of the free-to-play Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited. Turbine says that while it has spent millions developing the franchise "and continues to invest money to operate and maintain the service," Atari "acted unreasonably in its efforts to promote and distribute [Dungeons and Dragons Online] and failed to devote the necessary resources to it." So, Atari continued to accept payments ("including future royalty payments") from Turbine for the Dungeons and Dragons Online "sublicense" though, Turbine alleges, Atari had a "strategy" to either "terminate Turbine as part of a shakedown" or "proceed with termination in bad faith to benefit from its own competing product at Turbine's expense." We can assume that "competing product" is Atari's upcoming Champions Online MMO, being developed by its recently acquired in-house MMO dev Cryptic Studios. So, to recap: Atari wants to terminate the license agreement with Turbine to develop and maintain the Dungeons and Dragons Online MMO franchise, including the just-announced "Unlimited" free-to-play variant. Turbine says that such a termination threatens its "past investment" in the franchise and the "goodwill" it's developed with the DDO playerbase, and those they expect to play DDO Unlimited. And now, it's up to the courts! [Thanks, Mark]
Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited coming Aug. 6
In a crowded MMORPG market, we always had trouble remembering which one, exactly, Dungeons and Dragons Online was. As of August 6, it'll be a little easier, and the game becomes Dungeons and Dragons Online: Unlimited, or "the one that used to be a paid one, but now is free."It's an interesting strategy, and we're curious to see how it pans out. We'd issue a stern reminder, though, that the true cost of MMORPGs (your immortal soul) is much pricier than a few more bucks on your Visa every month.
Massively's DDO Unlimited developer tour
Love can sometimes be a fickle thing, but I'm pretty sure that I love what Turbine has done with the DDO Store in Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited. I'll admit that initially I was a little concerned with the concept of an in-game store, but after playing with it at bit and asking some questions my fears have pretty much melted away.I was lucky enough to be given a developer tour of the Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited beta last Friday, and had a thoroughly good time. The DDO Store is a streamlined and snappy experience. The store doesn't simply attempt to shove its wares onto the unsuspecting player. Instead, it attempts -- and largely succeeds -- in being a helpful, generally friendly addition to the game.%Gallery-66994%
DDO: Eberron Unlimited details surface, new class revealed
Well, we can't say we exactly saw this one coming. Turbine has pulled back the curtain on some details for Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, namely the new class being added with the major business model shift. Although, we've also learned there'll be new combat updates and a return of Stormreach's marketplace, which was destroyed last year.As for the new class, it's been revealed to be the Favored Soul. According to Turbine's press release, "Favored souls draw on divine magic to both heal and destroy. Like clerics, favored souls have access to powerful healing spells, but they are also more skilled with weapons than any other spell caster. Like sorcerers, they get a larger number of spell points than other spell casters and cannot freely switch spells at taverns or rest shrines." So it sounds like we're dealing with a cross between a Cleric and a Sorcerer, which is pretty awesome actually. What sorts of weapons -- and screens of the class itself -- remains to be seen, sadly.Still, we should have even more details in the coming weeks and hopefully Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited will launch sometime this summer.
DDO Unlimited screens show off in-game store
Turbine has released twelve new screens for their revamp of Dungeons & Dragons Online, which will add the "Unlimited" modifier sometime after its current beta run. In our gallery, you'll find several looks at the various windows and interfaces in which the non-subscribing players will have the opportunity to purchase additional content piecemeal, while they play.It's pretty interesting to see a previously pure subscription style game go this direction, and we're very curious to see how it plays out for Turbine and the Dungeons & Dragons Online community. This business model shift could bring in a lot of new blood, and may in the long run bring about additional content that wouldn't have been possible to develop otherwise.If you really want to know more about the upcoming changes and exactly what they mean for DDO and its community, check out our interview with Turbine on the subject, our write-up on the topic by Massively's Colin Brennan or our recent Massively Speaking podcast with DDOCast host Jerry Snook. Can you tell we're interested in this one yet?%Gallery-66255%
