Codemasters' announced today that their MMoRPG, Archlord, will be free to play starting January 4th, with monthly fees done away with in favor of some yet to be announced alternative income streams, such as items shops that take real-world money for in-game goods. I expect to see this sort of pay model pop up more and more, as developers scramble to try and snatch at the scraps dropped from the lumbering World of Warcraft juggernaut.

I wasn't surprised in the least upon receiving this email. I played in the Archlord beta myself and the best thing I can say about the game is some of the character models are pretty nice. Other than that it has a very Korean cookie-cutter MMo feel to it, with little personality at all. Being a character variety whore, the "choose from three races" selling point is completely lost on me. Still, perhaps I'll be tempted to poke about a little more now that I know it won't cost me anything past the initial $30 for the box. Michael Fahey

ArchLord Free To Play [Codemasters - Thanks for reminding me Kenny!]

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