Welcome to the 866th Edition of Loading...

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Daily Column

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First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry.

If the Top 10 isn't enough, we also show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage. (What is Pulse?)

1. World of Warcraft - 200 BPM
2. Age of Conan - 135 BPM
3. Lord of the Rings Online - 72 BPM
4. EverQuest II - 55 BPM
5. Vanguard - 46 BPM
6. Dungeons and Dragons Online - 39 BPM
7. EVE Online - 36 BPM
8. Warhammer Online - 31 BPM
9. Lineage 2 - 31 BPM
10. Guild Wars - 29 BPM

We have World of Warcraft. We have Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, EverQuest II and more. Yet, there remain those in the industry, in development and the playerbase that claim we don't have enough or at the least, enough of what they want. As the larger titles approach release there is a growing anticipationt that they will each be "the one". They never are. They can't be. The expectations are unrealistic.

Enter stage left. Warhammer Online is likely to release sometime in late Q3 or early Q4. Can this game bring happiness to the malcontents? Of course it can't, but let's take a look at the cool things that the rest of us are going to enjoy, like living guilds.

"One of the core mechanics of EA Mythic's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is "Living Guilds," a testament of their overall importance. While such ideas communicate the old school style of guildcentric activities, this game promises to implement them in new ways. Associate Producer Josh Drescher and Designer Christian Bales sat down with Ten Ton Hammer recently and talked about Standards, Tactics, why Josh hates people, and what we can information we can expect to hear about with the upcoming Guild Beta." -- Warhammer Living Guilds

Josh Drescher makes some solid points (as he usually does), especially when it comes to guild tools. The development team had to ask itself, what tools are missing for players who are part of a large guild? The answer seems ridiculously easy at first, what are they paying for elsewhere? Guild Portal is a top-notch website that has built the tools that were missing in the games. Aaron at Guild Portal has built an impressive tool for guilds with features like:

• Easy to build web site
• Full featured message forum.
• Polls
• E-mail
• Events management / calendar
  • Ability to share this calendar, or parts of it, with allied guilds.
• Participation awards
• Guild bank/vault
• Rostering tools
  • track flags, participation, DKP, etc.

EA recently acquired Rupture, the gaming social site created by Shawn Fanning of Napster fame for a reported $30 million. The site itself is still in beta. $30 million is an interesting number. It isn't far from the amount that companies spend to build a AAA massively multiplayer online title. EA has put their money where their mouth is, showing that they believe community is as important as the games themselves.

Many players are passionate about the investment they have put into their gaming. Scoreboarding and tracking this investment only make good sense. XBox Live proved it works with GamerTags. SOE has Station Players. and Blizzard has The Armory, though neither of them really gets it just right.

What do you want to see in a community toolset? What is missing from the current offerings?

Do tell. The Loading Forums await you. Do you feel the need to contact me personally with naughty pictures or derogatory comments? Here's my E-mail.

--
[A big thanks to Phil Comeau for putting together the links and Real World News.]

15 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 99 in July! 1677 in 2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

Premium Content

• Age of Conan: Khemi City Map

Interviews

• Warhammer Online: Christian Bales and Josh Drescher on Living Guilds, Part 2
• Interzone Futebol: Bringing Soccer to MMOGs
• The MMORPG Gamer's Handbook: Author Musse Dolk

Previews

• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King's Northrend Battleground
• World of Warcraft: The DeathKnight

Downloads

• The MMORPG Gamer's Handbook

Images/Video

• Warhammer Online: Baltimore Games Day, Part 2
• Perfect World: Exclusive Character Creation Video
• Wurm Online: New Screenshots

Community

• Ten Ton Hammer Forum Awards - June 2008

Contests

• Ghost Online: Open Beta Giveaway

Guides

• Age of Conan: Tempest of Set Feat Calculator Update
• Age of Conan: Khopshef Province Quests
• Vanguard: Monk Skill List Rebuild - Lvl 1-25

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to

1. Age of Conan: Khemi City Map
2. Warhammer Online: Christian Bales and Josh Drescher on Living Guilds, Part 2
3. Warhammer Online: Baltimore Games Day, Part 2
4. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King's Northrend Battleground
5. World of Warcraft: The DeathKnight
6. Ghost Online: Open Beta Giveaway
7. EVE Online: The Temptations of a Unique MMOG

Real World News

• Mysterious Stench invades North Sound neighbourhood
  
  "The Mysterious Stench" is the worst super-villain name EVER
• Rosie O'Donnell compares 'The View' to prison rape
  
  Rosie, Bahbwa Wawa... add your own disturbing mental image here
• Sex is good for men
  
  Even when it's bad, it's good
  

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com.

- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team