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Daily Column

Loading... That's 909 editions whether you post the number forwards or backwards.

First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry.

If the Top 10 isn't enough, we also show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage. (What is Pulse?)

Warhammer Online - 200 BPM World of Warcraft - 100 BPM Age of Conan - 21 BPM Stargate Worlds - 9 BPM Tabula Rasa - 9 BPM EVE Online - 7 BPM Lord of the Rings Online - 7 BPM Everquest II - 6 BPM Vanguard - 5 BPM Dungeons and Dragons - 3 BPM

Ten Ton Hammer's Premium Members can still grab beta keys to both Warhammer Online and Stargate Worlds. Non-premium members have a shot at Warhammer keys (no guarantee) by participating in our Forum War! You can play on the side of Destruction or Order. Thank you Mythic Entertainment for the beta slots. May the best posters win. Stargate Worlds remains open only to Premium Members who are all guaranteed a slot in the SGW beta. Than you Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment!

The Warhammer Online open beta officially started yesterday, at least for North Americans. The European launch wasn't quite as efficient. You can visit our Warhammer forums to read all about it.

I have been playing the beta and I'm truly enjoying it. Of course, it's too early to give an educated opinion on the game, but for what it is worth, I'm having fun and so are the rest of my family.

If I were to try and put my finger on what makes WAR special it would be that no matter what you are doing, the design encourages you to continue. If you are doing Public Quests then the "influence" bar encourages you to keep going until it is full. If you are competing in RvR scenarios then the repeatable quest inspires you to continue the RvR, as does the realm war. If grinding is your thing then the killing spree (you get bonus exp if you kill quickly and constantly) fortifies your joy of grinding. So far for me, at my low level, no matter what I happen to be doing, I seem to want to keep doing it. If I happen to become tired of questing or RvRing there always seems to be something else that I can do that is fun. So far, so good.

Hit the Loading... forums and have your say.

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12 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 81 in September! 2275 in 2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]

Images/Video

Runes of Magic: Exploring the Dungeons Football Superstars: Stadium and Gameplay Screenshots

Community

Warhammer Online: WAR-Torn - "A New Face" Vanguard: Dalmarus' Chronicles - Death by Sparkles

Op/Eds

Melee or Magic? World of Warcraft: Comparing WotLK to The Burning Crusade

Guides

Warhammer Online: Guide to Ironbreakers Warhammer Online: Guide to the Swordmaster Warhammer Online: Guide to the Shadow Warrior Warhammer Online: Empire Leveling Guide - Tier 1 Lord of the Rings Online: Quest Item Update - Bree-Town and Staddle Age of Conan: Toirdealbach's Tomb Quest Guide

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to

Warhammer Online: WAR-Torn - "A New Face" Vanguard: Dalmarus' Chronicles - Death by Sparkles Editorial: Melee or Magic? World of Warcraft: Comparing WotLK to The Burning Crusade Diablo III: Leipzig Chat with Lead Designer Jay Wilson Top 5 Reasons Gamers are attracted to WAR Exclusive Jeff Hickman WAR Blog at PAX- #3 The Hickman Leaveth Exclusive Jeff Hickman WAR Blog at PAX - #2 The Hickman Invades Exclusive Jeff Hickman WAR Blog at PAX - #1 The Hickman Returns

Real World News

Musical tastes in tune with who you are

Indie music fans too busy being pretentious to notice their lack of self-esteem and work ethic North Korea 'uses doubles to hide death of Kim'

Pyongyang denies the claim, states Kim is alive, but so very ronery. Oh, so ronery. Ten Things I Learned From 'Spore'

'When in doubt, eat the neighbouring tribe' strangely absent from list

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com.

- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team