festivals
Latest
Recommended Reading: Brands are not your friend
Why Comcast Sent Me Pizza Ian Bogost, The Atlantic Brands -- well, #brands may be the more accurate term here -- do all sorts of things that seem like they're rewarding you, dear customer, for some action or loyalty. The Atlantic dives into how these acts of kindness and mountains (literally) of freebies almost always stem from an ulterior motive, especially when social media is part of the equation. Just because Comcast sends you a stack of pizzas, doesn't mean you're best pals.
Beatport's dance music streaming service lands on iOS and Android
There are more music streaming apps than the world needs. But there hasn't really been a streamlined experience for electronic dance music listeners until now. Most of the popular apps -– Spotify, 8tracks and Pandora -– have a plethora of dance music tracks and amateur playlists to choose from, but they're not dedicated to the fist-thumping, bass-pounding needs of a dance music lover. Beatport, the go-to stream and download site for DJs and their fans, has finally stepped up its game with the launch of iOS and Android apps today. It's the latest service to join T-Mobile's Music Freedom program, which streams music without eating into your data plan.
Massively's Guild Wars 2 Queen's Jubilee patch preview
It's party time again in Guild Wars 2! The young ruler of Kryta, Queen Jennah, is pulling out the stops to celebrate human resilience and ingenuity at the ten year anniversary of her reign. All of Kryta's allies are invited -- yes, even you. Yes, even after that unfortunate incident with the cake. This is a time of healing. All is forgiven. ArenaNet recently invited Massively to take a peek at what it has in store for the latest living story release, Queen's Jubilee. While the developers were careful not to spoil any plot details, we did get a preview of some of the new content, features and quality of life improvements GW2 players have to look forward to. Jump past the break to check it out!
Tattered Notebook: There's too much to do in EverQuest II!
For this latest Tattered Notebook, I'd already planned -- and in fact was in the middle of -- writing impressions of Scars of the Awakened, EverQuest II's most recent meaty update. I've collected a slew of notes taken from the adventurer and crafter questlines, including some tips and time-saving tricks. But amidst all that intense update research (I gladly sacrifice myself for you guys!), I got distracted. And no, it wasn't by a shiny! You see, although the land of Cobalt Scar opened up just over a month ago, I've been pulled away and unable to complete everything I want to in that zone. Why? Because in that same time, there have been multiple city festivals, a round of Moonlight Enchantments (with new quests and brand-new housing items that were a must have), a double XP weekend that just begged for some serious crafting advancement, a commissioned housing project to complete, personal houses to decorate, old quests to finally finish up... and that was just to start! As the guilt for not finishing the entirety of GU66 settled in, friends who weren't as high-level as I wanted to play together in areas they had access to, which coincidentally did not include the latest update. So off I ran through older zones and dungeons with lower-leveled friends. Needless to say, my in-game adventures of late have stretched all over the map of Norrath. Sounds busy, no? It was during all this that I had to finally lay my delusions of finishing everything I have planned before EverQuest Next to rest; there's just too much to do in EQII!
Wings Over Atreia: Bite-sized Aion
It happens. No matter how much you enjoy Aion, there just comes a time when you can't do marathon gaming sessions, with snacks stockpiled next to you and no regard for the clock. Sometimes life demands attention, and you just can't really delve in and lose yourself for untold hours on end. It could be flooding or house fires (been there, done that), a change in employment, a move, impending term papers, or a change in your household. Regardless the reason, any number of things -- from the mundane to the truly unbelievable -- can occur and prevent solid chunks of gaming time. Such has been my case over the past couple of months. Sadly, real life intervened in both some wonderful and some tragic ways that have prevented me from spending any length of time in-game at one sitting. And even when I did get in, I'd feel so paralyzed by how much I need to do that I'd end up doing nothing. So what's a Daeva to do? Well, just because you or I cannot spend hours at a time in Atreia doesn't mean we can't still enjoy it! Even if you find yourself temporarily unable to spend quantity time in Aion, you can still indulge in quality time; there are plenty of smaller tasks that move you toward your goals without requiring inordinate amounts of time to actually accomplish. Today, Wings Over Atreia explores some of those bite-sized bits of Aion that can be enjoyed when only quick bursts of gaming time are available.
Vanguard patch ushers in the Festival of the Grim Harvest
It's that time again -- the time when every game world finds a way to celebrate something like Halloween. Of course, in a world where the dead actually do wander the world on a regular basis, the festivities take on a slightly different tone. Vanguard, for example, has ushered in the Festival of the Grim Harvest, an event celebrating the time of year when the veil between the world of the living and dead grows thin and all manner of hauntings take place. Players looking to take part in the festival can offer their assistance to the mourning widower Jett Helond or investigate the mounting undead presence surrounding New Targonor. There are also returning enemies from previous festivals and new themed items in the Marketplace. Last but not least, the patch ushers in some performance and optimization improvements for the game client. Vanguard players can check the full notes for more details and a few welcome bugfixes.
Turbine outlines 2012 festivals, mentions new Farmer's Faire event
Spring has sprung, and that usually means it's Spring Festival time in Lord of the Rings Online. This year, though, Turbine has pushed the annual in-game event into the month of May due to its busy schedule, which raised questions about the rest of LotRO's yearly shindigs. Turbine took to its forums yesterday to address the concerns, and while the dates aren't set in stone as of yet, it looks like all of the regular events are present and accounted for. LotRO's fifth anniversary festival leads things off next month, followed by the Spring Festival in May, the Farmer's Faire in July, the Summer Festival in August, and the Fall Festival in October. Wait, the Farmer's Faire? Yep, that's a new event, and we'll keep an eye out for news on that going forward.
Wings Over Atreia: F2P and vet rewards and bears, oh my!
OK, so maybe there aren't really any bears. Wait, I take that back -- there are maybe sorta bears... at least alluded to! Polar bears, to be exact. No really, work with me here: What Winter Festival, Atreian or otherwise, doesn't conjure up images of polar bears? We just won't get into the whole dancing bears thing. What we will get into this week in Wings Over Atreia, however, are musings about a few topics of interest that are swirling around lately, most notably Aion's upcoming conversion to free-to-play in Europe, the changes to the veteran reward system, and the aforementioned Winter Festival (sans dancing bears). Quick quiz now: Other than involving Aion, what else do these three subjects have in common? Give up? Time. While this column usually delves into single topics at a time, the fact that two of these are time-sensitive necessitates that they share face-time, else the news most relevant to Daevas would become obsolete. The third is less time-sensitive but more time-relevant.
The Daily Grind: Do you attend fan-created events in game?
Guild Wars has Wintersday, Lord of the Rings Online has the Spring Festival ... heck, many MMOs have at least one developer-created party per year, often more. Those aren't the only ones, though. Enthusiastic fans love to get involved and create events to celebrate milestones, support charities, or just have fun and blast through content as a big group. Large or small, these sorts of events are everywhere. What we want to know today is whether or not you participate in them? If the community is promoting a party in your game of choice, do you add it to your calendar and make sure to stop by? Are there deciding factors that help you decide whether you'll attend or not, factors like event size, level of organization, or potential prizes and loot? Hit the comment button and let us know! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
