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to the 1,322nd
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California tried to ban the sale of violent video games to
minors, so far without success. Have studies proven beyond a doubt that
violent video games are harmful to kids? Should legislators be making
decisions about who can and can't purchase video games, or should
retailers and, most importantly, parents? We'll discuss the latest
attempt to vilify video games in today's href="http://tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/apr/28"
target="_blank">Loading... Baby's First M-Game.

The Pulse

You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse ( target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).

Here
are today's top 5 Pulse results:

1. World
   of Warcraft
2. EverQuest
   II 
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/43">EVE
   Online (UP 6)
4. Age
   of Conan 
5. Dungeons
   and
   Dragons Online 

Biggest
movers today:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2035"> style="text-decoration: underline;"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1841">Alganon
   (Up 25 to # 18)
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">EverQuest
   (Up 11 to #9)
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/32">Tabula
   Rasa (Down 4 to #13)

• 2/1
  - Global
  Agenda (release date)
• 2/2 size="-1">
  - Star
  Trek Online (release date)
• 2/16
  - href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
  2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)
• 2/16
  - LotRO:
  Oath of the
  Rangers (content update)
• 4/5
  - Pocket
  Legends (iMMOG - release date)
  
  
  

• April
  2010 - href="http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/game_updates/issue_17/issue_17_overview.html?utm_source=COHemail&utm_medium=US&utm_campaign=banner">City
  of Heroes - Issue 17: Dark Mirror
• style="font-weight: bold;">Spring 2010
  - Mytheon
• Summer
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB
• TBA
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2079">Final
  Fantasy XIV
  
  
  
  

Upcoming
Events

• style="font-weight: bold;">6/15 -
  6/17 - E3
  Expo
• style="font-weight: bold;">6/25 -
  6/27 - Looking
  for Group
  Expo
• style="font-weight: bold;">7/22 -
  7/25 - Comic-Con
  International
• style="font-weight: bold;">8/5 -
  8/8 - href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/">SOE
  Fan Faire 2010
• style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
  9/6 - DragonCon
• style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
  10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y">BlizzCon
• style="font-weight: bold;">2011: 3/24
  -
  3/26 - CCP
  FanFest
  
  
  

Loading... Daily

Because financial woes seemingly aren’t enough to worry about,
California hopped on the “Oh noes, violent video games are bad for
kids!” bandwagon. I wonder if governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the man
who once played Conan the Barbarian in all his muscular, shirtless
glory, could taste the irony when he signed the bill--based in part on
several studies linking violent video games with aggression and
antisocial behavior in children--that would ban the sale of games like href="http://tentonhammer.com/aoc">Age of Conan
to minors in October of last year.

 

The law, which would fine retailers up to $1000 for failure to comply,
never went into effect. In December, U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte href="http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-146141.html">ruled
that it unconstitutionally restricted minors' rights to information.
Just this week, the ball href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/26/tech/main6433624.shtml">landed
in another court--the Supreme Court, to be exact, which will
review Whyte’s decision to throw the law out.



 I bought my son his first M-rated video game (Fable) when he
was 10 years old. I’d read up and knew what sort of content to expect,
and I didn’t think it was anything my kid couldn’t handle. I watched
him play for a while, checked in on him frequently, and asked for his
feelings about the adult content in the game. His responses were always
very direct--my kids and I have a No Bullshit Policy. He’s been playing
his choice of games, mostly at his own discretion, ever since. And
we’ve rented M-rated games that my son has brought back to me after 30
minutes playtime telling me that the violence was just too “out there,”
too gratuitous, for his tastes. I give him props for that.



I let my son play his choice of video games, ratings notwithstanding,
because I know he understands that fragging pixel people in Call of
Duty is not an invitation to arm oneself and start gunning down
pedestrians. My daughter understands that her ability to kick ass in
Street Fighter IV (a T-rated game, incidentally) does not translate to
wiping the floor with the annoying middle school bully, even though she
may want to. I think most kids get that, and the ones who don’t are
troubled to begin with.



But the real question here is not so much whether violence in video
games desensitizes kids (there are studies, though none are conclusive,
and parents can and should review them carefully), but whether our
government should be deciding what our kids can and cannot access. We
ban the sale of cigarettes and alcohol to minors because we know that
the former is potentially lethal and the latter is a judgment-impairing
intoxicant that is, well…potentially lethal. The harmful effects of
tobacco and alcohol are not in question. But when it comes to the
supposed harmful effects of video games there is no such hard evidence.




What California opted to do, and what a District Court Judge wisely
chose to undo, was to unilaterally decide that violent video games
should not be protected by the US Constitution (the District Court
found the law in conflict with the First and Fourteenth Amendments.)
Should retail video game outlets restrict the sale of M-rated games to
minors? If they choose to, sure. Should parents carefully monitor the
content of the games their children play and use the tools at their
disposal (ESRB
ratings, reviews,
etc.) to make informed decisions? Absolutely. But should the government
be legislating bans on certain types of video games? That’s a very
slippery slope, friends.



Are violent video games harmful to kids? Should their sale to minors be
banned by law? My answer is no.I bid you to href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?p=428773">have
your say in the Loading… forum.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day

From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4">/OOC
(Off-topic) forum



Upgrading
PC for FFXIV {planning time}



Processors
and video cards and memory, oh my! We're talking PC upgrades. This
thread began a month ago, but it's still going strong. If you'd like to
weigh in on the discussion of all things hardware, or just snag some
good advice, href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=50413">head
on over.



==============================

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread



"Holy cow thats a massive heatsink! That sucker's
huuuuuuuuuuge! It's visible from the moon!"



- Anacche

==============================



Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!

New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

9 new Ten Ton Hammer articles! 107 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in April! 466
in 2010!

GIVEAWAYS



HOT! EverQuest
Underfoot All-In-One Giveaway - 20 Copies Available!

http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/eq_underfoot



Ten
Ton Hammer is partnering with Sony Online Entertainment to offer you a
chance to win one of twenty EverQuest® Underfoot All-In-One Compilation
Packs. The All-In-One Pack features the base game and all 16 expansion
packs, including the all-new Underfoot. Thirty (30) days game time is
also included for new accounts only. We'll draw all 20 winners at
random next Wednesday, May 5th at noon EDT . Please note that only one
entry per registration is permitted and each entry may only win one
prize. For your free chance to win, follow the instructions on the
EverQuest Underfoot giveaway page. Good luck!



INTERVIEWS



HOT! The Syfy
Marriage of TV and Video Games - A Q&A with Trion Worlds' Rob
Hill

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/syfy/interviews/rob_hill_on_action_mmo">http://www.tentonhammer.com/syfy/interviews/rob_hill_on_action_mmo



If
the storied Stargate Worlds TV tie-ins whet your appetite for an MMORPG
experience that impacts a companion television show, you won't need to
wait for CME to get its ducks in a row. Syfy and Trion Worlds are
teaming up for a project dubbed the "Syfy Action MMO" (working title)
and described as a "3rd-person action-shooter with visceral gun play."
While we wait for production cycles, television seasons, and myriad
planning challenges to resolve and align, Trion Worlds Executive
Producer Rob Hill offers us the latest on the Syfy Action MMO.



Rallying Nations - The Unique Political System of Aika

http://www.tentonhammer.com/aika/interviews/politics



As
the free-to-play game Aika approaches launch one feature stands out a
more than any other aspect--its political system. Five nations are
governed by a monarchy and players themselves rule the nations. The
potential implications for such a political game are huge, so we had to
catch up with gPotato's Community Manager, Christina Kelly, to find out
more.



REVIEWS



StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils Audiobook Review

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/reviews/heavens_devils_audiobook">http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/reviews/heavens_devils_audiobook



StarCraft
II: Heaven's Devils recently hit bookstores everywhere and the
accompanying audiobook is now available for digital download. Heaven's
Devils goes into the origins of Jim Raynor, the human protagonist from
the game. It's the first book fully dedicated to him and a great read
for StarCraft II fans everywhere. Is the audiobook just as good? We
listen to it and let you know our thoughts in our latest review.



FEATURED EDITORIAL



MMO Wars: Attack of the WoW Clones

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/attack_of_the_wow_clones">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/attack_of_the_wow_clones



World
of Warcraft has been out over five years now and has been number one in
the MMO industry just as long. We all wonder what it'd take to topple
the giant. Will it be Bioware's new MMO, the Final Fantasy franchise,
or will Derek Smart bring Alganon, a game that tried to clone WoW
outright, from obscurity to WoW killer? David "Xerin" Piner tackles
this tough topic.



FEATURES & GUIDES



The Three Most Dangerous Hotspots In EVE Online

http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/combat/hotspots



Real
estate agents tell us it's all about location. The hotspot locations
discussed in this article spell death for some, and grand opportunity
for others. Space Junkie outlines the three most deadly kinds of
hotspots in EVE Online.



StarCraft II - The Protoss Army

http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/protossunits



While
the Protoss ground army is strong, it cannot win games on its own.
Stalkers move quickly about but lack the mobility to handle air
harassment from Mutalisks. Stealth and burrowed units can take you
apart on your way to your opponent's base. This is where the support
units come in for the Protoss, and they are the second portion of your
army.  Try as you may, mass Zealots simply won't get the job
done
I'm afraid.



WoW: The End of the Golden Age of Raiding

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/cata_raid_changes">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/cata_raid_changes



Blizzard
has announced this week that they will be revamping the lockouts on
their raids in World of Warcraft. Will this change bring about the end
of raiding and a return to PvP as the endgame, or are we looking at a
new age of raiding? David "Xerin" Piner takes a look at that and more.



WoW: Multiple Partners - Getting into a Raiding Guild

http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/raid/finding_a_guild



Once
you are done expending the time and effort to get to max level in World
of Warcraft one of the most common things to do is to raid. While
raiding is possible with a PUG, it's usually extremely
painful,
depending on your server and its progression. So, how do you go about
getting into a raiding guild? That’s what Byron “Messiah” Mudry looks
at in this week’s guide.

Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/eq_underfoot">EverQuest
   Underfoot All-In-One Giveaway - 20 Copies Available!
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/syfy/interviews/rob_hill_on_action_mmo">The
   Syfy Marriage of TV and Video Games - A Q&A with Trion
   Worlds' Rob Hill
3. Microcosms:
   Reinventing The Wheel – An Alganon Re-Launch Sneak
   Peak
4. A
   First Look at Rift: Planes of Telara
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/end_of_nations/video/devdiary1">End
   of Nations Dev Diary Video #1: What is an MMORTS?
6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/video/devdiary1">Rift:
   Planes of Telara Dev Diary Video #1: Telara - Nexus of the
   Planes
7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/end_of_nations/reveal">Command
   & Conquer Creators Unveil Massively Military MMORTS: End
   of Nations
8. Ten
   Ton Hammer Live Ep. 4 - Funcom's Erling Ellingsen Talks The
   Secret World
9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/reviews/heavens_devils_audiobook">StarCraft
   II: Heaven's Devils Audiobook Review
10. Final
    Fantasy XIV href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83664"> Playable
    Races Overview

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

- Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg
and
the Ten Ton Hammer team