Welcome to your Monday Loading... You can read previously enjoyed editions of Loading... in the blog archive. (For the navigation impaired that means you click the link and then look in the right menu.)

The 449th edition of Loading... is brought to you by Reebok and EA Sports: Smooth moves on the mic and on the court? Find out. Unlock Jay-Z as the newest baller in NBA Live 2007. Click Here for more!

Congratulations to Volamunn, Odess and Elendale for winning copies of Ryzom Ring or Saga of Ryzom, or whatever it was I was giving away last week. Check the forum where you posted your entry to pick up your prize.

Congratulations to all of the Loading... readers. On Friday we broke the 3,000 subscriber mark. Nice job. Preach on! Can we hit 3,500 by the end of the month?

The WoW Census is closing in on 1.5 million characters tracked. That's million folks...! The Alliance outnumber the Horde by a 2.2:1 ratio. We have over 1 million Alliance characters in the database at the moment. Alliance is more in your face than Paris Hilton at a free shoe giveaway. The following servers are leading the charge! Way to go guys/gals.

1. Aerie Peak - 31,535 characters tracked.
2. Greymane - 29,595
3. Lightbringer - 29,192
4. Cenarion Circle - 29,136
5. Kirin Tor - 28,259

The following servers and communities suck. They are filled with the folks you see being removed by crane from their homes because they are too large to get out the door. Yes, I'm talking about you. If you play on one of these servers get off your lazy arse, pull the doritos bag off of your head and get uploading. This is what happens if I pussyfoot around with you people. Nothing gets done.

Servers of Shame

• Dragonmaw
• Stormscale
• Zuluhed
• Maelstrom
• Azshara
• Skullcrusher
• Kil'Jaeden
• Frostmane
• Shattered Hand
• Perenolde

Login, let census run, logout, upload and treat yourself to a hot pocket for cripes sake.

Beta tests, you know that you are all applying for them. You know that you are all lying on your applications to get into them. When your lying, cheating, snake in the grass ways weasel you into a beta test what do you do? You don't test at all. You play. You're beta players, not testers.

Tony "RadarX" Jones interviewed the Community Manager of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, Chris Launius and the topic was beta testers versus beta players.

Do you test or play? Do you lie on your application? Do you even know what you should be lying about?

Do tell: Either in the forum or 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.10.16.2006 Exclusive Content

• Op/Ed: Halcyon, And On, And On...End Game Content
  "The repeatable instanced endgame, simultaneously loved and hated by nearly everyone that makes that precipitous climb to level cap. Our topic this week: is there a better way to handle endgame content? Since most of Ethec's characters are the in-game equivalent of kindergarten dropouts, he first discusses the need for a level cap before wending his way to the topic at hand:"
• Dungeons And Dragons Online: Poll: End Game Decisions
  "Ralsu says gamers are like hamsters who need a wheel added to the cage: they need raid encounters to give them exercise once they get fat at the level cap. The problem, as Ralsu sees it, is how to handle the end game."
• EverQuest 2: The End Game Woes!
  "Around and around we go! Some believe that instanced, repeatable content is the answer to end game woes. But how many times can you raid the same zone before tossing your hands up and begging for something different? Let's talk about end game content and search for the way off of this end game hamster wheel!"
• Gods and Heroes: Interview With Chris Launius
  "Ten Ton Hammer sits down with Gods and Heroes Community Manager Chris "Binky" Launius to discuss one of the most important things going on with the game right now. Beta! How are people selected, what is the process going to be like, how do they feel about the testers? Find the answers to these questions and more inside."
• Gods and Heroes: Content This Instance!
  "The end game of most MMO's in this day and age is filled with instances. Do they provide enough content for the high level players? Do they fill a content need? Join RadarX as he answers neither of those questions and discuses the advantages and disadvantages of instances."
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes: The End Of The Line
  "The end game--is it the end of the line, or a new beginning? In a massively multi-player online game, the end game can't actually be the end if you, the gamer, are going to continue playing and paying a subscription fee. How do developers manage to keep players satisfied with new and constantly changing end-game content? (Or do they manage at all?) Medeor takes a look at the end game, and how it might play out in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, in his latest editorial."
• World of Warcraft: Play It Just One More Time
  "This week at TenTonHammer the community managers at each of our sites are looking at how games handle the end game. Is the repeatable instanced endgame a good way to handle a level capped game? World of Warcraft uses this schema and it is the current killer MMO on the market, does that make it the best method or just the current favorite method. I also take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of using it as a system."

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Vin Diesel Fact of the Day - VIN numbers on vehicles are actually an intricate unsolved puzzle which, when unlocked, will give you all the powers of Vin Diesel himself.

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

• Canadian Troops Battle 10-foot High Afghan Marijuana [Thanks Phil]
  Dude, where's my armoured personnel carrier?
• Creating A Stink In The Name Of Science [Thanks John]
  ...still no cure for cancer.
• Booze In Milk For Sick Kids
  Here comes Al-Koo-Haul the fuzzy rum bottle mascot.
• Advertising Helps Lebanon Rebound From War
  Now with 50% less crazy than North Korea.
• Robot Museum Opens In Nagoya
  All hail our robotic curator overlords!

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