Welcome to the 1,084th Edition of Loading...
Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
Until about 2 years ago, the trend was to release MMO games in the early summer. We just celebrated the anniversaries of six successful MMORPGs that dodged the holiday season and did just that, and it worked for a variety of reasons. But then the publishers came in, everything looked like WoW or a console game, developers were more than happy to slip their release dates, and suddenly we're seeing everything released between October and November. We thought 2009 might buck the newest trend, but we thought wrong. Learn why in Loading... Cruel Summer.
Coyote is back in a big way at Ten Ton Hammer, and his daily column explores all things geek with Coyote's trademark wit in It's All Geek to Me. Read it daily at Ten Ton Hammer! Today's topic: Do we feel NOTHING? Are video games desensitizing us to violence?
|
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:
|
Recent MMO Releases
|
|
Upcoming Releases
|
|
|
Important Dates
|
Loading... Daily
First, apologies if you now have an Ace of Base b-side stuck in your head due to today's title.
It's proving to be an ugly week in the MMO world. First Cryptic pushed back their release date for Champions Online until October, and now - if we can trust the GameStop JGE page - NetDevil's apparently moved Jumpgate Evolution's launch date from late June to September 1st.
I've already railed and ranted against setting launch dates you can't keep in Loading... earlier this week, so I won't belabor the point. Thankfully NetDevil has kept the JGE beta sewn up tight in order to avoid the doomsday Auto Assault scenario described here.
Yet I can't help wishing that just one of these games would have kept its June appointment. The spotlight is sweeping the stage, looking for something worthy of attention, and what do we have? Free Realms, a WAR expansion, Warrior Epic, Chronicles of Spellborn, a handful of games conferences and events, a handful of sports MMOs, a host of Asian ports and games deep in beta? These games and events are great, but most have already shown their stuff. I'd trade it all for one solid MMO on final approach. Never fear, we'll continue to bring you the best in MMO gaming all summer long, but don't be surprised to see us returning to our RPG roots with coverage too.
Now everybody's jockeying for position in the fall / winter holiday ramp-up. I've said it before - holiday releases have no place in the MMO world - they don't gift well. It's like surprise painting someone's living room a bold new color. For all your good intentions, you've made a big decision that, whether the giftee likes the color or not, they'd probably rather make for themselves. Plus, holiday giving primarily benefits kids, and how many kids have credit cards to pay subs or buy items. Sure, you can pick up game cards with your Slurpie at 7/11, but how can you take yourself seriously afterwards?
Summer, on the other hand, was perfect. We just celebrated the launch anniversaries for six of the most successful MMORPGs that released not in the holiday season, but in April or May of their respective years. That decision played no small part in the MMO domination of the college-age to young married demographic at the time, and that's still a prime demographic for MMOs. It's an awkward time of life, you're probably contending with a new job, a new location, a new set of friends, and a new outlook. MMORPGs offer a sense of stability and community that real life typically can't typically match in the twenty-something years.
What's on your summer MMO playlist? Maybe we can figure this out together. Share what you'll be playing in lieu of Champions Online and Jumpgate Evolution in the Loading... forum! More of the same, or something different?
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day
From our Tavern of the Ten Ton Hammer Forum
Free Realms breaks 1 million registrants
Which proves you can't die from cute!
The folks at Sony Online Entertainment should be pleased that Free Realms, a free-to-play family-friendly MMOG, has sucked over one million unique registrants
into its colorful (and cute) world. And to have reached this
milestone just over a couple weeks after the game's launch makes it
doubly impressive. Not bad, SOE. Not bad at all.
So, Spare was musing about what the success of Free Realms--and I'll throw in similar titles like FusionFall and Wizard 101--means to the MMOG industry. (Ethec discussed the same phenomenon in Loading...
back in March.) I've long thought that F2Ps and micro-transaction-based
games were going to start getting better in quality, and start seeing a
higher quantity of players. I didn't predict that those F2P games would
be kids' games, but in retrospect it certainly makes sense. If you can
bring the younger generation into the MMOG world, while simultaneously
reeling in their parents, then you've scored a win by building on a
whole new demographic while doing your part to maintain loyalty from
the existing one.
What's your opinion of the kid-friendly F2P
MMOG take-over? Is it, as Spare put it, "a glimpse of the future for
MMOGs in general?" Or is it its own separate niche? Weigh in on our forum.
==============================
Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread
"This
is one of the issues I see coming out will all MMOs in general. The
overall success with WoW proves that hard-core gamers are in the
minority at this point.
While FR is aimed at tweens it is
supposed to be a casual MMO and given the fact it hit 1 million sign
ups in one month and, as Bobfish said, 1.5 for Fusion Fall in one
weekend is a sign that companies are seeing big numbers in these type
of games.
I think the times they are a changing "
- Spare
==============================
Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!
2 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 67 in May! 593 in 2009!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
-
Champions Online: Exclusive Powers and Customization Interview
Super heroes are their powers. Without a super heroes powers or gadgets, he or she is little more than a grown up toddler that’s pretending to be the masked vigilante. So even though there are plenty of initial customization options in Champions Online regarding costume and body type, it’s equally as important for the developers to present gamers with a extremely customizable set of options and initial powers to choose from. As the first in a series of exclusive interviews with CO’s Bill Roper, we sat down with the Cryptic leading-man to learn more about the powers in the game and what kind of options the gamers have in terms of customizability and making the “best” super hero. -
World of Warcraft: Raiding Gear for the Mage
Knowing what to loot to snag and what loot to let go can be tough in World of Warcraft when you're in the raiding scene. Our latest article for the Mage has got all the info you need to know on what's the best loot in the game, what loot you should set your sights on, and what loot you can safely decline. Looking for a different class? We've got more of the same for every class coming this week!
Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
- EVE Online: Sins of a Solar Spymaster #12 - Proxy Wars - The Fall of ISS
- Silkroad Online: Legend IV Tour
- geeked: Could Hell Be Any Worse?
- World of Warcraft: Multiboxing Guide
- Warhammer Online: Premium Member Q&A at Baltimore Games Day 2009
- Lord of the Rings Online Interview with Jeffrey Steefel - Book 8 and Don Guldur
- Comic: Geeked - "A New Old Friend"
- Alganon Class Interview #4 - The Healer
- Exclusive Interview with R.A. Salvatore
- EVE Online: Sins of a Solar Spymaster #11- EVE and Loathing in Las Vegas
Real World News
-
YouTube battling 'Porn Day' Campaign
Governmaent agencies are completely against the action, sayign there is already enough unwatchable trash on YouTube. Plus, we've got XTube and YouPorn already, so what's the point? -
Gold tooth led to Mets toilet mishap; woman's arm lodged inside
She was not pleased with the acommodations. Workers were able to successfully break over the device and she was throne-free. -
US spends $178,000 to study why protitutes in Thailand have high HIV risk
And in an unrelated study, US Navy sailors assigned to SouthEast Asia have high HIV risk.
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 Jumpgate Evolution Game Page.
