Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates |
- Microsoft Points Might Finally be on Their Way Out
- Eclipse of Eden (JP)
- TGS: Ni No Kuni Confirmed for North American Release
- Origin Continues Expanding with 11 New Publishers
- TGS: Nippon Ichi has More Games on the Way
- The War of Genesis 4 : Spiral Genesis (KR)
| Microsoft Points Might Finally be on Their Way Out Posted: 25 Jan 2012 05:51 AM PST Since Microsoft launched the Xbox Live Marketplace alongside the Xbox 360 in 2005, there’s been a nagging issue that’s bothered many users: Microsoft Points. According to a report, they might be finally going away this year in favor of a more preferable setup. Inside Mobile Apps reports a source has indicated Microsoft Points are to be replaced by real-world currencies by the end of the year, which means a new currency system would be put in place not only for Xbox Live, but also the Windows Phone and Zune Marketplaces. Although Microsoft Points were initially the only way to make purchases on the Xbox Live Marketplace, that changed with the introduction of the Games on Demand service in 2009. The service, which sells digital versions of retail Xbox 360 games, allowed the titles to be purchased for real-world money. Microsoft continued to sell everything else — XBLA games, avatars, downloadable content, movie rentals — only in exchange for Microsoft Points. It was a puzzling decision, if also a promising sign that Microsoft was not hell-bent on using points for absolutely everything. It’s doubtful anyone will be sad to see Microsoft Points go. I know I couldn’t be happier to get rid of them. From the user’s perspective, there’s nothing beneficial about Microsoft Points, and what’s problematic is they don’t accurately reflect their value. 80 Microsoft Points is equal to $1, meaning a 400-point purchase is the equivalent of $5, 2400 points is $30, and so on. That makes it not only a confusing setup — even after years of using them, I still have to use an online converter from time to time, and I’m often asked by friends and family what X number of Microsoft Points is equal to — it’s also misleading in that it looks like you’re spending less money than you actually are. It’s not as if it’s impossible for a points system to work, even if it isn’t ideal. While Sony went the preferable route in pricing items in real dollars, Nintendo uses a system based on increments of 100 points for Wii digital purchases. The important detail there is that 100 points is equal to $1, so it’s easy to see 800 points and know that’s an $8 purchase. Should this rumor pan out, that particular issue would be taken care of. The other problem with Microsoft Points is you’ve always had to buy them in a bundle, meaning if you wanted to buy something for 80 points but had none, you had to purchase more than is needed. The company has wisely made exceptions to this, such as allowing the UFC app to sell pay-per-views for real-world money and not points, and the problem was mitigated to some extent by lowering the smallest bundle on Live from 500 points to 400. (The 500-point package was a ridiculous idea as XBLA games are sold in 400-point increments, guaranteeing anyone who purchased one would be stuck with leftover points they may not want.) But for those who purchase points at retail, the cheapest option available continues to be a 1,600-point ($20) card. Simply replacing Microsoft Points with your local, real-world currency doesn’t immediately fix this problem — Microsoft may decide to continue requiring a bundle of money be added to your virtual wallet before a purchase can be made. It’s this problem that leads to money being left over, particularly if items are sold in amounts ending in $.99 when you’re forced to add a money bundle ending in $.00. (In other words, if you add $5.00 to your wallet and purchase five things worth $0.99, you’re left with five useless cents.) It’s a problem Nintendo solved in last month’s 3DS firmware update by allowing you to add only the exact amount of money that’s needed. If this is something Nintendo has sorted out, there’s no reason it should be a problem on Microsoft’s system. As expected, Microsoft isn’t commenting on the matter at this time, labeling it rumor and speculation. But I’m hopeful these issues are finally addressed — in this day and age, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to buy only what you want without having to worry about how to spend some leftover virtual cash you didn’t want in the first place. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us. |
| Posted: 25 Jan 2012 05:51 AM PST
Posted by: admin in Gaming News Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us. |
| TGS: Ni No Kuni Confirmed for North American Release Posted: 25 Jan 2012 01:29 AM PST The news was revealed by Level-5 president Akihiro Hino, who spoke during a Sony Computer Entertainment Asia press conference at the Tokyo Game Show, according to GameSpot. The game is scheduled for release on November 17 in Japan; in North America, it’ll be out sometime in early 2012. Ni No Kuni was originally released on DS in Japan last year. It received a 38/40 score from Famitsu at the time, and while the PS3 game isn’t an especially deep RPG, it does introduce new content, alter the story, and look much, much prettier than the DS game. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us. |
| Origin Continues Expanding with 11 New Publishers Posted: 24 Jan 2012 05:50 PM PST Electronic Arts has continued working to expand Origin into something more than a home for its own games. The publisher announced today it has agreed to deals with 11 third-party publishers to bring their games to Origin’s catalog. Trion Worlds MMO Rift (pictured above) is the first of these additions and is now available. Specific games beyond that weren’t mentioned, just that in the “coming months” Origin will also be home to titles from Robot Entertainment (Orcs Must Die), CD Projekt RED (The Witcher 2), Freebird Games (To the Moon), Recoil Games (Rochard), Autumn Games (Jimmie Johnson’s Anything With An Engine), 1C Company (IL-2 Sturmovik), inXile Entertainment (Choplifter HD), Paradox Interactive (Magicka), Core Learning Ltd., and N3V Games (Arcania: Gothic 4). The first third-party games were brought to Origin late last year; Batman: Arkham City and Saints Row: The Third helped to start things out with a bang, though we haven’t continued to see a stream of new games added since then. We all know Origin’s biggest competition in selling digital games is Steam, which once again experienced a considerable amount of growth last year. Aside from trying to achieve parity with Steam’s third-party content, EA seems to be relying on bundling Origin with its PC games to at least get it onto gamers’ computers. As was the case with Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3 will also require Origin (and it, too, won’t be available through Steam). Actually getting those gamers to use Origin is a different matter entirely. Valve has built up a rapport with gamers and made Steam convenient and feature-rich enough that, for many, it feels like the only place to go when buying a PC game. It also has the added benefit of being the first out of the gate; it has millions of users, meaning there’s a good chance you’ll be able to connect with your PC-game-playing friends on Steam to compare Achievements and chat. Origin’s community aspects can’t compare at this point, both in terms of features and the number of people who actually use it. Adding these third-party publishers and bringing in a mixture of big-name games and indie titles to the service is definitely a move in the right direction, but if EA is hoping to start luring over Steam users, it feels like it has to find something it can either do better or differently than Steam. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us. |
| TGS: Nippon Ichi has More Games on the Way Posted: 24 Jan 2012 01:26 PM PST Nippon Ichi’s U.S. arm hosted its annual Tokyo Game Show soiree today, which was fortunately a much more modest affair than last year’s manic combination press conference and live radio drama. (The company president didn’t come out in a Prinny costume, for starters.) The upcoming NISA line-up shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s even vaguely familiar with the company’s history, but they are branching out just a tiny bit with the localization of Acquire’s online, multi-platform Gladiator Vs. (which is being called Clan of Champions in the U.S.). Besides the Acquire action game, NISA is business as usual. The company has two portable Disgaea ports in the works: A heavily modified rendition of the original game for Android platforms, and Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention for PS Vita. The former is due by the end of 2011, while the second is targeted for the first half of 2012 and will be one of the first major RPGs for Sony’s new platform. It’s hard to get a read on Disgaea for Android based on the description offered at the press conference; representative Jack Niida says players will begin with a single character and gain new party members and weapons through downloads and slogging through the Item World. The mobile version of Disgaea 3 sounds similar to the PSP versions of the first two games, with new characters and content added along with a host of scheduled downloadable content. Disappointingly, the Vita port won’t be making use of Disgaea 4′s high-resolution sprites, though a cursory glance at the Japanese version of the game on display at Sony’s booth indicates that the older sprites won’t look too bad on the Vita’s compact screen. The final item in NISA’s line-up is Gust’s Neptunia Mk. II, the sequel to last year’s otaku-bait RPG which bewilderingly depicts video game consoles as scantily clad goddesses. The original Neptunia’s turn-based combat system is being replaced by a more action-driven battle style, but otherwise it seems to be more of the same. NISA will also be localizing heavily hyped PSP shooter Black Rock Shooter — one of the more on-the-nose game titles to come along in recent years — but there was no news on that front at this event, as they’re trying to nail down the specifics of the U.S. release. Even so, it’s nice to see NIS managed to overcome the financial doldrums it was suffering a few years back and is still delivering the goods to its niche fan base. And it’s even more encouraging that they’ve dumped lame-duck partner Idea Factory in favor of the much more capable Acquire. Gladiator Vs. is admittedly a weird fit with the likes of Disgaea and Neptunia, but a little diversity never hurts. Especially when that diversity bears more than a passing resemblance to cult smash Demon’s Souls…. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us. |
| The War of Genesis 4 : Spiral Genesis (KR) Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:48 AM PST
Posted by: admin in Gaming News Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us. |
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