Loading... Steampunked

Welcome to the 1,043rd Edition of Loading...

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The Pulse

You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is Pulse?).

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results for today:

Biggest Movers in the Top 20 today :

All Points Bulletin (APB) (UP 99! to #19)
Champions Online (UP 9 to #14)
Jumpgate Evolution (UP 5 to #8)

Loading... Daily

Loading... it's a thankless job, but no one has to do it.

First, let me iron out a bit of confusion in several emails I received about yesterday's Loading... Vivox's positional audio feature doesn't require a room full of fancy surround sound speakers - just the stereo speakers you probably already have next to your monitor or built into your laptop. It simply means that if one of your mates is talking on your left hand side, you'll hear him more in your left headphone or speaker more than your right. If he's close, you'll hear him more than if he's farther away. It's an interestingly immersive effect - you get a little of it when you're watching a fixed perspective in a movie or TV show, but you really start to notice it when you're moving around and turning in game.

Today's GDC exclusive interview comes from Isa Stamos, formerly of LucasArts (The Force Unleashed) and now Studio Director of Gatheryn. The game is described as "advanced casual" and Stamos uses the word "steampunk" to describe the genre. Being out of touch with anime and other occult influences meant that I really had no clue what steampunk means. "Steam" implies a Victorian era world lacking internal combustion engines and probably electricity too, and "punk," of course, means "baby elephant." As none of the Gatheryn screenshots portrayed elephantine infants in petticoats, I turned to wikipedia to learn that I was right about the Victorian era, but the "punk"in steampunk is a play on "cyberpunk"and seems to refer to a spirit of rebellion not necessarily against human authority but against accepted boundaries in general, especially scientific or theoretical ones. Examples from literary figures that never would have considered themselves steampunk writers (but apparently were) are the invisible man of H.G. Wells and the impossibly deep burrowing and submerging vehicles of Jules Verne.

Think of steampunk as earthbound sci-fi, and the interest in this genre has been gaining ground in the last few years. Maybe that's due to our latent fears about oil scarcity and the generational knowledge that we're pretty much stuck on planet Earth for the foreseeable future, which seemed less probable when our astronauts were doing backflips on the moon (not losing bone density designing Tabula Rasa 2 with Richard Garriott inside an orbiting space station).

But what's especially intriguing about the genre, to me, is that it seems to bridge generations and interests. Goth and anime types get into the fashion end of it, your dad or grandpa (who grew up watching Wild Wild West episodes) probably could too. There's the supernatural influences of fantasy, the otherworldly tech of sci-fi, the superheroic endeavor, all in a Victorian world which seems fairly comfortable and familiar to players of any age and gender (even if it's not always bright and cheerful).

What are your thoughts on steampunk? I'd especially like to hear from those of you that don't enjoy the genre - what don't you like about it? Post in the Loading... forum, or clog up my inbox .

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Dungeons & Dragons Online forum

Is DDO actually any good?

Ten
Ton Hammer community member, dr3amz, stopped by our forum to find out
more about Dungeons & Dragons Online. A (somewhat suspicious)
number of new(ish) members, plus our own former DDO community manager,
Danny "Ralsu" Gourley, and Ten Ton Editor-in-Chief, Jeff "Ethec"
Woleslagle, stopped by to discuss the game that brought pen-and-paper
Dungeons & Dragons to the MMO gaming universe.

Have you
written off Dungeons & Dragons Online as a) old, or
b) twitchy, or c) "not quite an MMO?" I started my career
with Ten Ton Hammer as its DDO community manager, and though I haven't
played the game in quite a while I can say with some authority that
it's d) a little bit of all of the above. But since new AAA MMOGs seem
to be lacking these days, now might might be a good time to revisit the
older ones or, as the case may be for our friend dr3amz, discover them
for the first time. Is DDO worth a look? Check out this thread to learn more or have your say.

==============================
Epic Quote from the Epic Thread

"What
you call lovingly handcrafted dungeons most of the DDO community calls
"Oh look, another sewer quest!" and "Oh look, another cave quest!"
Granted, [Turbine] did add content in the form of some outdoor
quests and some unique outdoor areas leading to the quests."

- Teebaggins
==============================

Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!

8 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 105 in March! 365 in 2009!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]

Exclusive Gatheryn GDC '09 Interview - Creating an Advanced Casual MMOG
Whenever a developer for a multi-million dollar smash hit like The Force Unleashed packs up her things and moves to a different development company, people perk up and take notice. That’s exactly what happened when former-LucasArts employee Isa Stamos joined up with MindFuse as the studio director to help create the upcoming “advanced casual” MMO Gatheryn. While at GDC, the Ten Ton Hammer staff was able to chat with Isa about the finer points of Gatheryn and how this game may be a gateway for players not exactly familiar with the MMO experience. Read on!
How Can Champions Online Integrate Playable Villains?

Cryptic wants to bring the world of superhero action into reality for players all over the world. Work on their upcoming masterpiece, Champions Online, continues but what would it be like with fulltime player villains? This week we look at how this could become reality and point out what is already designed, a few things needing work, how to get into beta and why artists fear bright light.
Aion "Ishalgen" Tour Video

The only people who aren't excited about the graphics in Aion are the ones who haven't seen how good NCsoft's latest game looks so far. Ten Ton Hammer has just uploaded a recent video tour of the Ishalgen zone to give fans more to drool over and to convert the heathens who haven't seen the title yet.
This video features snow-covered mountains, luminescent ponds, deciduous forests cities in caverns and more crammed into one small island. Enjoy it here!
'City of Sinners and Saints' Intro Video

City of Sinners and Saints aims to combine the boring two-dimensional platform of social networking sites with the fun and interaction of 3D gaming. To accomplish its goal, the game offers a 3D cartoon city with shops for in-game and real life purchases, player housing, and minigames. To add an element of tension, gamers can play out their own moral dilemmas by choosing the Sinner or Saint alignment at character creation.Multiverse recently released an introductory video to help spread the word about the concept behind City of Sinners and Saints. Now you can enjoy that video right here at Ten Ton Hammer.
geeked: "Naivety"

Ten Ton Hammer's very own satirical webcomic on all things geek-related is back with a reminder to all ancillary TV show characters: you are mortal. Poor Jimmy, fledgling janitor of Starfleet, never saw it coming.
Be sure to catch up on any issues of Geeked you've missed by visiting our Comics Portal. Don't forget to rate your favorites while you're at it!
World of Warcraft: Northrend Reputation Guide for Mages

World of Warcraft: Northrend Reputation Guide for Hunters

Gearing up at level 80 in World of Warcraft can be done in many different ways, but one of the most productive ways you can go about it is by earning reputation. The advantages to reputation items is that they can be earned completely solo if need be (though it's much faster by grouping). David Piner outlines for us some of the rewards mages can look forward to with the proper Northrend Reputation, while Stacy Jones reveals tips for the Hunter crowd.

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:

Real World News

Brazillian footballer forced to wear dress in training

The player initially took the joke in stride, but stopped laughing when they started the waxing session.
World's oldest horse turns 44

Still ruminating over plans for possible 'Sex and the City 2' movie deal.
Robot fashion model no challenge yet to human rivals [Link courtesy of Matt N!]

Weighing in at a hefty 95 lbs, is far to heavy to model typical practical fashion. Plans to top up and purge hydraulics regularly to make the cut.
China plans Karl Marx musical [Link courtesy of Matt N!]

Organizers still searching for actors to play Harpo, Zeppo.

Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

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

To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Gatheryn Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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