Update: Shacknews has updated its story to state "no statements have been made about the Star Wars business model," and attributing Mr. Riccitiello's comments to a misunderstanding. For the time being, then, this appears to be unsubstantiated information.

Story here.

This is one of those things where I'm hoping to see verification later (on Edge Online, Gamasutra or some similar site). I've always joked that only a KOTOR based MMO could steal me away from COH, but its looking like I might be able to play both without paying $30/month. We'll see. And if nothing else, this would be in everyone's budget (assuming its done right).

There are usually two (well, three) worries that go with free-to-play games with microtransactions:

1. The game is crappy, or "you get what you pay for." Since this is Bioware I'm going to assume the game will be of good quality, play-wise.

2. The game is going to be very "grind" intensive. For those of you who don't know what MMO-grind is, "grind" is basically doing certain things over and over and over again. Usually its a time-sink, and done to get something you want or need.

3. The game will reserve a lot of good stuff for purchase only, forcing you to spend money to actually be able to play the game.

We'll see how this turns out. #2 isn't higly tolerated in the Western market - our "high grind" is nothing compared to Korean titles. #3? We'll see. I usually equate microtransactional items with Time=Money. Either you spend time to get something, or you spend money to get it. Either way you're spending for what you want.

I'm very curious how this would pan out with any console version of the game...

edit: Fear #3, perfectly put.

You've probably read it from a bunch of places by now. So, here's another theory, reposted from LiK's, which was a repost of what I had put up on the ESLS union board.

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Now: here's a thought. The i and ! are not letters/characters, but pictures/symbols.

Symbol + Symbol = Symbol

makes more sense than

Letter + Punctuation Mark = Symbol

Also notice that the font used for "A next metal gear" is not the same as the i or !. While that is good graphic design on the one hand (contrast), its still worth noting. The differnce is to reinfornce, "hey, that's not exactly the same."

One could take it as representing a person(stick figure). In that case, the i can represent one person, and the ! another. Also note that the power symbol isn't - its a near circle with a ! in it rather than a straight line. So its it means something too, although I'm a bit fuzzy as to what.

The green color is typically identified with the XB/360. But if you look at the i and !? Add one player with another and get (whatever that thing is)? To me that means multiplayer. The i and ! are head to head, even.

So, a guess would be Metal Gear Online for the 360. By itself, with no single-player MGS4. There is a stand-alone Metal Gear Online in Japan for the PS3, after all. If MGO is on both systems, then (keeping with Ubisofts "cross platform for only 10% more" claim from a while ago) Konami could double the playerbase for a relatively small investment, double the number of people they can sell expansions and the like to, etc.

And lets face it - MGO going to 360 is no big loss. I don't think Sony would lose any sleep over it at all.

Okay - I'm planning to get a 360 come the end of January (yay!). I'd like it to be a social system, so I'd like to get one of those travel-bag thingies I've seen before. Some of the ones I've seen in the past were made to do really fast hook-ups and such; unzip something, cords fall out, and you're ready to go. Others have space for controllers and games.

The idea of having the 360 ready to go, maybe with my old 19" LCD monitor, is appealing. Quick pack-up, carry out, set up, play, take home.

Anyone ever *use* one of these things before? Any thoughts and considerations besides "make sure the vents don't get blocked off?" Can you recommend anything?

If you know of a good one for another system, suggest that too - I'm sure other people will want to know if you've had good (or bad) experiences.

From Anandtech.com.

After entirely too long, Jasper has finally been discovered in the wild. As we originally predicted back in early October, the first Jaspers were identified by being labeled 12.1A on the 12V rail. Somewhat surprisingly, the first ones discovered also came with a 150W PSU. We of course knew this would happen eventually, but many believed that early Jaspers would use left over 175W PSUs. It's still possible there are some Jaspers floating around labeled as 14.2A and including a 175W PSU that were simply never recognized for what they were. Also as predicted, the Jasper motherboard featured a new PSU power connector that prevents using a newer, less powerful power supply on an older Xbox that needs more power. This information wasn't confirmation enough for some, but no doubt remained after one was finally dissected. One other interesting tidbit is the inclusion of 256MB of on-board flash, allowing Microsoft to forgo the memory card for Arcade systems and also to preload NXE without a hard drive.

So far it appears that lot number 0842 from team FDOU or CSON and 0843 FDOU have been confirmed Jasper. Unfortunately, the somewhat confusing bit is that some of these same lot numbers have also been confirmed to be Falcon. Clearly, we are in the midst of a transition period, so there are still no guarantees based on external box markings. If you get a console labeled 12.1A on the 12V rail and comes with a 150W PSU, you can be assured that you have a Jasper-based console.

I would like to reiterate that Microsoft will likely never comment officially on Jasper or any other Xbox 360 revision, so don't waste your time trying to contact them. Along the same lines, your average retail employee is not going to have a clue what you're talking about if you ask, so don't bother.

It may take a few weeks for these to become more common - I still can't find one locally myself, and it would be a total crap shoot ordering online. So the hunt continues around here. We'll have our own dissection and analysis as soon as we can get our hands on one.

------------------------------

And there you go, and happy hunting!

Edit: And yes, I've been waiting for this. Not that the Falcons are bad, mind you, but given the RRoD is supposed to be a GPU-heat problem? I've been waiting for the GPU to hit the 65nm process to make it smaller, cooler and less power hungry.

Edge Online has a great little editorial by NGai Croa concerning the one feature in three games that thrills me to no end. Something that was mostly forgotten about after the 8-bit generation it seems.

Either that or they're freakin' nuts.

I mean, seriously. Sheesh.

Somewhere, "out there," the CEO's of every company selling meat puts subliminal messages out to these crazies to act like loonies. As a result, anyone moderately sane will be at least a little put off by their message.

"There's no such thing as bad publicity," they whisper in Joel Bartlett's ear. "The truth is so clear that everyone will accept you. You're not being pious and self-righteous at all! There's no way anyone will have a negative reaction to this!"

Idiots.

For your amusement, try searching for "Penn Teller Peta" on YouTube.

To hell with this already.

I'm a lousy budgeter. Can't deny it. No trouble getting all my bills paid, which is good, but like many other bad-budgeters, its the saving ahead/getting ahead that stumps me more often than I'd like (thank goodness my IRA and 401k are treated like bills, budget wise).

I do want a 360, though.

So, looking at things now? I hope to get a 360 no later than the end of January. Is this like losing weight during the holidays? A hopeless and futile attempt at something? Saving during the holidays?

I don't think it is.

Here's the plan. $25 per check until then will be set aside. Cash, that is, hiding in a German beer stein I was given as a gift one year. I'll get six checks before the end of January, so that'll be $150. In all likelihood I'll get some money or giftcards at Christmas (since I tend to be hard to shop for), and I've got some friends wanting to have a business card designed ($25-50). I need to be looking for more side-jobs anyhow.

What about Christmas gifts? You know, the season of giving and all that? Ah - that's where I'm going to cut out a bit on myself. Some extra effort to remember to pack a breakfast and lunch versus eating out will help, and I've over-budgeted for one of my expenses, which frees up some money too. I won't have to sacrifice anything significant, basically.

So, the goal is to $200 usable for buying an Xbox 360 Arcade no later than January 31. I can do this. I think like a lot of people I've got things I want and want to do, but keep looking at them like they're impossible because I never sat down and planned out how to do it. So, I sat, thought, and this is what I came up with.

Virtua Fighter 5 is now joined by GTAIV, Bioshock, Burnout Paradise and Lost Planet.

Money's tight and Christmas is fast approaching.

I need some extra hours @_@

A very enjoyable read at Arstechnica. It includes some fun bits I didn't know, such as the problems between the American and Japanese branches.

Fun fact: Sega was originally an American company! To top that off, it was founded in Honolulu, Hawai'i, 1940, no less. That's a 20-minute flight away.

Thanks to a very kind individual here, I'll soon have an Xbox 360 harddrive. After I get done paying some bills (the Geico Gecko, for example, wants his money), I am looking forward to getting a 360. I'm not sure how long it'll be - Christmas is coming up, after all, and I do want to buy people other than myself some presents.

Its strikes me as funny that I've got some 360 stuff already but no system: VF5 Online, a 360 USB pad, the HORI EX2 360 stick, a Live account (used with my old Xbox and Live for Windows, mind you) and soon the harddrive.

Chances are this generation I'm going to be more of a renter than a buyer. I've got some games I'd love to buy, but will probably have to wait until I can get them for $30 or less. I will not be rebuying any of my PC/360 games like Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Gears of War or Devil May Cry 4, gamerscore be damned. But, I will be able to get games that won't run so great on my PC like Bioshock, Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect, which is quite nice.

Money and time being what they are, I don't think I'll be getting the PS3 anytime soon, if at all, this generation. Getting a 360 will already move me up to being bi-platform as is (PC and 360 - and yes, they are different). The family has a Wii, also, so I'm honestly not sure I could get a third platform (four available for gaming) and really get the most out of any of them. Guess when I want a PS3 fix I need to visit a friend of mine @_@

Still, this is a great generation, and the sheer number of great games available on both consoles is staggering. So, I'm quite happy, and excited :)