The midagedgamer report for 11-9-2012
This week...Battlefield is Free and it's not that goofy
Flash game either, Game publishers make too much money for crappy games, THQ
delays 3 games in hopes of stopping their circle around the drain and more!
Free Battlefield!
1942 that is,
On Tuesday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the
Battlefield series of games EA began offering the original Battlefield that
started them all for free on Origin. Battlefield 1942 will take 1.6 gigabytes of
space and includes the most recent updates.
A word of warning. The game is 10
years old and was originally designed
for Windows XP and a Pentium 3 CPU. Also
know that the game doesn't appear to support widescreen resolutions natively
but will run on Windows 7. Not a bad
deal for a free game and there are plenty of multiplayer servers
available. Enjoy a little nostalgia and
see where it all started.
Are you the type that just likes to watch? Well Origin might
just be able to satisfy your voyeuristic tendencies. EA has partnered with online game streamer
TWITCH to allow live viewing of your gaming from EA's Origin service. You can bet there's going to be a spike in
YouTube game videos from EA titles.
Guess the publisher better loosen up its copyright!
World of Warcraft claims its subscriber base has grown to 10
million after it's Mist of Pandaria release.
Guess the fantasy RPG world has fallen in love with furry samurai
pandas..
Diablo 3 has passed 10 million sales and an expansion is
coming. In related news
Activision/Blizzard says it made 100 million more than its third quarter
revenue forecast of 740 million coming in at 841 million. They also report that they have 3.4 billion
in cash and investments and no debt.
Unlike their customers who continue to get fleeced.
Halo 4 came out on Election day (November 6th) and so far
it's getting good reviews. The XBOX360
exclusive taken over by new developer 343 Industries appears to be carrying on
the tradition started by Bungie. $59.99
gets you back on board with Master Chief.
THQ publisher of the upcoming Company of Heroes 2 and Metro
:Last Light as well as South Park: The Stick of Truth has decided to delay
release of the titles till spring of 2013.
THQ is betting the farm on these releases and needs a hit if it wants to
stay in business. Jason Rubin, President
of THQ says the reason for the delay is,
"without extra time for polish in the current environment,
would lead to underperformance that could in turn lead to future additional
capital shortfalls".
THQ has had some serious financial issues lately that began
with a reverse stock split a few months ago.
THQ was forced into the move to avoid getting delisted on the NASDAQ for
falling below $1 a share in value. So
far THQ's financial woes continue and most recently have culminated in a 50% loss in
share value on November 6th. Hope it
works out for them but of the 3 titles Metro: Last Light is the only prospect
that has mass market appeal.
Oh yay, more SkyRim DLC from Bethesda. When is this game going to go away
already. Anyway the new
"DragonBorn" DLC is set for release on the XBOX360 on December
4th. PS3 and PC release dates are
unknown. Why don't they just start a
subscription model already. It takes
Bethesda years to make Elder Scrolls sequels so they might as well milk the
franchise like everyone else.
In a statement obvious to any PC gamer Chris Roberts was quoted
this week in an interview with ARS Technica as saying,
"You can do most of it on a next generation console, but I
can promise you a top-end PC now is already more powerful than what a next
generation console is going to be."
In response to whether his
new release Star Citizen would be available on a console..
I certainly hope so, Chris.
I'm tired of games being dumbed down for console compatibility..
Fall has come to Caledonia and the lush green hills have
been replaced with golden landscapes.
Ok, for the uninitiated Caledonia is the setting for Lord of Ultima and
they've deployed seasonal textures to the maps.
Nice look and a break from all that green!
If you're a fan of Star Wars and MMO's you may want to
listen up. Bioware has announced that
Star Wars: The old Republic will go to a Free to Play model on November
15th. Not quite a giveaway, however, as
they're only unlocking 50 levels and will keep a paid subscription model in
place. Pay to play gets more options,
features and game content. If they
follow the Star Trek online model it would be a welcome addition to current
Free MMO's. If pay for play lets you mop
the floor with the free to play players it'll fail. The nice thing about a good F2P MMO like Star
Trek Online is that you can enjoy the game without having to buy upgrades just
to survive. In the end most people pony
up the cash, willingly. We'll see if EA
(Bioware's parent) can stifle their greed.
Yay! more Grand Theft Auto 5 details released....I've posted
a link because I don't really care...
Getting a little tired of the scenery of Skyrim? Well Bethesda is working on a new MMO called
Elder Scrolls Online. It's due out in
2013 on both the PC and the Mac. This
explains why they didn't bother to do a co-op or multiplayer option in Skyrim. Just what we need another overpriced subscription
based MMO.
Finally a suggestion.
This may seem obvious but to older gamers there may be some
resistance to what I'm about to propose.
I know I was resistant to the idea at first. Should you find yourself frequenting a
particular podcast or forum and there's any chance of joining an online
multiplayer game with like minded fans, just do it. Older gamers may not be into the whole
"social" thing so spending time with strange people even online may
be uncomfortable. Get over it. Multiplayer gaming is exponentially more satisfying
when you're playing with people you share a common interest with outside of the
game. It's one of the reasons I enjoy
co-op games with my friends and why I don't pay much attention to online FPS
games unless I can play with someone I know.
That's it for this week and don't forget to check out the
links below. Click the "Show
More" below the video to see them...
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