by Reuben Waters on Apr 29, 2010
Loading... is the premier daily
MMOG news and commentary
newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
Much like the changing
of the seasons in the northern hemisphere, the MMOG industry undergoes
an interesting cycle of sorts each year. Whether by coincidence or
design, it seems that just as temperatures finally start to rise beyond
the unpleasantness of late winter / early spring, things on the news
front begin heating up as well. The proof is certainly in the pudding
this week, and you can find all the details on what's hot today in
Loading... Spring Fervor
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:
Biggest
movers today:
size="-1">Upcoming
Events
color="#cc0000">HOT!
EverQuest
Underfoot All-In-One Giveaway - 20 Copies Available!
Ten
Ton Hammer is partnering with Sony Online Entertainment to offer you a
chance to win one of twenty EverQuest® Underfoot All-In-One
Compilation
Packs. For details and your free chance to win, follow the instructions
on the
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/eq_underfoot=">EverQuest
Underfoot Giveaway page. Good
luck!
An interesting coincidence this year is that
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto">Star
Trek Online
launched on February
2nd - a date that any
self-respecting Pennsylvania native like yours truly knows as Groundhog
Day. If the MMOG industry had its own version of Punxsutawney Phil
emerging from Gobbler's Knob, it must have been insanely sunny on
STO's launch day, as it's taken a bit longer than
the traditional 6 weeks for our MMOG spring to swing into full gear
this year. Now that it's finally here though, man have things
suddenly gotten a whole lot more interesting.
Heading into this week I was already pretty hyped for the
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/47">Guild
Wars
5
year anniversary. But to add fuel to the fire, on Monday ArenaNet
teased followers of
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/183">Guild
Wars
2
on Facebook with an
interesting update
stating, "Many of you know that the anniversary of the
original Guild Wars
is coming up. We have a few things up our
collective sleeves that we're going to talk about this
week." ArenaNet must have some pretty massive sleeves, as it
turns out they contained not only an excellent
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83838">design
manifesto, but
also the first major
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83864">gameplay
details and an Elementalist class reveal
for GW2.
While I'm on the subject of GW, be sure to tune in
this weekend for a very special episode of Ten Ton Hammer Live! This
week's guests include an all star lineup from NCsoft, so if
you're a fan of Guild Wars,
Guild Wars 2
or
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/140">City
of Heroes,
be sure to
href="http://media.omfg.fm:8000/stream.mp3.m3u" target="_blank">tune
in live at 7pm EDT. Or if your
weekend is already
booked solid, keep your eyes on the
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live">Ten
Ton Hammer Live archives for
the episode to become available this Sunday.
Not only do Guild Wars
fans have a lot to be excited about this week,
as Trion Worlds also opened the proverbial flood gates to reveal a ton
of new details on upcoming titles
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2035">Rift:
Planes of Telara
and
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2503">End
of
Nations.
Both games have
certainly grabbed my attention, tucked it
under their virtual arms, and are currently holding it captive which
I
really don't mind one bit. If you're curious to
understand why and haven't already had the chance to, be sure
to check out these hot features and exclusives fresh from the oven this
week:
As you can see, the MMOG spring is finally in full swing this year.
Between Guild Wars 2,
Rift: Planes of Telara
and End of Nations,
gamers
have plenty to be excited about. Even the most jaded among us has to
admit that each of these three titles has the potential to finally
bring us out of the frigid temperatures of the post-WoW era.
Are you as excited to get your hands on these three titles as I am? Are
we finally witnessing the dawn of the next great era for MMOGs? Grab
your virtual pogo stick and hop on over to the Loading...
forums and let us know!
4 new Ten Ton Hammer
articles! 111 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in April! 470
in 2010!
FEATURED
COLUMN
D-Mail #2: Knee Jerk Reactions
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/features/dmail/2">http://www.tentonhammer.com/features/dmail/2
In
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/features/dmail">D-Mail
#1,
The Syndicate Guildmaster and CEO Sean "Dragons" Stalzer explained his
passion for building strong online communities and reasoned that these
communities and the "business brains" behind online games have many of
the same interests at heart. This week, in
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/features/dmail/2">D-Mail
#2: Knee Jerk Reactions,
Sean looks at how game developers can slow down ragequit-prone
guildmates before they do something rash, and do it through, of all
things, clever marketing gimmicks.
REVIEW
Cash Rules Everything Around Me
- A Look at Planet Calypso
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83891">http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83891
The
prevailing theme of 2010 has been one of free-to-play gaming and
microtransactions, and while we’ve focused much of our energy
on new
titles, one title has been making and breaking its own records since
late 2004. Planet Calypso is a subscriptionless MMOG that focuses on a
player driven gameplay experience and allows players to not only spend
limitless amounts of money in game, but to make money as well. Join Ten
Ton Hammers Jason “Medawky” Bolton as he explores
this war torn virtual
space and seeks to unlock the secrets of its economy.
EDITORIAL
Loremaster's Corner - Gnomes
and their Technologically Superior Role in Cataclysm
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/lore/gnomes_in_cataclysm">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/lore/gnomes_in_cataclysm
Everyone loves the Gnome race in World of Warcraft. They're strong
allies of the Dwarves and the Alliance and provide the Alliance with
its much needed technological backing. Where did they come from and
what is their role in Cataclysm? Check out this week's Loremaster's
Corner to find out.
MEDIA
Star Trek Deep Space Nine Fleet
Action Video
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83876">http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83876
Deep
Space Nine (DS9) is one of the most iconic locations in the Star Trek
universe. Luckily, DS9 was included with the launch of Star Trek Online
and fleet action combat is available for the popular area. Cryptic
recently released a new video of the fleet action for DS9 that shows
how players will get to help defend the iconic location in both space
and from the inner station against some of the game's popular villains.
Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Reuben "Sardu" Waters
and
the Ten Ton Hammer team