Posts Tagged ‘sony online entertainment’

Another One Bites the Dust: Star War Galaxies Closing December 15, 2011

27 June 2011 | 3 Comments » | iTZKooPA

In space, no one hears you PEW, PEW!

It’s unfortunate that Another One Bites The Dust exists, but necessary. This column chronicles the fateful announcements ahead of an MMOGs’ downfall, a company closure or, in some truly sad cases, both. Grab your Big Gulp and let some hit the floor for the fallen.

Launched on June 26, 2003, Star Wars Galaxies became the first insanely recognized intellectual property to be turned into a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game. The sandbox title, conceived and designed at Sony Online Entertainment (then Verant Interactive), attractive a respectable audience initially, including yours truly, thanks to the license and freedom to do whatever interested you. If fighting and exploring failed to interest you, then it was perfectly feasible to make a living in a cantina performing music or dance. The sandbox nature didn’t make it a huge hit with those seeking the action side of Star Wars, never reaching the glorious 1,000,000 subscriber mark, but the community that did indulge were hooked.

That’s until the Combat Update and New Game Enhancements came out, admitted mistakes by Sony Online Entertainment. Despite the foul ups, which came with dramatic increases in subscription cancellations, SWG ploughed on. No new, true expansion has been released since 2005’s Trials of Obi-Wan but updates continued. A card game was introduced as a major game update in 2008, followed by several expansions. The drought was the first sign. On June 24, 2011, just two days shy of its eight-year anniversary, John Smedley, President of SOE, announced that the plug had been pulled on SWG.

Smedley confessed that the license between LucasArts and SOE, which expires in 2012, was to blame.

Rumors of dwindling subscriber numbers, the upcoming third Star Wars MMOG (Clone Wars Adventures and The Old Republic), the PSN/SOE hack, recent SOE layoffs and other numerous red flags apparently had little impact. Smedley did repeatedly mention the “new game coming out,” going so far as to say “the BioWare Star Wars game is going to be amazing” in an interview.

I’ll miss you dedicated player housing, hidden master class (Jedi), secondary classes that were actually (non-combat) classes, non-instanced everything, proper space combat and wookies. You furry beasts.

Did you every enjoy SWG? What was your favorite feature?

PSA: SOE Games Back Online; Care Package Offered

16 May 2011 | No Comments » | iTZKooPA

I have a feeling that Fan Faire 2011 in July will be a bit different than previous years.

It all began on April 20, 2011, a breach of Sony’s servers days earlier lead to PSN and Qriocity
shutting down. Over a dozen days removed from the attack, Sony decided to close down its online games’ servers. Fifteen days later, gamers can finally resume playing their favorite Sony Online Entertainment run MMOGs. Over the weekend, the company slowly reactivated both SOE servers and PlayStation Network access across the globe. That covers DC Universe Online, Free Realms, EverQuest and Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, to name a few.

Now the fence-mending, lawsuit-dodging and customer-loyalty program(s) can begin.

Sony’s “Welcome Back” program is offering players with accounts in good standing the following measures of retribution.

All members can sign-up for 12 months of identity theft protection from Debix on Sony’s dime.

Subscriber members:

  • 45 days of game time (30 days plus 1 day per day of outage)
  • 500 Station Cash

Lifetime members:

  • Clone Wars Adventures™ – 7,500 Galactic Credits
  • Free Realms® – 20,000 Coin
  • DC Universe™ Online – 10 Marks of Distinction

Various titles are offering their own events and perks to welcome back players. This includes free vanity items, double XP, increased rare mob spawns, in-game currency and more. See the chart at the bottom of the “Welcome Back” post for the full breakdown.

Are you heading back or going cold turkey? For that matter, has the breach at Sony caused you to rethink having your information saved, or do you believe others companies are safer?

F2P The Lord of the Rings Online Begins September 10

18 August 2010 | No Comments » | iTZKooPA

Turbine Entertainment dropped us a line today to clarify the release date for free-to-play The Lord of the Rings Online.  Turbine’s other white meat will be making the move on September 10, 2010.

Announced in early June, LotRO is following its former red-headed stepbrother into the freemium business model.  Turbine Entertainment and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment are hopeful that LotRO can recreate the waterfall of money poured on when Dungeons & Dragons Online went freemium.  A move that was a last ditch effort to save the MMORPG.  Turbine’s “final fantasy” dramatically increased DDO’s subscriber base with the DDO cash shop raking in additional dough.  Its success lead directly to LotRO’s new business model, despite the game having healthy subscriber numbers.  Sony Online Entertainment is attempting to join the money train by creating a new EverQuest II payment option and server structure.

Turbine hasn’t been burning the extra money or using it as toilet paper, at least not all of it.  The company has invested its profits into DDO’s development to rapidly produce new content packs and even television commercials.  Case in point, Update 6 just went live, and we’ll see Update 7 in a few weeks at PAX Prime.

Hit the jump to check out the latest screens. Continue Reading

Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Coming Soon

10 August 2010 | No Comments » | iTZKooPA

We got a good look at Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures at E3 2010.  The mini games were polished and diverse, character creation and customization had been implemented and social aspects were on going.  Executive Producer Todd Carson promised that the game was just about complete.  All that remained was tidying up, completing the last few mini games and stocking the store.  It appears that most of those tasks have been complete because Sony Online Entertainment is flipping the switch and turning the servers live for Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures on September 15.

The kid friendly MMOG remains free-to-play, but SOE announced an alternative method to downloading.  Interested parties will be able to purchase a special retail box planned for an October release.  The Galactic Passport will contain the game, a 90-day membership, 500 Station Cash, a Togruta playable character, a Yoda monitor trinket, and more.  The perfect item for your child – or grown up – to stumble upon while you drag them through Target.

Convenient that Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures is being released the same day as the debut of the third season of The Clone Wars animated series. It’s like it was planned or something.

Hit the jump to check out the new trailer and additional media. Continue Reading

“EverQuest Next” Paints a Beautiful Future for the Franchise

7 August 2010 | 2 Comments » | Amatera

Update: Three more screens have been added, past the jump. They’re a bit blurry, having been taken on a cell phone, but they hint at an Asian-flavored art design. EQNext also seems to be a reboot of the original story in some capacity.

Update 2: Cell phone pics removed. Higher resolution versions of those and more pictures can be found here.

Sony Online‘s (remember them?) yearly dedication to dead or dying MMO franchises — the “Fan Faire” — is underway this weekend, and the headlining act is none other than the one that put them on the map in the first place: the venerable EverQuest. Since it’s looking a bit like Christina Aguilera next to Blizzard’s Lady Gaga these days, the only way to get any real attention is to make a really bold move.

You may recall that SOE recently took the first step towards franchise resuscitation by pushing the ailing EverQuest II into the freemium market, with an “extended” version that mimics the pay-for-content scheme Turbine has already introduced to Dungeons and Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online (with much aplomb). The beta test for that will begin just a couple of weeks from now on August 17th. Likewise, news from the conference tells us that the good ol’ original is trucking right along with its seventeenth expansion. Titled House of Thule, and slated for October 14th, it gives players access to a handful of new dungeons and player housing. See, WoW fans? You’ve only got about another decade until Blizzard finally figures it out (assuming the apocalypse, alien visitation, or return of Jesus doesn’t happen first).

EQII will be getting its own expansion, Destiny of Velious, as well, but players will have to wait until early next year. It’ll introduce a load of flying mounts (and presumably many other neat, experience-enhancing things) to the game. The EverQuest guys are so good at this add-on business by now that they can knock them out about as often as Nadya Suleman pops out babies.

But the real important thing here is the future of the franchise. Though we only got a little tease, an itty, bitty taste of what’s to come, Sony may just be making the move it needs to stage a comeback with the tentatively titled “EverQuest Next.” Though more information has been promised soon, all we know at the moment is what we can glean from the two pieces of media below:

Is this real life...

Is this real life...

...or just a fantasy?

One of these two images is concept art, and the other one isn’t. A careful eye can discern the two, but at first glance, it’s a bit hard to tell, isn’t it? EQNext seems to be dumping the pseudo-realism of past games in favor of a more jaunty look that some are already equating to Fable. I think it looks good, but experience also tells me that looks don’t amount to much when there aren’t great mechanics there to back it up. EverQuest went a long way towards defining the future of MMORPGs, but the genie has long since been let out of the bottle. The genre is a lot more crowded than it used to be and innovation (with far more failures than success stories) is everywhere. Whatever may happen, Sony Online is going to have to really step up their game if they want to get their marquee franchise back on top.

DDO/LotRO To Be Joined By EverQuest II In The Freemium Market

27 July 2010 | 1 Comment » | iTZKooPA

Click to extend. Man, I am SO creative.

Dungeons & Dragons Online transforming from a subscription-based MMORPG to a freemium (hybrid of free-to-play and subscription models) title was a shock.  Lord of the Rings Online following suit was a bit unexpected, but not earth shattering.  Sony Online Entertainment tossing EverQuest 2, the behemoth of its Station games, into the fray returned my jaw to the floor.

I’m not familiar enough with the game and community, but I don’t think as many people will be screaming that the decision will “be the end of [insert beloved object here].”  That’s not because the news isn’t shocking.  It is.  It’s because SOE is segregating its freemium players from the standard subscribers, which should allow the subscriber base to keep the hair on their heads.

The subscribers will not have to deal with newbs, like myself, because they will be playing on entirely separate servers called EverQuest 2 Extended.  These servers will allow interested parties to play for free (Bronze) with a variety of limitations (see thumbnail) that should be familiar to anyone following DDO’s or LotRO’s conversions.  Pay a small one-time fee (Silver) and gain some additional perks such as expanded chat options, more character slots and higher spell tiers.  Or you can even subscribe (Gold membership) on the freemium servers to guarantee yourself a nearly limitless experience.  A one-year membership (Platinum, which costs $16.66 a month) nets you the full plate and an additional $60 worth of Station Cash.  I can only assume that you would use it to purchase expansions and fluff items.

Before you ask, there’s a very good reason to have subscriptions available on the segregated servers.  You may not realize how much you enjoy your characters, guild and the game (and how much you’ve spent piecewise) until you’re time committed to your realm.  You’d hate to be forced to leave all that for uncharted territory, right?

Head over to the full announcement to read more.

To the EQ2 players out there, is the sky falling?  To the rest of the MMOG community, do you welcome this trend, or fear it?

SOE Announces Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Free-to-Play MMO

1 June 2010 | No Comments » | Juggynaut

Sony Online Entertainment will once again be trying its hand at an MMO set in the Star Wars Universe with Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures. This time, the game will be more along the lines of Free Realms than Star Wars Galaxies, as it will be free-to-play and will include a collection of mini-games for players to experience as a Padawan, Jedi, or Clone Trooper.

Mini-games that are already being hyped include Lightsaber dueling, speeder bike racing, tower defense, and a starship shooter. In addition to the mini-games, players will get access to in-game housing and customizable pet droids.

Based on the popular, younger skewing Clone Wars animated series, Clone Wars Adventures promises to deliver to a different audience than that other highly anticipated Star Wars MMO. Check out the gallery after the break for a taste of what Clone Wars Adventures will be offering and head to the official site to see the video trailer.

Continue Reading

EverQuest II Jumps on the Sparkle Pony Bandwagon

20 May 2010 | 5 Comments » | pixiestixy

It was only a matter of time. Members of the WoW audience were not the only ones who took notice last month when Blizzard made the move to sell its first mount for IRL dollars. Of course not. At 25 bucks a pop, those sparkle ponies sold like hotcakes (and I, too, am guilty of this indulgence.) And in result, Blizzard surely made millions off of one single in-game item that looks pretty. How could the world not take notice of such a large amount of real-life cash being spent on a virtual item?

Some of us worried that this would set a precedent for things to come. And it looks like that is starting to unfold. Today, Sony Online Entertainment announced that it would sell its first ever marketplace mounts, called the Prowlers — available in “Ethereal” purple, “Sinister” green and “Ulteran” blue. And unlike the Celestial Steed that looks pretty but pretty much offers no advantage otherwise, these guys come with built-in buffs:

“Each mount comes in your choice of one of the following versions: Fierce and Arcane. The Fierce version increases Slashing, Aggression, Ranged, Piercing and Crushing of caster by 5, while the Arcane version increases Focus, Ordination, Disruption, Subjugation and Ministration of caster by 5. Both versions of the mount have a 65% run speed.

The Prowlers are guaranteed to be available for at least one month and adventurers can now purchase these new mounts for 2500SC (Pixie’s note – this equates to $25 each, the same as the Celestial Steed) from the Marketplace.  These are the first Station Cash items of their kind and are immediately available in-game, upon purchase.

So even though we all pretty much saw this coming, it still bothers me. One of the huge caveats that supporters of the Celestial Steed — including myself — have been saying all along is that they support it because it does not provide any in-game advantage over other mounts. Not the case with The Prowlers. Does this raise the bar for what we’ll see in the future? Slippery slope, folks. That’s all I’m sayin’.

I love my shiny pony. But what will be the price that we ultimately pay for this service? Would those of you who supported the Celestial Steed like myself still agree with the idea  if we start seeing more items that provide an in-game advantage?