The next Tribes game, Hi-Rez Studios' Tribes Ascend, will be free. It's the loadouts in this online PC shooter that will cost you.
The developer of Tribes Ascend (and free to play online shooter Global Agenda) tells IGN that the game will take a different approach to free to play than games like Team Fortress 2 and the forthcoming Firefall. Tribes Ascend looks to League of Legends for its micro-transaction model, offering players new weapon and armor sets on a regular basis—similar in style to the fortnightly released champions that players can buy in League of Legends.
While the makers of Tribes Ascend have announced the game for PC and Xbox 360, making Hi-Rez's game one of the potential candidates for free to play Xbox Live games that we've been hearing lots of chatter about recently.
Tribes: Ascend — Taking the League of Legends Approach [IGN]