So I’m running around an instanced mission with a Hawkeye, a Thing, and two Storms. I’m Jean Grey, of course. I’m morphed into my Phoenix form, wings splayed out bigger than any of the other character models, marvelous flames a-flicker all over my body, flinging fireballs, emanating waves of deadly fire. I’m a flame-based scrubbing bubble, scouring this lair of bad guys, picking off the distant ones with my fireballs, debuffing the attacking mobs with my telepathic lethargy. My Phoenix power is supposed to drain slowly, but for whatever reason, that’s not happening now. I can Phoenix as long as I want. If you’re going to have launch issues, this isn’t a bad one to have.
My teammates are playing free characters. You get to choose The Thing, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Daredevil, or Black Widow when you sign up. I’m pretty sure you get Storm as a mission reward early on. At least I did. That would explain the pair of Storms firing lightning vainly into my maelstrom of fire. How cute. You can play the free dudes to your heart’s content, up to the level cap and beyond. Of course, along the way, you’ll get loot for characters who aren’t free. You might sell it. You’ll more likely put it in your stash at Stark Tower. Every time you open your stash, you’ll consider a Captain America for that shield, a Wolverine for those claws, and how nifty Thor might look in those boots. Furthermore, you’ll see folks like me playing resplendent superheroes like Jean Grey in her Phoenix form and you’ll want them. It’s not pushy. It’s far more effective than being pushy. It’s in your face, on your shoulder, whispering in your ear. It’s actually pretty darn clever. I suspect I’ll end up with an Iron Man on my roster by the end of the day.
Marvel Heroes is live today. Jump in without paying a nickel. Pick The Thing, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Daredevil, or Black Widow. Jean Grey and Iron Man, however, cost $12 each.
The free gaming buzzword war has escalated! Wargaming.net has raised the stakes by introducing a new term to describe the latest developments for their tank combat game. “Free-to-win” is being rolled out across the front to take over “freemium” and “pay-to-play” after executing a brutal sneak attack on “pay-to-win” resulted in significant enemy losses.
Wargaming.net described free-to-win to Gamasutra as the revamp of World of Tanks that will do away with all options to purchase items that could be described as pay-to-win. All future revenue will come from non-advantageous content, such as premium vehicles, personalization options and the like. Andrei Yarantsau, VP of publishing, says part of the strategy is based on making World of Tanks more fair for the eSports competitive scene.
“Our new World of Tanks features, including recent changes in our business model, are aimed at further growing our games in this direction. Professional sport – and gaming is no exception – is about fair competition. The introduction of our new free-to-win system will really help facilitate the development of World of Tanks as a true eSports discipline.”
World of Tanks store options have already begun to change in support of the free-to-win plan. This strategy will be applied to all future Wargaming.net titles.
That’s a dragon pinata in Guild Wars 2. That’s about as meta as you can get. Let’s be honest with ourselves. Killing enemies in most MMO games is just a digital take on a pinata party. You’re hitting monsters to make loot fall out and scrambling for the prizes. By actually putting pinatas in the game, ArenaNet is getting closer to Inception.
Lion’s Arch honors the defiant spirit of its citizenry with the rousing Dragon Bash festival, when revelers laugh in the face of fear! Sponsored by the Captain’s Council of Lion’s Arch, Dragon Bash is a month-long celebration packed with all-new activities, fireworks, exclusive rewards, and surprises galore!
Guild Wars 2 players will be able to smash dragon-shaped pinatas in the Dragon Bash update coming on June 11th.
http://youtu.be/2EhswZYju0s
Lionhead released the above teaser trailer for a Fable HD remake. Despite the video’s beginning, I’m not sure how much demand there was for this. At least it’s not another Fable Heroes.
We should know more at E3 where Microsoft promises to talk about games.
UPDATE: The game has been officially announced. It’s called Fable Anniversary.
