Free is the Magic Number.

YOU! SHALL! NOT! PAY!

As reported on Joystiq, Lord of The Rings Online has given itself a very bright future by ditching the box n' subscription model, and moving to a free-to-play approach, where players can choose whether or not to spend their money to unlock content or dress their avatars up in silly hats. In just a few weeks, this has quadrupled the playerbase, and doubled revenues. Simply put, it's the wave of the future.

Hit the jump for a video hotlist of free-to-play online games that you should probably at least give a look. After all, what's it gonna cost you? There's something in here for everyone, from elf-botherers to WW2 tank drivers.

Edited: 10th Oct 2010 - added League of Legends

Review - Blade Kitten: Episode 1

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

An old-school platformer about a sassy pink-haired catgirl launches on PC, 360 and PS3 for $15. In this day and age, it sounds like commercial suicide. It's played out already on so many levels. Not only that, but it couldn't possibly be good, could it? If the revival of a well-loved series like Rocket Knight can turn out to be a damp squib, what chance has this one got? Well, in the name of scientific fairness, I gave Blade Kitten a little stab. And then a great many more. Hop, skip and double-jump for my thoughts and a trailer.

Mining, but not Crafting - Miner Wars

Ground Control to Major Miner.

Shock! It's not a Minecraft article! I'll probably do a writeup on the big Halloween expansion for that current indie mega-hit once it lands, but for now, I'll talk about something strangely similar yet completely different.

Miner Wars is a game about mining. But in space. Imagine if Descent made crazy space-babies with Red Faction, and then went to beat up some space-rocks Gameplay primarily involves flying around, shooting spaceships, and making your fortune by pulling expensive shiny rocks from enormous asteroids, which you break open with vast quantities of explosives. Right now, it's in pre-alpha. The tech is there, the spaceships fly, and the asteroids are destroyable, but there's not much in the way of game to play yet. That said, if you feel bold and/or supportive, you can put 10 euros down on the game now and get it at a (theoretical, assuming it gets a full release) major discount. Additional thoughts and some official gameplay/trailer videos after the jump.

WISE FWOM THY GWAVE!

"It's ALIVE!"

After a horrible hiatus, I return to my scrubbed-clean blog, ready to begin my verbose endeavours anew. I apologize profusely to anyone who actually cared about my quasi-coherent ramblings, and promise that I shall do my level best to suck a little less.

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