|
|
 Buy on AliExpress.com
DCEmu.Com is a site that brings you the very latest in Gaming news that isnt console specific and the latest Current Gen news from around the world, Part of the
DCEmu Homebrew & Gaming Network.
THE LATEST NEWS BELOW
|
August 9th, 2012, 02:41 Posted By: wraggster
What would happen if Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony put aside their differences and made a console together?According to the brains behind the Tekken series, the result would provide endless possibilities for innovation.Outspoken Japanese designer Katsuhiro Harada, who has worked on Tekken for the past 17 years, told news.com.au that it would be better for gamers if they weren't tied down by a single console."For a long time, the game industry has been able to control the way people play games," he said."There was a platform that people used solely for their gaming needs, and the industry had control of the trends and such that occurred."Now, Harada believes, the emergence of smartphones and browser games means gamers are used to platform agnostic software."People are able to not be tied down by consoles," he said. "And it doesn't stop with phones, we have browser gaming and all these different platforms."Harada praised Sony's decision to have PlayStation 3 games region free, meaning fans can play foreign games on their console. And if the big three joined forces, video game innovation would be significantly boosted, he said."I think it would be interesting if Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo got together just to make one console. It makes me very happy to think about all the possibilities that could occur because of that."Harada isn't the first high-profile game developer to call for a single console. In 2007 Silicon Knights boss Dennis Dyack said a single console would mean games would become "better in quality, cheaper and more widely available"."It's inevitable. It will happen," he predicted. "The market is also split in an unhealthy way between the major manufacturers. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony all may have equal market share this generation, making it extremely difficult for third-party publishers to choose what platform to focus on."Not that it's easy for first-party manufacturers, either. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have put tremendous resources into trying to make the best hardware, including spending significant amounts of money trying to get exclusive mega-titles like Grand Theft Auto on their system first."Despite all this, it's still not enough. The economics of the proprietary models seem to point toward spending more money and receiving fewer returns with each generation, with no clear winner."Back in 2007, Dyack predicted a unified format, decided upon by a consortium of game makers, that would enable a "model of perfect competition" in the hardware marketplace. Games would be cheaper and more creative because publishers would be guaranteed 100-percent market penetration.More recently, Bethesda game director Todd Howard echoed Dyack's comments, saying he would like to see games follow the same path of DVDs and Blu-rays."Once I've bought a DVD I can use it in my TV, in my computer, in my car, here, whatever. And I think it would be good for gaming if it was like that," he said.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ke-one-console
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
 Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
 |
|
|
|
August 9th, 2012, 02:27 Posted By: wraggster
The Raspberry Pi faithful have been looking forward to the Gertboard almost as much as the main device itself: Gert van Loo's I/O extender promises to flash lights, spin motors and otherwise take on the tasks that the Raspberry Pi doesn't directly manage on its own. While we've seen work on the project since late 2011, the expansion now looks to be closer to reality following a fresh teaser. The refined design's biggest tweak is replacing its original PIC controller with an Arduino-powered chip -- an element no doubt familiar to the crowd that would already be looking at a very hackable, miniature Linuxcomputer. Most everything else is a refinement, although Gert has brought in three physical buttons and two-channel analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters. We'll learn the full story later this week, and until then we'll be dreaming of all the off-kilter Arduino projects that might be made better with a little Raspberry Pi companionship.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/08/r...-i-o-extender/
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 9th, 2012, 02:08 Posted By: wraggster
It's still not enough to offset the massive retail declines though
The NPD Group, in advance of their full July retail sales report tomorrow, today announced that the total spent on video game content (in all forms) in the US during the second quarter (April - June) amounted to $2.88 billion. $1 billion was spent on new physical video and PC game software, used and rentals comprised $386 million, and $1.47 billion was fueled by gaming content in digital format (full game and add-on content downloads, subscriptions, mobile games and social network games).
It's encouraging that digital continues to bolster the industry, but so far it's not been enough to completely make up for the huge monthly declines NPD reports for retail sales every month. The July data is likely to reveal yet another substantial drop-off with the exception of perhaps EA Sports' NCAA Football. Earlier today, Cowen and Company forecast that physical game sales in the US would be down 26 percent for all of 2012.
"In the second quarter of this year, sales of content in a digital format have grown 17 percent over Q2 2011," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "While this growth is in stark contrast to the declines in new physical software and hardware sales, the size of digital sales is not quite large enough to offset these declines, leading to an overall drop in consumer spending in Q2 by 16 percent."
NPD also compared some of its findings to the overall market in Europe. The results were similar. The UK, France and Germany generated $243 million from used and rental, while digital format sales in those three countries led to an additional $983 million in sales during Q2 2012.
"While many European acquisition trends in the second quarter of 2012 mirrored those we saw in the U.S. due to seasonality, Europe differed from the U.S. in terms of softer mobile spending, but greater stability in rental trends," added Frazier. "Growth in full-game and add-on content downloads in the second quarter is surprisingly similar as the content behind this increase is suitable to both markets."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...nd-quarter-npd
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 9th, 2012, 00:00 Posted By: wraggster
Cevat Yerli warns that tablets are catching up
The industry is long overdue for a new generation of consoles, says Crytek founder Cevat Yerli.
As the specs on tablets climb to ever-more impressive benchmarks, Yerli said consoles could fall behind.
"We can’t comment on or even speculate as to when, or if, the next generation will be announced, Yerli told VG24/7, "but we think that it’s time for the next generation and we think that it’s overdue already."
The Crytek CEO cautioned that further delays could have damaging effects on the console market as a whole, which he thinks is in danger of losing its first choice status for gaming.
"The current generations are drying out and the longer we wait for the next generation of consoles, the higher the likelihood that they could fall behind tablets in terms of being the first thing people reach for when the time comes to play games,” he warned.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...Crytek-founder
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 8th, 2012, 23:44 Posted By: wraggster
A brand new peripheral is threatening to eclipse the advances made by technologies such as Microsoft's Kinect.
Called Leap, the small device – which connects via USB and is about the size of a flash drive – is said by its developers to be 200x more accurate than any other motion sensing equipment on the market. It can apparently track movements down to 1/100th of a millimetre.
It can track all ten thumbs and fingers as they interact with a 3D space (up to eight cubic feet in size) established around a user’s PC. It can also track pen movement and does an amazing job of tracking handwriting, as is seen in the video below.
It will support Windows 8 out of the box with Linux compatibility currently “on the agenda”.
Each Leap unit will retail for $69.99, with the limited initial shipments scheduled to become available this winter. Free developer kits are also being offered.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...hnology/028890
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 8th, 2012, 15:46 Posted By: wraggster
Olympics fever was good news for publishers of Olympic-based games, but it wasn’t enough to save the UK games market from its worst performance ever last week.
UKIE/Chart-Track data reveals that the total value of the physical UK games market for the week ending July 28th 2012 was £8.40m – the lowest since records began.
And while early data suggests that the following week has been an improvement, August looks to be another challenging month for the market until new releases such as New Super Mario Bros 2 (August 17th), Sleeping Dogs (August 17th)and Darksiders II (August 21st).
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/uk-ga...st-ebb/0100891
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 8th, 2012, 01:59 Posted By: wraggster
Retailer Amazon has reported that UK consumers are for the first time purchasing more digital books than they are physical copies.
Specifically, it currently sells 114 Kindle books for every 100 print books.
And it appears that as well as being of benefit to Amazon, the switch to digital has also boosted the independent publishing market to the tune of 400 per cent.
"Customers in the UK are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books, even as our print business continues to grow." Kindle EU president Jorrit Van der Meulen stated.
"We hit this milestone in the US less than four years after introducing Kindle, so to reach this landmark after just two years in the UK is remarkable and shows how quickly UK readers are embracing Kindle.
"As a result of the success of Kindle, we're selling more books than ever before on behalf of authors and publishers. Thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing, thousands of self-published authors have also been given an outlet to share their work with the millions of Kindle readers worldwide."
The comparisons to the games market are obvious, not least because of the fresh life breathed into the once threatened indie dev sector since the advent of iOS and digital console platforms.
So how long until the sales of digital games overtake physical sales? Sadly it’s hard to know for sure.
With digital sales data remaining closely guarded by publishers and platform holders – and not to mention the incredibly fragmented nature of the digital games market – we still rely on individual companies to drip-feed us information as they see fit.
Could it be that in these times of incredibly poor performances on the UK High Street, digital sales have already taken the lead?
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/books...e-same/0100819
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 8th, 2012, 01:47 Posted By: wraggster
CEO Cevat Yerli talks about next gen and Crytek's place in it
[h=3]Crytek[/h]www.crytek.com
Since the release of the first CryEngine, developer Crytek has been at the forefront of current and next generation graphics technology. In an interview withVG247, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli said he believes the future of gaming will be social and Crytek has bet on that future with its GFACE platform.
"I think one of the key words for the next generation gaming will be 'social'. My perspective of next generation gaming is that playing with friends, and playing on multiple devices and having complimentary experiences with them, will be a big part of the process," Yerli told VG247.
"I think, generally, people are playing shorter cycles in games, and session-based games are going to be key. I think, ultimately, the word 'online' will be extended to embrace 'social' as well."
Crytek began building its first free-to-play game years ago and alongside the game the developer created its GFACE platform to monetize free-to-play titles.
"We decided to develop Warface about six years ago and we created a studio to build the game. There was a steep learning curve because there is a vast difference between making a retail-based game and a free-to-play game service. Learning about that and digesting that, and thinking what Warface could be as a truly social FPS was a major challenge over the last few years. Another challenge was that there was no home for a game like Warface," said Yerli.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...tion-is-social
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 8th, 2012, 01:46 Posted By: wraggster
Mobile graphics are clearly setting the agenda at SIGGRAPH this year -- ARM's Mali T600-series parts have just been chased up by a new Khronos Group standard that will likely keep those future video cores well-fed. OpenGL ES 3.0 represents a big leap in textures, introducing "guaranteed support" for more advanced texture effects as well as a new version of ASTC compression that further shrinks texture footprints without a conspicuous visual hit. OpenVL is also coming to give augmented reality apps their own standard. Don't worry, desktop users still get some love through OpenGL 4.3: it adds the new ASTC tricks, new visual effects (think blur) and support for compute shaders without always needing to useOpenCL. All of the new standards promise a bright future in graphics for those living outside of Microsoft's Direct3D universe, although we'd advise being patient: there won't be a full Open GL ES 3.0 testing suite for as long as six months, and any next-generation phones or tablets will still need the graphics hardware to match.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/07/o...-to-the-limit/
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 7th, 2012, 00:42 Posted By: wraggster
Violent video games are directly to blame for an increasing acceptance of violence in everyday society, an Australian police commissioner has claimed.
The comments come in the wake of an apparent wave of stabbings amongst the younger communities of Sydney.
“There is nothing more potentially damaging than the sort of violence [young people] are being exposed to, be it in movies, be it in console games they're playing," Andrew Scipione told The Sydney Telegraph.
"How can it not affect you if you're a young adolescent growing up in an era where to be violent is almost praiseworthy, where you engage in virtual crime on a daily basis and many of these young people [do] for hours and hours on end.”
He went on to either specifically reference Grand Theft Auto – or at least draw upon many of the widespread conceptions of games violence.
“You get rewarded for killing people, raping women, stealing money from prostitutes, driving cars crashing and killing people,” he added.
"That's not going to affect the vast majority but it's only got to affect one or two and what have you got? You've got some potentially really disturbed young person out there who's got access to weapons like knives or is good with the fist, can go out there and almost live that life now in the streets of modern Australia. That's concerning."
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/polic...-crime/0100749
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 6th, 2012, 20:45 Posted By: wraggster
UK games buyers have chosen the 20 games they think will be the biggest blockbusters this Christmas.
These are the releases that are crucial in retail’s bid to reduce the 33 per cent drop in sales that the boxed market has suffered so far this year.
In fact, these 20 titles could be worth a combined value of over £320m.
This year’s list is notable for being more family friendly than in previous years. Moshi Monsters, Skylanders, LEGO, Mario, Pokémon and Sony’s Wonderbook all make the Top 20.
But it’s the core games that are likely to be the biggest sellers, with familiar names Call of Duty, FIFA, Medal of Honor, Need for Speed, Assassin’s Creed and Hitman making the cut. Meanwhile, Bethesda is tipped to have the big new IP of Xmas with stealth FPS Dishonored.
Last year, £728m was generated from boxed games during the last three months of the year alone, which is over 50 per cent of the entire year’s market value. And 52 per cent of Q4 sales were generated by the Top 20 titles. That’s £378.5m from just 20 games.
In a more staggering figure, the Top Five boxed games of Xmas 2011 (FIFA?12, Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Just Dance 3 and Assassin’s Creed:?Revelations) generated £269m. That’s 37 per cent of all the software revenue generated during Q4 2011 (they accounted for 31 per cent of the units sold).
All figures are from GfK Chart-Track. The 20 games were compiled by MCV based on extensive feedback from our Retail Advisory Board.
OUTSIDE BETS
Even MCV and games retail can get it wrong sometimes. There’s a number of games we wrestled over right until the last minute.
THQ’s WWE 13 is a contender: last year’s game was the 21st best seller of Q4 2011, and the brand has had a good year.
Codemasters’ F1 2011 was the 23rd best-selling Q4 game last year, and F1 is likely to be a big brand this Q4 with F1 2012 in September and family-friendly F1 Race Stars in November.
There’s also a growing expectation behind Konami’s PES 2013 – could that make a return to the Top 20? And Layton has been a regular in the Chart-Track Q4 Top 20, but this year’s title is a 3DS exclusive, which obviously has a smaller install base.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/the-2...s-2012/0100763
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 6th, 2012, 20:44 Posted By: wraggster
PEGI age ratings have been law in the UK for a whole week now. But the battle is only just beginning.
The successful introduction of a single, legally enforceable age ratings system for video games software is a tremendous victory for a games industry that is still fighting those who perceive it to be irresponsibly peddling violent content to minors.
But with ‘our’ side of the bargain fulfilled, the time has come to turn our attentions to the public. Specifically, to parents, who must play their part in ensuring that their kids aren’t accessing inappropriate material.
“I completely agree with you. I completely and utterly agree with you,” Dr Tanya Byron, author of the Byron Report that ultimately lead to a change in the UK’s games classification system, said in response to a Metro question claiming that parents have to now take a leading role.
“When I did the review in 2008 I didn’t see a cynical industry that was there to create games just to exploit and make money. The industry has always been very clear with me, in a very genuine way, that adult content is created for adults – it’s not created for kids.
“The gaming industry is fully supporting and enabling parents to get access to information wherever they can about these issues so fundamentally then it is all about the parents.
“And I completely agree with you: we cannot subcontract responsibility for how children play games to the industry, but I think now the industry has got a much clearer system what we see is an industry that’s being absolutely transparent about what they’re producing and how parents should be thinking about it when their kids are playing and now its fundamentally about educating and empowering parents because that’s where the regulation really lies when it comes to children and gaming.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/we-ve...theirs/0100764
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 6th, 2012, 20:39 Posted By: wraggster
CNN has an expose showing that in South Korea, the world's most wired country, Internet gaming breeds two extremes: elite "athletes" who earn fame and six figures, and addicts who literally play until they die and tells the stories of players on both sides of that real-life divide. From the article: 'The first thing you notice about the professional video game players are their fingers -- spindly creatures that seem to flail about at their own will, banging at the computer keyboard with such frequency and ferocity that to visit their live-in training centers in South Korea is to be treated to a maddening drum roll of clicks and clacks
http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/0...in-south-korea
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 6th, 2012, 18:53 Posted By: wraggster
A few months ago, [Omer] sent in a Raspberry Pi to Arduino bridge he’s been working on called Ponte. Now that he’s gotten a few assembled, he can actually test out his ideas for combining the powerful Raspi with the ubiquitous Arduino.
Ponte revision 0 used a pair of 12-bit analog to digital converters, but during the soldering and debugging phase of development [Omer] discovered a few things were wrong with his original design. The FETs on the fabricated boards had the drain and source pins mixed up, but that problem was easily solved with a bit of board surgery.
The worst problem was the mechanical design of Ponte rev. 0 – the power jack on the Ponte is directly above the Raspi’s USB port, meaning it’s impossible to plug the Ponte into the Pi.
[Omer] is working on these problems and should have the revised boards completed shortly. A few people have asked where they can get a Ponte, but right now there are no plans to assemble and ship boards. That may change, but for now if might be worth bugging [Omer] to put his new and improved Ponte (with an 8-port I2C port expander!) up on SeeedStudio
http://hackaday.com/2012/08/05/not-q...rduino-bridge/
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 6th, 2012, 10:34 Posted By: wraggster
Doom 4 will be compatible with the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset (the onethat was over-funded via Kickstarter in less than 24 hours last week), just like its baby brother, Doom 3 BFG Edition. id Software has been involved with Oculus Rift for some time, showing off Doom 3 BFG running on Rift at this year's E3 and including a copy of the game with every Rift dev kit.
"I'm excited for once Doom 3 ships, and gets out there, I'll put all this stuff into the Doom 4 platform, which will be nice to take our current top-of-the-line stuff and have that in virtual reality," id's John Carmack told Polygon at QuakeCon. "I'm looking forward to doing that."
The Oculus Rift Kickstarter has so far raised more than $1.26 million of its desired $250,000, with 26 days to go.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/05/do...ft-vr-headset/
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 6th, 2012, 10:31 Posted By: wraggster
Let's talk grinding. No, not how college students awkwardly demonstrate affection for one another at parties. No, I mean that thing that role-playing games do that's bad. The one that makes people not like RPGs. That kind of grinding. Like the "daily grind" except for video games.
Except that I'm not sure which games have grinding.
This makes it difficult when I talk to people about what kinds of RPGs they like or dislike, especially when they want recommendations. The specter of "grinding," of playing an RPG but being forced to do something that's considered bad, hangs over the genre like a cursed dagger. People want to play RPGs, sure, but they don't want to play the ones that force them to do something over and over again. This of course begs the question: what is grinding?
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/05/gr...the-rpg-genre/
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 5th, 2012, 21:02 Posted By: wraggster
This is for sure: if you're a gamer seeking a primo wireless surround sound headset, now is a very good time to buy. It's been less than two weeks since Astro Gaming's A50 wireless surround headsetimpressively traversed the Engadget review gauntlet, and now the crazy kitties that are Mad Catz and Tritton are up for a turn. It's taken the duo well over a year and a half to get its full range of Microsoft-licensed Xbox 360 headsets off the ground, with the flagship Warhead 7.1 Wireless Surround Sound Headset set to hit shelves in just a few days.
Aside from packing some innovative and exclusive features for Xbox 360 users, it stands as the only totally integrated wireless headset for the system -- for the first time you won't need a pesky controller-to-headset cable or a controller-mounted Bluetooth dongle for voice chat. We've been fortunate enough to get an early look at this $300 Dolby Headphone-enabled headset, so join us past the break and we'll let you know whether it's been worth the wait -- or whether it's too much, too late.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/03/m...ox-360-review/
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
|
August 5th, 2012, 15:14 Posted By: wraggster
With BioWare's hugely expensive MMO going free-to-play this year, we examine what the model means for The Old Republic and the industry at large
 [h=3]BioWare[/h]BioWare develops high quality console, PC and online role-playing games, focused on rich stories, unforgettable...
www.bioware.com
[h=3]Electronic Arts[/h]www.ea.com
Few needed the services of Michael Pachter to accurately predict the future of Star Wars: The Old Republic. For many, the outcome was clear even before the game launched, but after several months of encouraging rhetoric EA finally made the call: this November, Star Wars: The Old Republic will go free-to-play... well, more or less.
Certain aspects of the game and all content beyond level 50 will remain behind a pay-wall, but for the most part these concessions seem to be more about EA's damaged pride than actual value for the consumer. It's hard to judge the significance of any event in the moment, but it's worth entertaining the notion that The Old Republic's inability to sustain a subscription model will be regarded as a milestone in how games on this scale are created and sold.
The key question now is, will it work? Free-to-play has been the apparent saviour of a growing number of MMOs, but while these games have been given a second chance by adopting the model, the degree of success they have enjoyed since the transition is less clear. In the absence of hard numbers for revenue and profits we're left to assume that free-to-play leads to untold riches, but what's good for DC Universe Online won't necessarily be good for The Old Republic.
Zynga's current woes can be attributed to a number of factors, but, as Rob Fahey recently pointed out, the failure to monetise its new users is a key part of the problem. Obviously, the perceived value of the product is vital here, but as more free-to-play products of all kinds enter the market it will only become more difficult to compete for the players' time and their incremental injections of revenue. Will removing the barriers to entry really lead to a market where any game can succeed, and, perhaps more importantly, will it lead to better games?
[h=2]Dan Pearson[/h]"By admitting that it could not compete with Activision Blizzard in the subscription MMO market, EA will have, in some people's eyes, capitulated"
It's hard to believe that there wasn't a little pride involved in EA not making this choice much, much earlier. This is a huge battleground, one of the areas where it's taking a big swing at its biggest traditional opponent, Activision - the left cross to the windmilling right of the FPS market contest. Squaring up to Acti across these two enormously profitable arenas is a massive commitment, one that has bigger connotations in the boardroom than it ever could in the living rooms of gamers.
The switch to free-to-play, as eminently sensible as it appears to be, is still a sidestep; a moving of the goal-posts. By admitting that it could not compete with Activision Blizzard in the subscription MMO market, EA will have, in some people's eyes, capitulated.
It's undoubtedly a wise move, and it won't have been done without due consideration. In the reams and reams of metric information that the publisher collects on the MMO, there was clearly a spike in uptake after the recent compromise of making 15 levels free-to-play that has prompted this full switch - whatever its eventual budget, this is a project way too expensive to roll the dice on. Whether it has what it takes to turn profit in a hugely competitive market is another question.
Perhaps if EA were to begin this project today it would pick F2P straight off the bat. Perhaps it would take its lead from Guild Wars 2 and opt for a boxed-product model, with little or no further monetisation past the point of sale. As someone who has never understood the mentality of MMO players in general, and their willingness to pay monthly in particular, it seems so obvious - but there are still over nine million WoW players who would disagree.
[h=2]David Radd[/h]I have to believe this will benefit the game, because it has in almost every other case I've witnessed, but Star Wars: The Old Republic is a peculiar case. Almost everyone that has played the game regards the storytelling as the best part of the experience. The story is a solo experience with other players included as an option, and interest in the story doesn't necessarily mean interest in the raiding and PvP end-game content that EA will apparently keep behind a pay-wall - they might just be giving away the best part of the game.
Will the mass transition to free-to-play lead to better games? I'm really unsure. Free-to-play requires having a product's paid conveniences laid bare, sometimes to an almost annoying degree, and there's always the worry of "pay to win" situations, all of which diminish the experience. We're still in the early stages of free-to-play, and there are certainly a few discoveries and innovations still to come, but it's a fine line between selling extras to willing customers and exploitation your players. Hopefully, The Old Republic will find the right balance.
[h=2]Steve Peterson[/h]Free-to-play is a seductive business model, but the game design implications are scary. Free is the standard in the social game market, we've seen it rapidly conquer the mobile space, and now the MMO is following suit - but the results are not always going to be successful. Sure, The Lord of the Rings Online made a great transition, ending up with far more users and more revenue than before, but many MMOs haven't been so lucky, and it's difficult to tell where the chips will fall for The Old Republic. Game balance is a delicate thing, and suddenly assigning costs to items could potentially make the game much less fun to play.
"This isn't a rushed decision, and as a result there should be a lot of smart monetisation options appearing come November"
The story-based style of Star Wars: The Old Republic is another complicating factor. How exactly do you convert that to a pay model? Do you have to pay to find out how a story line ends? Or are some stories not available unless you pay? What exactly is going to be worth the subscription price? Michael Pachter may think the game can grow to 50 million users, but I just don't see how that's possible. The game's design and production values will make adding new content more time-consuming and expensive than any other MMORPG, and adding new content is the lifeblood of the genre... especially when it's free to play.
Making Star Wars: The Old Republic free-to-play is the best chance EA has to create a growing game, but it's not at all a sure-fire thing. I wish them luck; they're going to need it.
[h=2]Matt Martin[/h]I would imagine BioWare and EA had free-to-play in mind way before development had even finished on The Old Republic. It started out with subscriptions, but free-to-play was mounted on the wall behind Greg Zeschuck's desk: 'In Case of Emergency Break Glass'. This isn't a rushed decision and as a result there should be a lot of smart monetisation options appearing come November.
If anything, the MMO market becomes more brutal with every new game that announces its free-to-play ambitions. MMOs are designed as time-sinks, pulling in customers and keeping them playing with their friends. But loyalty isn't necessary when you're not paying for the experience, and so players can come and go as they please. As a result, weak free-to-play games become more disposable and only the strongest will survive.
 The Lord of The Rings Online is the prime example of a successful free-to-play transition
But if players have already experienced The Old Republic and drifted away, then this won't bring them back. Surely the million-plus early adopters were all hardcore Star Wars and gaming fans, the most loyal players with high disposable income (why else does Lego create a $400 Death Star?). That's not an audience put off by a price; that's an audience turned off by the game.
Star Wars may be a part of popular culture and have universal appeal, but the mechanics of this kind of MMO are far from friendly. So who exactly will a free-to-play Old Republic attract? Maybe the same people who have dabbled in that other free Star Wars game, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures. But we don't hear much about the continued success of that, and it isn't the flagship product for a publisher with a slowing social games business and tanking share price.
[h=2]James Brightman[/h]The Old Republic going free-to-play won't be a shock to anyone who follows this industry. It's the only reasonable move EA could make to stop a leak from becoming a gushing waterfall, but I don't think it's going to significantly extend the title's longevity. My hunch is that The Old Republic will get a temporary bump for a few months as the user-base surges from curious players, but, in the long run, will the game really be able to sustain enough of a paying user-base to support its massive infrastructure? MMO players are fickle and nomadic, and Mists of Pandaria and Guild Wars 2 could make EA's life very difficult in the months ahead.
"While it's good to see SWTOR declare free-to-play status up to level 50, many games are weighted a bit too heavily towards quickly opening your wallet"
The free-to-play market is a fascinating study of business and human psychology. Developers don't want their games labelled as "shallow", but at the same time the business dictates that they hold back some of the very essence of the game that would make it deeper - or else why would any sane person pay anything? The trick is to come up with a "hook" to get players addicted and willing to cough up some cash on multiple micro-transactions. Then again, if it pushes the hook too obviously and quickly, as John points out, it saps the fun out almost instantly. It's a very careful balance that needs to be achieved, and I sure don't have the right answer - if I did I'd already be rich.
Ultimately, I'm most curious to see whether free-to-play can really be applied to console and AAA products. Can free-to-play sustain a product that costs anywhere from $40 to $60 million to develop, and more to maintain? Perhaps the best free-to-play use would be "free-to-try", like Gaikai's instant demos of top quality games. No micro-transactions or gimmicks; see if you like the game, and if you do, pay for the complete experience. Xbox Live demos, in my experience, have been one of the best marketing tools. It's really the only free-to-play I need, but maybe I'm in the minority.
[h=2]John Benyamine[/h]Star Wars: The Old Republic going free-to-play is a solid move by one of the few companies that seems to understand the ever-changing games market and is willing to take a risk, even if that risk is being initiated by a poor consumer response to the initial retail offering. I'm very curious to see how EA tackles the problems that I've always seen with free-to-play, which boils down to two categories.
First, the pay wall tends to show up a lot quicker than most gamers would like. That's a pretty obvious statement in the age-old battle of consumer interests versus corporate bottom lines, but it's an important aspect of free-to-play that many traditional companies still don't have a handle on. While it's good to see a game like SWTOR declare free-to-play status up to level 50, many games (including EA's own SimCity Social) are weighted a bit too heavily towards quickly opening your wallet.
 Tribes: Ascend is free-to-play but without the pervasive sense of compromise
In that regard, it reminds me of the iTunes App Store; it took some time to figure out that a lower price point translated into substantially more revenue, even if that meant changing user expectations towards one-dollar apps forever. We're still at that critical early point in time where the free-to-play market will have to decide how much is enough to satisfy users while earning a worthwhile profit, and SWTOR should teach us a lot over the next several months.
The second, more sinister problem comes with the worry that by introducing for-pay items into the gaming ecosystem, you naturally stack the deck in favor of those with infinite funds. Reflecting on my own gaming habits and the recent Diablo III, seeing rare drops in the auction house made finding those rare items in the game world less fun. That's not an issue that can be patched up willy-nilly, and I'm worried that things like that will start to sap the fun out of games unless you have one of the most dangerous and expensive gaming accessories by your side: your wallet.
[h=2]Matthew Handrahan[/h]It may surprise you that the team doesn't regard The Old Republic's free-to-play switch as an instant home-run, but I also remain sceptical about the game's future. While it adheres quite closely to a familiar template, EA and BioWare's claims that they were attempting to bring new standards of quality to the MMO were true of some aspects of the game. Maintaining The Old Republic and providing regular new content of the standard already set will require a steady flow of revenue, perhaps more than 2 to 5 per cent of the user-base can provide. Worryingly, my friends who have played the game extensively have trouble suggesting where in-game purchases could easily fit into the picture. The Old Republic was sold as a story; very soon, it will have to double as a shop.
The final outcome of this mass exodus towards free-to-play is equally hard to predict. I don't hold with the notion that the model will become standard for all games - there is a great deal of middle-ground between $60 and free, and the industry should cover every inch of it - and, more to the point, I believe it would be bad for the industry if it did. Games like League of Legends and Tribes: Ascend have made me reconsider my once staunch opposition to the model, but, for the most part, contemporary free-to-play games force the player to mix the immediate experience of playing with the economics of continuing to do so in a way that leaves me cold. I know I am not alone, but I also know that there are many more who would disagree.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...to-play-future
To read more of the post and Download, click here!
Join In and Discuss Here
Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here |
|
|
|
|
« prev
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
next » |
|
|
