Welcome to the 1,140th Edition of Loading...

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

We have a variety grab bag for you after a busy beta weekend. More speculation regarding just what Atari and Cryptic have up their sleeve bubbled up following a re-post of a line from Atari's recent financial statement. Odds are we won't know anything until Champions Online and maybe event Star Trek Online have their day, but its fun to speculate. The latest from the Champions Online beta, a quick look at our latest feature article on the paralells between MMO developement and Hollywood, and a quick snippet on how CCP helped it's employees weather the Icelandic economic crisis round out today's Loading... Pac-Man the MMO.

Coyote's 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: Space... the final frontier (Sexin' up the aliens)

The Pulse

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

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:

  1. World of Warcraft
  2. EverQuest 2
  3. Champions Online (UP 1)
  4. Age of Conan (down 1)
  5. Aion

Biggest Movers today :

  1. Jade Dynasty (UP 7 to #16)
  2. Runes of Magic (UP 5 to #14)
  3. City of Heroes (down 4)
Recent MMO Releases
  • 7/7 - Darkfall Player Housing Expansion
  • 7/13 - Darkfall NA launch
  • 7/21- FFXI "Moogle Kupo d'Etat" Addon (release date)

Important Dates

Upcoming Releases

Loading... Daily

Cody's feature article, The Hollywood Cycle: Comparing the MMO Industry with the Silver Screen, is available for public consumption today, and it's well worth a coffee break to read and discover the finer points of what makes MMORPGs unique in the entertainment industry. We're really on the cusp of a completely new social entertainment medium, and I like the fact that Hermann Peterscheck reminds us that even at 12 years old, the MMO concept is still very young, especially compared to film and even mainstream video games.

As if Star Trek Online and Champions Online aren't enough to handle, the dynamic duo of Atari and Cryptic are working on a "series of new games based on existing and historically successful" Atari IPs. We've known this for about a year now, and Metal raised the issue again in the forums based on a line taken from Atari's latest financial statement. Fan sites have long been whispering Neverwinter Nights, but Metal's hoping for a .hack// MMO and others are quietly pulling for new games based off of X-Com and Sid Meier's Pirates. I'm personally hoping for a Super Breakout MMO, or maybe something in the line of Pacman. Just one giant maze with nothing but dots to chomp and other Pacmen and ghosts (PvP!) to avoid.

Jokes aside, I really enjoyed Test Drive Unlimited. It was a highly underrated MMO-ish concept that would be a fun MMO with the kind of tweaks Cryptic could deliver. I've been hankering for a decent driving MMO ever since Burnout Paradise, and hopefully we'll see the MMO category continue to go in directions beside YMF (yet more fantasy).

Reports from our beta key winners inside the Champions Online beta weekend are starting to trickle in, and though they're under NDA, the prevailing attitude was predictable. People either love or hate the art direction - the cell shading and comic book-like stop-frame animation - and it seems to color their experience of the opening part of the game. My advice is my advice for just about every top-tier MMO: give it 20 levels before forming an opinion. You're doing yourself and an MMO a disservice otherwise. Champions Online in particular really grew on me after getting out of Millennium City and getting my travel powers.

Today's news that CCP (maker of EVE Online) paid its employees in foreign currency during the economic meltdown in Iceland isn't exactly news; we knew they were taking these kind of measures last year. But big kudos to CCP for looking out for its employees.

This week will be a busy one here at Ten Ton Hammer (Gen Con, SyndiCon, and a Bioware press junket are all on tap later this week), so I hope I'm not disappointing all three of my fans with a short Loading... or two or six in the coming days. But, as always, your thoughts and opinions are welcome in the Loading... forum, or feel free to email me.


Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Aion: General Discussion

Is Aion better than WoW?

It is if you think it is!

Artificial,
a new member of our forum community, stepped in to ask a simple
question that, when posed revelant to just about any game, stirs up a
heated discussion: Is Aion better than World of Warcraft?

Of
course, whether it's better or not is all a matter of perspective. My
own take is that Aion is a very solid game, with great lore and amazing
graphics. It's not my perfect game, but to me it's better than WoW, in
part because I'm one of the few who's never liked WoW. To you, there
may be no comparison.

So, Is Aion better than WoW? Whatever
your thoughs on the question, scanning through a collection of varied
opinions can prove interesting. Check out this thread, and give us your take.

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

"It's
better if you like it and think it's better! I'm in the extreme
minority where I don't like WoW at all so I pretty much think anything
is better.

I do think Aion is up there with some of the other
good games and holds enough mass appeal to captivate a broad range of
player types. I think if one enjoys WoW then chances are Aion would be
a good game to try on.
"

- Savanja
==============================

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


9 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 31 in August! 891 in 2009!

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

Features and Interviews:

  • Ten Ton Hammer's Aion Community Site Launches
    Today we see the official launch of Ten Ton Hammer's Aion Community Site. We've placed some professional writers on the site to bring you, the reader, quality Aion Guides, Aion Interviews, Aion Editorials, Aion Videos, and more. The team is ramping up the content schedule as we speak, so you can expect to see a whole new slew of articles over the next few weeks. If you enjoy Aion as much as our writers do, you've come to the right place.
  • Champions Online: Exclusive Interview on Sidekicks, Super Groups, and Supervillains
    With less than a month to go before the September 1st launch of Champions Online and the open beta just around the corner, interest in the latest MMOG from Cryptic Studios is at an all time high. We’ve learned many interesting details on everything from power sets to PvP in Ten Ton Hammer’s series of exclusive interviews with Bill Roper, but we were also curious to learn more about grouping opportunities in the game which is exactly what we set out to discover in our most recent discussion.
  • The Co-Op PvE side of Global Agenda: A Q&A with Exec. Producer Todd Harris
    On the heels of Global Agenda's first weekend closed beta test session, dubbed "CBT 1a", we caught up with Executive Producer Todd Harris for a debriefing. After an update on what was tested, how the beta test weekend went, and the kinds of feedback received, what followed was a surprisingly in-depth discussion about the role of player vs. environment (PvE) play in Global Agenda, a game more known for the depth of its player-vs-player (PvP) side.
  • The Hollywood Cycle: Comparing the MMO Industry with the Silver Screen
    With video gaming - specifically the massively multiplayer online titles - quickly surpassing Hollywood’s cash flow, it seems logical that the silver suits at Tinsel Town would begin paying attention to their digital brethren. On the same line of thought, Hollywood provides the MMO industry with a history in the entertainment medium that we simply don’t have. With this in mind, Ten Ton Hammer’s Cody “Micajah” Bye sat down with four industry experts to draw together some similarities between MMOs and films, and he attempted to use those points to draw out some predictions for the future of our industry. Was he successful? Read on to find out!
  • Ten Ton Hammer Hands-On Preview - Wonderking Online
    NDOORS is bringing Wonderking Online to the North American audience and recently Ten Ton Hammer got the chance to have a first-hand look at the game. Wonderking Online brings a host of content and great features to the table as a side-scrolling MMO and this week we take a look at many of the features that will be available for players to enjoy when the game goes live.

Giveaways:

  • Runes of Magic Item Giveaway
    In the ranks of free-to-play MMORPGs, the fantasy-themed Runes of Magic stands head and shoulders among most of its brethren. If you're interested in the game but haven't had a chance to play the title yet, you may be in luck! Thanks to the folks at Frogster USA, Ten Ton Hammer has attained thousands of keys for an item known as Vermillion Leg Protectors. These items are definitely above average, so jump into the game and check out your new leg protectors as soon as possible!

Guides:

  • An Advanced Guide to Crafting in Aion
    If there's one piece of the MMO puzzle that has the potential to cause more confusion than any other, it’s the crafting system. Some games take a simplistic approach, some complex, and others make you feel like a monkey staring at a math problem. Each method attracts its own group of fanatical devotees. The crafting system within Aion isn't complex, but it does require a little explaining. In answer to that need, Dalmarus has continued his exploration of Aion's crafting system to bring readers this second guide.
  • World of Warcraft - Trial of the Crusader - Northrend Beasts Strategy
    With the 3.2 patch to the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King,
    Blizzard has opened up yet another raid instance for players. The first encounter in the Trial of the Crusader raid is a three phase
    event where players need to defeat four different beasts of Northrend.
    The beasts come out as three separate waves; the first is the
    magnataur Gormok the Impaler, then the pair of Jormungars Acidmaw and
    Dreadscale, and finally the Yeti Icehowl. Our very own Byron "Messiah"
    Mudry brings you a guide that covers all you need to know to defeat
    the Beasts.

Screenshots:

  • New City of Heroes Issue 16 Power Customization Screenshots
    City of Heroes will be granting players even more customization options with its Issue 16 update. Players will be given the opportunity to customize the look of their very own powers. This week NCsoft sent us a few new images that shows how the old power sets compare to some of the new customized ones.

Hottest Content:

  1. Champions Online: Exclusive Interview on Sidekicks, Super Groups, and Supervillains
  2. The Hollywood Cycle: Comparing the MMO Industry with the Silver Screen
  3. Ten Ton Hammer's Aion Community Site Launches
  4. The Co-Op PvE side of Global Agenda: A Q&A with Exec. Producer Todd Harris
  5. Runes of Magic Item Giveaway
  6. An Advanced Guide to Crafting in Aion
  7. Ten Ton Hammer Hands-On Preview - Wonderking Online
  8. The Guild In-Depth Interview with Director Sean Becker
  9. World of Warcraft - Trial of the Champion Instance Guide
  10. New City of Heroes Issue 16 Power Customization Screenshots

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 EVE Online Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Jeff joined the Ten Ton Hammer team in 2004 covering EverQuest II, and he's had his hands on just about every PC online and multiplayer game he could since.

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