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.

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.

Today Square Enix announced a new third person shooter exclusive to the 360. Gun Loco takes place on a distant prison planet where the forgotten inmates fight amongst one another in an anarchic society. Gameplay description is surprisingly vague, but so far it’s looking like Twisted Metal…. without cars.

Featuring unique third-person, sprint-action shooter gameplay, players can assume the roles of a variety of unique and memorable characters in a game that redefines the run-and-gun shooter. While pursuing and being pursued by their opponents, players must make use of the sprint-action play by running, jumping, ducking and vaulting, using the environments to their advantage.

Ok so maybe Brink meets Twisted Metal… without cars.

The PSP sequel to the PS3 masterpiece Valkyria Chronicles is set to hit the North American PSN store later today. Due to be released at the end of the month, Valkyria Chronicles 2 marks a shift to handheld play with the stated intent of reaching a broader audience.

If you just can’t wait to experience high school kids fighting against ethnic cleansing by taking turns running towards each other and shooting around one another’s heads, now’s your chance to give it a test drive!

Shinji Mikami is probably best known as the brains behind the Resident Evil series, but he’s had his influence on more motion oriented Capcom franchises in the past like Viewtiful Joe and Devil May Cry as part of the highly revered and sorely missed Clover Studios. Vanquish is his first game with Platinum Games, the Bayonetta developer he helped found in 2006, and it looks to take that frenzied motion up a notch.

Set in the near future, Vanquish imagines the US and Russia in a fierce battle for Earth’s remaining natural resources. Not content to keep this war cold, Russia wipes out San Fransisco with a space laser. Now only one man can storm the space station and save the day! Pro tip: It’s you!

Vanquish will release on October 19, 2010 on PS3 and Xbox 360

Today the positively hilarious guys over at Zombie Cow Studios released their latest game, which features a crack squad of contraceptive-capped marines delving deep into people’s most disturbing orifices, blowing up all kinds of nasty naughty diseases.

It also happens to be free, so you can go grab it right now and not have to pay a penny!