The great Star Wars debacle - and I'm not talking about The Last Jedi's second act here - dominated video game headlines in the last quarter of 2017. But in truth the year was packed with depressing stories about loot boxes, so many in fact that it has at times felt like our beloved hobby was more about the chance to win a rare item than it was about the chance to play.

It all began with For Honor, Ubisoft's excellent but troubled melee combat game. Soon after For Honor came out in February, a redditor worked out how much money it would cost to unlock all 12 heroes in the game and their associated aesthetic items (2017 would see enterprising redditors work out how much things cost to unlock in a lot of games). It turned out it would cost an eye-watering 585. Ouch.

Ubisoft, sensing a growing resentment among players (growing resentment was a running theme of 2017), said it never intended for players to unlock everything in the game. That was a PR line that didn't go down well (PR lines that didn't go down well was another running theme of 2017).

Read more…

Apple, in what may be a trend-setting decision, now requires any App Store game with loot boxes to disclose the odds of receiving items from them.

"Apps offering 'loot boxes' or other mechanisms that provide randomised virtual items for purchase must disclose the odds of receiving each type of item to customers prior to purchase," a bullet point added to the 3.1.1 in-app purchase clause now reads (via TouchArcade).

Forcing disclosure of odds is something China has required all games to do, by law, since May. It's how we learned Overwatch awards an epic item once every 5.5 loot boxes and a legendary once every 13.5 loot boxes.

Read more…

Last week, independent charity Gamble Aware held its annual two-day conference in London. It focused on what's called Harm Minimisation, in particular, how to protect young people from gambling. The event was a who's who of the UK gambling industry, but there was one topic on everyone's lips: loot boxes.

The loot box debate seems to have torn the UK gambling industry apart. While many in the conference room appeared curious to learn more about the issue, others scoffed at the mere mention of "video games".

Perhaps that's why Gamble Aware wanted to address the issue head on, holding a series of panels and discussions which debated a variety of gambling related issues within video games - skin-betting, social games, esports and, of course, loot boxes.

Read more…

The Last Jedi update has arrived in Star Wars Battlefront 2. This first major dollop of DLC is free and brings new heroes (Finn and Phasma), new maps (Crait and D'Qar), new hero ships (Tallie Lintra and an upgrade for Poe) and new story chapters.

Importantly, these new story chapters will not spoil The Last Jedi film. Here are the spoiler guidelines tweeted by Battlefront 2 writer Mitch Dyer.

The 9.79GB update also includes significant balance changes for all Star Wars Battlefront 2 heroes, particularly Lando, Emperor Palpatine and Chewbacca, who've been buffed. There are no outright nerfs although Boba Fett has been neutered slightly and Yoda's Presence, and Rey's Mind Control, have been sorted out so they don't interfere with other people's abilities.

Read more…

EA DICE has put out a new trailer for The Last Jedi content coming to Star Wars Battlefront 2 next week, and in it we get a glimpse at Iden Versio, the game's single-player story protagonist, decades later as an older lady.

I can't think of many games which have a storyline revolving around an older lady, so it's nice to see.

We're also given a glimpse of a person whose identity we've wondered about since the end of Battlefront 2's campaign, if you catch my drift - but there's no groundbreaking revelation to report.

Read more…

The first of EA's adjustments to the loot box ecosystem in Star Wars Battlefront 2 have gone live but they're insignificant and skirt the bigger issue. In other words, the loot box system remains the same.

What's changed is the speed at which you can earn things.

End-of-round credit pay-outs have been upped across the board, "specifically bumping the top players on each team by even more". This means skilled players will earn credits more quickly.

Read more…

For nearly two weeks the ability to buy controversial loot boxes in Star Wars Battlefront 2 has been unavailable, greying out the issue of the game being pay-to-win. EA said the ability to spend money in the game would return at "a later date" but we haven't heard anything since.

In that time the fallout caused by Star Wars Battlefront 2 loot boxes has widened. The Belgian Gaming Commission waded in, as did Hawaii State Representative Chris Lee, who publicly denounced EA's game as "a Star Wars-themed online casino designed to lure kids into spending money". With the movie Star Wars: Episode 8 - The Last Jedi fast approaching, the pressure is on.

But EA's resolve remains resolute. Speaking at a Credit Suisse conference yesterday, chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen said, "We're not giving up on the notion of MTX [microtransactions]."

Read more…

It's no secret it's difficult to grind for credits in Star Wars: Battlefront 2 - it's a big part of why so many players were angry at EA implementing paid loot boxes. But several crafty players have found ways to cheat the system, with one trick involving a simple rubber band.

Reddit user Lowberg threw down the gauntlet when he created a "progression droid" (a robot) to "unskillfully collect credits". The elaborate creation uses what look like lollipop sticks to press buttons and move the character around, allowing them to gain credits from a match without actually taking part and without being kicked from the game for being AFK.

But fellow reddit user F0ngen proved there's actually a much simpler way to cheat your way to credits, using a couple of classic rubber bands. F0ngen showed that by attaching a rubber band around each toggle stick and securing its placement to the back of the controller, it actually does the same as Lowberg's robot by keeping the character moving and avoiding being booted as AFK.

Read more…

There's no end in sight to the controversy surrounding loot boxes in gaming, which has crystallised around the launch of Star Wars Battlefront 2.

Last week, the Belgium Gaming Commision began an investigation into the practice of selling lumps of random in-game loot, sparked by the furore kicked up by Battlefront 2 prior to its launch.

Now, the Belgian commission has weighed in with its findings - and deemed loot boxes as "gambling".

Read more…

Lucasfilm has weighed in with its reaction to the Star Wars Battlefront 2 loot crate controversy.

In a statement issued to The Washington Post, a Lucasfilm spokesperson said the production company supported EA's decision to withdraw (for now) the ability to spend money in-game.

"Star Wars has always been about the fans," Lucasfilm stated, "and whether it's Battlefront or any other Star Wars experience, they come first.

Read more…