Loading... NYCC '09: WAR and Jumpgate Evolution

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Posted February 11th, 2009 by Ethec

#1,014 - Previews of WAR: Call to Arms and JGE from the NYCC '09 show floor!

Welcome to the 1,014th Edition of Loading...

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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's the top 5 MMORPGs today:

Here are the biggest movers in the Top 20 today:

Star Trek Online (UP 7 to #15)
EVE Online (UP 5 to #16)
EverQuest 2 (UP 5 to #18)

Loading... Daily

Loading... the drug of choice for tens of thousands of online gamers.

Loading... has come to you from some unique places, beside an unplugged ATM machine at the old E3, transportation hubs and coffee shops of every sort, Singapore, Shanghai, London, Berlin, Paris, Oslo, and Reykjavik. With today's Loading..., I'm awarding points for excitement but not for exotic appeal as I'm coming at you from the front seat of my car, thanks to a fire alarm in my building. False alarm or the real deal? I'm not sure, but I'm taking solace in the fact that concrete can't burn in the range of temperatures we commonly associate with Earth.

For your viewing pleasure today, we have a video Q&A with NetDevil's Scott Brown on the latest developments in Jumpgate Evolution. Long I've been hoping that JGE will be the breath of fresh, fun, frolicsome air the MMORPG category desperately needs. The game looks incredible, the nebulae-on-crack backdrops don't settle for realism, the capital ships look every bit as cool as anything you'll see in EVE, and structures such as the asteroids converted into portals for hostile alien use are perception-bending works of art.

The Elite-style 3D radar along with the heads-up means of acquiring nearby targets is a welcome addition, and it was a pleasure listening to Scott as he discussed the different ways of representing targets in three dimensional space on a minimap. I was likewise glad to see that an overview map has been fleshed out, showing the two paths of advancement (PvE and PvP) with plenty of flexibility to go back and forth between the two paths at will.

Those are my hopes for JGE, my fears are threefold. For one, and this might just be me, but now that we have the angular Star Wars and Battlestar Gallactica fighter craft firmly fixed in our cultural memory, sleek and slipstreamed models like those seen in JGE look a bit alien. Which would be fine for alien races, but all three playable factions in JGE are human. Second, I haven't yet had a chance to group up in the game, and from my first experiences with the game, I'm having flashbacks to Auto Assault, Tabula Rasa, and other massively single-player games. This may just be a by-product of demoing the game on show floors and such (which generally doesn't make for good grouping).

Third, Scott and NetDevil have hinted at spacecraft loadouts before, and I'm hoping that (as in EVE) kitting out your ship becomes a sophisticated mini-game in itself. For some developers, "spreadsheet" is a curse word, and every game worth its salt should be accessible to those without some mathematical verve. But min-max'ers are gamers too, let them have their due and win their battles on paper as we hone our piloting skills.

In addition to the Jumpgate Evolution piece, we've also posted the very first panel video of NYCC '09: Warhammer Online with Jeff Hickman and Paul Barnett. Being the first WAR show (and it always is a show) post-launch, I was concerned that it might lose something from Leipzig and San Diego Comic Con. I needn't have been worried, Jeff and Paul outdid themselves.

The main topic of discussion was of course the "Call to Arms" live expansion. Paul and Jeff touched on the two new classes but focused mainly on the Halls of the Dead raid dungeon and environs (even tossing in some never-before-seen pre-alpha footage of the Indiana Jones-style Tomb of the Vulture King). They also spent an incredible amount of time on Q&A, with Paul putting some pretty harsh questions to Jeff, who delivered solid answers, before the audience chimed in. You can see it all in the video, and Ten Ton Hammer premium members get the Q&A portion and Paul's WAR outtakes as a bonus.

And I'm back in the building, false alarm after all. And now it's your turn - as always, your thoughts are mostly welcome in the Loading... forum or email me if you like.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our EVE Online Forum

Eye on EVE

When game launches are scarce and boredom is rampant, sometimes it makes sense to check into an older game that may not have originally registered on your radar. Sardu nominated this EVE Online-related thread for its "overall epicness." The thread starter, Bansaw, asked some valid questions about the game--such as whether EVE has a free trial, and whether the player base is so established that it's hard for a new player to break in--and got some solid answers, including an introduction to the infamous EVE Online learning curve.

With questions answered, the thread then evolved into a discussion of EVE Online corporations, and gave birth to a suggestion that Ten Ton Hammer members form their own corp. So, for those wanting to learn more about EVE, or for EVE pros longing to contribute information, or for folks looking for a Ten Ton Hammer member-created corporation, this thread offers a little something for all.

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Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread:

"Why don't we just form a TTH corp? I have one stipulation though--no faction war. I hate being confined to certain areas of space."

- subgenius5150

"Can we call it AstroHammer?"

- Bansaw

"We can call it Topical Hemorrhoid Creme for all I care. I just like you guys and want to play something with my friends."

- subgenius5150
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Do you have a favorite Epic Thread? Let us know!

6 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 47 in February! 183 in 2009!

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

New York City ComicCon 2009

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