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Posted May 13th, 2009 by Ethec

#1,078 - Shakeup at CME, CoH Goes Rogue, and Blizz confirms a new MMO IP.

Welcome to the 1,078th Edition of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Three news pieces to relay today. First up: Rod Nakamoto (Wing Commander, Empire Earth) takes Dan Elggren's place at the help of Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment. We have more info and a video trailer for the just-announced expansion to City of Heroes, Going Rogue, and more news from the Blizzard camp on their next MMORPG. All that plus a great new article and video on the Warhammer Online Land of the Dead expansion in today's Loading.... New Dimensions.

Play World of Warcraft? Jay "Medeor" Johnson's weekly WoW newsletter "The Overpull" comes out every Tuesday and keeps you entertained and informed on all the latest developments in WoW. Sign up!

Recent MMO Releases

4/28 - Free Realms (release date)
5/11 - Chronicles of Spellborn 1.0.4 - "Scrolls of Keys and Courage" (content patch)

Upcoming Releases

5/22 - Dragonica (CBT key giveaway)
6/23 - Jumpgate Evolution (release date)
7/14- Champions Online (release date)

Important Dates

5/16 - BlizzCon 2009 tickets on sale
6/2 - 6/4 - E3 2009

The Pulse

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

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results for today:

Biggest Movers in the Top 20 today :

Torchlight (UP 52 to #13) - read why
Mythos (UP 25 to #16) - read why
Earthrise (UP 5 to #15) - read why

Loading... Daily

Yesterday was a big day in MMOG news, so let me recap. First up, a big change at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, as Studio Head Dan Elggren hands over the reins to 30-year games industry vet Rod Nakamoto (who you may remember from games like Defender of the Crown, Wing Commander Prophecy, and Empire Earth). Reports of Elggren's appointment to Gazillion / NetDevil in Colorado are still unconfirmed, but the father of three would almost have his own focus group for Lego Universe.

A few folks wrote in to complain that we covered the Elggren / Nakamoto news but didn't cover the new Stargate Worlds screenshots that were apparently posted yesterday. Let me use a quick analogy to explain. If you like a sports team, you might start out by liking their colors or mascot. Over time, you probably start to identify their major and some of the minor players. You realize how their coaching and mix of talent and skill make your team different than other teams, and maybe you start to second guess some of the game-time decisions.

Yesterday was a big news day, as previously mentioned, not just for SGW but for several games, and if we could only cover the news of a new General Manager or that the mascot has a new hairdo, we'll talk about the new GM. On a slow day, the mascot is news. It might be unfortunate, but that's how news works and, think what you will, we don't sit around and plot against SGW or CME. I've said it many times before, we want Stargate Worlds to succeed, but that doesn't stop us from doing our job.

Incidentally, the good PR firms capitalize on those slow moments to capture everyone's attention. Or not, in the case of the City of Heroes Going Rogue announcement, which had every appearance of breaking early. Whether or not Paragon meant to keep this one under their hat until E3 is moot now, but that really doesn't change the fact that NCSoft is giving the premier MMO superhero franchise a ton of support after some fairly dry years under Cryptic. CoH's first real expansion "since the launch of City of Heroes" (I guess Architect Edition didn't really count as an expansion? I thought it was expansion-worthy, myself - maybe they meant "retail" expansion) looks to borrow a page from DC's infinite crisis and pit an altern-ego Statesman, Tyrant, in an alternate Paragon City, Praetoria, against the now-mixed loyalties of the dimension we currently participate in. Very cool stuff, especially since a third party interloper has a way of igniting things. Now that the Rikti are (seemingly) dealt with, what better opponent for heroes and villains than, well, themselves? See the Going Rogue trailer here.

Speaking of alternate dimensions, Blizzard might occupy the same dimension we do but you wouldn't know it by their earnings statements. Their next MMO will bring a new dimension to the Blizzard portfolio though, according to Blizzard CM Zarhym. From an WoW official forum post: "We’ve already stated it’ll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch." Sorry Starcraft and Diablo fans, it looks like the rumored franchise MMOs have come to naught. But let the speculation begin for Blizzard's first new franchise in over ten years (Diablo - 1998). Dark fantasy, high fantasy, and sci-fi have been covered. What's left? Sports MMOs, historical MMOs, creepy Second Life-esque social networking concepts? The Big B could get droves of people to buy a sewer-cleaning MMO, but this is truly new territory for them. In any case, you can bet we won't see anything on it until they're extremely sure of their new title. Which, in turn, means that World of Warcraft is safe for years to come.

Comments welcome in the Loading... forum. Also, we're trying out an MMO release calendar, so if you have anything to add or if you see breaking MMO news, feel free to email me!

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Tavern of the Ten Ton Hammer forum

Will an aging player base affect MMOGs?

I was a pretty heavy duty EverQuest player back in the day; not quite hardcore, but definitely a very serious casual player who liked being among the elite. Then one day my daughter came home with a project from kindergarten entitled "My Parents." On it, she proudly proclaimed that her daddy worked with computers. But under her Crayola rendition of my smiling face she'd written: "Mommy plays EverQuest." She apparently didn't care that I owned my own business; she identified me by my voracious gaming habit. It was then that I realized I should probably think about setting a little more of a grown up example, so...I worked when the kids were awake and gamed when they were asleep.

One of our forum community leaders and volunteers, Mikes, has also come to realize that being a grown up comes with certain responsibilities, and he thinks it might be changing the face of MMO gaming. "Gamers on the whole aren't the spotty, teenage recluses we're made out to be," he writes. "Apparently we're more likely to be late 20's to mid 30's and have a career and a family...but growing older (not growing up, I refuse to do the latter) brings with it more demands on our time. And as time goes on the [MMO gaming] demographic will just continue getting older. So, will this shift in the available playtime of the populace change the way MMOGs are put together?"

Are MMOGs indeed catering to a different market than the ones they catered to back in the early days, as Mikes suggests? Will an older demographic mean we'll see a change to more casual MMOG features for the time-crunched player? Or is there room for all kinds of games and gamers in this marketplace? Voice your opinion!

==============================
Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread

"You guys are talking like there is only one MMOG on the market. The greatest thing about this quickly growing market is that games are starting to have a lot of diversity. Now we will see games specifically designed for those with less game time or for those with extreme amounts of game time and all shades in between. We are starting to see games designed for younger markets, older markets, free to play for those on a budget, PvP centric, PvE centric, sandbox, social, etc.

So yes, an aging player base will affect MMOs. The effect will be greater diversity in what these games have to offer."

- Aganazer
==============================

Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!

8 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 44 in May! 571 in 2009!

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

Warhammer Online: Land of the Dead Preview at Baltimore Games Day
Warhammer is a very diverse world for players. Building armies with different themes has always been the real draw of the game. Warhammer Online took one of those armies and turned it into a free expansion for the game that will have players running, fighting, and playing in the end game for a long time to come. The Tomb Kings expansion for Land of the Dead brings the Egyptian themes from Warhammer to life in the online world. Players will be battling mummies, skeletons, scarabs, sands, and huge statues of enemies, but the fun part is they will be battling each other as well.
Warhammer Online: Land of the Dead Q&A Video
Warhammer Online's Gabe Amatangelo and Jeff Skalski offer an in-depth preview of WAR's summer expansion, Land of the Dead, and answer a few of our questions. They'll talk about how Order and Destruction gain access to the new area and the concepts of sigils and purging, new lairs and the 18 new PQs all the way up to the Tomb of the Vulture King, the new Tyrant armor set, and the action RPG feel of the expansion. It's all in this enjoyable 9 minute video, which also features over 4 minutes of expansion gameplay video and bonus footage of the squig cake seen at Baltimore Games Day 2009!
City of Heroes: Going Rogue Trailer
Many of us were surprised by the sudden announcement of a full-fledged City of Heroes expansion when it was leaked by Kotaku earlier this week. Thankfully, it wasn't a joke and CoH/CoV fans finally have a full expansion to look forward too. Not only that, but it looks like the heroes and villains will be able to pull their own virtual Darth Vader, switching from evil to good and back again on a whim. But enough rhetoric from Ten Ton Hammer. Go check out the video, and then head back to the forums with your opinion on this upcoming game!
Aion: Vooncast Q&A Transcript
Last week, the Ten Ton Hammer staff had the fantastic opportunity to sit down with fiifty MMO fans and Ten Ton Hammer readers in a Vooncast focused specifically on NCsoft’s upcoming MMO, Aion: The Tower of Eternity. Since Aion has been such a popular topic, the Ten Ton Hammer staff quickly transcribed the entirety of the Aion audio recording and we now have the text version up for you to enjoy. But, if you really want to listen to the subtle nuances hinted at in the Vooncast, make sure you click here!
EVE Online: Level 1 Missions Guide
Level 1 missions are the mainstay of gaining credits and items in EVE Online for the new players, but these missions aren't always easy to get through. Get a hand up with our Mission Guides! We will give you helpful advice and tips to get through even the toughest of missions so that you can get it done quickly to earn that much needed bonus reward.
geeked: A Wee Bit Creepy
Ten Ton Hammer's very own satirical webcomic on all things geek-related is back with one final take on the new Star Trek movie. Bill's been turned into a fan, but it's possibly gone a bit too far into the weird now. Someone should probably call the mental hospital and have them bring a straight-jacket... no pun intended. Be sure to catch up on any issues of Geeked you've missed by visiting our Comics Portal. Don't forget to rate your favorites while you're at it!
World of Warcraft: Guide for Mounts
Man, your feet are killing you. You’ve spent the better part of a week walking up and down that long, winding road in Stranglethorn Vale. It seems that each quest you get requires you to travel the breadth of Stranglethorn Vale, then walk all the way back, then only to repeat the process again. Worse, as you travel along the road, the dust choking you while the sun beats down harshly upon you, are the higher level jerks who flaunt their fancy mounts in front of you. They gleefully run a few circles around you, do a few mocking jumps, and generally kick dirt in your face as they drive home the message: we’re going a lot faster than you and doesn’t it suck to be you?
World of Warcraft: Selecting Talents for the Hunter (Update)
World of Warcraft has changed quite a bit over the last few weeks. With a new game update and several class changes, our hunter class guide had become a bit dated. This week we have brought our 'Selecting Talents for the Hunter' guide up to speed with fresh and current information from the game.

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

Real World News

Tractor-trailer accident spills sweet potatoes all over Baltimore freeway
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Research shows that it also benefits adolescents, further proving that enzymes are protein.
Man accused of attacking neighbor with hammer
Assault was asledgedly in retaliation for a pryer act.

Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

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

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