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(AFP) - Free computer game play that is all the rage in South Korean is taking hold in a US market dominated by videogames sold on packaged disks or by online subscriptions.

Seoul-based "free-to-play" computer game titan Nexon on Wednesday blasted into the US videogame arena with a "Combat Arms" online first-person shooter title that makes its cash from optional "micro-transactions" by players.

"Combat Arms had a great beta run, with players of all levels loving the fast-action FPS game play and in-game community features for ranking and challenging other players," said Nexon America spokesman Min Kim.

The game makes its money from players that buy animated helmets, outfits, emblems or other virtual items to customize in-game characters.

To keep the battlefield even, players earn experience or advanced weaponry by skill so people essentially can't pay for power.

"People can't buy uberguns to get a tremendous advantage," Kim said while demonstrating the game for AFP in San Francisco earlier this year.

US videogame powerhouse Electronic Arts (EA) has started investing in free play and is putting the finishing touches on a "Battlefield Heroes " war game supported by in-game transactions instead of up-front purchase prices.

"We expect it to be the world's largest PC (personal computer) action game," 'Battlefield Heroes ' franchise executive producer Ben Cousins said while showing AFP the game recently at EA's offices in Northern California.

"It's a Web project as much as it is a game project. It's what you love and are addicted to about Facebook and what you love and are addicted to from 'Battlefield' smashed together."

Free online shooter games encourage multi-person play in which people form teams, share performance rankings and fight with or against each other.

In a bit of turn-about, EA is tailoring a version of "Battlefield Heroes " for the South Korea market. Early last year EA paid 105 million dollars for a 19 percent stake in Seoul-based online gaming company Neowiz.

Nexon introduced its hot online offering "Maple Story" to the US in 2005 and saw annual revenues here triple after it began selling pre-paid game cards in US stores two years later.

Kim says people prefer prepaid cards to tying credit cards to ongoing subscriptions to online role-playing games as is the case with popular "World of Warcraft."

Kim says personal computers have become a natural gaming forum as people spend massive amounts of time online at social websites such as Facebook , MySpace and YouTube.

"As people live more in front of their computers they are looking for other ways to interact online," Kim said.

Free games are reportedly played by more than a third of South Korea 's population.

"I don't think we are going to get more than a third of North Americans playing our games, but I think there will be some pretty big numbers," Kim said.

"We have those big boys taking our business model and fleshing it out in a Western way."

EA says it believes "Battlefield Heroes " will be a "cross-over game" that lures new people into videogames.

Startups and established game makers including Japanese goliath Sony are venturing into the free computer game market, according to DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole.

"It looks like it could be very big," Cole told AFP.

"It's one of the things everybody seems to be looking at. The challenge is it is a very new model and it remains to be seen whether customers used to a free model will be tight when it comes to actually spending money on it."

The free play model is tempting in a US market where packaged video games typically sell for 60 dollars each but has to compete with gamers devoted to consoles, according to Cole.

"Obviously Nexon has been the biggest success with the model so people are looking at them as a potential leader," Cole said.

The free play model "changed everything" about designing a computer game because the program needs to be simple enough for typical machines and inexperienced players, according to Cousins.

"The game needed to be easier to get into," Cousins said of 'Battlefield Heroes .'

"It's a bit more forgiving than a 'Call of Duty 4' where you go around a corner and get shot dead. Packaged goods are great, but we also need to modernize."

Sounds like a good idea to me. can't wait. TD

It does in fact sound like a great idea. The problem lies in the execution, however. I've played quite a few of these so-called 'free to play' games (from the very same Korean companies listed) over the years and I've never been anything but disgusted when all was said and done. Knight Online comes to mind as one of the worst offenders, but all have at least a good helping of the following:

1. The free to play aspect is just a sham. Just like any good drug dealer, they coax you in with a 'the first one is free' methodology, and you soon learn that unless you spend REAL money to buy *insert game name here* 'credits', then you will never be able to: possess multiple characters, gain access to higher levels, gain access to game breaking equipment, or even play at all since non paying customers don't get playtime slots during 'peak' hours (which can last all day, depending on the title in question).

2. These games are rampant with botters, cheaters, macro users, and everything else you can conceivably think of to take all of the fun out of actually playing the game. At times, it can actually be an accomplishment to merely finish that 'kill 10 bears and bring me the pelts' quest since the only place where bears spawn is camped out by bots who exterminate the mobs before they even spawn...

3. Which leads me to the fact that GM/staff support on these game servers is nonexistent. Problems with a cheater? Submit a ticket. Account issues/can't login? Submit a ticket. My credit card number's been stolen by someone on staff and I'd like my money back? Submit a ticket.

...

And what, you may ask, is a ticket? It's an electronic complaint form you can usually find located on the game's host domain website. You fill it out with your issue, submit it to the nonexistent staff, and the creators pat themselves on the back since their little placebo has just satisfied your desire for resolution. Oh, you may receive an automated email along the lines of "We appreciate your concern and the fact that you've taken the time to contact us with this, and our staff is working on promptly resolving...blah blah blah." And that's the last you'll hear about it.

4. See my previous rant on MMORPGs and why yet another game where you spend your days endlessly bringing back '10 bear skins for 1000 gold reward' is just unnecessary...

In closing, great idea on paper, completely RUINED on execution. Perhaps someone somewhere will figure out the right formula for a free to play archetype, but for the time being...these guys are definitely NOT that someone.

Well maybe EA will be the ones to do it. I guess we'll have to wait and see really.