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is the premier daily MMOG newsletter, only from Ten
Ton Hammer!

Welcome
to the 1,362nd
edition
of Loading...

Last week nearly the
entire gaming industry stood up at once, and the resulting head rush
became known as href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010">E3
2010. Now that the
lightheadedness and visions of
gaming nirvana dancing just over the horizon have begun to subside,
what remains is the age old question that inevitably arrives along with
the afterglow: what’s next? We’ll take a stab at
answering that very question today in Loading… Tomorrow,
Tomorrow.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010"> src="http://images.tentonhammer.com/misc/Loading/e32010.gif"
alt="E3 2010"
longdesc="http://images.tentonhammer.com/misc/Loading/e32010.gif"
height="90" width="210">

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/">What
is The Pulse?).

Today's
top 5 Pulse results this week:

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/lotro">Lord of the
   Rings Online
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aoc">Age of Conan
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/war">Warhammer
   Online

Biggest
movers today:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/42">Star
   Wars Galaxies
   
   -
   down 9 to #17
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">EverQuest
   
   - down 8
   to #15
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/52">Pirates
   of the Burning Sea
   
   - Up 4 to
   #11

• size="-1">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)
• size="-1">5/11
  - Age
  of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer size="-1">
  (expansion)
• size="-1">5/26
  - EVE
  Online: Tyrannis size="-1">
  (expansion)
• size="-1">5/27
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2422">Craft
  of Gods size="-1">
  (release)
• size="-1">6/9
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1004">Mortal
  Online size="-1">
  (release)

• size="-1">June
  29,
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998"
  target="_blank">APB
  (US release- July 2 in UK, EU)
• size="-1">July
  13, 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1801"
  target="_blank">Mytheon
  (release)
  
  
• size="-1">July
  20,
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2461"
  target="_blank">Need
  for Speed World (release)
• size="-1">August
  17, 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/140">City
  of Heroes: Going Rogue (release)
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">October 26, 2010
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/170">LEGO
  Universe (release)
  
  
• size="-1">TBA
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2079"
  target="_blank">Final
  Fantasy XIV size="-1">
  
  
  
  

size="-1">Upcoming
Events

• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">7/22 -
  7/25 - href="http://www.comic-con.org/" target="_blank">Comic-Con
  International
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">8/5 -
  8/8 - href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/" target="_blank">SOE
  Fan Faire 2010
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">8/18 -
  8/22 - href="http://www.gamescom-cologne.com/en/gamescom/home/index.php"
  target="_blank">Gamescom 2010
  
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
  9/5 - href="http://www.paxsite.com/paxprime/index.php" target="_blank">PAX
  Prime
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
  9/6 - href="http://www.dragoncon.org/" target="_blank">DragonCon
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
  10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y" target="_blank">BlizzCon
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;"> 3/24
  -
  3/26 (2011) - href="http://fanfest.eveonline.com/" target="_blank">CCP
  FanFest
  
  
  

Loading... Daily

For those of you unfamiliar
with the music of the late, great Elliott Smith, the title of
today’s Loading… comes from the lead track on his
album titled XO.
In it, the protagonist reflects on how
they’re currently viewed by the world with hopes that
tomorrow will be somehow different or better. Mind you,
that’s just a very surface level take on the song’s
lyrical content, but it’s early and I haven’t had
nearly enough coffee yet this morning, so that will have to do for now!

In a roundabout way, the whole
shebang of a major industry event like
last week’s E3 isn’t all that different than the
protagonist of “Tomorrow, Tomorrow”. It’s
as much a point of reflection about where things stand today for the
gaming
industry as a whole as it is about how amazingly awesome we all hope
it's going to be tomorrow. It’s about building
interest and excitement about the games we’ll all be playing
at random points along an imaginary future timeline, and teasing us
with just enough new information to capture our attention until the
next major outing or gameplay reveal.

As we all know, however, the
MMOG industry is a very different beast.
These aren’t games that you purchase on Tuesday, knock out
the final achievement for on Thursday and then trade in for another
title on Friday. Most MMOGs are designed and built to be played for
much longer periods of time than your standard console game in other
words.

Last week when I was deep in
the E3 trenches, two main things struck
me. The first is that there was very little show floor presence for
established titles. Apart from a smallish portion of the Warner Bros.
booth allotted for Lord of
the Rings Online and a few
fancy fixtures
for EverQuest II
in the SOE booth, there really wasn’t much
there to reinforce the notion that established titles are still out
there kicking ass and taking names.

The second main point that the
show drove home for me is that out of
the massive list of MMOG titles being showcased, perhaps only a handful
of them seemingly have aims at remaining true to the established
gameplay norms that put our favorite pastime on the gaming industry map
to begin with.

Now that we’ve been
given a fairly comprehensive snapshot of
where the MMOG industry is headed over the next year or so, one major
question has stuck with me throughout the majority of the past week
based on those two key points. Namely, is the currently predominant
subscription-based, triple-A MMOG formula inherently flawed in some
major way or are we simply hitting that point where the industry is on
the verge of splintering into numerous subgenres?

For example, if you browse
through our full list of 365 MMOGs,
you’ll notice we have things broken down loosely by genre.
Only those genres are more about the type of setting (fantasy, sci-fi,
super hero) rather than gameplay mechanics like you’d find in
console game categories such as FPS or Action. But with the next wave
of MMOG’s it seems as though all of that is about to change.
Soon we’ll have more clearly defined MMOG genres such as
Racing, Action, Strategy, Third Person Shooter and a whole pile of
others.

So have we finally grown tired
of the same old, same old of
“core” MMO gameplay, or is the industry finally
maturing to the point where more distinct subgenres have begun to
emerge? Let your fingers do the walking (or in this case, clicking)
over to the Loading… forum and let us know what you think!

Sardu's
Epic Thread of
the Day

From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=546">SWTOR
General Discussion Forum



href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=52057">
Beta Begins This Weekend?



Community member href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/member.php?u=7657">SirRobin
seems to have picked up on an interesting
thread over at the official forums for href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star
Wars: The Old Republic.
While
there's no real definitive proof thus far beyond the thread not being
outright locked to new posts, it seems that people have claimed to be
invited to the closed beta beginning as soon as this weekend.
Personally, I'd file this one under the "rumor with a side dish of
rampant speculation" category as I would think an external CBT for TOR
would be hitting the airwaves as a big ticket news item. Still, rabid
fanboys and girls will no doubt be feverishly refreshing their
email
inbox over the next few days just in case it's true!




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

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread



"*wets her pants*



Dear BioWare,

I know I'm not always a good little girl, but if you could
maybe..perhaps..graciously see that I get into beta, I'd be the bestest
fangirl EVER!



Love,



Savanja

XOXOXOXOXOXO" - href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/member.php?u=17">Savanja

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



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

3 Ten Ton Hammer
features
today! 109 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in June! 699
in 2010!

FEATURED EDITORIALS AND
GUIDES



Top Five Guild Wars 2
Gameplay Wish List Items

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/editorials/top-5-gameplay-wishlist">http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/editorials/top-5-gameplay-wishlist

Guild Wars 2 is shaping up to
become one of the greatest MMOGs we have ever seen. Yet, we ask the
question: what would make the game really awesome? David "Xerin" Piner
takes a look at the top five things he'd like to see in Guild Wars 2.

EverQuest II Guide to
Moonlight Enchantments

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/guides/moonlight-enchantments"
target="_blank">http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/guides/moonlight-enchantments

Every month in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest II,
when the moon is just right, hidden realms open throughout Norrath that
allow
adventurers to earn special rewards and engage in limited
quests. The Moonlight Enchantments event is a regularly occurring event
that has hooked many players. Haven't gotten in on it yet? Read up on
what this monthly mini-event is all about and how you can get in on the
fun in our Guide to Moonlight Enchantments.

Buying
& Selling Off the Grid in World of Warcraft

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/selling-off-grid">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/selling-off-grid

It's important to know how to
hawk your wares without the assistance of the Auction House. This can
not only be substantially more profitable than using the Auction House,
it can also help you develop relationships with buyers and sellers that
can be useful in the future. Here we'll go over the best ways to sell
items 'off the grid' and the costs and benefits of doing so.

Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/company-of-heroes-interview">Introducing
   href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/company-of-heroes-interview">Company
   of Heroes Online href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/company-of-heroes-interview">
   - A Video Q&A with Producer Greg Wilson
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/razor-starcraft2-gear">On
   the Bleeding Edge - Razer's New href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/razor-starcraft2-gear">StarCraft
   II href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/razor-starcraft2-gear">
   Gear at E3 2010
   
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/swtor-ohlen-interview"> style="font-weight: bold;">Star Wars: The Old Republic
   - Q&A with James Ohlen
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/swtor-ohlen-interview">WoW
   Patch 3.3.5 - General Overview
   
   
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/interviews/traits">Exclusive
   Guild Wars 2
   Warrior and Traits
   Q&A with Lead Designer Eric Flannum
6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/wh40k-interview">Exclusive
   Video Q&A with Warhammer
   40,000: Dark Millennium
   Online Creative Director
   Joe Madureira
7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/nexon/vindictus-interview">Nexon's
   Chris Gyselinck on style="font-weight: bold;">Vindictus
   - An Exclusive Ten Ton Hammer E3 Q&A href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/nexon/vindictus-interview">
   
   
8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/tera-group-play">Grouping
   Made Epic - Hands on with TERA
   Group Play
   at E3 2010
9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/previews/written-language">Alphabet
   Soup - Written Language in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/previews/written-language">
   Guild Wars 2
10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/ffxiv-e3-beta-preview"> style="font-weight: bold;">Final Fantasy XIV
    Beta Hands On Impression at E3 2010
11. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/rift/class-and-soul">Class
    and Soul - Rift:
    Planes
    of Telara Gets a Little Bit
    of Both at E3 2010
12. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/eon-preview">The
    Beginning of a New MMO Genre - An E3 Preview of style="font-weight: bold;">End of Nations

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

- Reuben "Sardu" Waters
and
the Ten Ton Hammer team