In recent years, there’s been many occasions in which publishers changed their online games’ business models and made their titles free-to-play - Star Wars: The Old Republic, Rift, and, more recently, Wildstar come to our minds. These changes are obviously much welcome by us here at browsergamez.com, as we fully support free-to-play games with a fair business model. However, there have also been a few occasions, in which games have gone from free-to-play to pay-to-play. Without a warning, Bethesda Softworks has changed the business model for Quake Live from one day to the next.
The first-person shooter has recently tranferred all of its services to the gaming platform Steam. In the process of this transition, the publisher has not only retired their own launcher, but also retired their free-to-play business model. Players will now have to pay $9.99 for the online game.
This is the second major transition for the FPS in the last two years. In January 2014, the publisher announced that Quake Live was not going to be browser based anymore. Instead, the studio introduced its very own launcher and later added the game to Steam.
Source: Steam
As the 2015 season draws to a close, the League of Legends developers have been busy working out how to change the free-to-play MOBA for the 2016 season and push the game into new strategic waters.
Even though the world finals for the 2015 season haven’t even finished yet, there have been murmurs of change coming from the Riot Games camp in quite a few areas. The changes are not live and are not yet on the PBE, but they should be available for testing soon. The planned changes include a Marksman update, Mastery changes, some new items, and a new Rift Herald in the Baron pit.
Regardless of whether you call them AD Carries or Marksmen, these characters have always had one job; stand out of reach and right-click on enemies. The planned changes are designed to mix this up a little bit, and they are going to change the kits of 6 marksmen champions to allow some diversity: Corki, Graves, Caitlyn, Quinn, Kog’Maw, and Miss Fortune. Riot Games intends to make it so that each champion has their own set of strengths and weaknesses. Corki, for example, will be made to scale with AP damage, whereas Quinn will have her ultimate changed to support more of a rotational playstyle. These changes are going to be supported by some new items, but the details aren’t yet known.
The mastery system is getting yet another overhaul and is going to be focused on “Keystone Masteries.” These masteries are designed to help players specialize in very clear roles and build paths, unlike the previous masteries that required a lot of micro-management. The new masteries are meant to have a very clear impact on a champion’s playstyle and effect in a game.
Vision Changes
These changes are designed to make vision more of a team effort and to make it more dynamic. Gone will be the days (hopefully) where the support player gets abuse for not laying wards, as we now head towards a Summoners’ Rift where ward placing is a shared burden. There will be free vision trinket upgrades, along with support items to include active wards and Sightstone upgrades.
The full and extensive run-down can be found on their official website here (believe us, it’s extensive), and we can expect to see these changes hit the PBE soon.
Source: Official Website
Daryl Dixon and the other survivors have been fighting for their lives on iPhones and iPads for almost an entire month already. Just in time for the launch of the newest season of AMC’s television show, the guys and girls over at Next Games released the brand new app on iTunes. Android players had to remain patient and make do with the series up until now. The publisher has finally released the free-to-play survival game in the Google Play Store as well, allowing all mobile game players (except for Windows Phone users) to delve into the postapocalyptic world.
Anyone with an Android smartphone or tablet can now simply head over to their app store and download the survival game for free. What exactly will they be able to expect? The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land allows players to take control of several survivors. They will fight their way through hordes of zombies in turn-based fights. Over the course of the game, players will improve their characters’ skills, equip them with better and stronger weapons, and explore new locations, most of which fans of the show will be familiar with.
Anyone who still needs to make up their mind as to whether they want to give the mobile game a try should take a look at the official trailer.
The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land is available for free on iTunes and in the Google Play Store.
Source: App Store
The crazy free-to-play FPS Team Fortress 2 is getting a second installment of Halloween themed content during the holiday. More community made maps and items can now be found in the game.
Just as Team Fortress 2 fans have had enough time to explore and have fun with all of the Invasion event content released at the beginning of November, another content-packed update is rolling out to TF2 in the form of the annual Scream Fortress event. There are 19 new community made items, and 4 community made maps for FPS fans to try out, as well as the chance to get items from all of the past Halloween events.
The Gargoyle Case is an entirely community created box of fun and items, all with weapons, cosmetic items, and hats, of course. Unlike other Halloween events, this year's new items in everybody’s favorite hat simulator can be worn the whole year round. This means that players can don their holiday items and show off their rewards whenever they want.
Players of Team Fortress 2 unexpectedly got some new community made maps in the Halloween update. The maps are called Gorge, Hellstone, Moonshine and Sinshine. The maps feature all of the expected elements, in that characteristic TF2 style. There are pumpkins, bats, spooky mansions, skulls, and lava. What more could someone ask for from a Halloween event? On top of all of this, all of the previous Halloween modes will be available to play too! The full details of the event can be found on their official website here.
Team Fortress 2 is completely free-to-play and available to download by clicking the button below!
Source: Official Website
Well, that was unexpected. Yesterday, Nintendo invited investors to a brief strategy briefing in Tokyo to give an update on its current consoles and games and to reveal its first ever mobile app. Ever since Nintendo first announced that it was going to delve into the mobile gaming market, players have been speculating what IP the Japanese studio would bring to iPhones and smartphones first. Would it be Mario, Link, or the Pokémon? All we knew was that Nintendo would not just convert an old game, but develop a brand new app in cooperation with development studio DeNA, and that it was going to release the first app by the end of the year. Five mobile games in total were known to be scheduled for release by March 2017.
So what did we find out after yesterday’s strategy briefing? According to various blogs, Nintendo has introduced its highly anticipated first smartphone app called Miitomo. We use the word “app” deliberately, seeing as the studio’s description of Miitomo does not make it sound like a game. The app will allow players to design their own avatars (or Miis, which were established for the Wii), which will then communicate with others. According to some reports of the event, the app will allow shy people to more easily connect with others.
Additionally, the studio announced that Miimoto would not launch by the end of the year, but that it was going to come out early next year, so that they could thoroughly advertise it beforehand. Last but not least, Nintendo also revealed their upcoming membership service called “Nintendo Account” which will allow players to connect the studio’s hardware with PCs and mobile devices through a cloud-based service.
While we can barely contain our disappointment at these news, we have to remain level-headed and keep in mind that Nintendo has not yet chosen to introduce Miimoto to the general public. Yesterday’s information was rather leaked to the internet after the strategy briefing of investors. Moreover, there are still four other apps that might bring big IPs to mobile devices.
Source: Nintendo Japan, Wall Street Journal
Aeria Games released a brand new trailer for their new free-to-play MMORPG, Dragomon Hunter. The game went into open beta just yesterday, and this new video showcases some of the different characters in the game.
As we mentioned yesterday, Aeria Games have been very quick in the final development states of Dragomon Hunter, with the closed beta and stress testing stage lasting only a week or so. This new trailer coincides with the news of the open beta, and is sure to get fantasy MMORPG fans excited to get involved with hunting those Dragomon.
The video shows off a couple of the different character classes, and a few of the most impressive looking Dragomon available in the game. The video is packed full of Dragomon action, showing the fantasy universe and a bunch of the different settings where players can find the creatures. We are sure that there will be more news about Dragomon Hunter to come as the beta development continues, and new content is added. Until then, click the button below and download Dragomon Hunter for free!
Source: Official YouTube Channel