TD Gaming Podcast 97: A Third Level Coke Dealer

In this episode we’ve got a lot of MMO-style content and news. Although we’re not reviewing Wrath of the Lich King yet, we’ve got other subscription based news. This weeks gaming flashback is Defender and this weeks news includes:

This week we’re taking a look back at William Higinbotham, the man who created the first video game by accident but wants to be known for his nuclear nonproliferation work. This weeks podcast continues the contest to give away two copies of Bejeweled Twist on the gaming podcast and another two copies in our gaming podcast forums.

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Episode 449: More Technical DifficultiesEpisode 449: More Technical Difficulties

For the second week in a row, the podcast has had some technical issues. This time the problem was less, but there are still present. Part of the reason is that the mic is subpar, the other is that the PC it’s being recorded on has a damaged fan. That said, this week’s episode (and the unreleased episode) were really good. The unpublished one will be issued at some future date when we all need a break (maybe over the Christmas week.)

This week’s episode includes:

  • Assassin’s Creed 3 goes free, murders Ubisoft servers in the process
  • After Blizzard shutdown, legacy World of Warcraft server returns this month
  • Halo 5: Forge custom game browser is launching on PC this week
  • Report: Nintendo Switch will get GameCube Games

Let us know what your favorite 2016 game has been.

Episode 512: Heating UpEpisode 512: Heating Up

As Fall approaches, more info on exciting games are starting to trickle in. That, and Jonah talks about how he’s going to Power Morphicon to cover stuff for his upcoming new show.

Otherwise, the news this week includes:

  • Patrick Stewart will narrate My Memory of Us
  • Jagged Alliance: Rage! announced
  • Deep Silver’s Outward coming February 12
  • Dark Souls coming to Nintendo Switch on Oct. 19

Let us know what you think.

Imagine a Free World of WarcraftImagine a Free World of Warcraft

Once upon a time the folks at Blizzard Entertainment thought they could support the entire world of World of Wacraft by ad revenue. This would have created an MMO experience which would cost you nothing but a bit of annoyance by ad providers; what would the total audience be if the game was free?

Had WoW launched free of charge they would probably have significantly more users playing the game, but the ad revenue from the sheer amount of people would be nothing compared to a monthly charge for eight million subscribers.

Although only a small number of those subscribers are US based, they’re still raking in the cash compared to an ad-based model, even if they were to have triple the subscribers.

However, the Blizzard exec noted: “We didn’t want to charge a subscription, but as we researched market conditions, we realized that wouldn’t support us.”

It’s possible, perhaps, that Blizzard would have fallen under its own weight had they created a world where anyone could play for no charge. Imagine the server utilization, the volume of traffic and the support calls they would get for triple or quadrupal the player base with only ads paying the checks.

Granted, a free system would be excellent in theory, but in practice, making us pay is the only way to throttle our addictions. Sad, but true.

(Thanks, gamasutra)