Welcome to the 1,094th Edition of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news and commentary
newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer. It takes about 10 seconds to href="http://newslist.tentonhammer.com/">have this
newsletter sent straight to your inbox if you aren't already.

E3 2009 might have come to a close, but our coverage
continues! Today's newsletter features we'll feature your best bets for
E3 2009 MMO articles and videos, plus offer our MMOG picks Loading...
Best of E3 2009!

Check
out the Ten Ton Hammer E3 portal for the latest MMO goodness
from this year's show!

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 Pulse?).

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results for today:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/41"
   target="_blank">World of Warcraft
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/115">Star
   Wars: The Old Republic (UP 1)
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/43">EVE
   Online (down 1)
4. EverQuest
   2
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/115">Age of
   Conan

Biggest Movers in the Top 20 today :

1. DC
   Universe Online (UP 13 to #15 href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/68412"> size="-1">)
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">EverQuest
   (UP 12 to #19)
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/306">Jumpgate
   Evolution (UP 8 to #13)

• 5/15
  - href="http://www.eveonline.com/updates/patchnotes.asp?patchlogID=187">EVE
  Online Apocrypha 1.2 (patch)
• 5/19
  - Warrior
  Epic (launch date)
• 5/19
  - href="http://vgplayers.station.sony.com/newsArchive.vm?id=888&section=News">Vanguard
  "Halls of Pantheon" (content patch)
• size="-1">5/28
  - Dragonica
  (CBT key giveaway)

• 8/25
  - CrimeCraft
  (release date)
• 9/1 -
  Champions
  Online (release date)
• Early 2010
  - APB
• ??
  - Jumpgate
  Evolution (release date)

Loading... Daily

E3 2009 is over and was a very good show (please don't grow,
E3, you're the perfect size now), but the coverage is still rolling
out. Since I've been awake for 36 hours following a red-eye return
flight that lived up to the name, I'm taking the easy way out and
naming our Best of E3 2009 picks. Fancy graphics to follow soon.

Surprise of the Show: Heroes of Telara
- We were expecting cookie-cutter fantasy and saw a game built around
truly dynamic content and rampant subclassing, both ideas worthy of a
place in the next round of MMORPGs. It looks cool and better yet makes
sense for the game Trion is designing, and we're truly excited to see
where this one goes.

Best Use of a License: DC Universe Online
- Licenses are tricky, but SOE Austin has made all the right moves,
first by snatching up major league comic artist and writer talent like
Jim Lee, Marv Wolfman, and Jeff Jones. That investment is already
starting to pay off. Not only do the main storylines inundate you with
big time DC characters, you'll fight with or against them in
large-scale battles which eminate epic. The just-revealed Headline
achievements and looted equipment that automatically adapts to your
costume colors are both great ideas too.

Most Innovative: APB - Realtime
Worlds is seeking to build a game which places such importance on
individual fashion and character customization that you won't even see
floaty names overhead as you walk around, and that's just the tip of
the iceberg. You'll be able to combine a huge array of vector graphics
to create your own tattoos, clothing graphics, and vehicle designs,
work with an in-game FM mod synth-styled music machine to give your
character your own theme music (read that one again), and have your
gang's music or style of music blaring out of the speakers as you drive
past other characters. We saw positional voicechat for the first time
during the demo too.

Even the matchmaking is innovative in that it all happens in
the background while you're going about your business in the game
world. If you're a high level criminal trying to pull off a job, the
game won't just issue an APB for you to a high level enforcer, it might
send a few mid-level enforcers or a number of low-level enforcers. We
could go on for paragraphs, but this game screams innovation and we
truly hope Realtime Worlds can tie all these great ideas together into
an awesome beta in the coming months.

Most Improved: The Agency - It
might be odd to talk about a game still in-development as most
improved, but for us seeing the demo mission legitimized the vision for
an espionage-geared MMO that SOE has been telling us about for years.
There's plenty of room for different playstyles,for guns blazing gamers
and stealth / surpise types, and the black tie side of the classic spy
motif is definitely present and very nicely done in what we saw.
Overall character progression and overall cohesion are still question
marks, but E3 2009 made us believers that SOE truly has something
special going with The Agency.

Best Gameplay: Global Agenda - We
saw a few "persistent world shooters" at E3 2009 this year, and Global
Agenda, in our opinion, has the most to offer traditional MMO players.
You build your character to suit your playstyle in the tank / DPS /
support roles you're already used to, and the equipment and abilities
you choose supports rather than dictates your style. The PvE sessions
let you earn equipment while infusing a typically flat genre with some
compelling storyline, and PvP is nothing short of a blast - think Team
Fortress 2 or Battlefield Heroes with an overarching purpose and a
z-axis. We'd dare anyone to play just one mission of this game, since
we had a very rough time putting Global Agenda
down when it was time to rush off to our next appointment.

Best of Show: Star Wars: The Old Republic
- Maybe it was the absolutely phenomenal trailer that BioWare led off
with (which many at E3 were calling the best Star Wars cinema in 30 odd
years), or the retro-styled booth where they were doing the demo of the
highly convincing bounty hunter and smuggler classes or the revelation
that a game can go full voiceover without obstructing gameplay. SWTOR
is still a long way away and we have much, much, much more to see, but
not only did Bioware bring the full package to this year's premier
games event, the core of the game looks very convincing, compelling,
and, dare we say, hypeworthy.

Comment on our picks in the href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=43331">Loading...
forum, or feel free to href="mailto:[email protected]">email me.
I'll respond after a very lengthy nap.

From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6">Articles,
News and Events Discussion

Bioware
Makes Big Announcement for SWTOR at E3

Oh,
BioWare...we love you so!

E3
may be over for another year, but the furor over Star Wars: The Old
Republic is only just beginning. BioWare announced this week that SW:
TOR will be the first fully voiced MMOG ever developed.

We all
love it when NPCs actually talk to us. The voice overs in Age of Conan
helped me enjoy the Tortage experience the first time through, and I
missed them when I left for distant shores and found that the NPCs
would only stare at me blankly and spew text. But never fear, SW: TOR
will give a voice to all NPCs. (Now href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=377845&postcount=4">let's
hope we can get our pick-up groups to slow down long enough
so we can actually listen.)

Are you excited about Star Wars: The Old Republic? How profound is the
effect voice overs have on your MMO gaming experience? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=43304">Discuss!

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

"I
think out of 30+ years of gaming, that was the best frigging cinematic
I have ever seen. I don't care for them honestly because we don't see
actual game play and UI, etc. but that just spewed epicawesomenisitis!"

- OneEyeRed
==============================

Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=41426">Tell
us!

13 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 43 in June! 680 in
2009!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

E3 2009

• Global
  Agenda Hands-On Preview
  The media bonanza of E3 certainly shines its spotlight on heavy-hitting
  developers and their publishers, but sometimes it's also the perfect
  opportunity to take a look at titles that may not be getting the amount
  of attention they deserve. At this year's conference, Ten Ton Hammer
  sat down with the developers of Global Agenda for a hands-on preview
  and came away thoroughly impressed.
• New
  Torchlight Screenshots
  orchlight by Runic Games is on its way to a gaming station near you. A
  single player version of the game is up first, and players can expect
  an MMO version thereafter. The Seattle based team has many talented
  designers working on the game, and the talent shows in their
  screenshots. Don't believe us? Check them out for yourself.
• Torchlight
  Destroyer Video
  The Destroyer and the Alchemist were the two classes shown by Runic
  Games for their upcoming action RPG: Torchlight. Get to know the class
  and a little more about Torchlight's look and feel with this brief
  video.
• New
  Crimecraft Screenshots
  As a modern day MMOG, APB has the best of traditional gameplay mixed
  with the edgy backdrop of a crime ridden city. Choose to play as the
  law as you strive to clean up the streets or play as a street thug
  looking to make a name for yourself any way you can.APB is not due out
  until next year, but Realtime Worlds was cool enough to share some
  great screenshots with our staff at E3.
• Crimecraft
  E3 2009 Trailer
  Ever want to join or even create a gang, but don't want to mess with
  the hassle of having a cap busted in yo azz? This summer, you can.
  Vogster games released this new Crimecraft trailer at E3. Gather your
  homies and get ready to partay, Crimecraft style. This game puts you in
  the seat to bring your own kind of justice to the streets.
• Runes
  of Magic Elven Prophecy Screenshots
  Frogster has announced the second chapter to Runes of
  Magic and has been showcasing the new content at E3. The new chapter
  titled, Runes of Magic - The Elven Prophesy has a planned release date
  for September 2009, but to give players a peak at things to come,
  Frogster has released several new screenshots to show off some of the
  new content.

Features

• Premium
  Members Only - Blacksmiths of Intellectual Property: The Rise of
  Originality in MMOs
  Ten Ton Hammer's Cody "Micajah" Bye sent a number of questions to
  original IP development teams across the world. The Ten Ton Hammer
  staff also took the time to ask you - the MMO gamer - what your
  thoughts were on original IPs, and what they would mean for your gaming
  experience. This feature length article is the result.
• Geeked:
  "He's Gonna Pop!"
  Ten Ton Hammer's very own satirical webcomic on all things geek-related
  is back with another look into the dating life of nerds on the prowl
  with their zombie wingman. Last time, Bill was caught off guard when
  one of the opposite sex actually expressed interest. This time, he may
  be a little too on guard.
• Blizzcon
  Blitz 2009 Ticket Giveaway
  If you don't already have a ticket for BlizzCon, chances are you won't
  find one for this year's premier fan event. That is, until now. Ten Ton
  Hammer has BlizzCon tickets and we aim to give them away to some lucky
  Ten Ton Hammer community member. All you have to do is fill out our
  contest registration form for your chance to win. There is no limit as
  to how many times you can register. Enter once if you feel lucky or a
  hundred times if you want to better your odds. The contest will run
  from June 4th to June 17th , 2009. Enter now for your chance to win.

Guides:

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/glyphs">World
  of Warcraft: Hunter Glyphs
• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/shaman/glyphs">World
  of Warcraft: Shaman Glyphs
• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/warlock/glyphs">World
  of Warcraft: Warlock Glyphs
• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/warrior/glyphs">World
  of Warcraft: Protection Warrior Glyphs

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:

1. target="_blank"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/69348">Blizzcon Blitz
   2009 Ticket Giveaway
2. Global
   Agenda Hands-On Preview
3. Star
   Wars: The Old Republic E3 2009 Trailer
4. Final
   Fantasy XIV at E3 2009
5. Jumpgate
   Evolution PvP Q&A Video with Scott Brown
6. DC Universe S.T.A.R. Labs Demo Video with Jens Andersen
7. target="_blank"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/69321">Crimecraft E3
   2009 Trailer
8. Heroes
   of Telara E3 Trailer
9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/69320">Torchlight
   Destroyer Video
10. target="_blank">EVE Online: Sins of a Solar Spymaster #13 -
    The Participation Game

Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

-Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team