With South Park now taking on freemium (FM) (the -mium is Latin for “not really”) and free-to-play (F2P) gaming, it’s safe to say that the concept has officially entered the cultural zeitgeist. Considering the number of people I know of that play FM/F2P games, a quick primer on these kinds of games seems like it’s in order. Continue reading
gaming
12 posts
That’s it America. You need to be officially cut off. No, seriously. You no longer know how to spend money wisely. Haha! Not that you really ever did. Now, though, you’ve taken your ability to spend money on the most ridiculous of things and upped the ante by allowing Kim Kardashian, irredeemable money goblin, to rid you of hard earned dollars through her very own game app. Continue reading
Star Trek Into Darkness director J.J. Abrams was recently quoted blasting the movie’s tie-in video game, saying: Continue reading
For those of you that follow MMORPGs, you’ve probably noticed that the big trend among new games is the free-to-play model. For those of you that have actually played some of these games, you’ve probably noticed that free-to-play either becomes pay-to-play or pay-to-win pretty quickly. Although many developers are gamers themselves, they are also attempting to create a profitable product, and when those two instincts collide the business side inevitably wins. This creates friction with their user bases, and if left unresolved inevitably leads to the game failing.
I recently started playing Marvel Heroes, an MMO based in the Marvel universe, which uses a League of Legends-style Heroes system. The launch has not exactly been smooth, to say the least. So, speaking as a both a gamer, with insider knowledge of gamer psychology, as well as someone with a business background, I’m hoping to bridge the gap and explain how it’s possible to create a Free-To-Play game that convinces the gamer to spend money and make the game profitable. Continue reading
For the first time since 2005, more Americans view President George W. Bush positively than negatively. A new Gallup poll released Tuesday found that 49 percent of people view the former president favorably and 46 percent unfavorably.
George W. Bush is taking a shower. Suddenly he pauses in his ablutions; even the water pressure seems to slacken, steam ceases to rise. He gazes downward: His male organ has vanished. It appears to have retracted into his body. Neither mirror-reflection nor desperate loofah-scrubbing reveals the missing unit. It is simply gone. Continue reading
I’m a gamer. Unlike the vast majority of gamers, however, I game on a PC. I’ve been gaming on a PC for nearly 20 years. I’ve invested hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars into gaming hardware over that span to run the latest releases at resolutions, framerates, and detail levels that would make your eyes bleed, and I’ve done it without a second’s hesitation; in fact, I usually do it with a smile.
So you’re going to have to trust me when I say that the consoles are killing gaming. Continue reading
I’m a big fan of the Dead Space series from EA. I loved the first two installments, so when I heard there was a third coming out, I was super pumped. As the game got closer to release, disturbing news about the game hit the internet: EA, Dead Space 3‘s publisher, had included microtransactions, allowing players to buy weapons, skins, and resources for the in-game crafting system. Developer Visceral Games assured players that they could still find everything they needed in game, and with some careful resource management would have more than enough resources to play and beat the game.
Having not played and beaten the game, Visceral wasn’t far off the mark; there were times where I was strapped for resources, but eventually was able to get most of what I wanted.
However, the inclusion of micro-transactions in a full-priced game is still disturbing, as it shows how a publisher like EA views it’s gamer customers: walking piggybanks. Continue reading
You know how we’re often frustrated about the crud that can fill our days? Commuting, your boss, the economy, and various other inequities that rival each other for your daily attention? Well, Pete from Austin, TX, has found a level of escapism not often experienced in the modern world. He is a video game enthusiast, or more to the point, a video game legacist, if we can make up a word. Continue reading
Total Bird Propaganda
Man, I used to hate those pigs. Who the fuck are these pigs, to steal these nice birds’ eggs and take them to their castles? It’s just not cool.
Then I started to wonder. Continue reading
For once, a news story about gamers contributing to something other than society’s downfall…