Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Just like Holly Genarro’s plane had to circle the airport at Dulles Airport in the 1990 classic Die Hard 2: Rudder Me This, Microsoft’s free-to-play air-to-plane sim Flight is still up in the air. But fret not, fokkers, for Microsoft will be getting all John McLaine on its crew section, and exploding a planeful of terrorists to create runway lights on the 29th of February. That’s when everyone will be touching down on the crunchy snow and into Bruce Willis’s comforting embrace. Er, and the game’s out.
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I can’t help but wonder how many of today’s crop of MMOs will manage to last 13 years. Running expenses are surely so much higher than they were in dear old EverQuest’s day. The major precursor to the dark age of grinding and number keys that we know so well has indeed managed a baker’s dozen-sized lifespan, and while its days as a subscription game are not yet numbered, it now also wears a free to play coat on its aged frame.
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It was years before I stopped writing “jetpack” on my Christmas present list, when my parents sat me down and told me that they didn’t exist. Also that I was adopted. That second bit wasn’t true, but I really wanted jetpack and they were trying to soften the blow. I’ve never forgiven them for taking my jetpack dreams away. But a new Firefall trailer is adequate recompense. It has jetpacks in an open-world that’s built to take advantage of the vertical movement. It’s pretty as a picture to boot.
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Okay, here’s the new angle. If you’ve not yet made your MMO (as indeed everyone must have made one by the end of 2012, according to international law) there’s an approach you may not have thought of. Base it on an old movie. Astonishingly, there is to be a free-to-play incarnation of Total Recall.

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Team Fortress 2′s sinewy neck of content has been slashed open once more, pumping forth a bloody torrent of hats and features. It’s the third annual Halloween update, and it brings full-body costumes for every class (including a fantastic “teleporter gone wrong” Brundlefly for the Engineer), an update for classic King of the Hill map Viaduct turning it into Eyeaduct, which features dimension-jumping slipgates and a spooktacular boss fight with the Demoman’s demon-posessed eyeball, and finally another superb Halloween-themed comic book depicting the origins of said demon eyeball. It’s all still Free to Play of course, with the new costume items being found randomly throughout the map or available to buy immediately in the MannCo store. A short demonstration of the boss battle is after the jump.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun Ltd. announces Rock, Paper, Shotgun is to go free-to-read, introduces new NanoPayment™ Technology™

BATH, UK, 29 June, 2011 – In a move once more demonstrating that Rock, Paper, Shotgun Ltd is at the forefront of online PC gaming news development initiatives, the organisation is delighted to announce that as of the 1st July 2011 www.rockpapershotgun.com will be going free-to-read.

“Once again Rock, Paper, Shotgun Ltd has proven that it’s ahead of the curve, pushing forward new synergic stratagems for dynamic reader integration,” explained RPS representative, Dave Tosser. “We believe that by moving RPS forward in this free-to-read direction, our web enterprise once again advances the scheme for all interactive users on a broad dynamic scale.”

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When archaeologists dig through the layer marked “early two thousands” they will notice a change in the colour of the rocks at the beginning of the second decade. (Yes, this IS how archaeology works.) Eventually one monocled genius will identify this as the time the games started going free. With news of online stalwarts such as Team Fortress 2 and World Of Warcraft catching the bug, this is no longer the domain of seedy half-arsed MMOs my lord, but increasingly a mainstream option. It’s a significant shift for the PC, and one that I think it’s safe to say everyone is pretty wary of. But it’s one that EA are claiming can be as profitable as the console market. And that’s a big deal.

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Whenever another MMO announces that it’s changing to a free to play subscription model, the sound of rapid intakes of breath can be heard throughout corridors of Castle Shotgun like some panicked zephyr. We just can’t believe it. There’s an alternate reality out there where all MMORPGs are free to play and it’s trying to break into ours.

Hot on the heels of the City of Heroes announcement, we’ve heard that child-friendly MMO Lego Universe is doing something similar, but a bit stingier. Where City of Heroes is letting anybody play for free up to level 50, this August Lego Universe will allow anybody to go romping through the game’s first two adventures zones for as long as they like.
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Well, looks like later in the year City of Heroes is going to be free-to-play-until-you-are-overcome-by-hat-greed, according to Paragon Studios and NCSoft. They’re calling it City of Heroes Freedom and it’s set to contain all the content garnered from the 20 expansions to the game thus far. The free account will let you biff and kerpow until level 50 and give you access to all Hero and Villain zones but as ever those willing to subscribe will get “exclusive VIP benefits, content and services.”
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RPS favourite King’s Bounty, as revived by Katauri Interactive, has been providing us with huge amounts of fun over the last few years. It even gave Alec a wife. Albeit a dead one. So it’s with confusion that we meet news that publishers Nival have licensed the game from 1C and had a different team create a Facebook version: King’s Bounty: Legions. We’re genetically programmed to bristle at the thought of Facebook games, but we love playing King’s Bounty. This is a strange feeling.

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I could lie to you. I could claim that I’m posting the four tutorial trailers for World Of Tanks because I decided it was about time we updated you on the state of the game (still in open beta – you can sign up here in the US, here in the EU, and here in RU). I could claim that the tutorial video run is now complete, but I don’t know if there’s a part five to come. But I never want to lie to you. I’m posting this because I thought of the headline pun for the free-to-play tank-based MMO last night, and realised I was compelled to use it. Sure, I could have saved it up and given it to Jim for when the game is officially launched. But no, I wanted it, and I wanted it NOW. So there’s the four tutorial videos below.

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