Welcome
to the 1,316th
edition
of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily
MMOG news and commentary
newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Keeping one foot in reality doesn't have to be a hard thing to
do while we play games, but it is necessary. Otherwise you may end up
with charges of murder, or selling your soul... today, in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/apr/20">Loading...
Snap Back to Reality.

width="100%">

The Pulse

You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse ( target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).

Here
are today's top 5 Pulse results:

  1. World
    of Warcraft
  2. EverQuest
    II
     
  3. Lord
    of the Rings Online
    (UP 4 to #3)
  4. Dungeons
    and
    Dragons Online
  5. Age
    of Conan
     

Biggest
movers today
:

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/34">City of
    Villains (UP 22 to #12)
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
    Agenda (UP 10 to #19)
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/183">Guild
    Wars 2 (UP 27 to #8)
Recent Releases

Upcoming
Releases


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1004">

  • April
    2010
    - href="http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/game_updates/issue_17/issue_17_overview.html?utm_source=COHemail&utm_medium=US&utm_campaign=banner">City
    of Heroes - Issue 17: Dark Mirror
  • style="font-weight: bold;">Spring 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1801">Mytheon
  • Summer
    2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB
  • TBA
    2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2079">Final
    Fantasy XIV





Upcoming
Events

  • style="font-weight: bold;">6/15 -
    6/17 - E3
    Expo
  • style="font-weight: bold;">6/25 -
    6/27 - Looking
    for Group
    Expo
  • style="font-weight: bold;">7/22 -
    7/25 - Comic-Con
    International
  • style="font-weight: bold;">8/5 -
    8/8 - href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/">SOE
    Fan Faire 2010
  • style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
    9/6 - DragonCon
  • style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
    10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y">BlizzCon
  • style="font-weight: bold;">2011: 3/24 -
    3/26 - CCP
    FanFest





Loading... Daily

Sometimes it's best to just take a step back from the computer. We've
all been in situations where we get upset by some jerk online or the
internet goes out in the middle of a raid or dungeon crawl. But really,
if the blood pressure starts to rise and fingers get shaky, if things
get a little to 'real' - relax. As a family in Russia discovered last
week, sometimes it's best just to take a breath, walk away and get your
mind off of gaming.



A 14-year-old boy href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/boy-kills-dad-with-sledgehammer-after-banned-from-playing-computer-games/story-e6frfro0-1225853471820">let
things get a little too "hard-core." His parents didn't want
him playing computer games till all hours of the night, so they took
his keyboard away. The kid's response? He took a sledgehammer to his
father's head in the middle of the night. With the father dead, the
mother, frightened for her life, returned his keyboard and he went
quietly to his computer and played games for another few hours before
he fell asleep.



I don't care if you're leading a raid to take out a boss you've been
working towards for months. When a game takes over your
judgment and you, oh, say, kill your dad, you need to get back in touch
with reality. If you're able to kill your father style="font-style: italic;">and continue to
play games without a care in the world, then maybe it's time to call an
excorcist, cuz that ain't normal.



Point, being, of course, that we can easily take things far too
seriously and before we know it things are out of hand. It could cost
us our souls.



In slightly less morbid news, href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83496">7,500 souls
were bought recently by GameStation.



It turns out that some people don't actually read the Terms &
Conditions agreement on their games. *shock, gasp*. Nope, seriously...
they don't. GameStation added an "Immortal Soul Clause" to one of their
products which gave the company legal ownership over the customer's
souls. It seems 88% either didn't read the clause or just didn't care
becasue they agreed to the terms. The 12% that disagreed to the terms
were rewarded by a £5 GBP gift voucher. Gamestation, in a surprising
turn of events, decided not to cash in on the 7,500 souls they now own
and dropped the clause in favor of the right to say "neener, neener" to
their customers.



Games are meant to be fun. No one's denying that. But remember folks,
it is just a game, and we need to keep one foot in reality at all
times. Am I wrong? Tell me href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=50871">in
the forums.


Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day




From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4">/OOC
(Off-topic) forum



New
Doctor Who




Let's dip into our /OOC forum again to talk about television. This
time, we're looking at href="http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2010-4-20-new-doctor-who-brings-record-ratings-to-bbc-america">the
new Doctor Who. I'll admit, I wasn't ready to see href="http://www.david-tennant.com/2009/id10.html">David
Tennant leave his role as the Doctor, and I was prepared to
hate the new
guy

who, as Savanja so aptly put it in the Awesome Quote below, was weird
looking. But...well, I've shared my thoughts in the forum, and you'll
just have to read them (and share some of your own thoughts) there.



Have you checked out The New Doctor? How does the new guy hold up
against your expectations? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=50848">Cast
your vote and let us know.



==============================

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread




"No,
don't like him. I had a mad love affair with David Tennant and
no
one will ever be able to be as awesome of a Doctor as he was. Plus? The
new guy is weird looking. His forehead is WAY too big. Still like the
show but there will be no filthy dreams about this Doctor.
"



- Savanja

==============================



Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!

New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

4 new Ten Ton Hammer
features
today! 73 in April! 432
in 2010!

FEATURED EDITORIALS



All Things to All Players: Why Can’t MMOGs Start Small?

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/why_cant_mmogs_start_small">http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/why_cant_mmogs_start_small



Have
you ever wondered why developers seem to feel that every MMOG must have
every feature under the sun at release, even if those features are
poorly implemented? Would you support an MMOG that started small and
concentrated on just a core feature or two? Mattlow takes a look at why
so many MMOGs try to do it all, and considers whether this is the right
path to take.



Nerd Rage:The Continuing Saga of North American Players vs
Microtransactions


http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83518



This
uproar over World of Warcraft's latest cash shop addition, the
Celestial Steed, piqued the interest of Jason “Medawky” Bolton and
raised two major questions: do players who are paying a monthly fee
have a legitimate gripe when they can only get an item by paying more
money? And secondly, will North American players every fully embrace
microtransactions? Join us this week as we explore these queries in
Microcosms – Nerd Rage: The Continuing Saga of North American Players
vs. Microtransactions.





FEATURES & GUIDES



Flying The Harpy In EVE Online

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83523



The
harpy is an accessible member of the assault frigate class that enjoys
success as a tough tackler and frigate-killer. Space Junkie explores
the ins and outs of this zippy little bastard.



WoW: Blizzard's Potential Perpetual Cash Machine - WoW Weekly
Report


http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/newsletter/issue63



The Overpull, our World of Warcraft Weekly Report, is out again this
week with the latest news and headlines, along with David "Xerin"
Piner's
thoughts. This week we look into Warhammer, what WoW could
possibly do with an endless trial, and the slippery slope that is the
Celestial Steed. The Overpull arrives each Tuesday
morning to help get you through the server downtime. Be sure to
subscribe!


Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/cryptic/interviews/roper_cco">From
    Capes To Beyond! A Q&A with Cryptic’s Bill Roper
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/3">Ten Ton
    Hammer Live Podcast 3
    href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/3"> -
    Project 1999's Nilbog and Rogean visit to take us back to EverQuest 1.0
  3. Flying
    The Harpy In EVE Online
  4. style="font-weight: bold;">Nerd Rage:The
    Continuing Saga of North American Players vs Microtransactions
  5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/why_cant_mmogs_start_small">All
    Things to All Players: Why Can’t MMOGs
    Start Small?
  6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/5rpgs_kickass_mmogs">From
    Tabletop To Online: 5 RPGs That Would Make Kick-Ass MMOGs
  7. WANTED:
    Your Questions for TERA's
    Developers
  8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/celestialcashcow">WoW:
    Blizzard's Celestial Cash Cow
  9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/business/capitalizing">Capitalizing
    On The Tyrannis Patch in EVE Online
  10. Pure
    Artistic Vision - A Guild
    Wars 2
    Concept Art
    Q&A with Daniel Dociu

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

- Benjamin J. de la Durantaye
and
the Ten Ton Hammer team


Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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