New Game Coming to the F2P Crowd: Star Trek Online

It was announced this week by Perfect World Entertainment (who is now the game's publisher) will be pushing Star Trek Online into the Free-2-Play realm later this year.  And it couldn't be happening under a better publishing company.  Perfect World Entertainment is known for it's high quality, free to play MMO titles.  This is great news for people who like to game on a budget.  Let's be honest, MMO games are a lot of fun (or at least they can be).  But who really likes throwing down around $15 dollars a month just to play a game that we have already bought?

This is why I have previously left games like WoW.  So if you have been looking to try out Star Trek Online but were put off by the monthly subscription rates, then your wait is soon to be over.

STO will join the ranks of other games that have found great success in the F2P genre, including LOTRO, Team Fortress 2, Age of Conan: Unchained, and Champions Online.

And before someone starts screaming, I know WoW now offers a F2P offer as well.  But honestly it's nothing more than an 'unlimited trial' of the game up to Level 20 (and they are still experiencing record numbers of people leaving the game since Cataclysm was released).  But that is for another story altogether.

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F2P News: Team Fortress 2

Well, it was announced the other day that Team Fortress 2 will now go free to play.  If Valve handles this the right way, this could be great for the game and it's current community.  I have been an avid TF2 player in the past.  And while I enjoyed playing through the extra content that has been included in the last year or so with updates to the individual classes.  The TF2 Fan deep inside of me is concerned about the F2P model for this type of game.  I think I speak for everyone who enjoys online games, in that the last thing we need to fill our game servers with are the flamers who try to spoil the fun for everybody else, either by interfering with the flow of a match, or by a poor attitude.

Certainly you have bumped into someone like this if you have ever played a FPS game online.  And with a F2P model it is much more likely this caliber of player will start to crowd the games.  I hope I am terribly wrong about this, because TF2 is an awesome game.  And with a title such as Team Fortress 2 being steered towards this route, it will be interesting to see what other titles may have to adapt to survive in the ever changing online game scene.

It seems almost as though every other month or so we hear word of another MMO going towards F2P.  And I must admit, I have found a lot of fun can be had with a solid F2P title.  So, we'll continue to watch these developments and see how things shape up for Valve.

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PC Game Review: Microvolts-Free 2 Play FPS Shooter Madness!

One of the reason the blog updates have been coming so sporadically is due to my stumbling upon an awesome game called "Microvolts".  It's currently in Open Beta and is free to play.  it was pretty ironic that I found this game.  I was messing around on YouTube about a week prior and saw some video footage of someone playing this game.  At the time I thought it looked pretty cool, but the video had no info of what game it was or how to find it.  Luckily one of the MMO newsletter's I get in my email each week had an add for it.

Here's the skinny.  You're character is one of 4 toys.  We have Know, Naomi, Pandora, and C.H.I.P.  They are engrossed in a rather messy war.  Every player can play as one of these four characters.  The real joy comes when you have collected enough MicroPoints (MP) to redeem them for custom parts for your character (like new hairstyles, clothes, pants and shoes, and even bling).  There are RPG elements to this game as well.  Every match you play will help you build experience points that will count towards your level (I'm currently a Level 7).

The Kitchen Map

There are currently 9 Maps (Junkyard, Castle, Neighborhood, House Top, Model Ship, PVC Factory, Chess, Battle Mine, and Toy Garden).  Each map is amazing detailed.  For example, the Chess map takes place on a patio table outside.  With a chair on each side of the table lending it's seat as the spawning area for the players.  They can then leap up ontop of the table via a jump pad.  There you will encounter a giant chessboard that you can use the pieces for cover as you make your way across the table battling other players.  Each map makes you feel as though you are a renegade toy, with everything being oversized.  It's awesome.  If you've ever played "World of Padman", the levels are very much the same in terms of shear size.

The game types include Team Deathmatch, Free For All (Deathmatch), Capture The Battery (Capture The Flag), Elimination, Item Match, and Close Combat.  The first three are pretty self-explanatory.  However, the Elimination Mode is just that.  It's a version of Team Deathmatch with no respawn.  Forcing you to play by the rules and help your team survive the round, if you'd killed; you're out.  Close Combat restricts each player to Melee weapons only and takes place only on the Chess map.  Item Match simply causes random drops whenever a player is killed.  Survive the map working as a team and collecting drops to help you win the match.

The weapons are insanely fun to use.  Instead of trying to make each weapon look realistic, the developers went with more plastic made, or toy friendly designs.  The weapons look like something you'd see packaged with an action figure.  You start out with rather low damage weapons in the beginner levels, but once you build up enough MicroPoints you can upgrade each weapon class and get the fancier, more powerful firepower.  The roster of weapons are pretty standard stuff to online shooters: melee weapon (some form of shovel, wrench, chainsaw, etc.), rifle (a rapid fire weapon), shotgun, sniper rifle, gatling gun, bazooka, and grenade launcher.

My version of Knox with the second tier Bazooka (the Pound).

Each weapon class has it's own set of unlockable versions.  Each version has it's own set of stats that will play a factor in it's operation.  This game reminds me a lot of the early days of Team Fortress 2.  Just the way the game handles, and the controls are pretty universal to typical FPS titles.

Upon entering the game, it's pretty standard fanfare.  You'll have to register a free account over at: http://www.microvolts.com/
From there you can start to "Charge You Battery" by doing things like linking the game to your Facebook account, completing your profile, reaching specific levels within the game, etc.  Once you're battery is charged you can unlock special rewards like extra MicroPoints for buying goodies for your characters.  You'll only have access to 2 of the 4 characters when you start (Knox and Naomi).  However, Pandora and C.H.I.P are available to unlock with your MicroPoints for further expansion.

The Shop.

As I mentioned above, one of the real joys comes when you start decking out your character with it's unique look.  This is done the same way as upgrading you're weapons; through the Shop.  Simply click on the Parts you want to see.  And if you are the appropriate level and have enough MicroPoints, you'll look unique in no time.  Once your items are bought. you can equip or unequip them by moving them from your inventory to one of the empty boxes hovering around your character.  And right now if you log 10 hours or more in one week you're entered into a contest to win one of 2 iPad 2's.  The first giveaway will be for hours logged the week of March 28th through April 4th.  And the second for hours logged the week of April 4th through April 11th.  So, hop in game build up a lot of MicroPoints to pimp out your character and this will have you logged time towards you're 10+ hours in no time.  Plus this game is insanely addictive, so you'll want to log more time into the game.

Customized Naomi.

To give you an idea of the customizing options available for the characters, here is a customized version of Naomi from another player I was playing with this afternoon.  The only other thing to cover is the sound, which is pretty common as other FPS titles right now.  Each character has it's own phrases they say when the taunt or when the get killed.  And some of them are pretty funny.  And definitely lighten the mood when you're killed in the middle of a crazy fire fight.

Overall, I'd rate this game 9 stars out of 10.  And that's only because it's still in Beta.  I can't wait to see how this game matures.  I've been playing this game pretty regularly now for about a week and the playerbase has done nothing but grow.  With more and more people playing with each passing day.

So do yourself a favor, if you love games like Team Fortress 2; you have to check this game out!
In the meantime enjoy the trailer:





Happy surfing!

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Create Team Fortress 2 Weapons and Hats!

I heard about this on a podcast a couple of weeks ago (I think it was the PC Gamer Podcast, but don't quote me on that).  And I was blown away.  The guys at Valve have done it again.  They are constantly doing things to Team Fortress 2 to spice it up.  On top of the Steam Achievements, they have added all of those random weapon drops to the game.  Which include better weapons for about every class in the game.  Then they started giving us hats to replace the original headwear on the game models.  So, what next?

How about letting us design our own weapons, hats, and avatars.  Valve said 'Sure'.  So check it out: http://www.teamfortress.com/contribute/.  That's right, pretty cool.  According to their site, the submitted weapons will be for the model only. The game's devs will then work the model into the game in way 'that makes sense' to help keep the game balanced.  They also have posted the requirements for submitting an item to the for approval. 

Keep up the great work Valve!

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Team Fortress 2 Fun!

Hi,
Just a quick note, this afternoon I was playing a little Team Fortress 2.  Usually I stick to the stock maps (2Fort, Turbine, SawMill, etc.).  I usually don't deviate too much into community made maps (of course I haven't played TF2 in a while anyways).  But this afternoon I figured I'd give another map a try.  When I loaded up the game (PC Version) I clicked on 'Find Servers' and scrolled down to the bottom of the list and I found a handful of people playing a map called '2Fort-2012'.  This picked my curiousity.

After jumping into the map, I immediately loved it.  I'm a big fan of the original 2Fort map, and I must be honest.  I haven't played any of the custom 2Fort maps.  But this one was fun.  As you can see from the pic above the maker(s) of the map did quite a bit to change it up.  The signature covered bridge from the original 2Fort has been twisted sideways.  But that's not all.  They also killed the lights on much of the map making it a lot fun to play as a Spy.  The usual load of Snipers and Scouts are still present because the map is in fact identical to the layout of the original 2Fort map.

The Hayroom has a Spy lodged in the floor from where a cross beam from the ceiling has fallen on him.  There are also casualties of the '2012' disaster all over the map.  From dead medics and engineers outside the Intelligence rooms on each side, but also a Medic impaled on a telephone pole as well.  There are also scenes of destruction from within the hallways of each base.  There is now debris littered about the area and a couple nooks and hiding places that have been blown away during the disaster.

While playing this map, I heard a lot of people in the game complaining about the level's darkness and the debris causing issues with moving around the map.  Personally, I didn't experience any of that.  The map is dark for a reason (to set the mood) and the overall redesign was a much needed change from the same-old-same-old.  If you play TF2, check it out sometime!

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