fourth of july

Latest

  • Walt Disney World unveils incredibly scary, robotic version of President Obama

    by 
    Laura June Dziuban
    Laura June Dziuban
    07.03.2009

    His likeness is so... unlike him, so incredibly, terrifyingly creepy (and yet still impressive all the same).

  • The Daily Grind: Celebrating real holidays virtually

    by 
    Lesley Smith
    Lesley Smith
    07.03.2009

    My American sources tell me this is a long weekend for you folks across the pond. Something about independence from Blighty a few hundred years ago. Essentially an excuse to let off fireworks, have BBQs, enjoy the fine weather and skive off work. Good on you. It seems like lots of MMOs are using it as an excuse to take the real celebrations in-game. For example, World of Warcraft has the Midsummer Fire Festival which concludes tomorrow with a bunch of snoozing goblin guards and a whopping fireworks display. Likewise, Lord of the Rings Online has one festival with four different names.Given the fact the games are created by humans, it's no surprise the in-game festivals of all our favourite MMOs share a little in common with actual celebrations in real life. However they can also be handy for people too far away to meet up this 4th of July, most often troops on active duty or family members and friends separated by thousands of miles or even continents. So are any of you out there planning to eschew real celebrations in favour of meeting up with your guildies in-game? Are you going to travel around to see the fireworks or, if you play, WoW raid an enemy city. Do you prefer celebrating such events in-game? Do you mark them on your calendar and anticipate them as much as their real world counterparts? Do you wish the developers would expand world festivals to take account of more important holidays?

  • Download a free Sacktue of Liberty costume for LittleBigPlanet

    by 
    Andrew Yoon
    Andrew Yoon
    06.29.2009

    The free DLC continues! Make sure you log on to the PlayStation Store soon, so you can pick up the free Druid costume. It'll only be available for a few more days ...Then, you'll be able to download this free Sacktue of Liberty costume, in celebration of the upcoming Independence Day holiday weekend. This too will be a limited time offer, so don't get too drunk over the weekend and forget to download it. This costume will be available during this Thursday's (July 2nd) PlayStation Store update.

  • WAR's summer celebration event has begun

    by 
    William Dobson
    William Dobson
    06.27.2009

    Warhammer Online is celebrating the fourth of July and summer in general by offering some in-game bonuses, and providing some explosive incentives for participating in RvR. WAR's James Nichols announced the event's official opening yesterday, saying, "It's our way of saying thanks, have fun, and enjoy the start of summer with a BANG!" As part of the event, all players can now take advantage of a 10% bonus to experience and renown gain. On top of this, slain enemy players will drop fireworks that can be used to revel in your victory -- we imagine large skirmishes will end with a whole bunch of colorful explosions for the duration of the celebrations. These bonuses will be in effect for about a week and a half, ending on the 7th of July.

  • Phat Loot Phriday: Perpetual Purple Firework

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    07.04.2008

    For the Fourth, we're going with the obvious choice: a hot little infinite fireworks trinket that isn't all that easy to get.Name: Perpetual Purple Firework (Wowhead, Thottbot, TCGLoot)Type: Epic (sometimes Uncommon) TrinketDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Use: Shoots a purple fireworks display into the air that explodes into a rain of sparkles. It has infinite uses (hence the "perpetual"), and a 30 second cooldown. The whole display itself lasts about 4 seconds, but it does like pretty purty. No level requirements, so anyone can use it -- provided you can get it. How to Get It: Yes, it's a TCG item, but not one of the normal ones, where you just buy a booster and hope you pick it up. Nope, this fireworks trinket is part of Upper Deck's "points" program, in which points is just a fancy word for "spend more money!" Every booster pack you buy has a certain number of points in it, and when you've collected enough points cards, you can spend them on UDE's website for ingame items like this one. There's about 100 points per booster pack, and this item currently costs 3,000 points (it used to cost 10,000!), so you'd have to buy 30 booster packs (MSRP around $5, though you can find them cheaper and more expensive in different places, so about $150 total) to get enough points for the trinket.Fortunately, we have eBay, where people are selling and buying the UDE points for as cheap as $15. Still not really a great way to get an ingame item (spending real money for virtual stuff, woo!), but if you really want to get your hands on this trinket, there you go. Otherwise, just do a few runs of Scarlet Monastery's Armory, and you'll have all the fireworks you need.Getting Rid of It: You can't! Vendors won't take it, and it'll never run out of charges, so the only way to get rid of it would be to destroy it. And that would be like throwing money down the drain, which is something that TCG buyers would never ever do, right? Right?

  • WRUP: Playing with fireworks edition

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    07.04.2008

    Happy Fourth of July! Yes, here in America it's the day to celebrate our nation's birthday with fireworks and BBQ, and lots of different games are going to be shooting off their own fireworks and otherwise holding celebrations this afternoon and evening to enjoy. Our Tip of the Day has a nicely comprehensive list of what's going on around the virtual realms already -- from free food and beer in Warcraft to a Void Storm in Everquest and the Dragon Festival of Guild Wars, there's tons of stuff to do ingame, no matter where you are.So what are you going to be playing in the world of MMOs this holiday weekend? Leave a comment below and let us know which games you'll be playing on your day off this weekend (or, if you're not in America, which games you'll be playing when you get off of work).And from all of us at Massively, have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

  • Warcraft III's Orc appears on fireworks

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    07.04.2008

    What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July today than to sit outside with some good beer, some tasty BBQ, and a whole lot of cheaply made fireworks? Brom and Seku on the Llane server were kind enough to send us this picture they took of a firework they found at a store in Pittsburg, Kansas -- apparently the "Behemoth," made by the Consumer Fireworks company in China, not only "emits showers of sparks," it also blows copyright law completely out of the water. Very nice.One more gigantic pic of the Behemoth and its Warcraft III orc cover art after the jump. If you do use fireworks (or break copyright law) today, do it safely, and have a great holiday!%Gallery-26839%

  • Happy Fourth of July from WoW Insider!

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    07.04.2008

    Yes, it's time once again for those of us in the United States to celebrate our nation's birthday with fireworks, BBQ, and hopefully a day off. From all of us here at WoW Insider to all of you, happy Fourth of July. And to everyone else outside of America -- get back to work, it's Friday!As is traditional around Midsummer Fire, the capital cities of Azeroth should have free beer and food available this evening, as well as hourly fireworks displays to watch. If you ask us, the best place to see the festivities is Booty Bay -- nothing like seeing the explosions light up the sky above the Bay, though we've also seen some good displays in Stormwind as well.No matter what you're up to this holiday, in-game or out, have a terrific and safe Fourth of July.

  • Boom, boom! Happy Fourth of July everyone!

    by 
    Dustin Burg
    Dustin Burg
    07.04.2007

    Today's the day Americans celebrate their independence, blow things up, eat lots of grilled food and hang out with friends and family. Some even, believe it or not, ritually drink a little too much this July 4th and get themselves in heaps of trouble. But that's a story for another time. Make today all about sharing time with those around you and if you have nothing planned then hop onto Xbox Live, play some games with friends or just Boom Boom Rocket the day away. It'd be like your own personal fireworks show on your TV without risking second degree burns. From everyone here at Xbox 360 Fanboy, we raise our sparklers to our fellow readers, freedom and those who fight for it. Have a wonderful and event filled July 4th!

  • Happy Fourth of July

    by 
    Ludwig Kietzmann
    Ludwig Kietzmann
    07.04.2006

    It's the Fourth of July and Wii Fanboy hopes that you have a day that, at the very least, borders on excellence. Be sure to invite your friends over and play some games on the platform of your choice, be that the Xbox 360, the Gamecube or the Atari Jaguar. Next year, however, we'll insist that you invite friends over to play Wii Sports, Super Mario Galaxy and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. Assuming you still have friends by then, of course. Did you honestly expect them to hang out with you and your Jaguar?