content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="content-type">
While
the January sun drifts through painted skies, the Ten Ton War
Machine marches on to bring you, dear readers, another week’s
worth of the best exclusive MMOG content from the front lines of the
‘net.
Free-to-play games are certainly on the rise, with quality finally
showing signs of winning out over sheer quantity. With that in mind,
this week our writers set out to explore the business model, provide
some pointers for those gamers new to the world of FTP and even handed
out a round of awards to some very deserving titles.
Our exclusive guides might not serve to protect you from the impending
zombie apocalypse, but they’ll certainly provide some
excellent reading once you’ve barricaded the doors and
windows. And what better way to save you from dementia after being
locked inside your impenetrable fortress than to give our inaugural
“Loading… Live” Voon podcast a listen?
This
Week’s Hot Content:
2008
Best of F2P Awards - Danny
"Ralsu" Gourley played free-to-play (F2P) games almost exclusively in
2008, and he told Ten Ton Hammer readers about his best experiences in
his
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/Top10F2P">Top Ten
Free-to-Play Games. Now that
2009 is here, Ralsu takes a look back and celebrates the best F2P games
he tried in a number of categories.
Read the full article
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/60341">here,
and then discuss it in our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=39701">forums!
The
Chronicles of Spellborn: Combat Evolved
- One of the most frequently utilized and repetitive mechanics in any
MMOG is the combat system. With thousands of clicks how can you build
something innovative and strategic that will provide ample challenge to
veterans? The Chronicles of Spellborn has gone in a different direction
differing from anything else the market has seen. We look at a number
of reasons if put together properly this could be something truly
innovative.
Read the full article
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61086">here,
and then discuss it in our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=39744">forums!
WoW
Celebrities: An Interview with NFL Punter Chris "Warcraft" Kluwe
- When it was discovered that an NFL player was thinking about changing
his name to "Warcraft" to honor his favorite hobby, MMO industry
columnists and football fans across the internet went into a posting
frenzy. In a situation similar to that of future Hall of Fame pitcher,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/46719">Curt
Schilling, people seem to be
fascinated that a professional athlete might enjoy a game like
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World of
Warcraft. Rather than simply
post the news, the Ten Ton Hammer staff opted to track down Chris
"Warcraft" Kluwe and find out the truth about his name change and why
he's known as such a video gamer.
Read the full interview
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61223">here,
and then discuss it in our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=39785">forums!
More
Exclusive Content:
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/60343">Comic:
Geeked - "Another One
Bites the Dust"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/60349">The
Learning Curve
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/FasariaBeta">Fasaria
World Beta Giveaway
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61082">Top Ten
Free-to-Play Games -
Investment Opportunities for Players
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61118">AoC:
Cradle of Decay Video
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61084">New
Year's WAAAGH-solutions
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61178">Comic:
Geeked - "Competitive
Strategies"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61200">Finding
the Right Free to
Play MMOG
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61195">Exclusive
CITIES XL Interview
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61241">Cryptic,
Champions and the
Console MMOG
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61240">Meet
the Ten Ton Hammer
World of Warcraft Staff
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61276">Fantasy
Forever: Capturing
the Feel of Flight in Aion
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61306">AoC:
Border Kingdom Cryer -
The End of the Road
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61314">Ten Ton
Hammer's MMO Gaming
Predictions for 2009
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61242">WAR:
What to Expect in 2009
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61320">WoW
Comic: Goob &
Begud - "For PETA's Sake"
Exclusive
Guides:
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/52299">WoW:
Horde Northrend Leveling Guide - Page 5 (Coldarra)
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/60340">AoC:
General Crafting Guide - Resources
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61170">AoC:
Gemcrafter Recipes - Tier 3
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61198">AoC:
General Crafting Guide - Tips and Tricks
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61296">WoW:
Horde Northrend Leveling Guide - Page 6 (Boro'gorok Outpost)
Loading...
Live!
Ten Ton Hammer begins our inaugural Voon podcast by saying goodbye to
one of our longest running columns: Not Funny... Ever. Authored by MMO
humor writer Coyote since May 2006, Coyote is ending the column to
pursue new writing endeavors, including editing
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/turnip/">Ten Ton
Turnip and will be filing his
time with a few interesting projects of his own.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61113">Listen
to the first episode of Loading... Live here!
Also, be sure to check out the live weekly podcast every Tuesday at 7PM
EST in the Ten Ton Hammer Events room on
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/voon">Voon!