Posts Tagged ‘first person shooter’

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Facebook games come of age – first FPS arriving soon

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Farming and Fish Tanks have been a massive success for a number of casual games developers on social networking platforms, primarily Facebook. Mafia type games have also seen their fair share of success, and while they do contain an element of violence, they’re still grounded to a static, turn based, game style. If these games may be viewed as ‘all encompassing – all inclusive’ styles, it looks like social games on Facebook might be taking a step towards segmentation, as 3G Studios plans to bring a browser based first person shooter directly to your Facebook gaming addiction enjoyment.

Menubar_BA_MidTitled “Brave Arms”, 3G Studios says that they plan on bringing, “a real video game experience,” to Facebook. While full details are currently scarce, those available indicate that the casual game will feature solo as well as team play style, and will include a microtransactions based monetization component.

A quick visit to the Brave Arms official site reveals that the game will feature 3D characters set in a variety of environments. Neither one of these images, however are very descript, one featuring a (what looks like stock digital imagery) warehouse, while the other shows a snowboard mountain setting. Additionally, screenshots show a few different weapon options; dual wielding handguns, assault/sniper rifles with scopes, as well as a futuristic looking weapon which may shoot (frickin’) laser beams!

Brave Arms has a great linage behind it. Developed by 3G Studios which is responsible for the original Rock Band, and handful of PSP games, and most recently Jillian Michael’s Fitness Ultimatum 2009 for Wii. Given these past projects, it should be interesting to see how 3G will make the transition from console and portable titles to the social gaming world.

bfh_logoAnd now for the biggest question – why is 3G Studios the first on the scene with a FPS for Facebook? With EA’s massive investment in social gaming, did 3G simply beat them to the punch? To be honest, even the Brave Arms logo is not only similar to, but I’d venture close enough to tug at consumers’ vague recollection of another free-to-play, first person shooter title they might already be familiar with: EA’s Battlefield Arms. If Battlefield Heroes, or id Software/Bethesda’s Quake Live are or aren’t in development for a Facebook port, well then….fair enough, hats off to 3G Studios for getting to the market first. For now, neither company has indicated that they’re planning on making this move. Perhaps this new offering from 3G might light a few fires at a few corporate offices quite soon. As CEO James Kosta puts it, “Our new title, Brave Arms, will bring first-person shooter games to the masses.” My alternate suggestion might be, “You snooze, you lose big boys.”

Brave Arms is slated for a March release, but enthusiastic players can reserve their nickname in advance at Facebook.

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Battlefield Heroes raises prices – receives player backlash

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

The EA/DICE title Battlefield Heroes has had a bit of a long and winding road. From being ready to go, then only to be put on hold, and finally the release with a rather gradual, we’ll let anyone in beta. Back in September EA reported that the free-to-play title had passed the 2 million registered players mark, and all seemed well. Likewise, only a month prior, EA’s own senior analytics manager Rommy Ghaly revealed that on average, users spend around $20 in-game. Sounds fair, and all is fine and dandy in this free-to-play shooter n’est pas? Well….apparently not, as EA dropped the virtual bomb yesterday by announcing that the cost of in-game earned currency was going up, while at the same time, RMT (real money transaction) cost were to be lowered. In other words – earning currency by playing has fallen out of favor at EA, and cold hard cash income is coming to the forefront.

Announced on the forum, Battlefield Heroes price restructuring took effect on the 30th, and offers players incentives to purchase items using real money transactions to purchase the virtual currency BattleFunds, as opposed to the currency earned through play, Valor Points. In effect, EA has jacked up the cost of items purchased with Valor Points, while cut the cost of items purchased with BattleFunds by upwards of 50 percent.

But why? To find the answer to this, one might want to have a read through the 70+ page forum thread of players’ reactions. To say that they’re not pleased might be a bit of an understatement. However, if seen from EA’s position, they’ve got an interesting quandary on their hands now – one that can effect virtual economies if not properly planned. It seems as though EA has an imbalanced economy, in so much as players with plenty of time on their hands, ones that have acquired massive amounts of Valor Points through play, often have accounts with upwards of 20,000 points just sitting in the economy. Through not spending this currency, the in-game economy becomes unbalanced. To add to the headache, items purchased with said Valor Point are impermanent items which expire after a certain amount of time. Conversely, items purchased with BattleFunds are permanent items. In other words – those that spend real money for items have them forever, while earned currency buyers have advanced items for a pre-determined time period. The question is – will this change now upset game balance?

What’s also important to keep in mind here is that when Battlefield Heroes first arrived on the scene, they were the only free-to-play first person shooter on the market. Since then, competitors such as Nexon’s Combat Arms or Subagames’ Cross Fire have joined the free-to-play fps ranks. As expected, with the pricing change, a number of vocal players are irate, and have suggested that they’d rather move on to something else, rather than grind away for days on end to acquire items that previously only took a few hours to get. And while these vocal players often serve up empty threats, given the number of them (not counting those that have NOT voiced their opinions), a mass exodus is something that EA should be considering carefully before we see the once promising Battlefield Heroes dead in the water.

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Combat Arms Europe counts 800k, RuneScape 105 million!

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Both Nexon and Jagex have recently released some impressive registered users numbers. Both free-to-play titles, Nexon’s Combat Arms is now counting approximately 800,000 registered users, while Jagex’s RuneScape has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s most popular free-to-play title, with over 105 million registered users over the title’s lifespan.

Combat Arms saw a December ’08 open beta and February ’09 official Europe release date, and has recently surpassed the 800,000 registered user mark. Nexon Europe reports that their average CCU (concurrent users) number hovers around 12,000 player mark, clearly indicating that Combat Arms is one of the fastest growing and most successful free-to-play first person shooter games in Europe.

“We are thrilled by the figures and results that we see with Combat Arms Europe” said Sung Jin Kim, Director of NEXON Europe. “We receive great feedbacks from our players who love the great mix of fast-paced FPS and socialization features within the game. We are dedicated to providing an interactive and exciting gaming experience to all players at every level, and look forward to bringing far more new action through the updates we have in queue, and, consequently, to continuing with Combat Arms Europe’s great success.”

As with all Nexon offerings, Combat Arms is free-to-play, and is supported via in-game microtransaction based purchases. Titled the “Black Market” users can exchange real-world money for Nexon credits to purchase additional gear, items, clothing, etc. in order to customize their gaming experience.

And while 800,000 users for a title that’s not yet one year out on the marketplace is quite impressive, on the other end of the scale, information surfaced yesterday regarding Jagex’s RuneScape registered users numbers. According to the Guinness World Records, RuneScape is the world’s largest free game with 105 million registered users.

runescape-no-5In fairness, these numbers account for Runescape’s entire product runtime, some 9+ years. However, even if we’re looking at 9 years, that’s still on average 11.6 million users per year signing up. If that ‘somewhere around 12 million’ number is jumping out at you, yes, that’s the current estimate of active WoW players globally. And again, while this number is cumulative, according to Jagex’s CEO Mark Gerhard, approximately 10 million of those registered users are regularly logging in.

When pressed on the numbers, and asked if RuneScape is making more money than the industry yardstick, World of Warcraft, Gerhard comments that Jagex isn’t really measuring success based on financial returns. “The company is very strong financially, and it is thanks to RuneScape, but for us it’s all about active players. It doesn’t matter to us really if they’re free or paying for the expansion – as long as it’s going North we really don’t care.”
Looking to capitalize on RuneScape’s success, Jagex isn’t resting on their laurels. Currently in development at the Cambridge, England studio is MechScape, and sci-fi browser based MMO.

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Parabellum closed beta now open for registration

Monday, May 4th, 2009

You might remember back in September we talked about Acony’s upcoming free-to-play first person shooter, Parabellum.  Powered by the Unreal Engine 3, this highly anticipated title stole the hearts and minds of gamers at the Austin Game Developers Convention.

parabellum_betaAccording to the official description from Acony, Parabellum will be a hybrid of the best elements of a First Person Shooter and a Massive Multiplayer Online game.  Parabellum will also introduce the first interactive non-linear multiplayer campaigns in addition to an advanced character and weapon development system.

Set in the future, 2018 to be exact, players take part in privatized global military force actions (not unlike what’s been unfolding on Fox’s 24 this season), where ex-soldiers, mercenaries, and adventurers can make untold fortunes.  Players will choose an alliance, either the CTN; those committed to keeping anarchy at bay, or the Syndicate, rebels hell bent on destruction and chaos.  Overseeing, or perhaps rather encouraging both organizations, the C.I.N. provides contracts to both groups depending on the pending job.  An interesting feature of Parabellum will include consequence decisions, meaning that outcomes from one mission will affect the outcome and procedure from the next mission.  Players will not fight level after level of unrelated content, but rather fight their way through entire cities.  Given the nature of the game and these missions, players are free to choose their own routes through these cities, as well as construct routes that will lead the opposing force into traps.

Taking cues from the MMO world, Parabellum characters gain experience and evolve throughout the experience.  As more and more missions are complete, player’s characters will unlock new weapons, weapon mods and attachments, body armor, accessories and appearance.  Acony is touting over 10,000 different possible combinations, a feat yet unheard of in any MMO-FPS.

Distributed in the US by K2, a quick reminder of some additional game customizations:

  • Player uploaded battle music
  • Turning off in game advertising
  • Clan logos
  • And a whole lot more ‘undisclosed’ content

On a final note, while Parabellum will be free to play, there’s a host of available items made possible via microtransactions.  However, the good folks at Acony take what they’re building here very seriously, and realize that pwnage should not depend on the size of a player’s wallet.  That’s why they’ve specifically designed the game to measure victory based on skill and wit.  None of the weapons or equipment in the game require players to pay for with real money.

So get the gettin’s while the gettins hot.  Acony is now accepting applications for their closed beta at http://parabellum.xg1.net/.  Note: you will have to create an account before applying for the beta.  Fair’s fair.

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IGA Worldwide lands exclusive Cross Fire in-game advertising contract

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

G4BOX Inc. and Wicked Interactive Ltd. announced yesterday that the ink is officially dry on an exclusive in-game advertising deal with IGA Worldwide for their hit free-to-play first person shooter Cross Fire.

The counterstrike-esque multiplayer first person shooter allows for up to 16 players to simultaneously battle online.  Objective based missions and scenarios take place across a wide range of real world realistic locations and arenas.  Not simply a point and shoot, Cross Fire also offers up a healthy selection of features and game modes including an exclusive ‘ghost match’ mode, a persistent stat-tracking and ranking system, integrated clan and in-game friends systems, and character customizations and realistic military weaponry.

“The Cross Fire beta launch has proven to be a tremendous success. The scale of the community building around the game has been astonishing and is still growing rapidly,” said Howard He, CEO of G4BOX Inc. “We are delighted to partner with G4BOX on Cross Fire. Its success has allowed us to partner with in-game advertising pioneer, IGA Worldwide, to pursue opportunities in this exciting and ground-breaking advertising environment,” added Garvin Yeung, CEO of Wicked Interactive Ltd.

Utilizing IGA Worldwide’s proprietary Radial 4.0 advertising SDK, Cross Fire will now offer brands and agencies the opportunity to display, update and geo-target their ads to a holy grail: the 18-34, tech savvy, male demographic.

Ed Bartlett, Vice President Europe for IGA Worldwide, said “Having pioneered ad-supported free-to-play premium games over the last three years, we are very excited to extend this model to Cross Fire, which has all of the necessary features for another huge success story in this category. IGA prides itself on a qualitative approach to ad inventory, and alongside contextual in-game billboards, users can also expect a sponsored tournament and leaderboards as well as subsidized branded content including new levels and arenas.”

Given that only a month and a half back IGA Worldwide sent out the ‘we need more money, or a buyer’ message, IGA Worldwide has been making signing a number of deals and agreements.  Perhaps there’s something a bit more going on in the background that we’re privy to?  Has IGA found a new investor?  Are they simply trying to pump the value, prepping for a sale?  Or…are they just doing a great job, doing what they do?  Which ultimately leads us to, what the heck WAS that plea for help all about?  Either way, things seem to be looking up for one of the leading in-game advertising providers.  I guess we’ll simply have to wait and see exactly where they’re headed with these exciting announcements.

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Apple iPhone 3.0 brings microtransactions on board

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

It was only a matter of time, but get ready to break out the DLC via the iPhone OS updates due out this summer.  In a press conference yesterday, Apple made a number of official announcements concerning the iPhone OS update, most notably, the inclusion of microtransactions, specifically called the ‘In-App Purchase’.

iphone3Obviously, news of microtransactions being made available via the app store changes the entire landscape of gaming on the iPhone, but that’ not all.  Apple also revealed that they’re tossing in a whole slew of features that could very well make the iPhone a preferred gaming device.  iPhone OS 3 will also allow for mulitplayer peer-to-peer gaming thanks to wireless play (WoW for iPhone?).  iPhone will utilize bluetooth and scan a 10 meter (approx. 30 feet) range for other handsets running the same application, allowing users to challenge each other in head-to-head competition.  At the present time, there are probably only a handful of games that could successfully pull this off, but given then lead time, I’m quite sure that a number of iPhone app developers have just rescheduled their vacations.

Another feature that Apple’s been promising for quite a some time, but until now failing to deliver; push notification.  Rather than having to manually check for updates, the new OS will allow developers to push updates directly to a users’ phone, thereby providing real time updates in socially oriented and multiplayer games.  What’s more, users do not even need to be in-game to receive invitations to play from friends to ‘come out and play’.  Likewise, the new update will also support in-game chat and even access to your iPod all from within the game.

Both EA and ngmoco were featured during this announcement, demonstrating a host of the new features.  EA showed how microtransactions will be made available in ‘The Sims 3’ via furniture and clothing options which will be available for $0.99.  ngmoco’s LiveFire is a multiplayer first person shooter that makes use of a number of the new features including in-game chat, and on-the-fly weapons purchases.

So what are the implications for developers and gaming studios working on iPhone apps?  Beyond the obvious revenue generation streams now sanctioned by Apple (don’t forget about iMafia’s backdoor microtransactions), this move releases a tremendous amount of pressure on the already cut throat Apple iPhone application store.  Amongst the 6000+ applications in the app store, price wars have been brewing for quite a while now.  A glance at the top 100 iPhone applications at any given time reveals that 98 of them are at a $5.99 price point or lower, with some top shelf apps, including Warner Bros. “Watchmen” at the shockingly low price of $0.99.  What this means is that there a lot of games available for the iPhone that aren’t making a whole lot of money.  With the announcement of microtransactions being introduced, developers now have a whole new way of looking at how they price their product on the app store.  Apple has not sanctioned microtransactions for free applications, but buy releasing a bare minimum price version of the application, developers can now walk the user through the whole experience, and not hope that they come back to the store to upgrade to the more ‘robust’ version.  What developers need to keep in mind is scalability.  If they’re going to focus on monetization via microtransactions they’ve simply got to make sure that the pipe is full and constantly being refueled.  If the available content doesn’t meet user demand, consumers will simply take their business elsewhere.

With the iGames Summit 09 coming up tomorrow in San Francisco, this iPhone OS 3.0 news couldn’t have come at a better time, and I suspect that a number of presenters are scrambling to re-write their speeches right now.  More news to come as we draw closer to OS3 launch date.

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Combat Arms Europe leaves beta in the dust, now officially open for business

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

Two months and ten days after the commencement of their open beta phase, Nexon Europe is proud to announce the commercial launch of their free-to-play, online first person shooter Combat Arms.  This also marks the official opening of Nexon’s revenue generator, the in-game item shop, the “Black Market”.  Players are now free to choose from additional mercenaries including the games’ first female character, and a wide variety of customizable items, gears, and weapons.

ca“We had a great beta run and have continuously received huge feedbacks after the official launch,” said Sung-Jin Kim, Manager of Europe Business Team at Nexon. “Players really love the fast-paced game play along with the socialization features of Combat Arms Europe. The opening of the Black Market will bring another dimension to the customization attributes of the game, and offer players at all levels to opt for further play options to enhance their game play without harming the fairness of play.”

The newly launched “Black Market” will now allow European Combat Arms players additional methods by which they can personalize the game and their character’s individual look while slugging it out on the battlefield.  Additionally, Combat Arms clans can now further customize their brothers-in-arms by creating their own unique clan emblem, which is then displayed in-game, as well as on the Combat Arms web portal.

Kamara, the games first female character has also now joined the battle, available as a mercenary, which may be hired as an added character for 30 days, and starts off with 30,000 Gear points.  In addition to purchasing Kamara or Zadan’s services, players are also offered new machineries including an M4A1 Desert Warrior, a Dragunov Black, a P90TR, to name a few.  The “Black Market” has also been stocked with a host of new gears and camouflage options to spice up players looks and capacity.  And if all these shiny new toys weren’t enough for you, Combat Arms official European release also includes a new battlefield to be conquered.  The “Waverider” map is set in the resort city of Rupheria, originally designed and developed to reflect a traditional European coastal resort (can you say Monaco?).

Nexon isn’t just resting on their laurels, as they have a full schedule of new items in development and will be introducing these items into the game via the “Black Market” shop over the coming months.  Also in the docket are new maps, combat modes, weaponry, and additional free content.

If you’ve yet to give this successful free-to-play online first person shooter a go, now is the perfect time; download Combat Arms for free at: combatarms.nexoneu.com.

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Nexon’s free-to-play FPS Combat Arms reaches two million user milestone

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

After pioneering the free-to-play space with their runaway hit ‘Maple Story’, it looks like Nexon has done it again with their first first-person-shooter, ‘Combat Arms’.  The company proudly announced yesterday that in just three months they’ve doubled their user base, now hovering at the two million player mark.  The game opened the public doors in October of 2008 in North America.

Citing the game’s intense, frontline, player-versus-player gameplay and exciting customization and community features as a reason for the explosion of Combat Arms on gamers’ radar, VP of Marketing Min Kim says, “Combat Arms really hits the mark with core FPS veterans playing alongside casual gamers.  This latest milestone is further evidence North American gamers want to play high quality, free-to-play games.”

Featuring an extensive range of character personalization, various combat modes, maps and weapons, Combat Arms has already undergone a number of changes and upgrades since reaching the 1M user mark.  In addition to the already added Rattlesnake, Sand Hog, and Waverider maps, Nexon has also chucked in a number of new game modes that offer free-to-play fans even more options.

Given Nexon’s free-to-play/microtransactions business model, ‘The Black Market’ (an interesting moniker choice) serves as the bread and butter of the game.  Nexon says that they’ve seen tremendous success with the in-game item shop, noting that a large number of combatants that are willing to pay for character customizations, thereby enhancing their gaming experience.  Some of the top sellers on The Black Market include the Elite Moderator item, which allows players to set up and host their own fully moderated games (God, is that you?); and mercenaries, alt characters that can be used to play in the place of the players standard character(s).  Naturally, The Black Market can hook your soldier up with a bit of battlefield bling including a number of gold plated assault rifles.  Personally, I’m holding out for a diamond and sapphire encrusted scope.

“With a host of interactive features and modes set in a completely free-to-play environment, Combat Arms is truly a leader in the online first-person-shooter genre and offers a one-of-a-kind gaming experience,” said Herb Yang, managing producer of Combat Arms. “As we celebrate, we are also looking forward to further shaping Combat Arms into a title that sets the tone for a whole generation of online FPS titles.”

While it seems like Combat Arms is indeed ‘king of the hill’ in the free-to-play/microtransaction based first person shooter genre, this news arrives on the same day that EA/DICE’s Battlefield Heroes sent out 4,000 beta keys, and lest we forget about Acony and their upcoming release of Parabellum.  Combat Arms wears the crown and holds court.  For now.  Stay tuned…..

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Ed. note – Thanks for the tweets and emails – Looks like I forgot about Suba Games’ Cross Fire.  More on that tomorrow.

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Grab your gear soldier – Combat Arms set to storm Europe

Monday, December 15th, 2008

Not just for our trigger pulling friends on the other side of the pond, Nexon’s newest runaway hit: Combat Arms is set to go live tomorrow, December 16th all across Europe.

As we reported back in September, Nexon started European testing with a closed beta back that ran from late October through earlier November, with great success.  Building upon this success, Nexon is going in guns blazing and live as of tomorrow morning.  The new open-beta version of the FPS shooter/team tactics game features a number of new maps, a new One-Man-Army game mode, along with an extended arsenal including new gears and weapons.  The launch will also feature an introductory event that will encourage players to show off their skills on the scope and reward top soldiers with top prizes.

Combat Arms is the newest free-to-play, microtransaction supported title from Korean pioneers, Nexon.  Their rise to fame came via MapleStory, but Combat Arms takes a decided turn and is geared towards fans of the first person shooter genre.  Players experience non-stop battle action in various terrain scenarios and are recruited to battle enemies in multiple game modes.  Retaining all the classic elements of a traditional FPS, Combat Arms ups the ante by providing players with a unique backpack system (similar but not identical to an MMO type backpack) which allows players to carry and combine various attributes of weapons for a customized gaming experience.  For example, attaching a long range scope might be handy while perched on a building top, but an extended magazine might come in quite handy for close room to room combat.

“The FPS genre is traditionally an area for hardcore gamers with a steep learning curve, but Combat Arms takes it to another level, offering a low barrier of entry with its free-to-play offering and low system requirements,” says Sung-Jin Kim, Manager of Europe Business Team at Nexon.

While the game is quick and easy to pick up, don’t be mislead by Kim’s statement, Combat Arms serves up more fast paced action that a rainspout in a downpour.  With, what I can only imagine, true to life action and combat scenarios, Combat Arms will keep you on your toes, and coming back for more.

An in game currency and experience points are rewarded after victories and kills, and contribute to a leveling system.  This in game currency may then be spent on character customization including additional weapons, scopes, silencers, and extended magazines.  Obviously, with a free-to-play title, for a small real money transaction, players can purchase addition in game cash for further customizations.

So here we go Europe: Combat Arms arrives just in time to work out some of that holiday season frustration with your best friends on the field of battle.  And the price alone, is enough to keep any Christmas shopper happy.  Good night and good luck soldiers; see you on the battlefield tomorrow!

Visit Combat Arms Europe at: combatarms.nexoneu.com

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Free to Play Cross Fire places CounterStrike in the Cross hairs

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

10,000 closed beta keys gone in 10 hours?  Wow!  That’s what SilverBirch Inc. and G4Box Inc. are claiming regarding the recent launch of their premier free-to-play, first person shooter, Cross Fire.

The closed beta went live on November 7th, and runs for approximately one month, during which time, fraggers can participate in one of Cross Fire’s four hair raising game zones.  Cross Fire is looking on target for a January 2009 commercial launch, but gamers can continue to download the game for free at www.crossfire-en.com.

“The response to the English version of Cross Fire has far exceeded our expectations,” said Kevin Astle, Interim President and CEO of SilverBirch. “Cross Fire’s fast-paced action, superb graphics and compelling features have already made it a hotly anticipated game among English-language gamers.”

While already a hit in Asian markets, Cross Fire has received 1.9M hits leading up to the November 7th launch, two-thirds of which coming from right here in the US.  The Asian market version has received millions of registered players, and has an excess of 500,000 users regularly playing the game together online at any given time, all within a short nine month time period.  Not Bad.  Not bad at all.

“Cross Fire has been a huge success in China, Japan, Vietnam and other Asian markets,” said Howard He, CEO of G4Box, noting that the game is now more popular in Vietnam than World of Warcraft. “Based on the positive initial response from North American gamers, we look forward to replicating this success for the English-language version.”

The Game

Cross Fire is a CounterStrike killer in more ways than one.  The storyline focuses around two international mercenary forces duking it out for domination.  Players chose their side; either Black List terrorist or Global Risk mercenary.  They then join an online team of fellow FPSers and must work together to complete objective based scenarios.  The game features four game modes: Team Death Match, Team Match, Annihilation Match, and the new Ghost Match.  Players receive xp points based on game play and performance and are promoted through various military ranks.

The Cash

SilverBirch and G4Box will monetize the free-to-play title via a microtransaction based in-game item shop.  Here, players can customize their characters to their heart’s delight including appearance and equipment.  Both companies forecast revenue generation shortly after the January 2009 official release.

Interested players should head on over to FilePlanet to obtain an exclusive closed beta key.  Cross Fire is even sweetening the deal by offering current participants the ability to invite up to 10 friends to join them on the battlefield.  Grab this one now while it’s hot!

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