by Jeff Woleslagle on May 24, 2010
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On the way to Scotland,
the birthplace of Grand
Theft Auto, to put APB through its paces, Ethec encountered an
in-flight
multiplayer game for the first time. The games were simple, but the
potential
seems huge what if we could have location-based multiplayer gaming
while we
wait, not just on our mobile phones, but on planes, trains, taxis,
buses, passenger
seats
anywhere we have time to spare with space for a touchscreen
console.
Fad, noble experiment, or another new way to play? Thats our question
in
todays Loading
Multiplayer at 35,000 feet.
You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse (
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is The Pulse?).
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comes to you live from Scotland, where English has
become the predominant language, but you really wouldnt know it from
being here. I thought two gents in the hotel lobby were reciting Keats
poems to each other flowing, mellifluous, with hard ks and
rolling rs, until I picked out an f-bomb or two. Apparently even
Scottish people cant understand the Dundee accent, and the tour guide
on a bus tour I took while waiting for a hotel room to open up was
wholly unintelligible. But its a small price to pay, because the UK is
the one place in Europe an American mothers son can come and not feel
like a flabby walrus. Not to mention that its an incredibly crisp,
clear, and gorgeous country especially now with the gorse and oilseed
in bloom and setting the hillsides aflame with bright yellow.
Here I am in Dundee and set to learn all about a game, being developed
right here among the moors and firths, involving cops and
criminals. A soccer match, you say? Not quite All Points
Bulletin. APB is a game whose customization (from music to
vehicles to tattoos and decals to clothing) continues to blow me away,
but whose pointless urban warfare story and overall gameplay has left
me underwhelmed in the past. Well see if Realtime Worlds and EA can
change my mind this week, and well have the good stuff posted as soon
as humanly and legally possible.
One of my more punishing traits, especially considering my line of
work, is my inability to sleep on flights. Theres something about the
roar of gallons of kerosene aerated, compressed, and burned every
minute within 30 feet of my head that makes sleep tough, even with my
Big Bang Theory approved noise-cancelling headphones.
In any case, I had a handy touchscreen LCD and nothing but time on my
hands, and I came across in-flight multiplayer games for the first
time. Im too accustomed to cut-rate domestic flights where youre
lucky if you get a 13 CRT every five rows on which you can watch some
not-funny romantic comedy or bland drama that, miraculously, you can
fully figure out without plugging in your $3 earbuds. But
here was an online entertainment portal complete with equally sleepless
JOHN in 2A waiting for his beating at chess and poker. I did
coach class proud, winning three games to his one, before JOHN had had
enough.
In-flight multiplayer was a fun way to pass the time, and while there
was nothing massively multiplayer about giving 2A his due, online games
always start simple and accessible and evolve as tech and (especially)
money allows. The touchscreen had a convenient credit card reader
underneath, and while chess and poker wouldnt be worth a swipe,
logging in to swap offline skills, clean up my inventory, do some
crafting or auctioning, chat with friends, or some other mundane,
non-graphics intensive MMORPG tasks might be worth a little cash to
me. Apps like Fallen Earths brilliant first entry tell me
this kind of tech is certainly possible, if perhaps not incredibly
profitable at this point in time.
But what say you? Will online games become this centurys CB radio, a
medium for pulling together people who happen to be in close proximity
for a short period of time? If so, could MMOGs get in on location-based
gaming, or would devs have to error on the side of accessibility for
the foreseeable future? Have your say in the
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=51459">Loading
forum!
From our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=721">Guild
Wars 2 Community Forums
There's not specific thread for today's Epic Thread of the Day, just an
entire forum. And the reason the entire forum is epic is that any post
you make to this forum is counted as an entry in Ten Ton Hammer's
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=51449">Guild
Wars 2 art book giveaway. The more posts you make, the more
you increase your odds of winning. So, really,
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are you waiting for?
==============================
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==============================
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us!
6 new Ten Ton Hammer
articles today! 82 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in May! 553
in 2010!
HOT! Ten Ton
Hammer's Guild Wars 2 Community Site Launches!
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/84691
Ten Ton Hammer is proud to announce the launch of our latest and
greatest community site for ArenaNets upcoming
title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2" target="_blank">Guild
Wars 2. Just as the
title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/47"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/47"
target="_blank">Guild Wars franchise has
continually pushed the industry in interesting new directions, we feel
that our Guild Wars 2 community site is our best
yet and promises to bring fans of the franchise plenty of awesome
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So what are you waiting for? Head on over to
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Ton Hammers Guild
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GIVEAWAYS
HOT! Win a Guild
Wars 2 Art Book
http://www.tentonhammer.com/contests/guildwars2_post-a-thon
Our Guild Wars 2
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and make as many quality posts as you want as often as you can. The
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REVIEWS
Review: Dragon Age: Origins-The Darkspawn Chronicles (PC)
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/reviews/dragonage/Darkspawn-Chronicles">http://www.tentonhammer.com/reviews/dragonage/Darkspawn-Chronicles
BioWare
keeps releasing more and more downloadable content for their highly
acclaimed RPG Dragon Age. This time you get to play as the evil
darkspawn. Mattlow takes the new DLC, The Darkspawn Chronicles,
through its paces and reports back to let you know whether it's worth
the money.
FEATURES & GUIDES
Casually Casual IV: The Guild Paradox
http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/CC/four
Guilds
are a huge part of World of Warcraft. Most players are part of a guild,
or wish to be a part of one. Since the grand majority of guilds are
already established, the difficulties faced by those players brave
enough to create their own guilds are largely overlooked. Join Mem this
week as he describes his personal experiences in the guild creating
business and his grim conclusion that most new guilds without a solid
starter player base are doomed to failure.
EVE Online - Making Hulks, Part 1: Inventing Hulk BPCs
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/business/making_hulks_1">http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/business/making_hulks_1
Inventing
tech two ships is one of the most challenging areas of industry in EVE
Online. In this guide, Ten Ton Hammer contributing writer, Space
Junkie, explains the byzantine process by which hulk blueprints are
invented, and the math required to make that profitable.
StarCraft II - Terran Air Units In-Depth Stats and
Strategy
http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/terran_air
If
the infantry fall, and the vehicles aren't getting the job done, it
falls unto the Terran Starfleet to settle things. Focusing on
specialized air-to-air or air-to-ground weapons systems, the Terran air
force is devastating when fighting its designed targets. We give you
the full rundown on the statistics and strategies you need to know to
make the most of these vessels!
Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features
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for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle
and
the Ten Ton Hammer team