I recently did a bit of math on the conversion between the cash in a “Free to Play” game on facebook and the US Dollar. At the “best” conversion rate, 1 unit of their in-game currency is approximately $0.1111.
The game is currently selling a “limited” item for 120 of the in game currency. At the above conversion rate, this makes the item about $13.33. To keep in perspective, this is a buck and some change short of one month of unlimited playtime in most subscription MMOs. (Continue Reading)
During the early-to-mid 1990s, a common argument amongst my peers was what fighting game was the best. Though there was the odd SNK fan, it almost always come down to a heated debate between Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. Though there were valid arguments on both sides, SFII was generally more regarded for its solid fighting system, while MK was regarded mainly for its secrets and gore. Years have passed, and such petty squabbles should be behind us, right? (Continue Reading)
In my previous blog entry, I alluded to the idea that newer Bioware games have more in common with JRPGs than most people want to admit. I fully stand by this statement, and believe it is deserving of a bit more explanation since many people may choose to disbelieve it without understanding why I utter words that might be considered blasphemy. Now, I should say that Bioware games still are different from JRPGs in many ways. What I really mean is that post-Neverwinter Nights, Bioware games largely seem closer to Japanese games than other WRPGs. (Continue Reading)
If you have been paying attention to news on the Nintendo console front, you might have seen recent clamoring over Xenoblade. This game is a Nintendo-published JRPG whose localization status seems to be up in the air, and Reggie Fils-Aime was strangely silent at this year’s E3 when asked about it. Right now it is still uncertain if or not we’ll see it released in North America, even though many people believe that this is the type of gamer game that the Wii lacks on this side of the Pacific. Xenoblade, along with The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower are all critically acclaimed games in Japan and represent new IPs from Nintendo. There is nothing wrong with Mario and Zelda game at all (I just picked up OOT3D), but with very few true quality games on the Wii outside of these franchises, it would be nice to see these games over here. (Continue Reading)