After all the wonderful things to come out of Korea — kimchee, Warcraft’s Jang “Moon” Jae Ho, ridiculous neon auto accessories, and various hot supermodels — the peninsular nation is now exporting pure evil. No, not “Juche” Communism, worse than that. I mean microtransactions.
Electronic Arts’s Battlefield: Bad Company beta debuts today on Xbox 360. The game contains ten weapons that can be unlocked. Five will be gifts for purchasers from specific retailers. But the other five will cost you cash money.
Why does EA want to take more money from people who already paid for the game? Why does EA want to make Baby Jesus cry? Continued…
Fire up the UAV, because another Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 co-op pack is now out on Xbox LIVE.
The pack costs 400 Microsoft points ($10) and includes a brand new co-op campaign, as well as nine multiplayer maps (seven of them are revamped classics from the Ghost Recon series).
Also, there are nine achievements worth 125 achievement points, for you achievement point whores.
It’s that time again. Rock Band downloadable tracks have been announced for the week. This week’s pack consists completely of Oasis songs. They are: “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” “Wonderwall” and “Live Forever.”
Individual songs will cost you 160 Microsoft Points ($2.00), or you can get the “Oasis Pack 01″ for 440 Microsoft Points ($5.50), saving you $0.50.
These songs bring back memories of the mid 90’s, when bands like the Gin Blossoms and The Smashing Pumpkins topped the charts, and when songs on the radio were still good. If Harmonix keeps releasing nostalgic song packs like this, they are guaranteed my money.
The official announcement can be found here.
EA Games has announced that they are making a new game in the Battlefield series. Battlefield Heroes will be a free online multiplayer shooter with Team Fortress 2-esque graphics. Money will be made via in-game advertising and microtransactions.
I have been a fan of the Battlefield games for some time–I love the unique blend of vehicle and infantry combat, along with the control point game mechanics. So naturally, I can’t wait to get my hand on Battlefield Heroes, however the price has me worrying. Can we get AAA quality from a free game?
The full press release is after the jump. Continued…
Be sure to read part one!
5. Cheating in EVE Online
Within the world of EVE Online, it’s perfectly acceptable to lie, cheat and steal. So why cheat in the game itself? Continued…
Formerly-free sci-fi MMORPG Anarchy Online announced yesterday it is selling in-game items through microtransactions.
Items for sale include hover-bikes, hover-boards, social clothing, pets and luxury apartments.
Players with paid subscriptions will receive free bonus points. Points may be purchased to acquire special in-game items.
Publisher Funcom says their “focus is to ensure that the virtual items do not affect gameplay balance.”
Most Korean and East Asian MMOs use a microtransaction-based business model, while Occidental games rely on monthly subscriptions. But the Eastern model is already on its way West, and is used in child-oriented games like Habbo.
Microtransactions allow people with little or no money to participate in a game, but can nickel-and-dime a player through addictive virtual purchases.
Link.
Sword of the New World, the Americanization of Korean swashbuckling MMO Granado Espada, is now “Free2Play,” which is almost, but not quite, the same as “free to play.”
Continued…
