MMO news, guides, reviews, features, interviews and more at Ten Ton Hammer

RYL Good or RYL Bad?
The Gamers' Temple has posted a review of RYL: Path of the Emperor. Good or bad, you can win $1 million:

"The graphics in RYL: Path of the Emperor are fair to good. Although the character models look relatively good the world seems a little bare. This is not surprising given that the game’s minimum requirements are quite low: a Pentium II 400 with 128mb of RAM and a display card that supports DirectX 8.1or higher are all you need. If you are sporting a relatively new computer with a fast CPU and new model graphics card, say something in the Geforce 66XX and up rang,e you shouldn’t have *any* problems running the graphics on full. It’s interesting that the world is a little bare because your characters are kept on an awesome looking island full of lush grass and palm trees. In contrast to this, you might find yourself thinking that the world is missing some decoration, especially as you get further into the game. I must say you will be impressed by some of the buildings at the start. In the early stages you can take your character to some of the highest points in the tallest buildings and jump all the way to the ground far below you without damage. You should also note that you will be provided with the ability to customize the face and appearance of your characters as you create them. The customization options are nice, but they don’t equate to big changes in the game. Oddly enough it seems like your character is constantly out of breath in the game. Everyone stands there heaving like they have just run the 5K…"

You can read the entire RYL: Path of the Emperor Review at The Gamers' Temple.

Auto Assault Gets Some Lovin' from the Paper Media!
Heather Newman, tech reporter for the Detroit Free Press, weighs in on the fun of Auto Assault and what AA will mean to the genre. After running down a mutant school bus and suffering a slight reactor fault, she took the time to post this:

" The game isn't due on the street until fall, but I've gotten a chance to play in the beta test. As reflected by the test, "Auto Assault" is shaping up nicely. While the game doesn't have the emotional hooks of "City of Heroes" or other publishers' best work (think "World of Warcraft"), it might just be enough to pull driving game fans into the online world game market. "

The rest of the article can be found here.

MMOs for the People!
The government of the world's second largest internet market will invest $1.8 billion over 5 years as seed money for 4 internet game development centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Sichuan province. There's still no word on 1) whether typing "/chinese" will allow you to buy take-out online in the upcoming games, and 2) if the year of your birth will influence your character's starting stats.

"The development represented an increase of 18.4 percent over the same period last year in a market that still has a vast potential for further growth, the China Daily reported on July 22. The burgeoning online gaming market proved especially lucrative, with Internet gamers spending some four billion yuan (483 million dollars) on virtual equipment for their online alter-egos in the first six months."

Check out the entire anti-Fascist State Publication of the People here!

SOE Goes Down Through the Rabbit Hole
Andrew Kaplan posted end-of-July comments about what SOE's takeover will mean to MxO's player community. Interestingly, he did not dispel rumors that MxO will become a new expansion for EverQuest players that use one too many hacks and exploits, meet up with Laurence Fishburne, take a pill, and finally see modern-day Norrath as it truly is:

" The development team has made the transition to the SOE Seattle office. In addition, we are excited to have Paul Chadwick on board to help continue the saga of The Matrix. We have a solid, motivated group. Morale is high and the team is in the process of executing a series of changes that are going to add to an already promising game. "

You can read the entire Producer's Letter here!