freetoplay
Latest
Microsoft's 'Project Spark' game creation tool will be completely free
Microsoft's Project Spark game creation tool has embraced the free-to-play model for a while, but that has still meant paying a fair chunk of change to build the experience you really want. However, even that cost is going away soon. As of an October 5th update, Project Spark is switching to a completely free model where all downloadable content will be accessible. You'll get refunds if you bought either content or a retail disc from July 28th onward. Microsoft is also handing over the keys, in a manner of speaking -- rather than focus on adding content and features, it'll spend more time on highlighting user-made material and opening things up.
PlayStation 3's free-to-play 'Soul Calibur' shuts down in November
There was a brief period when Bandai Namco was trying a free-to-play model for its bigger franchises like the venerable Soul Calibur fighting series and its arcadey Ridge Racer. The latter shut down in 2014, and the former will suffer a similar fate pretty soon. Come November 30th, the PlayStation 3 exclusive Soul Calibur Lost Swords closes its virtual doors while sales of in-game items stop about a month prior on October 27th, according to GamesIndustry.biz. From September 16th to September 30th though, Bandai Namco is hosting some commemorative "ranking quests" to mark the occasion. Are you among the game's over two million players and are already mourning its passing? Let us know in the comments. And hey, who knows, this could point toward a Soul Calibur hitting modern consoles sometime soon -- possible silver lining and all that.
Zynga's new CEO was also its first
Zynga's attempt to restore its former glory by hiring an Xbox executive as its leader hasn't exactly panned out. The game developer has announced that CEO Don Mattrick is leaving, effective immediately, with founder Mark Pincus once again taking the reins. It's not clear what prompted the sudden exit, but Pincus swears to the New York Times that Mattrick isn't getting the boot. Reportedly, the two agreed that it was a time for the changing of the guard.
'Fable' going free-to-play on Xbox One and Windows 10
Now you can add "price" alongside "gameplay" to the list of aspects that separates Fable Legends from its forebears. That's because the game's launching as a free-to-play title on Windows 10 and gratis with an Xbox Live Gold subscription on Xbox One. What's it all entail? A lot of similar bits if you've paid attention to how free-to-play stuff typically works (microtransactions for cosmetic items, for example), but with a few unique wrinkles. The official FAQ stresses that you'll be able to play the game from beginning to end without spending any real cash, and that all quests and storylines will be free -- same goes for "everything that affects gameplay." There's a possibility that some customization options won't be purchasable with the in-game currency you earn, and with its rotating system for playable characters, you have the option to permanently unlock a favorite character with cold hard cash, too.
A Katy Perry video game? It's happening
Fresh off the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show's stage, Katy Perry and the folks behind Kim Kardashian: Hollywood (Glu Mobile) have an announcement to make: the California Gurl is getting her own free-to-play mobile game. Glu says that it'll be out the second half of this year and feature Perry's voice, likeness and personality. It's part of a five-year deal that'll put the pop songstress on Android and iOS devices (her Windows Phone love only exists in music videos, apparently), but there aren't much more details beyond that it'll "introduce players to a digital playground of global success and talent." Whether or not that includes Left Shark is anyone's guess at this point, but there are at least two Engadget editors eagerly anticipating finding out.
Blizzard takes a stab at mobile gaming, brings its free card game to the iPad
Blizzard hasn't really had a presence in mobile gaming... not unless you think the Battle.net Authenticator is rip-roaring entertainment, anyway. However, the developer is giving the category an honest try today by releasing Hearthstone for the iPad. Much like on the desktop, the free-to-play card game lets you fight both real and virtual opponents as you build up a collection of Warcraft-themed minions and spells. Decks sync between devices, so you won't have to start from scratch. The title is currently available on the App Store in Australia, Canada and New Zealand; more countries are coming soon, and those using Android, iPhones and Windows tablets can also expect to play in the near future. The iPad app isn't likely to replicate the off-the-charts success of Blizzard's PC titles, but the company has to start somewhere. And besides, we've seen the problems that some major game producers have faced after downplaying the importance of phones and tablets -- Blizzard may be wise to cover its bases.
Valve's free pro-gaming documentary hits iTunes, Steam and YouTube (video)
If you didn't make it to Free to Play's San Francisco premiere last night, Valve (yes, that Valve) has you covered. The Dota 2 tournament doc is now available on iTunes, Steam and YouTube for the very reasonable price of zero dollars. The Valve-produced documentary clocks in at a little over an hour, and, as SlashGear has noticed, the gaming giant has also released a few outtakes and behind the scenes clips as well. We've embedded everything after the break should you want to give it a peek for yourself. If you're in the dark about exactly why the game's so popular, maybe watching players from all over the world duke it out for a million-dollar top prize will clear a few things up.
FIFA 14 is now available for Windows Phone footie fans
Windows Phone owners no longer have to watch from the sidelines as their friends battle for supremacy in FIFA 14. EA has released a native version of the free-to-play soccer (aka football) title for Microsoft's platform with the same on-the-pitch action that you'd expect on Android and iOS, including options to buy both team points and special game modes like Manager or Kick Off. There's nothing specifically taking advantage of Windows Phone here, but Lumia owners wanting to dominate a virtual Premier League should be very happy.
Valve's 'Free to Play' is a documentary about pro-gaming's first million-dollar tourney (video)
For many, words like "MOBA" and "Dota 2" might sound more like random collections of letters than a massively popular gaming genre and game, respectively. Valve, Dota 2's developer, wants to educate the masses by putting the game and a trio of its international players under the microscope in Free to Play. One might find Valve's efforts feel a tad self-serving when compared to, say, Indie Game: The Movie, but, based on the trailer, the documentary seems more like a look at the human side of professional gaming than it does an advertising puff piece. If checking the film out and sitting in on a Q-and-A session with its creators sounds like a good time, tickets to next month's San Francisco premiere are $25 through Eventbrite. Can't make it NorCal? The doc will be available for free on Steam, as well -- just like the game that inspired it.
Nintendo finally starts testing free-to-play titles in eShop, will let gamers haggle for DLC
At E3 last year, Nintendo gave itself until March to launch a free-to-play title in the Nintendo eShop. That same week, Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that the gratis game would be based on Steel Diver, a 3DS launch title. Today, Nintendo delivered, releasing Steel Diver: Sub Wars on the 3DS eShop. Technically, it's not the first free-to-play title to grace one of Nintendo's online storefronts (that distinction goes to Namco's Tank! Tank! Tank!), but it is the publisher's inaugural first-party attempt at aping the mobile gaming market. It won't be its last either. During today's Nintendo Direct livestream, the company also announced Rusty's Real Deal Baseball, a mini-game collection that will let players haggle over the price of DLC expansions. In the wake of floundering Wii U sales and underwhelming financial performance, what these titles represent may be more important than the content of the game. Despite Satoru Iwata's insistence that it "doesn't make sense for Nintendo to do business on smartphones," these releases show that his statement might not apply to how Nintendo runs its business -- augmenting a barebones gaming experience with piecemeal purchases and expansions has far more in common with the smartphone gaming market than Nintendo's traditional competitors. It sounds a little dicey, true, but it's also the kind of experimentation the company needs to dabble in if it hopes to suss out its next-gen strategy. Oh, and if you just dropped by to take a peek at the new game trailers, skip on past the break; they'll be there.
Clash of Clans developer reconsiders iOS exclusivity
Having already made it big in the free-to-play scene on iOS with Clash of Clans, Finnish app development house Supercell may be headed to Android in the hopes of scoring further success overseas. "You can't be global without being in Asia, and you can't be big in Asia without being on Android," Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen notes in an interview with the Financial Times. At the time of this writing, Supercell's microtransaction-driven Clash of Clans is seated at position No. 110 on the iPhone App Store's Top Free app chart, but ranks a much more favorable No. 3 on the Top Grossing list. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as the company has already boasted that its daily revenue tops US$2.4 million. By spreading its wares to Android, the company could gain a foothold in regions where Apple's mobile devices aren't quite as popular, which could beef up its income even further. However, Supercell's iPhone exclusivity has paid off for them in other ways, such as plenty of App Store promotion that undoubtedly boosts sales. In fact, both of Supercell's iOS games -- Clash of Clans and Hay Day -- are currently being promoted in Apple's "Only on iOS" collection on the front page of the App Store. At the end of the day, Supercell has to do what's best for its bottom line, but if the revenue gained by going multi-platform can't surpass the perks of iOS exclusivity, it could pay to stay put. [via TNW]
What Age of Empires Online says about Steam's impact on free-to-play games
Microsoft's attempt to reinvigorate its aging Age of Empires game franchise most recently resulted in a free-to-play game distributed on the company's (now shuttered) Games for Windows Live service. The game, Age of Empires Online, launched as a free title with two civilizations available to play as; any additional civilizations (initially) cost $20 apiece, a hefty price despite the amount of content therein (30ish hours per civilization). Longtime AOE fans, understandably, reacted negatively to the game's business model, which took the content previously offered in full from older AOE games and broke it up into an a la carte, F2P title. As Microsoft AOEO executive producer Kevin Perry told a crowd of GDC Europe attendees this morning in a panel titled "F2P the Wrong Way: Age of Empires Online," the game outright "wasn't ready for launch" when it arrived in Summer 2011. Though Perry ran through a variety of ways that his team helped to fix AOEO's course, he brought up one particularly interesting factor: Valve's Steam game service. When the game hit Steam in March 2012, the game's DAU (daily active users) spiked by more than three times -- a larger bump than any other change by far, including new content (as seen in the above image).
Battlefield's Ben Cousins all set to release The Drowning on iOS for DeNA
A little while ago, I said here on TUAW that the Ngmoco brand was "effectively done on the App Store," with the company's biggest games finally being shut down at the end of next month. And that hasn't changed at all -- the Ngmoco name just plain isn't being used. Ngmoco's parent company, DeNA, is still chugging along. A few years ago, DeNA, under the banner of Ngmoco, picked up former EA developer Ben Cousins, a veteran of both the Battlefield franchise and EA's "EAsy Studio" division, which specialized in free-to-play, casual browser-based games. Cousins' studio, which started out as Ngmoco Sweden, has now been renamed Scattered Entertainment, and he's set to release, with the help of DeNA, his first mobile free-to-play title, called The Drowning, sometime in March. TUAW got to see an early version of the game running on video, and chat with Cousins earlier this week about what it's been like working with Ngmoco/DeNA, and just how he put together his first mobile free-to-play title. What's probably most interesting about The Drowning, right off the bat, is just how different it is for everyone involved. DeNA (and Cousins, to an extent) has basically made its name on mainstream, casual experiences: It runs a very large Japanese social network called Mobage, and has found its first big hit in the US with Rage of Bahamut, a fairly casual social card game. But The Drowning is dark and atmospheric, and makes use of the much more hardcore first-person shooter genre. "We wanted to make a zombie game, but we didn't want it to be like every other zombie game on mobile," says Cousins. The Drowning is about "the apocalypse happening in the modern era. Overnight, completely unexpected and synchronized across the world, all of the deep sea oil rigs in the world start leeching this new oil and they can't stop it. And that oil seems to be creeping across the ocean towards populated places." Workers fall into this oil, disappear and then a week later return as monstrous zombies, trying to bring more and more living things under the water. It's creepy and strange, and it also sets up a solid premise for the other thing that's different about The Drowning: It's a first-person shooter designed not with virtual controls, but with controls meant to work best on a touchscreen. You can see the video below for a full rundown of how everything works, but Cousins says the idea for the controls came just out of constant "testing and prototyping and experimenting and trying out different things." "During one of the market research sessions," recalls Cousins, "I was sat behind a one-way mirror," watching a tester play with the game. The tester became frustrated with the virtual controls he was using, and expressed his frustration to Cousins: "Why can't I just tap enemies to shoot them, or tap the world to go there? Why can't I use these gestures to control a shooter," asks Cousins, "because that felt like the most natural thing to do." So the team worked to take the gestures we normally use on touchscreens like the iPad -- pinch and zoom, swipe, tap and so on -- and plug those into the usual shooter inputs. The result seems very fluid -- you can swipe around the screen to look, tap one finger to move through the 3D environment or tap two fingers to fire, with the point of attack coming in between your two finger taps. "With a single finger tap you were obscuring the contact point, and a lot of satisfaction of shooting these enemies in the game was kind of lost," says Cousins. So the team had the idea to use your two fingers "as an iron sight," and that worked well. "I can do it all in one fluid motion and I can shoot moving targets and things like that." Originally, the controls also included moves like jumping and crouching, but as the gestures became more streamlined, those actions got removed from the code. And Cousins says they weren't needed, though he does say the team built out one prototype using an actual Counter-Strike map, "where you can do everything you need just using the standard gestures." The actual gameplay isn't just killing zombies, however, says Cousins. The game's player character is originally based in Seattle, but is eventually forced out of the city by the invading creatures. He flees to a fictional nearby island, and there meets Charlotte, a mechanic/welder who can help him make weapons and other gear. From there, the game is basically a series of areas that open up in sequence, with the player going out to collect scrap and explore, and returning to Charlotte for upgrades and new weapons. Eventually the player will unlock vehicles, but these are essentially just keys to new places to play, like a boat that will deliver you around the island, or a helicopter that can climb up to a new area. The game is free-to-play, but Cousins says even he had things to learn from how DeNA runs their business models. At EA, he was considered the "F2P expert," but at DeNA, "it was evident in the first week that I was one of the least knowledgeable people in the company about free to play." In Japan, says Cousins, "the free-to-play market is so much more mature." As a result, there isn't an IAP "store" in The Drowning. Rather, Charlotte's upgrades take time, so if you want to progress faster through the game, you'll be asked to pay. She also has a scrapyard where you can find new rare recipes and other upgrades, and it'll cost IAP currency to visit, or to make sure you get an extra rare (but still random) item from her. In the game itself, there is no multiplayer mode. But as you go through the game, you'll sometimes come across larger boss creatures that are way too strong to beat on one run through. Those creatures will also appear in your friends' games, and together, run by run, you'll be able to take them down for a chance at a rare or better item, says Cousins. So there's a sort of asychronous multiplayer game at work. But it's basically skippable, he told us -- you can ignore the larger creatures if you'd rather not deal with them. Cousins says Apple has changed his life three different times -- with the iPod, the iPhone and then the iPad, and he's very happy to have to chance to give back to the platform. I have concerns about The Drowning's business model for sure. While Cousins and DeNA seem more than convinced that Western audiences are ready to pay for random chances at items and time savers (as they're already doing with Rage of Bahamut and its ilk), we haven't seen a model like that show up in a more hardcore first-person shooter. The Drowning does look like a very different take on what DeNA, and even Cousins, have delivered in the past. The setting looks very interesting and well-done, and those controls do seem like a very smart take on first-person shooting for the touchscreen. The Drowning should be available to the public sometime this March, so we'll know for sure then if all of the work on this game, back since June of 2011, has been worth it.
Robert Bowling producing Breach and Clear, coming to iOS
Robert Bowling is the former "creative strategist" at Infinity Ward, the developer studio that original created the enormously popular Call of Duty series over on the major consoles. A little while ago, he left that company (after some turmoil between the founders and publisher Activision) to start up his own endeavor, called Robotoki, which is working on a game set to arrive on mobile platforms like iOS called Human Element. But apparently that's not all Bowling's up to: He's also working with a publisher named Gun on an upcoming iOS game called Breach and Clear. We don't know a lot about this one yet, but it does look very impressive: It's a tactical, Special Operations shooter that's set to be free to play and feature a lot of customization and even real world gear. The game is set up a series of scenarios, where you'll be able to pick a loadout and team, and then go in and tactically take an opposing team of terrorists down. Sounds fun. Bowling is apparently producing this one, though it doesn't seem to be associated with his Robotoki studio. At any rate, we shouldn't have long to wait for this one: Breach and Clear is due out sometime later on this spring. As soon as we get to see some gameplay (or an exact release date), we'll let you know.
Nintendo's Wii U gets first free-to-play game as TANK! TANK! TANK! gets divided on eShop
Namco's TANK! TANK! TANK! may have a great title, but it looks like its sales trajectory wasn't too far off from its name. The bizarre Wii U tank battle game is going free-to-play as of this week's eShop update -- at least in Europe -- dividing the game into three pieces based on game modes, each costing £1.59 (€1.99). Should you choose to not pay Namco's light toll, you can play each of the game's modes for free three times per day -- that toll raises to £7.99 (€9.99) apiece after February 28th, so you may want to act quickly. The new pricing and division of the game goes into effect this Thursday, when the EU's Wii U eShop updates.
Kongregate breaks free of the browser, serves up downloadable games
Kongregate has stepped out of its web browser boundaries by offering free-to-play downloadable desktop games alongside its existing catalog of browser-based titles. Only Super Monday Night Combat, Smashmuck Champions and Bomb Buddies are available for desktop play, but the outfit is set to beef up its selection in the following weeks. It's not likely that this development will cause Steam to nervously eye its rearview mirror for a competitor on its coattails, but it's interesting to see GameStop's F2P game venture ever so slightly dip its toes into Valve's territory. However, Gabe Newell's platform may yet have some fiercer competition in the brick-and-mortar retailer's Impulse storefront. Ready to stock up on the gratis Windows games? Hit the bordering source link to get started.
Daily iPhone App: Summoner Wars is a complicated mix of virtual board and card game
I took a trip down to Tampa Bay, Fla., for my sister's wedding last week, and before I headed for the airport, I loaded up my iPhone and iPad with a few new apps to check out on the way. Honestly, Fieldrunners 2 HD ended up taking most of my gaming time, but Summoner Wars was a very impressive choice as well. Summoner Wars is a complicated, intriguing game that combines tactical strategy, good old fashioned dice rolling and even some deckbuilding card game elements. You're fighting on a board pushing around cards as units. With each turn, you can either use your cards (as spells or actual heroes) in the battle, or save them as mana to summon more units on your next turn. There are plenty of deep strategical choices here that fans of complicated board games will find satisfying. Unfortunately, all of that complexity makes the game tricky to pick up. There is a tutorial, but even it only explains the mechanics of the game, and leaves you to figure out strategies completely on your own. But I appreciated that, especially on a long plane ride where I needed plenty of distraction from the crying baby behind me and the talkative gent across the aisle to my left. Summoner Wars is completely free-to-play, too, so if you want to check it out, you've got no excuses not to. If you like it, you can unlock everything in the game for US$7.99, or pick up individual card decks or card packs individually.
Atari ports classic games to HTML5 for web and Windows 8, lets developers craft their own (video)
Atari is big on nostalgia this year, but it hasn't had much in the way of software to reflect the trip down memory lane beyond the existing mobile apps. Its remedy to that shortfall is full of 2012 buzzwords. The new Atari Arcade includes modern takes on eight classic Atari 2600 games, all built entirely with HTML5 and free to play. As fun as that promises to be, our interest is most piqued by the game library's open-ended nature; this isn't just an alternative to firing up a smartphone. A new Javascript kit lets developers not only build their own games but make money as they see fit, whether it's through ads or in-app purchases. Whether they're new or old, titles work in multiple contemporary browsers, although Microsoft would really, really like you to know that the games are ad-free and touch-optimized for both Windows 8 tablets as well as Internet Explorer 10. We'll try to remember that when we look to relive our Combat memories on a Surface.
Amazon Game Connect links free-to-play, MMO games to store accounts, turns 1-Click into way too many
Amazon must have a lot of free time for gaming during its summer vacation: just a day after unveiling GameCircle as a cloud infrastructure, it's trotting out Game Connect to make buying game content that much easier. Once it's integrated into a title, the new platform will let customers buy content in free-to-play games, or subscribe to massively multiplayer online games, directly from their Amazon accounts -- no copy-and-paste juggling involved, even if the game account has to be made on the spot. A handful of game developers have already lined up, including Super Monday Night Combat creator Uber Entertainment and World of Tanks' Wargaming.net. If you're engrossed in gaming enough that you'll need 1-Click to buy virtual goods and MMO renewals that much faster, Amazon has you covered... although you may also want to slow down and relax.
Microsoft Flight reinvents itself as free-to-play simulator (video)
Microsoft's Flight Simulator has long prodded gamers to splash out on hardware upgrades and insane joysticks. Like Madonna, it's reinvented itself for the 21st century as a single-named free-to-play game for those who want to zoom around the skies of Hawaii. The company will make its money by selling premium add-ons including new aircraft and "adventure packs." The game is now ready for download (at the source link) and, if it proves popular, Redmond should expect a nice gift basket from AMD and NVIDIA this Christmas.
