by Jeff Woleslagle on Jul 31, 2009
Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
Today's Loading is a farewell to one of the longstanding and pivotal members of the Ten Ton Hammer team, who's leaving us to spend more time with his family. We'll also say goodbye to yet another release date, but the brief delay was far from unexpected in this case. All these goodbyes are kind of a downer, so how about a quick EU AoC time card giveaway and some Star Trek Online beta hijinx? It's all in Loading... Never Say Goodbye.
Coyote is back from Comic-Con in a big way, and his 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: Live Action Cartoons - Love 'em or Porkchop Sammiches?
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:
World of Warcraft Champions Online (UP 1) Aion (down 1) EverQuest 2 Age of Conan (UP 1)Biggest Movers today :
Dark Age of Camelot (UP 44 to #19) EverQuest (UP 4 to #12) Star Wars: The Old Republic (down 2 to #13) 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
7/31 - 8/3 - Aion Beta Weekend 8/21 - 8/22 - BlizzCon '09 9/4 - 9/6 - Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) Upcoming Releases 8/25 - CrimeCraft (release date) 9/1 - Champions Online (release date) 9/9 - Dungeons & Dragons Online Eberron Unlimited (release date) 9/9 - Fallen Earth (release date) 9/22 - Aion (release date) Early 2010 - APBAnd here we are at the start of another Aion preorder preview weekend. Though a pet project will take much of my time this weekend (you'll see it soon enough if Herr Dr. Wooglestein finds success in my lightning-powered basement laboratory), I personally hope to level up enough to get into the Abyss and some PvP a bit, just to try out that side of the game.
Today is a sad day for Ten Ton Hammer. Though 3 years at any one site is practically methusalan in this business, Danny "Ralsu" Gourley is stepping down to spend more time with his family today. Danny made huge contributions to our Vanguard community site in his heyday, then single-handedly took on the tremendous task of sorting out the best microtransaction driven MMOs with his Top Ten Free-to-Play lists, and finished out as our contest and giveaway czar. That's not to mention all the roles he filled in and between these huge jobs. You'll be missed, Danny, and should all that free time drive you or your family nuts, you'll always have a place here. If you'd like to say farewell, head to this thread.
Turbine has pushed back the release date for DDO Unlimited, and you heard it at Ten Ton Hammer first. The community seemed to take the news in stride, with folks noting that pushed release dates are par for the DDO course. I spoke with Turbine's Adam Mersky, who noted that DDO Unlimited is something of a victim of its own success. Adam noted subscriptions have actually increased since the upcoming subscription-free model was announced, and that the initial projections for launch were far, far lower than what Turbine is now seeing. The team realized that a month's worth of infrastructure "tuning" to handle the influx was what the doctor ordered. A month isn't too terrible of a slip, and Turbine has some thank-you initiatives and live events planned to cover the delay. Look for more info between now and Monday, and we might even have some more beta keys to let you check out the reinvented DDO for yourself.
All this heavy stuff is no way to start a weekend, so for a little comedy, head to the "Star Trek Online beta page" at http://www.startrekonline.com/beta (Thanks Metal!). Also, for good cheer, one of our members mistakenly purchased a 60-day EU-only Age of Conan time card. If you're a European AoC player (or want to be a European AoC player), send me an email ( ethec@tentonhammer.com ) with "AoC Time Card" as the subject and the name of the god Conan cried out to as he waded into battle, and I'll pick a lucky winner at random on Monday.
Since you can already share your thoughts about all the topics discussed today have their own forum presence, how about some ongoing impressions of Aion. Is it becoming the game you thought it was? Share your Aion impressions in the Loading... forum, or send it my way via email. Have a wonderful weekend!
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day8 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 95 in July! 860 in 2009!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today
EVE Online - Sins of a Solar Spymaster #22 - The Seven Types of SpyHottest Content:
Never Can Say Goodbye: A Farewell Tribute to Danny "Ralsu" Gourley EVE Online - Sins of a Solar Spymaster #22 - The Seven Types of Spy DDO Unlimited Launch Delayed City of Heroes: Power Spectrum and Going Rogue Interview from Comic-Con '09 Champions Online: Nemesis and Omega Interview with Bill Roper DC Universe Online Hands-On PvP Preview from Comic-Con '09 Bait and Switch? Ethics & Values in MMO Marketing Star Wars: The Old Republic Comic-Con Interview - Exploring the Expanded Universe Picking Up Cool Perks in Champions Online World of Warcraft: The Ultimate Guide to Ulduar's Bosses: RazorscaleThanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
-Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team