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Posted October 15th, 2008 by Ethec

Welcome to the 937th Edition of Loading...

If you aren't reading this in your e-mail, you could be. Sign up. Are you looking for gaming news? Look no further for all of the headlines. General industry news, right down to game specific and forum thread feeds are all yours as part of Ten Ton Hammer's RSS Feed . Enjoy!

Daily Column

Loading... a purple among grays.

First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse! It's a rough week to be on the Pulse if your game name can't be abbreviated with two "w"s and an "o". The content onslaught from BlizzCon, the largest patch day in the WoW's history yesterday, and the largest paid subscriber base in online games history combined in a sort of perfect storm, and we're still trying to establish radio contact with some of the boats scattered out at sea.

World of Warcraft- 200 BPM
Warhammer Online - 80 BPM
Age of Conan - 27 BPM
Stargate Worlds - 12 BPM
Tabula Rasa - 10 BPM
Lord of the Rings Online - 9 BPM
EVE Online - 6 BPM
EverQuest 2 - 6 BPM
Atlantica Online - 5 BPM
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - 4 BPM

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?)

If you ever want to deliver a serious shock to your system, try attending BlizzCon one weekend and opera the evening after you get home. I'll just go ahead and open myself to ridicule now - I'm as much of an opera buff as someone of my middling earnings and low breeding can be. Wagner's Ring cycle (which, along with the source material - especially the old Norse "Saga of the Volsung" - seriously influenced Tolkien's Middle Earth) will be performed in the spring, and in order to be assured of a good seat (nosebleed section and partially obstructed view seats aren't just the bane of pro sports) and see it in person, you have to buy the season package.

So, Mozart's Don Giovanni it was, and if you aren't familiar, it's a re-telling of the Don Juan myth - a jackass nobleman who beds as many women as he can without regard for their feelings or marital status finally gets his due. Part comedy, part tragedy, part morality play, it's enjoyable and nuanced but not as laugh-out-loud funny like other Mozart operas like The Marriage of Figaro or The Barber of Seville. Last night's performance of Don Giovanni was my first opera in person at the Metropolitan Operahouse in New York City, and Met performances are about as accessible as can be, with full performances (with very high production values) broadcasted each Sunday afternoon on US public television and radio. But, as with any kind of entertainment - sports, music, Jerry Springer - nothing compares to seeing it live.

BlizzCon and other fan events like it serve a similar purpose. It was a window on Blizzard's three worlds, a chance to realize that you're very far from alone in your love of games. You hear that there are millions of others like you, but the odds are against you meeting up with MMOG fans in day-to-day life. In reality, only about 3.2% of the world's population plays online games (617 million of some 6.7 billion) and while it's presumably a much higher percentage in the country you live in, a big chunk of that percentage is casual online games that don't really offer much in the way of community anyway.

For my part, I always feel recharged after attending a fan event... usually just enough to overcome the sleep deprivation. I'm not a huge fan of WoW, but seeing folks of all shapes, colors, and sizes expressing their love for the WoW phenomenon by pairing off as guilds and sharing stories over dinner at the local greasy spoon, putting on costumes, booing the paladin that asks why his class is underpowered, and listening to devs' well-reasoned responses to valid criticisms (realizing that they've thought long and hard about these issues too) - it validates a lot of the creativity, energy, and time we put into these games.

Ever been to a live games event? Share your experiences in the Loading... forums or, as always, feel free to email me directly!

Ten Ton Hammer Epic Thread of the Day

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.

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From our WoW: News Discussion Form

It's Patch Day!!!

This isn't so much an epic thread as it is an informational one. We're celebrating the release of World of Warcraft patch 3.0.2 on October 14. Having trouble with the patch? Got questions about any of the content? There's no better time to avoid the chaos that is the official WoW forums and hit the much saner environment that is the Ten Ton Hammer WoW community. Need patch notes? Maegwyn has provided them here and here, along with plenty of other WoW news.

Awesome Quote from the Epic Thread:

"I am a little bit worried. Being as big a fan of the Sims as I am of WoW I always joked that if the two were ever combined I would never leave my house. I think the barbershops are bringing me closer to that day."
- Celestina
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Do you have a favorite Epic Thread? Let us know!

13 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 158 in October! 2658 in 2008!

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

BlizzCon 2008