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It's difficult to explain the current controversy surrounding Battlefield Heroes without talking a whole lot of inside baseball, so we'll keep it simple. Players of the game are up in arms due to a recent update to the title's in-game store. Though EA and DICE had worked up a balance between the game's two forms of currency -- Valor Points, which you unlock from playing, and Battlefunds, which you purchase with real-life money -- this patch heavily depreciates the value of the former while making the latter a near necessity for those who wish to stay competitive in the game.

Items have had their Valor Point costs increased across the board -- what's more, some of these items can no longer be permanently purchased with Valor Points, but can only be taken on a one or three-day test drive. However, these same items have had their Battlefund costs reduced, and allow purchasers to keep them indefinitely.

If the items being purchased were merely cosmetic, we wouldn't think twice about this shift in fungible value -- however, the torch-wielding mob now moving through the Battlefield Heroes forums seem to think that the shooter's developer has forsaken the more frugal members of its community, giving the wealthy playboys among them an unfair advantage.

Blizzard just opened a huge can of worms -- or of pandas, in this case. The company announced the opening of an in-game pet store in World of Warcraft, wherein players can purchase their own Pandaren Monk or Lil' K.T., the Littlest Lich, for ten bucks. Half of the purchase price of the Monk goes to the Make-a-Wish Foundation until the end of the year, but all of the Lil' K.T. proceeds go to Blizzard's spare Ferrari fund.

Blizzard currently offers for-pay services including realm transfers, race and faction changes, and character appearance edits, but this shop offers the first in-game items for sale -- and these items are exclusive to the Pet Store. While we wouldn't be surprised to see a backlash related to this new offering, we expect it to be the kind of backlash that comprises very public complaining combined with furtive purchases.

[Via WoW.com]

Yesterday, THQ and Shanda announced their intentions to bring upcoming free-to-play Company of Heroes Online to South Korea via publishing partner WindySoft. Like Relic's PC-only classic Company of Heroes, COHO is an RTS game set during the Second World War, but the additions of a persistent world and expanded player customization (read: microtransactions) aim to set the online iteration apart.

Currently, no release date is set nor have plans been announced to bring the game to the West. Between Shanda's other free-to-play MMO, King of Fighters World, Namco's Katamari Online, and now this, we're starting to feel like Asia's the rich kid down the block getting all the games we could never afford. Can we come over and play, Asia? Please?

With its hands on some stats from EA, IGN estimates that Battlefield Heroes -- the free-to-play microtransaction-based online shooter -- has brought in almost $30 million, with the average "buyer" spending about $20 on the game. The most popular purchased items are the sleek Kommendant's Coat, Special Forces Officer Cap and Maverik's Sunglasses. A healthy 76 percent of "Battlefunds" (the game's currency) are spent on clothing, with a majority of the rest going to XP boosts.

The piece is packed with neat statistics on the game. Did you know that there are 1.5 million players across 133 countries, though 75% of users are from just ten countries (none of which are in Asia), including Brazil and Poland?

When Microsoft announced the free-to-play, avatar-based Joy Ride at its press conference yesterday, the company also revealed a fancy new trailer for the microtransaction vehicle. The gameplay looks to be rather simplistic, with a heavy focus on vehicle customization and arcade-style racing, so if that's your kind of thang, have at it! The game's set to go live on ... Xbox Live this winter.

We're a little worried about EA's card-based RTS, BattleForge. Less than a month ago, the game got a significant price drop, and just this morning EA announced the game will be adopting a free play model, allowing for even more old-fashioned microtransactions (a key part of BattleForge's card-based battle system), and, maybe, helping the game to survive a bit longer.

According to the game's website, the "Play4Free" version of BattleForge will replace the demo version and give players access to "all game content" -- it even comes with 32 cards (four times the amount that came with the demo). EA says that the retail box copy of the game will now serve as a "points box," as it comes packed with 3000 points ready for use in EA's store. It remains to be seen whether this move will spurn those who already purchased the game or bring in enough new players to support the continued existence of it. What say you, Joystiq Biomass?

[Via Big Download]

EA announced all of The Sims 3's community and microtransaction features today. TheSims3.com will become the hub site for all community and marketing features when the game births June 2. Players can use "The Exchange," which allows megalomaniacs to search and browse content, plus the site also allows the creation of movies and stories. More importantly for EA, there is also "The Sims 3 Store," an online retail location where users spend real money for SimPoints, which grants access to premium content.

Meanwhile, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey predicts that Sims 3 could sell over 4 million units in 2009, reports Gamasutra. Hickey has no estimate about how much The Sims 3 Store's premium content will add to the EA coffers. Seriously, though, parents: watch that credit card when little Susie or Michael starts begging for plaid furniture for their virtual dollhouse.

Source - The Sims 3 Full Online Feature Set
Source - Analyst: Sims 3 Could Sell 4 Million In '09

While ex-Joystiqer Ross Miller and Engadget Editor-in-Chief Josh Topolsky are busy liveblogging Apple's iPhone OS 3.0 preview event in Cupertino, we're here (well, all over) disseminating various gaming-related information you need to know. For instance, Travis Boatman, Vice President of Worldwide Studios for EA, took the stage this morning to discuss the forthcoming Sims iPhone game.

Though details are scant, the liveblog is telling us that, "They're showing off a character buying some things in-game," and, "They're playing music off of the device in the game." We're wont to believe that second part means you're able to play music that's saved on your phone from within The Sims iPhone world. Apparently, claims that the iPhone is "the new gaming platform" aren't so far off after all, eh?

And the rest of your family, for that matter. In a recent interview with VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi, program manager for games in Facebook's platform marketing division Gareth Davis had a lot to say about their burgeoning social network/"gaming platform." According to Davis, the network has accrued more than 5,000 games since opening up their platform in 2007 and those games are coming from small fish and enormous whales alike. Davis says the demographics for game players are changing as well, "Our fastest growing demographic now is over 30. Now it's grandparents playing games with grandchildren. You don't see that anywhere else." Hit the jump for more!

Hoping to turn midi-chlorians into monetary maneuvers, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello revealed in today's investor call that BioWare's upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be "a mid-session game, microtransaction-based. You'll be hearing more about those in the February [conference] call." According to ShackNews, EA has previously deemed FIFA Online and NBA Street "mid-session" games.

We're not convinced that it means SW:TOR will be offered sans subscription, so we'll wait until February rolls around to see how the publisher plans to Force Pull your money.

Update: Statement from EA via ShackNews: "No statements have been made about the Star Wars business model." The rep also claimed Mr. Riccitiello's comments were misunderstood.

[Via Massively]

Former PlayStation Europe head, Chris Deering, has joined the advisory board for PlaySpan, a company that has nothing to do with PlayStation and everything to do with the wild world of in-game money making. Self-described as the "first publisher-sponsored in-game commerce network," PlaySpan expects to benefit for Deering's ten years behind the desk at SCEE as the company works to position itself in the lucrative virtual goods market.

PlaySpan is better recognized by gamers for its subsidiary brand, PayByCash, which offers payment solutions on a variety of online titles, including Ultima Online, Everquest II and Dungeons & Dragons Online. Even so, we're fuzzy on what exactly Deering will be advising the company on, though we imagine his time will be split between coming up with imaginative ways to reach into gamers' pockets and deciding what horse to bet on in the current hardware race.

In an interview with VentureBeat, Xbox Live chief John Schappert confirmed that Microsoft is looking at the possibility of charging users for accessories that can be used to customize their Avatars. When asked about such plans, Schappert replied, "That may be in the future." But what about the near-term? "We want to launch these with great customization and a great library of accessories this fall," he said.

Given the precedent set early on with for-pay customization items such as gamer pics, the fact that MS might charge for more "exotic" Avatar extras certainly doesn't surprise us. We also wouldn't be surprised to see free accessories created to promote upcoming games, films, and events, much in the way promotional game pics and themes are currently offered. So, that Spartan armor helmet? It'll be, oh, 100. But that totally radical Mountain Dew Extreme Sports Action Experience billboard hat is on the house.

Market research firm Parks Associate has released a study claiming subscription-based MMOs aren't dropping enough loot for its players. According to the group's Electronic Gaming in the Digital Home II study (via Worlds in Motion) only the hardcore gamers were into the subscription model, whereas the casual gamer showed "significant interest" in the free-to-play, microtransaction model.

Another part of the study found that, of the non-MMO players polled, 14% would be interested to play if they could play for free, whereas only 2% of that group was interested in subscription-based MMOs. As we always caution, studies generally aren't worth more than the pixels they're displayed on (unless it's a nice monitor, then they're probably worth less). In a recent polling at Joystiq HQ, games that are "free to play" were also seven times more likely to grab our attention than games that weren't free.

Said Director of Broadband and Gaming Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai: "World of Warcraft, with over 10 million players, exceeded expectations for subscription-based MMORPGs, but it's unlikely any other publishers will achieve the same in the near term using a subscription model." Of course, that's kind of a no-brainer even for WoW's competitors.

[Via Eurogamer]

Hagimona pana! Guranda epska tali tari ta. Eska, eska, esti toni wa?

*turns on Simlish to English translator*

Better? Good! EA announced that its Sims 2 Store is now live for US and Canadian shoppers. The online retail location practices the fine art of micro transactions by offering items available in Sims 2 expansion packs and "all-new exclusive" content.

The store works by converting real money into "SimPoints" at an exchange rate of $1 for 100 SimPoints, and most items we saw appear to be between 75 - 100 SimPoints. Sims 2 fans can decide for themselves if it's worth micro-transactioning through the Sims 2 Store or picking up the full expansions at retail. The store seems like the type of thing that's perfect if your Sim just needs to have that new shower head and nothing else.

[Via BigDownload]