Welcome
to the 1,319th
edition
of Loading...

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

The biggest news
story in the wide world of MMOGs this week was undoubtedly the Warner
Bros. acquisition of Turbine. While it remains to be seen exactly what
kind of impact this will have on the future of fan favorites DDO and
LotRO, certain elements of the deal are worth a closer inspection. Join
Jeff
“Ethec” Woleslagle as he
takes his best spaghetti western
inspired shot at it today in Loading… The Good, the Bad and
the Ugly

cellspacing="0" width="100%">

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
are today's top 5 Pulse results:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
   of Warcraft
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest
   II 
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ddo">Dungeons and
   Dragons Online (UP 2)
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">EverQuest
   (UP 9)
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aoc">Age of Conan
   (down 2)

Biggest
movers this week:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/42">Star
   Wars Galaxies (UP 29 to #19)
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/183">Guild
   Wars 2 (UP 5 to #8)
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star Wars:
   The Old Republic (down 3 to #17)

size="-1">Recent Releases

• size="-1">2/1
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
  Agenda (release date)
• size="-1">2/2 size="-1">
  - Star
  Trek Online (release date)
• size="-1">2/16
  - href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
  2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)
• size="-1">2/16
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81479"> LotRO:
  Oath of the
  Rangers (content update)
• size="-1">4/5
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83086">Pocket
  Legends (iMMOG - release date)
  
  
  

size="-1">Upcoming
Releases

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1004">

• size="-1">April
  2010 - href="http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/game_updates/issue_17/issue_17_overview.html?utm_source=COHemail&utm_medium=US&utm_campaign=banner">City
  of Heroes - Issue 17: Dark Mirror
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">Spring 2010
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1801">Mytheon
• size="-1">Summer
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB
• size="-1">TBA
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2079">Final
  Fantasy XIV size="-1">
  
  
  
  

size="-1">Upcoming
Events

• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">6/15 -
  6/17 - href="http://www.e3expo.com/">E3
  Expo
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">6/25 -
  6/27 - href="http://www.lfgexpo.com/">Looking
  for Group
  Expo
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">7/22 -
  7/25 - href="http://www.comic-con.org/">Comic-Con
  International
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">8/5 -
  8/8 - href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/">SOE
  Fan Faire 2010
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
  9/6 - href="http://www.dragoncon.org/">DragonCon
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
  10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y">BlizzCon
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">2011: 3/24
  -
  3/26 - href="http://fanfest.eveonline.com/">CCP
  FanFest
  
  
  

Loading... Daily

One of our favorite
Turbine personalities commented on his love of Spaghetti Westerns in a
recent edition of the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live">Ten
Ton Hammer Live podcast, so in
Adam
Mersky’s honor (and because href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros" target="_blank">Warner
Bros. holds the rights to
another set of Clint classics, the Dirty Harry series),
today’s Loading explores the good, the bad, and the ugly
behind href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83555">Warner
Bros. acquisition of Turbine.

The
Good - Turbine has been on
a tear ever since Asheron’s
Call 2 went the way of the
mastodon. Despite lackluster PvP and an
increasing feeling of disconnectedness between new players and the
newest content, href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro">The
Lord of the Rings Online
remains very
strong in our
Pulse numbers and will only continue to gather excitement and attention
as the fellowship inches closer to Mordor. DDO has become a case study
in both free-to-play conversion and execution, and devs would do well
to read up on Fernando Paiz’s interesting comments on how href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gdc2010/ddo">the
microtransaction model democratizes games.

But Turbine also has big
ambitions, and big ambitions need deep
pockets. As in Warner Bros. sized pockets. We know Turbine has set
their sights on a console MMORPG, a feat that few devcos have
accomplished and (in my opinion) none particularly well. Like the old
song, it’s going to take a whole lot of spending money and a
whole lot time to do it right, child.

More interestingly, however, is
that old, entirely unconfirmed rumor
that Turbine is working on a Harry Potter MMORPG. Even if
it’s just a coincidence that Warner Bros. has the film rights
to the Harry Potter series, the acquisition will undoubtedly smooth the
way for Turbine to develop major IPs and licenses in the future, should
such plans suit their WB overlords. I’m holding out for a
Looney Tunes MMORPG, personally.

The
Bad - Warner Interactive,
WB’s game development arm, has
done plenty of light fare - mostly cartoon and film adaptations whose
success, it’s no secret, comes on the strength of the name
rather than their gaming brilliance and panache. Unfortunately, all we
know about Warner Bros. and MMORPGs is href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/207">The
Matrix Online,
which
is
hardly a flattering reference. In fact, it was a game built on a
collapsing IP - though an IP that reported made a cool billion for WB -
and probably was just about as stillborn as an MMORPG can be. Whether
TMO was WB’s way of kowtowing to the Wachowski Brothers or
just an experiment gone bad and promptly sold off and eventually
cancelled, it doesn’t do WB much credit. Whether WB learned
their lesson about what halfways efforts amount to in the MMORPG world
or not could really make or break Turbine just when they were finding
their focus.

The
Ugly - I’m no
expert on valuation, but the rumored $160
million price tag seems pretty low for a company making a mint on DDO
microtransactions and with over a rumored 400K LotRO subscribers too.
Also in the ugly category, Turbine had been the biggest privately owned
games studio in the US, and without the obfuscatory influence of a
major publisher, it was always easier to get the straight dope from
Turbine. That’s likely to change now, if past experience with
assimilated developers is any indicator.

So that’s my take on
the Warner Bros. acquisition of Turbine,
what’s yours? Did WB get a fire sale bargain? Does something
seem rotten? Or are you excited about Turbine’s prospects
with the caliber of IPs Warner Bros. might bring to the table? Share
your thoughts in the Loading... forum!

---

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day



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



href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=50904">Instancing
is Not a 4-Letter Word



Mattlow's
editorial about instancing has sparked a lively debate in our news
forum. Does instancing in an otherwise massively multiplayer game make
you feel isolated? Or is instancing a powerful tool to provide single
players and small groups a fun time without the hassles of camping or
kill stealing? Head over to our forums and you can href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=50904">join
the fray in an instant.



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

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread



"Instancing works for Guild
Wars; I don't think adding large open areas to that game would add
anything to it. In fact, I think it would probably detract a lot from
it."



- Bobfish



"I
completely dissagree. The lack of open areas makes it feel like a
one-player game with levels--you know, the ice level the fire
level etc etc It never feels like a contiguous world, just a series of
small boxes."



- ginzo



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



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

---

New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

87 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in April! 446
in 2010!

BETA
/ PRIZE GIVEAWAY



Mytheon Open Beta Preview Event Mega-Giveaway

Entry URL: href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/mytheon/beta_preview">http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/mytheon/beta_preview



Mytheon,
the upcoming mythology-fueled online action RPG from Petroglyph Studios
and True Games Interactive, is gearing up for open beta on April 28th.
But stress test Mytheon during a special sneak peek event on Friday,
April 23rd any time between 7pm CST and 10pm CST (8pm - 11pm Eastern,
5pm - 8pm Pacific) and you'll be automatically entered for some
incredible prizes!



Lucky Mytheon players from Ten Ton Hammer are eligible win one of the
following:

• One new 16GB iPad!
• Five Mytheon packs
  containing one Mytheon XL shirt and one Mytheon key chain
• One Mytheon hat
• One VERY exclusive Mytheon
  power stone  delivered in game at the time of commercial launch
  

And everyone's a winner with a test key for Mytheon!



Prize
winners will be chosen prior to the start of open beta on April 28th,
check the thread attached for updates. These prizes are exclusive to
accounts keyed for beta in this Ten Ton Hammer giveaway, so head to href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/mytheon/beta_preview">http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/mytheon/beta_preview
and confirm your email address to grab your Mytheon test key and have a
chance at these great prizes!

Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/mytheon/beta_preview">Mytheon
   Open Beta Preview Event Mega-Giveaway
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/editorials/death-penalty">Till
   Death Do Its Part - Death Penalties and Difficulty Sliders in STO
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/reviews">World
   of Warcraft Review Portal
   Launches
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/uimods/reviews/chatter">Chatter
   Like the Mad Hatter – A WoW
   U.I. Mod Review
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/cryptic/interviews/roper_cco">From
   Capes To Beyond! A Q&A with
   Cryptic’s Bill Roper
6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/features/5best-tank">WoW:
   The 5 Best and Worst Things to Do as a Tank
7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/why_cant_mmogs_start_small">All
   Things to All Players: Why Can't MMOGs Start Small?
8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/5rpgs_kickass_mmogs">From
   Tabletop To Online: 5 RPGs That Would Make Kick-Ass MMOGs
9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ddo/guides/dwarven_ranger_build">Dungeons
   and Dragons Online: New Character Build - The Dwarven Ranger
10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83246">Pure
    Artistic Vision - A Guild
    Wars 2 Concept Art
    Q&A with Daniel Dociu

---

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

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