micropayments
Latest
Blendle brings its pay-per-story news hub to the US
If you've ever thought that it would be wiser to pay a few cents to read a paywalled article than shell out for an expensive subscription, you're about to get your chance. Blendle is launching a US beta for its news aggregation service, which lets you pay to read individual stories from outlets like the Economist, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. Prices start at as little as 9 cents a pop, and you can even ask for an instant refund if you think you've been stiffed. At the moment, the only big catch is that you have to sign up for a waiting list to get in -- you may be twiddling your thumbs for a while.
Amazon offers Unity plug-ins to Kindle Fire devs, makes in-app payments possible
Game devs looking to enhance "engagement" (read: monetization) for their mobile titles now have an ally in Amazon. The Bezos-backed company has just made plug-ins available free to Kindle Fire developers using the popular Unity game engine. Now those devs will have access to APIs for In-Game purchasing and GameCircle which, in the latter case, allows for the addition of Achievements, as well as the ability to Whispersync across devices. So, what does this mean for you, the end user? Well, aside from the ability to continue playing from where you last left off on any of the company's tabs, it also brings mobile gaming that much closer to the console experience. But mostly that you can look forward to a future bill filled with micropayments.
Wii U controller to pack NFC, says Iwata, create new gameplay options
Aching for more details on Nintendo's elusive Wii U console? Let Satoru Iwata scratch your itch -- quarterly reports aren't just for reporting losses and announcing new networks, after all. Boss hog Iwata told investors that Nintendo is spicing up their next console's tablet-esque controller with a little NFC magic. Nintendo's President briefly entertains the possibilities of a console controller rocking near field communication, suggesting that Skylander-like figurines or NFC enabled cards could be created to present a "new play format in the video game world." He even says the technology might be used to implement micropayments. Sounds neat -- but will you be able to buy DLC with your Google Wallet?
IBM wins diet monitoring and reward patent, celebrates with sip of Spirulina
Does your employer offer a "wellness rebate program?" No? Then you can't be working for IBM, which has been bribing its staff to eat healthier since 2004. It's a Watson-worthy idea, because what the company pays out in incentives it recoups in lower healthcare costs. Now, after a decade of toing and froing with the USPTO, IBM has finally patented a web-based system that makes the whole process automatic. For it to work, a person must use a micro-payment network to buy food, which allows their purchases to be monitored and compared against their health records. If they've made the right choices, the system then communicates with their employer's payroll server to issue a reward. Completing the Orwellian circle, the proposed system also interacts with servers in the FDA and health insurance companies to gain information about specific food products or policy changes. You can duck the radar, of course, and buy a Double Whopper with cash, but it'll bring you no reward except swollen ankles. This is IBM we're talking about; they've thought of everything. [Photo via Shutterstock]
Apple Stores stocking Square credit card readers
Jack Dorsey's über-popular credit card readers got a big thumbs-up from Cupertino this week. Square's devices are hitting Apple's 235 US retail locations and Apple.com for $9.95 a pop -- plus the 2.75 percent that the startup takes off the backend each time you use the reader -- or you can always just sign up for a free one over on Square's site. The iPhone / iPad / iPod touch plug-in accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and yes, even American Express. The CEO of VeriFone will no doubt have plenty to say about the matter. Update: It turns out you get a $10 redemption code in the box when you buy a Square reader at an Apple store, so it is still technically free (just not, you know, when you buy it). [Thanks, Michael]
China's gold farming ban not really a ban
The other day, we reported on China's recent ban on trading real currency for virtual goods, and it was hailed as the end of gold selling in the MMO world. Unfortunately, it may not actually play out that way. While this would put a stop to some gold selling, it won't stop all of it thanks to a convenient little loophole.That loophole is the fact that their law has no jurisdiction over foreign transactions. While it absolutely can put a stop to these transactions on Chinese soil using Chinese servers and Chinese currency, Chinese goldfarmers can still happily (well, probably not happily) scrounge up gold on American realms and sell it to American players. Most likely, this new law won't have an impact on the gold selling industry whatsoever. The people being impacted are those crafting their games on a model of microtransactions rather than a subscription model. Developers, not gold farmers, will be harmed by this. A game like Free Realms is no longer a feasible option in China.
MMOGology: What will microtransactions mean for SWTOR?
Who's afraid of the big, bad microtransaction? Me. Count me with the skeptics when it comes to a microtransaction-based business model for Star Wars: The Old Republic. In case you missed the flurry of news surrounding the announcement, Shacknews reported that Star Wars: The Old Republic would use a microtransaction payment model in place of or in addition to a subscription model. After the article's release EA issued a brief response that, "no [official] statements have been made about the Star Wars business model." It's a story that's been covered and critiqued several times already on Massively, but I just can't leave this dead horse unbeaten. I've got to get a few licks in myself.
Game economy grows with micropayments
As was recently discussed in a similar topic here at Massively, the idea of micropayments for our MMOs and virtual worlds is growing in popularity among game developers, but is it the best option? According to several highly-successful companies such as Nexon and MindArk, it's not only the best option, it's the future of online business models.A spokesperson for MindArk, maker of Entropia Universe, says that over $400 million in U.S. funds has changed hands in their game's four year lifespan. While some companies have strict rules against the interchange between real world money and virtual credits, there are plenty of others who swear it's the only way to go these days. A perfect example of this, as cited by a PCworld article, reminds us that the downloadable album from Aerosmith's Guitar Hero ventures have earned them more sales than all other album sales combined. "Who would have thought ringtones, wallpaper screensavers, and non-game mobile entertainment would be a $250 million business?", adds Joseph Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.
A not-so-niche market?
How much do you have to spend a month on your games? There are doubtless those of you that run several at once, but here at Massively we've just had a straw poll and most people run 2 or 3 games actively. World of Warcraft appeared on more than half of the lists - but perhaps surprisingly nowhere close to all of them.Acclaim is building their appeal on the basis that everyone will have one game they're relatively faithful too (call it WoW for the sake of argument, they do!) and a number of other games that they will dip into. If you set up a system where you can choose from a multitude of games and pay a small fee for playing it now then you can make a living from this. Five million people paying 1c each day on average, is still $50,000 a day after all. There are other things this philosophy leads them to.
Gears of War COG tag videos are the new horse armor
We are not amused. We are not amused, at all! Horse armor was ridiculous, Need for Speed irked us further, but these have clearly been replaced with the five videos on the Xbox Live marketplace, available for 100 MS points each ($1.25 USD), showing the locations of all the COG tags in Gears of War. With free resources like GameFAQS and YouTube already doling out this information to the masses, this is nothing but an unadulterated grab for cash, and because P.T. Barnum was right about suckers, there will be plenty of people who pay for these videos.Although Mark Rein of Epic Games previously told us that it's Microsoft's store and they can do what they want, in all seriousness, this is insulting to gamers, legitimizes the belief that marketplace is continuing to test the limits of micro-softly-raping-payments and hurts the reputation of Epic. Although these videos are produced by Brady Games, the average consumer is just going to blame Epic and Microsoft. This is exactly what the marketplace should never be used for.
Major Nelson talks microtransations on G4
Major Nelson was featured on Attack of the Show last night. During "The Loop," Major Nelson discussed microtransactions with Kevin Pereira and Andrew Pfister, producer of 1UP Yours. The segment was too short, which is regrettable because it was actually very good. In fact, we'd love to see "The Loop" made into its own show. Naturally, Lumines was brought up. It was declared dishonest by Andrew, whereas Major Nelson reminded the audience that "it's about choice." They also briefly touched on EA's recent Godfather scandal. If you haven't heard, EA is charging 360 users for cheats. What's scary is that the cheats you can buy on Marketplace are available as cheat codes in the Xbox version. In other words EA actually removed the cheat codes from the 360 version just so they could make consumers pay for them. Unfortunately, the commentators just aren't given enough time to properly debate the issue. Here's hoping G4 sees the potential in this segment and gives "The Loop" some more air time. Watch the video after the break.
Lumines Live to charge for unlockables
First they charged for horse armor. Then they announced plans to sell one-time use "consumables." Now, even additional levels for a puzzle games will need to be purchased on Xbox Live.A review in the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine reveals that the $15 (1200 MS points) purchase price for Lumines Live on Xbox Live Arcade will not include the entire game. Advancing past a certain point in the game's Mission and Vs. CPU modes will require the purchase of additional level packs for $5 (400 MS points) and $3.75 (300 MS points), respectively. Regular readers may remember rumors back in June that Lumines Live multiplayer would require an additional purchase. While those rumors were denied, these single-player packs may have been the source of confusion. In a way, this is nothing new -- multiplayer maps for game like Call of Duty 2, Ghost Recon and The Outfit have always cost money on Xbox Live, and players have had to pay for new missions in Oblivion and new cars in Project Gotham Racing 3. But charging to progress in a puzzle game seems different somehow. Success in classic puzzle games of the past was limited only by the player's skill. Now, it seems, it may also be limited by the player's pockets.
Free basic service on "PlayStation Network Platform"
Going by the working title "PlayStation Network Platform," Sony has announced that the basic level of its online service will be free (at least at first).While the company's "Live-killer" will readily support the PS3 at launch in November, it is not known to what extent the "PNP" (er, "PSNP"?) will support the PS2 and PSP.What are supported, however, are voice/video chat, messaging, matchmaking, ranking, game data uploading/downloading, shopping, content downloading, micro payments, subscriptions, and entitlement (i.e., user access) management. All of this will be tied together with a Live-like user login ID/handle name. Hello, 360... More P(S)NP pics follow.
Alcohol and micropayments mix all too well
Micropayments are already flowing freely on Xbox Live and are becoming increasingly popular in MMO circles. However, Opposable Thumbs points out an unfortunate problem with any micropayment-based system that stores your payment details--it's all too easy to buy things when intoxicated.Of course, this problem extends beyond the realm of gaming, to websites and even real-world transactions. However, the nature of gaming as an entertainment activity means that perhaps enforced self-controls may help those of us whose wallets get looser with liquid.
