Massively's Best of E3 2010
by Shawn Schuster 
Jun 19th 2010 at 1:00PM
Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, Opinion, Massively Hands-on, Massively Event Coverage
So we wanted to honor the best of the best in our annual E3 awards which focus on MMO-related topics only. Follow along after the jump to see what tickled our fancy.
Biggest SurpriseBlack Prophecy
Biggest surprise is a difficult category to measure with new games, because they're all surprises. With Black Prophecy, we didn't even realize it would be playable on the show floor! Surprise! Although all we did was fly around and blow stuff up, it was still really a lot of fun. It's a gorgeous game packed full of action, so the hands-on demo booth was perfect. How it will do beyond that is still up in the air, but you can read much more about the possibilities in our in-depth demo experience.
Best DemoTERA
Want to know the perfect formula for a demo at E3? Get a room full of five or six journalists, group them up and lead them through some boss battles, screaming instructions the whole time. TERA's demo was intense, educational and it was a whole lot of fun.
Best BoothTrion Worlds
Words cannot describe the awesomeness of this booth showcasing both End of Nations and RIFT: Planes of Telara. There were giant screens, giant prop plants from the rifts, a full meeting and demo room in the back and even a booth babe in full costume.
Diamond in the RoughNeed for Speed World
This is a category we decided to create because there were SO MANY games at E3, it was really hard to find the ones hidden behind the flashy booths and overpowering banners. Need for Speed, while a huge franchise with an even larger publisher (EA) was shown in its MMO version at the Alienware booth on two laptops and a massive desktop machine. The focus, of course, was to show how these games ran on the Alienware hardware, so most people didn't pay attention to the games themselves. After a demo given to us by the game's producer, our eyes were opened to how amazing this upcoming game will be.
Best New MMOLEGO Universe
As an overall experience, LEGO Universe offers more than anything else we saw at E3. Among new and upcoming games, it especially shown through. I could sit here and try to explain it all in this small paragraph, but you'll have to read our write-up for that info.
Best New ConceptWorld of Tanks
You're a tank. You drive around and blow stuff up. What else do you want? While most game developers realize that fantasy is on its way out, the popular alternative is either sci-fi or superhero games. Wargaming.net decided to take a different approach by giving us an MMO centered around the tanks of World War II.
MMO of the ShowLEGO Universe
Not only did we think LEGO Universe was the best new MMO at E3, but even among its already-released peers, it has proven itself a star. A star made of little yellow LEGO bricks, but still a star. This was one where word quickly spread among those Massively staff members in attendance that making time for LEGO Universe should be a priority. Many of us tried it out and we all loved it. It's fun, it's creative and it's exactly what any LEGO fan would want in an MMO. Heck, it's exactly what any MMO fan would want in an MMO.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Ameliorate said on 1:17PM 6-19-2010
E3 has been? I can't believe I missed it. I thought if E3 was on there would have been all these great announcements and I would be looking forward to a few games being released right now.
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Brianna Royce said on 3:36PM 6-19-2010
Really, no MMOs at E3? Well in that case we wasted a whole week of 16-hour days working on posts about the MMOs at E3! I must have imagined it all! :D
In case you missed it: http://www.massively.com/tag/e3-2010/ -- and we'll have an all-in-one roundup post coming when our final posts are in. We covered a TON of games coming out of Asia too. I could find at least nine just this week in the E3 posts alone.
You guys seem really grumpy today. Would anything make you happy?! :)
-Bree
Ameliorate said on 3:22AM 6-20-2010
What would make me happy? The announcement of an MMO with action-RPG-like combat, a new IP which combines sci-fi and fantasy, an epic backstory which is combined seamlessly into the gameplay, a diabloesque loot system, levelling with minimum grind, partying optional (but beneficial) and a new take on grouping (eg, no healer needed).
That would make me happy.
Venekor said on 2:13PM 6-19-2010
There was nothing in terms of MMOs at E3. Bioware showed off a lackluster CG trailer instead of showing more of the game off. Well rightly so seeing as the little gameplay we did see was really really bad looking. Horrible character models and animations with missions that seemed like your standard WoW quest, only now you have to sit through 5 mins of boring voice over work. Atleast in WoW it is text you can skip. I mean really, I play an MMO to make my own story, for players to make the story, like in EVE. I don't want it to be some linear experience like the first 10 levels of AoC.
I believe FF14 was there but that'll be another crap FF game and MMO. Probably one with a UI designed for console, no proper mouse support, you're stuck to the ground and it just has prerendered backgrounds you can't go to.
The rest of it is crap, like all the stuff that won here, it wont have an impact, noone will care about it but maybe some Asian countries who love to grind.
The only thing that got me excited was the Warhammer 40K MMO. However everyones saying it'll be instanced and zoned, if that is the case then I don't care for the game lol.
I wish we could have the world simulation games like UO or SWG instead of these theme park WoW clones.
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cinderboy said on 2:23PM 6-19-2010
There were actually alot of Asian MMOs (from Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan) at the show. They already have English trailers and stuff to attract the English publishers. It's just that Massively did not cover them. And mind you, some of the MMOs are really innovative, not your usual Asian grinder. How about a voice controlled MMO, where speaking commands through the mic can control your some aspects of gameplay?
M said on 2:24PM 6-19-2010
I agree about Worlds, not WoW theme-park clones, enough of that already. Not likely to see anything different though from the "mainstream" developers, only hope is indies.
Grendel said on 2:26PM 6-19-2010
I'm with you, mate. All my hopes in SWTOR died these days, it will be
just your standard MMO with voices, oh my. :/
Where's UO 2 for god's sake?
M said on 2:22PM 6-19-2010
Why people have been making noise about Warhammer 40K is beyond me, they didn't tell, or show much and nothing new or different. The emperor has no clothes. What's the big deal?
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Crode said on 6:57PM 6-19-2010
Actually the Emperor has been near death for thousands of years and sits on the Golden Throne that keeps his brain alive.
TheGreatMachine said on 7:57PM 6-19-2010
lol, Crode
Wade said on 2:27PM 6-19-2010
Has the NDA for LEGO Universe lifted? Otherwise I can't say anything other than it didn't stay on my hard drive very long...
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GRT said on 4:07PM 6-19-2010
Didn't stay on mine very long either. I don't get what the fuss is all about. NDA squelch begins now! :)
Dan said on 4:18PM 6-19-2010
Same here, I'm a big Free Realms fan, so I was excited for a game like Lego Universe, but even I hit the uninstall button within a couple weeks, Clearly the author hasn't gotten a beta invite yet.
Turlagh said on 6:51AM 6-20-2010
How long ago did you guys uninstall? Maybe they spiffed it up since then?
Porter said on 2:43PM 6-19-2010
No mention of SWTOR. You guys are brave - I admire that.
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Utakata said on 3:09PM 6-19-2010
I think it was mentioned somewhere around here that even though the SWTOR announcements and cinematic where intriguing...the actually hands on gameplay of the demo wasn't exactly "ground breaking." This doesn't mean the game is terribad by any means...it just didn't catch their attention as the other games mentioned above. /shrug
Utakata said on 3:15PM 6-19-2010
I will also add, it looks like Black Phrophecy are taking up the flag of "poster child for F2P's" from where Allods fumbled it.
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Jon said on 4:02PM 6-19-2010
Don't you know F2P = Money in the bags... It is like Uncle Scrooge in Ducktales with his tower vault. Just swimming in your money...
Utakata said on 5:11PM 6-19-2010
Well it certainly will be an experiement of how F2P's with MT's will add up with something that has a high production to it. And whether they'll past everything onto the consumer when they try to cover the cost for making the game. That is, make the mechanics so the player is forced to cough up at the cash shop if they want to go anywhere or do anything reasonable. For that reason (amoung others) is why I wholly distrust BP's business model choice.
whiteze said on 4:42PM 6-19-2010
Diamond in the Rough Need for Speed World
"After a demo given to us by the game's producer, our eyes were opened to how amazing this upcoming game will be."
hmmm, suddenly it become brilliant game?
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