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Free for All: Thirteen spooky free-to-play Halloween events
Ah, Halloween. The dark Xmas. Around our house, Halloween is king. Despite the fact that we have no kids to dress up and parade around the neighborhood, we will still hand out tons of candy to all the trick-or-treaters. Until that spooky night, however, we love to spend the time exploring different Halloween events in our favorite MMORPGs. MMOs are perfect for such events -- they have the players to fill them out, the ability to host whatever kind of event they want, and a lot of optional blood and gore. Some of the events fit perfectly in their game-world, and some stick out like a stock broker on D&D night. Either way, there is always a lot of fun to be had, and sometimes very cool loot to snag! (Like that sweet ride pictured above -- got it on my first try.) Read on for some of my favorite events -- none of them costing a dime.
TERA talks costume contest, shows off new screenshots
Looking forward to TERA? Like cosplay? If so, En Masse Entertainment has a Halloween costume contest just for you. Send in a picture of yourself dressed as a TERA player character, NPC, or monster, and you could snag TERA merchandise and multiple beta invites. The contest will also feature five runners-up, each of whom will take home t-shirts, posters, and lanyards as well as one beta invite. Entry requires a Twitter account, and you'll need to reply to the official TERA Twitter with a link to your costume photo and the hashtag #teracostume. Be sure and have a look at the costume contest rules on the official forums. Speaking of costumes, you can also check out the latest Screenshot of the Week featurette for a potential idea in the form of a Castanic Free Brotherhood farmer. %Gallery-96720%
Behind the Mask: An anniversary well-spent
Over the last week, I've been spending a lot of time playing Champions Online's anniversary event. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it rekindled my enjoyment for the game. While I've been playing CO, here and there, I think like many players, I suffered from a little burnout. The anniversary event itself wasn't really what cured my ills. The extra things involved in the event were just little fun add-ons to the game. The main tasks in the game were still there for me: run Serpent Lantern, run NemCon, maybe level an alt, mess around on PTS, and roleplay. Even the "big bang" Destroid attacks were only a decent diversion for a half hour or so. What really got my excitement going was the increased socialization. A lot of people claimed "the zones are empty," but that couldn't be further from the truth. I logged out one night in Millenium City #7 and logged in the next afternoon to Millenium City #20, with most of the lower instances completely full. That's close to 2000 players in just MC alone. I participated in a lot of roleplaying and hung out with the CORP guys during their RP event. I added over 10 people to my friends list last week. The main reason my burnout was cured? I gained an optimistic look at where the game is headed.
The Daily Quest: Cash4Emblems
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. The Mistress of Pain costume contest winner is actually a Diablo-related costume, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. You'll find an interview with her and more bloggy goodness below. Alltern8 has a long interview with Lorraine Torres, who dressed up as a Mistress of Pain at BlizzCon 2009. Mania examines the pets of Kalimdor, and which ones might become endangered once the Cataclysm hits. "When I first think about self defense in a raiding context," says WoWGrrl, "'staying alive' is what comes to mind." Rhii of I Sheep Things has a short essay on keeping a long-distance relationship alive in WoW. And Cassandri at HoTs and DoTs wants to help you turn those old Emblems you've got laying around into cold hard cash! Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Fallen Earth costume contest winners announced
The apocalypse: place of beat up armor and scavenged and repurposed items galore. While this means you're in great luck for making an outfit in-game, it makes things a bit more difficult when it comes to making a Fallen Earth costume in the real world. Do you stay true to the game and only use things that look the same as existing gear? Or do you get creative in your costume scavenging and let your imagination run wild? Well, this year it would appear that the entries for the second annual Fallen Earth costume contest did both.The three categories awarded for this year's contest winners were Most Original Setting, Most Accurate Game Costume, and Best Inside Joke on Scavenging, which went to Sinoth, blackenedlegions, and spookdi respectively. There were also four honorable mentions (faust, Schipperke, Beorend, jac428) and a shout out to one of our staffers who sent in a costume too. Be sure to go check out the gallery of winners for some pretty cool post-apocalyptic costumes!
Sleeper Cartel hosts a Dead Man's Party next Saturday
Those party hosts in Sleeper Cartel on Perenolde are at it again -- they're holding yet another in-game party, this time to celebrate Halloween, and it sounds like another player-run blowout: free food and drinks, costume and trivia contests, and lots more. There's something called the Dead Man's Run, and we have no idea what that is, but it sounds like a bunch of low level gnomes will die, which is always run. They tell us they're planning on having a live DJ spin tunes, just as they did at their summer party. And they'll have player-run questlines to do as well. You have to give it to them: Sleeper Cartel never seems to run short on creative things to do in-game.I'm sorry to say that, as much as I've reported on these, I've never actually been to one. But I think that'll change with this party -- it kicks off at 7pm MST next Saturday, October 24th, on the US server of Perenolde, and they're holding it at what they say is one of the creepiest places in the game, the Ruins of the Scarlet Enclave (a.k.a. the Death Knight starting area, sans leveling Death Knights). I just marked it on my calendar, so I do believe that I will see you there.
Second annual costume contest announced for Fallen Earth
Some people would say that the complete end of the world as we know it kind of precludes dressing up in costumes and going out for candy. And there's a word for those people -- quitters. Lucky for all of us, however, the end of the world as we know it has only come in video game form, and now the fans of Fallen Earth can earn some prizes in the second annual Halloween costume contest on the official site.Running until October 21st, the contest calls for players to send in their faction-themed costumes, with all of the entries being displayed on the site on October 23rd. In addition, the top five entries will receive a Fallen Earth prize pack, which includes a game t-shirt, a messenger bag, and a game poster autographed by the development team. The full rules are available at the official site.If you're a fan of the game, it's a nice chance to dovetail putting together a costume and winning some nice bonuses from the developers. And, on the off chance that the end of the world really does roll around, you'll have the added benefit of being dressed for the occasion.
World of WarCrafts: Inside the body of a dragon
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by contacting our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) - not-for-profit work only, please.In the words of one costumed BlizzCon-goer, creating a convention costume represents "a heart-wrenching story of PVC, fabric and hot glue." We suspect Theodorick of Gurubashi-US was being facetious when he described his 2009 BlizzCon cosplay journey thusly, but his comment went deeper than mere humor. What we found beneath the one-liner showed more heart than even Theodorick suspected was within: hard work, passion, persistence, humor, long hours ... You name it, cosplayers pour their hearts into their creations. While Theodorick – known at BlizzCon 2009 as Sartharion -- wasn't among the finalists at this year's contest, his enthusiasm certainly can't be beat. We visited with Theodorick to learn what went into his BlizzCon creation. Follow us after the break for a behind-the-scenes gallery of Sartharion's creation plus a full accounting of the costume's assembly.
Fan-created documentary about BlizzCon: An event for fans
Reader Encifer sent us a link to this excellent fan-directed documentary short about BlizzCon. Just a few days ago, I kind of panned the LA Times for treating BlizzCon as such an alien thing, but this video kind of takes a different look at the same event -- instead of coming at it from an outsider perspective and treating it as if it's something 20,000 crazy people do over a weekend, it's much more about how exciting it is to be a part of an event this big. I don't know, maybe the difference is just something I see, but this fan documentary, I think, does a really great job of showing just why BlizzCon is so great, while the LA Times piece, in my view, kind of dismissed its subjects even as it was portraying them.At any rate, Chris Nguyen did a terrific job on this -- he says that he created the short film to prepare for a few doc film classes he's going to be taking, as well as challenge his doc-making skills, and it seems like he did just that. He interviewed two of his former guildies, as well as the winner of this year's costume contest, as you can see in the video. And he says the whole thing was shot over the two days at BlizzCon and then took about eight more days to edit. Definitely a fun little film to watch, and if you've never been to BlizzCon before, it'll give you a nice look at just what it's like to show up in a hall with thousands of people who play the same games that you do every day.
BlizzCon 2009: The short version
For all those of you out there who don't have the time to slog through the 100+ articles we published on BlizzCon 2009, we've condensed the events of the past few days into the most important things you need to know: THE END OF WRATH: Developers gave some pretty revealing information on what we can expect to see in patch 3.2.2 (the revamped Onyxia raid) and in patch 3.3, where we'll finally stare down Arthas himself. THE NEXT EXPANSION: Blizzard's own loremaster Chris Metzen debuted the first trailer for the next expansion, titled World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and that sound you hear is millions of players who can't believe Blizzard would ever pull a stunt this big. Cataclysm's basic storyline features the return of Deathwing and the re-sundering of the world in his wake, forever altering Azeroth's classic landscape and sending players to previously unseen parts of the world like the Lost Isles, Hyjal, Gilneas, Uldum, and Grim Batol. FEATURES OF CATACLYSM: The most important features of the next expansion include two new races (Goblins for the Horde and Worgen for the Alliance), new class possibilities for existing races, a new secondary skill, character stat simplification, cross-server instances, the ability to level and "talent" your guild, new means of character advancement through the Path of the Titans, Mastery, and the revamping of the talent system, and rated battlegrounds. LIVEBLOGS: We blogged and liveblogged the convention from start to finish: the Opening Ceremony, the WoW Preview panel, the WoW Art panel, The Guild's panel, the first and second WoW Class, Items, and Professions Panels, the general WoW Q&A, the Breaking Into the Industry panel, the Game Systems panel, and the Raids and Dungeons panel. FUN AND GAMES: Even in the middle of all the craziness, we still found time for our third annual Reader Meetup (we expected maybe 300 people and got 1200+) with the cast of The Guild present, Premonition's live raid, the Costume contest, and the Dance and Soundalike contests. If you'd like a more thorough look at how BlizzCon 2009 went, visit our round-ups on Day One and Day Two of the con for a more complete guide to our articles, galleries, and videos.
BlizzCon 2009: Costume contest video
Last night at BlizzCon featured the string of contests (costume, sound-alike, and dance), hosted by Jay Mohr. The costume contest was pretty spectacular at times, and I don't want to spoil it, but I was definitely rooting for the winner as soon as I saw him or her. Watch the contest above, and enjoy! It's times like this that make me realize what a wonderful community WoW has. BlizzCon 2009 is here! WoW.com has continuing coverage, bringing you the latest in Cataclysm news, live blogs, galleries, and reports right from the convention floor. Check out WoW.com's Guide to BlizzCon for the latest!
BlizzCon 2009: The costume contest
If there's one thing we can't get enough of, it's World of Warcraft fans in elaborate, just-stepped-out-of-your-computer-screen costumes. (And even though this year's winner took her inspiration from Diablo 3, we can't hold it against her.) And BlizzCon certainly has its fair share of cosplay. But we're not going to waste your time with a bunch of words when there are so many pictures to show off -- enjoy our costume contest gallery, the next best thing to being there yourself. And, on the plus side, you didn't have to fight the crowds for a good seat!%Gallery-70720%BlizzCon 2009 is here! WoW.com has continuing coverage, bringing you the latest in Cataclysm news, live blogs, galleries, and reports right from the convention floor. Check out WoW.com's Guide to BlizzCon for the latest!
Blizzard puts a few limits on the costume contest
This is interesting -- the costumes at BlizzCon have gotten more and more complicated every year, as people try to one-up each other by bringing the wackiest and biggest costumes to wear, both for the official contest and around the show floor (you can see some of last year's appearances below). The big winner last year was this turtle mount, complete with wheels and a moving head, and so we wonder: what'll happen this year?Not so fast, says Blizzard. When a player asks just how far costumers might go (a live mount?), Bashiok says that there are some tweaks to the rules this year: costumes can't go over 10' in any direction, include "liquids or messy substances," or be judged on items that can't be worn or held. That would seem to disqualify the turtle mount, from official judging anyway -- they want the contest to revolve around costumes, not vehicles.Which doesn't mean that we won't see some crazy costumes on the show floor (and obviously you'll see them here on the site, even if you're not in Anaheim). But the contest itself might be a little more low key than last year -- seems like the Sea Turtle/ATV was enough to make Blizzard dial it back a notch.%Gallery-34205%
BlizzCon Roundup: Day 1
Whew. What a dizzying first day that was, wasn't it? Ok, well, I wouldn't know myself since I'm halfway across the world, but judging from the conference hangovers my colleagues have got, it's safe to say it was one whirlwind of an opening. If you weren't here yesterday to watch -- er, read -- the play-by-play, here's a quick recap of BlizzCon '08 Day One: Our tenacious guys at BlizzCon liveblogged the opening ceremonies, although nothing really spectacular happened here other than the announcement of the Wizard, a hot new class for Diablo III. It was mostly trailers, recaps, and a reminder for everyone that something historic will happen in November. And it's not the elections. Mike gave us all a preview of the people milling about in costume earlier in the day, but that was just a preview for the totally phenomenal costume contest this year. While past years have been pretty cool, this year's crop blew all the past ones out of the water. You'll have to check out the gallery for yourself to see what I mean. Can you imagine a turtle mount? Yes. A turtle mount. Krystalle snapped quite a bunch of shots from the convention floor just to give everyone an idea of how BlizzCon feels. Looking through the general floor gallery, it almost felt like I was there. Minus the trademark convention smell, I presume, and the sad inability to purchase any of the cool swag. The first World of Warcraft panel of the day dealt with the game's UI. It's pretty cool and was a proper teaser for the even cooler things that would pop up later in the day. Our man Alex did the liveblogging duties for this one. Itemrack will have to wait, unfortunately. More stuff from yesterday after the jump!
BlizzCon 2008: Costume Contest
This year's costume contest entrants ranged from the exceptional (hello Thrall!) to the ridiculous (goodbye Rick Astley), but in the end the winner was clear. A female Dranei on a motorized turtle mount stole the show. More than that, she won a replica Frostmourne. Check out her fantastic ride and the way it moves in the video above, and a gallery of the entrants below.%Gallery-34252%
Monkey Island on EU Aggramar this Saturday
Here's a fun event for the EU folks (as opposed to all the action on Steamwheedle) -- this Saturday, September 13th, on EU Aggramar, a guild called Deeprun Pest Control (funny) is holding an event called Monkey Island. They're all meeting up in Stranglethorn, and holding an Arena battle, putting on a costume contest, doing a little treasure hunting, and just having what sounds like a good old time.We have to say -- the trailer is awesome. It makes Stranglethorn Vale look like a place we want to visit again, and that's saying something. Everything kicks off around 2:45 server time, and while most of the events will be for the Alliance, we're told that there will be Horde translaters available. Always awesome to see really well coordinated player events -- if you're able to jump on the Aggramar realm this Saturday, do check it out (and be sure to tell us how it went).
Breakfast Topic: BlizzCon contests
BlizzCon is a mere month and a half away, and I can just imagine the excitement building up. With Wrath certain to be released this year, there has got to be some big news about the expansion during the convention. Who among you are going? Better yet, who among you are going and joining a contest? If I actually managed to get tickets to BlizzCon (or at least be in the United States in October...), I would have wanted to join -- alright, maybe just check out -- the costume contest. I know, it sounds silly, but some costumes are actually pretty cool.For sure, when BlizzCon rolls around, WoW Insider will put up a gallery of the costume contest entrants. But there are contests that don't require you to be at BlizzCon. Quite a few of them are online contests like the poster making, songwriting, and movie-making. Will you be joining any of them? Everybody loves swag, after all. Even if you aren't, what entries are you looking forward to seeing this year?
BlizzCon contests open for submission
If you like winning stuff, you might want to check out BlizzCon and its contests. Whether or not you'll be going to the sold-out event this October, there's something for you to participate in. Obviously, if you're not going, you won't be able to join staples like the costume contest or the impressive (and often hilarious) dance contest, but most of the BlizzCon contests can be joined online. If you think you've got the chops for stuff like making movies, ace graphic design skills to make motivational posters, or even songwriting skills and making dioramas, then head over to the BlizzCon contest page and read about how to submit your entries. Unfortunately, if you think you're a funny guy (or gal), Blizzard wants to see you in person.
Worldwide Invitational Paris: The roundup
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/The_best_of_WoW_dev_panels_at_the_Paris_Invitational'; Happy Monday morning everyone! If you're a fan of World of Warcraft, chances are you heard about the big old shindig Blizzard threw in Paris this week. If you didn't a chance to get to Paris this year or catch any of the news over the weekend, you'll want to keep reading. We had a crack team on the convention floor, and more of us watching the live feeds all weekend, all working hard to deliver up to date reports and analysis. What that means for you is that this is the perfect place to catch up on all the WoW news from Paris. This handy list will direct you to exactly where you want to go to get the information you need. Liveblogs and other event reporting: Opening Ceremony liveblog: If you haven't heard yet, there was a pretty big announcement at this one. Developer's Class Panel: There's a little something for every class in here. Find out what's coming for your favorite character! Q&A Grab Bag Panel: See what WWI attendees had on their minds, and how the developers answered. Dungeons and raids panel: See what's next in the Caverns of Time, Ulduar, and more. Don't forget to check out parts two, three, and four for the whole scoop. PvP panel: Find out about Lake Winterspring, siege engines, Arenas, Battlegrounds, and pretty much everything except class balance. Includes pictures! Be sure to check parts two, three, and four as well. Arena Tournament, day 1: Amanda Dean breaks down the results. Notes from the costume contest: See how creative your fellow fans are -- includes pictures! The goodie bag: Even in real life, we like our epic loot. Let us show you the swag. Of course, if the flood of liveblog information makes your head spin, no worries, we have analysis on every angle and every little tidbit discussed during the Invitational. Check them out after the break.
Turpster's WWI Day 1 Video Roundup: Who says Gnomes can't dance?
Day 1 of the Worldwide Invitational is behind us, with Day 2 already underway in Paris, but that doesn't mean we can't wax nostalgic anyway. Everyone's favorite star of (internet) radio and (internet) television, the Turpster, has thrown together a short and sweet retrospective on day 1 at the Invitational. Peppered among all the excitement are a few shots of Death Knight gameplay and the costume contest, topped off with some commentary on the dance contest that closed off the night, Turpster style. Be sure to give it a watch, and check out Turpster's other WWI Videos as well, as he runs amok in Paris and gets to know the people in the queue.
