Those of you reading this have no doubt noticed the radical overhaul we've done to Ten Ton Hammer. What began as a series of bizarre prototypes I created throughout the past year in my free time has finally become a reality thanks to the mad programming skills of our technical team, ten tons of support from my managing editor, David Piner, and the rest of the zany folks that make up Team Hammer.

Before we even wrote a single line of code, we talked a lot about what we did and didn't like about the current crop of gaming websites, and where we felt there was room for improvement. We also spent a lot of time analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of our old site, and determining what a full rebuild would ultimately entail.

A huge thing for me is reducing the friction involved in finding content that matters to your individual interests as a gamer. If there is one lesson that the overall MMOG industry – press and fan sites included – should have learned by now from World of Warcraft, it’s that accessibility is king.

Reducing that friction was only one piece of the puzzle, and we’re already hard at work on our first major update patch that will make it even easier to follow and discuss your favorite MMOGs. I also mentioned these patches in our welcome message for the new site, and next week will spend some time shedding some light on what that really means.

For now, just think about how we as MMO gamers have come to expect regular updates to our favorite games. Why should a website dedicated to covering that same industry function any differently?

We’ve also worked hard at making sure the new Ten Ton Hammer is (finally!) able to extend a friendly handshake to your favorite mobile devices and tablets. Not only does this remove another potential barrier for entry, but it also means that our constantly growing library of game guides can finally be optimized for second screen usage.

One thing worth noting here is that we’re currently in the process of rebuilding our full list of over 600 MMOGs from scratch, and systematically transitioning the thousands of guides, interviews, and other content types from the old website. At one point we looked at doing a mass dump from the old to the new site, but my editorial team agreed that we’d prefer taking the time to do it right, and making sure that each piece of content looks good on the new platform.

If there’s an older guide or article you’re not seeing on the new site, rest assured that it will make its way over soon. In the meantime, all of our old pages can still be searched for and accessed through your friendly neighborhood Google.

We still have a few items on our checklist to review before flipping the magical switch to bring the new site online, so I’ve got to scamper back into my secret underground laboratory for now.

I’m eager to hear your thoughts on the new Ten Ton Hammer, so be sure to leave a comment here, or you can also drop me a note using the handy social links below.