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Team Meat dreaming up something new.
Team Meat’s next game will not be Super Meat Boy 2, the two-man indie developer has revealed.
When asked about future plans, co-CEO Edmund McMillen told Eurogamer, “There will be another game but it won’t be Meat Boy. It’ll be totally new.
“We’d be lying if we said we hadn’t talked about the next game because we very much have. But thinking about it right now makes me want to stab myself in the stomach as hard as I can. With a gun.”
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Atari and Cryptic’s superhero-themed MMORPG picking up hybrid microtransaction/subscription model in early 2011; beta begins November 9.
With Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft now over 12 million players worldwide, staying relevant in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game space has been no easy task. An increasingly common option for doing so, though, is switching to a free-to-play, microtransaction-supported business model. Recent converts include Turbine’s Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online, as well as Sony Online Entertainment’s EverQuest II.
Today, one more struggling MMORPG can be added to that list, as Atari and Cryptic Studios announced that their superhero-themed Champions Online would adopt a hybrid free-to-play/subscription model during the first quarter of 2011. A closed beta test for the free-to-play model is scheduled for November 9.
When Atari makes the switch over next year, gamers will be able to download Champions Online at no cost and play for an unlimited amount of time. However, those players will be able to augment their experience by purchasing premium content, including adventure packs, items, powers, and costume pieces. This content will be offered through what Cryptic is calling the C-Store, a Web-based and in-game marketplace.
Gamers will also have the option to continue paying a flat rate for Champions Online. Both new and continuing players can opt in to the $15-per-month subscription rate, which will grant them access to “most of the game’s content” as well as other bonus features.
Champions Online was the first of two MMORPGs that Cryptic launched within a five-month period, having debuted in September 2009. Though it received more favorable reviews than its Star Trek Online cousin, the game failed to elevate Atari’s full-year earnings out of the red. In August, Cryptic creative director and Blizzard North cofounder Bill Roper departed the company, with the studio going on to announce the Dungeons & Dragons-themed Neverwinter later that month.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“Champions Online going free-to-play next year” was posted by Tom Magrino on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:04:24 -0700 -
Analyst: fighter tops off poor year for EA.
EA’s attempt to muscle in on the mixed martial arts market with EA Sports MMA has been an unmitigated failure, according to industry analysts.
Doug Creutz of Cowan & Company told GamesIndustry.biz, “EA’s recently released MMA appears to be more or less DOA at retail, while UFC recently announced an extension of its license with THQ, likely putting an end to EA’s efforts to expand into the mixed martial arts genre.”
Eurogamer’s Matt Edwards awarded EA Sports MMA a respectable 7/10 but the game could only manage a number 23 debut on the UK all-formats chart this week.
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Developer blows open MMO sequel.
MMO Kingdom Under Fire II works on Xbox 360 but still won’t be released until – at the earliest – Christmas 2011, Eurogamer can reveal.
Why? The same reason Champions Online struggled on console: the closed Xbox Live platform.
“Our initial plan was we wanted to develop the console version first – the Xbox 360 version,” KUFII game director Sang Youn-Lee told us. “We actually have completed the system, but because of the policy, we felt that if we kept developing [it] the PC version would have come out too late.”
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Xbox Live Update: Rockstar Games’ add-on for Western joined by Zen Studios’ Pinball FX 2, demos for Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom.
Get the full article at GameSpot
“Red Dead Redemption zombies DLC creeps onto XBLA” was posted by Eddie Makuch on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:33:31 -0700 -
Xbox Live Update: Rockstar Games’ add-on for Western joined by Zen Studios’ Pinball FX 2, demos for Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom.
Get the full article at GameSpot
“Red Dead Redemption zombies DLC creeps onto XBLA” was posted by Eddie Makuch on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:33:31 -0700 -
Atari introducing a free-to-play option to its MMOG to attract a “new audience”.US-based developer Cryptic Studios and publisher Atari will change the payment model for its super-hero themed MMORPG Champions Online in the first quarter of 2011.
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Fable III! BlizzCon! Heightened enthusiasm! P42!
Good news everyone – following last week’s disgracefully tepid display from returning podcast host Tom Champion, order and, more importantly, enthusiasm has been restored for this 43rd instalment of our award-losing weekly production.
Yes, host Champion is joined by Eurogamer editor Tom Bramwell, fresh from a spell in the wonderful world of Albion, and reviews editor Oli Welsh, not so fresh after coming straight to the office from the airport on his way back from BlizzCon.
Stream the Eurogamer.net Podcast:
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Taste Majin.
An Xbox 360 demo for Game Republic’s Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is available to download now.
Queue it up here so it’s sitting pretty in your Xbox 360 harddrive when you get home. But know this: it weighs in at 237.4 MB.
What is Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom? It’s described as a “new fusion of cooperative stealth and action”.
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Take superhero to max level for nothing.
Atari Europe and Cryptic Studios have announced a change to superhero MMO Champions Online: from Q1 2011 the game will be free-to-play.
In practice, that means anyone can download the game and play up to maximum level for free. There is no subscription and no upfront charge.
There will be a complimentary web-based and in-game C-Store, though, where you can grab things like items, powers, costumes and Adventure Packs for real-world money.
