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Daily Column

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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?)

Warhammer Online - 200 BPM
World of Warcraft - 135 BPM
Age of Conan - 50 BPM
Tabula Rasa - 9 BPM
Lord of the Rings Online - 8 BPM
EVE Online - 7 BPM
Everquest II - 6 BPM
Vanguard - 6 BPM
Runes of Magic - 6 BPM
Atlantica - 5 BPM

Everyone seems to love to love to speculate about subscriber numbers. Not be left out, Edge-Online talked to Arvind Bhatia of Stern Agee and came away with this,

"EA said it shipped 1.5 million copies of WAR to retail last week.

Arvind Bhatia at Stern Agee told Edge on Tuesday he came to the 250,000 subscriptions figure based on EA's goal to break even on the game.

"Over time, subscribers will drop off and level off at 250,000- 300,000," he said in a phone interview." [read the entire article]

250,000 is an interesting number for a variety of reasons. First, it's a nice round number; a quarter of a million people. It sounds large, but not too large as to make an analyst seem out of touch if the game bombs and only scrapes up 100,000 subscribers.

If the numbers above become reality, 1.5 million copies shipped with only 250,000 people enjoying the game enough to stick around past 30 days then Warhammer Online will have been a colossal marketing success and an enormous gameplay failure. It would mean that only one in six people who were willing to fork out the $50 for the game enjoyed it enough to pay another $15 a month for it. Maybe it is just me, but I don't see that much complaining in the message forums where 'those that must be heard' congregate to protest, grumble, whine or otherwise bellyache about anything that doesn't satisfy them completely and unabashedly.

If only one in three players sticks around that leaves the title with 500,000 players even if Mythic never sells another box of Warhammer Online. Personally, I think the estimate is low and I'm not convinced that basing it on what EA considers a break even mark is relevant.

Time will tell. What is your best guess at Warhammer Online subscriber numbers? Hit the Loading... forums and have your say.

Ten Ton Hammer Epic Thread of the Day [Thanks to Karen Hertzberg]

Sometimes they're funny; sometimes they're foolish; sometimes they're flaming;
sometimes they're cool. Whatever this one happens to be, it's
our Epic Thread of the Day.

====================
From our Members Only Forum
Submitted by subgenius5150

Betty White and Pecan Pie

There's
not much we can say about this epic thread--it's a visual--except that
Ten Ton Hammer's resident rodeo clown (well, he's actually
editor-in-chief, but we don't want that to go to his head), Jeff

"Ethec" Woleslagle, has a knack for entertaining the community.

You'll have to be a premium member
to view the sheer awesomeness of this epic thread. The membership is
totally worth the investment. (The thread...not so much.) Without
further ado, we give you Betty White and Pecan Pie!

Awesome Quote from the Epic Thread:

"Jeff...no! Bad boy! Put the photoshop away before someone gets hurt!"
- Savanja
====================

Do you have a favorite Epic Thread? Let us know!

14 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 240 in September! 2444 in 2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]

Images/Video

Previews

Red Stone: First Impressions

Guides

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:

Real World News

Man arrested for stuffing dead animals in lockers

People for the Ethical Treatment of Dead Animals Stuffed in Lockers plan protest
Clay Aiken announces that he is gay

The two people on Earth that hadn't previously guessed this are shocked
101 Signs that you've encountered a ghost

#102 - Seek professional help!

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com.

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

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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