Welcome to your Thursday Loading...

The 494th edition of Loading... is brought to you by our Vanguard: Saga of Heroes community. It's also brought to you by Tom Cruise Crazy (Scroll to Thing A Week III and click play by Tom Cruise Crazy). [Thanks Karen]

The beta bravado continues. I still have three types of beta keys left thanks to:

1) Sigil - Vanguard beta keys (very, very limited supply - e-mail me early if you want one)

2) Flying Lab - Pirates of the Burning Sea (very limited supply, only about 100 left)

3) MGame - Scions of Fate (limited supply, only about 200 left)

If you would like a Scions of Fate key just click here. Do you wear a fake parrot on your shoulder and bellow "Shiver me timbers" when you get upset? Perhaps a Pirates of the Burning Sea beta key is more your style? Or perhaps you dream of the day when a Brad McQuaid calendar will be created, so you can look at him each and every day? Vanguard is probably your thing.

Please note, I'm lazy and would like nothing better than to put these giveaways behind me. The first folks in are the most likely to get a prize. Enter often and enter early. Good luck!

Sloppy segue to me not being enthusiastic enough to stand in line at midnight for a copy of The Burning Crusade. Don't let that stop you of course. There are a number of retailers that will be opening at midnight on the 15th to sell you a copy of TBC.

The following four locations will have members of the Blizzard development team on-hand to sign autographs.

• Fry's Fountain Valley 10800 Kalama River Ave, Fountain Valley, CA 92708
• Fry's Anaheim 3370 E. La Palma Ave, Anaheim, CA 92806
• Fry's Sunnyvale 1077 E. Arques Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94085
• Universal Citywalk Gamestop/EB Games 1000 Universal Studios Blvd (Cross Street: Buddy Holly Drive), Universal City, CA 91608

The Fry's locations will each have 4,500 copies on hand. The Universal location will have 1,500.

The following Best Buy locations in the U.S. will be open at midnight:

* Los Angeles, CA (11301 W. Pico Blvd.)
* West Hollywood, CA (1015 N. La Brea Ave.)
* Richfield, MN (1000 West 78th St.)
* Nashua, NH (220 Daniel Webster Hwy.)
* Chelsea, New York, NY (60 W. 23rd St.)
* Midtown Manhattan, NY (529 5th Ave.)
* Houston, TX (5133 Richmond Ave.)
* Sterling, VA (45575 Dulles Eastern Plz.)

The following GameStop/EBGames locations in the U.S. will be open at midnight. It looks like just about every GameStop/EBGames store that isn't in Podunk, Nowhereland will be open. If you live in Podunk you are going to have to ride the goat down to Three Creeks and talk to Jeb at the EBGames. He'll set you up.

In Canada, the following Best Buy locations will be open at midnight. Luckily for Canadians we are so far north that the sun will still be up.

• Cambie, Vancouver
• Edmonton South
• Sundridge
• St. James
• Ottawa East
• Toronto, Bay and Dundas
• Oakville
• Scarborough

I can't find any information on EBGames in Canada. If you have a location to add to this list please fire it off to me.

Our very own Nicole Hamlett will be standing in line to get a copy of TBC, will you? If so, let me know. Maybe I can send you something to make it worth your while. Pictures, cell phone video, whatever you can get from the lunatics in line would be fantastic. I won't make fun of any of them, promise (fingers crossed). Seriously though, I would love to get some pictures of the lineups, the Blizzard devs, etc. If you are willing and able, send them in. I'll dig up some EBGames.com gift cards for those that send in the best stuff.

Of course, many of you won't have time as you'll be rushing home to start your Blood Elf paladin named Pally McBeal, or your hunter named Legomylegolas. So be it! No goodies for you!

**NEWS FLASH** This just in!

"Sony Online Entertainment and Sigil Games Online today announced that the upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will be released to retail outlets across North America and Europe on January 30, 2007, for the suggested retail price of US$49.99. A limited edition is also available for a suggested retail price of US$89.99."

More lineups?

Are people who wait in line crazy or are they the true gamers?
Let me know, either in the comments section of the blog or in our forums!
--
Guild Management has never been easier! Not sure what GuildPortal is, or what it can do for your Guild? Click here to read about what GuildPortal is, why it's the most imitated, and why people have been using us since October of 2001 to host their Guild web sites!

Exclusive TenTonHammer.com Content!

01.11.2007

• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - The Evolution Of Beta
  "When it comes to the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes beta, Martuk's been around longer than most of us. He's seen systems come and go, and game changes that caused reactions from praise to consternation. He shares some details about Vanguard's evolution from beta 2 to today's open beta in his editorial."
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Guide To .ini Optimization
  "Vanguard is a graphically rich game that can put even the best system to work, but it is also designed for the average gamer's system. Ralsu walks you through the configuration options with an eye toward performance for low end systems and quality for high end systems. Then he provides his own ini templates that readers can copy and paste to make fast changes."
• World of Warcraft: Warlock Basics Updated
  "Our guide Warlock basics has been updated with all kinds of new and helpful information. Things such what professions are right for you, what are the best races, how Warlock pets work, just what are Soul Shards, and so much more! Look for more updates on the Warlock class guide and others coming soon!"
• World of Warcraft: How To Play A Healadin
  "Over the last few weeks I have focused on the Paladin and the different ways to play them. So far I have looked at how to play a DPS paladin, a tanking paladin and today to finish the Holy trinity of paladin builds with, well, a Holy build."

Hot Content

• World of Warcraft: Patch 2.0.3 Download Available
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Guide To Vanguard Statistics
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Get Your Vanguard Maps Here!
• EverQuest 2: Top Ten Ways...To DIE!
• World of Warcraft: First Look At The Shattered Halls
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Dread Knight Class Guide
• Scions of Fate: Exclusive Screenshots
• The 2007 MMORPG Lineup

Real World News - You Can't Make This Up

• Get Tasered At CES **Sound** [Thanks Matt]
  If only E3 were that cool.
• I Am A Deaf-Mute. Please Rent My Apartment [Thanks Matt]
  Or I'll scream my hands off.
• Verisign Offers Hackers $8,000 [Thanks Matt]
  Because they'd never make more than that with their hack.
• Motorola Builds Bike Phone Charger For Third World [Matt]
  In other news, Somalia has cell towers?

Vin Diesel Fact: Vin Diesel does not have opinions. Vin Diesel has facts. [Thanks Karen]

As always, thank you for visiting TenTonHammer.com.
- John "Boomjack" Hoskin

You can read previously enjoyed editions of Loading... in the blog archive.