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Christopher Nolan's "Inception" is attracting audiences by the score and critical acclaim surpassing even "Toy Story 3," yet the movie's premise has more than a few parallels with games development. Without spoiling what some are calling "the perfect summer blockbuster", we'll look at ways this flick is really a subtle tribute to the real inceptors of our time in Loading... Inception and Real-Life Dreamweavers.

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The
Pulse

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

Today's
top 5 Pulse results this month:

  1. World
    of Warcraft
  2. EverQuest
    II
  3. Age
    of Conan
  4. EVE Online href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/88">
  5. Dungeons and Dragons Online (UP 1)

Biggest
movers over the past 24 hours
:

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/284">The Agency

    - UP 16 to #15
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/154">Ultima Online

    UP 16 to #18
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/306">Jumpgate Evolution

    UP 15 to #14
Recent Releases


Upcoming
Releases



  • July
    20,
    2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2461"
    target="_blank">Need
    for Speed World (release)
  • August
    17, 2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/140">City
    of Heroes: Going Rogue (release)
  • September
    7, 2010
    - Aion: Assault on Balaurea (free expansion)
  • September
    30, 2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxiv" target="_blank">Final
    Fantasy XIV

    (release)
  • style="font-weight: bold;">October
    26, 2010
    - LEGO
    Universe
    (release)

  • style="font-weight: bold;">November 2, 2010
    - DC
    Universe Online
    (release)


Upcoming
Events

  • style="font-weight: bold;">7/22 -
    7/25 - target="_blank">Comic-Con
    International
  • style="font-weight: bold;">8/5 -
    8/8 - href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/" target="_blank">SOE
    Fan Faire 2010
  • style="font-weight: bold;">8/18 -
    8/22 - href="http://www.gamescom-cologne.com/en/gamescom/home/index.php"
    target="_blank">Gamescom 2010
  • style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
    9/5 - href="http://www.paxsite.com/paxprime/index.php" target="_blank">PAX
    Prime
  • style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
    9/6 - target="_blank">DragonCon
  • style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
    10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y" target="_blank">BlizzCon
  • style="font-weight: bold;"> 3/24
    -
    3/26 (2011) - target="_blank">CCP
    FanFest



Loading... Daily

Those of you that, like me, saw "Inception" during its opening weekend were treated to a sophisticated cinematic thrill ride where, if you checked your brain at the ticket counter, your likely still piecing it together. Unless you chugged a $10 big gulp of soda during the previews and had a biological reminder of the time, you likely didn't realize that DiCaprio's latest thriller clocked in at nearly 2.5 hours (just 20 minutes shy of Avatar's runtime, making it (I think) the longest movie released in 2010). That the mind has its own sense of time isn't just a plot device, it's a truism bourne out in the watching of this movie as well.

I promise I won't spoil the movie for anyone, but "Inception" convinced me of a few things:

One, DiCaprio is still the typecast go-to guy for the psychologically-stilted, highly unstable good guy, but he's definitely getting better at it. I can even forgive him his performance in "Shutter Island" if we take that as a warmup for the character he portrays in Inception, Cobb.

Two, Hollywood is still capable of an epic sci-fi thriller in the vein of "The Matrix" (the first one, the only one) and "The Sixth Sense", even though Inception (being primarily a performance piece a la Ocean's Eleven, not a philosophical revelation or a Hitchcockian twister) doesn't quite ascend to those mindblowing heights.

And three, this movie is a subtle, not-on-purpose, but still very genuine tribute to the real dreamweavers in our modern day lives: game developers. Cobb's team specialize in the creation of elaborate dreams, with more than a passing reference given to the complexities of level design, i.e. creating an artificial, but purpose-built and believable world. The dream architect, the (aptly named) Ariadne, for example, is taught to use M.C. Escher-esque architectural paradoxes to conceal the boundaries of a dream, since any obvious boundary would break the fluid continuity of the created world.

Moreover, MMOGs and RPGs, like dreams, don't really exist; they are merely systems that derive their power by delivering new and exotic ideas in largely believable ways. The seeds of these ideas grow in surprising ways too, leading to a sort of real-life inception. Epic loot may tell others something about your drive or level of patience, but loot alone doesn't make the real you any more powerful than you were before the boss fight. Leading a guild or raid successfully says a lot about your leadership skills, but it won't be guildmates that you call when you suspect a burglar just busted out your kitchen window. Still, despite the obvious limitations, (to borrow another theme from the movie) ideas are extremely powerful, and RPGs, like dreams, are nothing if not the most vivid manifestation of our shared ideas.

So here's to the real dream architects, the men and women that work in games development. May they keep dreaming bigger and better dreams, and be free to share those dreams with us. What are your thoughts on Inception? Seen it, liked it, think there are any paralells to games development? Let's discuss in the Loading... forum!


Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day



From our WoW: General Discussion forum


Account HACKED!



Wihthar can't figure out how his World of Warcraft account was
hacked, but it's bad, bad business. He has never responded to a phishing
email, and yet the culprit deleted his main character, deleted his
guild, sold all his gear, but left an alt level 80 character
alone. Why? We might never know, but forum members are posting some
possible explanations. Tell us yours, or share your hacked account woes.



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

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread




"Sucks you were hacked dude. It's happened to me twice over the four
years I've played WoW and both times I felt like crying after all the
hard work I had put in was undone.
"



- Beerkeg
==============================



New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

6 Ten Ton Hammer
feature
today! 55 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in July! 767
in 2010!

INTERVIEWS

Death and Healing in Guild Wars 2 - An Exclusive Q&A with ArenaNet's Jon Peters
http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/interviews/death-and-healing


Of
the more recent gameplay details revealed for upcoming Guild Wars 2,
the article on Healing and Death at the official site for the game
contains perhaps the most interesting announcements to date. Between
the vastly different approach to how death will work and the lack of a
dedicated healing class, these mechanics certainly help illustrate a
very divergent path from traditional MMOG templates the team at
ArenaNet are taking with their newest title.


REVIEWS

A Test of Speed - Reviewing the Killer 2100 Gaming Network Card from Bigfoot Networks
http://www.tentonhammer.com/reviews/hardware/killer2100

How
much can a network card improve game performance? Can an onboard card
really hinder your gaming performance? What's the difference between a
$20 card and a $130 card? Earlier this year we were introduced to
Bigfoot Networks' new Killer 2100 Gaming Network Card. The good news is
that Bigfoot has provided us with a testing unit so we could check out
the power of the card for ourselves.

TEN TON HAMMER PODCAST

Ten Ton Hammer Live Episode 15 - EA Black Box and Need for Speed World
http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/15


This
week on Ten Ton Hammer Live the boys are joined by Jon Doyle from EA
Black Box to talk about the awesome Need for Speed World. After the
boys drive through the streets with a bucket of chicken and try to
paint orcs on the side of their car, they enter once again into a great
Davlen led episode of Master Looter. Oh, did we mention the news is dominated by Blizzard's real ID scandal as well as Jesse trying to eat a Mcwhitey...? Yeah, it's awesome.
So tune in to this weeks episode of Ten Ton Hammer Live!


FEATURED EDITORIAL

Death, Rangers, and Healing - The Guild Wars 2 Weekly Report
http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/newsletter/issue-7

Our
Weekly Report goes over everything that has happened in the Guild Wars
2 community in the previous week. You can now expect to see the weekly
report every Saturday morning bringing you a recap of the previous
week. This week we look at healing, Rangers, and death in GW2.

FEATURES & GUIDES

WoW Cataclysm - The Zone Aquatic – Exploring the Zone of Vashj’ir
http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/cataclysm/zones/vashjir-preview


World
of Warcraft: Cataclysm promises to bring something very new to the game
in the form of an entirely new underwater zone called Vashj’ir. This
zone allows you to imitate Jacques Cousteau exploring the underwater
depths or, given the number of bad jokes and puns in the zone, maybe
you are to imitate Bill Murry from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
No matter your favourite undersea adventurer, Byron “Messiah” Mudry is
positive you’ll enjoy your own opportunity to explore this expansive
zone.


WoW Before and After - Orgrimmar Gets a Makeover
http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/orgrimmar_makeover

Nowhere
are the changes brought by Cataclysm more apparent than in the Orc
capital city of Orgrimmar. Under the leadership of the warlike Garrosh,
Orgrimmar has been transformed from it’s tranquil state into an Orcish
military base reminiscent of Warsong Hold. Get your first glimpse of
the new Orgrimmar as we here at Ten Ton Hammer give you a side by side
preview of the changes.

Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features

  1. Death and Healing in Guild Wars 2 - An Exclusive Q&A with ArenaNet's Jon Peters
  2. Ten Ton Hammer Live Episode 15 - EA Black Box and Need for Speed World
  3. A Test of Speed - Reviewing the Killer 2100 Gaming Network Card from Bigfoot Networks
  4. WoW Cataclysm Beta: The Zone Aquatic – Exploring the Zone of Vashj’ir
  5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/cataclysm/previews/throne-of-tides"> style="font-weight: bold;">WoW Cataclysm Beta: Throne
    of Tides Preview href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/nfsw/interviews/john-doyle">

  6. style="font-weight: bold;">The Ten Ton Hammer E3 Awards
  7. WoW Before and After - Orgrimmar Gets a Makeover
  8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/class-callings-scott-hartsman"> style="font-weight: bold;">Rift - Class and
    Callings Q&A with Scott Hartsman
  9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/custom-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">StarCraft II - Custom
    Map Reviews href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/custom-1">

  10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/f2p-preview-july-10">Exploring
    Middle-earth: Hands On with style="font-weight: bold;"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/f2p-preview-july-10">LotRO href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/f2p-preview-july-10">'s
    Volume 3: Book 2

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer Team.




Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Jeff joined the Ten Ton Hammer team in 2004 covering EverQuest II, and he's had his hands on just about every PC online and multiplayer game he could since.

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