Blizzard is apparently trying to change the acronym MMORPG to mean Massively Monetized Online Role Playing Game. Gamasutra reports that the developer has opened a new pet store as a branch of the greater Blizzard store. The first virtual offerings available will be a Pandaren Monk and an impossibly cute miniature Kel’Thuzad. The pets are [...]

Gamasutra has posted an interesting (if inappropriately titled) opinion piece about the impact of the game industry’s drift toward favoring the casual gamer. The main thrust of the article is that favoring the casual gamer while still monetizing the core gamer will ultimately result in a more à la carte microtransaction setup than the current, “buy box, receive contents” paradigm.

While he argues that this is ultimately a good thing for core gamers (buy what you want for the amount you’re willing to pay), games like Lumines on Xbox Live Arcade have been sold off piecemeal and suffered no small amount of venom as a consequence.

Another tricky issue is that it’s easy to hide substantial price gouging by breaking it down into numerous smaller scrapes, and it’s difficult to believe that an industry that charges $10-20 for a metal box wouldn’t be tempted.