The Gaming News Thread

**Meneldil** · 10-01-2009, 12:27

There's a growing uproar about CitiesXL.

First, to fully play the game, people has to pay a monthly fee (about 8$/month). This will allow them to receive additional content, to play online, but also to buy expensive DLC (or GEM, as they call them).

For example, the game won't be shipped with any mass/public transport system: no subway, no buses, no train. That by itself is quite retard for a city builder.
Then, buses will supposedly be made available around christmas, through a 'free' update. The free update will require you to pay the monthly fee. So, the 'free update' is actually not free at all. Thus, people who don't pay monthly won't be able to get buses, trains or any new content for that matter.
Then, a bit later (release date is set to mid-january as of now), people will be able to get one of the DLC/GEM, namely the ski GEM (which allows you to build ski stations).

If you thought MMO's were bad, I introduce you to the new generation of ripoff.

Furthermore, the beta has been quite a failure apparently. Beta testers said the game was bland, uninteresting, and that the 'MMO' part of it (people were supposed to build towns on a planet, trade and interact with eachothers) is inexistant.
To me, it looks like Monte Christo tried to make a cash-cow city builder aimed at casual gamers. Unfortunately, CityBuilder games mostly cater to a specific kind of gamers who have little interest in shiny graphics and DLC.

More infos here

**TinCow** · 10-13-2009, 15:31

World of Goo is on sale this week for... whatever you want to pay for it. I think that qualifies it as a 'budget' release. Haven't played it before, but given the reviews and the fact you can get it for $1, or even less if that's your inclination, it's probably worth looking into.

**Monk** · 10-13-2009, 15:42

Originally Posted by TinCow

World of Goo is on sale this week for... whatever you want to pay for it. I think that qualifies it as a 'budget' release. Haven't played it before, but given the reviews and the fact you can get it for $1, or even less if that's your inclination, it's probably worth looking into.

One of the best indie games I ever played. Definitely worth more than $1 of your money, but that's not for me to judge.

**Alexander the Pretty Good** · 10-13-2009, 17:08

I sent them ten bucks, but apparently demand has melted their server and I can't get their homepage to load anymore.

**Meneldil** · 10-13-2009, 21:50

I've been told the game has been downloaded and hacked pretty much all over the internet, which led them to adopt this "pay as much as you want" stance rather than charge 20bucks for the game. Is it true?

I've never heard of it before, but all the reviews make it clear it's pretty awesome. I might give then ten buck for their hard work.

**Alexander the Pretty Good** · 10-14-2009, 00:45

They have a demo, I'd give it a whirl first but the game is fantastic. It was (at least according to them) 82% pirated (there are criticisms of the methodology used to get that number I think, but either way it was widely pirated). They didn't have any DRM so there wasn't any hacking involved.

The current "pay what you want" is both to get some money out of pirates who feel bad but also because it's their 1st year anniversary and it's a good marketing/sales promo thing. I don't think that it's permanent, and the price will go back to $20 USD.

**Martok** · 10-14-2009, 16:02

Paradox has released a partial upcoming release schedule. I've highlighted those titles that I suspect will be of particular interest to those here:

Download only
• Elven Legacy: Ranger, Oct 20, 2009
• East India Company: Privateer, Oct 27, 2009
• For the Glory (A Europa Universalis game), Nov 10, 2009
• Elven Legacy: Siege, Nov 17, 2009
• Elven Legacy: Magic, Dec 1, 2009
• Arsenal of Democracy (A Hearts of Iron game), Dec 8, 2009
• EU III: Heir to the Throne, Dec 15, 2009
• Fort Zombie, Q4 2009
Retail and download
• Mount & Blade Warband, March 19, 2010
• Ship Simulator Extremes, Q2, 2010
• Victoria 2, Q2, 2010

I'm a little confused by the "download only" reference. While I could perhaps understand that for EU3's Heir to the Throne expansion, surely Paradox is going to be selling Victoria 2 -- an entirely new game -- at retail as well?