Tabula Rasa at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

The gaming industry is an incredibly fast growing money making machine. Every year financial analysts take a look at upcoming games and every year more money is funneled into the coffers of the industry leading video game publishers. Companies like EA, Blizzard Activision, and 2K Games are constantly announcing incredible profits, and business men love seeing dollar signs. As massively multiplayer games become more popular among the mainstream business world, more developers are willing to jump into the fray and see if they can eke out another money-making title.

Thankfully, veteran developers like Scott Jennings are also taking the plunge, and the developer known as "Lum the Mad" has been hard at work toiling away over at NCsoft Austin, trying to bring that upcoming game into the light of day. Ten Ton Hammer's Cody "Micajah" Bye sat down with the well-spoken developer to see how the upcoming NCsoft game is progressing and where "Lum the Mad" thinks the future of the MMOG industry is headed.

Ten Ton Hammer: Do you think the industry is headed away from the standard post-EQ mold?

Scott: I think there's always going to be the blockbuster mentality; people are always going to try to reproduce WoW by throwing a bunch of money at it and seeing what happens. And often, if you throw a lot of money at a game, you probably will get a big hit – it's the Titanic of MMO design. You'll have a big enough budget and have enough time for polish and hire the best people in the field and you'll make a great game. That's just going to happen.

• NCsoft: An Exclusive ION Interview with Scott Jennings