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EverQuest II ushers in a new age of player-created content with its new Dungeon Maker system, a ridiculously easy and entertaining way to amaze and kill your friends. More »
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From the generic fantasy city of the original EverQuest to the grungy spires of EverQuest 2, the city of Freeport has never quite captured the spirit of being the home to everything evil on Norrath. Until now, that is. More »
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Last year EverQuest II dipped its toes in free-to-play waters splitting its services into two separate games: The regular EverQuest II, and the limited free-to-play EverQuest II Extended. Next month the game puts that silliness behind it and dives in head-first. More »
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With the impending demise of Star Wars Galaxies and perhaps the dawning realization that the best games it has to offer are free-to-play, Sony Online Entertainment ditches the Station Pass in favor of SOE All Access, allowing players to access nine online games starting at $19.99 a month. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5816642&view=rss&microfeed=true John Blakely, a nine-year veteran of Sony Online Entertainment and most recently its vice president of development, has apparently left the company for casual-games behemoth Zynga. Blakely's LinkedIn resumé has him departing SOE as of last month to become general manager at Zynga. More »
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Research suggests that family communication improves if the group are playing online video games together, but if a single member is gaming, it suffers greatly as the gaming becomes a substitute for healthy communication. More »
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Sony's security problems continue to mount, as Sony Online Entertainment reveals that the personal information of 24.6 million SOE accounts and more than 12,700 credit card numbers may have been compromised in the massive attack that brought down the PlayStation Network late last month. More »
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Next week's world-changing expansion for World of Warcraft may not be the only cataclysm to hit a major massively multiplayer online game soon. More »
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Continuing a trend started by D&D Online and Lord of the Rings Online, Sony Online Entertainment is launching a free-to-play version of EverQuest II, completely separate from the existing game. EverQuest II producer David Georgeson explains why. More »
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Halas, the wintry home of the Barbarians in the original EverQuest and one of the most confusing starting zones in any MMO ever, makes its triumphant return this month in EverQuest II's Halas Reborn game update. More »
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While the NPD Group has ceased providing weekly sales charts for the boxed-copy PC market in the US, it still hands out its monthly - and often hilarious - lists. Let's look at February's. More »
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Men may be the more stereotyped hardcore gaming gender, but a study of Everquest II players published in the Journal of Communication says that women regularly out-MMO men—but that women aren't as honest about the hours logged gaming. More »
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First announced at CES earlier this year, The 10th Anniversary EverQuest Collector's Edition coffee table book is now available for purchase at Sony Online Entertainment's store, or on my recliner. More »
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Sony Online Entertainment's online collectible card game Legends of Norrath expands again next month, following the story of the Ethernauts with the sixth expansion set, Against the Void. More »
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Do they really have to bring back Guk? I suppose there's no stopping them now, as Sony Online Entertainment launches the fifth expansion for EverQuest II, The Shadow Odyssey. The expansion pack introduces more than 20 new zones to the game, with some of the original game's most frustrating dungeons brought back to new, terrifying life. Befallen and the Ruins of Guk are just a few of the more that 18 goal-based dungeons, and I would have paid full price simply to keep Guk away from me. I still have nightmares about being lost and alone down there, separated from my guild, huddled in the corner crying...perhaps I share too much. More »
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Sony Online Entertainment announced today at its Fan Faire gathering that both the original EverQuest and its sequel, EverQuest II, would see a new expansion each. EverQuest Seeds of Destruction, the 15th (!!) expansion for the MMO, will be released on October 21, with EverQuest II The Shadow Odyssey available on November 18. That would be EQ II's fifth expansion, if you're keeping count. More »
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The latest issue of Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine should be out wherever fine bookstores see fit to carry it, and inside you could very well find a key code that unlocks a special in-game item in EQ2 - an animated portrait of Venril Sathir. I'm sure it will make an excellent conversation piece during your many in-game social events. Um, yes. I know it's a silly little portrait, but fans of the game go nuts over this sort of thing. I played the game for a year and never once had anyone else in my house, but trust me, it was full of magical wonders the likes of which you had never seen, which made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. The promotion itself is interesting. Free in-game stuff is an awesome marketing tool. Can you imagine if Blizzard put random free junk codes in boxes of Rice Krispies? The world's children would be forced to eat store brand rice cereal out of a resealable plastic bag. Hit the jump for details on the special issue, which many or many not require subscribing to the magazine itself. More »
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In their issue hitting stands the week of November 28th, Massive Online Gamer magazine will be offering a code that can be redeemed for a limited edition Everquest II item—a portrait of warlord Venril Sathir. But for those with ants in their pants, new online subscribers can get the code emailed immediately upon writing that check. Not being Everquest II players, we can't really assess the importance or value of such a downloadable good. But it's a clever marketing strategy on MOG's part. While reading Kotaku, our readers are sometimes gifted with free syphilis, but the promotion hasn't been all that well received. More »
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John Smedley is at Fan Faire talking to the masses about the past, present and future of all things Sony Online Entertainment. I'll be remote liveblogging it for those of you too lazy to watch it yourself. More »
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I had a chance, last month, to meet with Sony Online Entertanment's Denver studio and check out their now-announced online trading card game: Legends of Norath: Oathbound. More »
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This Saturday two Fan Faire attending will be tying the knot in both the real world and the virtual one. More »
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Sony Online Entertainment today launches a new Everquest II free trial offer based off the most recent expansion, Echoes of Faydwer. Entitled, "Play the Fae", the trial lasts 7 days and introduces players to the Fae, tiny pixie-like creatures with beautiful, multicolored, leaf-like butterfly wings. I've not played the expansion, but a friend of mine assures me that they make him feel like a pretty fairy princess. I suppose that's good. More »
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CNN interviewed Everquest II fan(atic) and MLB ubergeek Curt Schilling, who's shilling for Sony Online Entertainment, about his extremely hardcore playing habits. Curt is making a special appearance in Atlanta, hanging at the SOE Fan Faire, rubbing elbows with PR folks and maybe even a few of his guild members. When Curt isn't playing baseball or pimping Sony games, he plays EQII with his kids. Awww. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=166008&view=rss&microfeed=true Red Sox pitcher and World Series MVP Curt Schilling has a new endorsement deal: online games. The die-hard EverQuest II fan has been spotted out and about in Magic Kingdom flying his MMORPG colors. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=161119&view=rss&microfeed=true So much gaming goodness this week! Surely, Fight Night Round 3 is this weeks flagship title, but if you're planning on picking up anything else this week, let us know in the comments. Here are this week's new and notable releases. More »
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In keeping up with the Joneses, EverQuest II is unveiling its long-awaited Player-versus-Player system for the Sony Online MMORPG. Often thought of primarily as a Player-versus-Environment game, the new changes to EverQuest II bring a ton of changes to the gameplay—too many to just list here, so we've dumped them after the jump. On paper, it looks like SOE is getting some of the PvP stuff right, but the changes won't appear in-game until a February 21 live update. Perhaps most interesting in the EverQuest II PvP ruleset is the loss of experience on player death. A true death penalty. It'll be interesting to see how that works out. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=150886&view=rss&microfeed=true Sony sends word of some mammoth updates to Everquest II. Live update 18 recently went live with a ton of new content, features and even a special holiday event. Some of the highlights include new horses and titles for level 40 guilds, redesigned subclass armor and the new Fallen Gate area. More »
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Somehow I missed the 178 pictures of Antonia-clad women over at IGN last week. The babe-obsessed site managed to capture nearly 200 images of attractive brunette women wearing similarly ugly purple bikinis as they attempted to win the right to play the part of Everquest's Antonia at events. The 178 images show enough purple swimsuits and cheap gold high heels to last a thousand stripper-lifetimes. More »
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