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Massively's guide to Valentine's Day festivities
Ah spring! 'Tis the time when young men and women's thoughts turn to love -- or at least scoring some nifty holiday-themed loot! This year there's quite a bit going on. Some events are old familiar ones that have stood the test of time. Others offer new twists and things to do for those who have been there, done that. If you aren't feeling the love bug biting, there's even the odd anti-Valentine's-type event, perfect for those who would rather rain destruction down on the head of anyone foolish enough to approach him with anything heart-shaped or pink. Curious as to what's going on? Check out our listing below -- and feel free to chime in if you know of a fun event others should check out! Rip out your Fallen Earth character's heart for Valentine's Day (February 11th-13th) What's better than surviving a nuclear holocaust and wandering your way across a blasted brown landscape rife with societal collapse? Why, sharing said wanderings with someone you love, of course (or at least, someone you lust after in that we've-got-to-do-this-for-the-future-of-mankind sort of way). In a novel spin on the traditional mid-February holiday, Icarus Studios is presenting Fallen Earth's Valentine's Day Massacre event, and clones everywhere can literally offer their hearts as a sign of affection (and a +3 stamina buff). Vindictus spreads the love with new update and holiday (February 1st-15th) Quirky events have quickly become one of Vindictus' staples. Right now players can participate in V-Day events for special rewards. If fishing and chocolate hunting isn't your bag, you can simply purchase a Valentine's Package at the Supply Depot for "sexy Valentine's themed Inner Armor." Cute undies, in other words. Valentine's events will end after the 15th, so players are encouraged to partake sooner rather than regret it later. Time for love in Final Fantasy XI (February 1st-15th) Valentine's Day is almost here, that special time of year when you attempt to distill the essence of a romantic relationship into chocolate form. And if you were hoping to escape from the day within Vana'diel, your efforts are rather misdirected -- Valentione's Day coincides nicely with the holiday in the real world, with just as much saccharine summation of liaisons in Final Fantasy XI.
The Road to Mordor: Bits 'n' pieces
Three wolves. A full moon. One incredible cloak in the Lord of the Rings Online store. As a forum poster asked, is the Cloak of the Mountain Wolves too powerful and too intrinsically sweet? I think it is a distinct possibility. I already own six and have Sauron on farm status because of them. Forget piddly rings -- this is the one cloak to rule them all, and in the darkness, blind them. I'm a bit all over the place in today's column, so bear with me as I spew forth a 427-line stream-of-consciousness poem devoted to Aragorn's stubble. You totally know you want to hit the jump to read it. I triple-dog-dare ya. [Editor -- No, Justin, you have to write a normal column. Don't make me get the fire hose.] Darn.
Celebrate Hello Kitty's birthday in Hello Kitty Online
Hello Kitty is 36 years old, which should be the sort of thing that makes everyone blink once or twice in surprise. With that sort of pedigree, you'd be surprised not to see a celebration going on -- especially in Hello Kitty Online. Sure enough, there's a huge birthday bash going on right now for players of the game, and participation in the event will have some positive effects in the real world. Sanrio is giving money to charity, based in part upon how many people take part in the birthday festivities. Players taking part will be sent around the world with sparklers to help cheer up monsters, so that everyone can enjoy the birthday celebration. There's also a small line for upgrading and improving sparklers for maximum effectiveness, with upgrades available in the item shop as a shortcut for participants. A full event guide has been posted, and it promises a special in-game event on November 15th -- which should be an excellent motivator for Hello Kitty Online players to log in and ring in another cat-filled year. %Gallery-106551%
The Path honored with awards in Spain, goes half price to celebrate
Surreal horror/exploration indie title The Path was one of the finalists at last year's Indiecade festival, and it's been honored again with two awards at Bilbao, Spain's hóPLAY International Video Game Festival. The game won Best Sound and Best Design, and its creator, Tale of Tales, picked up a tidy sum of €12,000 ($16,000) in prize money. To celebrate, the company is putting the game on sale, and you can pick up a digital copy right now for just $4.99, half of the usual price. Careful, though -- it's a creepy experience, combining a strange retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood tale with dynamically generated music and environments. Congratulations to Tale of Tales on the awards, which it says is the first actually won in its eight-year history. Always a finalist, finally a winner.
Breakfast Topic: Brewing up better faires and festivals
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. I've just spent a day being Scottish. My father's family hails from Scotland, and the summer months will find me out and about at a variety of highland games in the Midwest. Sometimes I'm a spectator, and sometimes I run a tent for my clan. There's a general understanding that the highland games were created to prepare men for doing battle with the English. Each part of what has become the athletic portion of the games can be traced back a need for hurling hurl rocks, logs or flaming bales of vegetation at advancing troops or fortified positions. At the games I just attended, a group gave demonstrations on medieval swordplay. In World of Warcraft, the Argent Tournament springs immediately to mind. We were informed this was a training ground to prepare us for an assault on the LIch King and his forces. The Darkmoon Faire and Brewfest are examples of festivals with games of chance, food and vendors, and tickets you have to procure by participating in events or getting lots of items requested by vendors. We've heard rumors (or perhaps it was a column of wishful thinking on WoW.com's part) about an upgrade to the Darkmoon Faire. I'd go more often if I could make an attempt to toss a caber, the stone or the sheaf. These are strength and agility events; having purchasable trinkets for both attributes would give everyone a chance to succeed. Rewards could be class-specific buff items of a certain duration. If you can get the caber to twelve o'clock (the prime position for this event; check out the North American Scottish Games Association for the rules), you get a scroll that will give a hunter an additional 50 agility for 10 minutes. It might be something of minor interest to a level 80 -- but you can be sure I'd be at the faire, just to try to toss a caber.
LotRO Spring Festival 2010: Shrewmageddon
Even the most dour dwarf or happy hobbit must take a break now and then from questing for a time of merriment, games and celebration. After all, we're pretty sure that the Enemy is a big killjoy, so what better way to spit in his eye than celebrate the life and beauty of the season with LotRO's Spring Festival? Starting today, LotRO players can hop around to this expanded festival, which includes group dancing, a mysterious hedge maze, shrew stomping, food, drink and more! There's a lot of great rewards for the dedicated party-goer, including the opportunity to grab a fish and slap a friend. Hit the jump for help in navigating this festival, as well as brand-new pictures of the event!
Koei throwing a gigantic Samurai Festival
Koei has decided that assembling giant crowds of fictionalized historical armies isn't enough! The publisher is now turning its attention toward assembling giant crowds of real people with its Sengoku Bushou Matsuri (Warring States Commander Festival), to be held March 6-7 in Saitama, Japan. The event is intended to celebrate not only samurai culture, but (of course) Koei's own recent Wii release, Samurai Warriors 3. The event is packed with Japanese celebrities, including singer and suspected vampire Gackt, and the entire Samurai Warriors 3 voice cast will attend. We believe all the attending celebrities will be participating in some kind of war drama. Which means that if you want to see TV stars pantomiming samurai warfare in outrageous, game-inspired costumes, this is probably where you want to go. Here's the really crazy part: Koei expects 80,000 to attend. [Via GameGrep; thanks, Peter]
MAGfest game & music festival rings in the new year
Do you live smack in the middle of Virginia and thirst for a gaming event to kick off the second decade of the 21st century (we're almost at flying cars, people!)? MAGfest seeks to fulfill that desire with it's annual video game festival. The show's organizers pledge to entertain you with everything from a 10,000-square-foot game room to a 24-hour "JamSpace" room (we assume that's different from a JellySpace room). Tickets are $40 for the weekend (Jan. 1–4) and pre-registration has already begun, which includes admission to each evening's gaming themed concerts, including a New Year's Eve party.
IndieCade 2009: The finalists
IndieCade 2009 was held in Culver City, CA this past weekend, and the local art galleries and restaurants were filled with independent games and their developers from all over the world. The festival billed itself as the "video game Sundance" and lived up to this self-made reputation, putting 29 different indie games on display, both throughout the weekend and during a Thursday night opening ceremony MC'd by Uncharted 2's Richard Lemarchand (shown above with festival founder Stephanie Barish).We've rounded up the festival's finalists in the gallery below. You may be familiar with a few of them, including Twisted Pixel's The Maw and a selection of well-known iPhone titles, but all of these titles deserve your attention -- and a playthrough!%Gallery-74606%
Researchers use Bluetooth to track festival goers, make fun of their 'hippie dancing'
A team from the University of Ghent in Belgium is lacing the site of this year's Rock Werchter festival -- Brussel's equivalent of Woodstock '97 -- with Bluetooth scanners (36 total, they cover a range of 30 meters each). While you're rocking out to the likes of Bloc Party and Mastodon, the researchers will be tracking your every movement, whether it be to the mosh pit, the beer tent, or the Job Johnny. As you've probably assumed, the researchers are primarily looking for ways that retailers can monitor customer flow (read: sell you more crap) although there are certainly going to be results applicable to the world of law enforcement. Of course, this is Bluetooth: you always have the option of disabling it on your phone, and if you don't they'll only be able to discern your MAC address. Besides, if you're not doing anything illegal, you have nothing to fear from the surveillance state -- right? And if you are up to no good, well, that's why they invented the Dazer Lazer.
Wandering through the hedge maze of Lord of the Rings Online's spring festival
Festivals come and festivals go, but how many games feature something as neat as a hedge maze for their spring festival event? A hedge maze with quests even!Tony over at MMeOw has put together a pretty nice overview of what the hedge maze in Lord of the Rings Online is all about. He goes over exactly why you want to chase chickens through the bushes, how to get through the maze in the fastest time possible, and the enjoyable parts of putting up signs of misdirection throughout the maze.Even if none of this sounds like it interests you, one of the possible prizes you can get is the fish slap emote, /fishslap. We are 100% confident on our side of the fence that none of you out there can turn down getting access to /fishslap.The maze isn't the only part of the spring festival, as all of the original trappings of last year have returned. The quests for the Inn-League, the eating contest in the festival grounds, and the other events are still making their yearly appearance. But if you're looking for a nice write-up of the hedge maze, look no further than MMeOw.
Know Your LotRO Lore: Celebrating the holidays Hobbit style
Welcome to Know Your LotRO Lore, a new weekly column here at Massively showcasing the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien's world as it intersects with Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online.For some, the holidays are already over, but for many they've just begun. Throughout Middle-earth, none are known better for their love of celebrating those holidays than the Hobbits. We've talked about the Hobbits here before on Know Your LotRO Lore, but with the winter festivities in full swing, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to explain more specifically about just why those Hobbits are so infamous for their partying.
Insomnia Film Festival postponed due to server problems
A few weeks ago, we told you about this year's Insomnia Film Festival -- a contest for high school and college students to create a 3-minute film in only 24 hours. However, eager contestants were greeted with some unfortunate news yesterday when they loaded the Apple Insomnia website.Apple notes that "due to unexpected challenges" the film festival will be postponed until after the holidays. Many TUAW readers let us know they were unable to register, so server errors could be to blame for this postponement. If you have already registered, Apple will contact you shortly with the new, rescheduled date. If you haven't registered for the film festival, and would still like to, you can do so on the Apple website. Thanks to Michael, David, and others for their tips!
World of WarCrafts: Midsummer magnet
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.Celebrate Midsummer with this one-of-a-kind novelty. Whether you're wanting to post your grocery list on the fridge or hang a picture of your latest crush in your locker, now you can do it with style. Here is what you will need: Polymer Clay (premo! turquoise and gold) Circle Clay Cutters Xacto Knife Adhesive Magnet Scissors Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-26162%
Tip: Run Midsummer as a lowbie
Here's a great tip from Darthkurai on LJ: doing the Midsummer Fire quests as a lowbie will net you a ton of nice XP. He grabbed almost two levels' worth of XP at level 40, just for running around to all the different bonfires throughout Azeroth. Bewarned that some of the quests have various level requirements on them (Undercity and all of the capital flames, as he finds out, are level 50 and above only, and of course Lord Ahune is only for level 70s), but doing all of the quests at low levels will net you a good 6-7k XP, which around level 40 will give you at least a ding or two.Pretty good for just running around the world once or twice. Everyone's excited about Ahune and what you can get from him, but don't forget your old alts, either -- logging them on during the festival and showing them the world (while killing on the way with those buffs) can grab you a nice chunk of free XP for them as well. The Midsummer Fire Festival is upon us! Check out WoW Insider's complete quest guide to collect those Burning Blossoms as well as our guide on how to spend them. Also, don't forget to eyeball our screenshot gallery of Midsummer events. Finally, find out how to kill Lord Ahune, and check out our break down of his loot table.
Midsummer Fun: The Midsummer Merchant
So by now, you've done some of the Midsummer quests, desecrated a few flames, and you have a bunch of Burning Blossoms burning a hole in your pocket. The question now is: What are you going to do with all of those? Sure, you can throw them in the nearest Festival Bonfire for the sweet buffs, but you can also spend them at the Midsummer Merchants and Midsummer Suppliers located next to every Capital City's fire. After the break, we'll look at exactly what you can buy and what they do.
World of Warcraft's Midsummer Fire Festival starts today!
Rejoice, Azerothians everywhere! Yet another outstanding in-game holiday is upon us, as the World of Warcraft continues to change before our eyes. The Midsummer Fire Festival is rolling out today, with numerous changes incorporated into this year's festivities. Unlike the lackluster event of years past, Fire Fest '08 incorporates some of the best elements of Brewfest, the Lunar Festival, and the last overhauled holiday: Hallow's End. Players can participate in a number of holiday-themed activities. These include: frolicking around a fire pole, visiting a number of bonfires scattered around the world, torch tossing, and a boss encounter deep in the heart of the slave pens. Taking part will earn a special event currency, called Burning Blossoms. Blossoms can be turned in at merchants for special seasonal rewards. The rewards range from some simple particle effects all the way up to a mini-pet, the Spirit of Summer. The fest should already be in full swing, so get yourself into town and light that fire!
Tavern guide for EverQuest 2's Brew Day Festival
The EverQuest II team sent over a guide for players looking forward to this year's fantastic Brew Day event. The Festival starts today, and runs through to next Friday, the 21st. Players who participate can snag themselves a Tumpy Tonic bottle for their house, and talented videomakers who create a feature for the Brew Day video contest could win a real Tumpy Tonic glass!To make your Brew Day extra special, check out the official Tavern Guide, which lists player-run restaurants and bars. These establishments will be celebrating the event in high style, so check out the guide or read below the cut for directions to a bar on a server near you.
The DS Life: Holding handhelds in public
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.Every July, over a million visitors flock to Osaka's Tenjin Matsuri, a thousand-year-old tradition and one of Japan's three biggest festivals. The city's streets are choked with wandering crowds, food vendors, and parading pageants; police officers struggle just to keep the flood of people in order. At the chaotic celebration's edges, though, quiet, romantic moments can still be found.
Katamari creator to keynote UK's GameCity
Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi will give a keynote address at this year's GameCity festival in Nottingham, England. According to GI.biz, Takahashi will also be showing off his upcoming title Nobi Nobi Boy. Takahashi's keynote will take place Saturday, October 27. Festival participants include Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Freestyle Games, Travellers Tales, Free Radical Design, Mode 7 and Frontier; more details are expected shortly. The second annual GameCity festival will be held October 24 through 28 at Nottingham Trent University.
