Kind of Slow...

Not much of interest going on today in the tech world.  I guess it's been kind of slow on that front.  Aside from recent flooding in Thailand possibly having an impact on hard drive manufacturing/availability for the first few months of 2012.  And the Siri outage for iPhone 4S users this week.

On the gaming front, be sure to checkout DC Universe Online which went free to play this week.  And early numbers report this was a success and already showing a rather large increase in the game's population/sign-ups.  So go check it out: http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/

This means I will hopefully be able to get caught up on my emails and make some videos this weekend for the YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/techiesmarts

Check back soon!

read more

One of the Most Anticipated MMO's Gets a Release Date

Yep, we finally have a release date for BioWare's entry into the MMO market: Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Announced yesterday morning, the street date for the new Star Wars MMO is December 20th.  So looks like all of the prospective Jedi and Sith warriors out there will have something to play for Christmas.

They also announced the subscription model (does any MMO other that WoW use those anymore?).

Monthly: $14.99
Three Month: $13.99 (per month paid in three month increments)
Six Month: $12.99 (per month paid in six month increments)

Personally, the game looks awesome.  But I am curious as to how long BioWare will try to run with the current subscription plan the have on the table.  The current MMO market is shifting more to the favor of Free-to-Play titles.  As we have seen with this past week's announcement that DC Universe Online is going Free-to-Play in October (next month).

What do you think?  Can BioWare bring the subscription plans back to the MMO market?  WoW has been steadily loosing subs since Cataclysm was released upon Azeroth.  With so many F2P options out there, the game's content has to be absolutely rock solid (or have an extremely huge fanbase; as Star Wars does).  I am excited to see what will happen with this title.  That being said, I'm not planning on getting into the game at least for several months after release.  That way any launch issues they bump into will be ironed out, and maybe a couple of patches will be rolled out during that time (as with all MMO releases).'

So, if you have pre-ordered or were hoping to get your Jedi on before next year.  Fate smiles upon you all.  :)
And if you are still on the fence with it, then watch this.




Happy surfing!

read more

DC Universe Online going F2P in October!

This past week we received word on one of the biggest surprises from the MMO world, that I honestly didn't see coming.  It was announced by SOE (Sony Online Entertainment) that DC Universe Online is going Free to Play in late October.

So wait a minute, what?  Yep, next month the MMO that is deeply rooted within the DC Comics universe is hitting the Free to Play slopes.  And it's going to bust the myth that only older games that aren't played get resurrected with F2P options; since the game is fairly new.  It's kind of funny, because just a few weeks ago I saw this title at Best Buy in the PS3 games section and told my wife if it wasn't subscription based I might would be inclined to try it out.  Now that they are moving to a F2P model, I just might have to live up to that idea.

So, what do free players get with the F2P plan:
-Current gameplay available (Gotham, Metropolis, and current raids and alerts)
-DLC Expansions can be purchased and are optional.
-2 free character slots (more available for purchase)
- 28 inventory slots, 12 bank slots, 0 auction slot and no trading (additional slots are available for purchase).
-Maximum In-Game Currency 1500.
-6 chat messages (text) per 30 seconds of gametime.
-Can only send in-game text mail (no items attached).
-Can join a Player League (but not form them).
-And 1 free Vault Ticket per week.

They are also offering a plan if you spend at least $5 on the game a month that offers slightly more in-game currency caps, 6 character slots (instead of 2), 42 inventory slots, 5 auction slots, and double the bank slots for 24 slots of bank space.  $5 players can trade items, get proximity voice chat along with the f2p text message limits,  and can send items, and gets a free Vault ticket every 3 days.

Of course you can still go all out and subscribe to the game with the $14.99 Legendary plan which is basically unlimited everything as the retail game offered.  One advantage to the Legendary plan, is that all DLC expanions are free for those subscribers.

According to SOE's announcement page on the offical DCUO website, SOE "has listened to it's customers".  Yeah I bet they have.  Seems to me like they figured the rest of the MMO market is leaning heavily towards at least offering a scaled back F2P offerings for gamer's who either play MMO's as a casual experience or are strapped for cash and hate being tied down a $15.00 subscription fee every month.  And so far the F2P model has been a great source of income for companies like Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic.

And yes, the game will be Free to Play on both the PC and PS3 platforms.  If you recall; this isn't SOE's first F2P MMO on the PS3, as they released Free Realms to PS3 owners earlier in the year to spread the F2P love to their PS3 customers (and no doubt reaping the cash shop benefits).

So, if you would like to read the announcement for yourself:
http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/en/news/archive.vm?id=63&month=current

And to see what features are available in each subscription plan see:
http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/free/

And their main website is:
http://www.dcuniverseonline.com

I do intend of downloading it for my PS3, so be sure to look for it to pop up around late October.

Happy surfing!

read more

While We're on The MMO bandwagon: DCUO DLC!

If you're into DC Universe Online you've got some good stuff heading your way with the "Fight for the Light" downloadable content pack which includes non other than the Green Lantern and a set of Light abilities.  So take up your recruit ring and give it a spin.

read more