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is the premier daily
MMOG news and commentary
newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
Welcome
to the 1,356th
edition
of Loading...
Ever wonder what it's like to wander through the seamless
fantasy worlds of E3? Wonder what sorts of minions and boss mobs you
might encounter there? Are booth babes considered yard trash? Reuben
"Sardu" Waters reveals all in today's
href="http://tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/jun/16">Loading...
Seamless (Almost) E3.
The
Pulse
You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse (What
is The Pulse?).
Today's
top 5 Pulse results this week:
- World
of Warcraft -
EverQuest
II (UP 2) -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/43">EVE
Online - Age
of Conan -
Lord
of the Rings Online (UP 2)
Biggest
movers today:
-
5/1
- href="http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/game_updates/issue_17/issue_17_overview.html?utm_source=COHemail&utm_medium=US&utm_campaign=banner"
target="_blank">City
of Heroes - Issue 17: Dark Mirror
(content
update) -
5/11
- Age
of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer
(expansion) -
5/26
- EVE
Online: Tyrannis
(expansion) -
5/27
- Craft
of Gods
(release) -
6/9
- Mortal
Online
(release)
Releases
- June
29,
2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998"
target="_blank">APB
(US release- July 2 in UK, EU) - July
13, 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1801"
target="_blank">Mytheon
(release)
- July
20,
2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2461"
target="_blank">Need
for Speed World (release) -
TBA
2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2079"
target="_blank">Final
Fantasy XIV
Upcoming
Events
-
style="font-weight: bold;">6/15 -
6/17 - target="_blank">E3
Expo -
style="font-weight: bold;">6/25 -
6/27 - target="_blank">Looking
for Group
Expo -
style="font-weight: bold;">7/22 -
7/25 - target="_blank">Comic-Con
International -
style="font-weight: bold;">8/5 -
8/8 - href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/" target="_blank">SOE
Fan Faire 2010 -
style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
9/6 - target="_blank">DragonCon -
style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y" target="_blank">BlizzCon -
style="font-weight: bold;"> 3/24
-
3/26 (2011)- target="_blank">CCP
FanFest
Loading... Daily
Today Team Hammer hit the ground running at
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/e3">E3 2010,
I can honestly say that the show has lived up to my
expectations so far, if not outright surpassed them. To put the show
into some kind of perspective at least in terms of size and scope, this
springs PAX East was like going through the gaming event newb zone
whereas E3 is the massive continent where youll spend the bulk of your
leveling experience. There were even a few random epic boss encounters
thrown into the mix, which Ill get to in a moment.
The majority of the E3 is a seamless world, with two larger
landmasses known as the West and South Halls where the bulk of the
action takes place. Interestingly enough though, E3 does employ the
tried and true zone loading mask of separating the two larger zones
with long hallways ala the first Mass
Effect. Branching off from the
main show zones there are also a sizable number of instances which the
E3 devs have dubbed meeting rooms.
For our first day of the show, we split the bulk of our time
between
these two main zone types, with plenty of interesting happenings
in between. While well have plenty of hot content fresh from
the show
floor to serve up throughout the week, in the meantime I thought Id
share some of the more interesting things I got to experience on day 1
that may not exactly be worthy of stealing headlines or stopping any
presses, but were none the less epic in their own rights.
For
example, as I made my way into the Ubisoft booth to check out
style="font-style: italic;">Might and
Magic: Heroes Kingdoms, I suspected that there must have
been some kind
of particularly awesome spectacle on display due to the sheer volume of
people exiting the private meeting area in one giant clump. Upon closer
inspection, it turns out that Steven Spielberg was on hand and making
his way through the booth which was causing quite the commotion. I
tried my best to snap off a quick picture but unfortunately the best I
could manage amongst the churning seas of people was a shot of the back
of his head.
Naturally I also made sure to snap off a fair
number of images of the various booth babes who were more than happy to
strike a pose for anyone who felt so inclined as to point a camera in
their direction. Well have a sizable collection of these to share with
you later in the week, but for the time being I thought Id at least
share a couple of my first day favorites.
I stumbled into Catwoman as I exited the SOE booth straight
after
seeing the latest from DCUO and an excellent discussion on the future
of EverQuest II with senior producer Dave Georgeson. For those of you
who caught Savanjas
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/editorials/veliouspredictions">EQ2
Expansion Predictions earlier this week, lets just say that
was only one small part of the much longer discussion Ethec and I had
with Dave.
As
for DCU, while I had to scamper to the Ubisoft booth to nearly get
steamrolled by Spielberg fans before getting a chance to get some hands
on time with the game, from what Ive seen its been bumped up to
priority status for me once I get some time to squeeze it in.
Details
from todays meetings will be hitting the Hammer shortly, and then
tomorrow well be making our way to see
style="font-style: italic;">Rift,
style="font-style: italic;">End of Nations and
style="font-style: italic;">Final
Fantasy XIV. I expect big things from FFXIV in particular,
at least if
the massive presence the title has at the show is any
indication.
Join us in the Loading... forum for E3 banter. It's like being there!
(Or not.)
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day
From our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=426">Loading...
forum
Loading...
A Letter From Camp...er, E3
Yesterday's
Loading... thread turned into a defacto wish list from our community as
they piled up their hopes and dreams for E3 2010 in digital format.
Which games have you starry-eyed with anticipation?
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=51900">Tell
us!
==============================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"Give us TOR or give us death!"
- OneEyeRed
==============================
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
5 Ten Ton Hammer features today! 58 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in June! 648
in 2010!
style="color: red;">HOT! E3 2010
COVERAGE
The
Agency Q&A with Lead Designer Rory McGuire [Video
Interview]
title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/agency-interview"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/agency-interview">http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/agency-interview
It's been a long wait to hear
something new about The Agency, but Lead Designer
Rory McGuire made it worth our while with a first ever look at PvP and
four of the game's classes in a gorgeously rendered PvP / PvE map where
players attempt to thwart Omen's evil plans. 'You are what you
wear' is an important concept in the spy vs.spy game, and the featured
Recon class donned wall-hacking glasses, flares which instantly
teleport you to a ally in need, and weapons gorgeously rendered right
down to the serial number.
Clone Wars Adventures
Q&A with Producer Todd Carson [Video Interview]
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/star-wars-clone-wars-adventures-interview">http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/star-wars-clone-wars-adventures-interview
We
had a pleasure of exploring the lighter side of the force with Clone
Wars Adventures at E3 2010 just a week after its reveal. Aimed at a
tween audience, CWA is an asset-light variation on the SOE's Free
Realms
theme with just a handful of persistent areas but dozens of fun
mini-games and flash games meant to test your Jedi skills. Producer
Todd Carson showed us a number of these mini-games.
Lord of the Rings Online
Heads South at E3
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/lotr-heads-south-at-e3">http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/lotr-heads-south-at-e3
Speculation
has been rampant as to just what Turbine has planned for E3. Everything
ranging from a new Harry Potter MMOG to the Rohan expansion for LotRO
has been speculated and discussed tirelessly by fans. So what did
Turbine have in store? Ten Ton Hammer got the chance to find out
earlier today at E3 2010.
As Real As it Gets A
First Look at Test Drive Unlimited 2
http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/tdu2-preview
While
immersion seems to get less attention today as many games are focusing
on fast action, Atari is going a different route with Test Drive
Unlimited 2. We got our first look at the game at E3 2010,
and we
gotta say, immersion kicks ass.
style="font-weight: bold;">
FEATURED EDITORIAL
Sins of a Solar Spymaster #46 The Facebook Expansion
http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/spymaster/46
The
Mittani has waited a few weeks after the Tyrannis expansion for Eve
Online to write his review of it. Does the expansion enhance the gaming
experience of Eve Online? Read Sins of a Solar Spymaster #46 The
Facebook Expansion to glean his thoughts on the latest development.
Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/star-wars-clone-wars-adventures-interview">
style="font-weight: bold;">Clone Wars Adventures
Q&A with Producer Todd Carson -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/agency-interview">
style="font-weight: bold;">The Agency
Q&A with Lead Designer Rory McGuire -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/tdu2-preview">As
Real As it Gets A First Look at Test
Drive Unlimited 2 -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/lotr-heads-south-at-e3">
style="font-weight: bold;">Lord of the Rings Online
Heads South at E3
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/cataclysm/press-event-details">New
Details on Raids, Guilds, Glyphs and More in Cataclysm -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/cataclysm/changing-face-of-azeroth">The
Changing Face of Azeroth in Cataclysm -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/apb/key-to-the-city">APB
Keys to the City Pre-Launch Event Giveaway -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lego/interviews/seabury-jun-2010">MMO
Building Blocks - An Exclusive LEGO Universe Q&A with Ryan
Seabury -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/cataclysm/visual-tour">A
Visual Tour of the New Azeroth in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/microcosms/2010/june/23">Microcosms:
Gaming for Freedom Aika Online Review
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Reuben "Sardu" Waters and
the Ten Ton Hammer team