Welcome
to the 1,244th
edition
of Loading...
Loading... is the premier daily
MMORPG news, coverage, and
commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
When we think of a new MMOG
heading into open beta, most of us already have a picture in our heads
of what the gameplay or setting will be like based on previous
experiences and the assumed inclusion of certain gameplay elements that
have become industry norms. Every once in a while though, a new title
comes along that shatters the mold and challenges our preconceptions of
what’s possible in the massive online gaming space.
We’ll take a closer look at one such game today in
Loading… Atypical Love.
cellspacing="0" width="100%">
The Pulse
You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse (
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).
Here
are today's top 5 Pulse results:
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
of Warcraft
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rom">Runes of Magic
href="http://tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/117">Dungeons
and Dragons Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve">EVE Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest
2
style="text-decoration: underline;">
style="text-decoration: underline;">
Biggest
movers today:
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rom">Runes of Magic
(Up 13 to #2!)
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/34">City
of Villains (Up 5 to #17)
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/117">Star
Trek Online (Down 3 to #9)
size="-1">Recent Releases
size="-1">
9/22
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/254">Aion
(release date)
size="-1">
size="-1">
10/8
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2129">Cities
XL (release date)
size="-1">11/3
-
Dragon
Age:
Origins (release date)
size="-1">
11/10
-
Final
Fantasy
XI Ultimate
Collection (release date)
size="-1">12/1
-
href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/464-answer-the-call-of-war">LotRO:
Siege of Mirkwood (expansion)
size="-1">
12/1
-
href="http://www.eveonline.com/Dominion/">EVE
Online: Dominion (expansion)
size="-1">
12/2
-
DOFUS
2.0
(update)
size="-1">
12/15
-
href="http://everquest.station.sony.com/everquest.vm">EverQuest:
Underfoot (expansion)
size="-1">Upcoming
Releases
size="-1">
1/26
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2389">Mass
Effect 2
(release date)
size="-1">
2/1
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
Agenda
(release date)
size="-1">
2/2
size="-1">
-
Star
Trek Online
(release date)
size="-1">
2/16
-
href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)
size="-1">
March
2010
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB
Loading... Daily
On any typical day I tend to be
fairly vocal about my attitude towards the monetization of open betas
for upcoming MMOGs. It seems that ever since the concept of running an
open beta took a massive shift towards being another cog in the
marketing hype machine so too have we begun seeing more and more
instances of the "open" part loosely translating
into "for a small fee".
The most common scenario
tends to be the dreaded involvement of client download sites such as
Fileplanet where players are required to be a paid member to have
access, with the client only truly opening up to the general public
just days before the bells toll on the whole thing so that the servers
can be brought down and prepped for the impending Head Start (which is
of course industry slang for "give our retail partners $5 and
we'll let you preview the live game for 3
days").
Don't get me wrong, I fully
understand that by the time a new
MMOG even reaches the open beta phase its entirely common that millions
of dollars and countless hours have been poured into development.
Between the sleepless nights by a staff of dedicated programmers,
artists and designers and the huge variable of the risk vs. reward
potential inherent in embarking on the nutty journey that is bringing
an MMOG to market, the sooner funds can begin rolling in the better. As
we all know, the journey only truly begins for a new title the day it
finally launches to the masses and nothing can boost the morale for an
already exhausted development team facing the long road of bug fixes
and server stability issues ahead quite like seeing the meters of
success (read: profits) climbing sooner rather than later.
Were this a typical day here at
the Ten Ton HQ I'd likely
dive even deeper into the subject and encourage anyone reading this to
weigh the pros and cons of pay-to-play open betas
and begin a lengthy debate on our forums. It's one of those
topics that tends to naturally rear its head whenever we're
on the verge of a major release such as Star
Trek Online next month
either way, and in fact may have even been the sum and total of the
topic for today's Loading... were this a
typical day.
Today, however, is not a
typical day.
Dancing somewhere along the
outskirts of the urban MMOG jungle, though
certainly just as deserving of attention as any triple A title just
over the horizon, an interesting game with the simple title Love
kicks
off its open beta phase starting today. For those of you who may be
unfamiliar with the game, one of the major things that helps set it
apart from the churning masses of the massive online gaming world is
the fact that the entire project is the creation of a single person.
The development notes on the official site for Love
sum this aspect of
the game up quite well:
Love is a
game that
has been developed by a dev team of one: Eskil. It
is one of the most, if not the most ambitious independent game projects
ever conducted by a single person. Not only has the game including
design, programming and art been developed by this single person, but
also most of the tools and technologies making the game possible.
In a recent
href="http://news.quelsolaar.com/">news post,
Eskil had this to say about
both the beta for
Love
and some of the ways the game is different than any other MMOG
you've experienced before:
I know that many
people use open Betas as Demos to evaluate games, and
in some ways that is understandable, as long as they understand that
many things will change. Love is a very different game, and not one
that is easy to get in to. It's a game that most people start
to appreciate over time. There is no hand-holding, no glowing arrows,
no female voice telling you what to do, and no quests. In many ways
it's an old school PC game that takes a bit of time getting
used to.
This is the part where I throw
my usual perspectives on pay-to-play
open betas out the window because, after all, Love
definitely marches
to the beat of its own drummer in nearly every regard. While the client
is openly
href="http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/">available for
download by anyone at the
official site, a
small fee via PayPal will grant players a beta voucher which will give
them access to the
game servers. For those of you looking to take a
break from the norm or simply looking for an incredibly cool new online
gaming experience, I thoroughly encourage you to head over to the
href="http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/index.html">official
site and give Love
a closer look.
Have you been following the
development of Love,
or plan on hopping
into the beta to check it out? We'd love to hear your
thoughts on the game right here in the Loading... forums!
Shayalyn's
Epic Thread of
the Day
From our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=139">WoW:
General Discussion forum
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=48831">
style="font-weight: normal;">1st Time WoW player 9
hours and /uninstall heres why
When I saw this thread's title my first thought was, Oooh,
I can see how this one's gonna go.
And then I read the original post's content and thought, And
here's my Epic Thread.
This battle royale begins with caraloft in the challenger's corner
suggesting that World of Warcraft is teh suxx0rz. (Well, much more
eloquently, to be honest, but I think that's what it boils down to.)
"A
game heralded as the game to end all others, the game with such
fanatical fans that they wont even have a game of cards with grandma
before she slips of the mortal coil.... Well thought I'd try it. First
thing I had to stomach was the god awful
24bit textures look liked they pulled them from a bad 1980's cartoon,"
caraloft begins, following that up with several paragraphs of unbridled
WoW hatred. And the fun ensues.
So
far, no one's stepped into the ring to take the challenger on; they're
all on the sidelines rolling their eyes and muttering, "Troll." Perhaps
you'll be the one to have a go. Or maybe you agree with our new friend
caraloft. Either way, hit the WoW forums to
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=48831">have
your say.
==============================
Awesome
Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"
Methinks
we have a troll."
- Miralyn
"Correct! you win the microwave
oven and a chance at a free trip to Lincoln Nebraska!"
- Stormbrjnger
==============================
Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums?
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!
9 new Ten Ton Hammer
features today! 25 in January! 25 in
2010!
Exclusive
Features and Original Guides Today at
Ten Ton
Hammer
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78926">
Kung Foo!
Closed Beta Keys Now Available from Ten Ton Hammer
Kung Foo! is the new tongue-in-cheek, martial arts mash-up MMORPG from
Perfect World Entertainment, featuring the comedic wit of the renowned
comic book writer Devin Grayson, along with anime-tastic visuals and a
host of geek culture references all packed into an MMORPG easily as
punchy (no pun intended) and fresh as anything out there. Now you can
snag a closed beta key from Ten Ton Hammer while they last!
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78850">
Fallen Earth:
A Closer Loot at the Post-Apocalyptic Environment
The team over at Fallen Earth has been working diligently on the game
since its launch only a few short months ago. Already the graphics team
has come up with some new ideas to make the environment more crisp,
clean, and just plain better looking. Patching in January 7th, a new
scrub will be introduced to the game, enhancing the look and feel of
the Fallen Earth world. We were able to get some exclusive screenshots
and a journal entry from Graphics Programmer, Kevin Coyle.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/futureofwow2010">
Looking at World of Warcraft
in 2010
It is now the New Year and Ten Ton Hammer takes a long look into the
what 2010 and beyond has in store for World of Warcraft. Looking into
our crystal balls we give you an educated guess about what the future
holds for WoW through the next year.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rom/guides/classes/dualclass_rogue_guide">
Runes of Magic:
Dual Class Guide for the Rogue
The Rouge is another one of those classes where you basicly know what
to expcect when you roll one. However, the dual class options in Runes
of Magic muddy the water only a little bit. Join Ten Ton Hammer as we
explore the dual class choices for the Rogue in Runes of Magic.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/co/guides/apocalypsestronghold">
Champions Online
- Apocalypse: Stronghold PvP Guide
Feel like taking on the role of a super-villain attempting to bust out
of the Big House? Well, now you can bust the heads of opposing players
in the Apocalypse: Stronghold scenario in Champions Online. Your pals
at Ten Ton Hammer are here to provide a handy overview of this scenario.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/class/gladiatorstigma">
Aion
Gladiator Stigma Skill List
Aion's Gladiator class is more than just a damage machine but however
you decide to play your character, you'll want to utilize the stigma
skills that will suit you the best. Get all the vital information on
the Gladiator stigmas including level and full description in this easy
to read skill list and find all the ways you can make your Gladiator
even better.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78928">
Those Aren't Real Friends - A Loot at Online Relationships
At the end of the 1990’s the idea of having online friends
wasn’t something that one would exactly want to broadcast, as
the perception of anyone that participated in online socializing was
that of a basement-dwelling nerd. As the years have passed, that stigma
has been mostly eradicated and everyone from preteens to grandparents
has embraced this medium of communication,but some doubters remain.
Join Medawky as he takes a look at this rapidly growing social circle.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78931">
AdventureQuest Worlds:
A New Years Revolution Dev Blog
AdventureQuest Worlds is starting 2010 off with a revolution of sorts
and Artix returns with his first blog of the year to tell players all
about it. The new in-game event will allow players to aid Princess Ai
No Miko in battling the Chaos Lord Kitsune, a ninja/samurai that has
vowed to turn all the creatures known as Yokai against each other. The
event will send players on an adventure through four ancient shrines to
confront the Chaos Lord and foil his evil plans.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78944">
An Introduction to Alchemy in EVE
Online
Alchemy is a way for small-timer industrialists to compete with the big
boys for making the most valuable materials in EVE Online. Ten Ton
Hammer Contributing Writer, Space Junkie, shows us the ropes for this
complicated yet lucrative endeavor.
Today's
Hottest Content
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78752">Global
Agenda
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78752">
Mission Types Interview with Exec. Producer Todd Harris
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78807">Star
Trek Online Beta Journal #3 -
Rising Through The Ranks
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78791">The
Anatomy of
Fleets in
EVE
Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78760">
Dungeons
& Dragons Online:
Eberron Unlimited Review
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78776">New
Hopes - A
First Look at
style="font-weight: bold;">Allods
Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/co/editorial/endgameimpressions">
Champions
Online Impressions Part 3
– End Game
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/raids/icc/plagueworks">
WoW
- Guide to Ice Crown Citadel - The Plagueworks
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/awards/2009/best_of">The
Ten
Ton Hammer Best of 2009 Awards
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/new/dodgingpvp">Aion
Carebear's Guide to Dodging
PvP
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorial/2009yearinreview">
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78574">Going
Klingon -
A
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78574">Star
Trek
Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78574">
Q&A
with Zeke
Sparkes
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer
network!
- Reuben "Sardu" Waters
and the Ten Ton Hammer team