Almost a whole week of doing nothing but eating and playing your favorite MMOs – it’s no wonder Thanksgiving is one of gamers’ most favorite holidays.

But it gets doubly fun with the incredible deals, events and perks that crop up during this long, free play weekend. Here’s our yearly round-up that makes it slightly easier for you to decide where to spend your Thanksgiving in-game.

AION

Deals:

• Cuts the price on a game box to just $4.99. From November 23 to 28 at the Aion Store.

Events & Perks:

• Shugo Event showcase features Double XP on Weekends, Daru Days fur costumes and free gifts for logging in.

Buy Aion Kinah

EVERQUEST II

Deals:

• Loads of discounted Marketplace items “most of them at half-price or more.” Only on November 25 at the EQII Marketplace.

Events & Perks:

• Double XP Weekend for AA, tradeskill and adventure XP from November 24 to 27.

Buy EQII Plat

RIFT

Deals:

• Free game boxes for everyone, but no complimentary game time. The Ashes of History edition which comes with a Spindrel mount, personal banker and faction tabard is also down to $10. Available until further notice at RIFT trial upgrade page.

Events & Perks:

• Fae Yule world event as part of Patch 1.6
• 30% weekend bonuses, including XP, Favor, Prestige, dungeon currency and planarite.

Buy RIFT Platinum

RUNESCAPE

Deals:

• Purchase a 90-day RuneScape Membership card from Target ($22.50 in US) and GAME (£12.99 in UK) to receive a non-tradable turkey hat. Redemption must be from between November 18 to December 8.

Buy Runescape Gold

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

Deals:

• World of Warcraft per se has no sale, but its sister franchise StarCraft II is slashing its box price by half to $30. Until November 28 at Blizzard Store.

Events & Perks:

• Pilgrim’s Bounty is in full swing, bringing free food, buffs and holiday quests to players. Runs from November 20 to 26.

Buy WoW Gold

STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC

Events & Perks:

• Mega beta test weekend is coming up from November 25 to 28 and will be the playtest equivalent of turkey stuffing, packed tight and irresistibly good!

Buy SWTOR Credits Soon

You will notice that a few of our favorite titles skipped the Thanksgiving bash, with many like FINAL FANTASY XI, FINAL FANTASY XIV and DC UNIVERSE ONLINE focusing on new patches and content instead.

In the end, it shouldn’t matter which MMO you end up spending the next week or two in. What should matter more is if you have fun and be with virtual friends you can be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving, tooners!

Norrathians have known for a while now that the dreary Freeport City will undergo a makeover, but now we have more details on the why’s and how’s that led to the revamp.

EverQuest II art director Timothy Heydaar said the return to power of Overlord Lucan D’Lere in the next Game Update 62 required developers to turn the city into a more glorious stronghold fit for the strong-armed ruler.

Judging from the two preview pics, the city will look less like a slum than a formidable fortress. The rich gold colors and crisper texture should also attract more evil players to start their EQII Plat adventurers in Freeport.

“We wanted to make it look less pale and desaturated… The shapes of most player housing and merchant buildings were updated and re-textured to be less shanty,” said Mr. Heydaar.

To learn more about the sweeping Freeport changes that include zoning removal and “quality of life improvements,” read Mr. Heydaar’s full interview.

Norrathians, welcome to the Convenience Age!

The long-overdue EverQuest II Dungeon Finder – a matchmaking system that creates automatic dungeon teams for level 20 players and up – goes live today.

The Dungeon Finder feature is becoming an MMO fixture, and Sony Online Entertainment pretty much had no choice but to implement this insta-group crutch or risk losing subscribers to World of Warcraft and RIFT that have similarly expedient systems in place.

The Dungeon Finder can be accessed via these keyboard commands:

• - /dungeonfinder
• - /dungeon
• - /df

Dungeon Finder users can choose to sign up for a random dungeon or a specific one. Gear collectors will surely zone in on the instances that promise upgrade drops, while power levelers will be more predisposed to roll a random dungeon due to the hulking 25% XP bonus.

Other notable specifications for the Dungeon Finder you may want to keep in mind are:

• PUG server-wide only, so no Antonia Bayle-Crushbone mash-ups
• Only Need Before Greed as the loot option to thwart EQII plat ninjas
• Lockouts only apply to current expansion dungeons

The official Dungeon Finder primer has all the nitty gritty, so read ‘em and start queueing!

Hackers beware. There’s a new sheriff in Sony town.

After it suffered from a springtime security breach that saw its online network melt down and MMOs go offline for two weeks, Sony has conscripted a former Homeland Security deputy to toughen up its cyber borders.

Philip Reitinger, who led the protection of the nation’s cyber infrastructures according to this tough cookie bio, now has a more playful set of terrorists to keep out altogether.

Sony has blamed hackers for the Sony Offline Entertainment fiasco, so we expect the company to seriously beef up its systems against future incursions. Computer Weekly reports that Mr. Reitinger “will be responsible for assuring the security of Sony’s information assets and services.”

What does this mean for your favorite DC Universe Online, EverQuest II and other Sony family MMOs? Too much defense is never a bad thing (just ask tanks), but seriously, subscribers should sleep easier at night knowing their DCUO Cash and EQII Plat will be safer from would-be account intruders.

Granted, hackers don’t actually steal virtual assets per se. They allegedly just sell off the account logins to the highest Chinese phishers, and wash their hands of the imminent toon plundering. So Mr. Reitinger, welcome and good luck!

Update: In response to commenter JL who said DCUO game and the official SOE and DCUO websites are down, Massively is reporting that the California blackout has affected the company’s operations, but that services are coming back up slowly now.

Last month, SOE announced the launch of an authenticator token for its family of MMOs with such enthusiasm that you’d think they were the first instead of one of the final few to implement what’s become a standard security feature.

Now that it’s finally here – we can’t help but join the back-patting.

For one thing, the SOE Authenticator, which is now on sale for US $9.99, offers additional protection for Station Accounts and not just singular games like EverQuest II. So aside from making it harder for would-be account hackers to steal EQII Plat and gear, it also prevents against unauthorized Station Cash transactions.

“The SOE Authenticator is a supplemental authentication method for your Station Account giving you the security of Two-Factor Authentication,” said SOE, which basically means requiring the right Station Password and a six-digit authenticator code for every log-in.

It’s a simple but effective way to safeguard against the rampant theft of Station Passwords online so that “no one can get into your account without both knowing your password and having your physical SOE Authenticator in their hand,” explains SOE.

In comparison, the authenticator works exactly like similar authenticators used in World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI, and other MMO titles.

SOE may be accused of sometimes nickel-and-diming at the Station Cash store, but it was quite chivalrous when it came to shouldering shipping and handling fees for US players ordering their authenticators. But international rates apply for non-US deliveries, with a 2-3 week wait time for all orders.

Don’t want to shell out ten bucks for peace of mind? SOE said a Mobile Authenticator alternative “is in the works” and will be free for both the iPhone and Android platforms. Color me impressed.

A few MMOs brought out the big bangs for Independence Day, from dye-filled blowouts in Aion to the annual pyrotechnics show in World of Warcraft.

But while others went all out, some took a breather in this all-American holiday. Read on to see which games you should be checking out for their patriotic shindigs. 

Aion

As one of the few MMOs that take appearance costumes seriously, Aion encouraged all Ascended to dress up in the national flag colors with everyone getting free red, white and blue dyes. (Yes, keep those Aion Kinah) These came with new surveys which won’t take much time to fill up and can be used to turn armor into parade-appropriate outfits.

NCSoft also gets plus points for the lore effort. “Independence Daeva marks the traditional anniversary of when the original Humans declared themselves free from oppressive Balaur rule,” said their holiday event announcement. “If you believe that you have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of Abyss Points, please join us by dressing in bright colors and setting off firecrackers in the memory of this historic occasion.”

DC Universe Online

If you expected the developers to cross some Marvel lines and offer a stripes-and-banners costume like Captain America’s, well tough luck. DC Universe Online seems to have snubbed the holiday, but they have a pretty good reason for doing so – they’re mighty busy preparing for the SOE Fan Faire which starts in a few days.

From July 7 to 9, the SOE Fan Faire will see the convergence of fans across a dozen or so MMOs. It might not be as flashy as BlizzCon, but it’s the kind of quirky convention that satisfies every type of geek and gaming inclination. While it’s too late to register – walk-ins are welcomed. Details here!

EverQuest II

Over at Norrath, EverQuest II players will have to amuse themselves with the new gliding and leaping mounts as most of the support staff were given the day off.

“Technical, Account, and Billing Support will be limited to email from 6:00 a.m. PDT through 7:00 p.m. PDT. Additionally, Live Chat support will be available from 12:00 p.m. PDT through 4:00 p.m. PDT,” said the announcement. Normal operations resume tomorrow, July 5.

Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV

It was business as usual for the two MMOs of Japanese developer Square Enix. To be fair, most FFXI and FFXIV players never really expected an Uncle Sam holiday to become adapted for the games, especially when Americans comprise a small portion of the subscriber base.

And we know they aren’t above hosting holiday events, as we’ve seen in their Valentine’s- and Spring-themed celebrations. Cookouts and star-spangled parades just aren’t international enough, I suppose.

RIFT

This one took us by surprise. Trion Worlds usually takes any opportunity to give out items or hold events in RIFT, but for Independence Day the company seems to have considered that they just have too much going on right now.

On top of their new Patch 1.3 world events, they have the new summer subscription promos and weekly community events. When you add a national holiday event to that, well even we think it would be over the top. We wouldn’t know what to do anymore! Next year though, some token item or costume or even a shower of RIFT Platinum would be a nice enough nod to the holiday, given that a good portion of Telarans are Americans.

World of Warcraft

Last, but arguably the grandest, World of Warcraft’s takes the cake for raucous revelry. The Midsummer Festival ends today, and the culmination is a bacchanalian feast of /dancing and /kissing and /toasting all the way to Booty Bay.

The fireworks display commences at 6:00pm PDT, and will repeat each hour until the event closes for good. All faction capitals are participating, so take a short break from all that Firelands raiding and spare a WoW Gold to get smashed with your faction at the local pub.

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

MMOs this week made a big splash, whether through literal water-themed content in RIFT or a more figurative tsunami of hype as what Star Wars: the Old Republic did on the E3 show floor.

Crazy Wet

Trion Worlds prepares to drown RIFT players in a flood of intrigue and new content with Patch 1.3: Waves of Madness, which is scheduled for release on June 22.

The official trailer reveals the plot by the Abyssal Cult to free their imprisoned god Akylios and the monstrous crustaceans that will make your job of defending Hammerknell that much harder.

With the patch notes coming any day now, be sure to stock up on RIFT Platinum and consult friends which server will become your new home.

Tatooine Test Play

Star Wars: the Old Republic made a big impression in E3, dominating the MMO news with its barrage of trailers and in-game demos.

Lead writer Daniel Erickson even led a live feed play session where he explored the various worlds, showing off the menu systems and mount rides, while answering fan questions that trickled by the hundreds via Twitter.

Then yesterday in a new video, production director Dallas Dickinson led a walkthrough on the desert world of Tatooine. The level 25-26 mission involves a hunt for a hidden Czerka research facility that would help the Sith Empire crush the Galactic Republic, but events turn for the worse when it activates an ancient evil.

The maps, models and environments are looking pretty slick, with toons even being able to pick up items and SWTOR Credits already, which should tell you that this MMO is nearing completion already.

Jumping for Joy

EverQuest II fans bowled over in excitement with the announcement that two new mount types – leapers and gliders – that will be available “later this month.”

The leapers, which will be able to jump high and be steered while leaping, will be rideable at level 30. Gliders work similarly to leapers but with the added skill of busting out wings and gliding, and will be rideable at level 60.

There’s no news yet on whether the first few models like the Mountain Saliraptor (leaping) and Wind Komodo (leaping and gliding), both shown above, will be purchased with EQII Plat or with real cash through the Marketplace, but details should come out in a week or two.

Demonic Revenge

Sony Online Entertainment released a new preview trailer for the group combat alert in DC Universe Online Game Update 3: Ra’s al Ghul’s Revenge. In a literal cutthroat challenge, the demonic leader Ra’s al Ghul leads an army of assassins in his quest to decimate the human population.

Four heroes or villains can team up to battle their way through ninja henchmen and the powerful Claws of the Demon, before facing off against Ra’s al Ghul in what creative director Jens Andersen calls “an epic boss fight.”

Aside from the DCUO Cash rewards, players can also earn a special cape and iconic gear sets based on the League of Assassins.

Which MMO gave a slick impression with you this week? Let us know and why in the comments, Facebook and Twitter.

Millions of dollars changed hands this week as Blizzard fans emptied their wallets for another cash shop mount, while Perfect World paid roughly $50M to become the new majority owner of Cryptic Studios.

Winged Guardian Flies Off the Digital Shelves

When the Winged Guardian flying mount went on sale at the Blizzard Store a few days ago, a vocal few proclaimed the $25 ride to be a recycled hippogryph with a slightly better graphics skin.

But this diss didn’t stop World of Warcraft players from lining up in the thousands, making Blizzard some nice chump change. It was roughly a year ago when the company also began selling the Celestial Steed, which managed to bring in an estimated $2.5 million on its first sale day alone.

There’s been no word yet on how many lion-eagle rides have sold, but a casual stroll in the forums shows that the new cash shop exclusive is quite the roaring charmer. And of course, there’s the usual groaning on why WoW Gold-bought mounts can’t look half as awesome as the Winged Guardian.

Perfect World Now Made More Cryptic

Atari wasted no time unloading Cryptic Studios off its balance sheet, inking a roughly $50-million deal with Perfect World for all equity interest in the MMO developer.

It’s an East-meets-West takeover. China-based publisher Perfect World has said that it purchased the US-based Cryptic Studios to extend its presence in the US, Europe and other western markets.

But the biggest question now is whether the acquisition will push all Cryptic Studios games like Champions Online, Star Trek Online and City of Heroes to become free-to-play. Perfect World has a full stable of free-to-play MMOs with prominent cash shops, so there’s an expectation that the subscription model will be chucked out the window.

OK This Time, Let’s Make It More Than An Hour…

Trion Worlds takes the first crucial steps to testing RIFT Patch 1.3, with the world event now on the Public Test Shard for what seems to be a one-day run-through. You can still catch the testing event – and don’t worry about RIFT Platinum or hitting max level. All your needs will be provided by gearing and leveling merchants on site.

The Children of War, Emphasis on Children

EverQuest II brushed off the delay woes caused by the SOE server outage and launched The Children of War patch as (revised) planned. This marks the 60^th game update for the fantasy MMO, and focuses on sprawling PvP changes plus a few new instances and raids about supernatural kids with a serious case of the Bad Daddy complex.

E3 Showdown

And lastly, the big E3 conference commences next week, but there’s already been confirmation of who among the big guns are attending.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is sure to make a splash in the EA conference, while TERA and Guild Wars 2 are expected to blow people away with their preview reveals. RIFT is also opening a booth, although its big message might only be to try out the Ascend-a-Friend and Free Trial programs.

We’ll fill you in on what goes down there in LA as it happens. Till then, knock yourself out in the comments section. Did you buy the Winged Guardian? Why not? And did Cryptic Studios luck out with their new Perfect World owners?

All out war erupts today in Norrath as the Children of War update hits the EverQuest II servers, unleashing revised battleground mechanics, and new instances that span from the Crystal Caverns to the Fortress of Drunder.

Pushed back for two weeks due to the PSN outage, the Children of War patch seems to carry all the content promised by developers, including a balanced mix of challenges for PvP and PvE fans.

The two-minute launch trailer summarizes these fresh features quite nicely, although using the word “new” in every phrase borders on overhyping. We get it, everything’s new – as it should be with a new patch.

PvE-centric content

• Four new instanced dungeons
• Four new raids with new bosses
• Two new heritage quests

PvP-centric content

• PvP lobby system introduced
• New battlegrounds Velious map
• New game type: Vanquish

The Children of War patch also continues the storyline of the Destiny of Velious expansion, with players getting ever closer to the final confrontation against the war god Rallos Zek. The key to his defeat lies in releasing his imprisoned children, who might offer up his weaknesses in exchange for their freedom.

Based on the summary patch notes, there’s also going to be a lot of additional tradeskill quests and recipes, which will be a cinch to finish when you stock up on EQII Platinum.

Still not in a forgiving mood to check out the new patch? Maybe a taste of the high-res screenshots will soften you up, and convince you to check out what seems to be a pretty action-packed update. Now I’ll leave you to work out those “you let me down SOE” issues.

MMOs from the Sony Online Entertainment family are back in business and throwing everything but the kitchen sink as freebies to appease their fans, while over at neighboring Cryptic Studios a big change is brewing as its parent company Atari announced plans to sell the developer off ASAP.

No Longer Offline

For two weeks, SOE endured the embarrassing moniker Sony Offline Entertainment as it underwent a cyber attack-related server shutdown, but no more.

The veteran MMO game maker has reopened the virtual worlds of its dozen or so games, from DC Universe Online to EverQuest II. Returning players will be glad to know that each title offers unique perks and rewards under its overarching Welcome Back Program. (See the full list of goodies here.)

Aside from these game-specific freebies, all Station Account holders “in good standing” will be given 45 days of game time for the shutdown inconvenience. You can claim this bonus game time by logging on to your account by August 31, 2011.

Lifetime subscribers who obviously won’t benefit from free game time will receive an equivalent game currency instead, while Station Access subscribers in good standing also get 500 Station Cash. I don’t know about you, but this pretty much covers the “We’re sorry!” part. Now about the “Please love us again!” we have to see how the new security features hold up.

Anyone Interested?

While SOE goes into fan service mode, it’s a huge wait-and-see at Cryptic Studios as the developer for Champions Online, City of Heroes and Star Trek Online readies to be sold at the auction block.

Parent company Atari announced plans to divest its interest in Cryptic Studios, basically saying that it will focus more on a smaller number of profitable titles and venturing more into mobile games.

Fans of the current titles and the in-development Neverwinter MMO need not worry. So far, the official statements from both Atari and Cryptic indicate that it’s business as usual for all MMO projects involved. Still, we can’t help but be jittery on how ownership switch plays out since it will surely come with major directional changes.

Colossus Contest

RIFT swings into week two of Patch 1.2, and everything seems to be going smoothly for the second major patch, with hotfixes and minor updates going live every day to tweak the rolled-out content.

Just yesterday, deviantArt launched its Create a Colossus contest that asks players to submit original artworks depicting their idea of a Colossus from any of the six major elemental planes. Players are momentarily pausing from their RIFT Platinum farming duties to study the design of Colossi now plying Stillmoor and other zones.

Patch 4.2 Previews

In World of Warcraft, information about Patch 4.2 is slowly but surely leaking out into the general public. From Tier 12 armor sets to the on-proc ability of new legendary Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest, the information floodgates are beginning to open wide for the fiery Firelands patch.

Players are still making their way into the troll dungeon heroics that launched with Patch 4.1 for those exotic mounts and large WoW Gold drops, but many see this as a tropical stopover to the next real challenge –  Ragnaros and the next Cataclysm raiding encounters in Patch 4.2.

Twin Events

Aion decided to rally in the second of May with two bonus events. From May 18 to 25, Daevas will experience an Increased Drop Rates event while from May 18 to June 1, the For War and Glory Abyss Points event will be activated.

While the Increased Drop Rates event is simple enough to understand, new players just about to experience their first AP event should know that Abyss Point loss will be reduced during PvP encounters in the Abyss and Silentera Canyon. Not only that, AP gains from killing monsters in both said areas will be upped.

So if you plan on farming for gear and Aion Kinah these coming weeks, you know where to head for maximum gains per hour.

Which MMO are you planning to focus on this week? Will you be busy taking advantage of the SOE rewards, queuing in the new LFG tool in RIFT, or maybe catching up on the latest reveals for Star Wars: the Old Republic?