Well, it’s now official – WildStar will be going Free-To-Play later this year. It was only a few weeks ago that we were were speculating on such a thing, but it appears that Carbine have been listening and are ready to start making their move. Best of all, the information we have been given so far has fallen in line with expectations and avoided the dreaded “pay to win” tag.

So, in case you haven’t seen the news, here’s what is happening. This Autumn, WildStar will be going Free-to-play with all current content – which includes all 50 levels, dungeons, adventures, raids, and PvP – available to everyone who downloads the game. Meanwhile, those who subscribe as a 'Signature' player will be given bonus XP and reputation gains, additional character slots, more costume slots, and extra bank tabs. This is on top of a microtransaction store that will deal in NCoins, allowing players to buy customisation pieces and consumable convenience items similar to subscriber perks.

Admittedly there’s still plenty of work to be done before then, and it’s a shame we will have to wait until autumn for this switch to happen, but I’m just glad more people will be able to experience WildStar for themselves. It is, after all, a fun and colourful theme park MMO.

Overwatch, Blizzard's answer to Team Fortress 2, is looking better every time we see it. This new video shows us ten minutes of gameplay footage from the eyes of gunslinger McCree, who channels every Spaghetti Western you've ever seen as he fans the hammer and guns down his opponents.

Like what you see? Sign up to the beta.

Stop the presses. Microsoft has announced that Fable Legends, the asymmetrical multiplayer next chapter of Lionhead's parody RPG franchise, will be free to play on Windows 10 and Xbox One.

No, not just available as a demo. F2P.

"You’ll be able to play Fable Legends from beginning-to-end without spending a penny," proclaims the announcement. "That means you’ll have access to the entirety of Fable Legends’ storyline and all of the quests we release this year and forever. Everything in Fable Legends that affects gameplay can be earned by simply playing the game."

There will of course be a premium currency, but otherwise you're free to take on the role of hero or villain for nothing.

Which is absolutely fantastic news, because to be perfectly honest we'd completely lost interest.

January tends to be a lean long month. After the Christmas festivities and sales become distant memory, many of us come crashing down to Earth as a yawning chasm stares back from where our bank balances used to be.

We and HUKD are on hand to secure you some cheap games deals, but it's perfectly possible to play great games into February and beyond without paying anything at all! To this end, here are what we'd consider to be the hottest free games around at the moment -- whether totally free or F2P -- that will save you a few quid and save you some money to splurge on this year's biggest upcoming titles.

This isn't by any means a comprehensive list (how could it be?), so make sure to share your favourite free games with us and fellow readers in the comments!

Honourable mentions (that you're totally playing already): Team Fortress 2, World Of Tanks, World Of Warplanes, SWTOR, Black Mesa Source, Neverwinter, MINIDAYZ

10: Warframe [PC, Xbox One, PS4]

"I absolutely adore Warframe despite its rough edges and questionable economy. Since 'grind' is just another word for 'annihilating hordes of foes as an awesome space ninja,' featuring plentiful surprises, addictive progression, strong co-op, overlapping gameplay systems and gorgeous art design, I can forgive any number of niggling flaws" - 7/10 Editor's Choice Warframe review

Numerous free updates have massively improved the console versions post-review, but I have to point out that the PS4 and Xbox One player base is incredibly advanced and relatively sparse. As such, you might find it difficult to group for early-game content - so I'd suggest jumping in with three friends from the start!

The Nosgoth Immortal Pack is now £6 at Green Man Gaming (with code). Click here to buy it now >>

For the next four hours, you can pick up the Nosgoth Immortal Pack for £6 at Green Man Gaming, just be sure to use the voucher code 726B15-MPNMO3-FJLGSJ. The free-to-play PvP title is still in beta, but you can jump in right now with a host of gold and goodies that normally cost £29.99. Here's what you get:

• 15,000 Gold
• Immortal Badge
• 10 invites (w/250 Gold)
• Warband Name Reservation
• 5 Silver War Chest
• 5 Goldemn War Chest
• Immortal Founder's 30 Day Booster
  • (+100% XP & Gold, +50% Shared)
• Founder’s Reaver Skin
• Founder’s Scout Bow
• Founder’s Hunter Crossbow
• Early Access to Sentinel Class
• Early Access to Scout Class
• 6 Weapon Name Tags

Bookmark our games deals stream for further savings!

Keep checking in for more #gamedealalerts on Dealspwn.com and follow us over on Twitter and Facebook for by-the-minute updates.

We haven't checked in officially with Square Enix's humans-vs-vampires, team-based, slay-em-up -- Nosgoth -- for some time now. But with the game on the cusp of moving into open beta this winter, and with a host of tweaks and improvements having been made to the game in recent months, I sat down this week with Community Manager Cat Karskens to have a bit of a natter.

Throughout the last few days, Nosgoth has been enjoying the Halloween-themed Devil's Night event, delivering random drops of ghostly goodness for players, and unique items that are only obtainable this week, but will last permanently once collected. I talk to Karskens about the ongoing festivities, the feedback that Psyonix and the team at Square Enix have been receiving, where the game is headed in terms of improved features and new classes, and how accessibility and monetisation will shift once the open beta begins.

You can check out the official site here.

Peter Moore is talking utter balls

I like Peter Moore. He adds an enormous amount to this industry, and for the most part he's frequently been one of the few publisher bigwigs to hold his hand up when his company has done something a little silly. He's a man who's clearly passionate about this industry, and in a world of corporate doublespeak, shameless PR agendas, and cries of corruption, he seems like one of the industry's straight shooters.

But every so often, in the role of protecting and endorsing Electronic Arts, he occasionally says something worthy of a double-facepalm.

The latest debacle? Well, apparently we core gamers are resistant to change, and that's why we've not taken kindly to EA's attempts to foist microtransactions upon us.

Following a successful beta earlier this year, Ace Combat Infinity is too close for missiles and other lazy Top Gun references.

In fact, let's get them out of our system now, shall we? You can be my wingman any time. Highway to the Danger Zone. Take me to bed or lose me forever. Yeehaw, Jester's dead! Paging Doctor Loggins... oh, hang on, that was an Archer reference.

Never mind, because the take-home message here is that Ace Combat Infinity will release on the European PSN on May 28th. It's free-to-play and designed about competitive co-op, set in the modern day yet taking bosses, familiar faces and enemies from brilliant Strangereal universe, making it the gutsiest move I ever saw, Mav. Come on, I had to leave one for last. Matt delivered a hands-on preview if you want a closer look.

If you read my Nosgoth preview earlier in the week, you'll know that things are coming along very nicely indeed with Square's F2P PvP arena shooter. In fact, I'll let Past Matt tell you exactly what I thought:

I had a blast with Nosgoth but I want to see more. We were only playing 4-v-4 team deathmatch. I want more modes, inventive game types. I'd love to see bigger maps and more combatants. Beacham mentioned the War For Nosgoth mode, which is basically the ranked tournament mode for the game that'll become available at regular time intervals, but I'm still curious as to how Psyonix and Square are planning on keeping players hooked for the long haul. I had fun, sure, but I'll need more if I'm going to invest time, let alone money, in the long term. Hopefully, we'll be able to bring you an update on that soon as we jump into the game's beta.

As for that last line, well, we're in! And to give you a better idea of how matches unfold in Nosgoth, here's a little Dealspwn Playthrough video showcasing my first match in the beta, and delivering some more information on the three basic classes for each faction and how battles unfold in the war between Humans and Vampires.

Psyonix and Square Enix's free-to-play, asymmetrical PvP shooter Nosgoth is in closed beta right now, and we had a chance to check out some of the new classes and muck about in the game last week.

You can check out my Nosgoth preview here, and here are a few thought I had following my hands-on:

I had a blast with Nosgoth but I want to see more. We were only playing 4-v-4 team deathmatch. I want more modes, inventive game types. I'd love to see bigger maps and more combatants. Beacham mentioned the War For Nosgoth mode, which is basically the ranked tournament mode for the game that'll become available at regular time intervals, but I'm still curious as to how Psyonix and Square are planning on keeping players hooked for the long haul. I had fun, sure, but I'll need more if I'm going to invest time, let alone money, in the long term. Hopefully, we'll be able to bring you an update on that soon as we jump into the game's beta for an extended stint.

Afterwards, I sat down for a chat with Square Enix game director Bill Beacham to talk about Nosgoth, how important its been to the dev team to leverage the extensive lore that the universe and the Kain IP have to offer, the challenges faced in creating a game that has two tyeams with very different playstyles, and how Square Enix are looking to make a F2P game that is all about growing the community first and monetising second.

Nosgoth is a free-to-play, third-person, asymmetrical PVP arena shooter set in the Legacy of Kain universe.

Frankly just typing that sentence feels weird; wrong, almost. But for all of the scepticism I had about Nosgoth, it plays pretty damn well and is underpinned by an absolute truckload of lore. Psyonix and Square Enix have their eyes on an untapped niche in the free-to-play, competitive market. They're gunning for the e-sports scene and are determined to make a splash, not by copying the successes of those games such as League of Legends or Warface that have gone before, but by trying something rather different.

Nosgoth is certainly that. Pitting Humans against Vampires, the game sets teams of four players against one another, before changing things up at halftime and swapping teams over to the other faction. We've seen that most recently in games of Capture the Flag in Titanfall, forcing players to attack and defend both sides of the map, but here the implementation is designed to showcase the two very different playstyles of the warring factions.

In order to be good at Nosgoth, you need to be adept with both Humans and Vampires.

Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley has outlined in greater detail the approach to monetisation that the company will be taking with upcoming free-to-play zombie survival title H1Z1.

As we reported yesterday, the game will be free when it launches, although players will be able to get stuck into Early Access for $19.99. But the announcement whipped up a little bit of confusion and anxiety, as do most ambitious F2P titles when they're announced, and familiar questions began to pop up: will it be pay to win? What sort of things can your money buy in-game? How will the game be balanced to ensure a good experience for those who don't want to drop a penny while still managing to make some money?

"You will be surprised to hear we have intentionally left the decisions about what to monetize until we can hear from you," wrote Smedley in a second Reddit update. "This isn't some contrived thing. I'm being serious. It is a nearly blank slate."

SOE are seeking feedback, then, from the community on how to best proceed on this front, but Smedley did lead off with five pointers that'll underpin the basic monetisation mechanisms of H1Z1.

War Thunder will not be coming to Xbox One any time soon. Why? Well, apparently because Microsoft won't allow cross-play between PC and Xbox One, according to the game's publisher Gaijin Entertainment.

Platform: Nintendo 3DS (eShop | F2P, premium upgrade £8.99)

Developer: Nintendo EAD

Publisher: Nintendo

Shigeru Miyamoto has always wanted to make a game about submarines, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop him.

We love the idea -- after all, the mighty sub really doesn't get the attention it deserves, beyond Silent Hunter -- but Steel Diver didn't set the gaming world on fire back in 2011. We enjoyed its bonkers side-scrolling depth-charging gameplay as far as it went... which turned out to be about thirty minutes thanks to the ludicrously short campaign, so I must admit to loosing an exasperated growl when Miyamoto announced a sequel to his pet project.

However, Sub Wars is a very different beast from the niche original: a first-person free-to-play multiplayer arcade submarine simulator. As such, it's the best one of those on the (any?) platform by default, but is it actually worth your time and an optional £8.99 premium upgrade?

This week on Game Buzz, Matt and Jon expose themselves as the enormous Xbox fanboys that they are; we ask if Call of Duty: Ghosts is actually any good; we have a chat about why not even a cool half million can tempt us back to GTA Online; we ask if Nintendo is doomed under Iwata after his wishy-washy response to an investor grilling; and we ponder upon Square Enix's realigned focus on F2P and mobile.

Game Buzz | Episode 54 - Xbone Fanboys. Recorded 8th November, 2013.

Parental Advisory: We've tried to keep it as conversational and informal as possible, and you should be warned that there may be some instances of strong language.

Want more? Check out the rest of our PWNCAST posts onsite, hit us up on iTunes, or subscribe to the PWNCAST Feed here.

Square Enix' latest financial report has raised eyebrows right off our faces, in that it details a somewhat controversial new gameplan. Going forward, the publisher intends to massively ramp up their freemium and mobile offerings, and shift their "overseas studios" to developing online games.

Studios like Eidos Montreal and Crystal Dynamics, perhaps?

Game Buzz this week sees the next-gen battle hotting up nicely. As the PS4 begins to roll out in the US, we debate the resolution disparity between the PS4 and Xbox One in a couple of key third-party titles like BF4 and COD Ghosts; we have a bit of a chat about Microsoft locking down Titanfall's exclusivity in perpetuity; we take note of the Wii U still having a negative impact on Nintendo's profits; we mark the death of the Command & Conquer F2P experiment before it really began properly; and we ask what Jonathan Ross can bring to Microsoft's PR campaign.

Game Buzz | Episode 53 - My Graphics Are Better Than Yours. Recorded 1st November, 2013.

Parental Advisory: We've tried to keep it as conversational and informal as possible, and you should be warned that there may be some instances of strong language.

Want more? Check out the rest of our PWNCAST posts onsite, hit us up on iTunes, or subscribe to the PWNCAST Feed here.

F2P C&C RTS RIP

Command & Conquer has been canned after players heavily criticised the free to play economy and gameplay in a recent closed alpha - leading to Victory Studios being disbanded.

However, the franchise will apparently return down the line, perhaps in a more traditional format.

Platform: PC (F2P, browser)

Developer: Crytek

Warface is a free to play military shooter, and that's perhaps the only interesting thing I can say about it.

It's a shooter. You can play it for free. It's a free to play shooter. Khaki-clad tough guys run and slide around some intimate maps, fragging each other for points and currency, forever. Sometimes the maps are grey, sometimes they're brown. Often they're both grey and brown, occasionally even throwing in a little green to blow our tiny minds. Now we're in a dusty middle-Eastern street. Oh look, a favela! Gosh, Crytek are really spoiling us with this nondescript rusty hangar full of anonymous gun-toting murderers.

Indeed, it's hard to shake the idea that we've played Warface a thousand times before, save that this CryEngine-powered shooter is actually playable in-browser without a client, spearheads a brand new social platform and includes fully-featured cooperative modes alongside traditional team-based multiplayer...

...ooh. Actually, that is quite interesting. Let's run with it.

Warface. Warface. We're still not sold whether Crytek's F2P shooter has a brilliant or terrible name, but it's most certainly fun to say. Regardless, it's also now live in the UK, Europe and United States, meaning that you can sign up and play for free here. It was shaping up to be shiny and solid if very generic, and is doubly notable for running in-browser thanks to the new Gface platform. Which will hopefully work properly, at least after any inevitable launch issues are sorted.

We've got a launch trailer below. Interested?