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Posted October 28th, 2008 by Ethec

Welcome to the 942nd 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!

The Pulse

First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is Pulse?). The Pulse has a totally new look today, focusing more on daily, weekly, and monthly movement than the arbitrary BPM numbers we had before.

If you're a BPM junkie, you can still get an idea of what's going on at the top of the list by heading to our homepage and checking out the arrows. If a game maintains the same ranking but has a green arrow, you know traffic is on the rise. a red down arrow means it's slipping. A line under either arrow means it's up or down in a big way, while a sideways grey arrow means that that particular game is holding its ground.

A newly implemented detailed traffic graph and info for your favorite game is also available by selecting that game from the dropdown on the Ten Ton Hammer landing page. Have a look and let us know what you think in the Loading... forums!

World of Warcraft
Warhammer Online
Age of Conan
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Runes of Magic (UP 3)
Tabula Rasa
Dungeons & Dragons Online (UP 8)
Stargate Worlds
Lord of the Rings Online (UP 2)
Atlantica Online

Weekly Movers & Shakers

11. EVE Online (down 4)
13. Lineage 2 (down 4)
14. EverQuest 2 (UP 20)

Daily Column

Loading... soda and pop rocks for our MMOG-addled brains.

You're probably familiar with the Bartle Test, a method to discover what kind of online gamer you are (achiever, killer, socializer, explorer - I'm an AESK with necromantic tendencies). What you aren't familiar with is the Barnett Test. Paul Barnett, Creative Director of Warhammer Online, is busy studying the playerbase when he's not working pop culture references into holiday events, and even though (unlike Richard Bartle) he doesn't have a Ph.D., he has my Greenskin affiliation pegged:

"The Greenskins are great because the people that play them have worked out that life is very complicated, taxes exist, they're probably going to die, their children are going to give them grief, and they're never going to have enough money. They're drawn to Greenskins because the Greenskin solution is simplicity itself. You don't have to do much thinking, you're always happy, you know what you're going to do, and there are good gags."

"People that play Greenskins are liberated, because they don't need to worry about what it means to be in the Empire, or what it means to serve under a king. They basically say "Shuddup. Kill that. Drink beer. WAAGH." There's a purity to it."

You'll want to read his insights into dwarf, chaos, and elf players too (that's on page 2), so check out latest exclusive interview with Paul Barnett - Barnett Explores the Players Behind the Races.

In other news, SOE's John Smedley says that BioWare's newly announced MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic "will be released far enough in the future that is not any immediate issue for Galaxies players... For the foreseeable future, Galaxies is quite safe."

God bless John Smedley, he hasn't had an easy time of it and goodness knows he won't give us an interview, but don't say things like "not any immediate issue" and "Galaxies is quite safe." Say things like "Han Solo" and "Imperial stormtroopers" and "the Star Wars we all grew up with, the one that made junior high tolerable." These are things that SWTOR can't offer me. SOE seems to have less fight in them these days than the Republican party, but I am genuinely looking forward to the ice planet Hoth though, which is due in the next SGW content update.

Think Barnett's comments are appropo? Know what's up with SOE marketing? Love the new Pulse? Hate it? Share your thoughts in the Loading... forum 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

This is Bioware, not SOE folks!

This thread had just one post from our Vanguard site lead, Dalmarus, when selected for today's epic thread. (Hey, it doesn't have to be a long thread to be epic, just a great one.) Tying in with yesterday's thread about why SWTOR is doomed to fail, Dalmarus brings up one important advantage that BioWare has in the making of Star Wars: The Old Republic: a successful track record working with LucasArts. Is Dalmarus as right as he thinks he is? Do tell!

Awesome Quote from the Epic Thread:

"Before I burst into flames faster than a Bright Wizard in a tiff, remember that as the Vanguard site lead, I actually happen to like SOE and thier games... except for the horrible burns I received from SWG."
- Dalmarus
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Do you have a favorite Epic Thread? Let us know!

13 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 273 in October! 2773 in 2008!

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

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