As a long-time gamer and the last guy picked to play “actual” sports on many a occasion in my younger days, I’m glad there is such a thing as eSports – at least there’s a sport I can claim to be good at if I decided to go pro.  For those who don’t know what it is, it’s competitive video gaming.  It is considered a professional sport, where competitors win prizes and honors just like [...]

Ultima Forever Quest for the Avatar is coming to the PC and iPad in the near future. Contrary to most of the previous entries, this version of the title will be aimed at an online audience. The last time the series saw a major release was with Ultima Online and with EA and Bioware Mythic building things, you can expect the game to hit a pretty solid level of quality, especially since few online games have [...]

Although the free to play model has enjoyed quite a bit of success on the PC platform, consoles have yet to adopt such a model. Considering that gamers of all allegiances are looking for a great title to play with their buddies, free to play seems like a no-brainer on Xbox 360, PS3, and perhaps even the Wii, to some extent. But, how to make it happen?   Free to play thrives on microtransactions, and [...]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock since the App Store became a worldwide phenomenon, you’ve likely heard just how profitable the mobile market can be. When Apple announced the SDK for iOS devices, people began pumping out app after app to try and capitalize on the mass demographic of iPad and iPhone owners around the world. Now, with the initial wave of uncertainty and experimentation, the mobile market has solidified itself and developed brilliant [...]

It sounds paradoxical to say, but playing games for free usually comes with a cost. While many a developer claims that their new MMO will be free-to-play, most gamers know better. But to be fair, developers cannot be blamed for wanting to make money through advertisements, microtransactions, freemium software or otherwise. After all, without revenue how would they sustain themselves? Not surprisingly, the new revenue models for online games have gone over quite well with fans. [...]

In case your PC has been collecting dust as of late, you’ve likely noticed a huge influx of free to play titles popping up within the PC gaming sphere. Titles like Super Monday Night Combat and Blacklight: Retribution have made an arguably larger splash than normal simply because of their free to play features. The advantages of the “freemium” model have been clearly demonstrated time and time again, yet some gamers feel slighted by the [...]

Valve’s announcement that the upcoming Dota 2 will be free to play comes as little surprise. What does surprise is that the mad geniuses over at Valve are looking to launch a new business model that will reward players who become outstanding members of the community. How this will translate into dollars and cents is not currently known, but there are indications that those more willing to support other players will gain access to rewards [...]