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World of Warcraft Warhammer Online Age of Conan City of Heroes City of Villains Atlantica Online EVE Online Guild Wars Stargate Worlds Star Wars: The Old Republic

If the Top 10 isn't enough, we also show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage.

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I hope everyone had a good weekend, whether your plans were dominated by the urge to level your Death Knight or Runekeeper or the standard holiday preparations and shopping. Or maybe you were busy re-installing Age of Conan again to check out the new Snow Mammoth mount, or fueled by a newly announced release date, you were reading up on Darkfall.

Whatever your MMO gaming stripe, I need to take a break from our usual run of news and commentary and draw your attention to a bad situation that you, along with the rest of the Ten Ton Hammer staff and community, can help to make a little better.

Last week we ran a news story on the "days without pay" rumor at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment. Official statements and rumors running both ways aside, our internal sources confirm that a sizable portion of the CME workforce has yet to be paid.

Many folks who love Stargate and the Stargate Worlds game concept were looking for a way to help, at least the ones who weren't overly anxious to discredit a known fact as another mean-spirited Internet rumor. We found out that a number of those affected at CME are family men and women, whose kids would certainly not see as bright a holiday season this year through no fault of their family's.

With an increasing number of folks out of work this holiday season, it might seem like just another tragedy in a long list of tragedies. But these CME parents aren't out of work; they continue to go in to the office and develop a game that many of us have high hopes for. And if these parents have that kind of devotion to the MMORPG they're making, why couldn't the MMORPG community step in and work to relieve the typical holiday financial burdens for their kids?

This weekend we sought out a number of deserving families at CME for whom we'd like to provide gift cards for kids toy and clothing retailers and local grocery stores in plenty of time for the holidays this year. We're collecting Paypal donations from five dollars and up through next Monday, December 15th, 2008, and we'll make a matching donation for the first 25 Ten Ton Hammer 1-year Premium Memberships purchased during this time. Check out our CME Kids Holiday Donations Drive page for full details and instructions on how to give.

If CME is able to meet its payroll obligations in full before these donations are distributed, we'll send the all the donations we receive to Ronald McDonald House Charities instead. Either way, your gift will be helping someone in need at what should be an especially happy time of year.

If you have further questions or comments, feel free to post in the Loading... forum or email me directly.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day



From our /OOC (Off Topic) Forum

MMOGrammar


Dey see me spellin. Dey hatin.

Our forum member, Kraill, says "I know... I'm a snob. But I really am just trying to help! I know that
we are smart folks as a collective group. So why do we continue to
discredit ourselves in our posts, and in group and raid chat because of
poor syntax and spelling!"

Oh,
Kraill; I know just what you mean. (And if I feel compelled to change
the exclamation point in your last sentence above to a question
mark, does that make me a bitch as well as a snob?) I have long since
accepted that interacting in any online situation, MMO gaming
included, means I will have to accept seeing the written language I so
dearly love mangled almost beyond recognition.

Whether you fancy
yourself a purist, or you think grammar and spelling nazis are one of
the lowest forms of Internet life, or you just want to learn my
personal grammar pet peeve so you can use it against me, there's
something in this thread for you.


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

Awesome Quote from the
Epic Thread:

"I unnersand you is makes madder thut we ain't useratin' our colactif inteligents.....weum tryun hardr fer you nex tym.."



- CHEWNIE01



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



Do you have a favorite Epic Thread? Let
us know!

15 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 58 in December! 3032 in 2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]

Premium Content

Invitation to Interview the Developers of Darkfall

Interviews

The Agency: Advancement Q&A with Matt Staroscik

Op/Eds

Warhammer Online: 1.1 and You - A Look at the Next Patch

Community

Warhammer Online: 7-Day WAR Report Warhammer Online: WAR Torn - "Last Chance" Age of Conan: Letter from the Game Director

Images/Video

Warhammer Online: Open RvR Reward Screenshots

Guides

World of Warcraft: Warlock Talent Guide Update World of Warcraft: Warrior Talent Build and Ability Update World of Warcraft: Death Knight Strategies, Presences and Mechanics World of Warcraft: Mage Guide Update World of Warcraft: Mage Talent Build Update World of Warcraft: Shaman Talent Build Update World of Warcraft: Horde Northrend Leveling Guide - Borean Tundra Level 71 Age of Conan: Alchemy Tier 3 Recipes

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:

Invitation to Interview the Developers of Darkfall The Agency: Advancement Q&A with Matt Staroscik Warhammer Online: 1.1 and You - A Look at the Next Patch Warhammer Online: 7-Day WAR Report Warhammer Online: WAR Torn - "Last Chance" 38 Studios: Senior UI Designer Irena Pereira Ten Ton Turnip #2 - Blizzard Buys Mythic! Top Ten Free-to-Play Games - Distributive Properties World of Warcraft: Goob & Begud - "Not So Bad" Age of Conan: Border Kingdom Cryer - Server Mergers on the Horizon

Real World News

Researchers take 10 years to develop equation for why people procrastinate

Mathematicians could have been quicker, but sometimes long diversion is really hard Radioactive cellphone straps seizing in Hiroshima

Vendors expected sales to mushroom, cloud previous projections Bodies of two men found in laundry

Suicide, fowl-play ruled out as the men were last seen in good Cheer and none had anything to Gain from their demise. Investigators suspect they were caught out by the Tide.

Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

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