by Jeff Woleslagle on Apr 15, 2010
Loading... is the premier daily MMOG news and commentary
newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
It's Tax Day, and Loading... is here to tax your patience with
tales of
a $90 million MMOG that never was, its impact on the Facebook games
debate that's been raging here at Ten Ton Hammer over the last week,
and your monetary value as a Facebook fan. That, links, the latest
Pulse number, news, and more are coming at you in
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/apr/15">Loading...
Exploitation Without Representation.
You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse (
target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).
Here
are today's top 5 Pulse results:
Biggest
movers this week:
Upcoming
Events
Welcome to my least favorite day of the year, April 15th. It's
tax
day in the United States, and I promised Ben that my rant will not
exceed one paragraph, so here goes. I love what I do here at Ten Ton
Hammer, I really do. Being able to work from home and travel around
covering games is a lot of fun, and I feel privileged that we've
created a network.
But that said, nature loves a balance, and I pay a lot of
senseless
taxes and fees: a business licensing fee, two sets of business
privilege taxes, and (after losing the strangest battle with my state
government) a workman's comp policy in case I, you know, overrotate my
office chair and sprain my torso too badly to work. I also pay an
immoderate amont of money in income taxes. By virtue of the independent
contractee / self-employed nature of my job here at Ten Ton Hammer, my
tax prep software glibly informs me each year that I pay between five
and six times the national average for folks in my lowly tax bracket.
This at a time when
href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Nearly-half-of-US-households-apf-1105567323.html?x=0&.v=1">47%
of Americans
don't pay income tax at all, leading some to wonder what will happen
when we get a majority of non-taxpayers voting for their evil overlord
benefactors (or whether they'll even care), and corporations spend
href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24112908">$170 billion
(43% of their total tax outlay in 2007) in compliance costs alone. In
short, I'm getting soaked, the system is an outrage, and I think my
country could do a lot better with something like
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairTax">Fair Tax.
Let's turn to less incendiary things. Last week we discussed
the
impact of Facebook and "asset light" casual games on the MMO games
industry (last week's
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83301">Ten Ton Hammer
Live podcast
had an interesting discussion about it too) and several of you wondered
why we were comparing apples to oranges. After all, Facebook games and
MMORPGs compete in different segments, you noted, thinly veiling your
addiction to Mafia Wars. The argument took an interesting turn this
week when an ex-Ensemble studios exec shed new light on the issue this
week in a Gamespot piece that revealed
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83323">the Halo
MMORPG had a budget of $90 million prior to its cancellation.
My feelings about a Halo MMORPG aside - what's RPG-ish about
Halo
again? - "Project Titan" was cancelled because our friends at Microsoft
(who never met an MMORPG concept that they couldn't screw up) wanted to
spend that chunk of money on - you guessed it - casual games. Thus the
Xbox Live Arcade came into its own, and I'm left wondering what they
did with the other $88 million. Vista marketing?
In short, we view Facebook games and MMORPGs as competitors
because
resources are finite, and the investors, developers, and publishers
behind these games do make decisions between casual games and the hard
stuff on a regular basis. I find Facebook particularly appalling
because no one seems to mind that the games convert you (real life you)
into an advertising shill. Forget the deleterious and addictive effects
of MMORPGs, these games are way too close to your real life, and are
probably just as addicting. And they're making money hand over fist.
Did you know, for example, that as a Facebook fan you're worth about
$3.60. That's pure ad impressions, it doesn't even take into account
the multiplier effect as you go inviting friends with coupons and
announcing your achievements.
But worst of all, as the Ensemble story above shows, casual
games
are sucking oxygen out of the core games market, both in terms of pure
passion, investment capital, and development resources. We need more
developers like Firaxis, who have stated
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gdc2010/CivilizationV">Civilization
V is a "love letter" to PC gamers, we need more innovators
like the folks behind
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/43">EVE
Online and
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/fallenearth">Fallen Earth,
who trade on good ideas and refine their execution over time. And we,
as "core" players, need a paradigm shift - to move the focus of the
MMORPG category back to the social side - the player community inside
the game, as today's D-Mail
#1 suggests, instead of trying to compete on gameplay and
features.
That's my take - what's yours? Share your opinion on ad
shills,
Facebooksplotation, core games, and the competition for scarce
resources, in the Loading... forum!
5 new Ten Ton Hammer
features
today! 65 in April! 424
in 2010!
SPECIAL FEATURES
D-Mail with Sean Stalzer #1: You've Got D-Mail!
http://www.tentonhammer.com/dmail/1
What
more so determines MMOG success--strong player communities, or more
fixes and features? Can development and marketing decisions impact the
strength and endurance of game communities? The Syndicate's Sean
"Dragons" Stalzer begins to answer these questions and introduces Ten
Ton Hammer's newest feature in the first edition of D-Mail, a
new
bi-weekly column focused on the social side of today's (and tomorrow's)
MMORPGs!
MEDIA
New Mytheon PvP Gameplay Video
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83367
PvP
is a national pastime for some gamers and Mytheon is more than willing
to provide players with every option to smash each others skulls in
with clubs, swords, or just a giant bolt of lightning. True Games
Interactive released the first PvP details for Mytheon last week and
today we've gotten our hands on a new PvP video for the game that will
give you a look at what kind of carnage is waiting for players
in
Mytheon.
New Asheron's Call Barber and Shadow Race Screenshots
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83365
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/209">Asheron's
Call is one of the longest running MMOGs with over
ten years in operation and Turbine is still supporting the game with
new content. This week,
title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/209"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/209">Asheron's
Call received
title="http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=554-april-release-notes&catid=81-2010&Itemid=68"
href="http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=554-april-release-notes&catid=81-2010&Itemid=68"
target="_blank">a new content update with a brand
new race. The race, Shadows, are part of a series
of features added to the game that include new Barbers to
change a character's look, additional hairstyles,
title="http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=553-multi-slot-armor&catid=34-features&Itemid=56"
href="http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=553-multi-slot-armor&catid=34-features&Itemid=56"
target="_blank">multi-slot armor, which will allow
players to better customize their armor, and more. To celebrate the
launch of this new content, Turbine has sent us
title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83365"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83365">a few new
screenshots that offer a look at the new features.
FEATURES & GUIDES
Champions Online: Guide to Therakiels Temple
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/co/guides/world/therakiels_temple">http://www.tentonhammer.com/co/guides/world/therakiels_temple
Champions
Onlines newest lair is Therakiels Temple, a level 40 instance found
in Vibora Bay. Are your heroes stalwart enough to stop the coming
Apocalypse? Your pals at Ten Ton Hammer are here to give you the basics
to this new lair.
WoW: The Forsaken in Cataclysm - The Loremaster's Corner
http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/lore/forsakenincataclysm
This
week we delve into the Forsaken, World of Warcraft's undead race, and
look at their past, present, and future prospects in WoW. How will the
race fare in Cataclysm? Take a look at this week's Loremaster's Corner
to find out.
Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle
and
the Ten Ton Hammer team