Welcome to the 938th Edition of Loading...
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The Pulse
First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse.
- World of Warcraft- 200 BPM
- Warhammer Online - 188 BPM
- Age of Conan - 54 BPM
- Dungeons & Dragons Online - 18 BPM
- Lord of the Rings Online - 13 BPM
- Star Wars: The Old Republic - 12 BPM
- Stargate Worlds - 11 BPM
- Tabula Rasa - 10 BPM
- Atlantica Online - 9 BPM
- EVE Online - 9 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?)
Daily Column
The force is strong with this one.
Loading... you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy
For this edition of Loading..., you'll have to imagine that you just heard a John Williams orchestral blast as Loading... scrolls up your screen against a backdrop of stars, because the long-awaited BioWare announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic is the big news of the day. Cody Bye, Ten Ton Hammer's man on the scene in San Francisco for the announcement, provided the first details and images of the game found anywhere on the Internet.
I'll have to admit that I was a little disappointed that SWTOR is more Episode I, II, and III than IV, V, and VI. To me, it's not quite Star Wars without Imperial stormtroopers, and I was more comfortable with the Force as a compliment to the storyline rather than a dominating trait of many characters on both sides.
But Cody, who's read every Star Wars novel and most of the comic books, assures me that the Old Republic spans 4,000 years of the Star Wars timeline and the Sith Empire provides all the organized villainy I could ever hope for, and having lots of Jedi and Sith (the only two classes announced for the game so far) makes much more sense in the Old Republic timeline. That, and a Star Wars free of large scale clone and droid armies is inviting to my RPG sensibilities.
But I am genuinely skeptical of BioWare's promise that SWTOR will be "the first story-driven MMO" with both personal and group stories. I've heard the "first story driven MMO" quote three times this year alone from three different developers and countless times before. It's a huge promise, and should be more than an overworked marketing catchphrase.
To have a deterministic game universe and meaningful choices at every turn - something which games like Fable and BioWare's own Knights of the Old Republic are famous for - you have to create twice the amount of content and be comfortable with the fact that any given character, after choosing one way or the other, will only play half of the content you create. And unlike KOTOR, where players had one starting point and went dark or light from there, in SWTOR it sounds like players will have two starting points and two separate strains of content to choose from. The permutations of story-driving choice seems like it would demand a galaxy of content.
And you and I know that most MMORPG players are voracious consumers of content, either because we're achievers or, like me, have limited time to play and are constantly trying to catch up to our friends. To make a moderately successful, not-so-story driven MMORPG you need developers working dozens of man-years to create even that level of content. I'm not saying that realizing the idea of a truly story-driven MMORPG is impossible or that I don't long to see it, but more choices mean more content, which means more time and money in the what is already games industry's most demanding category.
Think SWTOR has legs? Join in the Star Wars: The Old Republic discussion in the Ten Ton Hammer forums or the Loading... forum in particular, or as always, feel free to email me with your thoughts.
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.
====================
From our SWTOR: General Discussion Forum
Suggested by Mikes
Galactic Republic or Sith Empire?
BioWare announced Star Wars: The Old Republic today and gamers headed to Ten Ton Hammer for the breaking news and event coverage.
And with the announcement of this new game comes an epic challenge:
deciding which side to fight for. Will you stand up with the noble
Galactic Republic, or the dark and powerful Sith Empire? (We hear the
notion that the dark side has cookies is just an urban legend, but you
may not want to take any chances.)
Head on over to our new Star Wars: The Old Republic forums to have your say!
Awesome Quote from the Epic Thread:
"I'm going Sith and I'm not going to cry like Anakin. I will bathe in
the gore of you nancy republicans. As we all know, good is dumb."
- Medeor
====================
Do you have a favorite Epic Thread? Let us know!
12 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 226 in October! 2726 in 2008!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Images/Video
Features
Community
Downloads
Dev Diary
Guides
- Warhammer Online: Tier 3 Scenario - Black Fire Basin
- Warhammer Online: Empire Levelling Guide - Tier 2 Ostland
- Warhammer Online: Public Quest Maps - Avelorn
- World of Warcraft: Training Exotic Pets as a Beastmaster Hunter
- Age of Conan: PvP and Siege Combat FAQ Update
- Lord of the Rings Online: Warden Skill and Trait List
Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
- Star Wars - The Old Republic: A New Hope for Star Wars Fans
- Warhammer Online: Wouldn't It Be Cool...
- Warhammer Online: State of the Game with Mark Jacobs - Part 2
- Runes of Magic: Closed Beta Giveaway #2
- BlizzCon 2008
- Warhammer Online: State of the Game with Mark Jacobs
- D&D Insider: Pre-Launch with Randy Buehler
- Warhammer Online: Tales of Third Party Sales
- WAR Torn #9: "Of Baby Eating"
Real World News
-
New Zealand disability carer is "told to help with masturbation"
Health Minister was reported as saying that he's aware of this sticky situation -
Container ship collides with whale
Ms O'Donnell has since commited to wearing more reflective swimsuits in future -
California opens drive-thru voting booth [Courtesy of Tristan M.!]
McCain campaign counting on super-size voting option to catch Obama
Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer Team
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Star Wars: The Old Republic Game Page.
