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| Ubisoft: free-to-play, microtransactions essential to future of AAA games Mar 25th 2013, 16:04 Jade Raymond says there is now an "expectation" that gamers should be able to try for free and buy only what they want; about ten AAA games per year can still be viable. 
Free-to-play business models and microtransactions are essential to the future of AAA games, Ubisoft Toronto manager Jade Raymond told The Guardian in an interview published today. She said this is natural evolution of gamer habits and that developers like Ubisoft need to find out how to keep these ideas in mind when creating new games. "Absolutely. We can't help it," Raymond said. "The audience for games is becoming broader and even core gamers who are used to buying games in boxes, are spending more of their time on mobile. So whether it's long-term gamers or the new generation who started out by playing free games on the web or mobile, we have a whole bunch of people who've been trained to think differently about the way they spend money on games." Raymond said players today expect to be able to try before they buy and spend money only on what they want to. If developers like Ubisoft can't figure out how to produce AAA game experiences with this in mind, these gamers will look for their entertainment elsewhere, she argued. "There's an expectation to be able to try for free, and only spend money if they want to. We have to figure out how to make that type of thing work with console games as well," she said. Raymond still does believe that blockbuster AAA titles can coexist with free-to-play and microtransaction-based games, but the market can only sustain about ten of these big-budget games per year, she argued. "Well, I think there's still room for really great triple A games that can, despite the budget, retain the classic model of expecting people to pay in one big chunk. There's still room for that," Raymond said. "But the big publishers have to be honest with themselves--there's only room for let's say 10 successful titles a year on those sorts of budgets. So you have to go all-in on those; you have to be sure you'll have a hit, and when you make it you have to invest everything to make sure it's amazing." Raymond and Ubisoft Toronto are currently working on Splinter Cell: Blacklist, due out for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on August 20. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
|  | Judge sides with Microsoft in Motorola lawsuit Mar 25th 2013, 15:27 U.S. trade judge says Xbox 360 does not violate patents from Google. 
A United States trade judge has ruled that Microsoft's Xbox 360 does not violate Motorola patents, according to a new report from Bloomberg. In a terse note, International Trade Commission judge David Shaw sided with Microsoft in the lawsuit. “We are pleased with the Administrative Law Judge“s finding that Microsoft did not violate Motorola“s patent and are confident that this determination will be affirmed by the Commission," Microsoft corporate vice president and deputy general counsel David Howard told the site. As part of the decision, Google is allowed to call on the commission to overrule the judge's findings and thus enact an import ban on Xbox 360 consoles. “We are disappointed with today“s determination and look forward to the full Commission“s review,“ Google spokesperson Matt Kallman said in a statement. In April last year, the ITC ruled that the Xbox 360 violated a string of patents Motorola holds for video decoding, Wi-Fi connections, and console-to-accessory connections. And in May, a German court decision banned the sale of Xbox 360 consoles in that country, though it had no immediate effect, because Microsoft was granted a preliminary injunction. Microsoft previously rejected a Motorola settlement offer that would have the Seattle tech giant pay a royalty fee of 2.25 percent on every Xbox 360 sold. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | DC Comics MOBA Infinite Crisis announced Mar 25th 2013, 14:48 Free-to-play DC MOBA coming to PC later in 2013. 
The Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine has announced Infinite Crisis, a free-to-play MOBA set in the DC Comics universe. The game is scheduled to be released for PC later this year, and a beta will be available. Infinite Crisis is set across the 52 universes of the DC multiverse, and promises map-altering events across various DC locations. So far Turbine has promised steampunk and post-apocalyptic themed stages. Map-specific interactive elements, such as throwing cars or calling down meteor showers, are also mentioned. The roster announced so far includes familiar DC characters alongside some alternative takes on iconic heroes. 12 characters have been shown: Nightmare Batman, Doomsday, Flash, Gaslight Batman, Gaslight Catwoman, Gaslight Joker, Green Lantern, Poison Ivy, Shazam (aka Captain Marvel), The Joker, Wonder Woman, and Zatanna. Each character in Infinite Crisis comes with one passive skill and four active abilities, one of which appears to be an ultimate. The class types on show in Infinite Crisis at the moment fit into traditional MOBA archetypes: Assassin, Bruiser, Marksman, Blaster, Support, and Enforcer. Turbine also says that Infinite Crisis will contain an unfolding story line developed in partnership with DC Entertainment. [ Watch Video ] Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | Telltale's Walking Dead coming to PS Vita Mar 25th 2013, 12:55 Sony confirms well-received episodic series will be available for latest portable later this year. 
Sony has confirmed that Telltale Games' well-received The Walking Dead series will launch on PlayStation Vita sometime later this year. It is not clear if all five chapters will launch episodically or if they will be bundled together at the time of launch. PlayStation director of product planning and platform software innovation Don Mesa told IGN that Telltale Games supporting the platform "sends a strong message." “Having [a studio] like Telltale, a very successful indie developer, coming in to support us sends a strong message,“ Mesa said. Telltale's The Walking Dead series was praised by critics at launch last April and took home the Adventure Game of the Year award during the 16th annual D.I.C.E. Awards last month. The entire five-game series sold more than 8.5 million episodes, with the average user spending $16. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
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