While TERA's action-based combat is an important aspect of the game, the music helps give the world of Arborea a life of its own. Frogster, the game's European publisher, sent us an exclusive interview with Inon Zur and Rod Aldernthy, the duo behind the music of TERA. They explain how they worked with developer Bluehole Studio to compose the game's music and discuss the creative process.

Just to avoid any confusion, we'd like to reiterate that Frogster is publishing TERA in Europe, while En Masse Entertainment is handling the publishing duties in North America. Now that we've gotten that clarification out of the way, check out the Q&A with TERA's composers after the jump!

TERA Senior Producer Brian Knox has once again answered questions from players on Twitter, and it looks like this Q&A will become a regular feature. En Masse Entertainment plans to host a developer chat on Twitter on the third Friday of every month at 3 p.m. PT, so start thinking of your questions for next month's chat.

Many of the questions from this month's developer chat focus on TERA's political system, which we checked out at E3. Other topics include PvP, server types, end-game content and more. You can read the full transcript of Knox's Twitter Q&A after the jump.

E3 has come and gone, and we learned a lot during our time at the Los Angeles Convention Center. While we invite you to browse through all of our E3 coverage, we wanted to point out some of the highlights from the convention. You'll find all of our original features and a list of other noteworthy announcements after the jump!

We'd also like to take this opportunity to present En Masse Entertainment and TERA with our Best of Show Award! As we explored TERA's political system, the demo shined as the most polished one we saw at the convention. Expanding the role of politics in-game will create a whole new dynamic for players, and we believe TERA holds a lot of potential for its North American audience. We'll definitely be keeping our eye on this game as we wait for details on the testing and launch schedule.

Keep reading below for our E3 roundup!

Just when you thought that your weekly guild meetings couldn't get any more contentious, En Masse Entertainment's upcoming TERA looks to expand the role of politics in MMOs like never before. Want to dictate tax rates? Imprison your fellow players? Enable PvP across your territory? If you have the political will and support, you can make it happen.

But let's back up for a moment. TERA is an action MMO developed by Bluehole Studio and launched in Korea earlier this year. En Masse Entertainment is currently developing a North American version with no current release date. Billing itself as the first “true” action MMORPG, reflex and aim matter in TERA — it's not just about packing the right gear and stats, you need the right skills.

Now that we're caught up, keep reading after the jump find out what we learned at En Masse's impressive TERA booth (seen above) at E3!

En Masse Entertainment held an E3 developer chat yesterday with Senior Producer Brian Knox to give TERA fans a chance to ask their questions regarding the development of the game. To get the main questions out of the way first, he stated that the game will launch when it's ready and they'll be evaluating their test event schedule after E3.

Knox fielded a variety of questions, including one that gives us a look at the point they're at in the Westernization process:

"[We're] busting our ass to implement all the feedback you guys have been giving us. 1-58 is story complete, voice overs are done, font is chosen, its all really focused on quality of game content now."

You can read the full Q&A after the jump. Also, you can watch all sorts of E3 videos from the TERA team on the game's Tout page.

It's an indisputable fact that TERA is a gorgeous game, which is demonstrated in the action MMO's new E3 trailer. Watch it below to see a group of heroes battle enemies in the Valley of Titans in an effort to keep the gods alive.

We got the chance to visit TERA's booth at E3, so be sure to check back soon for our impressions! While you wait, you can browse through the rest of our E3 coverage.

E3 officially kicks off tomorrow, and you can get behind-the-scenes access with En Masse Entertainment as they show off TERA. The team will be posting short videos on Tout, so keep checking the TERA Tout page regularly to see the convention from their vantage point. You can also follow along with Senior Producer Brian Knox on his personal Tout page.

Speaking of Knox, he will be answering TERA questions from fans on June 8 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. PDT. To ask Brian a question during the community chat event, follow @TERAonline on Twitter, reply to Brian, and use the #TERA hashtag. A full transcript will be posted on this page of the TERA Online site once the Q&A is complete.

Lastly, be sure to check out episode four of the Official TERA Podcast for more pre-E3 details from the En Masse. Members of the ZAM team will be at E3 this week and we're definitely checking out the new demo. Keep an eye on ZAM throughout the week for E3 news!

"What makes a good MMORPG?"

I've decided to devote a bit of my time and a few articles to exploring this. In my last article, I talked about story and premise. Now I'll focus on gameplay mechanics and combat!

MMORPG Gameplay Mechanics and Combat

As a competitive gamer who has spent many years entrenched in the fast-paced world of first-person shooters and arcade fighting games, some of the most important things I look for in MMORPGs are strong, responsive gameplay mechanics and combat. To me, nothing is more frustrating than having an inconsistent delay between the time when I want to perform an action and when that action actually takes place. In tournament level games, when competitors are fully aware of all the tactical options available, matches are often won by the player who can adapt to his or her opponent's plans the quickest, while instantly executing his or her own counter-actions. Thus, when that final round comes down to the split-second decision to parry an attack instead of blocking, I'm sure you can imagine how frustrating it would be when your inputs are delayed by even a second.

No doubt all of you have heard that the famous (or infamous depending on your outlook) E3 is right around the corner. Well this is the first stop on a long road of publicity for En Masse and TERA as they move towards release. This year En Masse is going to showcase new trailers, a new demo, and more.

BrotherMagneto described, in this weeks developer blog, what it was like to travel out to Santa Monica for the pre-E3 events. Check out this article for a brief look into a game developer's duties and a few laughs. As always keep checking ZAM for the latest news!

"What makes a good MMORPG?"

Ever since I started working as a video game journalist, I've been rather obsessed with this question, throwing it out in candid phone interviews and studio visits whenever I could. In particular, I love to ask this when I hear of a new MMORPG being developed, because when launch day rolls around, that's when it's time to see if the vision matches the product. Unfortunately, I don't think I ever realized what a loaded question I was asking until someone asked me the very same thing and hundreds of different answers popped into my head. Fact is, for every stellar MMORPG we run across, there are probably a dozen mediocre ones waiting to be launched. So just what is it that makes for a good MMORPG?

I've decided to devote a bit of my time and a few articles to exploring this.