Thursday 13 June 2013

Rift - A New King Of Free To Play?

Its a little too soon to tell if Rift, Trion World's MMO, will become a leader in the F2P MMO genre, however it seems to be off to a strong start. Over the last 24 hours, since Trion Worlds set the latest game patch live, the game has been brimming with players, with server queues appearing frequently. Whether this short term popularity will last is still to be seen, however judging from the positive reaction from players so far, this game is posed to extend its new found success far into the future...

After playing this game both last night, and this morning, I found myself loving every second of gameplay. Something which I rarely get when I play an MMO game. The last time I enjoyed an MMO as much as this, was during my first session of World Of Warcraft, yet unlike the latter, this was free! The gameplay is one of the best in the traditional MMO genre; it offers fluid combat alongside a ton of content for users to smash through. 

With a preference of fast paced single player gameplay, this game seems to offer (up to the point which I have played to), a fast paced RPG experience. The content is plentiful and the 'Rifts' offer some great group play, at random encounter points. Above this, the 'Instant Adventure' feature allows players to instantly join customized quests, designed for group play. I found that this offered fast paced gameplay and kept things interesting. 

Most notably however, was the lack of focus on microtransactions. Not once did I find myself presented with messages asking me to buy from an in-game store. Nor, did I find myself feeling as though I needed to buy extra content from the store, unlike other F2P games, such as 'Lord Of The Rings Online', where I felt as though I was being constantly pressured by the game, to buy extra content...

Overall, the game provides a great experience and, I highly recommend you check it out! 

Wednesday 12 June 2013

A New Era For Free To Play?

Leading MMO game RIFT has today become free to play. Since its release in March 2011 the game has continuously thrived, despite the expected annual decline in subscribers. Today marks another step towards the gradual decline in subscription MMO's as since the the establishment of the free to play microtransaction model, in recent years the popularity of games such as RIFT and World Of Warcraft have declined due to the implementation of these more affordable models. So perhaps the introduction of this business model may lead Trion Worlds, developer of RIFT, to large successes in future. Not only will this Triple-A MMO likely become a leader in the Free To Play market, due to its large success as a Pay to Play game, but it may become the leader of the market itself, prompting the likes of Blizzard and CCP Games to adapt their own behemoths to match this payment model.

If you're interested in MMORPG games, you should check this out! It's great fun and is easily one of the best games currently available in its genre!

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Tuesday 11 June 2013

E3 - Infamous: Second Son Trailer


Here's the E3 trailer for Infamous: Second Son, playing in engine from the PS4. What do you think of the new outing for Sucker Punch Studios? Drop your thoughts in the comments below...

E3 - Elder Scrolls Online Gameplay





In the event that you haven't been scouring over the plethora of information which the gaming world has been given at E3, check out this new game-play/cinematic trailer for the new game in the critically acclaimed Elder Scrolls series. This game diverges from the traditional singleplayer RPG experience found in previous games in the series, and opens the world of Tamriel up to the MMO genre. Check out this short trailer for a short glimpse of what the game will have to offer...

E3 - PlayStation Round-Up


Round-Up

Anticipations for Sony's E3 conference have been high, to say the least, since the reveal of the latest addition to the PlayStation family last August. Yesterday, Sony had a great deal more to offer to the existing image of the PlayStation 4, with promises of exclusives and timed releases, however it was without doubt the last segment of the briefing which left gamers with the highest level of satisfaction towards the new console...

DRM

During the final segment of the show, Jack Tretton returned to the stage with the intent of stressing, (to the great delight of the audience) that the PS4 would not "impose any new restrictions on any used PS4 game discs. Judging by a whole 25 second round of applause from the audience at the briefing, the PS4 has without doubt the competitive edge over Microsoft in this field. Following this, Tretton also ensured the various media outlets present at the event that there would be no restrictions placed upon 2nd hand games, and no periodical authentication would be required by the system. This was perhaps, the most critical part for Sony's success in the next generation, as it appears to have taken a more consumer friendly approach than Microsoft, when designing its new console. 

Games

Furthermore, Sony unveiled and expanded upon a range of new and existing exclusive IPs which it will be carrying through to the next stage of the PlayStation life-cycle , including;

The Order - A brand new IP from Sony's Santa Monica Studio, featuring a steam-punk esque London, combining Victorian England with the steam-punk style of such games as Dishonored and Renaissance Heroes. The trailer for the game featured Whitechapel (a segment of London) infested with a horde of undead monsters. The style of game-play is not yet confirmed however it is most likely to be a standard shooter or squad based shooter of some form. 

Infamous: Second Son - A new chapter in the infamous series featuring a new protagonist and setting. As a successful existing IP, this game, like its predecessors, is being developed by Sucker Punch studios, one of Sony's many first party studios. 

Drive Club -  Like Infamous: Second Son, we were first given a glimpse of this game back in February, at the reveal of the PlayStation 4. This new franchise will be available for PlaystationPlus members at launch, as part of their PlayStation Plus subscription. This is likely to be the majority of users, due to the requirement of PlayStation Plus for online gaming, through the console. Drive Club has been designed to showcase all of the features of the PS4 including the heavy focus on social integration and updated hardware. 

Hardware

The PS4 will benefit from greatly improved hardware, in comparison to its predecessor. Not only has the PS4 benefited from an increase from 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM to 8 GB of RAM, but it also features an upgraded hard drive size, to five hundred gigabytes, much unlike the PS3 which originally launched with a 20 gigabyte hard drive. Furthermore, this size will be expandable much alike the PS3 to a larger size of hard drive, meaning that you will not have to invest in a later version of the console, as your game library grows. Finally, the PS4 will benefit from GAIKAI streaming technologies, following Sony's acquisition of the company last year. Dave Perry took to the stage to announce that the ability to stream PS3 games using GAIKAI technology would be available, beginning in 2014.

A Good Day For Sony?

Overall it is hard to tell at this stage whether the PS4 will upstage its main competitor, the XboxOne, however based upon the reaction of social media and the masses towards each of these consoles, it is more than likely that Sony will be the ruler of the next generation of consoles. Perhaps Microsoft will gain a higher reputation in future, however in the meantime, Sony looks posed for a long and successful life-cycle, for the next generation of the PlayStation franchise.