A few overdue articles

City of Heroes goes Free-to-play #

Free liberty and justice for all

City of Heroes, the first superhero MMORPG to hit the market, is forgoing its former monthly subscription fee in favor of the free-to-play model so popular with every MMO that isn’t World of Warcraft.

It’s getting a name change, too. “City of Heroes: Freedom” will still offer a subscription to players who want access to all the features of the game. Free-to-play players can still experience these features – including but not limited to additional storylines, character slots, archetypes, and (unfortunately) the ability to join super groups (guilds) – by purchasing them as individual add-ons. It may seem like a stretch limiting free accounts in this way (you can’t even send whispers or tells to other players without purchasing the add-on), but consider that prior to this pricing change, people curious about playing the game would have to rely on demo periods and free hours gifted by friends. Going free-to-play, even in this manner, allows anyone who ever had a heroic itch in their fingers to give it a go.

Freedom will launch for PC later this year. NCsoft promises that current subscribers will receive some additional loyalty awards, so those of you who currently play might consider extending your subscriptions at least until the launch.

Valve approves of the Wii U #

No, there’s no Episode 3 news yet

Once upon a time, the folks at Valve were interested in the Wii. It was innovative, it was fun, and it was kid-friendly. The company made public comments about the possibility of developing for the Nintendo console. Things didn’t work out so well between the two, however, and we have yet to see a port of The Orange Box on the Wii.

The new Wii U, with its promise of being more powerful than the current generation of consoles as well as keeping up Nintendo’s trend of bringing new surprises to the table, has once again caught Valve’s attention. Valve head and co-founder Gabe Newell was one of the keynote speakers at the Games for Change Festival in New York last week. He commented on the scalability model used by Valve, and how Nintendo’s new console “fits better into the scalability in terms of graphics performance and CPU performance.”

Gabe also expressed a personal fondness for the Japanese company. “We’ve always loved Nintendo.” This sentiment was echoed years ago by Doug Lombardi, VP of Marketing at Valve. “… there’s a lot of desire internally to do something for the kids, do something on the Wii.”

When it comes to consoles, Valve doesn’t kid around. While ongoing troubles with Microsoft’s distribution service have presented difficulties to Valve in terms of keeping the Orange Box updated, they more recently made a huge push on the PlayStation 3 with their Steam integration efforts. If the interest is strong enough, you can bet on seeing the Valve logo on a Nintendo Wii U game box in the future.

TF2 Uber Update Unleashed #

Another successful procedure!

Earlier this week, Valve began its latest massive update of their continuously supported hit FPS, Team Fortress 2. Collectively known as the “Uber Update,” every day will see new features, weapons, equipment, and other additions to the game. Valve has also promised a brand new animated short in its “Meet The Class” series. To date, all but two of the nine classes in TF2 have had their time in the spotlight; we’re waiting on the Pyro’s and the Medic’s videos, the latter of which will soon be available.

The update began on Mobster Monday, which decked out the Spy and the Heavy with Mafia-themed equipment and weapons. It also introduced a new Payload map, “Barnblitz, The Barn Capital of the World.”

On Timbuk Tuesday, the Demoman and Sniper received their trinkets from the Middle East, which Prince of Persia fans will enjoy. No new map was released that day.

World War Wednesday was met with a big update for the Soldier class, who received five new pieces of equipment against the other classes’ two or three.

The updates will continue until the end of the week, and judging by the title as well as the promised Medic video, will end with a substantial Medic upgrade. As an added bonus, Team Fortress 2 is free-to-play the entire week.

Next Fallout New Vegas DLC Announced #

Bringing with it some of that old world blues

Bethesda Softworks recently announced the next downloadable content for Fallout New Vegas. Available after July 19, “Old World Blues” will place The Courier in the uncomfortable position of lab rat in an adventure that will reveal the origins of some of the Mojave mutants and monsters. Without revealing too much of the plot, players can expect to scour the pre-War research centers in the Big Empty in search of equipment and weaponry, and make the choice of either fighting against the Courier’s kidnappers in an attempt to escape the experiment gone awry, or join forces with them to combat an even greater, unknown threat.

Some details of the Old World Blues expansion include an increased level cap (by 5, as in past DLCs, but also included is a new character trait which will allow players to manually cap their level at 30), the ability to change The Courier’s appearance at some point in the game, fully-voiced home appliances, and a rudimentary home base. Equipment will reportedly not be stripped from the character upon starting the DLC, and as in past add-ons, companions will not accompany the hero into the new land.

Pricing for this expansion has not been revealed, however all past DLCs have been priced at $10.