Posts Tagged "Free-to-play"

• DC Universe Online shows off the new Shield weapon

  Hots Games
  

  Filed under: Super-hero, Patches, Previews, News items, Free-to-play, Consoles, DC Universe Online

  Shields generally aren’t thought of as a weapon; they’re usually seen as the exact opposite of a weapon. But in the superheroic milieu, all that changes. A shield is something to be used offensively, and in DC Universe Online‘s next major update, players will get to start wielding the shield for their own superheroic (or villainous) capers. A recent interview with creative director Jens Andersen discusses the intended role of the shield in combat.

  Andersen explains that while the new weapon comes along in a very PvP-centered update, it’s not meant to be used specifically for PvP — the team just wants to have something new for players to enjoy no matter what. In play, shields are similar to a staff weapon, but unlike most other weapons the shield can continue to build a combo after a heavy strike by moving back to light strikes. That should make the shield a very aggressive option — perhaps odd for something that’s not generally thought of as a weapon.

  DC Universe Online shows off the new Shield weapon originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 May 2012 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• MindArk giving away Entropia Universe land deeds

  Hots Games
  

  Filed under: Sci-fi, Entropia Universe, Business models, Game mechanics, Free-to-play, Promotions

  MindArk has given new meaning to the term phat lewt with its latest update for Entropia Universe. Players may now acquire one of a thousand Planet Calypso land deeds simply by hunting, mining, or crafting while in game.

  Each land deed carries a real-world value of $100 (and deeds are often sold for much more on the open market), according to a MindArk press release. The deeds also provide revenue sharing through the game’s citizenship program. Deeds began dropping yesterday, and MindArk says that they will continue to do so throughout 2012.

  Planet Calypso is the oldest planetary playfield in Entropia Universe. The game boasts more than one million registered accounts and over $400 million in annual user-to-user transactions.

  [Source: MindArk press release]

  MindArk giving away Entropia Universe land deeds originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 16 May 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Cryptic developer: Star Trek Online PvP is ‘fail’

  Hots Games
  

  Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, MMO industry, PvP, News items, Star Trek Online, Free-to-play

  How many times have you read a forum post that says insert-random-MMO’s PvP sucks? Well, in Star Trek Online PvP actually does suck, and that’s straight from the mouth of a developer. It’s so bad, in fact, that Dan “Gozer” Griffis makes no bones about the fact that it could even be removed from Cryptic’s sci-fi MMO.

  “Right now because PVP is in such bad shape we (the developers) have to decide if we think we can turn this problem around. Participation in PVP-related activities is so low on an hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly basis that we could in fact just completely take it out of STO and it would not impact the overall number of people [who] log in to the game and play in any significant way.”

  Griffis goes on to say that he is the only developer currently working on PvP, and as such he has to make some hard choices. He has a plan, and though he hasn’t shared specifics on it yet, he says there are huge changes in store over the next year.

  [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

  Cryptic developer: Star Trek Online PvP is ‘fail’ originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 12 May 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• MMObility: The pros and cons of Tibia’s browser version

  Hots Games
  

  Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Previews, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, Miscellaneous, MMObility

  Tibia is an MMO that has been hanging in there for many, many years. You have to give it respect for that alone. When you add on the fact that the game seems to be updated relatively frequently and boasts a pretty good-sized playerbase, it becomes even more intriguing. I’ve played it in the past and have enjoyed the simple graphics and slower-paced gameplay. I like how NPCs chat with you, old-school EverQuest-style, and how there seems to be a lot more to the game than meets the eye.

  There are plenty of eyesores, however. The developers recently released Tibia in a beta browser form. While the client was always easy enough to download and run on my multitude of devices, I always prefer to just jump into my browser and load it up.

  I found a lot of neat little systems but also quite a few bugs or odd design choices. Colors and layout can be a problem, and I am not the biggest fan of Flash-based MMOs. Still, I am enjoying myself so far and look forward to more. Let’s talk about what I found over these last several hours with Tibia‘s browser-based version.

  Continue reading MMObility: The pros and cons of Tibia’s browser version

  MMObility: The pros and cons of Tibia’s browser version originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 04 May 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• EVE producer: F2P converts were "failing," subs still viable

  Hots Games
  

  Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Business models, Culture, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, DUST 514, Sandbox

  The death of the subscription model has been greatly exaggerated according to CCP. This view isn’t terribly surprising, given the fact that the company’s fortunes ebb and flow with sub-based EVE Online. What is somewhat surprising is the frankness with which EVE producer Jon Lander talks about the free-to-play mania that’s gripped western dev studios in recent years.

  “You look at the companies who did go free-to-play. They retrofitted it on, and that was because their games were failing. They didn’t care about the tiny nugget of players who were still playing, because they knew they would get a huge number of other players and it would be more profitable,” Lander told PC Gamer, before going on to explain how such a retrofit would kill EVE’s essence.

  Overall quality and the desire for long-term play also factor into a title’s business model, Lander says. “If you have a really good game [...] and people want to spend a long time playing it, not like a month or two but like EVE players for years at a time, they’re prepared to pay a subscription fee for a good quality gaming experience.”

  He also mentions EVE’s PLEX system, which allows for real-world money to be injected into the EVE economy sans shady third-party brokers. And of course CCP is experimenting with free-to-play via its new DUST 514 shooter, which Lander says was built from the ground up for the new business model. It’s not necessarily the future, though. “People say the subscription MMO is dead. I fundamentally disagree with that. It’s simply not the case,” he says. Hit the jump for video excerpts from the interview.

  Continue reading EVE producer: F2P converts were “failing,” subs still viable

  EVE producer: F2P converts were “failing,” subs still viable originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Choose My Adventure: Taking a right at Paragon City

  Hots Games
  

  Filed under: Super-hero, Polls, City of Heroes, Opinion, Free-to-play, Humor, Choose My Adventure

  It was the flying Scrapper on Virtue with a mask!

  The masses have spoken. For this leg of our Choose My Adventure journey, we will be parking ourselves in Paragon City, fighting the forces of evil, destruction, and movement keys! I must concede that Bree certainly knew her City of Heroes community — ya’ll voted just how she said you would. But Bree, you didn’t predict the mask, now did ya?! Ha!

  It recently came to my attention that I could have easily queried you on the spandex issue, but come on — what superhero doesn’t have to shimmy into that painted-on suit? We want the full experience, right? Right. So let’s get to it. All we have left to do to get this show off the road and into some action is whip up a character.

  But this is me we are talking about here! Thankfully, I am marching into this process armed with your decisions! I mean, how bad can it be? We have three days between close of the last vote and a new set of new ones, so it isn’t like there isn’t time. Here goes…

  Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Taking a right at Paragon City

  Choose My Adventure: Taking a right at Paragon City originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 May 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Tribes: Ascend puts together a beta infographic

  Hots Games
  

  Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Culture, News items, Free-to-play, MMOFPS

  Tribes: Ascend has finally launched, and that means players everywhere can experience the simple joy of logging in, gearing up, and then skiing at high velocity across the ground while firing explosive munitions at distant targets. All right, maybe that joy isn’t quite as simple, but the point remains that the game has successfully cleared its beta test. And what better way to celebrate that a bit belatedly than by pulling together some interesting stats on the overall beta experience?

  Past the cut, you’ll find an official infographic tallying things like total kills, total number of flags captured, and the ever-important question of how many people met their end by falling. In a game with jetpacks and high-speed skiing, that number is a bit higher than you might otherwise think. So take a look at the full collection of stats, sigh wistfully in memory, and then start gearing up for another round.

  Continue reading Tribes: Ascend puts together a beta infographic

  Tribes: Ascend puts together a beta infographic originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Free Realms throws itself a nice big birthday bash

  Hots Games
  

  Filed under: Events, in-game, News items, Free-to-play, Free Realms, Family

  MMO birthdays are the best celebrations. Instead of getting your favorite game a lot of presents to celebrate its age, most games give the players presents. So it is in Free Realms, which celebrates its third year of operation today with a number of events and rewards for players. The most basic rewards don’t require any real effort on the part of players; just logging in today nets you a Birthday Cake hat, and you can enjoy triple Station Cash for the rest of the day.

  There’s more to the party, however: The game’s offering a number of daily quests to help Queen Valerian produce the best birthday party ever. There’s also the dread monster Cakenstein, a beast assembled from… well, you can probably guess from the name. The extended events will be running until May 24th, but the Station Cash promotion and the hat are only for today. So if you’re a fan of Free Realms, log in and start enjoying the festivities today!

  Free Realms throws itself a nice big birthday bash originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Realms Online introduces the Lamai

  Hots Games
  

  Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Races

  Adding a new race to a factional PvP game is always a dicey proposition with regard to faction balance, but Realms Online is taking a measured approach with its newest race. The diminutive Lamai have just been added, and they aren’t beholden to any single faction — they can join any realm and play as any class. That flexibility is meant to reflect their nature as an ancient race that left the planet ages ago.

  Of course, there’s also the problem that if you’re enticed by the new race, you’ll have to start all over from the first level. As a promotion to help players interested in playing a Lamai, GameSamba is offering a sale on experience boosts in the game’s shop. It’s 25% off of level 30 scrolls, and 10 XP boosters for the price of eight. Not a bad deal if you want to level a new character, whether it’s a lamai or something else.

  [Source: GameSamba press release]

  Realms Online introduces the Lamai originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• The Daily Grind: Do you grind for fluff items?

  Hots Games
  

  Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Daily Grind, Anniversary

  Lord of the Rings Online’s anniversary festival has another six days to go, which just might be enough time for me to grind out the tokens necessary to complete my map collection (and the spiffy Eriador Cartographile title that comes with it).

  I say “grind” here pretty loosely, as the horse-races, fireworks displays, and dwarven beer-brawling are highly enjoyable even though I’ve done them dozens of times each at this point.

  What about you, dear readers? What’s your tolerance when it comes to grinding for fluff items? Do you do it, and what’s the best (or worst) such grind you’ve ever experienced?

  Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today’s Daily Grind!

  The Daily Grind: Do you grind for fluff items? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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