Loading...
is the premier daily
MMOG news and commentary
newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Welcome
to the 1,345th
edition
of Loading...

BioWare gets even more funding for what may very well turn out
to be the most expensive game ever made. How can this change the
industry forever? Read more in Loading... Upping the Ante.

The Pulse

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:

1. World
   of Warcraft
2. EverQuest
   II
3. Age
   of Conan (UP 1)
4. Vanguard:
   Saga of Heroes (UP 4)
5. Dungeons
   and
   Dragons Online

Biggest
movers this week:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/140">City of
   Heroes (UP 12 to #17)
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2339">TERA
   (UP 5 to #19)
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/47">Guild
   Wars (down 4 to #15)

• 2/16
  - href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
  2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)
• 2/16
  - LotRO:
  Oath of the
  Rangers (content update)
• 4/5
  - Pocket
  Legends (iMMOG - release date) href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1004">
  
  
• 5/1
  - href="http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/game_updates/issue_17/issue_17_overview.html?utm_source=COHemail&utm_medium=US&utm_campaign=banner">City
  of Heroes - Issue 17: Dark Mirror
  (content
  update)
• 5/11
  - Age
  of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer
  (expansion)
• 5/26
  - EVE
  Online: Tyrannis
  (expansion)
• 5/27
  - Craft
  of Gods
  (release)

• June
  9,
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1004">Mortal
  Online (release)
• June
  29,
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB
  (US release- July 2 in UK, EU)
• July
  20,
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2461">Need
  for Speed World (release)
• style="font-weight: bold;">Q2 2010
  - Mytheon
• TBA
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2079">Final
  Fantasy XIV
  
  
  
  

Upcoming
Events

• style="font-weight: bold;">6/15 -
  6/17 - E3
  Expo
• style="font-weight: bold;">6/25 -
  6/27 - Looking
  for Group
  Expo
• style="font-weight: bold;">7/22 -
  7/25 - Comic-Con
  International
• style="font-weight: bold;">8/5 -
  8/8 - href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/">SOE
  Fan Faire 2010
• style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
  9/6 - DragonCon
• style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
  10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y">BlizzCon
• style="font-weight: bold;"> 3/24
  -
  3/26 (2011)- CCP
  FanFest
  
  
  

Loading... Daily

Video games today are reaching new heights in terms of revenue. Console
gaming has changed the market, but now it looks like MMOGs may be
getting the benefit.



Electronic Arts, a company that's been around since almost forever has
just stated that they're going to be putting even href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/84965">more financial
backing behind BioWare's Star
Wars: The Old Republic. Eric Brown, the chief
fiancial officer, stated that the game is "the largest R&D
project EA has ever undertaken in terms of dollars that we expect to
spend bringing the title to market." What's the actual price tag then?
That detail remains unknown.



What is known is that EA isn't poor. For this reason it is unlikely
we'll see the game launched in the incomplete state so many MMOGs
suffer from. That point alone is reason enough to believe the game will
be a strong contender for a top spot in today's Western MMOG market.



There may a flip side to that coin.



If SWTOR proves to be as successful as EA believes it will be it could
change the MMOG market in a very drastic and severe way not seen since
the launch of World of
Warcraft. If the game is a resounding success, it may seal
the fate of the industry, leaving only two or three companies able
to compete in the market. If the game costs $150 million to
produce (that number is completely
arbitrary and used only to illustrate the point) you can bet that
there's going to be a large sum spent on advertising, hype, and
distribution. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see the game's launch
celebrated with enormous fan fare. This could, in turn, draw even more
of a crowd, particularly from the console gamers, and more importantly,
millions of others who have never MMOGed before who will try it for the
first time because of the Star Wars IP and associated fan fare.



If that happens there will be two schools. The WoW school, and the
SWTOR school. There will be some cross-over but for the most part the
two games will be competing at such an intense level any other launch
will be drowned out. Today's WoW players will be considered the "old
school" crowd, and today's old-schoolers (a la UO and EQ era) will
finally be permanently silenced. Independent studios and smaller devcos
will have a heck of a time trying to be heard amidst the deafening
wardrums of the Blizzard/BioWare MMOG wars. There simply won't be room
to evolve the genre in new directions any more. Any evolution will be
based off either the WoW client or the SWTOR client. This means
top-level mechanics, such as combat systems, will remain unchanged and
new innovative ideas for these mechanics will be lost.



SWTOR will add a new aspect of gamplay, and a few weeks later, WoW will
add the same thing. Then WoW will up the ante and add in something
else, and SWTOR would be forced to include it in their game. Eventually
both games could become so similar that you'll be rolling a Tauren
Stormtrooper in no time.



Cynical? Maybe. But I'm one of those guys who loves MMOGs for their
individuality and ideas. I've seen greatness from many studios for many
different things in many different games. I just hope we'll continue to
see that for many years to come. 



Am I wrong? Tell me in the forums.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day

From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=724">Guild
Wars 2 General Discussion



Anthropology
of GW2



Have
you wanted to get the lowdown on the races of Guild Wars 2? The Dread
Lord has posted a thread to summarize, and asks, "What the hell
happened to the Dwarves and the Tengu?" If you've found the lost
Dwarves or the Tengu in Guild Wars 2 lore, come deliver them into our
custody. (We promise to be nice to them.) Or just talk about href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=51559">Guild
Wars 2 races.



==============================

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread



"As
much as I'd like to see Dwarves added as a race I doubt we'll see it
unless there's some mission that sends us to Anvil Rock to 'make more
Dwarves' or undo their new Rock n Roll lifestyle."



- Fatemaster

==============================



Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!

New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

7 new Ten Ton Hammer
articles today! 7 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in June! 578
in 2010!

REVIEWS



Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

http://www.tentonhammer.com/reviews/prince-of-persia



With a new movie releasing, Ubisoft has all the hype in the world going
for its newest Prince of Persia game, The Forgotten Sands.
As Ubisoft tries to capitalize on the movie buzz, Mattlow breaks down
the game and reports whether the developers have delivered what the
hype promised.



PREVIEWS



Microcosms: Real MMO Gaming Comes To Facebook – A Fantasy
University Preview

http://www.tentonhammer.com/microcosms/2010/june/20



What
happens when you combine tongue in cheek humor, MMOG-style gaming and
the world’s most popular social network? Well, if the makers of the new
Facebook application Fantasy University have anything to do with it,
things will get totally FUbar’d. Join Ten Ton Hammer contributing
writer Jason “Medawky” Bolton as he previews what could very well be
the internet’s next New Big Thing in this week’s Microcosms.



INTERVIEWS



HOT! Ten Ton
Hammer Live Ep. 9 Transcript – Sam Kim & Matt Atwood on TERA

http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/9/transcript



In
this week’s installment of Ten Ton Hammer Live!, our hosts travel to a
lost temple dedicated to esoteric fighting arts to learn about the
innovative action-combat MMOG, TERA, developed by En Masse
Entertainment. To that end, we’ve cornered Sam Kim, Producer and Matt
Atwood, PR Director, to show off their fighting moves and talk about
all things TERA.



FEATURED EDITORIALS



The Top Reasons to Follow Guild Wars 2

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/editorials/why-you-should-follow-gw2">http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/editorials/why-you-should-follow-gw2



Have
you heard of Guild Wars 2 yet? If not, then you definitely need to get
informed about this MMO coming up soon. Our latest article, "The Top
Reasons to Follow Guild Wars 2," goes into the many reasons why Guild
Wars 2 needs to be on your game radar and, if it is already, why it
should be number one on your list.



FEATURES & GUIDES



WoW: Microtransactions in Cataclysm

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/cataclysm-microtransactions">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/cataclysm-microtransactions



Lil’
KT, Lil’ XT, and the Celestial Steed. Are these innocent novelty items
or a glimpse into the future of WoW? Cataclysm will bring huge changes
to raiding, with shorter raids, smaller dungeons, more accessible
content, and micro transactions already thriving will Cataclysm provide
the perfect storm for a micro transaction takeover?



WoW: Smaller Raids = Bigger Fun?

http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/features/smaller-raids



Blizzard
announced a little while ago that in Cataclysm it will be changing
World of Warcraft raids from the huge 10-12 boss multi-night raids that
we have seen lately to smaller more accessible raids. No
longer
will the entire tier of raid gear be available in one huge raid.
Instead it will be split across several smaller raids. What will all
this mean for World of Warcraft players?  Byron “Messiah”
Mudry
takes a look at the question: will smaller raids equal more fun for
more players?



Gnomes and Trolls to Get Their Own Starting Zones and More in
The Overpull

http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/newsletter/issue69



The
WoW Weekly Report is our newsletter dedicated to giving you a
wrap-up of the previous week in news, stories, and more. This week we
take a look at the quest chains that open up the new Gnome and Troll
starting zones, the Arena Tournament, making gold in WoW and all the
WoW news in the previous week. Don't miss a thing! Take a look at our
WoW Weekly Report every Tuesday.

Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/9/transcript">Ten
   Ton Hammer Live Ep. 9 Transcript – Sam Kim & Matt Atwood on
   TERA
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/editorials/personal-story-continued">The
   Impact of Story Pt. 2 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/editorials/personal-story-continued">Guild
   Wars 2 href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/editorials/personal-story-continued">'s
   Interactive World
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/previews/cataclysm/zalazans_fall">WoW href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/previews/cataclysm/zalazans_fall">
   PTR Patch 3.3.5 - Glory of the Darkspear
   
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/interviews/dev_talk/2010/may">Dev
   Talk: Top MMOG Devs Weigh
   in on User-Generated
   Content
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/editorials/why-you-should-follow-gw2">The
   Top Reasons to Follow Guild Wars 2
6. Ten
   Ton Hammer Live Ep. 8 - Neil
   Kaplan Man of Many Voices
7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/editorials/return-to-guildwars">The
   Many Reasons to Return to Guild
   Wars
8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/beyond/guides/war-in-kryta">Guild
   Wars: The War in Kryta Guide
9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/newsletter/issue-1">The
   War in
   Kryta Advances - GW2
   Weekly Report
   
10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/contests/guildwars2_post-a-thon">Win
    a Guild Wars 2
    Art Book

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

-Benjamin J. de la Durantaye and
the Ten Ton Hammer team