The 9th installment of Massive Update was a day late because, well, there was a crapton of stuff to link to. E3 week and all that, even though it’s not really E3 anymore. I think the smaller scale is pretty cool, but if it means that Massive gamers don’t get to see their toys during the week that’s kind of a poor tradoff. Crysis and Killzone 2 and Mario Galaxy and Mass Effect are fine and dandy … but what about my Blizzard/SOE/Arena.net/Mythic/NCSoft/Cryptic loving? And when the hell is Bioware going to announce their *cough*KOTOR*cough*?

The big story this week is, of course, E3. Specifically, the story is that there is no story. Despite copious new details on already announced products, nothing earth-shattering was revealed by any of the massively multiplayer developers in Santa Monica. Of course, Sony’s revelation that it’s signed up to work with NCSoft on future projects is good to hear. I think Guild Wars would work well on the PlayStation 3. Just the same, it’s hard to get worked up over a business deal with no details. It’s a sign of future fun, but nothing to chew on.

The story here is that, at least for massive players, E3 just ain’t what she used to be. As followers of ongoing projects, we’re used to the slow trickle of information this event represents. While it’s nice to have some more details on games like Aion: Tower of Eternity or expansions like Wings of the Goddess, it doesn’t feel that special getting this information this particular week. MMOG players are used to the slow drip of information — the anticipation of even the tiniest shred of data about the game you’re following. Veteran MMOG hags are nothing if not patient; camping spawns will do that to you.

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