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Doubling season comes to Global Agenda
With Global Agenda's switch to a subscription-free format earlier this year, the game was put on track to begin launching content updates and small additions to replace the subscription fees. Up until now, the team at Hi-Rez Studios has been focused on the long-running Sandstorm series of updates, but the game has now begun selling boost packs as the first added service. And what do these packs do? They double your enjoyment -- assuming that you enjoy gaining experience and tokens. The packs -- available in 10-day, 30-day, and 90-day flavors -- double all experience and tokens earned for the duration for all characters on an account. Not coincidentally, the 30-day boost costs just under $15, the same price as a monthly subscription in most subscription-based games. Each boost runs for the specified length of time and is activated immediately upon purchase, which makes the benefits and drawbacks rather transparently obvious. Players of Global Agenda can purchase packs on the official site, with a small guide available for the new feature. [Thanks to Caleb Goh for the tip!]
More murmuring about 99 cent iTunes TV rentals
Well now. The previous rumor about 99 cent rentals for TV episodes on iTunes was just your average, but now that we know there's an Apple event just around the corner, it's time to start making hay out of all the chaff floating around. A source now tells the Wall Street Journal that Apple is pushing hard for a deal with Disney to nail down cheaper 48-hour rentals, presumably to come through iTunes and the revamped iTV service. Resistance to the deal is coming from TV companies (surprise, surprise), who are leery about putting too much content out through online services, fearing that people will leave their monthly cable bills behind if another service arises. What's funny about that, of course, is that Apple sees that's already happening. Services like Hulu Plus and Netflix are already making cable customers rethink their monthly fees, and so Apple is finding itself with a limited amount of time to get in on the action. The Wall Street Journal says the company is pushing for agreements "before the new television season starts," but now that we know there's an event planned for September 1st, it's more likely Apple is trying to get agreements set up before the announcement. Of course, as Philip Elmer-DeWitt points out, the real economic tradeoff isn't between the $0.99 rentals and a more lucrative plan the studios come up with -- it's between Apple's proven iTunes-based economy and the free-range TV programming on BitTorrent. And with its ties to Disney, odds are that Apple will definitely have enough to go forward, even if it doesn't have every channel signing on the dotted line just yet. So here's the question: if Apple does announce a new iTV, and a way to watch new television on demand right away, will you choose a system like that over whatever cable bill you're currently paying?
Palm retroactively refunding $50 webOS app submission fee -- each and every one
Palm's made a few half-baked attempts at wooing developers in the past, like that time in October when it waived the fees and review process for open-source apps (but not App Catalog entries) or when it provided discounted handsets that happened to carry a large carrier-specific ball and chain. This week, Palm's decided to be a bit more generous -- it's eliminating the $50 App Catalog submission fee entirely and putting every last cent back where it came from. With only 2,684 apps in the store, that's just $134,200 in total, but symbolically it's a very welcome gesture, no? According to the official Palm Developer Center Blog, developers should see credits appear in their PayPal accounts soon -- though perhaps not soon enough to spend it on the fruit of their fellow man's labor at 50 percent off.
DirecTV, DISH offer "free HD for life" with a few strings -- anyone signing up?
Just in case you missed the ads airing on TV or splattered across websites (like this one) DirecTV and DISH Network have launched headlong into their latest war. DISH started things last week by offering "free HD for life" (ad embedded from YouTube after the break), eliminating the $10 service charge for new customers signing up for a two year contract with automatic bill pay, or existing customers who either pay $99 "HD upgrade fee" up front, or sign a two year deal and add auto bill payment to their accounts. This weekend, DirecTV began offering its own "HD free for life" deal that scrubs its $10 fee for new customers under similar requirements to the DISH offer. By comparison, HD service is usually included with digital cable packages but we're wondering if dropping the extra fees is enough to make you think of joining the satellite team, or switching your current agreement. %Poll-47589%
VeriFone credit card reader gets deal to be in Apple Stores
The Square credit card reader for the iPhone has gotten most of the buzz around here, especially after we saw that impressive demo at Macworld a few weeks ago. But VeriFone's competing reader has been given the green light by Apple itself: the unit has been granted a deal for shelf space. VeriFone will be selling its PAYware Mobile units inside Apple's retail stores coming up as soon as the end of March. I'm not quite sure what the reasoning is behind this one on Apple's side, as the PAYware service seems to be a little more clunky than the Square solution: you have to pay both an activation fee and a monthly fee on top of the per-payment charge that Square asks for, and the reader itself is much bigger, taking up the iPhone's dock rather than just using the headphone port like Square's. Whatever Apple saw in them, you'll be able to get VeriFone's system right along with an iPhone or iPod touch all at the same time.. No matter which system eventually prevails (if indeed anyone needs to prevail at all -- there's certainly more than one credit card company, so there's no reason why there couldn't be more than one payment system on the iPhone), this does seems like a model that will change a lot of business transactions in all sorts of industries. It'll be interesting to see how the curve takes off once these things are up and running.
Fox & Time Warner Cable cut a deal, Turkish missiles to be removed
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/tech_news/Fox_Time_Warner_cut_a_deal_Turkish_missiles_to_be_removed'; We can finally stand down from our posts. After extended negotiations, Fox has made a deal with Time Warner Cable that will keep its programming on there and Bright House Networks. No word on any details, but we assume the ultra contentious websites will soon disappear as détente is the new word of the day. Check the PR after the break for the (lack of) further details - we're sure to find out how much cash Fox got by how much cable bills go up in the next few months.
The catch point of the free-to-play model
With the successful transition of Dungeons and Dragons Online to the free-to-play model, there's a lot of talk about why other games don't move over to the same model, with Warhammer Online frequently being cited as a game that would enjoy a great benefit from the switch. It would bring in more players, certainly, but there's more to the business than just bringing in new blood. The Ancient Gaming Noob makes an excellent point in a recent entry regarding the inescapable paradox of any game offering a free-to-play model -- that razor-edge split between giving the game away for free and making it entirely unreasonable to play it for free. The obvious idea is that more people will try the game if they don't think they have to commit, and if they feel they can keep playing without having to pay money they're more likely to stick with it. However, every player that isn't paying money is essentially a cost - and as the entry points out, your paying playerbase will frequently be a small percentage of your overall subscribers. The entry uses Battlefield Heroes as an example of a game where the equillibrium needed to shift to make it profitable, which is causing serious rumbling in the gaming community, but the example can apply for any free-to-play game. As the model becomes more and more popular, it's important to remember that it's not a certain hit -- and can turn what could have been a moderately-successful subscription game into a failed game if done wrong.
ECA members cry foul over auto-renewal cancellation hassles [update: Halpin responds]
In an attempt to bolster its ranks with thrifty members of the gaming community, the Entertainment Consumers Association recently partnered with a few online retailers to offer its members some nice deals on video games, including a pretty sweet discount on purchases from Amazon. To accompany these offers, the ECA had its own spectacular deal: One free year of membership, which would normally cost $19.99. All applicants had to do was provide their credit card information, sign up and enjoy the discounts that were being passed along to ECA members. Sadly, this is where the idyllic tale begins to go south. Shortly after the ECA began offering the free year of membership, the Amazon offer mysteriously disappeared. This drew the ire of the group's new members, but would be quickly forgotten when the option to cancel the auto-renewal of the membership fee, through the ECA's website, also vanished without a trace. An ECA forum moderator explained the option only appeared "for some browsers, but it wasn't intended to be there, wasn't a working option and was removed as soon as we became aware." Now, users who were drawn in by these discounts can only cancel their memberships (and subsequent annual $20 fees) by sending a letter directly to the ECA's accounting department (the address is posted after the jump). What's worse, those who canceled their auto-renewal plans with the temporarily available online option could still be locked into the annual fee, if the moderator's claim that it "wasn't a working option" is accurate. We've contacted the ECA to find out if anything is being done to inform these honorable, due-paying members that they're still, you know, due-paying members. Update: ECA president Hal Halpin issued a statement in response to the complaints, the full transcript for which can be found after the jump. He explains that the Amazon deal was taken down due to an exploit the ECA's new members found within the offer. He adds that simultaneously, the ECA updated its site as part of a "long planned for Content Management System upgrade," at which point they found a non-functioning feature which "looked to give some members the option to opt-out of the association." The option, which Halpin claims was never functional, was quickly removed. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
NYT: GAPP and Ministry of Culture clashing over Chinese WoW regulation
The New York Times has brought its journalistic bear to the story earlier this week about China deciding not to approve WoW's release over there under new service provider Netease, and it seems what we thought was confusion between two agencies has turned into a war. On one side, you have the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), who earlier this week said that Netease (WoW's local provider of Blizzard's game in China) could not legally be collecting subscriptions on a game that GAPP hadn't yet approved. But on the other side is the Ministry of Culture, who did approve WoW's content when it was run by The9, and are now saying that GAPP "overstepped its authority" by thinking it could "penalize online gaming" at all. Which means that the silly game of World of Warcraft has fallen smack dab in between two government agencies lobbying for power. In the past, says the NYT, GAPP has approved games pre-release, and the Ministry of Culture has overseen games once they've started running online. But WoW is a weird exception (it has been online for a few years already, and only went offline when Blizzard switched providers), and it looks like both agencies are grabbing for power and the sizable fees that come along with regulation. If they continue to clash, it'll be up to the State Council, China's cabinet, to determine who's in charge. And the NYT says if that happens, the Ministry of Culture has the edge, with lots of friends in the cabinet already. Meanwhile, Netease hasn't taken the game offline yet, apparently -- they still haven't been given official notice to do so. There's no word on how long this will take to shake out, but even China's players are tired of the fighting; they just want to get back into Azeroth and play. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Sony cuts bandwidth fees, publisher penalties from PSP Minis service
For its PSP Minis service, Sony is doing away with many of the fees associated with other digital networks to attract the attention of developers. As discovered by GamerBytes, the PlayStation Network's bandwidth fee -- for which publishers are charged per gigabyte of data transferred over PSN -- is revoked for the PSP Minis service. It's a somewhat odd decision, considering each Minis game will be limited to under 100MB. Certainly, a bandwidth charge would be one of the smallest fees a PSP Minis developer would have faced.The PSP Minis program also does away with many of the practices common to WiiWare and Xbox Live. Unlike WiiWare, there is no minimum sales quota for developers to reach before they get paid. Additionally, PSP Minis publishers are allowed to choose their own release dates, instead of joining the growing queue of games awaiting release on both the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Arcade.It's clear that Sony is taking measures to make the Minis service appear lucrative to third-party developers, especially indie studios. The question is: Will PSP gamers buy into this new platform, or will Minis be a retread of the floundering Xbox Live Indie Games project?
Square-Enix sued over "hidden fees" in Final Fantasy XI
A class action lawsuit has been filed earlier this week against Square-Enix North America for intentionally deceiving customers regarding hidden penalties and fees associated with the PlayOnline and Final Fantasy XI service.The suit, filed on behalf of Esther Leong of San Francisco, is seeking over 5 million in damages. The suit also goes on to specifically list the penalties for the late payment of fees, the interest charges for unpaid fees, charges that occur while the game account is suspended, termination of game service for unpaid fees, and the termination of game data due to the late payment of fees as the specific causes of this lawsuit.In Square-Enix's defense, however, the suit also lists the standard monthly subscription as being intentionally decieving. Final Fantasy XI's case does, in fact, say that additional online fees would be required and it also has a large sticker announcing "Free subscription for 30 days!" on the front of the box -- something more than most online games provide regarding their subscriptions.We have contacted Square-Enix, and are currently waiting for their response to this matter.[Via IGN.com]
ESA fees increased 1,700% during Min-E3 years, should lower now
The Entertainment Software Association increased its membership fees by 1,700% during the last two years of downsized E3s (2007-2008), apparently to compensate for revenue that the old E3 used to bring in. Gamespot discovered the shocking percentage while digging through the lobbying group's annual accounting to the IRS. The massive fee increase may have a little something to do with why Activision, LucasArts and others decided to leave the organization.We contacted the ESA to find out if this year's rebirth of the "classic" E3 format would reduce membership fees. CEO Michael Gallagher wrote us: "The positive restructuring of the E3 Expo allowed us to revisit the ESA's dues structure. It is our hope that this new model will make the ESA an attractive and accessible option for small and mid-sized publishers so we can more fully represent our industry's diversity." So, we'll take that as a "yes." Now we wait to see if the reduction brings back the companies that left and, just possibly, welcomes new publishers to the flock.
YouPlayorWePay under "reconstruction"
This could be the end of the strange story of YouPlayorWePay.com -- or a new beginning. We posted about the site when it first appeared, and even interviewed the founders, but apparently they've decided to make some major adjustments to the site, as it's now down for "reconstruction." A forum post by George Tung says that they are not only redesigning the site, but "re-doing our whole concept." One of our tipsters suggests that Blizzard legal may have gotten involved, but that seems unlikely -- Tung also posts that "when we are done, there will not be any more concerns about our service not being worth or if what we are doing is legal."So there you have it. We'll have to see what they've got in store for us (though, of course, there's a chance the site may not return at all). Lots of people have had questions and concerns about the concept behind this site from the beginning, and we remain curious to see how this "reconstruction" will answer them.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
SlySoft moving to subscription-based upgrade model
It was nice to purchase SlySoft's AnyDVD HD once and let the gurus in Antigua continually re-break whatever DRM Hollywood chose to throw out, wasn't it? After this year, you can kiss that luxury goodbye -- that is, if you continue to sit on the sidelines. SlySoft has just announced that starting on January 1, 2009, it will "change its update policy from free lifetime updates to an annual subscription fee." The good news? Anyone who buys a SlySoft product before that day will not be affected by the change. In other words, you've still got a few weeks to decide whether or not you want to join the Blu-ray backup crowd, and to make your decision easier, the outfit is offering a 20% discount on all software products (save for upgrades) through December 31st.
The Daily Grind: Is $15 a good fee for your MMO subscription?
Most of the AAA MMOs we play right now charge about the same price: $14.99 a month. Some titles offer discounts for multiple months purchased in advance, and Turbine offers a unique offering in their lifetime subscription to Lord of the Rings Online. Most MMO gamers, though, are paying that $15 fee every month for the game or games of their choice. Our question this morning is simple: is that a good value for your game?Now, obviously nobody would turn down something for free. The microtransactional business model has made big inroads into the US by allowing players the opportunity to hop online with their friends without an up-front cost. Blizzard recently announced they have no intention of changing their pricing any time soon, and seems to think that they offer a great deal for the cost. Most AAA developers don't look like they'll be moving away from monthly fees any time soon. Do you agree that's a fair value? Or, alternatively, do you wish that every game offered a free-to-pay model? Let us know.
AT&T's U-verse HD Premium Tier explained: $5 for three channels
Ugh. This is just downright ugly. For the longest while, AT&T had quite the edge in the pricing department compared to most other HD programming competitors. For just $10 per month, users had access to over 40 high-def channels, but apparently, all that is about to change. Following a ominous postcard sent out to select California-area U-verse users, AT&T has confirmed on its website that the newfangled HD Premium Tier is real. And it's a ripoff. Beginning "soon," subscribers who wish to see Universal HD, MGM HD and / or Smithsonian HD will be forced to pay an additional $5 on top of the $10 HD access fee. We're not sure if this so-called Premium Tier will eventually host even more HD channels for the same low, low price of $5 per month, but until we find that it does, we'd recommend holding off. Seriously, AT&T? $5 per month for three channels?[Via U-talk forums, thanks Anthony]
Sprint could implement prorated ETFs by year's end
While the other big boys in the US have already enacted prorated early termination fees, Sprint has still been holding out on its promise to follow suit. In fact, we've been waiting nearly a full year for its talk to be walked, and according to a recent interview with CEO Dan Hesse, the change could be made as early as December. Unfortunately, that's hardly concrete, as he also noted that the implementation was reliant on its billing software being updated, and anyone in the corporate world could tell you that something such as this could slip back for eternity with ease. We hate to make you rethink your decision to ink that new Sprint contract on the very same day the Touch Pro is released, but maybe a little patience would pay off in the long run. Or not -- hard to say.[Via phonescoop]
Verizon could charge content aggregators 3-cents per text message
Whoa, boy, this could get ugly. A few days back, a notice was revealed to the public that explained Verizon Wireless' new $0.03 fee that would be charged to all content aggregators who sent out mobile terminated messages on its network. After the expected backlash hit, the carrier then issued another statement informing us all that the note was simply an internal memo that was meant for internal discussions alone, but that doesn't change the fact that it's at least considering the plan. Of course, it would only affect for-profit aggregators, but still, imposing such a fee could certainly shake the foundation of that sector -- particularly if other carriers follow suit. And you know how other carriers love to follow suit, now don't you?Read - Original memoRead - Response to memo
Japanese government to levy royalty fees on BD-Rs / Blu-ray recorders
We just can't see this one going over well. Reportedly, Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and the Education, Science and Technology Ministry have jointly decided to administer royalty fees on all blank Blu-ray Discs (BD-R / BD-RE) and Blu-ray recorders. According to the entities, such a system is necessary to "compensate copyright holders for the increase in copying by individuals due to the development of new digital technologies." It was also noted that there was some disagreement on whether all HDD-based recorders should be taxed (not to mention those oh-so-innocent portable media players), and further "discussions" could make the fees applicable to even more hardware. Tax everyone for the actions of a few -- sounds like a totally infallible plan, no?
Cellular South wants you so bad, it'll pay your early termination fee
Cellular South, which is headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi and provides service to around 5 million folks in its home state, coastal Alabama, the Florida panhandle and portions of Memphis, really wants your business. So much so, in fact, that it's willing to pay your early termination fee that'll undoubtedly bite you in the wallet as you attempt to port your number over from your current carrier. Of course, there are some strings attached: it will only pay up to $200, and that cash will be applied as credits towards your bill rather than bills towards your pocket. Still, the premise alone here is extraordinarily fantastic, and we'll go ahead and wish that more mainstream carriers would get the notion that they too should adopt such a consumer-friendly policy (and fast).[Via Phone Scoop]
