everquest posts

The rumors started flying late on Wednesday and today Sony Online has now confirmed via an email press statement that it is indeed shutting down three of its five internal game development studios and laying off 205 team members.

The move will close the Seattle, Tuscon and Denver studio, leaving only the San Diego and Austin Texas offices. The Seattle office has been developing the super-spy themed shooter The Agency for the past several years. The closure means that The Agency has now been cancelled as well. However the statement does add that the many online collectible card games that had been under development at the now shut down Tuscon and Denver offices will now be moved to Sony Online's San Diego headquarters. All other currently live MMO games from the publisher won't be affected.

The statement adds that this move was designed to "focus development resources on delivering two new MMOs based on its renowned PlanetSide and EverQuest properties." Sony Online's head man John Smedley has been hinting strongly about the PlanetSide revival plans for the past few months while the first glimpse of what was then called EverQuest Next was revealed last summer during Sony Online's annual Fan Faire event.

[Via email press release]

Sony Online Entertainment, known primarily for its MMO game titles, could be in the middle of a huge restructuring. Kotaku is reporting via unnamed sources that the company has shut down three of its five development studios based in Seattle, Tuscon and Denver. In addition the rumors claims the company has also laid off significant numbers of team members at its two remaining studios, San Diego and Austin. Kotaku claims in its article that the layoffs total nearly a third of Sony Online's employees.

The Tuscon offices are the the home to the team behind the fantasy collectible online card game PoxNora while the Denver team worked on several other collectible online games. The shutdown of the Seattle offices, if true, is perhaps the most significant since it was the studio in charge of developing the long awaited super-spy themed MMO The Agency which was first announced nearly four years ago.

Big Download has emailed Sony Online's PR reps for comment.

Everquest may be old, but that doesn't mean it is dead. It was once thought to be too addictive (title now taken by World of Warcraft), but now it chugs along quietly with a devoted fan base. The latest expansion, House of Thule, is out now and has plenty of new goodies. In fact, if you want a list of them, just watch the above trailer! Of note are the 13 new zones and 18 new raids, many of which are shown in the trailer. They aren't that pretty or fluid looking, but with all sorts of phat lewt to be had, who cares about gussying up?

The other trailer, below, parodies 1950s-1970s era commercials, showcasing homes in black and white with cheerful family music in the background. It's almost reminiscent of Leave It To Beaver, except with sorcerers and giant teleportation catapults. Houses can be bought and placed on the land you choose in several different neighborhoods, and the area inside can be custom tailored to your liking with furniture. In other words, player housing has finally come to Everquest.

The free-to-play MMO genre officially got another addition today. Sony Online has taken off the "beta" label for EverQuest II Extended, the free version of its fantasy MMO title. As we have reported before the main EverQuest II game will continue as a separate title with a required monthly subscription fee. EverQuest II Extended players can have access to much of the game's content for free with paid options for additional content and features.

To celebrate the official launch players can pick up the in-game Staff of the Rising Phoenix (show above) in the game's Marketplace until the end of the day on Sunday. Our sister site Massively has a chat with the game's producer Dave Georgeson and is also giving away a 30 day gold subscription to EverQuest II Extended.

Everquest 2, despite stiff competition from other major titles, is still going strong. It also seems to be following in the footsteps of other major fantasy titles, but not in the realm of content. Much like Dungeons and Dragons Online or Lord of the Rings Online, Everquest 2 is going free. Granted, we've already mentioned this, but Sony has released a trailer for all those sitting on the fence about trying the classic MMO. It showcases some of the areas, enemies, playable races, and abilities, so those that are looking for a good example of what to expect should definitely give it a look.

Download HD EverQuest 2 Extended Trailer
Check out all Everquest 2 downloads

Sony Online suprised attendees at its annual Fan Faire fan event in Las Vegas this weekend by revealing very early plans for a new EverQuest MMO with the code name "EverQuest Next". Now comes word that the two EverQuest Next panels (and indeed all of the Fan Faire panels) have been captured on video and posted on Sony Online's Fan Faire Facebook page.

The Facebook videos are not of the best visual or sound quality but it does the job of showing the info at the panel presentation. Sony Online's CEO John Smedley told the audience that EverQuest Next won't be replacing EverQuest 1 and 2 and that both games will stay live until Sony Online feels they are no longer profitable. He also stated that EverQuest Next is designed to be scalable in terms of its PC hardware requirements, saying it will run on a laptop or the most powerful hardware desktop PC. Finally he stated that there will be some way for players of the first two EverQuest games to transition to EverQuest Next but details are still vague.

[Via Massively]

The annual Sony Online fan gathering Fan Faire is currently under way in Las Vegas and it looks like the MMO publisher is taking the opportunity to give fans attending a glimpse into the future of the company's flagship series EverQuest. During a panel at Fan Faire, Sony Online talked about a new MMO game that at the moment is being called "EverQuest Next" as an internal title among the development team.

Fan site EQ2 Wire covered the panel which yielded few details, perhaps because Sony Online has admitted the game is still early in its development. The report states the new game will be a "reimagining" of the EverQuest series rather than a direct progression of EverQuest 1 and 2. The game will also be developed with Player Vs Player features in mind and with "more engaging" combat. The picture you see above is supposedly an in-game screenshot from the project.

[Via Massively]

Things in StarCraft II land have calmed down a bit but there's still some excitement in the air about the game and about other PC game developments:

• You can now purchase and download the StarCraft II soundtrack via iTunes for $9.99.
• Is this a teaser site for Irrational Games' next title?
• AMD has released the new 10.7 ATI Radeon Catalyst graphics drivers.
• Steam has a sale of Everquest and all of its expansion packs in one bundle for $14.99.
• Steam also has Trainz Simulator 2010 on sale.
• Impulse has added some of Bethesda Softworks' older games to its line-up, although don't expect Fallout New Vegas to be added thanks to its use of Steamworks.
• Direct2Drive offers a playable Federation Ferengi as a free bonus if you get Star Trek Online from them.
• You can now watch that Ghost Recon Alpha live action teaser trailer on GameTrailers.com.
• Medal of Honor and Linkin Park? Apparently so.
• Just watch this. It's funny.

It may be the first week of March but some folks are already looking forward to the summer where there will be a number of gaming events that fans will be attending. Sony Online's annual Fan Faire event has just announced that the 2010 edition will be held on August 5-8 in its usual location of Las Vegas.

Usually the event concentrates on their long running EverQuest MMO franchise with announcements of the next expansion packs for both EverQuest 1 and 2. However other games are shown off during the event and we suspect one of the will be the long awaited DC Universe Online. There are several pricing plans for this year's event ranging from a bare-bones $39 day pass to a $139 Platinum Pass with lots of extras and special privileges.

There are no retail PC games scheduled to ship to stores this week but there are two downloadable expansions that are due to be made available this week

Everquest Underfoot -Sony Online releases their latest expansion pack via download for their 10 year old MMO this week. You can expect lots of new zones to explore, new quest to undertake, new spells, monsters, weapons and more.