everquest-next posts

Sony Online CEO John Smedley has a tendency to make statement that we are sure his PR people wish he had not said. The latest such statement comes from Eurogamer where Smedley gave a tentative release date for the still unofficially announced Planetside Next game.

Smedley stated, "... we haven't announced a release date for it but you can expect it... We're looking at late first-quarter, early second-quarter." Even with Smedley's statements, the details of the revival of the sci-fi FPS MMO have been kept under wraps. Smedley also repeated that the long-in-development super spy-themed action MMO The Agency is due out in the end of 2011 and there's that Everquest Next project that was first announced last summer. And that's not the end of it. Smedley states, "There are [unannounced projects]. Can't even disclose a number, but a lot."

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]