While I doubt there’s a game out there that will ever match a certain cartoon shooter’s hold on me, I will pop into any example of that particular niche and have a nosey, asking hard questions like: ‘Why is this not TF2?’, ‘Has anyone played TF2?’, and ‘I have a hat in TF2, do you?’ Loadout is not TF2, but it’s not it in the best possible way: it’s cartoonish, but with a level of violence that makes even an animated death connoisseur like me look around and hope people haven’t spotted me giggling at it. The trailer below has some examples of the implausible bodily harm you can wreak (38 seconds in is just eww), and a peek into the heavy customisation options: you can build your own character and roll your own guns.
Read the rest of this entry »
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Posts Tagged ‘F2P’
Loadout’s Trailer Is Eye-Popping. I Also Spotted Brains
By Craig Pearson on March 5th, 2012.
Fly My Pretties: AION Goes F2P On 28th Feb
By John Walker on February 23rd, 2012.
The last time I mentioned that NC Soft’s sort-of-flying MMO, AION, was going free-to-play I used the phrase, “there’s no such thing a free launch”. However, the accolades, the knighthood, the journalism awards and the general celebrity that came from such an extraordinary joke never materialised. This gross oversight should be sorted out quickly. And here’s your chance, because there’s a date for the change now, and more details of what happens if you were a subscriber. Because come the 28th February, Europeans won’t need one to get in.
Sins Of A Dark Age: The World’s First F2PMOBARTS
By Craig Pearson on February 23rd, 2012.
I just Googled ‘F2PMOBARTS’ and received nothing. Well done, Ironclad Games! Sins Of A Dark Age, has broken the all-seeing eye of the world’s best search engine, and brought out its passive-aggressive side: “Did you mean: ‘F2P MOBARTS’”. No, Google. I did not. F2PMOBARTS, you are officially a new genre. Now to explain what all those words mean.
Read the rest of this entry »
Found Firefall Footage
By Craig Pearson on February 13th, 2012.
Here’s a sneaky way to get a hold of a lot of Firefall footage. Developers Red 5 Studios are hosting a competition for their fans, asking them to create a trailer from unreleased footage of the free-to-play shooter. So while you can totally get involved and whip out Windows Movie Maker templates, if all you’re interested in is watching 10 second clips of the game, all you need to do is download the files and have a peek.
Read the rest of this entry »
Chocks Away: MS Flight Flies Feb 29th
By Craig Pearson on February 7th, 2012.
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
First In, Last Out: EverQuest 1 Goes F2P
By Alec Meer on January 31st, 2012.
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
Take To The Skies With A New Firefall Trailer
By Craig Pearson on November 10th, 2011.
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
You Call This A Delusion? Total Recall MMO
By John Walker on November 9th, 2011.
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.
Undeyeing: Team Fortress 2 Halloween
By Andrew Smee on October 28th, 2011.
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.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun Goes Free-To-Read!
By John Walker on June 29th, 2011.
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.”
EA Say F2P Competes With Consoles
By John Walker on June 29th, 2011.
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.
Respond to our gibber
- guygodbois00 : “My thoughts exactly. +1 to that.” on Making It With Science: A TUG Interview
- duffster : “It's a lot easier.” on Wot I Think: Call Of Juarez – Gunslinger
- Silenus : “Not a single mention of the Silent Hunter series? Watching ships sink was both beautiful and horrifying. And the sound of the buckling metal giving ...” on Ferry Good: Sinking Ship Simulator
- drinniol : “MOSES WOLFENSTEIN. Holy shit. He wins the internet forever.” on Making It With Science: A TUG Interview
- Koshinator : “There's no actual spoilage to be had.. It's really just a few base mechanics at the moment. But what is there is definitely bringing back ...” on Will You Dig The War For The Overworld Trailer?
Read our finest words
