Welcome to the 877th Edition of Loading...

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Daily Column

Loading... putting the 'Mo' in MMOG.

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. Warhammer Online - 128 BPM
  3. Age of Conan - 113 BPM
  4. Lord of the Rings Online - 22 BPM
  5. EVE Online - 21 BPM
  6. Tabula Rasa - 18 BPM
  7. Atlantica - 17 BPM
  8. EverQuest II - 12 BPM
  9. Stargate Worlds - 10 BPM
  10. Vanguard - 9 BPM

No travel for me today. My spirits are lifted. Exuberance is like my sister and rapture my closest friend. Time zones however, are not on my friends list. The three hour change to Pacific time means that I either have to write this column after the evening festivities are over (a bad thing for you the reader) or get up before the birds have started to sing in the palm trees.

While I'm on the topic of birds. Phil's room overlooks the ocean, the marina and more importantly the pool. My room overlooks the front entrance, the highway and the parking lot. Phil's charm has won the day again.

That said, I have nothing eventful to tell you. Comic Con started for true last night with a preview event. I was there as sidekick to Jeff and Phil. They are taking point on this trip. I'm a grunt. Expect big things from them. I sense greatness in their future.

Preview night was interesting. We had pre-registered as press, which meant we had done all the paperwork, dotted each i and crossed each t. Doing that gave us the privilege of standing in line for an hour and 45 minutes to get our badges. The sidewalks were jammed with attendees, exhibitors and press. Each group had their own line, which to make things easier didn't move. We eventually got into the building where we lined up again to get the badges. Well played Comic Con. Well played. At least I wasn't carried an enormous video camera like Jeff or a purse like Phil. I believe Phil said it best when he exclaimed, "If only there were some way for them to know how many people were coming and some way to keep the lines separate from one another."

We said our "Hellos" to the Stargate Worlds team. Chatted with Josh Drescher and Eugene Evans at the Warhammer Online display and then headed out to hang with the SOE team at the DC Universe Online soiree. Eventually the DC Online team got sick of us and sent us packing back to our hotel. Michael Sun will be joining us on our adventures today. Maybe we can even get him on camera! Just a heads up for those of you who will be viewing me in our videos. They say the camera adds 10 pounds. There are usually 10 cameras pointed at me, so you do the math.

What's up today? We have appointments to see Stargate Worlds, Spore, Warhammer Online, Fusion Fall and Freaky Creatures. I'm not sure just yet which of those I'll be responsible for writing, but whoever it is will be disappointed. Tough luck gents. You can't all have Phil or Jeff write your articles.

I may be the grunt on this trip, but I still get some perks. One perk for me is that I have the pleasure of announcing that we are home to the Paul Barnett Comic Con '08 Blog. Ten Ton Hammer is teeming with stars graciously putting into words what these game events are like from their professional point of view. Josh Drescher (Warhammer Online) and Matt Wilson (The Agency) got things rolling at E3. Chris Klug (Stargate Worlds) and Paul Barnett (Warhammer Online) have both offered up their talents and their valuable time to give you their perspectives on Comic Con. On behalf of MMOG fans everywhere let me say, "Thank you gents!"

Those of you who didn't read the interview with Warhammer Online's Scott Stricklin missed out. Fortunately for you I've asked that we keep that interview up for another day (or forever, we don't delete any content around here) so that you can take a look. If you wondered what that Realm War tag was for on the official website it's your lucky day. Back up, click and read.

More when I have more. Live from beautiful San Diego and Comic Con '08, I'm signing off!

I know you're thinking something. Share! 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.

--

[A big thanks to Phil Comeau for putting together the links and Real World News.]

13 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 253 in July! 1831 in
2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

Comic-Con 2008

E3 2008

ChinaJoy 2008

Images/Video

Previews

Comics

Op/Eds

Free-to-Play

Guides

Hot Content - Or, what I took a
fancy to

  1. Exclusive WAR Blog: Paul Barnett goes to the Geek Prom
  2. Exclusive Stargate Worlds Blog: Chris Klug - Rockin' to Comic-Con
  3. WAR in the City of Angels: the Josh Drescher Blog
  4. E3pionage: The Agency's Matt Wilson Blogs E3
  5. Inside a Chinese Internet Cafe - How China Games, Pt 2
  6. Inside
    a Chinese Internet Cafe - How China Games, Pt 1
  7. Ten Ton Comics: UI or Die!
  8. Warhammer Online: Observations on Open Grouping
  9. Age of Conan: Lagging at Launch

Real World News

Have you seen some Real World News that you think
Phil can try to make funny, and fail? Send it in!

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com.

- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Dissecting and distilling the game industry since 1994. Lover of family time, youth hockey, eSports, and the game industry in general.

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