Big news and controversy over Final Fantasy XIV’s “fatigue” system has spread across the internet. All this leading to complaints and even some apparent pre-order cancellations. If you haven’t heard Final Fantasy XIV includes a system which will limit the amount of experience you gain over time. This is based on a very convoluted threshold explanation that the game’s director, Nobuaki Komoto posted in the beta forums. The system is basically this: players can earn experience as long as they don’t exceed threshold limits. Once a threshold has been exceeded, experience earned is decreased, and they continue to decrease with every threshold exceeded. Eventually, you will earn no experience at all. These thresholds reset every week, and begins counting the moment you earn experience.

Though according to the explanation, decrease in experience also begins to recover when doing activities that don’t earn experience.

Its seems like to me Square-Enix is failing to see how MMO players play MMO’s, and then to limit that very same system seems rather ridiculous to me. Planning to charge full price for a game that you can only play some of the time seems rather atrocious. Is it just me or is this disconnected with how people actually play games?

As an MMO player what are your thoughts on this system? Want to discuss it? Head over to forums and let us know your opinion.

We’re celebrating one year of podcasts as Mixmoff, Aevan, and Dr. Scares are joined by Mephianse and Kragg. We run down some of the top clips from shows past, and pontificate on what the future holds for Fall Damage (Hint: Pretty much the exact same thing.)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:42:15 — 44.3MB)

Have you noticed a decline in the quality of games recently released? Are you left wondering where all the good games have gone every time you step into the electronics section of your local store? Do you wonder WHY it seems like we’ve been getting the same mindless gun-fight, breast filled game, time after time?

Hint: It’s Your Fault.

Read the rest of this entry »

The new pricing for Xbox Live Gold membership hit the internet yesterday, and immediately a wall of grumbling went up from Camp Green. In the US, the new pricing shows an across the board increase; up $10 on the annual option.

Before you join the grousing too heartily, consider a few things.

1) It’s still the best service available.

The most common complaint seen so far is that the PS3 offers online gaming for FREE, so where does Microsoft get off charging at all, let alone charging more for their service? But there’s a reason we’re not all switching en masse to playing multiplayer primarily on the PSN. On XBL it is just easier to navigate, easier to communicate, easier to organize a group. Even Playstation’s paid option (PSN+) doesn’t offer the most needed features like cross game voice chat and static parties that makes Live the best.

2) Nobody pays full price.

With all the promotional offers and near constant discounts at Walmart or Amazon, almost no one currently pays the full $50 a year for Live. Sure this price increase will mean those discounted prices will rise some as well, but not for a long time. There’s already a sale on cards for $40 right now. Known price increases like this result in arbitrage in the marketplace, with patient opportunists snatching up product at a low price, and reselling for a slight profit once the prices are raised. We should continue to see significant discounts on XBL cards well into the new year.

3) This is good business.

It’s tough to separate our hobby from the business behind it. I know I often argue for how the artistic and creative aspects of this industry should outweigh the dollars and cents. But in this instance, we’re talking about the price of a service. We’ll find out soon if the market will bear this price increase, but my educated guess is that it absolutely will.

4) This is a preemptive move.

There’s extra subscription budget out there, but for how long? With more and more gamers paying for subscription services, it will get harder to make a price change like this in the future. Activision has been quite verbal in recent months about its desire to generate subscription revenue from its titles and their online play. No doubt this entered into Microsoft’s decision to try to capture some more of this revenue before gamers had one more subscription in their budget.

I’m not telling you not to complain… that’s 100% your right as a consumer. Just remember, if Microsoft has to choose between listening to your mouths or your wallets, they’ll choose wallet every time.

Lewiston, Idaho circa 1987, I receive my first Nintendo Entertainment System. The box reads that it puts you in control of incredible fun! Boy they had no idea. The first game I played on it was Super Mario Bros. I was hooked day one, the moment I pressed that power button and heard that familiar theme I was a NERD.

Read the rest of this entry »

This week Aevan falls victim to wine allergies as Mix and Scares talk trash on Bioshock 2, God of War 3, Kinect and Move, and the upcoming release calendar.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:47:50 — 44.1MB)