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Are you looking for the latest industry headlines? Look no further.

1. Daily Column
2. New MMOG Articles at TenTonHammer Today
3. Hot Content
4. Real World News - You Can't Make This Up

1. Daily Column

Since Boomjack is on his way back from that blazing, sun-crisped place known as Arizona, he’s tapped me – TTH's tried-and-true Managing Editor, Cody “Micajah” Bye – as his replacement to whet your whistles with the latest and greatest gaming news. I’ll do my best, but my whit and humor rarely live up to what Boomjack employs on a daily basis. I’ll even leave my email address tucked in here for any hate mail this edition of Loading… might spawn.

I can’t wait.

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Cryptic Studios has been pushing their agenda hard the last few weeks. With a decent amount of interest in their Cryptic Animation Rig (Cryptic AR) and with rumors of a Comic Con update for Marvel Universe Online, Cryptic is priming the pump to attract a large scale community in a short amount of time.

To preemptively prepare for their adoring fans, Jack Emmert and crew have set-up a community-based forum where fans can reach out to each other and talk about anything Cryptic. While these new forums don’t supersede the existing message boards for the “City Of…” games, they are meant to talk about any and all Cryptic projects including any previous titles they may have.

Here’s the official word from Jack:

Does that mean City of Heroes and City of Villains are off-topic here?
No. We love them as much as anyone does and we want to talk about them. But issues related to those games’ ongoing support and development should go on the official game forums.

This coupled with the lack of info about Marvel Universe Online may make for a quiet forum, but Cryptic is hoping that is not the case. Here’s what Jack hopes you can chat about in the meantime:

Talk about Cryptic Studios! We have a lot going on in the next few months. We released the Cryptic Animation Rig in Seattle two weeks ago. Over the summer, we will be hitting as many conventions as we can. We may even surprise you now and then with news of our activities. We’d love to get our fans involved in our company and talk about games, programming, art, comics and any of the other topics that we share an interest.

We will also be talking about Cryptic Studios and how it differs from many other developers. We’ve created a rather unique place in the industry and we’d love to talk about how we got where we are today and where we're going.

All that said, we invite you to register for these forums, post a hello message and strike up the conversation. We’re all looking forward to hearing from you.

There are already a number of fans signed up for the new forums, so don’t be too late. You never know, with beta status going to forum members lately, you shouldn’t skimp out by not registering for forums early and often. Marvel Universe Online could be fairly spectacular when all is said and done, and I’d hate to miss out on an opportunity to help the developers test the game.

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In other news, another small Australian-based company has launched a bid to win over the MMO fans of Oceania, this time with an MMOTBS (Massively Multiplayer Online Turn-Based Strategy game). The game is titled, No Horizons, and will be released by December 2007. We have the screenshots and the full press release hosted, but here’s a snippet:

No Horizons extends existing ideas and notions of a strategy game and then takes it to a new dimension. No Horizons boasts immense scope in everything, from the level of control a player has over their culture, the size of the environment to the endless list of features the players have at their disposal. The game is about managing the success of a culture in an unknown environment. The players are in control of their culture and in order to achieve success they players will need to deal with the environment, the multitudes of other players and the underlying story.

Although the game has some interesting looking screenshots and has been in production for five years, I’m curious to see what sort of gameplay they’ve come up with to factor in the “massive” portion of the game. I’ve scoured the website looking for that sort of explanation, but I’ve been unable to come up with anything.

However, I have the TTH investigative team (meaning me, Garret Fuller, and a rabid rodeo clown) on the case, so we’ll try to get you some answers soon.

In the meantime, stick with Ten Ton Hammer and make sure you read the interview With R. A. Salvatore!

Comment in the blog (now with direct link goodness) or email me directly.

2. New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

• Blog: The Way You Type Reflects Who You Are
  "The way you type reflects who you are and how others imagine yourself through these tubes that connect all of together. Xerin has gone on a rather insane tangent about how he sees people based on a few stereotypical typing styles. An interesting read!"
• Dungeons and Dragons Online: The Maze of Madness Quest Guide
  "In the Maze of Madness the minotaur tribes fester in the scar that is the Gianthold ruins. Enter Gianthold and remove this threat for glory and riches. Read Khalas's guide to the The Maze of Madness to find out the best tactics to take out the minotaurs and razorcats!"
• Editorial: Rise of the Super Team
  "More and more often, fledgling studios are turning to the past experiences of their members to market their unrevealed games. Companies like Colony Studios, Red 5 Studios, and 38 Studios have all benefited from this sort of campaigning in one way or another. Micajah analyzes this practice and determines the benefits and pitfalls of this public relations scheme."
• Everquest 2: A New Neriak - The Returning Evil
  "Ten Ton Hammer has your exciting first look at the new Neriak and Darklight Woods. TTH has had the opportunity to view a large portion of the new content, so learn more about the lore, features, and future of EverQuest 2 right here!"
• Knight Online: 4 Million Registered Users Reached, New Screenshots Released
  "Holy fire drakes, MMO-man! It seems that K2 Network has a winner on their hands with Knight Online, as the game has now exceeded the four million registered user mark. Even for a free-to-play game, which describes all of the games on K2 Network, four million users is an astounding number! To mark this occasion, we've received a selection of screenshots, along with the official K2 Network press release. "
• Lord of the Rings Online: The Ultimate LotRO Newbie Guide
  "Whether it's your dad, your girlfriend, or your non-gamer buddy from work, everyone knows someone that's tried to get into an MMO and failed because it's 'just too complicated'. It's been a while since I've seen a guide designed with the real newbie in mind (not just the WoW refugee), so I'd like to unveil our latest effort: a new guide for those people, to teach them the basics from the ground up."
• New Turn-Based Strategy MMO Announced, Includes Screenshots
  "Australia is pushing for a spot in the rapidly expanding MMO marketplace. While Fury has been in the public eye for sometime, a new MMO - this one a turn-based strategy game - is pushing for a December 2007 release date to make the Christmas sales. Going by the title No Horizons, the MMOTBS features a progressive world where players vie for control of their lands and can build cities on floating islands or under the sea. Ten Ton Hammer has pulled in some screenshots of No Horizons along with the official press release, and we're more than happy to share them with you."
• Tales of Pirates: New Realm Revealed with New Images
  "With a new set of screenshots in tow, the gang behind Tales of Pirates has announced another new realm - named Skull Isle - to handle the increasing amount of traffic. The Ten Ton Hammer team has received a selection of screenshots to herald this new realm and introduce new players to the game."
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - DuskUI Ready for Download
  "The DuskUI Alternative by techywarrior is now ready for download. This UI is specially designed to reduce the impact on your graphics card and has almost every feature a person could ask for. Download it today without even logging in!"
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Revised Paladin Guide
  "We've updated our Paladin Guide to have links to all of our current Paladin class content. You'll find everything you need from this one handy page!"
• World of Warcraft : Horde Leveling Guide 60-70 Update
  "Today, we continue our Horde 60-70 leveling guide with a look at Shadowmoon Valley and the rest of the trip to level 70!  This is where you get your flying mount and can finally explore the rest of every area."
• World of Warcraft: Netherwing Reputation Guide Revamp
  "The Netherwing faction serves as a means for obtaining one of the most awesome mounts in the game - the Nether Drake. In patch 2.1 this faction is expanded to allow you to gain up to Exalted with their ranks and receive the coveted Nether Drake. We here at Ten Ton Hammer have a guide that goes in-depth on how to complete every quest and get the your Nether Drake as fast as possible!"
• World of Warcraft: Sha'tari Skyguard Reputation Guide
  "First in our series of reputation guides, the Sha'tari Skyguard is a new reputation added in patch 2.1 that allows you to gain faction with the Sha'tari in order to get wonderful prizes. One of these items is even a Nether Ray mount! Check back often as this guide receives updates as information comes in from patch 2.1 and we introduce more reputation guides!"
• World of Warcraft: Topic of the Week - Druids, Shamans, and Priests
  "This weeks “Topic of the Week” continues the look at healers in the game that was started by Aurael. While her topic last week was about which class heals best and why, this one is all about which should heal best. You may want to head back to last weeks and check out the comments to get an idea of what everyone things the best healing class is and why, but then read the article about which class should heal best."
• World of Warcraft: Weekly Tip - The Character Sheet
  "Each week we feature a hot tip that helps you get things done quicker, faster, and/or easier in World of Warcraft. This week's tip is for those who are new to World of Warcraft. This week, we explain a bit about the character sheet. The character sheet includes many useful things about your character."

3. Hot Content

• Interview With R. A. Salvatore
• OGDC: Auto Assault Post-Mortem With Scott Brown
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  OGDC: EVE Online Interview With Peter Gollan

• Pirates of the Burning Sea: Video Interview With John Scott Tynes
• OGDC: An Analysis Of Video Game Writers
• OGDC: How Developers Use Public Relations To Build A Brand
• Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising - Video Interview With Chris McKibbin, Executive Producer
• OGDC: Stargate Worlds Interview With Joe Ybarra - Part 2
• OGDC: Interview With NetDevil
• OGDC: Interview With Monty Sharma of Vivox
• OGDC: Interview - SOE's Alan Crosby on Community and Vanguard

4. Real World News

• Woman Bitten After Aiding Sick Squirrel
  Vorpal Squirrel Attacks!
• Man Sleeps Through Gun Shot to Head
  Bam! Headshot! Um...sir...please wake up...
• Paula Abdul Falls Flat on Her Face, Breaks Nose Before Idol Finale
  And people thought all those "intoxication" snippets were all rumors?

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com.

Cody "Micajah" Bye