Free-to-play, browser-based build 'em up Anno Online today entered open beta testing so all and sundry can give it a go. Cor, pssh, tsh, browser games, right? But Anno Online may be one of those worth at least a bit of your time, our Ozzie found when he played it.
Firaxis and 2K Games have been busy with Apple's iOS platform. On top of Haunted Hollow, the studio behind XCOM: Enemy Unknown has released another free-to-play game for Apple's mobile devices. This one comes from Sid Meier and ventures to the days of World War I. Sid Meier's Ace Patrol is a turn-based strategy game that mixes in enough RPG elements to make you want to fly beyond the free-to-play horizon.
By today's standards, an MMORPG running for over two years before going free-to-play has been pretty successful with the subscription model. So well done, Rift. Developer Trion Worlds today announced that it will switch the MMO to F2P on June 12, a respectable 25 months after launching. It'll do the usual microtransaction stuff, of course.
Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight was not well received by critics and fans, something that new developer Victory Games is well aware of as it creates a new Command & Conquer. A new developer diary video explains how the team is trying to get back to what made the series great to begin with.
"The first thing we said was we need to wash the stain of C&C 4 away," lead designer Samuel Bass said, "and to do that you really need to get back to your roots."
Sid Meier's Ace Patrol is now available on the iOS App Store, and Firaxis has produced a trailer to show off the game in action. The newsreel presentation shows off a few glimpses of the strategic movements, in-air combat, and upgrades available.
Firaxis Games already has one original iOS game in the works, but the popular strategy developer is releasing a new game with Sid Meier's name attached and it is hitting the App Store next week, publisher 2K Games announced announced today.
With a title as boisterous as The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, it's surprising how quiet Ubisoft has been about their free-to-play dungeon-off. In fact, since announcing the game last year, the publisher has remained silent. Today, that changes, with a trailer that reveals what the game actually looks like.
Peter Molyneux has learned a lot from his 30 years in game development, but what he is seeing now in the free-to-play arena--and experimenting with in Curiosity--has him excited about its viability as a tool to make better games, providing that F2P is at the beginning of the discussion.
You call yourself a mech fan yet what do you do when you clamber up inside your robosuit? You blast other mechs to pieces! You monster. No, the true appreciator dedicates themself to maintaining and restoring mechs as they stomp around. For these noble people, free-to-play mech FPS Hawken today introduces a medic class of mech, the Technician, in a new patch.
Free-to-play jetpacking MMOFPS Firefall will enter open beta on July 9, developer Red 5 Studios announced today. It'll essentially be in a launch-ish state, with the in-game item store live and everything, but Red 5 wants more feedback and to give the servers a good testing before officially going live.
The Alliance archmage Jaina Proudmoore and former Horde Warchief Thrall have a mutual respect and trust with each other in the Warcraft universe, but that doesn't keep them from facing off in a new video showing Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft in action.
Updated with platform information.
Namco Bandai is serious about free-to-play. Tekken Card Tournament was the publisher's first attempt at transforming its fighting franchise into a F2P experience. Now, it plans on using the business model du jour for its most iconic racing series: Ridge Racer.
Ridge Racer: Driftopia is a free-to-play game coming from Bugbear, developer of so-so Ridge Racer Unbounded (pictured). Like every other F2P game, "there are elements that help speed up your experience with the game," a Namco Bandai spokesperson told us, admitting "that's ultimately what helps us drive that business."
Injustice: Gods Among Us will bring its superpowered brand of fighting to consoles next Tuesday. In the meantime, the iOS version of Injustice brings a distinct style to the mobile fighting realm that's worth trying out. Unfortunately, several free-to-play tropes prove to be this game's Kryptonite.
We've been through a retro pixel revival, but I fancy the return of a graphical style which means a lot more to me: big chunky old polygons. Right up my alley is Minimum, a free-to-play shooter from TimeGate studios, creator of the Section 8 games and, ah, co-developer of Aliens: Colonial Marines. But look, lovely big blocky robots and dinosaurs!
The industry has been looking for new ways to capitalize on the free-to-play craze. In spite of its name, free-to-play games make a lot of money. But not everyone is happy with the way F2P games are being monetized. Bennett Foddy, creator of games like QWOP and GIRP, gave five reasons for why free-to-play games "usually suck," and offered his own suggestions on possibly making them suck less.
Perhaps the biggest crime of free-to-play games are the ones where you must pay to avoid grinding. Because you are paying to "reduce the amount of time you spend playing the game," it actually becomes a pay-not-to-play game, which diminishes the "perceived value of the game."
"Uh oh Haxim, you are SCREWED! It was nice knowing you bud."
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