TenTonHammer.com - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

It's a flashback to May 2005 in today's Loading..., when Ten Ton Hammer's daily column was just getting its start.

I made a small change to the layout of the column today that makes the layout more consistent. I also added our writers' names to the articles in the listing. I know that some of you have favourites and digging through a description hoping to see who wrote the piece wasn't cutting it.

A big round of clap for Mr. Cody "Sell, Sell, Buy" Bye for covering Loading... while I was riding roller coasters and wandering through various tourist traps. Here's a family vacation story that you're not likely to top; as we were driving slowly through Toronto rush-hour traffic, the sun beating down on the road and its inhabitants, my daughter cough, sputtered and....spewed all over my wife's brand new car.

Dilemma, put the windows down and die from heat and car exhaust or leave them up and die from the smell of puke?

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E3 is over. It went out with whimper, barely heard and certainly forgotten.

There were some highlights of course, and today our team brings you a previews of Age of Conan and Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, a look at the next big thing for Lord of the Rings and of course some interviews with the Vanguard and Everquest 2 teams. Fortunately for you, I'm not responsible for any of those pieces.

The Fast and the FURYous.

GameCock and their flamboyant ways excluded, E3 is a flaccid version of its former self. Props go to the Age of Conan crew for the dancers clad in chainmail thongs at their party, but the extravagance of yesteryear is gone. Santa Monica seems the perfect place for this nonchalant shadow of what was once the greatest gaming circus on Earth. The quiet city where streets roll up at 11pm and the good folk go to bed is a cozy home to this new, uninspiring event.

The 620th edition of Loading... comes to you on 7/11. They used to call me 7/11 when I played hockey. Why? I was always open! Ba dum bum.

The first time you go to E3 you feel like you are entering the world of the game industry "Rock Stars". My wife reminded me that I went to my first E3 in 1997. The hot shot press were sweating like Tom Cruise at a gay pride parade, Atlanta was only slightly warmer than the Sun and Duke Nukem Forever was the talk of the town.

The response to our "Win a Trip To SOE Fan Faire" has been underwhelming. If you plan to go and want a shot at having the trip paid for by the good ship TenTonHammer.com then get you name in the contest. Your chances of winning are currently very, very good.

Get signed up...go on now...

Tomorrow is July 7, 2007 or 7/7/7. Lucky or simply a house 200 feet down and across the road from 666?

There is so much good news out there that I don't know where to begin. For instance, Jack Thompson, the lunatic lawyer who attacks anything to do with video games has been ordered by the Florida Bar Association to undergo psychological testing.

Part-time rodeo clown, part-time superhero, Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle was invited to visit the new digs of Cryptic Studios. While he was there he used his superpowers to lasso Jack Emmert and John Layman. Here is but a small snippet of the interview, conducted from one of those huge rodeo barrels painted like a target. As always, we asked a toilet related question.

Thank you to the Americans who have taken time out of their 4th of July celebrations to read the column today. Cody Bye, our resident expert on celebrations even took time out to write a blog.

As an MMO game player I am used to settling into my comfortable chair, plunking a frosty cold beverage down on the desk, logging into my game of choice, currently World of Warcraft, and checking the auction house, my mail, checking if my friends are online, etc. It's a habit that I enjoy, probably much like Paris Hilton enjoys attention. I can't get enough of it. I login to see if I won the auctions that I bid on. I login to see if my auctions have sold. I login early and often, many time for only a few seconds just to check out some inconsequential piece of information.

Europeans are no strangers to terrorist acts. Cowards have been creating anarchy in the name of personal gain for centuries across the old world. Americans received a deadly dose of the same plague when their embassies, ships and symbols of their economic success were attacked, the most notable being the cowardly attack on 9/11.

I never thought that living in a tiny town in Eastern Ontario Canada that I would get a first-hand look at terrorism. I was wrong.

Hooboy, our Gods and Heroes community manager, Todd Davis has come up with the article title to top all article titles. I like to think that my Loading... titles are on occasion quite witty, but they are a mere shadow of wit next to Todd's simple yet elegant, "Gods and Heroes: The Right to Arm Bears". Gold.

WoWHead the database of choice for many World of Warcraft players has been purchased by the folks who own Allakhazam, Thottbot, OGaming....you get the picture.

Though they claim that they are no longer in the Gold Farming business I personally find it very hard to believe. There is no public information proving that Affinity Media sold IGE. There is no public information proving that if they did sell it that they sold it outside of their own umbrella of companies.

Once in a while I get to announce something really cool. Today I suppose could be considered "twice" in a while.

Most of you know that we do not accept advertising or sponsorship money from Gold Farming or Botting companies. Does it hurt our ability to keep the company going? Sure it does. Gold Farmers pay well. There is a reason that our industry is infested with them.

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that as a person who frequents this column you are likely expecting some bizarre combination of facts and humour. You want to be informed and entertained, educated and engaged. That's a tough gig no matter how you look at it.