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10 weeks ago myself and the team from the station held a 48 hour charity event on Twitch in aid of GamesAid, a fantastic charity that is close to my heart.
Over the weekend we managed to raise just £236 of the £1500 we had hoped to raise via our Just Giving page and through a combined use of the station radio stream and Twitch streaming, we had some great shows and some fantastic input from our fans
The stand out moments we have kept on Youtube here:
During the weekend we played LOADs of great games, both PC and console based. (and got very little sleep that weekend too)
But thank you to all the team and the fans for chipping in, plus to the great guys over at Subterranean Games for joining us and talking about War for the Overworld
Over the last few years, Free to Play has not only become a staple of the MMO market, but big companies have moved their MMO from subscription, to Free to Play to entice new players in.
Blizzard, seem to think the opposite.
As announced on our forums on August 15, a change is coming to World of Warcraft subscription pricing for players who use pounds sterling.
We regularly look at our pricing around the world and from time to time we make changes in light of local and regional market conditions. As such, we want to give everyone a heads-up that we will shortly be adjusting the pound sterling subscription price of World of Warcraft.
The new price for recurring subscriptions will be £9.99 for one month, £28.17 for three months (£9.39 per month), and £52.14 for six months (£8.69 per month). The suggested retail price of the 60-day prepaid time card will be £20.99.
As a thank you for current World of Warcraft subscribers, we guarantee that players with recurring (auto-renewing) subscriptions at the time of the price change will retain their current price for two years, as long as they remain in the same recurring subscription without interruption. This applies to anyone who is already in, or signs up for, a recurring subscription prior to the price change, which is scheduled to take place at the Warlords of Draenor release. We will reach out to relevant players approximately two months prior to the price change with a reminder.
So what do you think? With other high profile MMO’s going Free to Play over the last couple of years (yes Star Wars, we’re looking at you, you loser…), do you think Blizzard are going the wrong way, or cashing in on the market they know they have?
Forza 5 launched with some nasty micro-transactions, made more upsetting by the fact that people already spent $60 to buy it.
Players were pissed, and creator Turn 10 spent months re-tuning the otherwise solid racer. What does this mean for open-world spin-off Forza Horizon 2? No micro-transactions whatsoever. At first.
Ralph Fulton, of Playground Studios’ (Forza Horizon 2’s primary developer) talked openly about the prospect of being able to spend real money on things—cars, upgrades, and the like—otherwise earn-able in-game at a recent preview event in San Francisco, and he didn’t mince words: the firestorm that came down on Forza 5 provided a valuable—though indirect—learning experience for the Horizon team.
“Obviously we couldn’t help but notice what happened with Forza 5,” he said. “Absolutely. But at the same time, I did feel bad for the team [at Forza Motorsport creator Turn 10]. They worked incredibly hard on that game and then things erupted.”
Their solution, then, is to launch at the end of this month with no in-game micro-transactions, no cars buy-able for real money, whatsoever.
You either earn your way to the top or stall out at the starting line. Why? Playground wants to make sure the game’s economy isn’t broken—that is, obnoxiously slow for people who don’t spend real money—like Forza 5’s initially was. They also want to show fans that this game is designed to be fair and rewarding first and foremost, that it won’t repeat the sins of its series cousin.
“We’re not trying to short-change anybody out of the experience,” he said. “We want a massive amount of content available to everyone on day one.”
“There’s a twofold strategy to that. First, we want to make sure our economy is as we planned it. From the start, we want to make sure progression, the economy, the amount of credits you get in the game—that all of that is fair and rewarding. Our job is to make you feel good about your progression. We need to make sure that’s the case once the game is out in the wild and people can play it.”
“The second half of that is to demonstrate to everyone else—to the players—that we have a game which is balanced such that you never need to spend a penny on it. It will reward you. You will feel great. You’ll feel like a rockstar for the progression you make through it.”
How exactly will that work, though? What’s the difference between “feeling like a rockstar” (or, you know, a famous race car driver, which might have been a more apt analogy) and feeling like you’re being swindled by a used car salesman? Fulton explained it like this:
“We tried to make the game really generous. We give you two or three cars in the first hour. The wheelspin mechanic [that gives you a random reward when you level up] is really important too. Everybody loves a slot machine, and you have that sense that you’ll be leveling up every 15 or 20 minutes. With that, you have this next opportunity to get more cash or even to get a car.”
Horizon 2’s world is allegedly three times larger than that of the first Forza Horizon, too. Fulton boasted that doing everything in it would take at least 100 hours.
Of course for now, that’s just a boast… empty air, no substance. What I can say with certainty is that in my experience of the game’s first hour, rewards came fast and furious. I leveled twice and got pretty good in-game money both times. I also won a championship in my muddy, thoroughly-dented-from-driving-like-a-maniac Camaro, which netted me even more glittering prizes. Also my car’s mutant healing factor kicked in after I crossed the finish line, so I didn’t have to pay pesky repair fees or anything like that.
As is, Forza Horizon 2’s economy—at least, at this early point—inspires confidence. We’re not entirely in the clear, though. Assuming players largely get on well with Forza’s new, more generous side, Playground hopes to add micro-transactions at a later date.
“I’m sure there will come a time when we want to offer our players more choice,” said Fulton. “But we won’t do that at first. The crucial thing is to make this point [about our economy] to our fans.”
An admirable goal. I’ll confess, I’m not in love with the idea of putting micro-transactions in a $60 game at all, but—for the time being—it’s looking like The Way Of The Future. Here’s hoping more creators opt to nail down the, you know, fun side of their reward systems first and then sweat the other details. If Playground keeps to its word, Forza Horizon 2 will at least provide a good model to follow.
Coming up in September, Xbox Live Gold members can look forward to three new free games on Xbox One and Xbox 360. Super Time Force is coming to Games with Gold on Xbox One as a free download, replacing Strike Suit Zero (so grab it now if you haven’t already). Crimson Dragon will continue to be available for Xbox Live Gold members as a free download for Xbox One.
On Xbox 360, starting Monday, September 1st, Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine (normally US $14.99) will be free for Xbox Live Gold members through September 15th.
Then, on September 16th, Xbox Live Gold Members can download Halo: Reach (normally US $24.99) for free through September 30th.
*Titles are available as free downloads for qualifying Xbox Live Gold members in all markets where Xbox Live is available. Some regions may offer different titles depending on market availability.
Woah… HALO Reach for free? Well I know what I’m getting (and trading in my disc copy)
When Nintendo came out with the Circle Pad Pro accessory for the original Nintendo 3DS – which added a second Circle Pad and extra buttons to the 3DS which allowed for even more control; and which Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate made good use of – many asked why a second Circle Pad could not have been a standard feature of the 3DS. When the 3DS XL was released and also lacked the second pad, the complaints became even more vocal.
Colour choices at launch for the New 3DS and New 3DS XL
Today in Japan, Nintendo have not only finally heeded the call, but have gone even further. The company announced all new models of their popular hand-held game consoles, the Nintendo 3DS and the 3DS XL (called the 3DS LL in Japan), which along with extra controls, make a number of other additions and improvements over the previous models.
If you actually care that the new models are a few mm bigger in most directions, you probably have an Apple device and/or no shame (click pictures to enlarge)
The real big news of the announcement, however, comes in the form of a small toy.
If you’re wondering why this pic shows just the Amiibo logo instead of an actual Amiibo, blame Nintendo.
With the new consoles including an NFC Reader, the new 3DS and 3DS XL will come with built-in support for Amiibo, Nintendo’s upcoming range of NFC-enabled figurines. Previously thought to be exclusive to the Wii U, the new addition enables future 3DS games to also offer the ability to allow select Nintendo characters to be stored and shared across compatible games or to use the toys for special in-game functions; and use of the feature in the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. is already confirmed – what it consists of is yet to be announced, but if one is to make a guess, imagine something like the sticker mode in Brawl, but with an actual physical toy to enhance and make your own character with.
Those colourful SNES-like buttons.
As to the controls, the new 3DS and 3DS XL will add a splash of colour to the A/B/X/Y button. The new 3DS gets the more significant facelift with fully-coloured buttons, while the XL simply gets coloured button labels. The colours are the same as those originally used on the Japanese SNES controller, in a nice homage to Nintendo history.
…But that’s not what you care about, is it? The bigger news is both devices finally feature a second Circle Pad – well, kind of. Dubbed the “C-Stick” by Nintendo in another homage (this time to the yellow analogue stick of Nintendo’s own GameCube controller), the new stick is much smaller than the main Circle Pad – in fact, it’s roughly the same size as one of the four A/B/X/Y buttons. This isn’t accidental – according to Nintendo’s own Satoru Iwata, while the new control will function like a stick, it’s also designed to be used as though it were a button itself. Iwata also claims the new C-Stick “is easy to use”; with Nintendo releasing a picture showing that the size and positioning of the button should make it easy to control with the same thumb used to press the lettered buttons – it remains to be seen if this turns out to be the case. The new C-stick will be used in Dragon Quest X: Online, Final Fantasy Explorers, and Monster Hunter 4G to control the in-game camera function, and in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS to unleash Smash Attacks.
The back of the New 3DS XL. Notice anything different?
The new 3DS models will also include ZL and ZR buttons on the back beside the existing L/R buttons, thus making the Circle Pad Pro accessory entirely redundant. Because there is no longer space for the game card, the game card slot is now found on new 3DS and XL’s bottom-left side, which seems poorly thought out – surely it’ll be right underneath your left palm thus making it easy to accidentally push the card in and eject it? The space at the top previously occupied by the game card slot now houses the charging port, which has been moved from its original off-centre position.
Battery life comparisons (given in minimum to maximum expected time between charges) for the New 3DS XL (left image) and New 3DS (right image) compared to their predecessors (click to enlarge)
Nintendo claim that the new 3DS and XL models also make small improvements on the battery life, with their rated maximum life up half an hour on the XL to 7 hours; and up a whole hour on the regular 3DS to 6 hours. Part of the reason for these gains are due to a new adaptive brightness feature, where the screen will automatically brighten or darken depending on the currently displayed picture, which is also aimed to improve colour quality. Another big reason for the small improvement is a new, more efficient processor – which also grants the new models a small speed boost to make downloads and loading times quicker – though exact specs are not yet known. Speaking of downloads, you’ll also now be able to use Micro SD cards with both new 3DS models, with a new slot located under the bottom covering.
The new Nintendo 3DS models also have an improved 3D function. With the original 3DS and XL, if you viewed the 3D effect from the side and didn’t stay in the “sweet spot,” the graphics became all blurred. However, the New 3DS has improved 3D, enabling players to continue to see the 3D effect even if viewed from an angle. Using the device’s cameras and gyroscopes, the new 3DS and 3DS XL actually track your face to work out the angle the screen is being viewed from – and will adjust the 3D effect to what’s best for your view. Clever!
Though the international launches of the new 3DS and 3DS XL models is still to be announced, both will be out October 11 in Japan. The New Nintendo 3DS is priced at 16,000 yen (approx. £92.75 at time of posting) and the New Nintendo 3DS XL is priced at 18,800 yen (approx. £109 at time of posting) – given the usual mark-ups, however, I’m personally predicting prices of £129 and £159 when they hit the UK. Sorry, that’s business.
