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UGO Takes A Look At Tabula Rasa

C. Radtke at UGO.com took some time to preview Tabula Rasa. Keep reading to see how it went...

It's the future. A race of nasty aliens known as The Bane have subjugated planet after planet in their quest for galactic domination. Recruits are desperately needed to combat this terror, and that's where you come in. You and thousands of other online gamers, to be exact. This is Tabula Rasa, the next big MMO from Lord British himself and the rest of the geniuses behind Ultima Online.

It's been a long road for these guys, after scrapping the original idea for the game and starting from scratch in 2005. Enough has been already said about that stuff, so we're going to look to the future here. From a recent demo of the game, it looks like superstar video game mastermind, Richard Garriot, has a winner on his hands.

Read the rest of this preview and then let us know what you think here in the Ten Ton Hammer forums.

Double The Previews

Today both GameSpot and IGN have previews of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning posted. Keep reading to see what they have to say...

GameSpot starts us off today.

Nothing says "summer" quite like having a bunch of video games in one place. At a recent press event at which publisher EA Games showed off a great many of its upcoming games, we had a chance to take an updated look at Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, the upcoming massively multiplayer game from developer Mythic and its brand-new publisher and corporate owner.

According to Mythic's Jeff Hickman, much of the content for the game's first "racial pairing," the dwarves versus the "greenskins" (a faction of orks and goblins), is complete, including many of the lower-level areas and items. In addition, though we were unable to see it in action, Mythic has begun production on the game's high-level player-versus-player (PVP) content, such as capital city raids, which will offer multiple types of treasures (including open, undefended loot and special items that can be obtained only by defeating specific enemy characters, such as merchants, barkeeps, and kings). These raids will let players capture enemy dignitaries and hold them hostage (and for some cheap humor) until they can be rescued by players from the opposing side.

Does IGN feel the same about this forthcoming game? Take a look and see...

Electronic Arts was prominently featuring Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning at its press event today, as the game's developer, Mythic, was recently purchased by EA. We got to play the latest build, and while it was basically the same game we played at E3 a couple months ago, there are a few significant updates to report.

Tell us what you think in the forums here at Ten Ton Hammer!

Actiontrip Takes a Look at The Burning Crusades

Actiontrip.com posted a preview of WoW's forthcoming expansion, The Burning Crusades. Did they like what they saw or think that it needs to head back to the drawing board? Keep reading to find out.

It goes without saying, but yes, World of Warcraft is the most successful MMORPG of all time. It is the 800-lb gorilla of MMORPGs, but what’s striking is that WoW is the first game to truly bridge the gap between hardcore gamers and the mainstream crowds. Blizzard’s giant cash cow is becoming a part of popular culture, supplanting The Sims as the “it” game of choice for both gamers and non-gamers alike.

Head over to Actiontrip.com to read the rest of the preview. Don't forget to visit WoW Ten Ton Hammer for all your latest WoW news and information!

Blizzard's VP of Game Design, Rob Pardo Talks To CVG

ComputerandVideoGames.com had a chance to sit and talk with Rob Pardo about World of Warcraft's much awaited expansion The Burning Crusades.

World of Warcraft is such an unstoppable behemoth of a success story, it hardly even needs an introduction anymore. Still, there's plenty that developer Blizzard is keeping tight-lipped about regarding the forthcoming expansion Burning Crusade, so we'll seize any chance we get to weed out further nuggets of fact.

We sat down with Blizzard's VP of game design, Rob Pardo, to probe his impenetrable cavern of revelations regarding just what we can expect when Azeroth's dark portals finally open, the benefits offered by the expansion's two new races and, of course, the new level 70 cap. Read on for more.

Read the interview at CVG.