Pick 5: Problems with Free to Play online games

If you noticed(and I'm sure you do), there are tons of games that are now Free-To-Play. The Free-To-Play has been around long enough that many developers are noticing that throwing your game out there without a price tag actually can work. But even if its free, it will still not provide you with the best experience, making you think that even though its free, is just not worth the time and effort. Oh, and were not talking about games from Facebook by the way.

MMORPG's I believe was one of the first genre's to really adopt this concept, but the popularity of having players play for free is soon creeping on other genres. Online shooters are now at it, and we have big titles like Planetside 2 or Tribes: Ascend that are free for anybody with a computer, which provides somewhat the same FPS experience many crave. But what's the big catch with all these Free-To-Play games? There's actually a lot.

The constant grind

In most of these Free-To-Play games, you can get everything and experience any content  without spending a dime, but many people don't realize that it takes a whole lot of grinding to really "experience" it all That's the case to games such as Hawken, or a couple of MMORPG's out there. Yes you can get all the content without spending, that's how they draw you in, but the hours needed to get to what you want can be taxing. It's also depressing when you've spent 30 hours on the game, finally earning the required amount of in-game currency to get what you want, and stand right beside someone who just bought it with real money and pretty much didn't spend any time at all.

Now the question is, who's at the losing end? well the guy who spend time rather than money of course. Free-To-Play games have most probably double the amount of grinding needed in a game, and this was obviously designed to keep the player engaged. As much as I like to play the game for free, I think its more costly to spend a huge chunk of your free time for a small bit of progression. Microstransactions in your face

All Free-To-Play games have online stores. These stores allow you to buy items, cosmetic skins, and gear(depending on the game) using real money. This is where they get their income, and their way to keep the game afloat. They need people spending money on their store, so they keep reminding you of stuff you need or want...every.....time.

You log-in, first thing you see is the online store. You die in an MMORPG, they offer you a revive potion for 1$(Not really), the point is - As you play the game hours on end, you are constantly reminded what you can get in the online store to make your experience easier. It's like walking around a store, being hounded by every store clerk as you look around. Game limitations

There are tons of MMORPG's that are Free-To-Play now. No monthly fee, no purchase of the game. Download the client and your set to create your character and go off into an adventure. Again, they say you can experience all of the content they say, but you won't be getting the best experience. MMORPG's that go free has two types of players, the free players and the ones that still bother to subscribe. Let's ignore the subscribers since we know what they get, let's focus on what the free players don't. Yes you get to play the game for free all the way to the top level, but are restricted of certain game features hampering the experience. its like being chain and forced to carry all your baggage.

You are only allowed 2 characters, this amount of gold, you can't use the auction house, you can't join a chat room, these are the usual restrictions on a Free-To-Play MMO. Other genres restrict you from the latest game mode or set of new weapons. The best example that does this in the most harsh way has to be Star Wars: The Old Republic. A considered triple A MMO that is now Free-To-Play is the first free game that makes me want to be a subscriber. But I guess that was the whole point to why they have such restrictions.

Balance issues

Another big problem when it comes to games without a tag are balancing issues. Thanks to Free-To-Play, the phrase "Pay to Win" has been tossed around so much in free games that this is mostly my main concern when playing a free game that can be played competitively. Some free games have products in their online store that actually makes the player stronger if they choose to buy it with their hard-earned real cash.

This provides major balancing issues because free players will be at the losing end most of the time.This can destroy not only the game's community, but also leaves a bad taste in a players mouth, making him think it's time to move on to another game. Newer free games only provide cosmetic items in their online stores, because they are aware of this issue. But there are still some that provide this, ruining some player's experience just for a quick buck, and we all know people would pay to always be a winner with little effort. Game is revolved on how to make the players want to spend

These are were some games fail in my book. During the development process, every decision is not really all about making the best game they can ever make, its more about making the best game that would make people want to throw money at them. Each decision while making the game is thought on how to keep the players invested, and give that urge to spend money. The best example will have to be the need to constantly grind or farm what you need. Spend more time, or spend your money to save your,that's the position they put their players in every time. And usually if the game is good enough, they might just do it. it's all about getting the right amount of addiction, and repetitive gameplay to keep players invested. That's the main focus.

The game design for Free-To-Play games is tailored to make you think spending will help you enjoy more at times. It's genius really. A devil in disguise. Your addicted to a game and really need a specific item in the game. You can go get it, but you could spend this much of real money to get it right now without the hassle. No pressure, its just there for this much if you want it. tempting...yes?

Free-To-Play can be lots of fun. League of Legends, Dota 2, NeverWinter, Path of Exile, there are tons of games that do it right. But there are some that slowly sucks away any fun out of their game to stay alive. Free-To-Play is a work in progress, and it's getting better with triple A titles showing up now, but don't ever think there's nothing to lose because Free-To-Play games costs more time than any other game, and for me that can be expensive.

Pick 5: Best Looking Supers From Injustice: Gods Among Us

In this day and age when character supers are included in fighting games, they are usually flashy and cinematic. That is the case with Injustice: Gods Among Us. Of course there will be some supers that look better than the others. In this case, five supers. Here are the five best looking supers in Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Superman - Kryptonian Crush A with "super" in his name should have the most powerful looking one, right? While it might not look like the strongest super in terms of visual impact. It does show and impressive display of Superman's strength. He does this very heroic looking pose with his cape flying off the side and shows the fire in his as before he dashes towards his opponent, grabs them by chest and just straight up punches them into space. A one hit space punch. But that's not it, he chases after them, beating them past past the Earth's orbit and then does a Dragon Ball Z like sledgehammer and sends them crashing back down into the ground. They should have called it "Space Punch" instead of "Kryptonian Crush". Did I mention that the initial hit is an overhead?

The Flash - Speed Zone Flash charges into the opponent putting them into a stun state and then proceeds to run around the world to build up enough momentum for a power uppercut. After he pseudo-shoryukens the enemy, he goes up and behind them to punch them again knocking them to the ground. It's funny that no matter where you are (be in in Gotham City or outer space in the Watch Tower), Flash always runs towards Mexico when he does this super. Because video games.

The Joker - Let's Be Serious Possibly one of the simplest non-superpowered supers around but it's just so entertaining to watch that I included it in this list. Joker throws a pie full screen and if it hits, he brings out a crowbar and whacks the opponent across the face twice, pulls out a cartoon sized revolver, shoots you in the head with a smug smile on his face, pulls a laughing gas canister seemingly out of his ass, hits the opponent in the head with it knocking them down to the floor AND THEN busts out a rocket launcher from God knows where, aims it point blank and says "Wakey wakey!" before pulling the trigger.

Lex Luthor - Coordinates Received Luthor does a series of 4 punches (that has armor properties) and if the last punch hits, he zaps the enemy with binding electricity. He then starts pressing buttons on his Buzz Lightyear wrist communicator telling a satellite laser what their coordinates are. The satellite then shoots a red laser beam. On the opponent? No! On Lex Luthor which he catches above his head and uses the energy to form an energy orb and drops it down on whoever he's fighting. The camera then shows the satellite view from space again and the explosion is visible from all the way up there. Why didn't he just shoot the laser on his enemy? Because making your very own Spirit Bomb is much much cooler.

Aquaman - Atlantian Rage Finally, we have everyone's favorite super from everyone's favorite character. The man of the sea. The king of Atlantis. The guy who can talk to fish. Aquaman. Aquaman whacks the enemy on the head with his golden pitchfork and then summons a giant wave accompanied by all manner of sea creatures. Stabs the enemy with his fork and hoists them up after which a shark will come out and just chomp them away. Similar to Flash's super, no matter where you are Aquaman will always summon water and fish. Even in outer space. To quote Jason Mews; "Aquaman got mad sharks!". Did I mention that the initial hit is also an overhead? Did I mention that the initial hit is also an overhead?

Pick 5: What I Don't want to see in the next Xbox

Microsoft finally announced last week that the next Xbox they have been working on will be revealed this May. I'm sure a lot of people are excited to see the new console and what unique features it will bring to the table on May 21. It's definitely going to be in par with the PS4 in terms of power, so what will it have to make it stand out? We'll find out soon enough but for now, I'm hoping to not see a few things on the next Xbox. Subscribtion fees

Screw Xbox Live Gold membership! I mean seriously, you are the only one asking gamers to pay a monthly fee for a service that is given for free on other platforms. I've tried it for more than a year and it comes out a waste at times and I sometimes feel the need to just play an online game to make use of my subscriptions.

But I know Microsoft won't do it. They lived with this model surrounded by other platforms providing the same service for free, so it doesn't make much sense for them to remove it when they have a good amount of consumers still willing to pay monthly. Xbox Live is a good service, in fact, it's the best one, but you can't help but dream that one day Microsoft just might take pity on us and lifts the fee. But yea, I'll get off the clouds already. My only hope is that they provide something bigger than playing online or being able to use Netflix/huhu/UFC services. Give us a bigger incentive once we continue our subscription for the next Xbox.

Always Online

This is the nastiest rumor so far about the next Xbox and I'm praying it doesn't come true on May 21. An online connection always required to play and use certain services? That is not a nice feature at all. I hate always online. The constant need for an online connection would make the console unattractive in many ways for different consumers on other parts of the world. In the US, this would be fine, but online services are never up 100% of the time. There will be situations were the service could go down making millions unable to use their new investment.

Is this an anti-piracy feature? or is it a method to battle the used games market? Either way, thanks to Diablo 3 and SimCity's horrible game launches, we got a taste on how bad it would be with a service requiring an online connection at all times. It's one step backwards for the industry and will provide a lot of lmitations for players and bring out some challenges for developers.

Xbox and Kinect as one

Kinect was a gimick ever since it was revealed and was first called Project Natal. It's a great piece of hardware, but not practical in anyway for the normal gamer. Kinect was Microsoft's way of battling Nintendo's very successful Wii that captured most of the casual market, and believe me, that's a big chunk of consumers. But sadly, the only thing good about Kinect turned out to be the voice recognition and Dance Central. The worst thing they can ever do moving forward? merging them. Please don't.

You can tell Microsoft was struggling to keep both casual and hardcore happy with their purchase of the Kinect, but thats how gimicks work - They look appealing, but never gets used everyday. Nintendo struck gold with the Wii and this was Microsoft's strong but sad attempt to get a portion of the casual players. Never happened though, and Star Wars Kinect? Dragon Ball? It actually made things worse for the Kinect. Release after release, the titles were getting worse, and the famous titles were being recycled over and over. I consider Kinect a failure, and if I see some kind of merge within the new console and "you are the controller" peripheral. A huge facepalm from me will follow.

A different controller

Whatever gimick they have planned for the next Xbox, it better not be the reason why they would completely change the controller design. Among all the controllers in the current generation, Microsoft's Xbox 360 controller is the best one. It fits well in your hand when held and the buttons stay responsive even after months of use. This might happen since they did change the design for the 360.

Hopefully they stick with the same design with added small features and tweaks, just like what Sony did with the Dual Shock 4. But please, no drastic change like what Nintendo likes to do. And once and for all, make the new controller rechargeable? It's 2013 and I still can't believe I have a controller that needs either a peripheral or batteries to work.

Same old exclusive titles

This is the biggest problem in the Xbox 360 for two years now. No new exclusives, just sequels after sequels on already known titles like Gears of War or Halo. A safe play. Take some risks already, bring use different titles like Alan wake. Give us more reasons to get your system because Halo exclusives are not enough anymore, even if you put double XP as a pre-order bonus.

As much as I hate to say i, Call of Duty is one of the strongest titles in the system and its a mult-platform franchise. I want to see new titles from first party developers, because they will get hit hard this December because I'm positive Nintendo will dish out their Wii U first-party titles like a Mario game this year, same goes with Sony from what was shown during their event.

It seems that they know this and one of the rumors is Respawn Entertainment(Founded by ex-Infinity Ward founders) is rumored to have an exclusive next-gen title for the new Xbox. It will most likely be a shooter, but I'll take anything new at this point.

When May 21 ends, we will have a good picture on how the next generation will look like. From May 22 onward  it's all going to be about the next generation. The comparisons will start and more discussions will break out on the future of the industry. And with E3 days away, we will get more reveals and announcements on the new consoles.

This is turning out to be a pretty exciting year. So far, the games released during the first quarter is the best lineup to start the year, and with two new consoles planned for release at the end of the month, I don't know if we can take in all of this. We still have those Triple A titles coming this November as well. I feel like a little child again. This year will definitely be a great one.

Pick 5: Some awkward/weird moments in video games

Games can have their moments, moments that would give you goosebumps when it happens and turns out to be an unforgettable experience. Sadly, this Pick 5 isn't about those epic moments, that's for another time. I'm focusing on the complete opposite for now, the moments that give you that awkward feeling. There's quite a lot in video game history, but this batch really make me check who's in the room because it would feel weird going through with it if someone is around. I mean seriously..

Playing Raiden naked

Way before Metal Gear Solid's Raiden became the cyborg ninja in MGS4 and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, he was just a soldier like Snake.  In Metal Gear Solid 2, all is great, but there was that one part in the game many hours in where Raiden is stripped of everything...even his clothes. The player gets control of the naked Raiden holding his uhm...package and you must sneak through the area and reach Snake who has your equipment. What's funny is it's not a 2 minute point in the game, it's a whole area. knocking out some people maybe required, even a few cartwheels is needed to go through.  It was so weird to play that part in the game but that's Hideo Kojima for you.

Tidus and Yuna laughing it out

Final Fantasy X, believe it or not is one of my favorites. Easily one of the best in the series. I loved everything about that game, but as much as I love this game to this day, this scene with Tidus and Yuna still makes me cringe every time. It's not the voice acting, its just plain dumb and I've yet to find someone who laughs like that in public, and if I do, I'll have to punch him.

That weird dance in Resonance of Fate

Never played the RPG Resonance of Fate? It's a must play for any JRPG fans. The combat is what makes this game special. Understanding the combat can be a chore, but is quite rewarding once you get used to it, and if you get really good at it, you might just reach this point in the game to make you see this scene first-hand. The cutscene is fine, but it's that dance in Vashyron's head. I have no idea what dance that was but It was pretty awkward to watch.

Press X to Jason

Heavy Rain was definitely a must play if you own a PS3. It's unique storytelling is intense and engaging. Even when your frantically looking for the characters son in a crowded mall and pressing X to call out his name can be intense. No I'm just kidding, it was awkward and hilarious really. Intended to be a very emotional part into the game turned out to be a good example how quick time events don't make a scene any better, or even emotional. What's worse is how there are different awful ways Ethan calls out his son's name. JASONNNNN! Instant classic though.

in-game Sex scenes in general

Sex scene's added into a game is still controversial in the gaming industry and can be scandalous to the public if not done properly. But many should realize that most of them are very much awkward to watch. Heck, even a regular kiss even now is quite weird to watch, it sometimes looks like two birds trying to transfer food from one another. It's getting better yes as we move forward and as new characters get more pixels, it would come out more natural, but right now its not there yet.

Got any moments when playing that felt a bit awkward or weird? Hit the comments below.

Pick 5: Surprisingly fun multiplayer games more known for single player

In most game releases, whether It's considered a triple A title or not, adding multiplayer into the package makes the product more appealing.Even of it doesn't seem possible or makes no sense at all, they still push it in hopes to get a few more sales. Many games have went through this route and failed miserably, but some actually pulled off unique multiplayer that not only is fun, but stays true to the game's concept.

Uncharted 2 and 3

Its safe to say we got Uncharted 2 and 3 for the single player campaign, to witness Drake's adventure and his many "OH SHIT" moments. After seeing the end credits roll, we have multiplayer to play around with. To our surprise, Naughty Dog created a relatively decent competitive multiplayer that's worth investing a lot of hours in. Everything we love about Uncharted was embedded, making it stand out from other third person shooters -  The simple, but smooth climbing mechanic, the solid cover shooting, and the ability to kick people off ledges. Yes, that last one is really satisfying.

There were tons to unlock and was well supported for months. It even had other modes like a coop mode which pins 3 players against waves of enemies, or an adventure mode that requires you to perform certain tasks to succeed. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception(now free to play until level 15) is literally the perfect package.

Mass Effect 3

This was shocker. When Bioware announced the last Mass Effect game would include a multiplayer mode, I expected the worst. A horrible multiplayer with the single player being affected since they used resources on the online component. Well I was proven wrong, and not only was the single player the best int he series, the multiplayer proved to be a great addition. It has the right addiction that makes you want to go "Just one more game..: after a round ends.

You and three other players team up to go through 10 waves of enemies and do objectives until extraction. It's a simple mode and there's nothing else, but multiplayer shows how fluid and effective Mass Effect 3's combat can be. There was also a sense of grinding as well since you need to earn credits to buy packages that have random items such as medi-gel, heavy weapons ammo, or new classes and race, weapon attachments, and of course new weapons. To top that all off, the multplayer had great support from Bioware with a good amount of DLC's coming out for free to add more content like maps. Yes, MP maps for free, hard to believe.

Red Dead Redemption

In my eyes, Rockstar Games can do no wrong, and apparently can do the unthinkable. I thought it was impossible to create an open-world multiplayer, but they did it. Instead of HUD lobbies for certain game modes in the multiplayer, you have the game's map as your lobby to do whatever you want, and I mean anything. Its just like the single player campaign minus the main story. You can raid bandit camps, play poker, or claim forts as your own. If you really want that competitive edge or more coop, certain parts on the map have stations were you can search for a quick match.

When players start joining your map, you can either team up or simple shoot each other for the heck of it. If there's enough people, you can go full on posse vs posse which can be pretty crazy,especially if the enemy possie tries to invade your little fort you call home. Another great thing is that this game, even though played in Asia, had no problems with internet connection or lag, which makes everything way more satisfying. It's a great multiplayer that wasn't necessary since they developed an amazing open-world western but they did it anyway and succeeded in making it worth checking out.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Yet another title that's great on its own, but because this generation is the age of online gaming, even Assassin's Creed got the multiplayer treatment. When announced, I couldn't wrap my head on how it could work. what, find the right player to stab with your hidden knife? Apparently I had the right idea back then because that's pretty much what multiplayer is. Every player is in disguise as one of the regular NPC's out there and can really be hard to spot. You have to find those inconsistencies that would make a player stand out. For example - running around on the roof(Bad idea), sticking out like a sore thumb.

Brotherhood was the first to introduce multiplayer and since then, every new release of Assassin's Creed had their version of the multiplayer with new game modes and maps, but the concept is still the same. It can get tedious at times, but it surprisingly works.

Dark Souls/Demon Souls

I had to include this. A painfully challenging RPG that merged multiplayer and single player together. It's online component was unheard of. For Single Player, with it being very hard, some players can assist others by leaving messages on the ground for other players to see to either warn them of upcoming dangers or inform them of an item/equipment that would be hard to spot. Or hint at a boss or enemy's weakness. You can also lie to kill someone. You can tell someone died by following false information when you see blood stain(interacting with it shows how the player died) and a message beside each other saying "jump here". I've tried it, people do jump.

But the multiplayer aspect doesn't stop there. You can also drop your sign on the ground for people to find so they can summon you into their world to assist them in a certain part in the game.  You can also do the same and summon other players to your game if you need help. If you want to be competitive in either Demon Souls or Dark Souls, you can drop your sign to ask for a battle with another player. believe it or not, there's a community for PVP with a certain spot in the game where you can find players looking for a fight. The game is quite deep in character development that there are a good amount of builds to play around with making the game appealing to competitive players. If you don't want to wait for someone to accept your challenge, you can use a specific item to invade another players game and attempt to kill him before he reaches an enemy boss. To this day, people still play the game to create new characters for PVP. I'm sure From Software didn't see that coming.

Were in a generation where having some form of multiplayer is almost mandatory. Even though it's not necessary, they are pushed into adding it somehow to make it sell better. I don't believe multiplayer will help the game sell more copies, but a lot believe so, that's why we have dumb multiplayers in games like Dead Space or BioShock 2. Even the recently released Tomb Raider reboot has a multiplayer component which isn't very good. But this whole Idea of adding multiplayer isn't a complete waste as you can see above, I just hope we have more hits than misses in the future.