 Official SOE Podcast #66 is live! Listen to Brenlo and Ashlanne gab LIVE from Fan Faire 2009! They chat with two Fan Faire attendees, the Grumpy Ol' Gamer, and talk about the (upcoming when recorded) eventa at Fan Faire.
So tune in! You can get your Podcast goodness two different ways head over to the Podcast’s official site, and click on your preferred bandwidth or if you have iTunes installed select iTunes store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe! Your feedback is always welcome either on the Station forums or via email.
Rated: 7  
In honor of the sixth anniversary of Star Wars Galaxies, the team behind the trading card game is hosting a photo contest through July 27. Three winners will have their photos turned into cards for TCG's sixth set, as well transformed into in-game house paintings and a printed poster for your wall.
The team is looking for one Rebel-themed, one Imperial-themed and one neutral-themed photo. You can submit an unaltered photo of yourself dressed as a Star Wars Galaxies character, or you can send in a screenshot from the game. Your image must be based in the Star Wars Galaxies universe, so don't take a photo of yourself dressed as Luke Skywalker or any other character from the films.
You must be at least 18 years old and have an active SWG account to enter the contest. The judges are looking for creativity, so keep that in mind. More information can be found below.
Rated: 10
 At Fan Faire we got a chance to chat with Dan Kinney about the Station Launcher. Dan's team has made a lot of advancements on the beta Launcher, and they've been very responsive to player feedback.
Dan told us that the next major version will have an improved UI, with much nicer menus. The menus shown below are from left to right: Station Menu, Games Menu, Friends Menu, and Help Menu. Also coming soon is a web update for all SOE games, in the manner of Free Realms.
Rated: 12
 Wow. That was intense. Two days of mingling with nearly 2000 gamers, developers, fansite people, and game characters. I have a spiral notebook full of notes and four hours of panel audio recordings to go through. Sorry folks, some of this will just have to wait until I get back to Alaska (but I'll be working on it on the plane).
My impressions of Fan Faire are still a blur. I spent time talking to Paul Molina, EQII Lore guy, about the new expansion (I had to swear on my NDA. This is going to be SO COOL!). Dan Kinney and I chatted about the Station Launcher. I hung out with the Free Realms guys and talked hard core gamers into giving it a try.
Friday I went to the EQ2 Potpourri panel, which was largely Q&A and much to my amazement the devs hardly said "Ask me after Smed's address." Then of course we had the Annual Address, followed by a party.
Rated: 9
Members of the ZAM team are currently at Fan Faire in Las Vegas and got to see Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley deliver the third annual Community Address. It was announced that the 16th EverQuest expansion will be called Underfoot. It's coming out in November, but you'll be able to participate in events beginning in July that will give you credit to get Underfoot before anyone else. It will launch with 12-15 zones, with bonus zones being added through April 2010. It will include a new achievement tracking system and double the amount of weapons of any other expansion.
UPDATE: To clarify, Eldiroth has stated in the official SOE forums that there is no level increase in Underfoot.
As Calthine has already reported, it was also revealed the new EverQuest II expansion, Sentinel's Fate, will explore Odus, and Free Realms will introduce the Soccer Star job and more content for both driver jobs.
Star Wars Galaxies is celebrating its six-year anniversary today at the convention with a bunch of panels, and attendees are getting a Dianoga Dumpster in-game item that eats your trash and spits out random items. As Tamat reported, the Chronicle Master profession was also announced at Fan Faire.
Keep an eye out on the DC Universe Online Myspace page for information on a new video contest that asks players to explain which hero or villain is their best friend or foe. Fans at the convention are also checking out a service that allows players to purchase SOE art prints and have them delivered to their home, which will launch later this year. Keep reading after the jump for more information.
Rated: 7
After the release of Hoth: The Battle of Echo Base, the Star Wars Galaxies team began thinking about new ideas to keep players engaged. The team arrived at Star Wars Galaxies Chronicles, a player generated content system. In this new system, SWG players will be able to take on a new profession to create Solo, Group and PvP quests to share with other players.
Didn't make it to Fan Faire? Don't worry, we have you covered. Check out our summarized panel write-up with all the information about the Chronicle Master and let us know what you think in our forums.
Rated: 8
Sony Online Entertainment has announced the Station Launcher is officially out of beta. The team has been listening to players' feedback since last year's Fan Faire (which makes it somewhat of an anniversary, since the ZAM team is currently at this year's Fan Faire), and the new launcher includes all sorts of updates requested by fans.
First off, Station Launcher 1.1.0 supports Station Voice, which allows you to talk to your friends whether they're playing a game or not. There's a new download system for faster game updates, as well as a new menu layout and other UI improvements. Also, you can now run the launcher without administrative privileges.
To get the latest version of the Station Launcher, you can run this update installer. The announcement, which includes the full list of changes, can be found below.
Rated: 9 |
