Free Realms’ Super Spooktacular runs from October 14 through to November 11, at which point everyone will give up and start playing Modern Warfare 2. The spooktacular features decorations, daily trick or treating, special seasonal mini-games, new quests, and more than 35 new costumes for players and pets to dress up in. You gotta love a game that comes with animal costumes. Take that, World of Warcraft!

“We are celebrating the first Halloween in Free Realms, with weeks of spooky activities and festive live events,” said Andy Sites, senior producer at Sony Online Entertainment. “After a night of trick-or-treating the fun doesn’t have to end. Dressed as a chicken, mummy, witch or any of the other crazy costumes available, kids can explore virtual neighbourhoods with millions of friends from the safety of their own home.”

Those of you who’ve been following the site for a few years may remember my irrational love affair with the word spooktacular. This is why Free Realms’ celebration gets mentioned. For celebration plans for the rest of SOE’s MMO lineup, feel free to hunt for each individual website. Don’t search for ’spooktacular’.

What I’m talking about are real-life situations that gamers get into that are truly frightening. True tales of gaming horror that could happen to any of us at any moment. Turn on your night light and check under the bed before hitting the jump.

5. The Unannounced Family Visit: I don’t know about your family, but mine can be pretty terrifying at times, and no more so than when they show up at my door when I am deep into a game, causing me to pause it, which gives me something to stare at while they go on about whatever it is they think is more important. Just the fact that the game is right there in front of you, yet you cannot touch it, feel it, or lose yourself deep within its immersive environments brings to mind the movie (based on the novel) Johnny Got His Gun, where a World War I soldier winds up with no arms, no legs, and cannot speak, trapped inside his own body. Playing Metallica’s “One” in your head during these moments only heightens the sensation.

4. Memory Card Full: This doesn’t happen much anymore, so it’s the video game equivalent of ghost stories revolving around kids making out in the woods in cars once spacious enough to do so. When I picked up my very first PlayStation with Final Fantasy VII, no one mentioned that I would be needing a memory card, which led to a late night Wal Mart run during a thunderstorm while living in an apartment complex prone to brown outs. The guys at Penny Arcade know what I am talking about. Scary, yes, but much more agonizing when you have a memory card and it simply doesn’t have enough room on it. It’s just that much worse when it could have easily been prevented.

3. The Power Outage: There is something primordially scary about the darkness. What we cannot see cannot hurt us, but try telling our imagination that. The darkness can be even more terrifying, however, when accompanied by the afterimage of the game you were just playing ghosting in your vision. You’re just about to beat the boss in a game you’ve been trying to complete for weeks, and just before you strike the final blow, everything goes black. That isn’t just a power outage. That’s a boss so powerful he reached into the real world and blew a transformer in your neighbourhood, just to thwart you. Perhaps now he’s out there in the darkness, waiting…

2. The Booty Call: On one hand, I hope you’ve experienced this particular horror filled moment, but on the other it’s probably for the best that you haven’t. You’re deep into a game…deeper that you’ve ever been…perhaps even in the zone, and suddenly your significant other starts kissing your ear, or brushing their fingers along your arm…tell-tale signs that they want to get romantic. The younger gamers among us would say that the choice is an easy one, but the older gamers out there know this feeling. Do you pull the save point card? Do you tell your raid that you have to drop for personal reasons? Or perhaps you risk continuing to play, hoping for make-up sex later? The most terrifying thing about this particular horror is the sheer fact that we spend the better part of our youth desperate for moments like this, and now we have to pause to think about it, even for a moment.

1. System Failure: This is the big one, ladies and gentlemen. A moment so terrifying that it gives me shivers just to type out this paragraph. There is no moment quite as horrifying as being in the middle of your favourite new game, perhaps snuggled up in your favourite chair with snacks arranged strategically around you so you don’t have to get up for anything, only to have your console make an odd sound and simply power off, never to power on again. Microsoft went as far as giving this fear a face, which players then gave a name – the Red Ring of Death. Much worse when you are out of warranty, and even more so when you are living paycheck to paycheck.

These are just five examples out of many of the real life horrors we face as gamers, and I’m sure you folks have many more to share. Running out of batteries for your controllers, getting cornered by that one freaky guy who hangs out at GameStop…it’s amazing any of us made it past 30 really. Feel free to share your horror stories in the comments section, and remember – our machine gun turrets have locked onto your heat signatures. Happy Halloween!

Hit the jump for more details, including what’s in store for Lineage II, and Exteel players. Did someone say free giant mech paint jobs?

Guild Wars

On Friday, October 24, Mad King Thorn makes his return to Guild Wars in yet another ghoulish Halloween season in Tyria. Players can take on the king and his maniacal mini-games, jokes and riddles at their own risk. But the rewards will be worth the effort. Winners will earn fabulous prizes. Losers will be killed. But like any good Halloween event, you can always come back to try again. Other events for this Halloween season include a costume brawl in a newly designed area of Guild Wars, dreadful Halloween peddlers located in Lion’s Arch and Kamadan who will barter for their creepy items and photo ops where you can take your character’s picture amongst some of the holiday props and settings. More information on all the frightful happenings in Guild Wars can be found here, http://www.guildwars.com/events/ingame/halloween2008/.

City of Heroes

City of Heroes’ annual Halloween event is back again with even more evil twists. This season, gruesome zombies are on the prowl and they’re after all heroes and villains. In addition to fighting off the dead guys, City of Heroes’ Halloween event has a familiar look with Classical Costumes. Badges will be awarded to those who collect the most costumes. But don’t stop there. Wear your costumes and go out trick or treating in Paragon City. Check out http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/archives/2008/10/halloween_event.html for more info.

Lineage II

Lineage II players will be celebrating Halloween along with the launch of the latest update to the game, Gracia – Part 2. On Tuesday, October 28th, the day Gracia – Part 2 launches, all players level 20 and above who go to their warehouse will receive a Pumpkin Transformation Stick which will change the player into a pumpkin ghost. Additionally there will be a surprise gift, but we can’t tell you what this is until next week when the event starts. All the details about Lineage II’s special Halloween Haunt can be found here, http://www.lineage2.com/archive/2008/10/halloween_haunt.html.

Tabula Rasa

For the next two weeks players can participate in special Halloween missions scattered throughout Tabula Rasa’s expansive world. Complete them and you’ll get a trick or treat emote and one of nine masks. If you played trick or treat in Tabula Rasa last year, you may recognise some of the masks but some will be brand new. For more information visit http://www.rgtr.com/news/latest_news/trick_or_treat.html.

Exteel

Starting Wednesday, October 29, Exteel will be celebrating its first Halloween by giving all of its players the opportunity to paint their robotic Mechanaughts orange and black at no extra cost. They’ll also be able to enjoy their new Halloween-themed paint schemes while earning 50% more credits and experience for every match played in the game. Be sure to take advantage of it quickly–Exteeloween ends on November 5! For more information about Exteel go to http://www.exteel.com.