autumn
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Massively's MMO guide to Halloween 2014
MMORPG fans love to play dress-up. Admit it! We do it every day with our characters, even if we pretend we're just "checking out our stats" when we're rifling through the hundreds of pieces of cosmetic gear in our banks. That's what makes Halloween our magic holiday! Following what is now epic tradition, we've rounded up all the big MMORPG Halloween events and sales for 2014 as well as a few little ones and some from our favorite MOBAs and OARPGs too. The list isn't exhaustive, so feel free to chime in with any we've missed that you love! Now, furbish up your pumpkin heads and get in there. That virtual candy isn't gonna eat itself.
One Shots: Hello, autumn
House Stark once told me that "pumpkin spice is coming," and lo and behold, it is here. Autumn is in full swing, at least in the northern hemisphere, and with it come colorful leaves, scary decorations, and trips to the apple orchard. Today we have several great fall-themed pictures from players to share, starting with this seasonal shot from reader Becca. "Here my character Tendryl in RIFT gets in the spooky spirit. Falling orange leaves, a storm on the horizon, creepy mask... oh, and a FREAKING SCYTHE! I think she nailed it," she writes. Do you agree? Join us as we go crunching through the leaves in the rest of this week's player-submitted screenshots!
Starbucks' shake-to-pay and tips now work on Android too
Love Starbucks but hate feeling left out of the shake-to-pay fun because the device in your pocket is running Android instead of iOS? Those days are over, my caffeine-craving friend. An updated version of the titular app has hit Google Play and it's packing the aforementioned payment option as well as digital tipping. The coffee juggernaut's rewards system is now on the payment screen too -- all in time for the Seattle outfit's declaration that autumn is officially here. [Image credit: pgneto/Flickr]
ASUS delays Eee Pad Slider, stretches the definition of 'soon'
That promised May release for the Eee Pad Slider shifted to a rather more ambiguous "soon" a little over a month ago, and now we're sad to report it's moving further back still. ASUS has an update on its UK Facebook profile indicating that the QWERTYfied tablet will now be shipping there sometime this Autumn, taking this extra time to throw up some surveys and better "understand what is important for our customers." That sounds dangerously close to the company's feet getting a little cold as it prepares to launch the most interestingly designed Honeycomb slab we've yet seen, but maybe if everybody leaves some encouraging comments we can get this reluctant bride out of the limo and down the aisle, already.
Officers' Quarters: The fall surge
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.Back in June, I wrote about surviving the summer, when raider interest wanes and many players go AFK for weeks on end. Now that fall is back in full swing, all those players are back. Many guilds find themselves with a renewed roster of raiders clamoring for suddenly limited slots. This week, one reader asks how to handle all the extra bodies. Scott, I lead a casual raiding guild. We have 1 25-man a week and about 3 10-mans a week including ToC 10 and Ulduar 10. I don't force anyone to raid. I tell them that they can sign up for whatever they want but if they sign up and don't show up, then they are penalized. My problem is that since I allow anyone to sign up and I don't have set groups, what do I do when I have more people signed up than I need?
5 Apps for leaf-peepers
It's autumn here in the northern hemisphere, and where I live, in New England (and elsewhere around the US too), that brings leaf-peepers. What's a leaf-peeper? It's a tourist, typically from New York or New Jersey, who visits rural New England to observe the beautiful autumn leaves. It's a big deal for us. Each year we New Englanders take a break from eating cranberries, disavowing the Red Sox and pahkig the cah in Harvard yahd to view nightly news reports on peak leaf-viewing projections, which states are changing first and at what rate, etc. Fortunately, there's an app for that. Five, in fact, and here they are. Rest Area If you're traveling from out-of-state, you could encounter unfamiliar highways ... not good when you got to go, if you know what I mean. Is the next rest area 5 miles away or 35? Rest Area [iTunes link] knows the answer. It displays the nearest pit stops as well as what facilities each one has, like bathrooms, vending machines, restaurants, etc. Rest Area costs $0.99US. %Gallery-74446%
Blizzard hosts an annual Pumpkin Contest
I love this time of year -- the leaves are turning colors, there's a cool breeze in the air, and we're getting closer and closer to both Hallow's End and Halloween. And speaking of Halloween, it's time once again for the annual Blizzard pumpkin contest -- Bornakk has the deets on the forums. Just carve up a pumpkin at least as cool as this one featuring Illy D (it was one of last year's winners), take a picture of it lit, and send it to the judges through this form. The pumpkins last year seemed very influenced by Burning Crusade, so this year, we'll probably see plenty of Arthas and Death Knight pumpkins in the entries (I'd like to see a Nerubian pumpkin, myself).I can't wait to see the winners, though truth be told, I just can't wait for Hallow's End -- the best candy of all are the purple Epics falling like rain off the Headless Horseman.
The Harvest Festival returns to LotRO
The Harvest Festival is coming! The Harvest Festival is coming! Starting later today, September 26th, and running until October 13th, Lord of the Rings Online will play host to the second annual Middle-earth Harvest Festival. According to the announcement, there will be a return of player favorites like bobbing for apples, picking pumpkins, horse races and the Geode Surprise.Plus, there will be new Trick or Treat quests for players to enjoy. Does this mean we'll see some new Halloween-type masks and candy for the lil 'uns?? Stick with Massively as we present a complete guide to the Harvest Festival coming soon!
The DS Life: Damaris
The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handhelds and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.Make the most out of what little warmth the autumn months haven't stolen yet. Grab your portable system, find a place outside where no one can bother you while you play, and enjoy these dwindling days when you can still afford to leave your coat at home. These weeks never stay still for too long, and before you know it, Halloween is long forgotten and there's no more Thanksgiving dinner to look forward to. Evenings creep in at 6PM, and the cold -- oh, the cold!You spend an extra minute shivering in your car while waiting for the engine to warm up, visible puffs of breath fogging up the windows until the damn defrost finally starts working. Chips of snow sneak into your shoes somehow, despite your best defenses, melting and leaving your socks wet. Week nights are spent staying in and watching television, and you walk around the house with a comforter draped around you like blanket royalty.So play with your DS outside now, while you still can!
The quest for Autumn: Windows XP's elusive backdrop
It's no secret that people have been fascinated, or at least intrigued, by wallpapers and screensavers since the desktop first graced their eyes, and judging by the sheer multitude of websites and man-hours devoted to perfecting the screen that you so rarely see once you launch that first app, it's also no shock to hear a tale of such obsession. Although Autumn may not be most people's default background in Windows XP, it's still well regarded, and for one Vanity Fair writer, it sparked a worldwide quest to find its origin. Expecting the task to be one of relative ease in the age of email, meta tags, and digital archives, he began by questioning the usual suspects about its humble beginnings, but to his dismay, was turned down time and time again by rights protectors who wouldn't divulge the author nor location of such a highly prized stock photograph. Eventually, his entire team was onboard in a furious (albeit seemingly futile) search to discover precisely where this image was shot, once leading to thoughts of permanent relocation if the locale was finally unearthed. After what seemed like months of running into brick walls, an email to Bill Gates himself resulted in an apparently automated response that belted out nothing more but the snapshot's place of origin, which incited fits of jovial celebration office-wide. To Campbellville, Ontario, Canada they headed, in desperate need to visit the orangey area so burned into their memories, and thanks to the purportedly mysterious workings of a co-worker, they even landed the shooter's name. Eventually, the journey led them to a rarely traveled path in the city of Burlington, where the old Harris Homestead quietly sat behind a vigilant row of bare trees surrounded by glistening white snow. It truly was Winter, at last for the adventurous crew, but it certainly gives us pause when deciding whether or not to seek out the origin of Ascent and Azul in our spare time.
