by John Hoskin on Feb 25, 2008
Welcome to the 776th Edition of Loading...
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Daily Column
Loading... it's like the Axe Effect, but with a real axe.
First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry.
Age of Conan has rolled back into the #1 spot after a day at #2. EverQuest 2 climbs two spots to #4 and Pirates of the Burning Sea returns to the Top 10 after a brief hiatus. (What is Pulse?)
Age of Conan - 200 BPM World of Warcraft - 108 BPM Lord of the Rings Online - 28 BPM EverQuest 2 - 26 BPM Warhammer Online - 22 BPM EVE Online - 21 BPM Lineage 2 - 18 BPM Vanguard - 15 BPM Tabula Rasa - 13 BPM Pirates of the Burning Sea - 12 BPMGDC was enjoyable, but I'm glad that it is over. Our four-person team had approximately 40 appointments/interviews over three days. We attend interviews in pairs so each of us in the end attended approximately 20 different appointments. We all have a lot on our plates over the next few days. Once we're caught up the next event will start. Tis the season! I often think back to Brian Green commenting that though many people feel energized after leaving one of these events that he is exhausted. I'm riding the same ship as him. It's great to go and see the people that I wish I could see on a daily basis, but when the show is over I have zero left in the tank. I'm amazed by how much Cody, Jeff and Garrett can accomplish in such a short period of time. The shows seems to invigorate Cody and Garrett, but I have a feeling that Jeff captains the good ship 'Exhaustion'.
In case you didn't have a handle on it already, Blizzard doesn't condone gold buying. People are crying their virtual tears all over Scott Jenning's blog. Jessica Mulligan chimes in that by informing their players that gold buying is against the TOS is going to have no effect, though in typical Jessica fashion she compares it to urinating on a house fire. There's a joke in there that I can't tell, though I'm sure our own Phil Comeau would love to do so.
RMT or real money trading isn't going to go away, but it can certainly be designed around if it is taken into account early in the process. Watching players and developers who aren't dealing with RMT on the scale of Blizzard as they give their quick fixes is like watching an inebriated, monkey with a shotgun. It's funny, but somebody is going to get hurt.
I'll leave you with another humorous travel story. As regular readers of this column know, I don't just dislike travel by plane, I despise it. I'm about three hours from the airport by car and every trip seems to take me to the west coast. That means another two hours sitting at the airport followed by a five hour flight. Inevitably there is some problem with my plane. The flight home continued the string of good luck. We were ready for the push back so that we could taxi for takeoff. Everyone was snug in their seat with visions of pretzels dancing in their heads when the captain's voice came over the speakers in that crackling monotone that only captains seem to possess, "We're ah, going to be sitting here for a while. They have loaded the wrong luggage onto our plane and now they need to crawl into the belly and sort out which ones that they need to remove." Airport security indeed.
RMT or travel glee, tell me - 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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11 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 194 so far in February! 471 so far in 2008!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today
Age of Conan: Gaute Godager Video Q&A [GDC] Chronicles of Spellborn: Within Temptation Trailer [GDC] Chronicles of Spellborn: '08 Story Trailer [GDC] Earthrise: Development Team Interview [GDC] EverQuest 2: City Writ Guide Jumpgate Evolution: Battle Station Interview With Hermann Peterscheck [GDC] Lord of the Rings Online: Tier 2 Jeweler Product Statistic List Requiem: The Bloody Nightmare [GDC] Tabula Rasa: Updated Guide to Comm Tower Ten Ton Wiki: Champions Online and Release Date Calendar Update Vanguard: More Game Update #4 RumblingsHot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to
Acclaim: Interview With David Perry and Howard Marks From GDC Age of Conan: Mounted Combat Video From GDC Mabinogi: A Preview From GDC ToonTown: Premium Community Site Goes Live Age of Conan: New Images From GDC Age of Conan: Funcom Shows Off Mounts and City Building at GDC The Agency: Video Interview With Matt Wilson at GDC Jumpgate Evolution: Bi-Weekly Interview #2 - Factions and Missions PlayXpert: Widgets and Community, An Interview With CEO Charles Manning Warhammer Online: Interview With Josh Drescher and Lance RobertsonReal World News
Fowl Eurovision Entry For Ireland [Thanks John]Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com
- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team