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Daily Column

Loading... WAR is here (if you pre-ordered)

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 - 110 BPM Age of Conan - 34 BPM Tabula Rasa - 9 BPM Lord of the Rings Online - 7 BPM EVE Online - 6 BPM Everquest II - 6 BPM Stargate Worlds - 5 BPM Vanguard - 5 BPM Dungeons and Dragons - 4 BPM

This past week/weekend is one of the most stressful in the Hoskin family's calendar. The stress is not because the kids are back to school with new teachers; nor is it because water levels are dropping so fast that my boat might need to spend the winter resting on the mud at my dock. No, this past week was try-out week for the local minor hockey teams. Not only am I coaching two teams (cutting 9-year-old children from a team is soul devouring by the way), but my son is trying out for a third. He's stressed. I'm stressed. The family is stressed. It's crazy! Sometimes your kids want something so much that stress and worry over it is almost unbearable.

It's a bit like the anticipation that comes from waiting for a game to launch, except you know the game will launch and you know you will be able to play it eventually. Ok, it's nothing like a game launch, but I needed a segue.

The Warhammer Online head-start is here!

Our exclusive Warhammer Launch Blog starring Justin Webb, Senior Designer continues. Justin delivered four new entries over the weekend. First up was A Feast of Barnett.

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Justin Webb,
WAR Blogger on the Prowl

"As a big thank-you for everyone’s hard work, Mythic puts on a spread of food every night up on the eighth floor. When the ceremonial act of laying out all the nosh is complete, an email is sent out to the whole company. This email has a Pavlovian effect. Devs pile into the elevators and head for the eighth floor. It’s here, shortly after dusk, that the pack finally comes together after a long hard day. Devs jostle for the best position; some challenges are made and answered; and pecking rules as old as time itself are re-established. Pack members who try to jump the line are beaten with sporks and sent packing with their tails between there legs. It is here that we truly see Survival of the Fittest in action." [read more]

Sunday was the head-start for the players who purchased the Collector's Edition or CE. Justin dug deep, into the deepest, darkest places of the QA department to bring you, The CE Launch.

"Mostly, today is the time for the server engineers to shine (we’ll check in with them in a bit). But everyone in the building is piling onto beta and just playing, double-checking that everything is working and that all the bugs we’ve been working on have been squished.

I was able to find some time to talk to Jason Abbott [Lead Server Engineer] and Colin Shannon [Technical Director] about their experiences during this week, and they were gracious (foolish) enough to let me film them. " [read more]

The Justin Webb War Launch Videos boxed set has begun to trickle into stores and is now available here at Ten Ton Hammer. Disc One includes The Coders.

"You can sleep when you're dead."

If you aren't sated yet, how about this Justin Webb War Launch Video: Hairy Sack of Magic. This has academy award written all over it.

That's not all, also included in this set is Justin Webb War Launch Video: Rudy's Beard. Even a Dwarf would be proud.

WAR has taken over the industry during launch. Are you going to play? Hit the Loading... forums and have your say.

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22 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 140 in September! 2344 in 2008!

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

Images/Video

Warhammer Online: Justin Webb, "Rudy's Beard" Warhammer Online: Justin Webb's Hairy Sack of Magic Warhammer Online: Justin Webb and The Coders World of Warcraft: The Culling of Stratholme Gallery

Launch Blog!

Warhammer Online: Justin Webb and The CE Launch Warhammer Online: Justin Webb and a Feast of Barnett Warhammer Online: Justin Webb and A Study of Sleep Deprivation

Comics

WAR-Torn: A New Member Has Joined Your Party

Community

Vanguard: Dalmarus' Chronicles - Are You Hardcore?

Guides

Warhammer Online: Squig Herder Class Guide Warhammer Online: Chaos Marauder Class Guide Warhammer Online: Archmage Class Guide Warhammer Online: Guides Portal Warhammer Online: Public Quests Guide Warhammer Online: High Elf RvR Quests - Tier 1 Warhammer Online: Dwarf Public Quest - Chapter 2 Warhammer Online: Greenskin Leveling Guide: Tier 1 Warhammer Online: Chaos Public Quests - Chapter 1 World of Warcraft: Engineering Guide World of Warcraft: WotLK Portal Updated World of Warcraft: PvP in Lake Wintergrasp Lord of the Rings Online: Pynti-Peldot Guide

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to

Warhammer Online: Justin Webb and The CE Launch Warhammer Online: Justin Webb and a Feast of Barnett Warhammer Online: Justin Webb and A Study of Sleep Deprivation Warhammer Online: Justin Webb with ' 7 Days and Counting' Warhammer Online: Justin Webb, "Rudy's Beard" World of Warcraft: The Culling of Stratholme Gallery Warhammer Online: Building Bosses with Designer Gabe Amatangelo World of Warcraft: WotLK PvP - Stats and Damage

Real World News

San Antonio plans to convert human waste to energy [Courtesy of Matt N.!]

Dallas eyes plan as way to cut payroll from the Stars

Road workers open fuel can while smoking a cigarette

"What could possibly go wrong?", said bystander C. Darwin EA drops $2B hostile takeover bid of Take-Two

Niko Bellic
allegedly seen speeding away from the scene

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com.

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