Welcome to the 1,087th Edition of Loading...

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

An update on the Jumpgate Evolution delay announcement, news that 38 Studios has indeed acquired Big Huge Games as rumored (though the "why" might surprise you), and a new market forecast showing that PC hardware sales will eclipse console sales this year and rise by over 20% next year fuels today's Ten Ton Hammer daily newsletter. Plus links to a new City of Heroes fifth anniversary dev diary, The Mittani rounds up the Goonswarm faithful in his latest EVE Online column, and an interestingly exclusive Vanguard state of the game Q&A round out Loading... Sunny Forecast for PC Gaming.

Coyote's It's All Geek to Me is the lighter side of Ten Ton Hammer. Read his humor column daily at Ten Ton Hammer. Today's topic: Dress for Success (and by success we mean eternal virginity.)

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Yesterday NetDevil CEO Scott "Scorch" Brown confirmed that Jumpgate Evolution, the first space MMO to put you in the cockpit since the original Jumpgate, confirmed a delay from its late June release date, with no new date set.

We caught up with Grace Wong, NetDevil's PR face and one of the most pleasant people to work with in the industry, in hopes of prying loose some vague notion of Jumpgate Evolution's new timetable, but came up dry. “The only thing I can really say is that it is our intention to ship the game as soon as it is ready, but not before. While it's always good to set target dates and consider the implications of releasing on one day vs. another our #1 driving factor is to have a high quality game experience; so that's really what we're aiming for.”

Player reaction is disappointed, but steady. One viewer wrote in complaining that NetDevil had sentenced him to a summer of long afternoons and evenings at the beach with his family. It's a horrible fate, but we must endure. I'd much rather be playing JGE too... the sun, it burns.

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Moving along, the scuttlebutt early last month indicated that Curt Schilling's 38 Studios was going to acquire Big Huge Games and it's two in-development titles, God: The Game and The Ascendant, from THQ. That rumor came true today, as 38 Studios took on the struggling studio's "proprietary IP, tools, technology, assets, and works-in-progress" for an undisclosed sum.

I was a big fan of BHG's earlier efforts, Rise of Nations in particular, but really have no interest in their current projects, though the art style of The Ascendant seems to mesh pretty well with what little we've seen of Copernicus. For that matter, the tone of the press release seems to indicate that 38 acquired BHG to further its own work with Copernicus rather than to continue BHG's projects on their own terms.

From Brett Close, 38 Studios CEO (emphasis mine) : "BHG’s cross-platform RTS/RPG engine will accelerate the realization of our Online Entertainment Experience (TM) for the Copernicus IP. The acquisition enables us to develop and deliver top-quality games in multiple genres that are based in a shared world, ultimately maximizing the value of our Copernicus MMOG and the intellectual property as a whole."

Usually press releases are filled with facile optimism - the written equivalent of a photo op -but this quote may reveal that the Copernicus concept is larger than we were expecting, both in terms of availability (PC and gaming consoles) and that 38 Studios may work the Copernicus world from multiple angles, developing several games that service the IP much like Schilling and Salvatore's touchstone, SOE, did with EverQuest: Champions of Norrath PS2 title and SOE's growing portfolio of digital trading card games. It's interesting stuff, but Copernicus fans should hope that 38's technical talent can match their glut of creative talent and that 38 doesn't bite off more than it can chew on their first big project.

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Finally, some good news for the die-hard PC gamers among us today. It's been a rough couple of years for us, with shelf-space shrinking at all the retail stores, relatively few must-play PC exclusives, the disappointment of the Games for Windows initiative, DRM gone wild, and some lackluster first ventures into digital distribution in general. One study by a leading tech market researcher hints that things are going to change, and soon.

From the latest Jon Peddie Research market forecast, exquisitely timed to coincide with E3 next week: "The total PC Gaming Hardware market is forecasted to drop $1.4 billion (-7%) in 2009 versus 2008 (from $20.07 to $18.65 billion.). The decline is due to reduced sales because of the recession, and lower prices on PCs and components (also due to the recession and competitive pressures.) But, in such an environment, PC gaming systems seem to have suffered the least discounting which illustrates the value consumers place on such systems." The forecase predicted that sales would rise by over $5 billion in 2010.

So, in short, the bad news is that lower sales in 2009 equal less hardware development and software investment, but the good news is that hardware is relatively cheap right now, that consumers recognize that a good gaming PC is good for more than gaming, and our brand of gaming hasn't been hit as hard as, say, console gaming. And here's the proof: "In 2009 the PC Gaming Hardware Market, approaching $19 billion, is forecasted to eclipse the hardware market for all gaming consoles combined by almost $2 billion. (Console costs include the console, a certain amount of accessories, and a factor for the cost of an HDTV to display the games on.)"

Those in the know have long predicted that peak console sales were a fad due to the high cost vs. moderate selling price of the hardware. I'd add that the reach of console titles has exceeded its grasp - the console game "catalog", though impressive, is littered with cheap knockoffs and games packaged to sell rather than to really satisfy or build a reputation for quality. PC games have already gone through something of a winnowing process. These games shine brightest when infinite and infinitely varied replayability comes into play, especially in MMORPGs and grand strategy games, and I don't think I'm being overly positive when I say that the sense of satisfaction the best of these predominantly PC games bring has a bright future.

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It was a pretty full day in the news and I'm leaving a lot on the table today. Do you agree with this market forecast? and do you think PC gaming is headed for a serious rebound? Let's take the discussion to the Loading... forum, or as usual, feel free to email me.