Warhammer Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

By Josh Drescher, Associate Producer for Warhammer Online

Dear E3,

I’m sorry I doubted you.  When you said you wanted to “slim down” I foolishly told you that I liked you just the way you were.  I can see now that you had very good reasons to cut away some of the fat.  The New E3 is actually pretty great.

Now, to be fair, it IS a different kind of E3.  When you approach the convention center there are no hundred foot high banners or helicopters circling the building and when you get inside there are no huddled masses yearning to breathe the free-air of exclusive sneak peek trailers and free inflatable swords.  But that seems to largely be a sign that the “signal to noise” ratio has improved greatly.

Sure, we don’t have cannons firing small armies of bikini-clad, swag-wielding lasses into a sweaty, frothing mob of fans, but we DO have a pretty darn good video game show.  I stand by my previous statements – I miss the fans.  But the show is well-run, streamlined and generally great for showing off games like ours.

We were comfortably nestled in E3’s “Special Room of Awesomeness” along with our good friends working on Mercs II, Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge and Spore (beware the excellence of iPhone Spore – you’ve been warned) – among others – and we had what I can only describe as a kick-ass day.

We tore through about six demos per hour, offering anyone who was willing to ignore what we had to say the chance to just hop onto our live beta servers – note: PLURAL – and see for themselves what the game is like.  Why listen to what we have to say when you can just play for yourself?  I’m no journalist, but it seems like an easy choice.

Note to the Press: We’re here all week.   I dare you to come take the Warhammer Online Beta Challenge.  Give us 30 minutes (and let’s be honest – you’ve DEFINITELY got the time) and we’ll blow your face off with our game.  Ask us about open grouping.  I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU.

Now, because the show was so well-run, I actually had very little time to run around because the press came fast and furious.  In fact, I only managed to really sneak into our next-door neighbors’ booth (Square Enix) and even that was only for a few minutes.  I will say that their Song Summoner iPod game looks truly interesting.  I didn’t get much time to fuss about with it, but it passed the “games my fiancée would love” test pretty nicely.  So, to our friends at Square Enix:  My fiancée would love a free copy!

But enough shameless begging for freebies.

What of the SWAG?

I am sorry to say that swag seems to be a thing of the past.  Nearly everyone seemed to have a Fallout 3 Viewmaster thingy and I’ll admit that it was cool when I initially looked through it.  But then I was stuck holding a Viewmaster and let’s be honest – the replay value is limited.  They ain’t exactly useful these days.  We spent no small amount of time clearing our common areas of discarded Viewmasters throughout the day.

Perhaps that’s one of many signs that the show has matured.  I go into Day Three with cautious but well-founded optimism.  Keep your eyes peeled, True Believers.  Much of interest is yet to come!

P.S. Happy birthday to my good pal Tammy, EA Marketing Superstar!

P.P.S. Expect a late filing tomorrow as we’re heading out to the official EA Rock Band Rockstravaganza and The Hickman demands full-out participation from all of his minions.

P.P.P.S. Rock Band II – DEAR LORD THE AWESOME.

(Editor's Note: You can read all of Josh's blog posts by clicking here!