Frogster COO Dirk Weyel has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes that the western MMO market will be dominated by the free-to-play model, although subscription-based titles will always have their place.

Weyel, who's company is launching the subscription-based MMO, TERA in Europe this year, also revealed that he sees TERA as the premium product in Frogster's portfolio, a fact which justifies the monthly price-tag, but doesn't see think free-to-play games should be of any lower quality - something which he doesn't think many journalists appreciate.

"It was difficult at the beginning because the opinion of many games journalists was that free-to-play means lower quality," Weyel told GamesIndustry.biz as part of today's interview.

"We tried to show them that it's just another business model. So we started to market the game with a premium branding approach. So we think that in order to be successful in the long run we need to build brands and have a clear positioning and a clear brand philosophy to build up the game.

"We generally believe that free-to-play system will be the model for most of the MMOs in the future, but we also believe that the subscription model does still work. There will be subscription models in the future, and also hybrid models. We believe that TERA is the most premium title of all the games we have at the moment. In terms of production budget and quality in-game it's certainly the premium product for this year.

"That's why we're convinced that the subscription model can work for a title like TERA. I think free-to-play will be a model which will dominate the West, but I think there will also be a few subscription titles which can be successful."

Over the course of the last 18 months, a number of large scale MMOs have switched payment models from subscription to free-to-play, with varying degrees of success. For some, such as Lord of the Rings Online, it's been a masterstroke, with revenues trebling after the change.

There's a very big acid-test on the horizon for the survival of the subscription model, in the shape of EA and Lucasarts' Star Wars: The Old Republic - but does Weyel believe that game can take a bite out of World of Warcraft's audience, and would that be a good thing for the industry as a whole?

"I would say that the good thing about it would be that it's a non-fantasy title. If it can prove that a non-fantasy title can regain a big consumer base and user base. I think if you ask industry people about their opinions about the chances of success though, they'll be very diverse.

"I would say it would be a good sign. I think it would show that there are a lot of users out there willing to pay a certain amount of money each month for a good game.

"Basically, it's going to be interesting. There's Eve Online, but apart from that, the subscription-based model is dominated by fantasy role-playing games."

It's not something which Bigpoint CEO, and Frogster rival, Heiko Hubertz thinks is likely to happen - he told press last October that he can't see the MMO becoming profitable at all, despite his chairman Simon Guild's belief that the future will include subscription-based games.

"If you look at a game like Star Wars from EA and BioWare, they estimated a development budget of more than $100 million. This is an online game for many million of subscribers, so a big publisher does not understand that a subscription model is not the future," said Hubertz.

"With micro-transactions and longer lifetime maybe I see a chance for this game but I don't think that EA or BioWare will be profitable with this game. Ever."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-dominate-west ...

Electronic Arts upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic can reach profitability with 500,000 subscribers, according the CEO John Riccitiello.

Speaking in a conference call to investors, he said that half a million subscribers would be "substantially profitable, but it's not the sort of thing we would write home about."

"Anything north of one million subscribers is a very profitable business," continued Riccitiello. "Essentially it turns on a dime from being quite sharply negative in terms of its EPS impact to positive the day the product ships."

Earlier in the call Riccitiello had said EA is "incurring significant development costs" for the Star Wars MMO, which is expected to be released in 2011, although after the close of the financial year.

But he was also critical of reports in the press speculating on the costs of the game, in development at BioWare, which CFO Eric Brown has previously described as the "largest ever development project, period, in the history of the company."

"There's been a fair amount of talk on various blogs, describing spends that are vastly higher than anything we've ever put in place. Some of them, they bring a chuckle but they also bring a frustration for those that are being responsible in the management of EA's R&D dollars when they read sort of falsehoods out of the press."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...h-500-000-subs ...

Mobile processor-maker ARM Holdings has revealed its fourth quarter results for the last fiscal year, seeing profits jump to £47.6 million – £15 million up on last year.

ARM's Q4 revenues hit £113.9 million, up 34 per cent on the same period in 2009.

For the entirety of fiscal 2010, ARM's pre-tax profit reached £167 million, leaping 73 per cent from 2009's £96.8 million. Annual revenues grew 33 per cent to £406 million.

Said Warren East, ARM CEO, "As the industry chooses ARM technology in a broadening range of electronic products, it further drives our long-term royalty opportunity. The growth in licensing and royalty revenues, throughout 2010, has combined to deliver our highest ever annual revenues, profits and cash generation.

"2011 will bring exciting opportunities and challenges as ARM enters competitive new markets and we are well positioned to succeed with leading technology, an innovative business model and a thriving ecosystem of partners."

ARM chips are currently used in the likes of iPhones, iPads, Android and Windows 7 phones and the Nintendo DS, plus is due to be used in the 3DS and Sony's NGP.

Such ubiquity meant the firm shipped 1.1 billion chips during the fourth quarter of 2010 alone, as well as 0.7 billion in "everything from smart-meters to solid-state drives."

Microsoft recently announced that its next version of Windows will support 'system on a chip' processors such as those offered by ARM, which saw ARM's stock leap dramatically.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-chips-shipped ...

The increasingly negative, argumentative attitudes of many gamers and critics is stifling creativity and discouraging developers from taking risks with their games, so says Call of Duty: Black Ops developer Treyarch.

Speaking in an interview with NowGamer, community manager Josh Olin cited the troubling trend as the biggest problem the industry faces today.

"Personally, as a community manager who lives in the media or social media world every day, I think the social culture of video games is moving in a more negative direction as technology and social media continues to grow," Olin explained.

"Rather than growing with it, the trend seems to be devolving. More and more gamers seem to forget what this industry is all about.

"It's a creative industry – the most creative form of entertainment in existence," he continued. "Too many developers who try new things are getting burned by 'pundits' and angry entitled fans who look to be contrarian, sometimes simply for the sake of being contrarian.

"The only thing this attitude aims to achieve is stunt that creativity and innovation even further, which is something that no rational gamer looking to be entertained would want to do."

Fair point? Harmonious, generous-of-spirit readers of Eurogamer, you decide.

Of course, Treyarch knows what it's talking about when it comes to disgruntled gamers. There has been plenty of mud slung in its direction recently over the current state of Black Ops on PlayStation 3.

Maybe the First Strike DLC pack, out today, will help smooth things over.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...fle-creativity ...

Electronic Arts believes one day the game industry will get its Avatar – a game that proves once and for all just how successful stereoscopic 3D can be – but for now there are more important things.

For EA, they are Internet Protocol television (IPTV), and connectivity between devices.

"My personal view is the larger idea, at least for the present, would be the connected game," COO John Schappert said during an investor conference last night.

"I'm more in the camp that IPTV is a bigger idea for gaming, at least in the near term, than 3D is. It just provides a better social experience and you know that consumers playing with one another is a very positive and powerful motivator."

Streaming services are growing in the games business, with the likes of OnLive and Gaikai making early moves in the market.

David Perry's cloud-based gaming service Gaikai.com launched quietly in November last year with EA's sci-fi role-player Mass Effect 2. "BioWare simply rocks," Perry said at the time. "They've been very supportive as has Electronic Arts. The good news for them is we are getting a surprising amount of people clicking 'BUY' without even making them a special offer."

Another emergent technology that sits above 3D on the videogame priority list, for Schappert, is device connectivity.

"While there's no doubt that our industry will have its Avatar, where 3D is a defining aspect of the game ... I'm mostly interested, with all the mobile devices that are coming out, in how they're being connected to one another and how the same IP is shared over the top," he continued.

"I think that's actually a bigger driver for EA and the industry in the near term."

Two companies that are sure to disagree with Schappert are Sony, which has invested millions in 3D gaming with the PlayStation 3 and its 3D-enabled TVs, and Nintendo, which is preparing the glasses-free 3DS for launch next month.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...t-their-avatar ...

News via http://www.romhacking.net/forum/inde...pic,12111.html

The following Hacks have been submitted and approved to the database (in submitted order oldest to newest):

•Ninja Warriors Again - Blood Patch (Improvement)
•Pac-Man Saw (Complete)
•Marble City (Complete)
•Colinbound Infina’s Invasion (Complete)
•Pokemon TCG: Mint’s Adventure (Improvement)
•Final Fantasy VI Once Again (Improvement)
•DOOM Spinball (Complete)
•Zelda3 PuzzleDudes Quest (Improvement)
•Space Manbow Fixes (Bug Fix)
•FF6: Is the Best Game Ever (Improvement)
•1942 Cold Winter (Complete)
•Block’o Coin Mario (Improvement)
Relevant Link: (http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/) ...

News via http://www.romhacking.net/forum/inde...pic,12111.html

The following Hacks have been submitted and approved to the database (in submitted order oldest to newest):

•Ninja Warriors Again - Blood Patch (Improvement)
•Pac-Man Saw (Complete)
•Marble City (Complete)
•Colinbound Infina’s Invasion (Complete)
•Pokemon TCG: Mint’s Adventure (Improvement)
•Final Fantasy VI Once Again (Improvement)
•DOOM Spinball (Complete)
•Zelda3 PuzzleDudes Quest (Improvement)
•Space Manbow Fixes (Bug Fix)
•FF6: Is the Best Game Ever (Improvement)
•1942 Cold Winter (Complete)
•Block’o Coin Mario (Improvement)
Relevant Link: (http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/) ...

News via http://www.romhacking.net/forum/inde...pic,12110.html

The following Utilities have been submitted and approved to the database (in submitted order oldest to newest):

•Mario 64 Level Importer v13 (Level Editors)(N64)
•Nemesis Searcher (Searching)(GEN)
•Just F Patch (Patching)(Multiple)
•DOOM 32X DeHackEd Patcher (Game Specific)(32X)
•DOOM 32X response file for DM2CONV (Game Specific)(32X)
•CHEESE! (Game Specific)(GEN)
•Psy-Q flirt signatures (Assembly Tools)(PSX)
•Wily’s Toolbox (Level Editors)(GB)
•LAZY SHELL - Super Mario RPG Editor (Game Specific)(SNES)
•1942 Level Editor (Level Editors)(NES)
Relevant Link: (http://www.romhacking.net/utils/) ...

News via http://www.romhacking.net/forum/inde...pic,12110.html

The following Utilities have been submitted and approved to the database (in submitted order oldest to newest):

•Mario 64 Level Importer v13 (Level Editors)(N64)
•Nemesis Searcher (Searching)(GEN)
•Just F Patch (Patching)(Multiple)
•DOOM 32X DeHackEd Patcher (Game Specific)(32X)
•DOOM 32X response file for DM2CONV (Game Specific)(32X)
•CHEESE! (Game Specific)(GEN)
•Psy-Q flirt signatures (Assembly Tools)(PSX)
•Wily’s Toolbox (Level Editors)(GB)
•LAZY SHELL - Super Mario RPG Editor (Game Specific)(SNES)
•1942 Level Editor (Level Editors)(NES)
Relevant Link: (http://www.romhacking.net/utils/) ...