halloween
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Halloween festivities for NCsoft titles
We already filled you in on CoX getting some Halloween fun underway, but NCsoft has now let 1Up know what their plans are for their other titles.Guild Wars players can expect the return of the infamous Mad King Thorn. This joker typically visits different areas of towns telling people what to do, rewarding those that listen and destroying those that don't. The two cities he will make appearances at are Lion's Arch and Kamadan, and you'll need to be around between October 26th and midnight October 31st to catch him.Lineage II fans will see the "Trick or Transmutation" event for their Halloween celebration. This will involve a treasure hunt for some Alchemist's Chests, to create Philosopher's Stones and unlock rewards. Some of these rewards will reportedly be unique to this event, and if you're interested in trying your hand at the hunt, the event begins October 26th.Finally, NCsoft is even infusing their unreleased MMO Tabula Rasa with Halloween madness. Those who have preordered the game will get to play a few days early, in the headstart promotion, and will be able to go on missions to earn special Halloween masks.If you want to find out about the celebrations already going on in CoX check out our previous coverage, and a link to 1Up's article is provided below.
Brooms going bye-bye
Just a friendly reminder-- better get all your broom riding from the Headless Horseman drops in as soon as possible, because when Hallow's End is over, Bornakk says they're all going poof, Epic or otherwise.November 1st is the last day of Hallow's End, so come next Thursday, not only will you be sick from all the candy, but the costumes, decorations, and yes, the brooms will all be gone. Get that magic broom flying in now while you can, because in just a week, they'll be takin' yo' broom.Update: A few players are saying that the brooms will disappear after 14 days of /played time, not after November 1st. My understanding was that when Hallow's End is over, so is the broom riding. We'll find out next Thursday. Happy Halloween!
Xbox 360 stencils + pumpkin = great Halloween
October 31st is quickly approaching and that means you have two things to do. One being that you only have a week or so to carve a pumpkin to decorate your doorstep for the night's trick-or-treaters. The other issue that needs taking care of is that you'll have to stock up on a year supply of Halloween candy. We here at X3F can only help you with one of your duties, so we're leaving the candy stockpile up to you.Posted over at Xbox.com is a set of four downloadable Xbox 360 themed pumpkin carving stencils to aid in creating the ultimate 360 pumpkin. The stencils feature such iconic 360 themes like the ring of light, the infamous "X" logo and the silhouette of our white console. Don't think you have the talent to make a 360 pumpkin? Well, you're wrong, it's actually quite easy. Simply choose your favorite design, download it, print it off, cut it out, slap it on your orange gourde of choice, hollow out said gourde and start cutting out the black stuff. Then all you have to do is light a candle inside and voila! You now have Xbox 360 Halloween pride. Just be leery of the dreaded red ring of death ... it's reported that Halloween brings four times the amount of red ring failures than normal. Boo!
CoX halloween event starts today
Today Halloween has come to Paragon City. The holiday event we've been waiting for is finally here, and will be with us until November 4th. There are plenty of activities during these few weeks that you'll want to take part in. First off, there are classic costumes available to collect. Wish you could trick-or-treat as a Coralax Minion or Paragon Protector? Wish granted. There is also a Halloween costume contest, which you can participate in if you happen to be in New York and going to the ComicsOnline.com event.Baddies from years past are also back to join in the fun, err fight. The Unseelie Court is sending their minions to Paragon City, and that means that just about every nightmarish monster will be roaming the streets needing to receive some swift justice: werewolves, witches, vampires and more. I personally cannot wait to log in and see it all for myself. I have been away from the game for several years and haven't had the joy of knowing what a holiday event like this does to CoX.
Hallow's End is here
To anyone who plays World of Warcraft the mention the month of October brings up images of trick-or-treating and bats circling above. That's right, the annual Hallow's End event has begun, and this year it is proving to not only be the best Hallow's End since they started the holiday, it's also the best holiday event of all. I'm not implying that saving Metzen the Reindeer from the pirates in Tanaris wasn't a blast, but there is just something about having both the Wickernan burning and the Headless Horseman riding through the villages of Azeroth that just screams "fun."As I mentioned, the newest incarnation of WoW's Hallow's End holiday event includes a 5-man encounter featuring the Headless Horseman. The fight is fairly challenging, and you can only tackle it once a day, but the items dropped from this fight are pretty amazing. My current favorite is the Sinister Squashling pet, although the paladin tank in our guild is oh so happy to have his Horseman's helm, and cackles madly whenever he gets the chance. The shiny loots dropped in the encounter have raised some bad blood on the part of certain raiders, but I personally hope that we have more bosses in holiday encounters in the future. Anything that brings out sense of humor already so evident in the game is a plus in my book. I just wonder, who will we be fighting in November, an angry pilgrim with an axe to grind?
Pi Story returns for second closed beta
Pi Story (the cutesy anime-styled side-scrolling 2.5D MMORPG) has returned after a couple of months back on the drawing board for a rework. A second round of beta testing is opening up on October 26 at 6PM GMT, and closing on November 2 at 7AM GMT, with servers running from 6PM to 7AM GMT each day during the round of beta testing. Major bugs reported by players from the last closed beta round have been tested and fixed for a smoother game play. The server's performance has also been improved for less network issues. New additions to the game include more maps, a new class, and enhanced battle skills for a better game experience.
PlanetSide update deets hit the spawn point
I only played PlanetSide for a while, and while I liked it quite a bit, I didn't get quite as into it as I probably could have-- if you haven't been able to dive into it yet, the game hasn't aged so well, and without a few good friends in there to pull you along, you're likely to lose interest as I did.Still, there's nothing that will pull you back into a game like an update, and it looks like PlanetSide is scheduled for another one by the end of the month. Joel Sasaki, PlanetSide's CSR, says a Halloween update is due, with special holiday textures (skulls and pumpkins, oh my), and something called the Chain Blade Massacre will return from last year. I can't say I've experienced it myself, but anything with chains, blades, and melee tactics has got to be fun.Additionally, Black Ops testing continues, we're told, and should be ready for the test realm soon. With FPSes like Battlefield 2142 and Halo 3 around, I almost can't believe PlanetSide is still updating. But I guess you can't count out that MMO update factor-- these changes sound cool enough to make me pull those old discs out and give PlanetSide another try later this month.
Breakfast Topic: Your Hallow's End goals
With Hallow's End upon us, there is much for the intrepid Trick or Treater to enjoy. Will you be killing the Headless Horsemen for epic rings and Sinister Squashlings? Or riding through Outland on a Flying Broom? Or indulge in the many RP possibilities using masks and illusions? Or will you pass on all the holiday activities because you're too busy learning Zul'Aman on the PTR? Tell us what you plan to do during the two weeks of Hallow's End and why. %Poll-4356%
Hallow's End quest guides for 2007
Hallow's End has grown quite a bit this year. Adding to the old favorites of Innkeep Trick or Treating, PvP Smoke Bombing and Wickerman raids is the new Daily Quest to trigger the 5-man Headless Horseman event in the Scarlet Monastery graveyard wing. Considering this new mob drops Flying Broom Mounts, Evil Pumpkin Pets and Purple Jewelry, you can guess that he is going to be quite popular with the players.New guides on defeating the Headless Horseman have sprung up around the Net. The fight doesn't seem too difficult for a group of L70s, but you can get an overview of all three phases and the loot table and WoW Wiki.Also check out this excellent Hallow's End guide that covers all the activities for the holiday and lists the reputation gains and item rewards associated with each quest. Now put on your scary face and go get some Hallow's End goodies.Looking for the new 2008 WoW Insider Hallow's End guide? You can find it right here.
Put Funghi all over your face
Just in time for Halloween, Atlus has added something to the download section of the Touch Detective 2 1/2 website: masks! Now you can make your own paper representation of one of the game's iconic characters. We can hardly think of anything more unsettling when it comes to cheap Halloween getups. Skip past the jump to see how the masks look in versions far smaller than your face.However, the masks will probably not be enough to win you one of the prizes in the Atlus Halloween Costume Contest being held on their official forums.
Thinksecret throws their guess in the Leopard hat: October 26th
If you listened live to our TUAW talkcast last night (and you should have, because we were on fire, if I may say so myself), you heard us doing the same thing all Apple fans are doing this week: speculating on the (hopefully impending) release date of Leopard. Most of us still hold out hope for October (and we did realize that coming out around Halloween would make for some excellent Apple-related Halloween costumes), but personally, I'm still betting on October 26th. As we said last night, not only would that make for a weekend full of Leopard-y goodness, but the full moon is on the 25th, so the stars will be aligned just right for Time Machine.And Thinksecret agrees with me (that's awfully nice of them). Their sources (although I can tell you that I wasn't asked) say that Leopard is still on track for an October 26th release. I said last night that I expected Apple to actually announce a release date this coming week, but apparently it's still too early for that-- a new (and final) Leopard build is expected this week, and once that gets final approval, Thinksecret says October 26th is the day.However, time is definitely running out. Let's not forget that Apple announced Tiger a full 17 days before release, and that deadline passed last week. If they're not done debugging Leopard, there's a good chance we won't see it in October at all anyway. Not even the witches and goblins of Halloween will make Jobs do something he doesn't want to do.Thanks, Dewey K!
Moustache not included
It'sa me ... sorta! If you're on the lookout for a game-inspired costume this Halloween, we would like to recommend not this costume. Spencer over at Siliconera happened upon this Mario-esque kit while searching for his own costume, and found it lacking. His major problem with the kit is that it's one-size-fits-all, or, in other words, a sack.That's one of our problems with this item from Leg Avenue (who is, by the way, a lingerie company first and foremost; consider that information when deciding whether it's a good idea to open the link where you are). Our other major issues include the lack of a moustache and the fact that the costume is probably made out of that paper-thin stretchy nylon stuff that most cheap Halloween costumes are made out of, and will therefore look exactly as cool as any other loose Spandex overalls you may have worn in your lifetime. Let us put it this way-- it's going to look worse in real life than it does on the package.
Wii Warm Up: Costumes
Yesterday, we saw some various gaming costumes that reminded us that Halloween is just around the corner. Will you be dressing up this year, and if so, will you be adopting a game-related theme? It's always fun to see someone pull off a good gaming costume. We're off to a party this year, but finding round, pregnancy-friendly costume ideas has thus far proven a challenge, since the man of the house isn't too thrilled with the idea of his lady slapping on a fake mustache and taking advantage of the belly to do a Mario-drag thing. Or maybe it's just that he doesn't want to go as Peach. Oh well, back to the drawing board!
Attack me if you dare, I will (dress up like Ken and) crush you!
The folks at GameSniped are quite adept at finding weird and awesome game stuff on eBay, but in a recent post they demonstrated their expertise at finding new items as well. Like these Street Fighter character costumes.They're all as accurate as can be, but, like all game character designs, they just look weird on real people. And we remember Akuma being a lot scarier and not displaying quite so much swagger. But then, the guy doesn't come with the costume. You're out of luck if you want to be Ryu, unless you can find a torn martial arts uniform anywhere else, but the rest are in stock and on sale. But who would want to be Ryu when you can be one of the more interesting Shotokan practitioners? Apparently, a bunch of Costume Cauldron shoppers.[Via GameSniped]
Show and Tell: Zelda week, day three
Maybe we can't all ink our love for Zelda into our flesh, like the folks in yesterday's edition (which has been updated; don't miss the new tats!), but we can wear it in various ways. T-shirts are popular, of course, but we've seen jewelry and more in the past. There is no limit to creativity when it comes to draping our bodies with game gear, which is why today's Show and Tell is dedicated to wearable items of all types. We've got quite a few specimens after the jump -- so check 'em out!Do you have some awesome Zelda gear? Anything from t-shirts to tattoos, to statues and standees, if it features Link, we want to help you show it off. Snap some pics and send 'em to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll be here all week.
Blu-ray movie releases for the week of Sept. 30
Now that we're entering the month of Halloween, we'll be seeing an influx of Blu-ray horror movies, and we can't be more excited. This week we're treated with vampires, zombies and psychotic killers, but if horror isn't your thing, you should be covered with A Room with a View and Galapagos. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Bram Stoker's Dracula The Day After Tomorrow Halloween Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn Dawn of the Dead Day of the Dead Galapagos A Room with a View Any time two George Romero and Sam Raimi classics are released in the same week, you know you're in heaven. Do yourself a favor and at least pick up Dawn of the Dead; it's the best zombie movie ever made.
WoW's own Headless Horseman
Patch 2.2.2 (currently on the PTRs) doesn't just feature Oktoberfest... er, I mean Brewfest event -- there are also some changes to the regular Hallow's End event, in the form of a daily quest to summon the Headless Horseman from inside the Scarlet Monastery graveyard. And the Horseman isn't just here to celebrate the occasion -- MMO-Champion reports he also has an epic loot table featuring both useful gear and toys. On the useful side, there's a DPS caster ring, a healer ring, a physical DPS ring, and a DPS plate helm. But more interestingly, he can also drop broom mounts of four types, one for each level of riding skill. The downside? Your new cool broom mount is single-use only.[Thanks Darkbeard and Boubouille!]
Manhunt 2 trims down to Mature rating for October release
The New York Times called this one -- a slimmer, sleeker, and we can only guess happier Manhunt 2 will hit shelves, appropriately enough, on Halloween. The ESRB issued a new rating for the game, lowering the Adults Only tag to Mature, which clears the game for release. The game's fate in Europe, where it was banned in several countries, is as yet unknown, but we expect to hear some news on that front soon. The entire debacle, though cleared up, is still disheartening. With the number of adult gamers increasing all the time, and comparisons between game and film content demonstrating the vast difference in standards, we hope that someday, something in the system will change. For now, however, it seems publishers and developers, and indeed, all of us, are at the mercy of the ESRB and the standards of Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. [Via Joystiq; image found here.]%Gallery-3148%
Dementium set to scare up sales on Halloween
The survival horror title from Gamecock and new developer Renegade Kid, Dementium: The Ward, is set for release on Halloween. Spooky! We just hope the game follows up. From the impressions and this spiffy boxart, however, it looks like we may be nightsticking monsters while mowing through the holiday haul this year. If there's two things the DS needs more of, it's violence and horror. The website has been updated with the new date, which was confirmed via press release this morning.
Win a party with Rob Zombie courtesy of Dead Head Fred
Vicious Cycle, the developers behind the upcoming zombie game, Dead Head Fred, have teamed up with Rob Zombie to offer a chance to party with the Devilish musician/actor/director for a very special screening of his remake of Halloween. If you win, you get to invite 50 of your friends for an all expenses paid party with a pre-release showing of Zombie's version of Halloween, which means the party would be in the next couple weeks. Up to three people can win, which is unusually generous for these kinds of contests so sign-up while you can! A word of caution though, you have to sign-up for a Heavy.com account in order to participate. Won't cost you anything, but still a bit annoying.[Via WorthPlaying]%Gallery-3233%
