Loading... I PETA the fool

Welcome to the 1,053rd Edition of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

CME responds to the negative Stargate Worlds mojo in the wake of the Stargate TV producer's comments last week, plus PETA stages an in-game protest in World of Warcraft. The who, what, when, and why (we'll leave out the how for the sake of brevity) in today's Loading... I PETA the fool. That, plus links to a record eleven new Ten Ton Hammer articles, many focused on The Secret World, plus guides to EQ2's revamped Lavastorm, manufacturing in EVE Online, 3 new WoW guides, a new geeked, and an editorial on why a crimewave is about to hit MMO gaming. Enjoy!

Need more newsletter? Play World of Warcraft? Jay "Medeor" Johnson's weekly WoW newsletter "The Overpull" comes out every Tuesday and keeps you entertained and informed on all the latest developments in WoW. Sign up!

The Pulse

You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is Pulse?).

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results for today:

Biggest Movers in the Top 20 today :

Alganon (UP 92 to #18)
Free Realms (UP 39 to #12)
Wizard101 (UP 17 to #11)

Loading... Daily

Every gamer that's ventured beyond their first massively multiplayer love meets up with major MMO disappointment at some point. For some it was Wish, Mythica, the game formerly known as Horizons, or any of myriad games that failed to launch or failed to live up to the hype. It's a temporary thing, part of maturing into the gamer your parents always hoped you'd be. I get the same vibe, a sort of collective resignation to fate, from the Stargate Worlds community in the wake of TV Producer Brad Wright's comments.

But those of you still hoping against hope for the successful release of Stargate Worlds (and I count myself among you, romantical type that I am) should take solace in the latest word from Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment. Says Kevin Ballentine, Senior Marketing Manager, "Team members are in the office seven days a week to deliver Stargate Worlds... [Brad Wright] was not fully aware of the continuing progress of the game... We are still raising enough money from angel investors to keep the dev team working. "He continues, "We are currently negotiating several deals that will cover our financial responsibilities and fund the remainder of development. When we sign those deals, you'll hear about it." Full quote here.

The last time we saw SGW the graphics, cover mechanic, group dynamics... all of it seemed structurally solid enough to move on to the polish and gimme more content stage. No sci-fi concept lends itself more beautifully to MMORPG format - stargate addresses provide directed content and instancing all in one lore-friendly naqahdah ring, but we've been saying that all along. Even if CME finds itself rolling in money, you need not look farther than LinkedIn to see that they've lost a lot of talent along the way. Here's hoping they can close the gap and we can start talking about Stargate Worlds the game, not Stargate Worlds the fiscal train wreck, again. A word about what exactly CME is working on would go a long way towards turning the page on the recent financial fiasco.

In other news, PETA is organizing an in-game protest of seal bashing in World of Warcraft. By you reading this, they've already accomplished their purpose - gah, I'm complicit. Unfortunately for PETA and everyone else that doesn't have a sense of sarcasm or simply can't pick and choose their reality bites from online games, the fact that bashing a cute, cuddly seal is so over-the-top offensive is what makes it ridiculously entertaining. Especially to get into the FTH spirit. Blizzard was helping PETA prove its point before any sort of style-over-substance protest.

I remember reading that Simpsons creator Matt Groening, asked about his stereotypical, negative conceptions of world religions, especially Christianity, noted that his show was just about the only one to acknowledge the importance of religion to daily life in prime time. Perhaps Blizz is on the same tack. Like one of ten Geekeds and one out of three real world news pieces (below), it might not be my brand of humor, but I can see what makes it funny.

What are your thoughts on Get if off your chest in the Loading... forum, or send me an email!

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Members Only Forum

POLL: Next VIP Access Interview

I've
got some bad news and some good news. First the bad news: you can't
view today's Epic Thread without a Ten Ton Hammer premium membership.
And now the good news: it's easy to become a premium member.

Our premium members support our mission to bring you a great community with top-notch MMOG news, exclusive coverage of your favorite games (whether they're released or in-development), videos, live dev chats,
and more. In return for their support, we give them a Members Only
forum and Voon chat room, access to all contests and
giveaways, no ads across our entire network, and first access to
beta keys whenever they're available. (We have a few other
as-yet-unannounced tricks up our sleeves, too.)

We also let our premium members interview their favorite MMOG developers with our VIP Access Interviews,
and that's the topic of today's thread. Our premium members are
currently voting in their private forum on which game developers they'd
like to interview next. Once they've decided, we'll post a thread
to collect their questions and then submit our favorites to the
devs. Members whose questions are featured will see their names in
lights (okay, pixels in front of lights, but it still amounts to some
street cred, doesn't it?) when the interview is published.

Members, head on over to your forum to cast your vote.

Not a premium member? Get the details and sign up while there's still time to get in on our next VIP Access Interview!

==============================
Epic Quotes from the Epic Thread

No quotes, just votes!
==============================

Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!

11 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 41 in April! 428 in 2009!

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

The Secret World Unveiled, Fact Sheet Published

Prepare yourselves, because the modern horror extravaganza known as The Secret World has been unveiled. At GDC '09, Funcom developers lifted the veil of this MMO to a select group of press, and Ten Ton Hammer was lucky enough to get a peek of the upcoming content as well. Although we didn't see a demo, we do have a vast selection of content to bring your way. To start, make sure you read the following TSW fact sheet, which depicts exactly the type of content you'll be seeing in the future MMO. Keep following Ten Ton Hammer as we gradually release all our TSW content!
The Secret World: First Trailer

It's no secret that The Secret World will have you duking it out with supernatural horrors in the streets modern-day cities like London, New York, and Seoul and in other locations around the world, or that this truly free-form and highly customizable MMO will let your skills be your guide. But one secret that Funcom lets us in on with this trailer is that we should expect the unexpected. Enjoy the video!
First Images from The Secret World

As one of the most anticipated MMOs in the world, every piece of media released about The Secret World is eagerly gobbled up by the Ten Ton Hammer readers. The modern horror setting seems to be incredibly appealing to gamers, especially those individuals that cut their teeth on Resident Evil or are enjoying a few multiplayer matches in Left 4 Dead. Whether you enjoy the genre or not, you can't deny that these cut scene image captures are absolutely gorgeous. Make sure you check 'em out!
Are APB and Crimecraft the MMO Games of the Future?

It might be a guilty pleasure but almost everyone enjoys crime themed games such as Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row. Taking this to the next level are the MMO's APB and Crimecraft which are still in early development but have great potential. What could these two games bring to the table besides gunfire and thugs? Take a look inside to find out.
Runes of Magic - A Quick Guide to the Knight

Runes of Magic has been on Danny "Ralsu" Gourley's Top Ten Free MMOs list for a long while. With Frogster's title enjoying a successful launch, Ralsu hopes an introduction to the classes in Runes of Magic might convince more gamers to try it. He starts with the knight.
World of Warcraft: Gearing up the Rogue for Raiding

You have carved your legend across four continents, slit a thousand throats, looted a veritable fortune in gold, and completed a million (at least it feels like you have) quests on your march to glory and level 80, so what do you do now? The answer, of course, is raiding. This handy-dandy guide is here to provide some guidelines for what you’ll need to begin raiding.
World of Warcraft: Lore Chronicles - Prince Arthas Menethil

World of Warcraft is a world rich with lore, but many people who picked up the hit Massively Multiplayer Online Game never played the Real Time Strategy (RTS) games that spawned this hit game. From this series of games the world of Azeroth was shaped and the lore was born. To help catch some of our community up that may have missed out on the stories that brought about World of Warcraft, we have put together some of the lore that helped shap the game. This week Ten Ton Hammer revisits the story of Prince Arthas Menethil and how this noble paladin fell from grace to become the new Lich King.
World of Warcraft: Refer-a-Friend Guide

Are you looking for a quick and easy way to level up in World of Warcraft or just a way to convince a friend into playing? Blizzard's Refer-A-Friend system can allow you to do both and a lot of other way neat things. David "Xerin" Piner gives the full details on how to use the Refer-A-Friend system to your advantage in the latest World of Warcraft guide here at Ten Ton Hammer. Why don't you get in on the super fast leveling with a friend or by yourself today!
EVE Online: 'Making Mountains of Molehills' Mission Guide

Being a new player in EVE Online is sometimes hard, but it could be easier! New player missions are meant to not only teach you the ropes but to also net you equipment, skills and even ships that will give you a hand up in your early days. One such mission series is the manufacturing introduction "Making Mountains of Molehills". This series will teach you all about mining and manufacturing while allowing you to earn credits and gain skills. If you'd like to try your hand at EVE Online manufacturing then this is the series to do! Come check out our mission guide that will lead you through every step of the way and lend some hints on how to overcome some of those rocky parts of being a new player.
EverQuest 2 - A Guide to the Revamped Lavastorm

The Lavastorm zone in EverQuest II might be familiar in a train wreck sort of way but no longer! SOE's revamp not only tightened up the content for the zones original intended victims but added some end game quests and instances. Ten Ton Hammer stepped into the burning ring of fire and have highlighted what this zone can now offer you. Want to know how to start the access quest for the two group raid zone or what type of faction items are available? All your answers are inside.
geeked: 'Naughty Vampire'

Ten Ton Hammer's very own satirical webcomic on all things geek-related is back with a look at the future of character creation in Funcom's The Secret World. It could be worse, he could have been a male succubus.
Be sure to catch up on any issues of Geeked you've missed by visiting our Comics Portal. Don't forget to rate your favorites while you're at it!

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:

Real World News

Chimpanzees exchange meat for sex

Displaying our superior intellect, man instead opts to use his meat for sex.
Oregon makes it a crime to fling or propel semen at another person [Link courtesy of Savanja!]

Economists predict tens of dollars lost and at least six porn stars to lose their employment as the entire Oregonian adult film industry relocates to neighbouring Idaho.
Man reported missing in Vulcan found dead in dumpster

Kirk vouches for Spock’s whereabouts, Sarek missing and wanted for questioning.

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 World of Warcraft Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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