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

Welcome to the 953rd Edition of Loading...

If you aren't reading this in your e-mail, you could be. Sign up. Are you looking for gaming news? Look no further for all of the headlines. General industry news, right down to game specific and forum thread feeds are all yours as part of Ten Ton Hammer's RSS Feed . Enjoy!

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The Pulse

First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse. Here are the daily rankings:

1. World of Warcraft
2. Warhammer Online
3. EVE Online
4. Age of Conan
5. Guild Wars (UP 3)
6. Guild Wars 2 (UP 38!)
7. FusionFall (UP 69!!)
8. Star Wars: The Old Republic (down 2)
9. Final Fantasy XI (down 4)
10. Lord of the Rings Online (down 3)

If the Top 10 isn't enough, we also show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage. (What is Pulse?)

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Daily Column

Loading... it's a little like Robert DeNiro, Hal 9000, and Chuck Norris all wrapped up in a daily newsletter.

First up, Ten Ton Hammer premium members should sure to check out our latest offer to jump into the Fusion Fall closed beta. The offer will only be available for an extremely limited time and our closed beta keys will persist after the next weekend's sneak peek, so be sure to get your key now.

Congrats to NetDevil, developers of Jumpgate Evolution, for scoring their 150k beta signups so far. NetDevil has an extremely small team (by today's standards) working on this complete revamp project, so it must be gratifying to get such a great response. JGE promises MMO joystick combat like we've never seen before

CCP hinted at a joystick combat component of EVE (not in space space, but what looked like Descent-style exploration of asteroid cores and planet-side combat) in Senior Producer Nathan Richardson's Future of EVE presentation at FanFest last weekend. If you watch closely, in the EVE Ecosystem portion he mentions developing the IP on next-gen consoles (PS3 and X360) and in what may or may not be a related note, shows off a prototype EVE first-person shooter.

As for what is and what will continue to be the core of the EVE concept, the strategic space combat game that is pretty much the EVE of today, Richardson hinted at the following:

• Focused targeting - to take out ship components like the fighter bar or jumpdrive, weapons systems, etc. independently.
• "Winsauceables in Winvironments" - certain fundamental intangibles that add depth to gameplay, most interesting among them: "player owned structures for all player ages" and "introducing attrition by including the populace as a resouce."
• The EVElopedia - a wiki where players can write EVE's history with their individual and corporate / alliance endeavors and learn what lore is considered canon
• Kosmos - a social networking tool just for EVE gamers, accessible in and out of game, with key features like a corp calandar and other communication tools.

I mentioned this elsewhere, but props to CCP for their willingness to discuss EVE's distant horizons, whether or not all or most of it comes to fruition. No doubt part of CCP's openness is the result of their hard-to-match game concept (hard-to-match with tech, talent, or originality), but larger than that, I think they're genuinely looking for playerbase buy-in for their future ideas. Which is never a bad idea at all, especially for a developer of what is essenially a sandbox MMOG on a grand scale.

Some latebreaking news has just hit my inbox - it appears that Richard Garriott is leaving NCSoft. After flying around in space, it seems as if making virtual game worlds was not enough. Many happy landings, Major Tom... er, General British.

Ten Ton Hammer's Garrett Fuller and I will be live from Times Square in New York City at Midnight tonight for one of the biggest launch parties commemorating the launch of World of Warcraft's "Wrath of the Lich King." We'll hopefully score some big name dev and fan reactions for tomorrow's sleep-deprived edition of Loading..., but in the meantime, be sure to tune into our World of Warcraft "Wrath of the Lich King" portal for the latest on WoW's second expansion.

That Post your thoughts in the Loading... forum, or just email me with your response to the FanFest announcements.

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Ten Ton Hammer Epic Thread of the Day

Sometimes they're funny; sometimes they're foolish; sometimes they're flaming; sometimes they're cool. Whatever this one happens to be, it's our Epic Thread of the Day.

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From our Members Only Forum

Which game for our next VIP Access Interview?

This thread comes from our Members Only forum, and, like an exclusive club, only our premium members can enter. Fortunately, anyone can be a premium member just by supporting Ten Ton Hammer.

Our premium program includes the opportunity to participate in VIP Access Interviews, where you, the  community, get to question the devs about your favorite games. (See our Stargate Worlds VIP Access Interview for an example.)

We'd like to know which game you'd like to focus on next. While we can't guarantee that we'll be able to score an interview (lots of factors, not the least of which include time limitations, play into a developer's availability), we promise that our Industry Relations specialist extraordinaire, Garrett Fuller, will work on getting you access to your favorite.

Want to weigh in on this thread? If you're a premium member, head on over. If not, become a premium member today for your chance to question the developers of your favorite games.

Awesome Quote from the Epic Thread:

"Darkfall for sure!"

- Bansaw
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Do you have a favorite Epic Thread? Let us know!

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10 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 66 in November! 2863 in 2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]

EVE FanFest 2008

• (NEW) The Future of EVE Video with Sr. Producer Nathan Richardson
• EVE Enlightened - Cinematic Visuals with Walking in Stations
• EVE Enlightened - Video Demo
• SecWars EVE Online Mini-Game Demo
• Walking in Stations Demo Video
• Walking in Stations at EVE FanFest 2008
• EVE True Exploration Publishing Details
• EVE Summer 2009 Expansion Details
• EVE Online Quantum Rise Expansion Trailer

Previews

• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Instances
• World of Warcraft: Drak'Tharon Keep Guide
• Lord of the Rings Online: Echad Eregion Quest Guide

Interviews

• City of Heroes: Matt Miller - The Line Between Good and Evil

Op/Eds

• The WoW Effect - Destruction of a Mindset

Community

• World of Warcraft Comics: Geeked - "Denied"

Guides

• World of Warcraft: The Races of WoW
• Warhammer Online: High Elf Leveling Guide - Chap 4-6
• Age of Conan: Priest of Mitra Feat Updates
• Wizard101: Guide to 'Library Dues' Quest

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:

1. The WoW Effect - Destruction of a Mindset
2. (NEW) The Future of EVE Video with Sr. Producer Nathan Richardson
3. World of Warcraft Comics: Geeked - "Denied"
4. City of Heroes: Matt Miller - The Line Between Good and Evil
5. Jumpgate Evolution: Beta Celebration Images
6. Guild Wars: Writing Team Lead Bobby Stein on 'The Next Big Step'
7. EVE FanFest 2008
8. NCSoft's Exteel Review
9. Final Fantasy XI: Exclusive Update - A New Beginning
10. Warhammer Online: Behind the Scenes of Heavy Metal with Mark Davis

Real World News

• Japanese officer arrested while shopping nude for women's underwear
  Claims he was merely asked to provide a thorough debriefing
• City councillor arrested for relieving himself on nightclub crowd
  Urine trouble now, mister.
• Armless man steals television
  If seen, police say to not approach him as he should be considered unarmed and dangerous
• World's ugliest dog is dead
  Representatives for Ms O'Donnell say reports of her demise are greatly exaggerated

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Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

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