Welcome
to the 1,236th edition
of Loading...

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

Of all the things that make your holiday season bright, re-gifting and de-gifting are probably not a few of your favorite things. We'll look at how this holiday phenomenon applies to games released in 2009, examine how a few re-gifted MMOs made us jolly, and offer links to a new Star Trek Online Klingon Q&A and nine other articles you won't want to miss - in today's Loading... White Elephants.

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The Pulse

You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).

Here
are today's top 5 Pulse results:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
   of Warcraft
2. href="http://tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/117">Dungeons
   and Dragons Online
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro">Lord
   of the
   Rings Online href="http://tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/117">
   
   
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve">EVE
   Online
5. EverQuest 2 (UP 1)
   

Biggest
movers today:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/43">City
   of Heroes (UP 10 to #19)
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/vanguard">Guild Wars
   (UP 9 to #18)
3. Aion (down 1
   to #6)

• size="-1">9/22
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/254">Aion
  (release date) size="-1">
• size="-1">10/8
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2129">Cities
  XL (release date)
• size="-1">11/3
  - Dragon
  Age:
  Origins (release date)
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">11/10
  - Final
  Fantasy
  XI Ultimate
  Collection (release date)
• size="-1">12/1
  - href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/464-answer-the-call-of-war">LotRO:
  Siege of Mirkwood (expansion)
• size="-1">12/1
  - href="http://www.eveonline.com/Dominion/">EVE
  Online: Dominion (expansion)
• size="-1">12/2
  - DOFUS
  2.0
  (update)
• size="-1">12/15
  - href="http://everquest.station.sony.com/everquest.vm">EverQuest:
  Underfoot (expansion)
  
  

• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">1/26 - Mass Effect 2 (release date)
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">2/1
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
  Agenda
  (release date)
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">2/2
  - Star
  Trek Online
  (release date)
• size="-1">2/16
  - href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
  2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)
• size="-1">March
  2010
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB

Loading... Daily

Ever since that fateful Seinfeld episode, we've had a word for that most deliberate of holiday hijinx: regifting. Most of us have been on the giving or receiving end of regifts, however innocently it happens.There's the emergency re-gift: as in a friend unexpectedly drops by and offers a Christmas gift, and in a panic we offer up the nice bottle of wine another friend gave us. Or maybe it's a glorious regift of the hand-me-down variety, as in a rich brother-in-law stepped up to an Amazon Kindle and gave you the Sony Reader he got as a gift last year. But then there's the hostile re-gift, whereby you're proffered the obviously unwanted screenprinted tee or vintage fruitcake.

Whether or not a re-gifting attempt is successful, there's one cardinal rule of gifting in general: a gift is only a gift if the recipient wants the gift. We've even evolved a term for a gift that turns out to be a curse - a white elephant. Regarded as both sacred and a status symbol in places like Burma and Thailand, white elephants are protected from labor by law and expensive to maintain, so a gift of a white elephant grew to be considered a mixed blessing.

In the gaming world we've seen plenty of white elephants. Aside from a few noteworthy exceptions like Aion and Final Fantasy XI, an inestimable horde of Asian MMOs were first offered to Far East audiences, then often hastily rewrapped and presented to the the West. My inbox fills up daily with these would-be white elephants, and we usually choose not to re-gift the news, articles, and "advertising partnerships" they're offering to our readership. We'll make exceptions when we see something compelling in these re-gifted games, such as the multiplayer ship's crew gameplay that Allods Online promises, and the promising comedic narrative of Kung Foo. But more often than not, MMOG imports do little more than bottom-out our already low expectations, and we won't waste your time or ours with anything purely derivative.

On the other hand, we've seen at least one successful re-gifting attempt too in 2009, with the now free to play Dungeons and Dragons Online. I've also grown to regard especially good games as pure gifts, even though they're usually purchased rather than given. There's a select number of games of both the MMO and open-ended persuasion - EverQuest 2, Borderlands, Torchlight, Sins of Solar Empire, and the Civ and Anno series immeditately come to mind - whose value, for me, far exceeds their price and subscription fees. By the way, Steam and other e-tailers have some ridiculous bargains this week if you haven't had an opportunity to check them out.

You've read our Best of 2009, so what were your worst picks - your white elephant games - in 2009? Share your thoughts in the Loading... forum, and since our fine cast of Ten Ton Hammer writers will be writing Loading... for the rest of the week, let me wish you a safe and happy new year!

AION at 2012.. what will happen?

HeavyTank
asks what will happen to Aion in 2012. Now, before you tell him to take
one year at a time and consider how Aion will evolve in 2010 before he
leaps another two years into the future, know that he was referring to
the end of the Mayan calendar n' stuff. Despite the rather hidden world
annihilation agenda, we're talking about what the future of Aion will
bring in this thread. Will NCSoft ever eliminate the bots? Will the
goodies in the "Visions" video come to pass? Come speculate with the best of 'em (and we're the best of 'em.)

==============================

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread


"A good goal for 2010? I wanna see the "vision" become a reality within 4 months."

- Savanja
==============================



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

8 new Ten Ton Hammer
features today! 119 in December! 2,301 in
2009!

Exclusive Features and Guides
Today at
Ten Ton Hammer

• HOT!  Going Klingon - A Star Trek Online Q&A with Zeke
  Sparkes
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78574
  Klingons have been the hot topic of Star Trek Online for the past couple of weeks met with much reply from
  the fans. The recent announcement that Klingons will be PvP centric has the
  community posting furiously. Some love the idea, some hate it. Ten Ton Hammer
  wanted to get to the grit of the topic, so we spoke with Zeke Sparkes of Cryptic
  Studios. If there's one man that knows about Klingons in the game, it's
  Zeke.
• Champions Online : Winter Event Hands On
  Impressions
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/co/editorial/wintereventreview
  We reviewed Champions Online's yuletide-themed event to see if it was
  naughty, nice, or a little bit of both.
• Aion: A New Adventure in a New Year
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/editorials/thefuture2010
  While fans line up for the launches of the new titles of 2010, the folks
  at NCsoft will be working hard to keep us interested and playing. What will it
  take for Aion to compete?
• Behind the Curtains - The Story Behind Popular WoW Memes
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78585
  From
  "Leeeeeerrrooooy Jeeeeeennnnkiiiinnns!" to "Minus 50 DKP!" we take a
  look at some of World of Warcraft's most popular memes and expose their
  origins. A fun read for all!
• Aion Weekly Newsletter - Tis the Season
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78563
  Between holiday dinners and long awkward chats with the grandparents, it's easy
  to forget all the wonderful things that are happening with Aion this season. You
  may be too busy to get in game, but you can still keep up with the latest news
  in our weekly Aion newsletter!

Guides

• WoW: Ashen Verdict Reputation Guide
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78576
  This guide will help you on your journey to gain reputation with the
  Ashen Verdict.
• Aion Tailoring 100-199 Guide
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/tailoring_pt2
  There's
  just something magical about wearing the skin of your enemies as a hat.
• Flying The Drake Battlecruiser In EVE Online
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78523
  Whether
  it's blowing up enemies or accumulating cash, the Drake is one of the
  most powerful battlecruiser-class ship in EVE Online. Space Junkie
  shows us how to fly them in style.
  
  

Today's
Hottest Content

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/awards/2009/best_of">The
   Ten
   Ton Hammer Best
   of 2009
   Awards
2. Going Klingon - A Star Trek Online Q&A with Zeke
   Sparkes
3. Behind the Curtains - The Story Behind Popular WoW Memes
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78492"> style="font-weight: bold;">Mythos
   Q&A
   With Redbana Global Manager - Eric Liu
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78369">Star
   Trek Online:
   Klingons and
   PvP Q&A with Cryptic Studios
6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78431">The
   Cause of Mass
   Effect
   - An Interview with the
   BioWare Founders
7. Champions Online : Winter Event Hands On
   Impressions
8. Flying The Drake Battlecruiser in EVE Online
9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78397">A
   look back at Aion
   in 2009
10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78479"> style="font-weight: bold;">Dungeons & Dragons
    Online: New Character Build
    - The Summoner

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer
network!

- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle
and the Ten Ton Hammer team