Welcome to your Wednesday Loading...

The 442nd edition of Loading... is brought to you today by Great pop-culture toys, t-shirts, gifts and collecitbles now in stock at WickedCoolStuff.com!

You can read previously enjoyed editions of Loading... in our archive.

A year ago in Loading... I was writing about EverQuest 2, Vanguard and Guild Wars. Today, same old... you may just want to read last year's blog and save yourself some time. It was certainly a shorter blog a year ago. This thing needs to go on a diet and I believe Kirstie Alley could be my mentor. Kirstie, Robin Colcourt called and he wants you to call Jenny Craig for my blog.

While perusing various gaming industry sites yesterday I happened across a forum where gamers were complaining about companies selling XBox Live points for real life cash. Console market, let me introduce you to gold farmers. It's like a stink you just can't rid of, drifting from place to place until it latches on and ruins a perfectly good thing. It would undoubtedly make a great Spongebob Squarepants cartoon, especially if Squidward got the stink, but it isn't nearly so humorous when it affects our leisure time, our games.

Have we really devalued our lesisure time to the point where we are willing to pay other people to play while we work to make enough money to pay them to do so?

Well have we? I'd like to see some comments folks.

Post a comment at the bottom of this blog. If you are shy (or female and sending in naughty pictures) you can E-Mail me.

Every good guild needs a home. A home free of gold ads and secondary market farmers. Look no further than GuildPortal.com.

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Exclusive new TenTonHammer.com Content!
Let us entertain you or at the very least waste some of your time at work.10.04.2006 Exclusive Content

• Dungeons and Dragons Online: Fighter Feats
  "It takes a sincere love of Dungeons & Dragons Online to test 50 Feats for their usefulness in various DDO builds for fighters. That's why Ten Ton Hammer readers are so lucky: Scathe and Ralsu love fighters so much they've done it. That's right, we've got 50--count 'em!--Feats ranked for you."
• Lord of the Rings Online: The Social Aspect of MMO Gaming
  "Seed, a game that billed itself as a non-combat / roleplay-centric MMORPG, closed down on Sunday, leading some to question whether an MMO that's more focused on socializing than achieving is feasible. Eáránë Táralóm from the LotroSource staff offers his thought-provoking opinions on the LotRO - Ten Ton Hammer site."
• Vanguard: Paladin Class Guide Preview
  "Holy knight, protective fighter, slayer of undead...we're talking about the Paladin, of course. What will the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Paladin have to offer? Zinn has compiled a complete pre-launch guide to the class. Stop searching the Web for Paladin information; all the details and links you need are right at Vanguard Ten Ton Hammer."

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Vin Diesel Fact of the Day - Vin Diesel doesn't go to work, it comes to him.

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Now from the real world. You can't make this stuff up.

• One Third Of Planet Will Be Desert By 2100
  ...we'd better use as much water as we can right now before it runs out!
• Archeologists Find 11-Millennium-Old Building In Syria
  ...Al-Queda suicide bomber to fling himself at it in 3...2...1...
• Harry Potter To Be Removed From Shelves
  ...talking snakes, burning bushes, it's a pox and should be banned.
• Ex-binge Drinkers Earn More
  ...sleep later, had more fun at the prom.

As always, thanks for visiting TenTonHammer.com,
-- John "Boomjack" Hoskin