MMO news, guides, reviews, features, interviews and more at Ten Ton Hammer

Insert your favourite Conan quote here.
Our good pals at Killer Betties have posted a preview of Funcom's in production MMOG, Age of Conan. We're nearly certain that they wrote this:

"One of the first things that became apparent was the gritty nature of the setting. The proof of this will be in the final product, but an effort was made to escape the 'high fantasy' style with its gleaming weapons and armor, bright world, and flashy characters. The armor and weapons are beautiful but obviously meant for use in battle, the buildings and NPCs are, if not dirty, then far from sparkling; and it is easy to grasp the barbaric nature of the world. Age of Conan is expected to have an M rating, though for overall themes and general violence rather than anything explicit."

You can read the entire Age of Conan Preview at Killer Betties.

War is Hell, and so is London.
VGO Network has posted a preview of Flagship Studios upcoming title, Hellgate: London. It's highly likely that they wrote this:

"Even in its early stage of development, the graphics are nothing short of amazing. What’s most impressive about them is that most of the environments are randomly generated. Every trip through London’s charred ruins will be completely unique; no two adventures will be exactly alike. Like Diablo II (which many of the team worked on), the only non-randomly generated areas are the safe zones, which are comprised of a series of underground subway terminals where the last of humanity holds out against the hellish onslaught. The environments are as believable as hell on Earth could possibly look due in part to a great team of programmers and artists who have brought a post-apocalyptic London to life. Lava flows freely from under the ground and out of buildings, there are large craters in the streets, rubble lies everywhere, and of course demons wander the ruins looking for prey. Screenshots really don’t do Hellgate justice; you need to experience it first hand to get a real feel for the power of the engine running this game."

You can read the entire Hellgate: London Preview at VGO Network.

Another MMOG enters the fray.
MMORPG.com has posted a developer diary from New Desert Team, the folks who are working on Sigonyth: Desert Eternity. They wrote something and maybe, just maybe it was this:

"Today we present the first in a series of monthly developers from the people behind "Sigonyth: Desert Eternity". This week they introduce the title and discuss what differentiates their game from others on the market."

You can view the entire Sigonyth Developer's Diary at MMORPG.com.

Why did pirates use a plank? Why not just push the guy off the side?
Game Daily has posted an interview with Akella, the developers of Age of Pirates. We're pretty sure that they wrote this:

"...until E3 2005, when Akella, developer of the Sea Dogs game(s), announced Age of Pirates, essentially the next swashbuckling RPG in the Sea Dogs line. We had a chance to sit down with Renat Nezametdinov, project manager for Age of Pirates, to hear more about what gamers can expect from Age of Pirates, as well as what the team learned from its previous two outings about the pirate lifestyle and the power of its Storm graphics engine."

You can read the entire Age of Pirates Interview at Game Daily.