by John Hoskin on Mar 17, 2008
Welcome to the 790th Edition of Loading...
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Daily Column
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First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry.
If the Top 10 isn't enough, we now show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage. (What is Pulse?)
Age of Conan - 200 BPM World of Warcraft - 96 BPM Lord of the Rings Online - 43 BPM EverQuest 2 - 37 BPM Warhammer Online - 26 BPM EVE Online - 24 BPM Lineage 2 - 23 BPM Vanguard - 20 BPM Tabula Rasa - 16 BPM Guild Wars - 16 BPMI miss one day and I have a backlog of 36 new articles to list out in the column. Let's suppose it takes you five minutes to read an article, that's three hours of entertainment you have ready to go on a Monday. Granted, at least one of the videos is premium members only, so you non-supporter types can save yourselves five minutes right there. You'll miss out on Jeffrey Steefel though. You may want to reconsider. He announced the expansion for Lord of the Rings at Connect '08 in England. Jeff was on it like Lindsay Lohan on a tequila shot.
I tend to avoid writing about Second Life. It's not truly a game. It's more a place where the users can become things that they are unable to bring themselves to be in the real world, like procreating pandas. What is interesting about SL is that people can create pretty much anything. C|Net does an interview and 1,000 bouncing phalluses make an appearance. A company decides to open a virtual store and 1,000 blazing red cubes fall from the sky screaming Ahnold's line, "Get To Da Choppa!"
For the most part, Second Life seems to be not about making your own experience enjoyable, but about making everyone else's completely disagreeable. Until now the griefing has remained contained to the Second Life servers, but that may all change. A team of scientists has created an artificial intelligence which they claim is equivalent of a four-year-old child.
My question, who would put a four-year-old child in a world of anthropomorphic sex fiends? If this isn't asking for trouble, then I don't know what is. Virtual children's aid is going to be all over this.
"Or imagine a hostage situation: How do you prepare for negotiating with a terrorist holding a hostage? Now, it's textbook and playacting. But what if you could enter the holodeck and match wits with a synthetic character that has the ability to reason in earnest about your mind, and about what you're trying to do? This is actually a demo we're considering trying to engineer,"
If only there were live human beings who were able to "reason in earnest about your mind", then we wouldn't need this infant SkyNet.
Artificial intelligence or artificial stupidity? The Loading... forums await you.
Do you feel the need to contact me personally with naughty pictures or derogatory comments? Here's my E-mail.
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36 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 128 in March! 641 in 2008!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today
Contest: 2Moons - 25 Winners! Premium Content - Lord of the Rings Online: Books 13 and 14 Preview Video With Jeffrey Steefel -- 2Moons: Exclusive Screenshots Age of Conan: Introducing Clan Soup! Age of Conan: Border Kingdom Cryer Age of Conan: FAQ Updated Blackstar: An Interview With Garry Gattis and Cinco Barnes Champions Online: Coming of the Champions Part 2 Chronicles of Spellborn: Art Dev Journal #1 Club Penguin: Guide to Paint By Letter Game EverQuest 2: Back to the Patch Notes - EQ2 Humour EverQuest 2: A Brell's Day Celebration EverQuest 2: Brigand Class Guide Updated EverQuest 2: Bruiser Class Guide Updated Global Agenda: Nine New Screenshots Jumpgate Evolution: Overview Video Filmed at Connect '08 Jumpgate Evolution: 24 New Images From Connect '08 Jumpgate Evolution: Video Teaser From Connect '08 Lord of the Rings Online: Tier 2 Metalsmithing Product Statistic List Lord of the Rings Online: Announcement - Volume 2 - Mines of Moria at Connect '08 Lord of the Rings Online: Books 13 and 14 Preview Video With Jeffrey Steefel - [Premium Version] Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Expansion Reveal Video From Connect '08 Lord of the Rings Online: New Artwork From Mines of Moria Expansion Mythos: Beta Journal #1 Pirates of the Caribbean Online: An Interview With Disney's Mike Goslin Sho Online: Six Screenshots Tabula Rasa: Retread City Guide Ten Ton Wiki: WorldShift, Shining Stars and more. Vanguard: Poll - Unfair Change or Overdue Fix? Vanguard: Time To Have Some Fun Warhammer Online: Sieging The Moment Warhammer Online: Keeps and Sieges FAQ Warhammer Online: Bright Wizard Career Mastery Warrior Epic: Faustus Video World of Warcraft: Glossary Update World of Warcraft: Extended Rogue Guide UpdatedHot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to
Jumpgate Evolution: Overview Video Filmed at Connect '08 Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Expansion Reveal Video From Connect '08 Contest: 2Moons Premium Content - Lord of the Rings Online: Books 13 and 14 Preview Video With Jeffrey Steefel Blackstar: An Interview With Garry Gattis and Cinco Barnes Lord of the Rings Online: Announcement - Volume 2 - Mines of Moria at Connect '08 2Moons: Exclusive Screenshots Jumpgate Evolution: Exclusive Screenshots of Quantar Ships World of Kung Fu: Interview With Producer, Dave Clarke Dreamlords: Video Interview With Lockpick CEO David RosénReal World News
Presidential Candidates As Dungeons and Dragons Characters [Thanks Peter]Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com
- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team