Week in Review: Happy holidays!

At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on the site and then present them all in one convenient place. Miss a big story last week? Curious about what's going on next door at our sister site, WoW Insider? Don't worry -- we've got you covered.

If you thought the week before Christmas would be a quiet one, you've forgotten that millions of people are home this weekend, looking for a new game to play. Fully aware of your weakness, game companies across the globe turned this week into a deluge of exciting MMO news. RIFT dazzled with new cinematics, a third beta event announcement, and an NDA drop that allowed us to post first impressions, interviews, and guides. DC Universe Online revealed a January 11th launch date, gave us an interview with Chris Cao, and unveiled Area 51 and Harley Quinn. And through it all, we delivered 12 days of giveaways from 12 different companies and even more games.

Follow along after the break for a look at this week's other top stories!

• TERA fly-through videos showcase the Valley of Titans and Pirate Grotto
  Pirates always beat ninjas. Always.
• Massively's holiday guide to cash shop prices
  Beau rounded up a cash-shop comparison of several freemium MMOs.
• SWTOR Trooper video kicks some serious -- shut yo mouth!, Trooper info explodes from Star Wars: The Old Republic
  BioWare revealed another class video and a flurry of Trooper details.
• Final Fantasy XIV brings in the item search with the last update of the year
  FFXIV fans rejoiced at improvements to the market wards.
• Black Prophecy drops NDA, gears up for open beta
  Reakktor Media's space-shooter kicked into hyperdrive.
• Earthrise going with single server worldwide, Earthrise announces February release date
  The sci-fi sandbox announced plans to adopt an EVE-style single shard and launch early in 2011.
• EVE trailer debuts in selected cinemas before showing of Tron
  CCP broke your immersions and capitalized on the obvious audience.
• EverQuest II makes new vampire race available for purchase
  No, they don't sparkle.
  

And from our sister site, WoW Insider...

• 15 Minutes of Fame: Researcher Nick Yee digs into the numbers, people behind WoW
  WoW Insider interviewed MMO statistics personality Nick Yee.
• Tuesday Morning Post: For Whom The Barad Tols edition
  A roundup of the latest World of Warcraft tips and tricks.
• The best of WoW Insider
  The Insider staff began rounding up the best content of the year.