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Loading... Bye Bye Jacko!

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Posted July 11th, 2008 by Cody Bye

Welcome to the 869th Edition of Loading...

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Loading... Always the sweetest part of your morning meal.

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 - 160 BPM
  3. Lord of the Rings Online - 82 BPM
  4. EverQuest II - 69 BPM
  5. EVE Online - 47 BPM
  6. Warhammer Online - 46 BPM
  7. Guild Wars - 43 BPM
  8. Dungeon Runners - 39 BPM
  9. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - 39 BPM
  10. Lineage 2 - 34 BPM
Hail and well met travelers! Cody “Micajah” Bye at the helm of today’s Loading… I know that yesterday I promised that Phil Comaeu would be filling in on this edition of Loading… for Boomjack, but alas the world is not always a friendly place. Phil’s back can attest to that.

A collective cheer went up around North America yesterday as the largest single nuisance to video gaming hit a brick wall larger than his own ego. For the last year, Jack Thompson (aka “Mr. Boldface Liar”) has been fighting with the Florida courts in a professional misconduct case, which subsequently led to a 10-year recommendation of disbarment from the Florida State Bar Association. Well, a judge’s report has been issued, a 169-page document that shows the judge’s familiarity with Jacko, and .

However, the judge’s conclusion reads something like this:

The Florida Bar has recommended disbarment for a period of ten (10) years. This Court respectfully declines to follow the Bar’s recommendation... This case involves factual findings of cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgement of inappropriate conduct...

Additionally, the Court is taking into consideration a review of the Respondent’s conduct not only as proven by the evidence, but by what this Court has witnessed of the Respondent’s behavior throughout the eighteen (18) months of litigation. The undersigned finds no evidence whatsoever to indicate that the Respondent is amenable to rehabilitation, or even remotely appreciates the basis upon which a need or purpose for such rehabilitation is warranted...

Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes. He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him.

Thus, after careful consideration of the underlying facts in the instant cases, together with the Florida Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, the applicable aggravating and mitigating factors and the precedent case law, this Court makes the following recommendations for John Bruce Thompson:

A. Permanent disbarment, with no leave to reapply for admission.
B. Disciplinary costs currently totaling $43,675.35.

Score one for gamers. I wouldn’t mind simply forgetting Jacko in a few years, and I hope anyone that states that GTA is a “cop killing simulator” gets equal treatment to this idiot. Way to go Florida!

On a note of news that hits a little bit closer to our MMOG home, Cryptic Studios has announced that 2K Games (the publishing label behind Take-Two Interactive Software) will be the publisher for their upcoming title Champions Online. Although Cryptic had mentioned self-publishing in the past, they have apparently decided that 2K Games is the publishing house for them.

2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today that it will be the North American and international publisher for Cryptic Studios'™ highly anticipated massively multiplayer online (MMO) action game, Champions Online™, being developed for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft* and Games for Windows®. Champions Online is scheduled for release in spring of 2009.

"2K Games is excited to work with such a talented group as Cryptic Studios," said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. "Given their stellar pedigree and amazing grasp of the MMO genre, we are confident that Champions Online will deliver an innovative and exciting action MMO experience to gamers."

I firmly believe that this could really help Cryptic in the long run. With Take-Two’s determination to hold out against a buy out from EA, they’ve shown a remarkable dedication to their products and the people that work with them. However, if EA does successfully sweep up Take-Two, that will mean yet another MMOG to add to the stable of upcoming EA MMOs. Fascinating!

To round out our coverage of Cryptic Studios, Ten Ton Hammer's very own Jeff Woleslagle went straight to the Cryptic compound in San Jose, Calif., to find out all the juicy details of the upcoming action MMOG. For his first piece of information, Jeff has pumped out a video featuring Chief Creative Officer Jack Emmert discussing the backstory of Champions Online and why he decided to pick that world to make a video game. It's a pretty solid video, so make sure you check it out!

Speaking of EA, we also have the third part of our Gamesday Q&A up and ready to view, so if you want more Jeff Hickman and Josh Drescher, come in and have a look!

So what do you – the gamers – think about all this news? Do you have a favorite Jacko quote or story to throw out? Do you think this move by Cryptic and Take-Two is right for gamers?

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.

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[A big thanks to Karen Hertzberg for putting together the headlines and taglines today.]

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Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com. Also, a big happy birthday to Tory Bye! Go get drunk for me!

-Cody "Micajah" Bye and the Ten Ton Hammer Team

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