Welcome to the 1,151st edition of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news, coverage, and
commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Throughout this weekend at BlizzCon, folks like me who haven't
quite drank enough of the Blizzard kool-aid were haunted by one
question: what am I missing from GamesCom? Thanks to the newshounds at
Ten Ton Hammer, I was able to catch up in relatively short order and
I'll share my impressions of the biggest GamesCom headlines and weekend
news items today in Loading... GamesCom MMO Highlights.

The Pulse

You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/41"
   target="_blank">World of Warcraft
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/254">Aion 
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/860">Champions
   Online
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/115">Age of
   Conan
5. EverQuest
   2

Biggest Movers today :

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38"
   target="_blank">EverQuest href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38"
   target="_blank">
   (UP 4 to #19)
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1234">Runes
   of Magic (UP 2 to #14)
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/47"
   target="_blank">Guild
   Wars (UP 2 to #15)

• 7/13
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/109">Darkfall
  NA launch
• 7/21-
  FFXI
  "Moogle Kupo d'Etat" Addon (release date)
• 8/4 -
  World
  of Warcraft Update 3.2 (content patch)

Important
Dates

• 9/4 - 9/6
  - Penny Arcade Expo
  (PAX)
• 9/15 -
  9/18 - GDC
  Austin
• 10/1 -
  10/3 -  href="http://fanfest.eveonline.com/">EVE FanFest

• 8/25
  - CrimeCraft
  (release date)
• 9/1 -
  Champions
  Online (release date)
• 9/9
  - Dungeons
  & Dragons Online Unlimited (release date)
• 9/15 (NEW)
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/177">Fallen
  Earth (release date)
• 9/22
  - Aion
  (release date)
• 10/9
  - Cities
  XL (release date)
• Early 2010
  - APB
  

Loading... Daily

So if Blizzard games aren't your cup of tea, Europe's new
games conference mecca, GamesCom, brought plenty of non-WoW MMO
goodness (though the BlizzCon opening ceremonies were simucast in
Cologne. If you had your head buried in a DirectTV feed or, like me,
were slowly sinking into the floor of the Anaheim Convention Center
standing in line or in a crowd, catch up on the latest on what's
happening around the wide world of MMO gaming with me:

• Star
  Trek Online fans got a 4-part video series done in stunning
  YouTube-esque videography. Doubtless href="http://www.gameguide.nl">Gameguide.nl was
  told not to zoom in on the screen, but were they told not to pan over
  to Andy Velasquez or maybe eliminate some of that nasty head room. Just
  saying. It might not exactly be the kind of video reveal that the
  Cryptic marketing team was planning on, but the game looks great (even
  if space looks a bit busy) and Craig Zinkievich relays plenty of great
  info in his usual exuberant style.
• It must have been the weekend for 4-part series, because
  IGN flexed some media / retailer might and got Bioware to make them a
  video series for Star
  Wars: The Old Republic. The story, full dialogue, and first
  Bounty Hunter and Smuggler missions were what we saw at E3 but couldn't
  film (writeup here). The real goodness begins halfway through the
  second part with the reveal of the Sith Warrior class and Korriban. The
  Warrior has a fairly traditional Warriorness to him, with charge,
  melee, and execute abilities. 
• Aion
  won some awards at GamesCon, most prominently "Best Online Games" from
  German portal giga.de. Clicking that link (NCSoft's, not mine) takes me
  to a prominent ad for "Messe-Babes" which we'll trust isn't as dirty as
  it sounds in German.  Lead Designer Yonchan Lee caught some
  softball questions from the audience, and had fairly unremarkable
  answers about things like PvPvE, but he did raise the possibility of
  instances before level 25, player housing, and mounts used not for
  transportation but for other aspects of the game. With Champions Online
  allowing in-game Twitter, it wasn't a total surprise that the Aion team
  is talking about providing social networking in-roads.
• As you'll see below, a href="http://www.guildwars2.com/en/">Guild Wars 2 teaser
  trailer premiered at GamesCom. The visuals are stunning, and
  a fair amount of the video looks to be taken from in-game, and it'll be
  interesting to see how the Guild Wars (1) community reacts to what
  seems a much more PvE-oriented GW experience.

In other news:

• No more lifetime or 6-month subscription offers are
  available for href="http://www.champions-online.com/exclusive_specials">Champions
  Online - congrats to Cryptic on the sellout. 
• For Fallen
  Earth fans, it's a good news / bad news situation. Bad News:
  Icarus has pushed its release date. Good news: they've only pushed it
  by a week. We've been getting requests to cover Fallen Earth a little
  more fully, so we'll do our best to interface with Icarus in the
  remaining weeks before launch.

What announcement thrilled you the most this past weekend? Share your
thoughts in the href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=45713">Loading...
forum.

From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6">Articles,
News & Events Discussion forum

Guild
Wars 2 Teaser Trailer Premiered at GamesCom

I
love gaming conventions, even when I don't attend them. Big events
usually mean new goodies in the form of information and
media about the upcoming games we're jonesing
for. GamesCom
has been no exception to the New Goodies rule this year. For instance,
NCSoft and ArenaNet unveiled a sweet Guild Wars 2 teaser trailer. I
consider myself well and duly teased...and intrigued. href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=45548">Check
out the thread
to check out the trailer, and then let us know if Guild Wars 2 makes
you feel all funny (like when you climbed the rope in gym class), or if
it leaves you cold.

View
and discuss!

==============================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread

"Yes, that is an awesome
trailer,
but I've obviously missed something here. People talk about Guild Wars
2 like it's the second coming of Christ or something. But, you know,
Guild Wars isn't that amazing; its average combat, generic
settings (thought beautiful) and completely devoid of the persistant
worlds that truely make an MMO.

So...what gives? Why is
everyone so excited about a sequel to a game no one seems to play for
more than a few months before going back to a real MMO?"

- bobfish

==============================

Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!

7 new MMOG home-grown articles today, many from
BlizzCon! 74 in August!
934 in
2009!

New Coverage and Guides At Ten Ton Hammer Today

BlizzCon 2009

• Blizzcon
  '09: Starcraft 2
  Hands-on Preview
  Blizzcon 2009 brought about a ton of new information about Starcraft 2,
  Diablo 3, and the MMOG knockout World of Warcraft. Our very own Adam
  Stow went to Blizzcon and got to play the latest version of Starcraft 2
  so that he can relay his experience back to you. How does the single
  player campaign feel? Will Hydralisks become the new Zerg vs. Zerg
  favorite? Found out our hands-on view of Starcraft 2!
• Video:
  Fan Impressions from BlizzCon 2009
  While the hype and atmosphere of BlizzCon is fun, the best reason to go
  is the discussions, laughs, and arguments you'll have with other fans.
  One of our favorite BlizzCon features is a series of fast-paced,
  unscripted fan interviews we do with BlizzCon attendees, and this year
  we have quite an assortment - from families to a top-ranked guild
  leader to a few folks in costume (and in character) to not one but a
  three-spot of Arthas doppelgangers!

More Articles:

• WoW
  - Trial of the Crusader - Lord Jaraxxus Strategy
  With the 3.2 patch to the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King,
  Blizzard opened up another raid instance for players. The second
  encounter in the Trial of the Crusader raid starts off when a lowly
  Gnome Warlock comes out to summon a felguard for your group to fight.
  Something, however, goes horribly wrong, as it usually does when a
  Gnome is involved, and mayhem ensues.  Instead of a felguard,
  a demon lord is summoned.  Your raid must therefore defeat the
  fearsome Lord Jaraxxus to move on in the Coliseum. Byron "Messiah"
  Mudry walks you through the basics of the fight in this strategy guide.
• Comic
  - Zeroes -
  "A Bit Overpowered"
  Champions Online is based entirely off of superheroes. The big, the
  bad, and the bold all share Millennium City as their home. But what
  about the less than average caped crusaders? Who will tell their story?
  This week, Nothingman finds himself a serious adversary... in a
  low-level tutorial boss named Black Talon?:
• Introduction
  to Aion
  Titles
  Titles in Aion are a bit different than those featured in many other
  MMOGs. In Aion, titles actually provide benefits when used, allowing
  the player to enhance specific stats from certain titles. These boosts
  can enhance battle statistics, flight, and more to aid the player in
  smiting their enemies from the sky. This week we have put together an
  introduction to the titles in Aion to help get you familiar with some
  of the benefits of wearing titles in Aion.
• In
  the Business of Fun: A Video Q&A with The Syndicate's
  Sean "Dragons" Stalzer
  Ten Ton Hammer spoke with The Syndicate's guild leader
  and CEO, Sean "Dragons" Stalzer, on the highlights of the annual world
  conference in 2009, on their current efforts and how they balance their
  guide authoring, consulting, and philanthropic side with the fun of
  gaming in the context of a close knit, friendship-oriented multi-game
  guild. If you want to take your guild to the next level or gain some
  long-term staying power, it's well worth watching this video!
• Interview
  with THQ*ICE for Dragonica Online
  As the massively multiplayer online gaming marketplace continues to
  expand, developers are continuing to push the boundaries of the
  "standard" gameplay that we enjoy. A prime example of that is THQ*ICE's
  upcoming 3D side-scroller, Dragonica Online. Recently unveiled to the
  public via its open beta test, Dragonica is a mixture of cartoon style
  with fast-paced action. Ten Ton Hammer recently sat down with Product
  Manager Ben Serviss to find out more about this fantasy-based action
  MMO.
  
  

Hottest Content:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/blizzcon09">BlizzCon
   2009 href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/blizzcon09">
   Coverage Portal
2. Video:
   Fan Impressions from style="font-weight: bold;">BlizzCon 2009
3. Behind
   Closed Doors with Blizzard - The 2009 Blizzard Summit
4. Blizzcon
   '09: Starcraft 2
   Hands-on Preview
5. BlizzCon
   2009 - The Changing Face of Battle.net
6. Video:
   Fan Impressions from BlizzCon
   2009
7. BlizzCon
   '09 Opening Ceremonies - WoW's Cataclysm
   and Diablo 3's Monk Class
8. In
   the Business of Fun: A Video Q&A with The Syndicate's
   Sean "Dragons" Stalzer
9. WoW
   - Trial of the Crusader - Lord Jaraxxus Strategy
10. Blizzcon
    '09 Costume Contest Gallery

• href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6016857/Invisible-doorways-or-portals-a-step-closer-to-reality-claim-scientists.html">Scientists
  say we are a step closer to being able to create invisible doorways
  Some time in the not-too-distant-future, Tom Cruise can step out
  through the invisible doorway of his invisible closet.
• Woman
  at mechanic's shop: "Oh, and I have a live goat in the trunk."
  Charges are pending from Animal Control.  Her lawyer says,
  “She’s innocent, she plans to bleat the rap, I kid you not.”

Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

-Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team