After speculation about whether Bethesda’s MMO The Elder Scrolls Online was due to move to a free-to-play model due to the removal of some subscription options and other actions that fitted with the pattern other MMOs have taken before changing to a similar model. Now Bethesda have confirmed that yes, they are changing it. To a single-payment model similar to Guild Wars 2.

The director of ESO, Matt Finor said that they were listening to fan feedback with the changes. “We know that Elder Scrolls fans want choice when it comes to how they play and how they pay, and that is what they will get.”

The game is scheduled for release on the new-gen consoles on June 9th, but the game will go single-payment a little under three months before that on March 17th. Zenimax have confirmed that the single-payment system will give players access to the full launched game along with all existing updates and future Justice and Champion systems.

All existing accounts will be updated to reflect the new payment model and subscribers updated to Premium memberships – able to gain in-game bonuses as well as having access to DLC and a monthly allotment of Crowns all for a monthly fee. Crowns are going to be the paid-for currency for a new in-game store also arriving in March. TESO will now make money via purchasable cosmetic and convinience items from this store, although regular players will get new toys via the updates that come along.

It might not be f2p, but does the idea of paying just once for the game make you want to try TESO again, especiallu with recent updates bringing in a justice system?

As a part of a larger investigation involving the attacks that brought down the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live last year, UK’s South East Regional Organized Crime Unit arrested an 18-year-old male last week.

The statement released to USA Today cited not only the DDoS attacks on Sony and Microsoft but also numerous swatting offenses

At this time, we are unsure if formal charges have been made against the teen, but the suspected charges will be unauthorized access to computer material contrary to section 1 of Computer Misuse Act 1990, unauthorized access with intent to commit further offenses contrary to section 2 of Computer Misuse Act 1990, and threats to kill contrary to Section 16 of Offenses against the person Act 1861.

As 2014 drew to a close, Namco Bandai finished the process of freeing Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition from the hold of Games for Windows Live, moving it to the embrace of Steamworks instead. Now another barrier has been removed: the region lock.

An update from a developer informed players that a new patch was coming soon that would remove region restrictions that previously stopped different continents’ servers from interacting with each other, as well as fixing the source of a crash.

“A nice fix is available for all players since January 19th 2015 to completely remove the infamous multiplayer region lock in Dark souls: Prepare to die edition. This patch also fixes the crash that could occur when opening the Book of Guilty. To update your game, simply launch it from Steam with the auto-update option on.

“Are you ready to die again?”

Given that the game’s already been out a while, there’s not as many people playing anymore so having access to players from across the world is probably a good thing.

Elite’s’s a really good game, at least if you ask our station manager. He loves Elite: Dangerous. It still has a few kinks to be worked out though, and the ghost ship bug is just the latest one that the developers are working to address.

The bug is that players who have their commanders in supercruise are being interdicted – that is forcefully yanked out of supercruise to engage with the other ship. Only, these ships never appear… at least I guess they’re non-hostile ghost vessels? Either way, the reports are mounting up and lead designer Sandro Sammarco took to the game’s forum to discuss the bug among other things.

“Interdiction ending with no other vessels present – this sounds very much like a bug, so please ticket. In general, if an interdiction completes (either because of submission or the interdictor winning) then both ships should be pushed into the same space. I can’t really think of any circumstance where this should not be the case.”

There’s also some considerations on how to better make use of bounties, including making them a “special, non-expiring fine” for the perpetrator so that they’ll have to pay for their crime at some point (Sammarco did point out that bounties are a green light for other players to attack you – which is part of the punishment in their eyes) and potentially setting higher bounties for those long-time players who target new players. As someone who generally swears off PvP games because I’m fed up of being a newbie punching bag for older players, I like this idea.

There should be even more to talk about when the first big update hits the game too.

League of Legends is insanely popular. And like all popular games developer Riot is constantly testing out new ideas to keep the game new and fresh. Their latest brainchild is the “Nemesis Draft”. This mode is a 5v5 match that takes place on the Summoner’s Rift. The catch in Nemesis Draft is that instead of the normal drafting process, each team goes down the line one by one, picking Champions for the opposing team.

Naturally, this leads to some rather…interesting choices. To quote Riot:

“SO.. we’re excited to see how scheming & creative you guys are. Are we about to uncover some diamonds in the rough? Will it be, “Give them all melee champs!” or “Give them all AD so we can just build armour!”. And then the inevitable, “Ok guys. We’ve got 4 junglers and a support.. but so do they! Let’s do this.” I can’t wait. :)”

Things are not all sunshine and roses however, with players repeatedly dodging lobbies to avoid playing with a champion they don’t want.  Personally, I think this is an interesting idea and hope that it makes it out of testing and onto the main LoL servers. After all, whats more fun than sticking an enemy team with all junglers and then rolling over them with tanks? Still, the LoL community doesn’t seem to be to happy.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments! And, as a Smite player, let me just say that I have almost no sympathy for the LoL players upset by this. We’ve had a mode like this in Smite for ages now. Suck it up you scrubs.