WoW, where have all the subscribers gone?
The fifth expansion is set to debut in Fall 2013.
Bioware said it's adding a free-to-play (F2P) option to its online game Star Wars: The Old Republic this fall. The F2P option will give players access to each of the eight Star Wars character class storylines, which they can grind up to level 50. Bioware's pro bono mode will also include unlimited game access and new higher-level game content and features made available through individual purchases or via a subscription.
When it rains, it pours, and the BioWare Austin team behind Star Wars: The Old Republic has been caught in a veritable monsoon of crappy circumstances. Just a few weeks back, an EA earnings statement revealed that the MMO had lost about a quarter of its subscribers during the last financial quarter. Execs said it was simply free trial players cycling out of the game, but BioWare announced yesterday that it had laid off some of the SWTOR team.
After months (years?) of rumors and whispers, it's finally official: Bethesda just announced that it's developing "Elder Scrolls Online," an MMO version of its much-beloved role playing series. Just scanning the press release's subject line sent butterflies fluttering through my stomach: can Bethesda take its superb single player universe online successfully, or will this prove to be a proverbial arrow in the knee for the series?
Star Wars: The Old Republic (TOR) comes with a buffet of a story for an MMO, but you only get to fill your plate once. From decisions as significant as choosing your character’s class specialization to events as trivial as responding to dialog options, much of what you do during your character's main story has a lasting and permanent effect. We like the feast: BioWare’s masterful use of instanced environments creates more captivating gameplay for the solo quester than most any other MMO.
If none of the titles we mentioned in our free to play game roundup tickles your fancy, you’re clearly a picky gamer – there’s 25 totally free titles to choose from, after all. But let’s say that you’re less of a freeloading Team Fortress 2 kinda gamer and more of, say, a freeloading DC Universe Online kinda gamer. You’re out of luck right now, because DC Universe Online is only available to paying customers. That’s changing soon, though – Sony’s introducing a free, if somewhat hobbled, subscription option on November 1st.
I have to admit I was a little hesitant about how much CCP would have to talk about the PC-side of EVE Online at my E3 appointment. Their big news at the show is the launch of their big PS3-exclusive shooter, which ties into the EVE Online universe, Dust 514.
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