Top 5 Technology Innovations that never came to be...

Note: Apologies for taking so long to make another article. After the last one I was working on and may still get back to sometime being lost, (Google Chrome crashed, and for whatever reason, it was the only time Blogger ever decided to NOT auto-save), successfully losing six hours worth of work and six hours of my life I'll never get back, I was sort of doing a silent-protest against Blogger... even though it was a joint-effort between the browser and Blogger, but anywho. For those curious, the last article I was working on that lost six hours worth of work, was going to be a minimum of a four page spread, chronicling the biggest and most memorable gaming feats since I first got into gaming back in 1983. More or less my own personal compendium of anything noteworthy in gaming, even if it wasn't something that I myself personally followed. May still be coming, but for the time being, has been shelved... anyways, I digress...

With all the many and unending different lists (*waves hands* Umm, you do realize the emphasis in the above picture is supposed to be on the BEER HAT yes!? ;]) coming out of the greatest and most awesome innovations, titles, and creations that ever came to be, I figured I'd take an opposite approach and shed some light on some of the biggest controversies in technology that never came to be and/or got !@#!-canned before they ever had a chance to blossom. I may update this as time goes on if/when I can recall any other overly noteworthy innovations that never came to be (like perhaps *hint, hint* the hoverboard, hover car, the fully solar-powered car that should have released a decade ago, the light-bulb that never burns out... just to name a few).

#1. Star Trek Online using Perpetual Engine by Perpetual Entertainment

Many I've talked to have seemed puzzled when I mention the Perpetual Engine and don't realize that Star Trek Online wasn't ever originally Cryptic's baby IP. The truth of the matter is Star Trek Online originally went into early development in 2004 by Perpetual Entertainment. The 3

images above, as well as the one to the left, are actual screenshots from their working engine of the game and what the game would have actually looked like. The Perpetual Engine also promised to have planets randomly appear, with full random terrain, environment, weather, population, npcs, etc to truly add to a realistic sense of actual space exploration, which is what the original concept of Star Trek was, and still is. Don't get me wrong; I recently started giving Cryptic's Star Trek Online a chance, and even though it's great fun and really neat, I'm still left to wonder what could have been with the Perpetual Engine, as well as what new MMO standards it may have set for other games and designs with seamless and virtually unending exploration.

#2. Ultima Online 2 (Officially dubbed: Ultima Online Worlds: Origin)

Recognize the image above? Unless you're a true hardcore gamer, and were also a PC gamer back in 1999 as well as following the Ultima storyline, you probably don't. The image above is from Ultima IX: Ascension, which in my opinion was probably one of the best PC-based open-world RPGs of all time. But why does that matter to Ultima Online? Because what many don't know is, there was originally planned to be an Ultima Online 2, yes, that's right, a SEQUEL to the great Ultima Online that so many rave about actually USING the Ascension Engine!! But why didn't it ever come to be you might ask? That's because Richard Garriot and Origin had the game fully designed and ready to go,

(seen in the image to the right which is an actual screenshot taken from within the early-beta of the working game), up until Electronic Arts actually stated they were afraid they'd lose too many players from the original Ultima Online, thus the bottom line worry was a fear of losing money, and decided to scrap the whole idea. In turn, Richard Garriot walked out (not that I blame him and would have done the same exact thing), which ultimately buried any and all ongoing continuations to the Ultima storyline. It's worth noting the silliness of EA's worrying, as any users that would have left the original Ultima Online would more than likely have migrated to Ultima Online 2. Perhaps their worry more stemmed from a reason to keep the servers up, or perhaps more the reaction of fans that would start asking why they were spoon fed everything they were about Ultima Online and sinking their money continually into it, when something that could have been so much better was so readily available. Another thought to ponder, Ultima Online 2 was pretty much finishing up and almost ready for release by March of 2001. Now let's think about this. Even World of Warcraft wasn't announced until September of 2001, and finally released in November of 2004; and it's also worth pointing out they're going on 7 years of flushing it all out and improving it. Imagine if you will, a game that was that vividly rich, realistic, and entertaining as Ultima Online 2 using the Ascension engine released three years prior, with an equivalent 7 years to improve it and make it better. Would it be possible that had this came to be, World of Warcraft may not have been as successfully huge as it ended up being, thus the MMO genre may not have been overshadowed and sucked as dry as it has by WoW!? Imagine how much more level-field the MMO genre, especially when it comes to fantasy-based games, would be if there was an equal competitor back from the start. Perhaps there wouldn't have been nearly as many WoW clones and so much loathing now for anything fantasy, as I can safely speak for myself and many others that I know, that may go postal if we see anymore WoW clones or rehashes of what can be done with fantasy, dragons, sword/shield, and anything else medieval! Hey Electronic Arts... don't you just wish you had the millions and billions of dollars that Blizzard is now making with their product (World of Warcraft) that ultimately buried your baby Ultima Online!? LOL!

#3. Super Nintendo / Super Famicom CD-Rom Drive

What you see above is the Super Famicom (Super Nintendo in North America), but I wonder what that is under it!? This one is an innovation that I'm kind of glad it ended up the way it did. Why you ask? Well, that image above was to be the CD-Rom drive for the Super Nintendo. Even though back then I absolutely loved the Super Nintendo and was completely drooling at the idea of SNES games on CD and a dockable drive that sat under the main console, and was really sad back then to hear the idea was scrapped, it turned out for the best. You're still asking why? How ironic it'd be, let's take a really close and long hard look at that image again. Oh look, the Super Nintendo is giving birth to the Playstation. That's right, you got it! Nintendo originally looked to Sony to develop what would become the SNES CD-Rom drive, and even though Sony had a built prototype that they

unveiled for the world to see, ready for market, Nintendo at the last minute decided to back out and claim that they felt cartridges were the wave of the future and the CD media wouldn't keep the push that it had. Sony being the awesome marketing geniuses that they are, absolutely refused to lose the money already invested into development and manufacturing in such a disrespectful manner, and in result, turned around to patent it as the first PlayStation home gaming system. Whoops, don't get me wrong, I love Nintendo and all, but I love my Playstation even more; so for what it's worth Nintendo, thank you. However, let's imagine for a second, just how much huger and bigger of a gaming giant Nintendo *could have been* had they taken the opportunity to have the biggest jump-start ahead of the curve in the realm of CD-based console games. I guess Nintendo can toss this one in their loss column along with their Virtual Boy and Power Glove (which for the record, I still think the Power Glove was an awesome idea and innovation, just perhaps was ahead of its time and wasn't manufactured/designed as well as it could have been).

#4. Virtual Reality

For any of the teenie-boppers that may be reading this, yes, Virtual Reality actually did exist for a very short time, it wasn't just science fiction you read about in books or see in movies like Lawnmower Man, The Matrix, or Tron. However, due to many issues with some peoples equilibrium and some other issues, the entire concept ended up being for the most part scrapped from the public market. Leaving us hardcore VR enthusiasts to really dig through the scraps to continue our pursuits in more of a fanatical approach. For those who may not be aware of what

Virtual Reality is, it would allow for a person to use a video headset to actually put themselves into the game itself, as though the game were a true "virtual world" that was wrapped around them as the center focus. Now even I ask myself if this was a good thing or a bad thing; could Virtual Reality development have been ahead of its time? Could be possible. I am happy to see the newer innovations coming to market, such as the PlayStation Move, as well as using it with the SharpShooter peripheral. It allows for motion-reading, controller-based movement, and realistic aiming, with many more awesome prospects still yet waiting to be unlocked. Now just couple that with a video-headset and perhaps one of those old Interactor force-feedback vests (another technological invention that didn't last long), and maybe even a Nintendo Power Glove (yet another technological invention that didn't fare well), and you're all set!

#5. Apple Windows!? (WTF!?)

Disclaimer: This portion is NOT to help those zealots who want to believe Steve Jobs was (a) God who gets full credit for being the biggest innovator in the gaming industry. For the record Steve Jobs and Apple focused on hardware and OSes, such as cell phones, computers, laptops, tablets, music players, portable devices, etc... they NEVER made any huge break into the gaming industry. I have full respect for Steve Jobs, but the fanboys chanting his name are fabricating false truths, just as many fanboys do about anything else they want to be a delusional follower of (I actually read somebody saying the other day saying that "Steve Jobs is personally responsible for bringing us the personal computer"... mmm-KAY, right, love the guy Steve Jobs, but NOT TRUE! Maybe these chanting fanboys should realize they're going to ultimately get people to end up hating Steve Jobs or at least hearing about untruths claimed in his name!). Anyways, this IS meant to be a props to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, please don't use this to stretch it anymore than that, thank you. So if you are one that seems to believe that Steve Jobs created life... please, by all means, go get an iLife and let us know what it's all about, peace out homie!

Saving the best for last, probably the biggest controversy known by 99% of all geeks, (myself included), the ACTUAL origins of WINDOWS and how it came to be. *GASP* Yep, I'm letting the skeletons out of the closet Big Brother... go suck an egg, cry me a river, build me a bridge, and get the !@#! over it. Anyways, it's no huge secret that Microsoft hasn't had an original thought since coming up with the company title, especially seeings even DOS was bought by Bill Gates from a drugged out college student flunky and then delivered to IBM (which Bill Gates already sold them DOS before even having it) for mass-production. However, not everybody is privy to the how and why of how Windows came to be. Long story short, Bill Gates being the devil in sheep's clothing that he is, approached Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, claiming he wanted to *help them* make the

MacOS the best it could be, as he felt the idea was truly revolutionary. All the while, Bill Gates and crew worked to reverse engineer the code and use the new "format" for their own ends. Just before MacOS was to hit the public market, Bill Gates beat Steve Jobs to the punch and revealed Windows to the world; which ended up making the MacOS look more like a "wannabe copy-cat" sadly. How much different the realm of technology may have turned out had MacOS came before Windows; then perhaps Microsoft wouldn't be the cut-throat greedy bastards that monopolize technology and flash you the biggest price tags to keep it moving along. For what it's worth, before anybody claims I'm a hypocrite, I actually dual-boot my box/rig with RedHat Linux, and only really run Windows Vista for any games that either can't be ported to Linux, or don't want to without issues/bugs/glitches. However, let's ponder for a moment how much better the world could have been, both in technology and in just in general, had Steve Jobs been the one making millions or billions of dollars every day like Microsoft does. If Bill Gates could have been the one left in the dust and being forced to grovel at Steve Jobs feet instead. Yes, it's sad, that people like Bill Gates exist, that came into the life of Steve Jobs, to hold such genius minds like Steve Jobs under their thumb until they're in the ground. For what it's worth, Bill Gates, I really do pray that one day you burn in hell, but that might be best saved for another article, maybe? Q:)

So there you have it, the top 5 innovations that never came to be; maybe more being added later as I recall any others that are overly noteworthy. Until next time, I leave you with one final thought...

How to make the most out of your gaming monies!

Okay, I know I said a couple entries back, that this would be the NEXT article; however it should be understandable that an unscheduled post was made in tribute to the now late Steve Jobs. May he rest in peace and know up in heaven that he's missed and never forgotten.

That aside, moving onto the article that many have been waiting for. How to get the best bang for your buck in the world of gaming. Now, since I already covered Free-to-Play versus Pay-to-Play a couple articles ago, feel free to reference back to it for that information and insight:

Only Two Reasons You'll Need to Consider F2P over P2P. Though, there is one thing I did NOT point out in that article which I do feel needs some mention and clarification, and that is "buy to play" or B2P. Say what!? What's this "buy to play" I speak of? Let me explain what that is really quick. Essentially there's a bold line between the pay-to-play and free-to-play genres, and there are some games *called* "free-to-play" which actually reside in a little gray area within that bold line, and those games are actually and technically "buy to play". What I mean by "buy to play" is, it's a game you only have to buy once, then can play it as much as you want to. The biggest prime example of "buy to play" would be Guild Wars, and hopefully soon Guild Wars 2. Most multiplayer console games can also be considered "buy to play"; now the reason I felt this needed to be pointed out when it comes to making the most of your spending monies, is because you will find guides and reviews online that can leave you disappointed as far as price tags go. You'll see plenty of reviews and guides that will scream from the roof top that Guild Wars if "free to play", but they never tell you, "guess what, you need to buy that chit either from the store or digitally online" in order to play it; which means at some point you will have to reach into your pocket and spend money, making it not completely "free to play". But note, I am NOT trying to take anything at all away from Guild Wars or other "buy to play" games, as Guild Wars is an awesome game; I just really feel it needs to be noted that you do have to spend at least SOME money on it. There's been numerous times I'll think, "oh yeah, this new whatever it's name is game is F2P!? Booyah!", hop over to their website, look for the little download link, and guess what, "sorry, unless you have that extra $40-$60 or whatever to throw down right now, you ain't playing wit' 'dis chit yo!", though, thankfully, most games like this do have a trial. I myself just prefer not to really go the trial route unless I have those extra funds to spend and I'm window-shopping to spend them; why? Because it's teasing yourself to get addicted to the game for a week, two week, a month, or whatever the trial is, then suddenly boom, cold turkey, no more pew-pew for you!

Now to branch off of that article, however, the beauty of free to play, is it leaves us gamers more of a budget to sink back into other games, other titles, etc. One of the many reasons I actually enjoy PSN over XBL. Everybody has their own preferences granted, but the way I look at it, is the money I don't have to pay for an online network subscription on PSN is just a little bit more money I can either use on other PS3/PC/Xbox/Wii/PSP/DS games, or that I can use to get stuff either online or for an online service/game, or even use in cash shops, lol.

Moving right along, there's also something I like to do when it comes to purchasing games, I call it "game scouting", which is pretty much just frugal buying. I won't lie, when a game I really, really, really want comes out for the first time, if I have the money I may pre-order it for the bonuses, but those titles are few and far between typically. For most other titles, I've found if you wait typically three to six weeks, the prices drop quite drastically, even more so if you give it about two

months. That's pretty much the way the gaming industry works, they get their first big bang from the initial release, then they lower the price to get further sales from those who may not have been fully interested enough to buy it within the first week. I'm also one who loves to scrounge around in the bargain bins in gaming/electronics departments. I'm a sucker for the classics, and many times if you look right, you can leave with a stack of games for the same price as what you'd pay for a brand new release game.

Of course, on also has to always remember to window shop and browse around. Now with the information superhighway so easily at our disposal, this shouldn't be a problem. Typically most new releases have the same price no matter where you go, but different suppliers tend to have different pre-order bonuses, which I know, tends to be a bit of a pain trying to figure out what you want out of the 5-10 different pre-order selections.

Also, on the PC side, there's always emulators for any that want to emulate the older school games without having to hunt down all the hardware which now sells kind of steep since it's now considered "classic". Anything from MAME, to Nesticle, SNES9x, Dolphin, Project64, ePSXe, PCSX2, Chankast, Satourne, Fusion, Nebula, Kawaks, Stella, Project Tempest, RuMSX, WinUAE, NeoPop, M.E.S.S., Nostalgia, FreeDO, SainT, ColEm, AdamEm, and the list goes on. Just need to know where to look, and all those retro games that certain services charge you to be able to play again, and completely up for grabs and ready for the taking. :)

Finally, I was kind of saving the best for last, and this actually only kind of works out for PC gamers. Which as a PC gamer, I can say, any little bit you can save, means not only more you can dump into other games, but more you can dump into your gaming rig. I know I preach this app everywhere I go, even have a link to it over in the right margin over there, but I cannot even begin to tell you what a blessing the Game Booster app is. Keeping in mind, if you have a latest and greatest system, you're not going to notice much of an improvement with Game Booster, obviously; but it will come in handy even for you when your rig starts to become a bit out-dated.

In this current time frame of technological releases, Game Booster seems to work best for those of us on older dual-core system, or perhaps even very low-end quad-core systems. As an example, the current rig that I'm using is an AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual-Core 2.4ghz 4600+, with only 2Gb of RAM, and an nVidia GeForce 7950 GT. Now, with those specs in mind, while using Game Booster, I'm able to run at top-notch graphic settings on games such as World of Warcraft (minus sunshafts and any other "DX11" option as it's not a DX11 card), Fallen Earth (which still has some noticeable minor rubber-banding here or there due to their lack of code optimization), HellGate: Global, Face of Mankind, Allods Online, Age of Conan, CrimeCraft, Anarchy Online (not that this one's much of a stretch), Star Trek Online, Champions Online, and a bunch of others. To note, that's running at 1280x1024 resolution, 75hz refresh rate, typically between 30-60 FPS, and in some games like Fallen Earth I even peak up a tiny bit over 100 FPS. Even really overly processor/graphic heavy games like APB I can play and actually stand a chance. Granted, due to the APB application restrictions, I'm forced to run at near lowest graphics, but without Game Booster I can barely move in APB, with Game Booster I at least have somewhat of a fighting chance. The even bigger beauty, Game Booster is completely FREE. They have some sort of option for a premium or something, but I've never gotten it. Game Booster can run perfectly straight out of a default install, or if you're more the in-depth geeky type like myself, you can easily customize your settings on the fly, and with just a couple small optimizations specifically catered for your system, you'll be up and running in no time.

Think that's just about most of it for now, if I think of anything else, will keep this updated...

^ With that said, a SALUTE to pay-to-play gaming from a soon to be free-to-play game. ^

(Once again, how the MIGHTY... have "Fallen"!)

How the Mighty have Fallen...

First of all, normally that title is used in a mocking sense when one achieves a victory, usually somewhat shallow or vain. However, this time it's used more as an observation of an industry... the gaming industry. For starters, let me point out, it was a toss up between that title and "Fall of the Roman Empire", however, I can't seem to make too many *decent* analogies between the whole "Roman" bit and gaming, I can however do that with "Fallen", which I'll get to later.

Now honestly, all laughs, puns, and jokes aside, I've partaken in the gaming industry for going on twenty-nine years. I've been a spectator, a player, a beta-tester, a modder, even a here and there a "silent" consultant of sorts. I've seen whole companies, technologies, and consoles come and go. I was there to see the very first original unveiling of EGA graphics as a step-up from CGA (to note: I was around for monochrome B/W, Orange, Green single-color displays all the way up... just wasn't present at the very first original unveilings of those technologies). Anyways, case in point, I'm trying to point out I'm not just some jabber-jaw who picked up an iPhone one weekend on a fluke, downloaded a few apps, and suddenly decided to self-label himself expert.

I started out on the ColecoVision in 1983 (hence why I refer to myself as "The Coleco Kid"), the very first game I ever played on it was Donkey Kong, which to this day is one of my all-time favorite retro-arcade games. Eventually had a ColecoVision Adam with the Atari adapter, which led to possessing every Coleco cartridge, cassette, and floppy disk game; as well as every Atari game. Yeah, the case that held 'em all was rather huge. I also remember playing various IntelliVision systems at my parents' friends houses. Over time, got into PCs and PC gaming. I'll go to my grave saluting hardcore props to the very original Sierra OnLine (not the sideshow Sierra of today), the ORIGINAL Sierra. So many names and titles, if anybody's curious, look 'em up on Wikipedia, they were definitely one to shape the path of gaming as well as RPGs today. As time went on, I finally got an 8-bit Nintendo, then a Super Nintendo, and admittedly, I kind of skipped the N64 and jumped on the Playstation when it first came out. I never got much into SMS or Genesis, Sega was always my sister's thing... and I'm not being sexist with that, she just liked it

more, and I went the Nintendo route is all. I then went through a PS2, an X-Box, a PS3, and and X360; I've also used just about every emulator there is on the market, emulating the old TurboGrafx 16, NeoGeo, SMS, Genesis, SNES, NES, Atari, Coleco, Intellivision, even PS2 emus.

(Pardon the size of this next graphic, but it fit just SO perfectly right here...........)

I could go into tons and tons of detail, but it's been very rare that at any point of my life I wasn't exposed to gaming of some shape or form, or rare I didn't have some outlet for gaming readily available, and most rare I wasn't a hardcore gamer in some sense of the definition. Also, not to sound sappy, but gaming isn't always sunshine and daisies either... it's had quite a few moments of being a love/hate relationship. There's been numerous times that certain company politics, or certain company/game/idea scrappings, or even game hecklers, etc have made me want to just throw down the gauntlet and walk away from gaming for good... but no matter how hard you try, once gaming is your blood, it's always there... sort of like a really hard addictive substance that's

hard to kick. Which also brings it's fair share of negativity as well. I won't lie on this next part, there's a part of me that gets a bit sick to my stomach when I look back, and remember all the torment, insults, teasing, mocking etc that people used to get way back when for being a "nerd", "geek", "dweed", "loser" or what have you. Thankfully I was a body-builder that got along with just about every crowd,

so I didn't get as much as some, but I did get looked at sometimes as a "loser" or "nerd" because I knew more about technology, and there were some days I couldn't wait to get home and chat online. Back then, that was so "square". How funny how the tide has turned... now all those people that used to tease about it, can't be separated from their cell phone for more than 15 minutes without going into a cold-sweat, while trying to go around showing off to everybody how tech-savvy they suddenly are, now that "tech" is the "cool thing". Sorry to say, there's always going to be seniority for those of us that found technology to be cool, while everybody else found it to be uncool, far before they even realized there was a "cool peoples" carpool lane on the information superhighway.

Okay, so that was a bit of a long-winded introduction, my original point for this blog was more to focus on the timeline of gaming, and to look at how the structure of the gaming industry has changed as a whole, but not just the now change, the ongoing changes that laid out the different eras of gaming if you will.

Honestly, at times many changes within the industry are so subtle that most might not even notice, and just sort of roll along with it like a tide blowing into the beach, but honestly, gaming has changed quite drastically since the early days, even in ways you probably haven't thought of.

For starters, multi-location gaming. I had to call it location after much thinking, I was going to say multi-console, multi-system, but none of them do it justice, so multi-location works. If we rewound time back to say somewhere around 1985, and anybody told me that one day we'd be able to game with each other from different systems linked together, or game with people all around the word, even with as open-minded as I try to be, I probably might have to at least chuckle a tiny bit at first.

Heck, back in 1985, the idea of playing with anybody besides the computer and not having them be on the same screen with you was unimaginable. Eventually though, it became a norm to do

system-linking with both consoles and PCs/Macs in a peer-to-peer network, as well as long-distance dial-up connections. Believe it or not, there was even a time when "games" were read on the screen like a book, or even made in "ascii" where letters and characters came together to make images. (Ascii game: Castle Adventure) ----->

One aspect that can't be forgotten either, and I was trying my hardest to avoid it, since I kind of covered it in the last entry, but sadly you can't really avoid, is money. For anybody that grew up gaming with me over well over 25 years ago, you'll remember that yeah it took a tiny bit of money to be into gaming, but not that much. Granted things have changed from the days where you could get BASIC program language codes from magazines like Compute! (as seen in the image to the left... which yes, I remember that issue #46 of March 1984 quite well), type them into your computer in 5 minutes, and be playing the latest and greatest Cannons game. But I digress, as I was saying, those who gamed way back in the day, remember that for a tiny bit of money you could game and game for awhile, keeping yourself entertained. Now we're finding ourselves crunched into a "corporate gaming" system. Here's what I mean, back in the day, a computer was much like a gaming console in that you'd have your typical PC and tons of games would be made that could easily play on it, and over time you'd need a sys-upgrade obviously for the next-gen games.

Now here's how things seem to work lately, you build a computer that's cutting-edge, there's a handful of half a dozen to a dozen titles that can really push it to the limits, almost even exceed what it's capable of, then about six months to a years later, guess what, time for a new system, because that mighty beast-box is already starting to date itself; say wha!? Computer's taking all my darn monies!@#! -->

I mean seriouly, it's almost enough to make us PC gamers envy consoles. The days of a new console coming out every few years seem to be dying down, and now a console comes out with its set specs, and each programmer makes the games to fall within those specs, and the whole "package" upgrades when the console does. Seriously, the first PS3 released in late 2006, the X-Box 360

was originally unveiled on MTV in early 2005, and the original Wii also released in late 2006. To date, the only one of those three systems that has a working prototype model in play for it's next-gen release is Nintendo with the "Wii U" (which I still swear is the verbal sound I make when I fart really hard!). Anywho, point of all that, is it's been pretty much 5 years since the last major console release, and they're still going strong; yet on the PC side of things, every few game releases spells a needed system upgrade. Which don't get me wrong, at heart I'm a die-hard PC gamer, as you can do the best mods, tweaks, and customizing on Mac/PC... but admittedly, it gets REAL pricey over time. Which to go along with my last entry, I may turn this into an upcoming topic, how to shave off dollars and cents for those of use trying to make the most out of our PC gaming experience, in fact, look forward to that one, I can actually see that being the next entry.

So, long story short (too late), this entry hasn't turned out at all like I had envisioned, I originally meant to at least go down the line and point out companies that have come and went, giving props where they're deserved, and also offering a "who's who" of F2P games you may not have realized offered F2P functionality, and to trim that down, going to narrow it those games that used to be pretty much strictly P2P that have become F2P. So, without further a do, the top 10 - "How the Mighty have Fallen"...

10. ToonTown - As seen in the title, created and released by Disney games. Awesome virtual world where you get to make your very own toon and battle the cogs, diving into four different enemy cog factions including Cashbot, Sellbot, Bossbot, and Lawbot. This game was originally a premium only with limited trials, however it now offers a very limited F2P functionality where you can play as much as you want, but can pretty much only really do anything major in ToonTown Central, making it a bit harder to get to the outlaying neighborhoods.

9. Anarchy Online - Welcome to Rubi-Ka Inter-Territorial Space, at least I think I recall that's what the opening says. Anarchy Online is, was, and will always be one of the greats Sci-Fi MMORPGs of its time, with deep skill/stat customization, to great gameplay, deep storylines, and huge open-world gaming environment. This game was originally premium only, but now offers full F2P all the way through the standard Anarchy Online as well as Notum Wars. Funcom is also currently improving the graphics of Anarchy Online to make it more "worthy" of the latest graphic

capabilities, so be sure to check this bad boy out if you get a chance!

8. Face of Mankind - Yes, for those that like FoM, it IS indeed back from the dead. It was recently repurchased by another company and revived, while that new company is also looking to make it bigger and better. Admittedly I've dipped in and out of Face of Mankind, but the gameplay architecture behind it seems amazing, where the players fully make both the laws and the economy. Even though I'm not much of a PvP type, I do understand that FoM I believe offers semi-decent PvE, so I really want to try and focus on this one at some future point! Check it out if you get a chance peeps.

7. Champions Online - Another Superhero MMORPG, comparable a little bit to City of Heroes and a couple notches down from DC Universe Online. Still really fun to play, really open-world, deep, cartoony, with awesome character customization, excellent cast, and hours entertainment, be sure to give Champions Online a try if you haven't already!

6. HellGate: Global - Say what!? What'd you mean you haven't heard that HellGate is BACK!? Developed by some of the original Diablo creative team, HellGate originally released as HellGate: London and didn't fare so well, but it's back now as HellGate: Global, which has just recently released their latest "Japan" expansion. Be sure to check out HellGate... as it's gaming experience is pretty much second to none. To give the hardcore gaming audience an idea, it's like Fallout meets CrimeCraft... b00yah!

5. City of Heroes: Freedom - This one completely flew under my radar, and I didn't even realize it had gone F2P until a little while after the F2P launch, but this one so deserved a spot on this list, since a) it's like the very first MMORPG superhero game to start the trend, even though there were a couple superhero games kicking around before that, this was the first "MMO" one, and this game just friggin rules. If you haven't ever given City of Heroes a try, I strongly recommend that you try installing it and see what you think, as this thing is like super tight!

4. APB: Reloaded - This one, even at number four, may have to take it's own cake in other ways. So many, myself included, looked forward to the release of APB for so long. After so much time, it finally came to be, and at the last minute, they announced subs, WHAT!? Okay, they didn't really have an infastructure in place for this yet, thus RealTime Worlds tanked, went out of business, and thanks to that awesome company GamersFirst, APB is back as APB: Reloaded! Now if they could only streamline the code a bit more... thanks in advance fellas! So if you want to either be a criminal or enforcer in GTA-like shooter/semi-MMO style, check out APB: Reloaded!

3. DC Universe Online - Keep in mind this one hasn't quite gone F2P yet, but is scheduled to go F2P sometime this month (October), where you can play hero or villain in the superhero genres many of us grew up in. Props to my man Supes over there... oh yeah, I'm like the world's fore-leading Superman fanatic, LULz!!

2. Star Trek Online - Another one that hasn't quite yet gone F2P, but are scheduled to be F2P, in their words, sometime before the end of the year. Word of warning to any old-school traditional Trekies, this isn't your typical storyline. It's supposed to take place sometime after the most recent movie, where the Klingons and the Federation are at war, yet for some reason, the planet Vulcan I believe still exists in this one, whereas in the movie, it was destroyed? Hrmz. Oh, also worth noting for any that haven't followed STO, but were aware of the original Perpetual Engine that was SUPPOSED to be used; FYI - it didn't turn out that way. Perpetual Entertainment went under, and the IP rights went to Cryptic, but not the engine... which as many saw, Cryptic rather rushed it's release, thus there tends to be a decent amount of areas that don't necessarily feel as "Star Trek" as they should.

1. Fallen Earth - Finally, the number one, "How the Mighty have Fallen"... a-ha, now you see why I went with that title. Fallen Earth as a game is awesome, however, the coding could use some major streamlining. The game however is the closest to a FallOut MMO yet, at least until Grimlands comes later from Gamigo. If memory serves correctly, when Fallen Earth first released, many of its gaming community, as well as some of the staff wanted to be rather pompous. It was always weird how Fallen Earth was sort of its own private community, that nearly cried out, "VIP Only". Well, looking back at those heads held oh so high, noses in the air... it's so awesome to say, with only eight more days and counting to Fallen Earth F2P... "How the Mighty have FALLEN"! Q:)

So, even though there's more I could point out, I may save that for my next entry. Be sure to check it out, as I plan to focus on ways to help save gamers money, which will aim mostly towards the PC gamers since they have to shell out quite a bit more for gaming rigs, but will also have tidbits that can help the console gamers as well. So anyways, see ya' next time my peeps... same g33k time, same g33k channel! \m/, Outtie!

Exit... stage left!

The only two reasons you'll need to consider F2P over P2P!

Disclaimer: You may have a whole new outlook after reading this article... this is everything the big corporate gaming companies don't want you to know, nor ever figure out!

For starters, for those who are asking, what the heck is F2P & P2P, let me break down the acronyms for you. F2P = Free To Play, while P2P = Pay To Play. Okay, I already know there's that tainted stereotype that floats around out there like a bad omen curse of, "OMGz... it's F2P, it MUST be crap, it must be junk, run away, run Forrest, RUN!". Let me first point out, nothing could be farther from the truth. Not so sure? Games that have gone either full or limited F2P in recent years, even months that come to mind are World of Warcraft, Anarchy Online, ToonTown Online, Fallen Earth, DC Universe Online, even Star Trek Online is set to go F2P by year's end (2011). w00t! F2P is the new "in" thing yo... the hip trend now is to SAVE money, or at least not blow it all away, and in this entry, I'll fill you in on the little bits that not many really consider when going the P2P route... which in this wracked economy could really make you much happier on the other side of this madness!

Now, moving right along, how many people reading this, like to do what you see to the left? For those that do, stop reading, take all your life savings and money, stack it into a nice neat pile, douse it in gasoline, take a blow torch to it, and aptly sing Kumbaya. For those of you that like to enjoy things with your money, we roll into the first reason keeping in mind "dollars and sense". Now, using as an example, that most P2P subscriptions run roughly $15/month per sub, we'll use that as our base constant throughout the equations to follow. First of all, at $15/month, that breaks down to paying roughly $0.50 cents per day.

No, this isn't a Sally Struthers commercial to feed the homeless kids in a foreign country, that is in fact what you're paying to go pWN'ing the Lich King in IceCrown Citadel. Okay, so we've got 50 cents per day nailed down. But uh-ohz Batman, we have a small problem, unless you're a genre-holic that sticks to only one genre (also keeping in mind there's multiple pay games in each genre these days), and if you're like me and like to bounce around on multiple titles, it's like a bag of Lays potato chips, "Betcha' can't eat just one". (Okay, must put disclaimer here... should you ACTUALLY be *eating* your games instead of *playing* them, please stop reading now, and phone your local shrink, thank you and have a nice day...) Now, I digress, if you like multiple games, and hey who doesn't, there's plenty out there worth paying for. I can easily think of 10 games right now that I'd have no problem paying for if either:

a) I had a money-tree,

or b) I could print money like these guys ------------------->

!@#! LULZ! !@#!

Okay, so since typically none of us has a money-tree or the latest Counterfeiting DS, back to the math, bare with me, it'll start to make "cents" soon, ~WaKa WaKa~! *badumching* So anyways, we'll use 5 games as an example, any games really, just the simple fact of paying for 5 games works for this equation. Now using 5 as the number of games, times $15/month, (equals) $75/month. Hey, that's still not THAT bad right? Let's break that down a bit more shall we? 5 P2P games a month breaks down to $2.50/day on average. Say what? You could buy a gallon of milk everyday with that... (or put down a deposit on a gallon of gasoline... ROFL! *cough, cough*). Oh, but it gets better, let's start painting out hypothetical scenarios, this is where it really gets good. Say you have one of those crazy months, and who hasn't, where 3 weeks out of that month you're just non-stop busy. Overtime at work, death in the family, friends getting married, moving/changing locations, your cat won't stop attacking your feet... actually, that's not one on the list, give me a sec while I deal with Pandora.........

...Oh-Kayz... now that THAT crisis has been averted, where was I. Oh yes, hectic months. Saying you're busy for 3 weeks out of the month, and saying that playing for maybe 4 hours a day isn't TOO excessive, we'll say you get 5 days out of the month you can actually play... but, we'll have to say they're weekdays, because we all go to church on Sunday right? ------------>

So, back to the math... MMM, M&Ms... *drool*... ERRR, math, right... so you game for 4 hours a day, for 5 days, but we won't say they're all in a row, because some might call that much, so we'll hypothetically say it's Monday the first week, Tuesday and Thursday the second week, Friday the third week, and Wednesday the fourth week... which FYI has absolutely nothing to do with the math equation... just needed to throw off the scent of being an overactive, excessive, game-a-holic. *innocent whistle* So anyways, 20 hours of gaming hypothetically in a really over-busy month, that's not even a full day. Guess what, you just got LESS than 50 cents worth of gaming in, and if you're paying again for 5 or so games, you may as well have just set $74.50 on FIRE.

To be perfectly honest *gets handy-dandy calculator*...

...for 20 hours worth of time, you only got 41.6 cents worth of gaming, and if you're paying for FIVE subscription-based games, you again may have well just burnt up 74 dollars and 58.4 cents! So one thing to point out, P2P makes you feel like you have to be obligated to block aside certain time each day, to successfully get your money's worth, hence, you pretty much become a slave to the game! (Where as in F2P, you can come and go, playing as casually or hardcore as you like without any worries at all.) Now, let's look at how much money you're blowing per year with game subscriptions. First we'll use the one game per month at $15 per month. That works out to be *handy-dandy calculator boop beep buzz* $180, and if you're paying for 5 subscriptions, that wracks up $900/year. $900!? Wow, for those who are managing to stay afloat in your mortgages, that's roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of a mortgage payment right there, or easily a car payment or two. Also, just to toss in, when I finally get to the second reason, it'll revolve heavily around mortgage metaphors, *hint, hint*. Think I'm just about done with reason one actually, except I will toss out a VERY painful fact for those who are die-hard World of Warcraft players. Considering WoW released November 23, 2004... did you know, that if you've been loyally paying for a WoW subscription every month from release until now (almost November 2011), you actually dished out $1,260 total +w/e you payed per each expansion as it came out + anything you've spent on cash items +those of you who were

(ROFL-copter) enough to actually buy gold from gold farmers. Can we say... uhm, CHA-CHING!? Q:)

Now, finally, on to the second reason... pretty much to get straight to the point, paying to play is just about identical to a mortgage on a house.

I know, you're thinking, "WHAT!? You're mad whack!", but just follow me along here, and you'll get what I mean. First of all, the joys of a mortgage on a house, aren't they great? They're kind of like a car payment. You could make every payment on time, even earlier, right up to about 3 or 4 payments left, lose your job, crap happens, whatever, you can't make those payments, they take the house and/or car, all the money you've payed into them as well, and leave you with a "have a nice day chump". Guess what, sorry to break it to you, P2P games are the same way. You might want to think they're trying to make friendships, or too concerned with public relations to be cold and greedy... BZZZT, wrong, just like any other business, they're prime goal is to make money, and if you don't have it, guess what, you're not playing... too bad, so sad. If you have all LVL85 characters in WoW that you've been building and playing since the original release, and you can no longer afford to access them, guess what, they may as well be foreclosed on, cause you're locked out until you can give them the green they're looking for.

Now, another prime reason P2P may as well be like mortgaging your gaming experience. I'm sure there's a LARGE number of people that have payed that hefty sum I showed above, to be playing WoW since it's original release until now. Ever stop and think how much that hampers your future gaming experiences? What do I mean? Let's break this down into pieces. Awesome games like Rift, Guild Wars 2, Tera, and others are coming out. But oh no, you're "l33t", cause you've been a loyal WoW enthusiast from the beginning and have a full stack of LVL85s, maybe even multiple accounts filled to the brim with LVL85s. With tons of loot that's worth so much. Guess what, painful truth, you go from WoW to any other MMO or any other game on the planet, all that stuff may as well not mean a thing. And I'm not just trying to pick on WoW, they're just the biggest MMO right now, this applies to all P2P games. Which also wraps back to the paragraph before this... all that hard work, items earned, diligence spent, long nights burning the midnight oil... you can't pay, you lose it all... you're mortgaging your entire gaming experience! In F2P, yeah, might have trolls, mongers, and the "holy crap who let the dogs out!?"

But you can come and go whenever you please, and don't have to worry about ending up locked out of your stuff because you couldn't keep paying the loansharks their green-wad. But anywho, on to my original point of this paragraph I was trying to make, as those awesome games come out, in the back of your mind, that "economic" and "financial" sense are biting and eating at you, saying, "yo f00! WTF you thinkin' holmes!? You've like sunk a thousand bucks easy into THIS game... how f00 would j00 need ta be to go to DAT game over 'der!?". In one aspect you'd be right, you mortgaged out your gaming experience and invested so much into the first game, that you're gaming experience is now underwater like an upside down mortgage, you'd be throwing away too much to move onto the better and most recent games... which is sad, because as those better games come out, they drop the property value of the game you're paying to play now, which kind of makes it even more upside down and underwater. Hence, why paying to play, is the same as mortgaging out your gaming experience! \m/,