This week in video games: October 12, 2015

Digital version of Magic: The Gathering goes free-to-play, what the Star Wars: Battlefront beta was like, and how you can look at Valve’s Steam Hardware up close and personal. 

Duels transforms Magic card game for free-to-play space

There’s been a digital version of the card game Magic: The Gathering for a few years, but with Duels the video game version becomes free to play, and becomes an ongoing platform, as opposed to an annual release. 

Virtual coins used for acquiring new cards can be purchased using real money or earned by playing the game. In an interview at E3, lead designer Drew Nolosco explained that hardcore players will be rewarded sufficiently to never need to spend money. 

What’s better is that when you get a booster pack of cards, the system will give you a random selection of cards based on those you don’t already have. No digital doubles here. 

And Duels becomes not only an opportunity for fans of the game to play while on the go, but it provides solid tutorials to help new players learn the mechanics of the game. The artificial intelligence figures out what you’ve done wrong and provides contextual help to help you learn to play better. That assistance extends to the deck building part of the game. When you’re deciding what cards to put into your deck before a game, the AI will show you the best options available to you. 

Magic Duels is available now on iOS, Windows, and Xbox One.

Star Wars Battlefront beta and more

Well, I have to say that playing the Star Wars Battlefront beta sure made me feel like I was in a Star Wars movie. And the graphical fidelity of the game is unbelievable. 

This weekend, as the beta was wrapping up, Electronic Arts announced details of the various modes that are coming when the game is released on November 17. 

There are four missions that are playable by yourself or with a friend: Training, Survival, Battles, and Haro Battles, where you get to become Luke, Vader, and other iconic characters.  

But Battlefront is built for multiplayer, and there are nine different modes for groups of players ranging in size from eight to 40. 

While playing the beta, I got killed a lot in the multiplayer. It’s par for the course, but it gets frustrating. It’s not something I’m going to do a lot. 

So if the only other thing to do in Battlefront is the missions, well, that’s really thin. There’s not a lot there. There certainly isn’t any narrative there. It’s just a big sandbox. Which is fine, for a while. But it’s not the kind of thing that’s going to have me wanting to play it every day.  

Steam hardware coming to EB Games stores in Canada

On November 10, Valve’s gaming hardware gets released to the wild. And while Valve’s Steam service is online only, the company is partnering with EB Games to sell the hardware in retail stores across Canada. 

The Steam Controller and Steam Link will be sold for $60. 

Placing a pre-order before November 10 will get you free copies of Rocket League and Portal 2.

Steam Machines from Alienware (starting at US$450) and Syber (starting at US$500) are also being released on November 10, but are not being sold at EB Games. 

Steam systems from other manufacturers are still planned.