freemium
Latest
Runes of Magic shows off new Limo Desert trailer
Frogster Interactive and Runewaker Entertainment are certainly doing a good job keeping the new content flowing into Runes of Magic. As we heard recently, patch 3.0.6., titled The Treasures of the Desert, will open up the Limo Desert and offer a variety of new things for players to check out, including new areas, a new instance, and new monsters to battle -- and of course, new loot, we're sure. That sounds pretty cool to us. For those who may have wanted to see some of the new areas, mobs, and even the new bosses in action, you're in luck. Frogster and Runewaker have sent over a video that shows off some of the areas in the Limo Desert -- an area which features a heavy dose of Egyptian influence. We're also treated to a peek at the dungeon, where players will face off against Angerfang and his minions. The shiny new trailer lies just behind the break for those who want to take a peek before the patch hits Runes of Magic on the 30th of November.
Champions Online designer clarifies power changes
It's easy for Champions Online players to feel like the game is in a constant state of change as the developers work on the free-to-play transition. Late last week our Champions Online columnist took a look at the first eight archetypes, and there was quite a bit of feedback from the CO community. We spent some time chatting with Champions Online developer Chris Matz, who had plenty to say about the current and upcoming changes to the archetypes. Chris gave a great look at where things stand now and what the team has planned for the future, so follow along after the jump to see what he had to say!
Lorne Lanning laments 'The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot' that never was
Game Informer has posted its recent print interview with Oddworld Inhabitants founder Lorne Lanning, a (five-years-later) followup to the magazine's April 2005 announcement of The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot, OWI's would-be effort to delve further into the "more hardcore" elements of the Oddworld ... world. After finding the situation with EA (which published OWI's Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath on Xbox in 2005) "unworkable," Lanning recounted, OWI turned to Majesco to fund and publish the Fangus project, another Xbox game built on Stranger's core framework. But only a month after the game's announcement, "the shenanigans started" and OWI shut down its development studio. "Sometimes developers get fired by publishers and sometimes developers fire publishers," Lanning said coyly, "and that's probably all I should say about it." Publisher "incompetence" aside, Fangus did sound like an odd pitch: A "close to the Earth" dog-man herdsman turned "pit fighting" slave -- to the Russian-like cat mafia -- who escapes his years-long imprisonment a hardened killer dead set on vengeance and the liberation of his people ("the timeless mythical battle between cats and dogs," in other words). Also, Fangus has terminal rabies and "would control a flock of ravenous sheep-like creatures to take down enemies and solve puzzles," according to GI's description. "We wanted it to be really hardcore," Lanning concluded.
Exploring Eberron: Which race should I play?
Hallelujah, I finally get to cover the races of Dungeons and Dragons Online! This is a fun topic for me, but it's been getting pushed back by current events lately. We needed the counterpart for our recent class discussion, though, because choosing a race can be almost as complicated as trying to choose a class. Each race has its own inherent strengths and weaknesses, and you want to find something that you like and that works well with your chosen class. So what are our choices? Follow along after the jump to find out!
Behind the Mask: Eight ways for free-to-play
A little while ago, a full list of Champions Online's first eight archetypes was given to the public. Originally I wasn't going to talk about them much, but a couple people came up and asked me, "Are you going to write about archetypes this week?" I told them I probably wasn't, but after reflecting on it, it seemed a hot topic that I should probably talk about. Cryptic has a habit of releasing ideas and content that are ridiculously bad in their first iterations. Over time, these ideas tend to get more and more polished, until we get something ranging from playable (melee) to almost exactly right (pets). The first pass at archetypes really isn't any different. The archetypes are bad. I am pretty sure the team will tweak the little problems, so talking about them seems sort of like jumping the gun. But hey, you guys asked for it.
Capcom's free-to-play Smurfs' Village out-grossing Angry Birds
If you, like me, responded to the release of Smurfs' Village by saying, "Really? A freemium game from Capcom? Based on the Smurfs franchise?" then you probably want to rethink how the App Store works, because apparently it's a hit -- Smurfs' Village has topped even Angry Birds recently for the top grossing app on the App Store. The game is free-to-play, though players can buy "smurfberries" via in-app purchase that work like mojo in We Rule to speed up growth of players' crops or buildings. And those smurfberries must be selling like hotcakes, because the game is trouncing Angry Birds' millions and millions of 99-cent downloads. It'll be really interesting to see what effect this has on the market as a whole. Sega just released a freemium MMO in the form of a game called Kingdom Conquest, and EA is scheduled to do the same very soon. Capcom has been fumbling around for a big hit on the iPhone with all of their various properties, and while the Street Fighter IV game has been doing well, it hasn't seen nearly the intake that this Smurfs game has. Which probably means we can see some more freemium games coming from Capcom and other big companies in the future. You have to wonder who's spending all this money on these things -- are there legitimate game buyers out there shelling out for smurfberries instead of Starbucks, or is this all kids whose parents will be extremely surprised when the iTunes bill comes in next month?
Free for All: Lessons from the world of indie and free-to-play
I'm no expert at anything. I'm sort of like the Mario of gaming -- not an ace in one particular area, but relatively experienced in all. Luckily, this has worked out for me. Name a title; I either have played it or know about it. Name a developer, and I can probably tell you something about it that sticks out. Granted, this ability might not come in handy when Twitter is exploding in the usual "Hey, we all love football" Sunday chatter, but look where you're reading this now. On this turf, being a well-rounded gamer has its advantages. Over the last 11 years, I've noticed quite a few trends and picked up on some unique ways that developers do business. I would never say that the information I have is 100 percent accurate, but it does come from a very open mind. I'll also not pretend that all these lessons will lead to massive piles of cash and free booze. Some of them are examples of what not to do. In fact, stop listening to me. Go read the examples right now, after the jump.
APB acquired by GamersFirst, relaunching as APB: Reloaded in the first half of 2011
The earlier reports are true: Reloaded Productions Inc., a subsidiary of GamersFirst -- which is, in turn, part of K2 Network -- has purchased the presumed-deceased MMO, APB, from its creator Realtime Worlds. The publisher plans to relaunch the game sometime in the first half of 2011 as APB: Reloaded, a free-to-play iteration utilizing the micro-transaction model. Come back later today for an interview with GamersFirst's COO and CTO, Bjorn Book-Larsson, for an answer to the most crucial question: Why?
TUAW's Daily App: Gun Bros
Freemium has earned kind of a bad name on the iPhone -- a lot of people see it as a nickle-and-dime kind of thing, where if you don't pay out a buck or two to the game every once in a while, you don't get to have a full-featured experience. But there is a way to do it right: have a full game before the microtransactions, and then use those transactions to make the experience better, in an optional way. That's exactly what Gun Bros does. The free game that you get on the App Store is a more than excellent dual-stick shooter with some really nice RPG and social elements added into the mix. And even without spending any money, you can have a fun and full experience playing the game.
Space Miner Blast and Trade Nations lead the freemium charge
Freemium isn't just for Ngmoco anymore -- the model of "free with in-app purchase" has been spreading across the App Store for a while, and because "free" opens up a developers' audience to so many more people. Here are two more titles that have taken the freemium route. First up, Space Miner was chosen as our Daily App a while back -- it's a very cute, well-written arcade/sim title that has you flying around collecting ore from asteroids to build up your uncle's space mining business. Now, Space Miner Blast brings the title to the freemium realm -- it's a free download with ads, and you can pay for premium ships to both boost your abilities and get rid of the ads. There's also Game Center integration and full Retina Display graphics, so even if you haven't tried the Space Miner series before, this one's worth a try. Trade Nations is also making some waves lately -- it's a city-building game in the vein of Farmville and We Rule, with a little more mature art style than either of those. You can create jobs for your own villagers, and even participate in an online marketplace, where prices for goods rise and fall according to supply and demand. Seems like fun -- the whole thing is driven by Mojo-style in-app purchases that just shorten the amount of time it takes for a project to complete. Freemium as a concept is really coming into its own on the App Store, and the more quality titles we see that use this model, the more customers and audiences grow accustomed to how it all works.
Massively interviews Shannon Posniewski about Champions Online's F2P changes
Champions Online has made quite the big change with the recent decision to go free-to-play. We got together with Shannon Posniewski, Executive Producer for CO, and asked quite a few questions about how the F2P changes will impact new, current, and returning players. In addition to these questions, the CO devs have compiled a huge FAQ covering many of the common queries regarding F2P, as well as a primer on how archetypes will work. We tried to avoid asking many of the questions that have already been answered somewhere else, so be sure to check those out as well.
The Tattered Notebook: Six years of EverQuest II
I looked down at the dog-eared journal and shivered. As excited as I was to finally be in possession of The Tattered Notebook, I recalled the fates of its previous owners. First, seemingly out of madness, Seccia made a sudden and unexpected career change to blog about kittens. Now, Scarve, a Ratonga, has disappeared in the night, leaving behind only a wedge of cheese, this tattered notebook, and a tiny stuffed Kerran doll. Rumors spread of his appearance among a shadowy cult of Gnomish tinkerers, but it's unclear whether he's with them by choice or by force. Regardless, I took a deep breath and opened the cover. What a perfect time to begin adding my entries to the journal, right at the celebration of EverQuest II's six-year anniversary! To celebrate, the game is holding its second annual Festival of Heroes, from November 19-30. In honor of this milestone, my first entry into The Tattered Notebook is a retrospective of those past six years, with an eye towards the future.
Iris Online enters second closed beta
Testing for Iris Online is something that isn't going to float everyone's boat... but one glance at the game's screenshots should make it clear that it will be deeply satisfying to certain people. There's no other game in which you can ride a purple cat with a jester's cap, for instance. If that tickles your fancy, you'll be happy to know that the game's second closed beta test has started, complete with bonuses to both former participants and those who didn't get a chance to test the game the first time around. Beta testers from the previous phase will be happy to find that their prior characters have not been wiped, allowing them to continue playing from where they had left off. Players who weren't in the previous test, on the other hand, will be able to take part in this testing phase, as a beta key is not required for this phase of testing. The client download link is available with the official announcement, so Iris Online hopefuls should take a look now and get to work on earning their purple cat.
Champions Online previews the new Archetype system
When Champions Online first announced that it was joining the ranks of other games offering a no-subscription option, it included a mention that free members would be locked into archetypes. Archetypes were described in broad strokes as a chance for players to develop along the lines of famous heroes from comics, with a locked progression path but the same basic power level. While the development team hasn't yet expounded on what the precise archetypes will be, it has put together a short description about the differences players can expect between the normal free-form heroes and the coming archetype heroes. As it turns out, archetypes will end up with slightly fewer overall powers than freeform heroes but with the same general power level. The preview explains the split as being one of versatility -- freeform heroes will be able to take many roles, but archetype heroes will perform one role well and that's it. If you're one of the players looking forward to trying Champions Online as free-to-play, or if you're just interested in the new build system, take a look at the full rundown and keep your eyes peeled for the coming details on the archetypes themselves.
Exploring Eberron: Which class should I play?
I've been looking forward to this week's column for a while now. I've been wanting to look at the intricacies of class and race selection and setup in Dungeons and Dragons Online for several weeks, but Halloween events and Update 7 took precedence for obvious reasons. Now that it's settled down a bit, I can finally dive in. Over the next few weeks I'm going to do a series of overviews on getting started. DDO is a funny game when it comes to this sort of thing, because you can throw together pretty much anything (within reason) and get through the first five levels or so just fine. It's not until you get past that point that you start finding out the hard way that the selections you make at character creation are pretty important. Much of the process is trial-and-error for many newer players. You roll a character, play it until things start getting more difficult than they should, figure out where you messed up, and either reincarnate or start another character. I hope to make this process a little less tedious and painful, so follow along after the jump and let's get started!
Battlefield Play4Free engages hostiles in Spring 2011
Following a tease earlier this week, EA has announced Battlefield Play4Free this morning, a freemium title that will support 32-player online warfare. The game will activate in the spring of 2011 but, if you just can't wait, you can enlist early and test out the closed beta beginning November 30. Aesthetically -- and, apparently, in tone -- BP4F appears to be a departure from EA's other freemium warfare title, Battlefield Heroes, which has a cartoony, colorful nature (though the two games will share a single "battlefunds" wallet, confirms Ben Cousins of developer Easy, an EA Games studio). Easy's Battlefield Play4Free will combine maps from Battlefield 2 with the classes and weapons found in the hit (and neglected) Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Players can drive 16 different vehicles, including the F35 VTOL (vertical take-off landing) jet fighter -- which certainly isn't found in BFBC2. Players will progress through the game to learn skills or, as you've probably already guessed, drop some f'real bling to pimp out their soldier. %Gallery-106828%
Kingsisle predicts Wizard 101 expansion release date
Much to the delight of their fans, Kingsisle posted a hopeful -- and specific -- message about their long-awaited Celestia expansion for Wizard 101: "Test Realm Last Chance! We're on the home stretch and what you see in the Test Realm is almost ready to be moved in to the Live Game! Please take the next 24 hours to madly test as much as you can in Celestia, and if all goes well, we'll be putting Celestia and all the other features up to the Live Game on Wednesday October 27th!" While "..if all goes well" seems pretty concrete, we all know how many things can not go well. Still, it's finally a solid date for those players that have been actively playing through the expansion on the test server. It looks like all their homework will be graded soon enough! Players can expect to see 10 additional levels, three new secondary schools of magic, new underwater zones to explore, game-changing mechanics like crit and block and more. And, oh yeah, turning into a gobbler. We wouldn't want to forget that.
Rise and Shiny recap: Pocket Legends
Over the last two weeks, I have been taking a look at Pocket Legends, a fully functioning MMO made for the mobile player. I did not publish a Rise and Shiny last week (I was busy writing up my GDCO coverage) but that is a good thing -- I had no real time to play the game anyway. I've jumped in and out, played through a few dungeons and scoured the cash shop. After hearing Cinco Barnes from Spacetime Studios -- the developer of Pocket Legends -- I really saw how well the company's design choices were working in practice. What I found is a game that works and is stable. While that isn't the most glamorous description, you would be hard-pressed to find a game that has succeeded without either of those traits. The key here is that it runs while in the palm of your hand (or lap, in the case of the iPad). But let me take you through a bit more of the game before I pass judgment.
The Road to Mordor: A haunted tour of Middle-earth
Despite what the brochures may tell you, Lord of the Rings Online's Middle-earth isn't all puppy dogs, sparkly rainbows and ice cream wagons. In fact, when you take a moment to stop screenshotting the living daylights out of the Shire, you'll quickly realize just how dark, cold and brutal this world is. Middle-earth is a realm where good is under siege by evil, and in many places, the evil is winning. You can see this in many places that formerly held beauty, but now are covered with the decor of death: bones, blood, cages, pikes and filth. Evil isn't just Freddy Krueger-style splatter, either -- there are plenty of spots that are haunted by the spectral spirits of the beyond, and if you dare venture into their domain, you should probably have your will made up in advance. So in honor of one of my favorite holidays -- Halloween -- I want to take you on a haunted tour of Middle-earth, covering some of the most notorious spooky, scary and outright creepy places I've found. Grab your torch and let us push back the darkness together!
Exploring Eberron: Closing the community gap
In last week's Exploring Eberron, I talked quite a bit about the community divide in Dungeons and Dragons Online and why it exists. Update 7 seems to be ushering in a new era of DDO, one in which the devs turn their attention back to the veteran and high-level players. I've been around DDO for about a year, and Exploring Eberron is geared toward the less experienced player, so I sincerely understand and appreciate Turbine's effort over the past year or so to provide plenty of content for the "new kids." It's something that made complete sense -- what good are thousands of new customers if you don't have a rich, in-depth game to keep them around? However, I can understand the frustration of the veteran players who are sort of sitting around saying, "But what about us?" Will the next year solve this? Follow along after the jump while I gaze into my crystal ball.
