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is the premiere daily MMOG newsletter, only from Ten
Ton Hammer!

Welcome
to the 1,420th
edition
of Loading...

style="font-style: italic;">As
summer prepares for its annual slumber, we all know what season will
soon be prancing around the northern hemisphere like a drunken fratboy
in a fairy princess costume. If you're thinking autumn here, guess
again. No, it's the holiday game release cycle that's all but breathing
down our necks like an angry make-believe lover. And while we have a
solid idea of exactly which new titles we can expect to see hitting the
shelves over the next few months, it seems that speculation on a
release date for style="font-style: italic;">World of Warcraft:
Cataclysm has finally kicked
into high gear. A closer look at this plus much, much more will be
blasting its way through your optic nerves today in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/sep/16">Loading...
Pin the Tail on the Release Date.

The
Pulse

You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/">What
is The Pulse?).

Today's
top 5 Pulse results:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
   of Warcraft
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">Everquest 2 
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro">Lord of the
   Rings Online (UP 1)
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2">Guild Wars 2
   (down 1) 
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/">EVE Online

Biggest
movers today:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxiv">Final
   Fantasy XIV
   
   - UP 7
   to
   #17
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2035">Rift:
   Planes of Telara
   
   - UP 4
   to
   #11 style="text-decoration: underline;">
3. style="text-decoration: underline;"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2">StarCraft
   II
   
   - down 2
   to
   #13

• size="-1">7/27
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2461"
  target="_blank">Need
  for Speed World
  (release)
• size="-1">7/27
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2" target="_blank">StarCraft
  II: Wings of Liberty
  (release)
• size="-1">8/17
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/140">City
  of Heroes: Going Rogue (release)
• size="-1">8/18
  - href="http://everquest2.com/free_to_play">EverQuest
  II Extended (release)
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">9/7
  - size="-1"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion">Aion:
  Assault on Balaurea (free
  expansion)

• size="-1">September
  30, 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxiv" target="_blank">Final
  Fantasy XIV size="-1">
  (release)
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">October
  26, 2010
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/170">LEGO
  Universe (release)
  
  
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">November
  2, 2010
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1407">DC
  Universe Online (release)
  
  

size="-1">Upcoming
Events

• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">10/5 -
  10/8 - href="http://www.gdconline.com/">GDC
  Online
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">10/8 -
  10/10 - href="http://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/">New
  York Comic Con
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
  10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y" target="_blank">BlizzCon
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;"> 3/24
  -
  3/26 (2011) - href="http://fanfest.eveonline.com/" target="_blank">CCP
  FanFest
  

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/playerscore/scoreboards"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 525px; height: 220px;"
alt="World of Warcraft PlayerScore"
src="http://images.tentonhammer.com/misc/PlayerScore/2010/PlayerScore_091610.jpg">

What's
your PlayerScore? World of
Warcraft players, find out at href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/playerscore">playerscore.com.

Loading... where PC gaming
isn't a myth, it's a way of life.

Last
night I ducked my head into the local GameStop to see if I could snag a
copy of R.U.S.E.
which Ethec had recommended to me earlier in
the day.
Noting that the store has been completely remodeled for about the 100th
time, I got to play the joyous game of guessing which dark corner of
the store PC games were unceremoniously shoved into this time.

Sensing my confusion as I
stumbled around the store like a drunken
pirate seeking buried treasure, one of the employees
eventually offered assistance. She had apparently been directly
involved in the most recent shelf shuffling, and while proud of her
efforts she was quick to note that the PC games section - which has
dwindled down to near non-existence - was still in a state of total
disarray.

She went on to offer up further
assistance, letting me know
that their newest PC game had just come in: Plants
vs. Zombies.
I
didn’t ask but was seriously hoping that she was talking
about a new box release version of some sort, because if the big new PC
release for the store is a game that came out a year and a half ago
then PC gaming truly is in dire straits as far as brick and mortar
retail presence goes.

She also decided to play her
pre-order suggestion card, letting me
know
that World of Warcraft:
Cataclysm is due out on
November 2nd.
I made
sure to mention that the only confirmed MMOG release for that date is
DC Universe Online,
but thanked her all the same.

If you’re wondering
why I’ve chosen to ramble on
about my latest excursion into the Land Where PC Gaming is a Myth,
there’s a very simple reason. On Monday, MMOChampion decided
it was high time to declare November 2nd as the release date for
Cataclysm
as well – a date that’s been suggested
via the awesome power of speculation more so than one derived from fact
or any kind of official press release. Personally I think they may be
drinking too much of GameStop’s Kool-Aid, but
that’s beside the point.

Through a highly scientific
process which involves analyzing facts
and
Blizzard’s release date history, plus a heavy dose of my
super-happy-fun-time powers of divination, I’m going to go
out on a limb here and boldly suggest that style="font-style: italic;">Cataclysm
may or may not be
released on November 2nd this year.

On the fact front,
we’re right now seeing the beginnings of
the pre-expansion patch cycle swing into motion. We also have access to
the beta client so have at least some idea of how close to achieving
its famed launch-day polish Blizzard is getting. There’s also
been the recent collector’s edition announcement which
indicates to me that an internal release candidate may not be too
terribly far off.

However, BlizzCon takes place a
little over a week prior to the
proposed Nov. 2nd release date, and while style="font-style: italic;">WoW
fans would certainly be
whipped into a veritable frenzy during the event knowing that the new
expansion is right around the corner, the relative closeness of the
dates to me sounds like the kind of marketing department nightmare that
Blizzard would want to avoid. Then again, you also have to factor
in whether or not Activision-Blizzard has
any other surefire holiday season hits to bank on this year.

To add further variables into
the mix, a dash of MMOG history is
worth
adding here. If Nov. 2nd is indeed the planned release date for
Cataclysm
it wouldn’t be the first time that Blizzard has
selectively gone head to head with the former MMOG heavyweight champ,
SOE. The original game and The
Burning Crusade were both
released
within weeks of 2 high-profile SOE titles, EverQuest
II and Vanguard
respectively. In fact, the first details for style="font-style: italic;">Cataclysm
were
conveniently “leaked” during a previous SOE Fan
Faire. Perhaps those dates were mere coincidence, but if Cataclysm is
released on the same date as the biggest SOE launch in years, style="font-style: italic;">DCUO,
then that kind of pattern is hard to ignore.

At the end of the day we really
won’t know when style="font-style: italic;">Cataclysm
is
going to be released until Blizzard makes an official announcement.
Since they haven’t all we can really do is speculate. Do you
think a November launch is feasible, or completely off the mark? Step
through the Dark Portal and traverse the vast expanses of internet
space to the href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53549">Loading…
forum
and have your say!

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the
Day

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



href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53474">Your
worst game buys?



What's
the worst game you've ever bought (it doesn't necessarily have to be an
MMO)? Have you ever bought a game suspecting it would be amazing only
to find out it really, style="font-style: italic;">really...wasn't?
Hey, the box at least looked cool, right? Show off your href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53474">embarrassing
game purchases!



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

Awesome
Quotes from the Epic Thread



"I
think I'm winning this thread with RF Online!"



- href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=441881&postcount=6">Beerkeg

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

New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

3 new Ten Ton Hammer
features today! 53 Ten Ton
Hammer features in September! 1008 in 2010!

style="font-weight: bold;">MEDIA



Craft
of Gods Reveals The Caves of Tallion

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/cog/preview/caves-of-tallion">http://www.tentonhammer.com/cog/preview/caves-of-tallion



Craft
of Gods recently launched a new free-to-play server for players that
are less fond of subscriptions. And new content is on the way for
players of both the free and subscription-based servers to enjoy. The
latest reveal from Kalicanthus offers a look at the Caves of Tallion, a
huge dungeon with 14 new bosses and challenges for players to overcome.




FEATURES
& GUIDES



Aion:
Assault on Balaurea First Impressions

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/editorials/assault-on-balaurea-impressions">http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/editorials/assault-on-balaurea-impressions



Aion's
Assault on Balaurea has released and players are flooding Atreia to get
a taste of the new content offered in this free expansion. Some players
may might find the excitement they are looking for while others may be
left just a little disappointed. Get the details on what the
expansion
has to offer, where NCsoft hit it out of the park, and where they may
have come up short in our Assault on Balaurea first impressions.



WoW
- Preparing Your Guild for Cataclysm

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/prepare_for_cataclysm">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/prepare_for_cataclysm



Cataclysm
is coming soon; raiding is winding down and Arena season 8 will soon
come to an end. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about how you
and your guild can prepare to hit the ground running in the upcoming
expansion.

Today's
Top 10

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/tera/interviews/scott-hartsman-9.14.10">Deeper
   into the Rift – A Q&A with style="font-weight: bold;">Rift:
   Planes of
   Telara’s Scott
   Hartsman
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/interviews/story-and-progression">The
   Heart of Tyria - An Exclusive Interview on Personal Story and
   Progression in style="font-weight: bold;">Guild Wars 2
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/cataclysm/zones/deepholm-preview"> style="font-weight: bold;">WoW
   Cataclysm – Deepholm Zone Preview href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/videos/pax10"> style="font-weight: bold;">
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/videos/pax10"> style="font-weight: bold;">Rift:
   Planes of Telara Class
   & Invasions Video Feature with
   Russ Brown
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/faq"> style="font-weight: bold;">Guild Wars 2
   FAQ
6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/editorials/assault-on-balaurea-impressions"> style="font-weight: bold;">Aion:
   Assault on Balaurea First Impressions
7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eon/features/previews/pax-hands-on">At
   Worlds' End - A Hands-On Look at style="font-weight: bold;">End
   of Nations
8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/prepare_for_cataclysm"> style="font-weight: bold;">WoW
   - Preparing Your Guild for Cataclysm style="font-weight: bold;">
   
   
9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/interviews/pax-combat">Skills,
   Traits and Builds - An Exclusive Guild
   Wars 2 Combat Interview
10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/combat/pre-gaming-piracy">Pre-Gaming
    For Piracy In style="font-weight: bold;">EVE Online

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

- Reuben "Sardu" Waters and the Ten Ton Hammer team