Nintendo is enabling the Wii U with NFC technology that will most likely be used to process microtransactions. Many smartphone manufacturers, carriers and credit card companies are teaming up to create their own unique NFC payment services that are expected to really take off over the next few years. Nintendo will be the first videogame more »

City of Heroes has finally switched to a free-to-play model with City of Heroes: Freedom. Starting right now, everyone who is even mildly interested in this MMO can try it out at no risk to their wallets. The game has been broken into player tiers – free, premium and VIP. Each tier has its benefits, but there is plenty of free content to try before taking the plunge.

Google released games for Google+ yesterday. This was immediately seen as a move against Facebook. Facebook responded by redesigning the way it presents games on its social network. Facebook’s goal is to get more users to play games through a bombardment of notifications. At this point, Facebook’s games still vastly outnumber Google+’s offerings. It will take a while for Google+ to catch up to Facebook in terms of the number of games and total users. Google+ does have an advantage over Facebook however. Google doesn’t ask for much money.

In-app purchases are very common in iOS and Android games. These games can be played for free, but things usually don’t really pick up until the customer spends real money. Many of these games such as the recent hit Tiny Tower, move along at a slow pace. Players are enticed to spend real money on in-game currency in order to speed things up. A recent study by Flurry, an analytics company, showed that $14 is the average amount spent by gamers who make in-app purchases.

Last week, Valve started allowing free-to-play games operate on its digital distribution platform Steam. The microtransaction business model in games is one that works. It’s especially popular in MMORPGs. Through this method, we’ve seen seemingly doomed games such as APB get reborn with a new audience. Now Valve may be trying its hand in the free-to-play space.

Steam is the biggest digital distribution service for games right now. If publishers want their PC games to gain some traction in the marketplace, it behooves them to put it on Steam. Up until recently, every game on Steam had to be paid in full before you can play them. That has all changed because Valve now supports free-to-play games as well.

In a response to pressure brought on by politicians and an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, Apple has decided to slightly alter the in-app purchasing system for iOS devices. Apple has come under fire recently after numerous reports of children accumulating large bills through games downloaded from the App Store. Games such as Smurfs’ Village are free to download, but require real money to purchase smurfberries. Smurfberries help to speed up progress in the game, and has become quite lucrative for its publisher Capcom.

Facebook Credits launched last year. Facebook Credits is a currency system that is used to purchase in-games items on the social network. Some developers have their own virtual currency, but Facebook Credits soon work with every game on the network. Starting on July 1, 2011, Facebook will make Facebook Credits mandatory for every game.

This week has had a similar theme when it comes to subscriptions in games. Star Wars: The Old Republic came under fire by the CEO of Bigpoint because it uses a subscription model. Bigpoint’s CEO said he doesn’t think The Old Republic will ever make a profit because more money is in microtransactions, not subscriptions. Also this week, K2 Network was reported to have purchased the rights to APB. K2 offers a number of Free2Play games and APB may adapt that formula as well.

Warner Brothers has announced that the free-to-play (F2P) version of the Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) will launch on September 10, 2010. Developer Turbine added this pricing option as a result of the incredible success when their other MMORPG, Dungeons and Dragons Online went F2P in 2009.