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The Lord of the Rings Online's Welcome Back Weekend event starts tomorrow
With The Lord of the Rings Online's Mines of Moria expansion slated to hit store shelves on November 18th, Turbine is taking extra measures to entice old players to come back with another Welcome Back Weekend. This has been done a couple of times before, so you might know the drill, but in case you don't here goes!From tomorrow through November 17th, all former subscribers in good standing can play for free, no commitment required. During that period, everyone -- former subscribers and current -- will receive 25% extra experience from monsters, which will stack with rested XP. These are pretty simple incentives, but if they're enough to bring you in, you can download either the standard or high-resolution client and get started tomorrow.EDIT: We read wrong! While the XP gains push through the 17th, the free play period only lasts through the 10th. Thanks, Bissrok.
The Daily Grind: How's LotRO treatin' ya?
With the Age of Conan launch not far behind us, and the release dates of Warhammer Online and Wrath of the Lich King coming up soon, The Lord of the Rings Online hasn't been getting much attention as of late. That's a pity, really, since it's just hitting its stride, with the Mines of Moria expansion coming out this fall as well.Turbine has been shy about releasing subscription numbers, but an educated guess could place LotRO in the #2 spot as far as subscription-based, western MMOs go. So to give LotRO a little much-deserved attention, we decided to ask you: how's LotRO treating you these days? Turbine has had over a year to polish the game. How's it coming? And if you're a LotRO player now, will WAR or WotLK draw you away? Or do you expect Mines of Moria satisfy all your MMO cravings this year?
Breakfast Topic: Sunday is Mother's Day
Just a reminder that Mother's Day is coming up on Sunday, May 11. If you're planning on sending a gift, flowers, or a card, it's about time to get them in the mail. For the record, I have never met a Mom that didn't treasure a pretty bracelet given to her by her son. All of these things are positively fantastic for a traditional Mom, but we've got a lot of WoW Moms that might like something a little different. Even as I get older, I've found that my Mom, and other Moms around me still enjoy homemade gifts. Our Thursday column, World of Warcrafts, has given us some excellent ideas on some very special gifts. Last week Shelbi showed us how to make a lovely Basket of Flowers. I'm also fond of her wonderful guide for making Super potions. I'm pretty sure my Mom would like these (even more than the paperclip necklace she treasured for years.) You may also consider World of Warcraft T-shirts, or even paid play time. If you don't have a lot of money to dedicate to Mother's Day Shopping, you can give your WoW Mom the gift of playtime or even something special in-game. For those of you with less fantasy-oriented Mom's, here are some easy links to get gifts online: Flowers 1-800-Flowers FTD Teleflora Food: Ethem M Chocolates Harry and David Godiva Remember, you only get one Mom (ok, so in modern families, you may have 2 or 3), and Mother's Day only comes once a year. Make it count! What's your plan for your mom? (I can't tell you, my mom reads WoW Insider.) * This public service announcement was brought to you by gamers who love their moms.
World of WarCrafts: Basket of flowers
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.Mother's Day is just around the corner, and though your mom (or wife) may not know anything about a Badge of Justice or Super Potions, she will most likely appreciate a Basket of Flowers. This project is super easy and would be a great way to get the kids involved in making a special gift for mom.Here is what you will need: Flower Bushes (a variety of artificial flowers should do) Basket Dry Styrofoam (preferably green) Spanish Moss Scissors (or cutting pliers) Ribbon (or a pre-made bow) Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-21875%
The DS Life: Motherly love
The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handheld and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.As our own Alisha Karabinus can likely attest, raising a baby leaves little time for anything else in your daily schedule. Taking care of everything you need to do requires some creative multitasking. Jump past the break to see what we mean!
More on Moria: Massively interviews Turbine's Jeffrey Steefel
After last Friday's exciting announcement from Turbine -- the Mines of Moria LotRO expansion -- we were hungry for more. Fortunately, we got it: we managed to sit down with executive producer Jeffrey Steefel, the man behind the news, to quiz him on MoM and all things LotRO. Read on for more on Volume II, nerfbats and an insight into Turbine's development process. For more LotRO coverage don't miss our player Q&A report, teasers and rundown of the teaser site -- and keep your eyes glued to Massively, as we'll bring you all the MoM news we can over the coming months!%Gallery-18340%
WoW Mom! An interview with the newest newbie on the block
I got a call from my mom on Friday night that she was having an emergency and needed me to call. It turns out the emergency was that she bought World of Warcraft and needed some instruction on how to play. Since I was at work, I told her to get started by reading up a bit on the WoW Rookie until I could spend a little more time with her. I was excited and somewhat terrified. I really hope she likes it and doesn't get too frustrated the first week. My mom isn't what you would call a gamer. I'm not going to tell you how old she is, but she could tell you where she was when Kennedy was assassinated. She's a master Euchre player and a wiz at Scrabble. Her video gaming experience is limited to Bejeweled and online versions of card games. She used to love me watch play Tetris, but would respond like the controller was made of lava when I tried to hand it to her. I invited her to join Dungeons and Dragons sessions, but she always declined. I moved 2,000 miles from my native Michigan for graduate school about five years ago. Since then my interactions with my mom have been limited to phone conversations and the occasional short visit. I'm really glad to get to share this time with her.
Alpha moms not sympathetic to hardcore gamers' plight
Jenny Lauck and Stefania Pomponi Butler, both of them "Alpha Moms (influential matriarchs)" and Wii Ambassadors, sat down with Electronic Gaming Monthly's podcast crew to chat about Nintendo's efforts to attract mothers to its consoles. Though they didn't take to the Nintendo DS, both women were eager to talk about how much they enjoyed titles like Cooking Mama, Wii Play, and, yes, Boogie.When asked about the often touted complaint that casual releases like Wii Fit and Wii Sports are pulling resources and funding away from games meant for the hardcore audience, Ms. Lauck reasoned, "I don't think developers are going to start ignoring them. I think there's definite room ... for both markets."She continued the argument on her blog with an analogy that puts these irrational fears into perspective: "I think studios should stop making lame sitcoms and focus solely on new episodes of Lost, for example. But you know what? There's a market for sitcoms, and even though I'm a hard-core supporter of Lost, there are other genres out there that other people watch."Read - She Just Wouldn't Shut UpRead - EGM LIVE 09/03/2007 Podcast
Best Buy offers last second Nano + Chocolate gift set for Mom
Face it. It's nearly Mother's day. If you're desperate for a present that says "I love you Mom" and you've got lots of money to spend, consider this Best Buy exclusive. For only $205, you get a 4GB iPod Nano with a gift box and chocolate. It's an in-store item only, so you'll have to actually go over to a Best Buy retail brick & mortar store to track this down. I recommend that you call in advance to make sure they've actually got the gift set in stock before visiting. And while you're there, check out their crash & dent table. My girls picked up several Game Boy Advanced cartridges recently for between $2 and $4 each. They were also burning off iPod accessory inventory, primarily ugly iPod cases and disposable battery boosters at that same table. Selection will, obviously, vary by store.
PopCap gives Bejeweled away free for Mother's Day
For that cheapskate in all of us, PopCap has announced that they will be giving away free copies of their mega-hit Bejeweled Deluxe -- as a Mother's Day gift for your maternal caretaker, of course. Beginning tomorrow, May 9, and continuing through May 23, existing and new subscribers to their newsletter will receive a registration code via email for a full retail copy of Bejeweled Deluxe. The offer must be redeemed before May 30. If your mother already has Bejeweled or, on the other end of the spectrum, has never figured out how to use a mouse, then consider this a gift for yourself. For most countries, Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday (May 13), so if not this, you better of think of something to give.
All Mom wants for Mother's Day is a DS Lite
Chris Kohler's coverage of random stuff he sees while walking around in Japan continues with a note about Nintendo's latest DS advertising campaign. The sign says "Soon, it will be Mother's Day" next to a picture of a DS Lite playing Brain Age. We can't help but think that if this campaign works, it'll lead to a lot of disappointed moms this Sunday. We're not saying moms don't want DS's (some may not, but most people do!) The problem is that it's still pretty much impossible to get a DS in Japan, with the apparent exception of whatever store this was. Why would Nintendo even advertise the DS?
Does Mom game? Use the woman to get an Xbox 360 Elite!
Win an Xbox 360 Elite system for yourself your family as part of the "My Mom's a Gamer" contest sponsored by Microsoft and the estate of Joan Crawford. The rules are pretty simple, you just submit in under 500 words an essay about your mom (or female legal guardian) and gaming by May 6. What does she play? Does she support your gaming habit? Does she pwn you in games and then with wire hangers? Does she keep Flowers in the Attic and play video games all day?The Xbox.com team will evaluate the essays for creativity, appeal to readers and an effective show of respect and admiration for your mother figure. We're just going to cut this off before we're compelled to start reciting lines from Mommie Dearest -- if your mom was Joan Crawford you'd totally win the contest instantly! Anyway, talk about her being gracefully apologetic every time she cuts a Locust in half during Gears of War or how she drops f-bombs every time she takes on the 12-year-olds during Halo 2 matches on Xbox Live. We're sure the Xbox.com team would appreciate that.
DS Daily: Your MOM likes video games
And she might! Thanks to the alluring and radical power of the DS. How many of you guys have been searching for your DS high and low for a rousing game of Metroid Prime: Hunters, only to find your mother or sister locked away in their rooms caring for their virtual canines? How about Animal Crossing, Electroplankton, or even more traditional fare?The DS is easier to pick up and play than your elementary school recorder; this causes problems in the DS Fanboy offices when the three butlers and five secretaries all vie for our glossy handhelds.Ahem.
Every sweet-toothed gamer's dream
There's already enough video game cakes on the internet to give you a mouth full of cavities, but we couldn't pass on a slice of this dual-screened dessert from Patrick and his girlfriend, Zara. The UK couple celebrated Mother's Day yesterday by baking this treat for Patrick's mom, a 60-year-old gamer. The attention to detail is impressive, taking into account a matching stylus, icing-covered screenshots, and even a red battery light! Every single curve and recess on an actual Nintendo DS Lite is mirrored on the cake, ready to be gobbled up. It's going to be tough for other video game desserts to meet the standard Patrick and Zara have set.
Wii: sucking in the seniors, bit by bit
There's nothing quite like seeing a video game bringing families together, even if the above image does look like a page out of a slightly wacked IKEA catalog. Reader Jim has sent in his own entertaining tale about mom and dad proceeding to get hooked and pwn in Wii Sports, particularly bowling, as you can tell from his dad's nice form in the above photo.Our own parental units were never really sucked in by the glitz and polygon counts of the other consoles, so it's great to see a new generation of gamers getting drawn in by the Wii-novation. Are we every going to declare a moratorium on adding Wii to words? You swear you'll never do it again, and then *bam* there it is. Wii apologize.[Thanks, Jim! Check out his upcoming comic book too, nifty stuff.]
Are you Wii-less? We can help [update 1]
[Update 1: Our apologies; we had simply assumed the service was free. Thanks to our trusty commenters, we found a better one! For free! WiiSearcher.com!]All right, well, maybe not us. We're too busy having way too much fun slamming our parents into the ground in Wii Tennis (except for Nikki, of course). The internet is a vast place, however, and the local denizens are sure to help you find your way if you ask nicely enough.Welcome to NintendoFinder.com WiiSearcher.com, a wonderful place that uses voodoo and sorcery to immediately discern availability of the Wii at pretty much every retailer ever. As soon as a store restocks, torrents of E-mail are sent to any and all subscribers to the system, letting them know to get their click on. It's a great tool for those of you worried about getting a system before Christmas, and we recommend you tell your parents (nudge nudge) to check it out. You know. So they can let Santa know, too.(Santa is a universally understood figure used for the purposes of a substandard joke. Please, no religious quarreling.)[Thanks, Matt, for shamelessly plugging your own site! ^^]
"Does Your Mom Play WoW?"
My mom certainly doesn't play any videogames at all, but apparently Malevivs from Eonar showed the game to his mother and got her hooked on it. And apparently other players have had the same experience. Wives, in-laws, kids-- seems like anyone who sees someone playing this game has to pick it up, try it themselves, and be amazed. WoW isn't just addictive-- apparently it's contagious, too.Or maybe not. Personally, I haven't had any luck at all recruiting anyone to play the game with me. I haven't lived at home for a while, so the closest thing I have to an onlooker is my roommate, and he hasn't shown the slightest interest in it. Even a good friend of mine who really loves videogames (we play Mario Kart DS over the net all the time) hasn't given in, especially after hearing about my many nights spent slaving away to hit 60 more than once..So is it me, or my family and friends? Have you recruited a family or friend to play just by showing them the game? Then again, I'm not sure I'd want my mom to play at all-- not just because it would be really embarassing to be ganked by her, but c'mon, man-- she's my mom! She doesn't own n00bs, she bakes them cookies!
Get revenge on a 360 Ebay scammer: Call his mom
Moms really do know best. They also get results. Here's a satisfying tale from a guy who bought a used 360 on Ebay for $315 and got burned. He does a little detective work and tracks the non-shipping seller down to some town in Ohio, then calls him up only to get the phone slammed in his face. So who does he call next? The cops? Nah, he dials the dude's Mom and rats him out. Minutes later he has a refund, an apology and the pleasure of posting the most humiliating Ebay feedback ever. As reader Jamaicanbwoydre notes: Vigilante justice rules -- especially when Mom is playing the Charles Bronson role.
