Getting your money's worth from free to play games #f2p

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/04/land-free-getting-your-moneys-worth-free-play-games

Critical Consensus: Ridiculous Fishing - A Tale of Redemption

Critical Consensus: Ridiculous Fishing - A Tale of Redemption

Vlambeer's mobile title is highest scoring game of 2013 so far

On paper, the fishing game seems like a pretty ridiculous concept all round. It's a fairly sedentary hobby, epitomised by calm mornings on a chilly river bank, in which the ultimate achievement is to drag a slimy, smelly creature out of its natural habitat before photographing it and either putting it back or stuffing it for the wall of your house.

The story behind the smash hit Ridiculous Fishing

The story behind the smash hit Ridiculous Fishing

Has your best idea just been ripped off? Here’s how a small game studio bounced back from a clone attack to make one of the year’s hit mobile games.

Few think of the app stores as hostile, but mobile developers struggle every day to survive in an increasingly crowded market. They cast their lines in murky waters, cross their fingers, and hope players will bite.

Game developer Vlambeer was unlucky. It found a shark in those waters. Now, it has bounced back from a near-fatal cloning incident to claim one of the most popular games on iOS. “For a while, we just lost all faith in creativity as a way to earn a living,” Rami Ismail, one of the two members of the Dutch studio, told us.

Vlambeer’s extreme-sports game, Ridiculous Fishing, launched last month to massive acclaim and sales success. It’s based on the studio’s first-ever title, the Flash game Radical Fishing, which a rival ripped off at an unfortunate time. In July 2011, Gamenauts released a clone called Ninja Fishing just as Vlambeer was preparing to announce its remake.

F2P Summit: The 15 golden rules of free-to-play

Speaking at the F2P Summit in London this morning, Gamesbrief’s Nicholas Lovell gave an enlightening talk in which he gave the audience his 15 golden rules for free-to-play game design. Lovell is well-placed to advise the delegates at this, the conference’s second year: he advises a number of studios large and small on how to succeed – though he admitted his advice was slightly biased towards mobile because that’s where most of his clients are operating. What follows, though, is not solely of use for those making mobile games, but contains valuable advice for those working elsewhere. The principles are broadly the same, whether on console, PC, Facebook or the App Store.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/f2p-summit-the-15-golden-rules-of-free-to-play-game-design/

(Text beyond the cut)

Lesson 7 - EA Sports FIFA 13 Marketing & Distribution

just one day after PES 2013 by taking out the £20 EA Sports Season Ticket

http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/fifa_13/news/play_fifa_13_just_one_day_after_pes_2013_by_taking_out_the_20_ea_sports_season_ticket.html

Would you play £20 to be able to own FIFA 13 this Saturday instead of waiting until Thursday?
Though probably quite good value if you're buying Madden and Fifa I guess and regularly purchase DLC...

Benefits Outlined by Title

Madden NFL 13 (Xbox only for Europe)

• North America and Mexico Early access date – Friday, August 24, 2012 (6:00pm EST)
• Europe, Australia and New Zealand Early access date – Monday, August 27, 2012 (6:00pm CEST)
• Included paid DLC – One Legendary and 24 Pro Madden packs – one per week for 24 consecutive weeks - for use in Madden Ultimate Team
• 20% off additional DLC content purchased for Madden NFL 13

NHL 13

• North America and Mexico Early access date – Friday, September 7, 2012 (6:00pm EST)
• Europe, Australia and New Zealand Early access date – Saturday, September 8, 2012 (6:00pm CEST)
• Included paid DLC – 24 NHL Gold Premium packs for use in Hockey Ultimate Team – one per week for 24 consecutive weeks
• 20% off additional DLC content purchased for NHL 13

FIFA 13

• North America and Mexico Early access date – Friday, September 21, 2012 (6:00pm EST)
• Europe, Australia and New Zealand Early access date – Saturday, September 22, 2012 (6:00pm CEST)
• Included paid DLC – 24 FIFA Ultimate Team Gold Premium packs —one per week for 24 consecutive weeks—to help build an ultimate team of football superstars
• 20% off additional DLC content purchased for FIFA 13

Homework essay: WHAT'S NEW? Innovations in the videogames industry

Homework Task: Innovations in the videogame industry  essay

Set: Monday 17^th September

Due:  Monday 1st October

(To be written in Word, spellchecked and then posted on your Blog)

The 2012 Videogames Industry: Your task is to write a 750-1000 word essay on one of the set questions below on new innovations in the videogames industry today. You are to conduct your own reading and note taking around the subject using my Label Cloud on the right hand side and the Gaming Site feeds also on the side to help you. For the first part of your essay define and give examples of the keyterms in your question - those words in bold below.

Essay questions

1.       “Freemium” and microtransactions – Are the days of Day One purchases numbered, with publishers wanting more purchases down the line?

2.       Digital Distribution – Will everything become digital in the future and who wants this?

3.       The controller revolution: Gesture controllers – Wii, Kinect and Move etc – How have they affected the videogames industry?

4.       Technological convergence – Game consoles becoming Swiss Army Knives – How have consoles evolved from purely game consoles and what has been the impact on the industry?

5.       Social Gaming – Are casual Gamers taking over?

6.       A long way from Snake: Mobile gaming – iOS and the rise of Android – is this the future of gaming?

7.       Is single player dying? The rise of online gaming and multiplayer: Are single player games at risk of being the exception as opposed to the rule?

Is there an area of the videogame industry that you would like to research that is not covered by the topics here? See me asap and we can sort out an appropriate question for you to look at.

History of DLC as 'expansions'

This shows the history of DLC - it used to be expansions to enhance the existing game: EA & Westwood's award winning Command and Conquer Red Alert had two add-ons - Counterstrike and Aftermath - though remember in those days in the mid 90s it meant trekking to a computer games shop (Electronics Boutique.. Anyone? Anyone??) whereas now it seems that games are deliberately 'missing' elements that are then inserted as DLC later on down the timeline.

Note the small microtransaction chunks in the final picture. Often these days we will find smaller, more managable chunks and more of them. Fifa's Ultimate Team is an example of theis - packs of cards are cheap but players often buy many at a time, or at regular intervals. All of which gain the publishers £££ often without having to think about shipping or any other distribution than the gamer pressing a couple of buttons on their console.