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Daily Column

Loading... if only there were a way to get MMOG news in your e-mail every day.

First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry.

World of Warcraft returns with a vengeance, crushing everyone but Age of Conan into dust and reclaiming the #1 spot. Warhammer Online drops another 24 BPM in one day sliding to #4 while Lord of the Rings Online also drop BPM, but picks up a ranking spot to #3. Stargate Worlds breaks into the Top 10 with a 17 BPM that will surely go up when our GDC coverage starts to hit. (What is Pulse?)

1. World of Warcraft - 200 BPM
2. Age of Conan - 149 BPM
3. Lord of the Rings Online - 36 BPM
4. Warhammer Online - 34 BPM
5. Lineage 2 - 33 BPM
6. EverQuest 2 - 30 BPM
7. EVE Online - 27 BPM
8. Tabula Rasa - 21 BPM
9. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - 18 BPM
10. Stargate Worlds - 17 BPM

GDC Day 3 is a memory, but visits to Turbine, Ageia, Kwari, Cheyenne Mountain and CCP are not.

Yesterday ended on a common theme, free-to-play games are going to make an impact in North America and players can either flow with the tide or fight aganst it. The general perception and the perception that I hold of many free-to-play games is that they are a lot anything else that you receive for free. There is a reason that people don't want to pay for it. It must either be atrocious or geared to a demographic that can't or won't spend money on it. Either way, I'm not going to waste my time even giving it a shot. My spare time is short enough that I can't eat up an evening trying to figure out why in a broken game Miyagi can't wax on or wax off. I'm confident that many of you feel the same way, though your waxing may vary.

Two days ago (it's a miracle that my sieve-like mind can remember back that far) I was introduced to a title called, Mabinogi, being brought to the North American market by Nexon, the team who turned what I consider a personal punishment, Maple Story into an enormous success. You see Maple Story is a 2D, free-to-play MMOG which means that there is no barrier to entry for halfwits, megalomaniacs, sociopaths or other social deviants. There is no great need for an expensive video card or a credit card. The only barrier to entry is the ability to actually download and install the game. Given how many malware clients are running out there right now that isn't much of a barrier. This isn't to say that Maple Story is in any way, shape or form malware, though many who inhabit the world have malicious intents. The community in general is a cesspool of humanity that should be flushed with great prejudice into the sewers of the gaming industry. Once there, the gods who invented MMOG grinding should sort out the good from the bad. Maple Story is such a ghastly game that it claims over 55 million participants, mostly from countries in Asia. Welcome to the "I don't get it" world.

Mabinogi is a different animal altogether. It's not a 2D sidescrolling abomination. This time they went 1D. Just kidding, this title is a 3D, seemingly polished and well designed game that should appeal to many Ten Ton Hammer readers. In a nutshell, this cell-shaded title which is Korean made, but looks extensively Japanese might be a free-to-play game that is worth trying out. John Chi, the President and CEO of Nexon had this to say,

"Mabinogi is definitely aimed at the core MMOG demographic. The game is a bridge between the gap of World of Warcraft and MapleStory. This is a game for players that are looking for an intricate and deep experience but don't want to pay that $14.99 a month for WoW."

More GDC thoughts on Monday. For the dozen or so of you who wrote me asking about the CCP party. The first rule of party club is that you don't talk about party club. I have no idea what you were referring to. Move along, nothing to see here.  

Are microtransactions a saviour of the industry or a revenue stream that only works in some cases? Hit me in The Loading... forums.

Do you feel the need to contact me personally with naughty pictures or derogatory comments? Here's my E-mail.

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7 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 183 so far in February! 460 so far in 2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

• Age of Conan: Border Kingdom Cryer
• EverQuest 2: Racial Guide
• Lord of the Rings Online: Book 12 - The Ashen Wastes Angmar Screenshots
• Tabula Rasa: Wedge Rock Outpost Guide
• Toontown: All About Toontown Doodles
• Vanguard: Poll - Helmed Heroes or Helmed Horrors?
• Webkinz: Guide To Hungry Hog

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to

1. Acclaim: Interview With David Perry and Howard Marks From GDC
2. Age of Conan: Mounted Combat Video From GDC
3. Mabinogi: A Preview From GDC
4. ToonTown: Premium Community Site Goes Live
5. Age of Conan: New Images From GDC
6. Age of Conan: Funcom Shows Off Mounts and City Building at GDC
7. The Agency: Video Interview With Matt Wilson at GDC
8. Jumpgate Evolution: Bi-Weekly Interview #2 - Factions and Missions
9. PlayXpert: Widgets and Community, An Interview With CEO Charles Manning
10. Warhammer Online: Interview With Josh Drescher and Lance Robertson

Real World News

• Con Artists Use Fake $100 To Rip Off Girl Scouts [Thanks Matt]
  $100 worth of cookies?
• Lieutenant Uses Taser on Cow [Thanks Matt]
  PETA is shocked.
• Jedi To Open Surrey Academy [Thanks Mikes]
  Getting the lightsabers through customs may be tricky. Nothing to see here...
  

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com

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