Will Swanky Goggles Get You to Play Fallen Earth?

[vansau]

Will Swanky Goggles Get You to Play Fallen Earth?

After nearly shutting down last month, Icarus Studios has opened an online store inside Fallen Earth.

<a href=http://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Earth-Pc/dp/B002I7Q606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1276280741&sr=1-1>Fallen Earth has <a href=http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/933753-fallen-earth-welcome-to-the-apocalypse/index.html>received fairly mixed reviews since its release in September, with some critics praising its concept and writing while others have panned its graphics and numerous bugs. This was perhaps a driving force behind the recent mass-layoffs at developer Icarus Studios. Icarus has now has opened an <a href=http://www.fallenearth.com/store>online store where players can buy in-game content, presumably to bring in a little extra cash to help the company get by.

The online store currently only features two items at the moment. First up is the Kaibab Cur pet ($10 USD), which has four item slots for players to utilize. Second on the list is a set of brass goggles ($5 USD), giving players the opportunity to look like steampunk mad scientists or wasteland badasses. Apparently the goggles give players a boost in protection against piercing, fire, cold and ballistic damage. At the moment, players can only buy one of each item per account.

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100381-Update-Icarus-Studios-Responds-to-Closure-Report>A few months ago, North Carolina-based Icarus Studios laid off a large number of employees from within its ranks due to "corporate restructuring." As a result, it's not surprising that the company is trying to generate some extra revenue via microtransactions that are equal to a month's worth of subscription fees.

Microtransactions are clearly an easy way to generate money, based on the success of so many "free-to-play" MMOGs across the Web these days. I'm not exactly a fan of buying extra advantages in a game that I've already paid money for, but, hey, if developers have online stores and players are willing to shop there, more power to everyone involved.

Source: Massively

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[JourneyThroughHell]

Am I the only one who was a bit reminded of Doctor Insano?
Also - completely unsurprising news. That's how MMOGs try to survive these days.

 

[Jared]

Well, hopefully it will help them keep there head above water...if anything its not a bad plan

 

[Abedeus]

Am I the only one who was a bit reminded of Doctor Insano?
Also - completely unsurprising news. That's how MMOGs try to survive these days.

I'm also not surprised, but mainly because Fallen Earth was probably one of the worst MMO betatests I took part in. Seriously, they cut out the "fun" part out of the game. All style, no substance. It was like... Team Fortress 2, but all player models changed to cardboard cutouts. And graphics returned to the year 2003, when they faked 3D grass by placing 2 grass sprites one onto another to give an illusion of a 3D object.

No, I am not kidding. The grass seriously was, even in High graphics, made of sprites. And the PERFORMANCE, God, even Champions Online runs more smoothly.

 

[Therumancer]

Well, I'm sort of glad I left Fallen Earth after giving them a chance due to the unique premise.

Truthfully, I do not take a "more power to you" attitude when it comes to charging money for items that grant actual in-game advantages. ESPECIALLY when the game also involves a membership fee. I think someone's real world wealth should not influance their abillities
in MMORPGs. I'm more tolerant of vanity items like costume pieces, static pets, or similar things, but seeing as both of these items that are being sold grand in-game benefits... well I think that's dead wrong.

 

[Skops]

Swanky goggles will not get me to play Fallen Earth, Gas Masks however, is a lot more convincing.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

I wanted to like Fallen Earth, I really did. The utter lack of direction, regular game breaking bugs, awful performance to appearance ratio and fundamentally broken and boring gameplay ensured I didn't stick around long. If they could at least demonstrate improvement in these areas, I may consider supporting the effort but truth be told, I generally don't like the idea of paying to play a product that should still be under in-house development.

 

[Amalith]

I actaully found the game rather fun during the week trial, I just don't think it's quite good enough to pay for. Adding microtransactions ontop of a subscription probably won't gain them much extra money. It certainly won't bring in new customers, and I don't think those are quite worthy of being $5 googles.

They could try the Turbine method. I'd certainly play then.

 

[Chipperz]

I was only made aware that Fallen Earth had been released when I saw free trials on the Escapist - was it even officially released outside of America?

Also, if it was free, I might give it another chance, but all the time I tried it, it lagged to hell and back and I just kept dying. It might be a fun game if I hit at what I was shooting at instead of air when it jumped ten feet away.

 

[vrbtny]

So.... It's Fallout 3(Including Bugs) crossed with World of Warcraft. Then wind the graphics back to 2003. Viola, you have fallen Earth...

I'm just guessing...

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

Am I the only one who was a bit reminded of Doctor Insano?

You are not. In fact, it was the very first thing I thought when i saw that picture.

I guess SCIENCE *thunder strike* didn't help in this business venture?

 

[Hammer_Wizard]

The goggles do nothing for me.

Although I never heard about this game before, so I guess it cant hurt to look.

 

[Sir Kemper]

ZE GOGGLES, THEY DO NOTHING!



Sorry, I couden't help it.

EDIT: ooooh Ninja'd!

 

[Loop Stricken]

I don't even know what this is. Maybe REAL goggles, yeah.

But those? They look pretty poorly designed.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Did you read the description? Apparently they protect you against piercing attacks (i.e. being poked in the eye), fire (reduces the glare as you burn alive), cold (keeps wind off your face), and ballistic damage (god knows).

 

[William Dickbringer]

WOW bored me runescape bored me maplestory bored me fiesta online bored me so yeah I don't think mmos are my thing

 

[Wicky_42]

I can't believe that they are asking $5 for that quality of extra XD Isn't DLC supposed to be, I dunno, better than in-game content? Wait, that is better?! Huh. And they are out of cash. Go figure.

 

[Headless Zombie]

If they were real goggles that looked like that you could sign me up. But they aren't, which leaves me rather disappointed.