Hasta La Gadget!

I’m honestly not real sure what I think about freemium video games for mobile users. It’s nice that you don’t have to pay for the game, but often you have to pay for every little upgrade and it usually works out to be much more expensive than just paying the five or six bucks up front to own the complete game.

Many of the “free-to-play” games have incredibly overpriced in-game purchases for things that you really need to be able to play effectively.

I hope that’s not what EA is doing with the coming video game for mobile users called Real Racing 3. The game will be free for Android and iOS gamers as of February 28. Previous titles in the franchise sold for $4.99 on the iPhone. You can bet in-game purchases will make up a big part of the business model for this game.

Will have to wait until the game launches to see exactly what EA is offering. I fear that gamers will have to pay a dollar more for each of the cars they want to purchase or unlock, which could add up quickly. Personally, I preferred the old days when you simply bought a video game, and it came with everything.

[via CNET]

We’ve already seen numerous teasers of Firemonkey’s upcoming racing sequel, Real Racing 3. The game looks to have the best graphics that the series has ever had, and it will include all new tracks, including real tracks, as well as made-up tracks in real locations. However, publisher Electronic Arts has announced that they plan to offer the upcoming game for free.

In an interview with Bloomberg, EA’s senior vice president for mobile and social game development Nick Earl said that the publisher plans to offer Real Racing 3 for free in order to distribute the game to a wider audience. Real Racing games in the past have typically been priced in $5-$10 range, so a price tag of $0 is definitely intriguing.

Mobile games at Electronic Arts generated about $100 million in revenue during the company’s fiscal third quarter, so it seems that’s a huge avenue for the publisher, so it’ll be interesting how the company will bring in revenue with Real Racing 3, which it seems like in-app purchases might be the way that EA will go for this new game.

That wouldn’t be too surprising, since Real Racing 3 will feature 900 different events and 600 hours of total gameplay, according to Earl. It’ll be interesting to see how much of that we’ll have to pay for in in-app purchases. EA didn’t mention anything about in-app purchases, but I’m sure we’ll here more details shortly. Real Racing 3 releases later this month on February 28.

[via Bloomberg]

Real Racing 3 to be free-to-play is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

EA and Maxis are gearing up for another closed beta for their upcoming SimCity reboot. The companies hosted the first closed beta late last month, and now they’re going for a second round. The beta will begin at 9 am ET on Saturday, February 16 and will run until 9 am ET on Sunday, February 17. Sign-ups for this second beta close on February 11, so be sure to get your name in ASAP.

This second beta will feature an “enhanced version” of the one-hour slice of gameplay that was previously featured in the first beta, although we’re not sure what “enhanced” features we’ll be seeing this time around. However, you can bet that gamers will be seeing a bit more this time around, as opposed to what they saw last month.

Furthermore, Maxis also unveiled a new trailer showing off the Limited Edition version of SimCity, and if you pre-order it, you’ll get the Heroes and Villains expansion pack for free. The expansion pack, which is only compatible with the Limited Edition version of the game, allows you to add organized crime and superheroes to your city, so who knows, maybe you’ll create the next Gotham City?

SimCity will officially be released for Windows in North America on March 5 and in Europe on March 7. A Mac version will also be coming to stores as well, but it won’t hit shelves until the spring. Cross-platform play will be supported with the game, so you’ll be able to play against your friends using different platforms.

SimCity hosting another closed beta on February 16 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The time has come, folks. The latest installment in the Dead Space series has arrived. Dead Space 3 is now available for purchase at retail stores in North America, as well as on EA’s Origin gaming service. Plus, Electronic Arts announced that DLC is coming for the game next month for $10 to prove that there’s even more to come after the initial release.

The new game sports a ton of new features, including an innovative drop-in/drop-out feature, as well as an all-new weapon crafting system. The game takes players on a “thrilling ride through the terrors that lie hidden in deep space and the unforgiving ice planet of Tau Volantis.” It sounds like fun, but we hope you’re ready for the challenge that lies ahead.

The DLC pack, called Awakened, will be available in March. There’s no specific date set yet, but you’ll be able to pick it up for $10 through various channels. In the DLC, players will experience the series’ “darkest chapters as the Necromorph battles become even more gruesome and terrifying than ever before.”

The action-horror sequel looks like it’s quite the thrill from what we’re seeing. Vice president and general manager of Visceral Games Steve Papoutsis says that “gamers will experience some of the most disturbing content they have ever seen in a Dead Space game — they are going to love it.” We’d say that’s a pretty good assumption, Steve.

Dead Space 3 now available, DLC coming in March is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The NFL football season is almost over, with the season-ending Super Bowl being held this Sunday. However, Electronic Arts is already planning out its next football game for the 2013-2014 season. The company has announced that the next Madden will be arriving August 27, 2013, but it looks like they’ll be taking a different approach this time around.

According to the EA Sports website, the developer has announced, “Madden 25 coming soon,” suggesting that the next Madden title won’t actually be called Madden NFL 14, but just Madden NFL 25. It wouldn’t be the first time that a Madden game didn’t use the traditional yearly naming scheme, but it’ll mark the first time since 1991 that they’re breaking away from it.

If you didn’t know, the next Madden game will mark the series’ 25th anniversary, and according to the graphic above, as well as the title of the blog post on the EA Sports website, it looks like the developer will be naming the game after its anniversary. The blog post on their website says to come back for more details, and since they usually officially announce the next Madden title during the Super Bowl, we may get more details come Sunday.

The Madden series started in 1988 when it was called John Madden Football. The first game came out for MS-DOS, as well as Commodore machines and the Apple II. It wasn’t until 1991 when the series started put the year after the game’s name, starting with John Madden Football ’92. Then, in 1993, the series was renamed to Madden NFL, and has remained as such ever since.

[via Polygon]

Next Madden game coming August 27, name change imminent is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.