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Aion's third podcast takes on the east vs. west gaming approaches
The next video in the Aion podcast series is up, and this time the staff speaks on the differences in how the Western and Eastern markets perceive gameplay, and how Aion manages to stretch their Tower of Eternity across both markets. According to the podcast, the team has designed Aion with a global mindset -- such as tempering the experience grind with story and adapting the graphics to straddle the cultural preferences of both markets. In addition to that, they wished to bring new perspectives to the industry as a whole, including their take on flight and the use of PvP in PvE settings, such as the notorious Abyss.But don't take our word for what they said in the podcast when you can view it right here! We've embedded the video in this post right after the break, so hit "continue reading" to see what the Aion team has to offer!
Acclaim's MMO strategy examined
Next Generation brings us the lowdown from Howard Marks -- CEO of the newly-reopened Acclaim -- on Acclaim's MMO strategy. His plan is to bring Eastern games to the West with no subscriber fee, but instead to make money via in-game ads and micropayments.Next Gen's feature asks if this will work in a market with no real precedent. By dropping the phrase "free game" and instead focusing on games as a service, Marks intends it to. However, his strategy doesn't come across with a lot of confidence in this article. It'll be interesting to see if Acclaim manage to set a good precedent for an East-to-West business model, and more importantly whether others follow suit.
