Loading... DC Universe Online Emerges at NYCC '09

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The Pulse

First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Hammer Pulse (What is Pulse?).

Here are the biggest movers in the Top 20 today:

Star Trek Online (UP 18 to #16)
Jumpgate Evolution (UP 10 to #17!)
Dungeons & Dragons Online (UP 4 to #6)

Loading... Daily

Loading... like MMO news and commentary wrapped in a sleek, sexy Baroness costume.

NY Comic-Con has drawn to a close. Friday held a surprising number of quality interviews, and Saturday's MMO Panel series came together nicely despite a few initial hiccups in room setup. A big thank you to Maggie from Vivox who was on-site for the extremely well-done Voon broadcast (next year we'll have play-by-play and color commentators, promise), Ten Ton Hammer's Garrett Fuller who did a masterful job emcee'ing the event, and to the Ten Ton Hammer writers and volunteers that made it all come together: Ben de la Durantaye, Matt Lowery, Joe Iuliani, Chris "Spare" Higgins, John Haren, Anthony Love, and Albert Alfonso. Thanks to everyone at Reed Expo that helped things run smoothly. And to the union supervisor that wouldn't set anything up before 10am yet complained about overtime after 10am and had some very interesting rules about table and power outlet usage, it wouldn't have been the same without you.

More costume snapshots available in our NYCC '09 gallery!

We expected this to be a great year for NYCC in MMOs, what with two superhero MMOs deep in development, and we weren't at all disappointed. DC Universe Online won over quite a few fans now that we've seen villains and physics abilities like flight in action, heard that Jim Lee is helping to hand-design at least five urban settings for the game including Gotham City and Metropolis (of course), and began to get a clearer grasp of how heroes and villains will interact both with each other and with superheroes and supervillains.

A Ten Ton Hammer exclusive video slated for release tomorrow, for example, sees a DCUO villain fighting Doomsday alongside Lex Luther, who wants control of Doomsday's genetic material from S.T.A.R. Labs where it was placed following his epic fight with Superman. A hero, of course, would fight against Lex Luther to prevent the theft. It's one instance in one quest in a zone that occupies an eighth of the DC Universe Online's world, but that and scurrying "pedestrians" go a long was towards giving the game a genuine online faction-based epic struggle for ultimate supremeacy feel rather than the more single-player experience we saw at events last year.

To borrow Exec. Producer Jens Anderson's words, DCUO is definitely starting to have a "save the world... or rule it" feel. Animations and character customization have come a long way as well, and you'll see that in the video too.

I'll work hard to not let the Loading... NYCC wrap-up turn into a DCUO lovefest, but in all honesty it's hard not to. SOE Austin brought the time, the team, the talent, and the new goodies to show to make this their con, and they'd have to win Best of Show if we were doing awards, followed by Jumpgate Evolution and Warhammer Online in a tie for second, then Champions Online and Star Trek Online in third. When you're talking Best of Show, you're talking impact, and DCUO definitely had it at NYCC '09.

As for Champions Online and the inevitable comparisons to DCUO, we'll have Champions Online info aplenty this week. Exec. Producer Bill Roper did well coming off the bench to take Jack Emmert's place, but it was hard to match the "whoas" coming from the SOE booth and from the mouths of the DCUO panel attendees during the new trailer unveiling.

That's not to say we don't have some other excellent interviews coming your way, starting with a first ever video look at Warhammer Online's Choppa and Slayer classes with Careers Producer Adam Gershowitz and a Video Q&A with Star Trek Online Exec. Producer Craig Zinkievich featuring three new STO screenshots. And that's just the tip of the iceberg this week - we'll have plenty more from Jumpgate Evolution, Champions Online, Star Trek Online, Global Agenda (which was a nice surprise), FusionFall, and 38 Studios as the week unfolds.

Need something to do while waiting for your Baroness costume at the drycleaners? Your comments are welcome in the Loading... forum or email me if you like.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Stargate Worlds Forum

Is the fall of Stargate Worlds near?

Okay,
go ahead...put on your tinfoil hats. Although it's
virtually inevitable that today's thread is going to cause someone
to accuse Ten Ton Hammer of hating Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment and
conspiring against them (I'll state it once more, with feeling: WTF?!),
the existence of this thread seems to indicate that people are not done talking about what's going on with Stargate Worlds.

Lest
my Epic Thread cause consternation, I'll note that most of what's being
discussed is rumor and speculation. CME has remained quiet
amidst rumors of employees going without pay, and about possible ties
to the multi-level marketing scheme that is MMOGULS. But when developers don't talk, the community does. You can weigh in on the discussion here.

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

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread:

"Rocky pathing up ahead, but a fall flat to the ground? hmmm.

The situation that can cause worry is if CME can only afford to
release a cheap flop with the intentions of catching floating bills as
they whirl around a collapsing SGW. We can hope for SGW [to] secure new
funds (or fall into someone else's hands) and then release as a solid
game, or we can hope for a suboptimal yet still progressive release
under the current conditions, one that won't destroy the game but [will] still
lack a foothold. Either is pleasant compared to watching a non-fantasy,
non-clone, moderately produced, big IP be forever lost."

- koss
=================================

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

9 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 38 in February! 174 in 2009!

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

New York City ComicCon 2009

Features

Top Ten Free-to-Play Games: Click for Kicks

Community

Guides

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

Real World News

UK Spy Center will track their citizens on holiday

The new Ministry of Citizen's Rights will log all trips from Airstrip One to other parts of Oceania.
Woman accused of having sex with dogs

Family plans to leave her in jail to rottweiler close friends plan to retriever.
Officials in San Francisco searching for toilet torcher

Investigators have nothing to go on.

Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

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

To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our DC Universe Online Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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