Like it or not, there will be a FFXIV subscription fee when A Realm Reborn launches, but why was this decision made?

A common occurrence in the comments for almost every Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (FFXIV) piece that I write is the response of “I’d check it out but not with a subscription.” I can see that point though. With the current free to play trend of most MMORPGs in the market that Square Enix will be re-launching into, it could be a bit of a sticking point for many gamers.

A few months ago I even dove into just the topic of a free to play Final Fantasy and why I didn’t think it would happen any time soon. While those were my own opinions at that time, today Yoshi-P, Producer and Directory of FFXIV‘s relaunch, took to the news waves in an interview with Venturebeat (Gamesbeat) to explain the rationale behind a FFXIV subscription fee.

While I won’t post the entire response here as it is quite lengthy but very interesting, I will tell you that Yoshi-P feels that MMORPG development today falls into two categories, those games that are investor tied and rely on fast income to pay all involved parties off but then may struggle with funding for future updates, and those companies like Blizzard and Square Enix that self fund their projects and can afford to wait for a more steady and reliable income off of a small fanbase.

Don’t misunderstand though, Yoshi-P was not advocating one model over the other, he explained that in his opinion the FFXIV subscription not only ensured a somewhat steady rate of income for the developer (which allows for better planning for future updates) but also provided a better game for FFXIV players because they could enjoy the benefits of a more steady rate of updates.

It’s an interesting debate and while Yoshi-P uses references to Star Wars: The Old Republic and RIFT as recent examples of games that were built to be subscription based but changed due to market conditions, he doesn’t feel that the FFXIV subscription fee  is an “outdated” payment model as it fits with the high budget proportions of the game’s development. Yes, he acknowledges that their player base may be smaller than some other games on the market because of the subscription fee, but he is banking on knowing what type of income will be coming in monthly rather than maybe having a customer shell out $100 today and then never pay for anything again.

Personally, I’ve already expressed my opinion of being fine with a FFXIV subscription. I am fine with any game that wants to charge a subscription as long as I feel my money is worth it while I play, but in this age of F2P I can also see why many want to at least play for free for a while before making the call to shell out hard earned cash.

Check out his full response in the link above and let me know how you feel on the topic below!

The post Yoshi-P Defends FFXIV Subscription appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

What are you trying to tell us Carbine?!

About an hour ago Team WildStar made the following tweet:

Carbine Voices ! https://t.co/KaasFreXbY

— Team WildStar (@Team_WildStar) June 18, 2013

The gist of it is the Dev Team has money on their minds. While this could relate to almost anything, I’ll put my money on tomorrow’s WildStar Wednesday finally revealing what business model they are going to go with. Fans (and detractors) of WildStar have hotly debated the business model over the last few months, championing their favorite type. The debates only increased when Jeremy Gaffney, Executive Producer for Carbine, referred to the Payment model as being “hybrid” in a recent interview with Micheal Byrne. Many people took it to mean they’ll be doing F2P with a sub option, still others thought perhaps it meant WildStar would be B2P with a cash shop. I still personally am hoping for B2P with a cash shop.

Hopefully tomorrow we will know WildStar‘s business model for sure! Otherwise the WildStar Community Team are just a bunch of cruel people.

Update

So it looks like this was a case of me seeing what I wanted to see here. I was so excited at the possibility of finally knowing what the business model will be that I saw the first tweet and ran with it. However, the WildStar Community team just sent the following tweet to me stating their previous tweet has nothing to do with the business model announcement. So aside from the amusement of seeing my hopes get dashed, the vine tweet was just a bit of fun they are having.

.@gamebreakertv It’s just a coverage of our Carbine Voices. Nothing to do with any biz model announcement. Sorry!

— Team WildStar (@Team_WildStar) June 18, 2013

The post Wildstar Teasing Business Model Reveal??? *Updated* appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

This week on the Republic, SWTOR patch 2.2 is here, new items have hit the cartel market and Damion Schubert has things to say about next gen consoles.

There was a bit of a delay but it’s finally here! Everyone say hello to SWTOR patch 2.2. Luckily, the delay wasn’t nearly as long as people expected.  But.. what came with the patch?

Well.. For one.. the horrifyingly worded Nightmare mode of Terror from Beyond. Yeah.. I’m just gonna go over here now…

Okay.. So what else? Well.. For one: guilds are getting experience bonuses for every five players — not counting free players. That’s an interesting take for a F2P game, isn’t it? In addition, the CE vendor has been updated and the bindable dye situation seems to have been sorted.

Sadly.. Larry is still being denied chat bubbles in SWTOR patch 2.2.

New items in stock!

There a new cartel pack in the market as well as some other interesting items like a mint ice cream lightsaber? Are we eating them now? Is this how this works?

The more sports minded among you can look forward to some new huttball armor while the more goth Jedi and Sith can get some black-core sabers. Aaaaand. For those of you who’d like to get off your feet for fifteen seconds… There’s the all new “portable relaxation unit” optimized to make sure you don’t end up sitting around for too long.

Damion Schubert on consoles everyone!

Relax guys… Bioware has no plans for SWTOR on consoles… At least.. Not according to this:

Oh.. Wait.. Um… Well… I guess maybe we might eventually see it on consoles anyway? I guess it’s good to leave your options open.

All that and more!

If you’d like to submit a viewer question, you can send it to submit@gamebreaker.tv.  If you want to send a video question, make sure it’s about 30 seconds long and upload it to YouTube.  Then just email us the link! And,  if you missed last week’s episode, you can check it out here.

The post SWTOR On Consoles? appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

This week on Unicorn Duck Shadow Puppet: the gang talk about their hands-on time at E3, we may see a holiday WildStar release date and Reddit has a few things on their wish list.

Okay… Let’s be clear. We’re not saying there absolutely will be a holiday release. We’re saying we strongly feel there will be a WildStar release date set around the holidays. 

Now… Follow the logic here. There are two games we’ve been looking at closely that would probably not benefit from launching close to each other, WildStar and Elder Scrolls Online. During E3 we found out that ESO has a launch window of “Spring 2014″. That leaves empty space around the holidays and if we’re lucky, WildStar will swoop in and make the season brightly colored and filled with cartoon violence.

See guys… Perfect logic.

What’s in The Box?!?

Nono… Not THAT box. The box the game comes in. Virtual or physical.

If you’re anything like me — and countless other players — you like getting a bit more than just the game when you hand over your cash for it. I’m a statue and art book kind of person, but I’ll also do with a nice mount or perhaps some awesome looking cosmetic gear or a pet. Or… If possible, just give me all of that, please!

So much more!

Once again, there’s a lot going on in the world of WildStar and we have a lot more content to look forward to on UDSP. So check out the video for everything and be sure to return next week.

And, if you missed the last episode of Unicorn Duck Shadow Puppet, be sure to check it out here.

Also… Don’t forget, as with all our other shows, we adore viewer questions. So, be sure to send yours in to submit@gamebreaker.tv.

The post WildStar For The Holidays? appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

In this episode of How To Play, Mike demonstrates the proper technique for playing an Affliction Warlock.

Wanting to learn to play a World of Warcraft Affliction Warlock? Or perhaps you already play one but would like to add to your DPSing skills? Well, good news! Mike Schaffnit is here to teach you everything you need to know in one video session.  That’s right! For the small cost of sitting and watching this video… You too can be an expert player.

I know what you’re thinking… “How is Mike going to teach me how to DPS well in one video? Is this one of those scams where we watch one video for free and then are hit with some crazy plan to order the rest of the videos in order to learn to do something we could probably figure out ourselves if we just put in effort and time?”

 Don’t worry.. This isn’t that kind of deal. Everything you need to know is in this one video.

And… While there are more videos in the How To Play series. This is the only video available for the Affliction Warlock.

Don’t worry guys!

Mike isn’t stopping his quest to teach all of you the best way to play things In fact, there will be more videos in the near future. And, for those of you who missed it, there’s already a video on how to play Rock Band up on the site. 

A word of warning though… I’d probably stretch before trying to play Rock Band the Mike Schaffnit way. It seems a little dangerous.

To view the How To Play: Rock Band video, just follow this handy dandy link.  And be sure to keep your browser dialed into GAMEBREAKER for more pro lessons on how to play video games Schaffnit style.

The post Affliction Warlock appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

This week on TWIMMO: Scott and Gary discuss their video game convention adventures in a special weekend E3 wrap up episode.

Gary and Scott are back from their busy week in LA and they have quite a bit to talk about. So rather than doing TWIMMO in our normal format we decided to do a special E3 wrap up instead. 

A lot of news came out over the last week and we covered it here on GAMEBREAKER, and since the guys have a lot to say about them we will include a roundup of that news here for your convenience as well.

Elder Scrolls Online

Elder Scrolls Online Coming To Next Gen Consoles (Gameplay Trailer)

Sony reveals that Elder Scrolls Online will be released on the PS4.

E3 2013 – Elder Scrolls Online: Will Consoles Ruin ESO?

Following the news that ESO will be available on consoles, Justin Kenned has one question. Will consoles ruin MMOs?

Elder Scrolls Online Console Players Separated From PC Players

Another TESO announcement makes its way out of E3. This time we find out that Elder Scrolls Online players will be separated from each other based on platform.

Wildstar

Exclusive HD WildStar Gameplay E3 2013 – Part 1 (Video)

Gary and Schaffnit got some hands on time with WildStar and brought back two HD videos of the game for all of you to check out.

Exclusive HD WildStar Gameplay E3 2013 – Part 2 (Video)

You didn’t think I’d just link the one, did you?

Destiny

First Destiny Gameplay Footage (Video)

You all wanted it, now here it is… Official Destiny gameplay footage from the first day at E3.

Peter Dinklage Is In Destiny!

Game of Thrones fans rejoice. Because it is true.  That voice in Destiny you thought you recognized? It is Peter Dinklage.

The Division

Tom Clancy’s The Division Revealed At E3 (Gameplay Trailer)

This is one of those things we weren’t really expecting to see at E3. A Tom Clancy MMO? Who would have thought?

DayZ

E3: Exclusive DayZ Interview & Demo With Dean “Rocket” Hall

Gary got to spend some time talking to DayZ’s Dean Hall about the standalone. And, he even snagged some footage of the game for us. Keep in mind it is early alpha footage.

FFXIV: A Realm Reborn

Closed Doors Final Fantasy XIV: ARR Presentation Live From E3 (Video)

Gary and Schaffnit take time out of their E3 schedules for a peek at the ARR closed doors presentation.

FFXIV PS3 UI Gets Some E3 Love

E3 sees the drop of a full PS3 UI Dev Tour.

The Crew

The Crew: MMO Racing Game (Video)

The racing genre comes to MMO’s with the Crew.

ArcheAge

ArcheAge E3 Presentation Video – Uncut & Unedited

Gary returns from E3 with a video presentation and walkthrough of ArcheAge. Learn how to gather, build and protect your hard work from pirates. Or become a pirate… Your choice.

ArcheAge Beta Signups Started (Video)

Once you’re done watching the E3 Archeage presentation, you may want to sign up for the beta.. So I figured I’d just leave this here for you as well.

And more…

Of course, you’ll get to hear all kinds of details about how E3 works and what goes on there, so be sure to tune in.

The post Back From E3! appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

Patch 5.4: Flexible raiding gets a little less flexible, we talk Virtual Realms, Proving Grounds, and crazy PvP changes!

 Patch 5.4 news is coming in thick and fast, and Gary Gannon, Olivia Grace, Pat Krane and Mike Schaffnit return for Legendary to discuss everything that’s going down this week. 

• First up, Gary’s been calling it forever, and servers are finally dead. OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but Virtual Realms were announced this week, in the patch 5.4 PTR notes. The team wonder whether these are really any different to server merges, while also wondering just exactly how this new patch 5.4 feature will work. Is this what CRZ always should have been? 
• Next up, Blizzard Lead Systems Designer Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street has been tweeting about patch 5.4 bringing catch-up mechanisms for the Legendary quest-line. The crew wonder whether this is making the Legendary too accessible, and whether Legendary questlines need to be more epic. 
• Proving grounds are finally, finally here! The feature we’ve been waiting for since the Mists of Pandaria beta has finally arrived, and the team have a lot of questions about the new leaderboard and challenge systems. How will they balance this for classes? How will it actually work? And is this really a viable training ground for tanks and healers, given how it lacks the human element? 
• We’ve also got some more information on flexible raiding, and Legendary has a very mixed opinion on whether the lockout system is a good idea or a bad one. We discuss whether this makes the so-called flexible raiding less flexible, and how exactly the lockouts will work in practice. 
• Some community manager called Lore or something has also provided more information on a special reward only available from difficulties above LFR, and the team wonder, firstly, what exactly it is, and secondly, the impact it will have on LFR. 
• And last up, the Holinka files have a beauty this week. Not only has Blizzard’s Senior PvP Designer Brian Holinka been tweeting about item levels, but he’s also been talking about a crazy new match-ender tie-break system. He was tweeted this image, and responded that it’s a tie-break system. The team discuss how exactly the new system might work, and have an argument about tie-breaks in general! 

The post Inflexible Raiding?! appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

The GAMEBREAKER crew gets some time with Trion producer, Victoria Voss to look at the ArcheAge E3 presentation video.

Whelp! I know what I’m doing in ArcheAge. No… Really.. After seeing this video, I’ve definitely got a plan. And yes… I’m sure you can all figure out what that is.

My nefarious in-game deeds aside, I must say, I’m a good deal more interested in ArcheAge than I was initially.

First off… The game really is very pretty, which is always a plus. I really do enjoy having beautiful game environments to look at, especially in MMOs where I would ideally spend a lot of time. But, that’s not the major selling factor here.

Build it and they will come…

A major feature of ArcheAge is that the game is designed to be player-driven. The game is structured around a player-driven economy, justice, PvP battles, community building, literal building… You name it. Players are asked to compete for resources, land, and income. If someone gathers the resources and builds a castle, they take over the land around it. Then, if someone builds on their land they receive taxes for it. But, they can’t just rest on their laurels. They must defend it or risk losing it all to someone else.

Players can build everything from houses to ships to castles, but it will take time and resources. And the game doesn’t make gathering those resources easy. One player can only gather and carry so much at a time, and anything they leave in the open can easily be stolen by someone passing by. So… it really does help to have friends!

Character creation and other important stuff…

Okay.. Admittedly, I’ll be playing the most human looking character possible — I’m not a big fan of anthromorphs — but I do have to say the character creation looks really top-notch and like it should give players the ability to create something really unique. Granted, Victoria mostly talked about facial adjustments, but it looks like it has the potential to be full-on.

Victoria also went over the class system, and it seems fairly reasonable. Players have the ability to choose from 6 classes starting out and as they level up they will obtain the chance to add more.

Other nifty stuff.

Four words… Gliders and swimming donkeys. That is all.

In all seriousness, there’s a lot about the game that looks really impressive. To see everything, check out the video.

The post ArcheAge E3 Presentation Video – Uncut & Unedited appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

New FFXIV jobs get to strut a few moves for you!

Ok gang, I’ll admit. There is nothing really “new” here in this newly released video from Square Enix, the team behind the re-release of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (FFXIV). Yes it is pretty, yes it showcases an animation or two from the new FFXIV jobs and classes, but it doesn’t drop any new info for those following the title.

To catch you up just in case though, the FFXIV jobs video actually showcases 1 class and 2 jobs. We get to see the Arcanist class summoning Carbuncle and see a Summoner later in the video, the advanced job that the FFXIV Arcanist leads into. Sandwiched in between those two, the new FFXIV job video shows off a quick Scholar spell cast.

Not a great deal is known about the particulars for the Scholar, but the fact that this FFXIV job will make it into A Realm Reborn’s launch was confirmed in the last Live Letter Square Enix hosted a few weeks ago.

With Beta phase 3 supposed to launch tomorrow (the 14th), I like seeing these little videos here and there but I have so many questions about some of these FFXIV jobs that I really wanted to see a bit more info in this latest video. 

I guess that works for Square Enix though. As the old saying goes, “Always leave them wanting more.”

I know a ton of you have already spoken out about playing some of the classes or jobs featured in this video so tell me what you think of this latest video. Did it just kinda make you hungry for more details like it did me? Drop me a line in the comments and if you’re in the upcoming beta weekends planned (still under NDA) I hope you have fun.

The post New FFXIV Jobs Get Their Own Trailer appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

E3 2013 Thursday Wrap-up for all you busy people. Exclusives, breaking news, and more!

The last day of E3 is over, but we are not. Today we have many more news pieces and exclusives to deliver directly to you throughout the whole day, but before we do that, it is that time of the morning again.

It is time for you to take a look at the Thursday edition of the E3 2013 Wrap-Up.  There was so much news to be excited about including our exclusive gameplay coverage of WildStar. So sit back, pick an article, and read what you missed out on yesterday. If you want the Wednesday edition of the E3 2013 Wrap-Up it is still available.

E3: Exclusive HD WildStar Gameplay – Part 1

• GAMEBREAKER exclusive 1080p direct feed footage of WildStar gameplay from E3 2013 as a mechari warrior.

E3: Exclusive HD WildStar Gameplay – Part 2

• GAMEBREAKER exclusive 1080p direct feed footage of WildStar gameplay from E3 2013 as a mechari warrior.

Indie Dev Has Entire Company Stolen At E3

• Indie game developer Rami Ismail of Vlambeer, makers of Super Crate Box and Serious Sam: The Random Encounter, is having a very bad week.

Hacking Your Friends In Watch Dogs Multiplayer

• Check out some features from Watch Dogs multiplayer!

Peter Dinglage’s Dulcet Tones Will Be Heard In Destiny

• Interview with Sony reveals more about Destiny.

Arma 3 Beta Confirmed: Lock And Load

• Get ready to enter the Arma 3 beta at the end of June 2013. This may just be the military sim you are looking for.

Well future GAMEBREAKER NATION fans and gamers alike, that brings an end to the Thursday E3 2013 Wrap-Up. We will most likely have one more to wrap-up today’s news as there is much more yet to be released information for all to see! Get ready for some exclusive coverage today!

The post E3 2013 Thursday Wrap-Up: WildStar Exclusive And More! appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.