Welcome to the 1010th Edition of Loading...
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The Pulse
First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Hammer Pulse (What is Pulse?).
Here are the biggest movers in the Top 20 today:
- Champions Online (UP 8 to #13)
- Tabula Rasa (UP 2 to #9)
- Requiem: Bloodymare (down 2 to #17)
Loading... Daily
Loading... if MMO news is an NY comic book event, Loading... is Lou Feriggno.
With all kinds of big MMO news in the pipeline this morning, let's get out the bullet points even though they make for crappy focused forum dialogue:
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Band of Brothers disbands - One of EVE Online's largest corporations disbanded yesterday, with speculation on the cause ranging from a director-level spy infiltration by GoonFleet to the BoB leader, one Haargoth Agamar, quitting in a rage, to outright account stealing. If the true reason is anything but the last, don't expect this one to be reversed.
Whatever the cause, this opens a huge amount of black space on the current alliance map and should make for a very interesting weekend and few weeks for EVE gaming as the more powerful corps rush to fill the sizable vacuum BoB left behind. It's hard to understate what's going on in EVE to a non-EVE player - in historical terms, EVE is seeing the fall of its Roman empire, and only time will tell if players' faith in the game's alliance system will be shaken enough to bring on the dark ages or whether a more split-apart power structure will bring back the excitement to what was something of a PvP stalemate.
In other EVE news: Bowing to what had become a pet request of EVE players, CCP will soon introduce short-term skill queuing to the game. This isn't much of a concern for EVE's most hardcore, though. Given today's news, I don't think that a certain element will be logging out for several weeks.
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Mythic Entertainment Downsizes Staff - After announcing Warhammer Online's Call to Arms live expansion just last week, rumors got out that an unspecified number of full-time employees were being let go. Mark Jacobs quickly chimed in to assure players that the Call to Arms rollout schedule wouldn't be impacted and that the "resizing" would take the WAR team from pre-launch to post-launch numbers. With echoes of the December Funcom announcement, Jacobs intimated that the cuts were limited to "customer service, quality assurance, and play testing."
In other Warhammer news: WAR finally arrives in Russia. Rumored localizations include swapping out a T-34 for the Black Orc and the White Lion for a dancing bear, the Chaos man-cannon will be given a whole new historical significance, and several top tier RVR areas being named after former communist states.
- Warhammer 40k MMO Still in Development - Cody found a nugget of info (and we do mean a nugget) showing that THQ is still hard at work on a 40k MMO. Given that the 40k Dawn of War and the eagerly anticipated Dawn of War II arriving later this month show that THQ seems to have the formula for quality RTSs down, its interesting to note that THQ is wittingly or unwittingly following in the Blizzard's footsteps. Who knows whether that will help, but it certainly can't hurt.
In not strictly MMO news but odd news indeed, Bill Gates "playfully" unleashed a swarm of mosquitos in a press conference on malaria awareness. Good one, Bill Gates! We'll make Paul Barnett agree not to use biting insects in his and Jeff Hickman's press conference at New York Comic-Con this Saturday.
Don't have tickets for New York Comic-Con? Can't make the trip? Become a Ten Ton Hammer premium member and you'll get streaming audio courtesy of Vivox and Voon live from the Saturday panels and first access to the video recordings next week! The Voon NYCC '09 broadcast schedule is now posted.
Your thoughts are always mostly welcome in the Loading... forum, or email me !
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day
From our WoW: News Discussion Forum
NBC Tries to Explain the WoW Language
Kekeke!
L2talk, nub! At least that's what some journalist in an NBC news story
is attempting to do. But clearly she's inept. I mean, in WoW you don't
type: I NEED HELP! (as she attempted to do in this video).
Instead, you type: Best group evah LF 5 more! Or...or something
like that. I don't quite know if I've got the lingo right myself, not
being a hardcore WoW player and all, but someday I swear I'll learn the
secret language of your secret gaming society and then I'll pwnz0r ur
nub @sses.
*cough*
Okay, I admit I'm not good
at WoWspeak. But apparently the guy interviewed on NBC news is
fluent. Be warned, WoW fans--the dude is spilling your secrets. Soon
your code will be broken and your vernacular will be known around the
world. Only you can plug the leak!
=================================
Awesome Quote from the
Epic Thread:
"It was an amusing watch, but a bit bitter to swallow. Having
such a clueless lass like Nicole who doesn't understand the game
explaining about the use of in-game lingo is akin to having a
kindergarden pupil explain Chemistry terms. And having a WoW player
spout 'advice' in gaming terminology has definitely confused her badly.
For us who knows how, when and where to employ such 'lingo,' the story
is a source of laughter and jokes. But I have to wonder what non-WoW
person would think if they ever see the video or interview?"
- BlackDragon
=================================
Do you have a favorite Epic Thread? Let
us know!
4 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 22 in February! 158 in 2009!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Reviews
Op/Eds
Guides
Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
- Review of Dofus
- Forever Fantasy: Race Speculation in WAR
- The Comic Book Guy: The Lone Superhero and the MMOG
- EVE Online: "Apocrypha" Expansion Q&A with Arnar Gylfason
- Review of Darkeden
- Review of Secret of the Solstice
- Geeked: "Self-Defense"
- MMOs, The Final Frontier: The Untapped Potential of Sci-Fi IPs
- Warhammer Online: The Implications of A Call To Arms
- Review of Eudemons Online
Real World News
-
Car-eating rats discovered in Washington, D.C.
Experts suspect the rats are on a high-carb diet -
Plano police arrest suspected Sherlock Holmes' murderer
Investigators also searching for gang's mastermind, questioning men named Maury; are teed off with lack of further details. -
Klingon sword used in two Colorado Springs heists
Suthpect previothly uthed a baythball bat, leth intimidating method wath unsuccthessful.
Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
-- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our EVE Online Game Page.
