"Free"-to-play: Does the F2P Model Expand Audiences, or Rip Them Off?

It’s about two weeks before the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and as a huge Zelda fan I am counting the days. The next week, after paying all of my bills and buying groceries I come to the realization that I cannot afford the $50 price tag of the game right now. Naturally feeling a bit deflated, I try to focus on being satisfied with games I already own and play. I plunge myself into my Steam library and launch my favorite free-to-play game to ease my financial aggravation. It’s at this point an epiphany slaps me across the face. If I were to add up all the money I’ve spent on this “free” game, it would equal almost $100!

Free-to-play games are a lot more expensive than I thought.

Video Round-Up: Best of 2010 Edition, Part 2

 Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.

Continuing the end-of-the-year retrospective, here are four of my favorite videos of the year that we featured on Cerebral Pop. There might also be a bonus.

Video Round-Up: Water & Fire Edition

 Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.

We have the makings of a quality Round-Up this week: HD trailers, well produced video game parodies, knowledge, and the most wonderfully adorable kitten video in the world. Let's see if I can underhype this post anymore within.

Sophist Radio Episode 34: The Giant Bombast

In their continuing adventure into inanity and format-less shows, the Sophist crew discusses the attractiveness of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and actor David Boreanaz. They also discuss how World of Warcraft is very much like Fallout: New Vegas, and after that, James, Harold, and Aaron waffle about the merits of Vanquish and the game's difficulty. More tangents and off topic chatter than you can shake a stick at. At the end of the day, what's important is that you should play Super Fallout mixed-story Meat Boy...grilled cheese.

P.S. Don't click play if you're at work, or around children/those prone to heart-attacks.