Free to Play Nintendo

As the internet has become more popular, and the majority of people own credit cards, a new style of gaming has erupted. You see it pretty often if you are an active MMO gamer. The style of game is called very innapropriately, Free to Play.

 If you haven't heard of it before, the difference between Free to Play and old fashioned pay to play games is, with regular pay to play games, you either pay for the game right off the bat and play for free. On the other side, you can get the game for free, and then pay a monthly fee. 

With free to play games, most of the time, you get the game free, and you don't pay a monthly fee. But to get more levels, or stronger equipment (ETC) you have to pay for them. 

Examples Here!

Now to the whole point of this blog post, the other day, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata talked to a publicist about new possibilities of payment, and doors opening as far as ways to develop games based around this Free to Play model.

I know my first thought was frustration, as I would hate to have to pay to finish the next Zelda when I already finished half the game. But thankfully, Iwata also said, that if and when they use this model, they wouldn't use it for games that were already established. So games such as Mario or Animal Crossing will stay the way they are, with 60 price tags. But newer franchises that are iffy, or game ideas that they are testing out, have the possibility of being a free game to start out, but you pay for extra levels or equipment. 

On an interesting note, Microsoft has published its first Free to Play game not to long ago. Here!

So, I have to ask, for those of you who know the model. What do you think of Nintendo games going Free to Play? Should they do it, or should they stick to their guns? 

Comment, rate, subscribe. And thanks again my faithful following of the technical inclination. 

Check out Iwata's full interview Here!

Prepare for Tuesday's first Artists Corner! Every Tuesday, I will find a local or internet based artist, whether it's music, art, or video games, and I will interview them about what they do. Demo some of their work, and talk about random shit! Sounds like tons of fun!