Tagged News: soe

At GDC 08, we met with SOE Seattle Senior Designer Kevin O'Hara to get his thoughts on their upcoming MMOFPS The Agency. The spy themed MMO will be on both the PC and Playstation 3 and we got his perspective on where its headed.

O'Hara is part of a team of roughly 70 people at the SOE Seattle office, a group whose core has a lot of experience, if not a lot of games on the market. In early 2004, this was the same core group that was let go by Microsoft when the axe fell on the Norse mythology-based MMO Mythica. The cancellation was a harsh reality, but after some time in the wilderness of independent development, they reemerged as a team under the SOE banner and got to work on The Agency.

Read more after the jump.

For players who have met and crossed the fifty-seven month mark in the Star Wars Galaxies, there is a great reward in store: A homing beacon:

The homing beacon, the 57 month veteran reward, allows pilots in the system to land their ships from the space station above their home. Placing the beacon in a house or other building will mark that location as a direct landing spot for any starship.

The homing beacon is a No Trade item that veterans can place in any structure they own. This item can be placed in a structure like any other piece of furniture or decoration and will automatically set the structure as a landing zone.

Check out the images and the rest of the description at the official site listed above.

Vanguard developers announced today that veteran players will gain some recognition in the Vanguard world.

We're always looking for ways to make Vanguard: Saga of Heroes more rewarding for our players, so we're happy to announce the addition of Veteran Rewards to the game! Loyal citizens of Telon will be recognized for their long-standing service in-game with a variety of reward options, ranging from prominent titles to vanity pets and unique furniture sets.

The first of many rewards becomes available after 6 months of active play, and more are made available at the 8th month, 10th month and 12th month intervals! If you're new to the game there's no need to worry; you won't miss out on any of these rewards.

Check out the reward images posted at the link above.

SOE programmer Lee "Torsion" Nagar shares a look at the Star Wars Galaxies buff interface system in his first developer diary:

One of the first things I noticed in SWG was a somewhat limited buff interface. So when the lead designer brought me into his office to discuss a buff UI revamp, I was very eager to participate.

The very first task was to allow for more than two rows of displayed buffs. What is the purpose of showing the player what buffs are on them if they aren't visible?

Click below to read the rest.

At GDC 08, we sat down with LucasArts Producer Jake Neri and others from Star Wars Galaxies to discuss the game's direction in 2008. They spoke of a new development plan to bring more updates to their fans and incorporate more of their feedback.

In Update #2 they plan to focus on the Entertainer and Medic, not with a full overhaul, but with an assortment of changes and additions that have been highly requested from those segments of the community. This Update is due out in the next couple weeks.

Chapter 9 follows later this month and is headlined by a new heroic instance and epic villain from Star Wars lore: Exar Kun. Heroic instances are top-end dungeons, and this is their first new one since Chapter 7. In tune with their desire to be more reactive to the community, Exar Kun was chosen from a list of epic villains that the development team polled the community on during the planning phase of this Chapter.

Read more after the jump.

From the "Blast from the Past" files:

Everquest and Everquest developers are hosting a new "You're in Our World Now" video contest in honor of EQ's 9th birthday. Here's the skinny:

From Monday, March 3, 2008, (12:01 am, US Pacific Time) through Wednesday, April 3, 2008 at (11:59 pm, US Pacific Time), the EverQuest Team will be hosting "You're in Our World Now" video contest.

Using in game imagery, sounds and their special skills, EverQuest community movie-makers have this opportunity to show us why they enjoying playing EverQuest by participating in this official EverQuest contest.

Create a video that highlights the best of EverQuest!

When filming the video, please keep the following in mind:

1. Include a wide variety of zones, NPCs, and gameplay features.

2. The video should display adventuring as well as highlight the community aspect of the game. (i.e. groups, guilds, raids)

3. This video is to highlight the game, not individual achievement.

4. Make sure you have PC names off. NPC name off is optional.

5. If you add text to the video, be sure to check the spell and grammar.

Check out the rest here.

Titled "CELEBRATIONS, PRANKS AND PINK ELEPHANTS ABUNDANT IN EVERQUEST® II GAME UPDATE #43", it sounds like there is a lot of fun in store for EQII players, according to the official site:

WHAT:
From the third annual Brew Day festival to the traditional Bristlebane Day celebration, EverQuest® II's Game Update #43 will present players with a month chock full of merriment.

In addition to scheduled live events, GU# 43 will bring some new group looting options as well as a change to how players harvest the ever elusive "shiny". Now the shiny will be subject to standard group looting settings however, players will be able to loot them or leave them and, if left, the shiny will remain intact until it is harvested and respawns again.

Brewday Festival:

Grab a stein and celebrate in recognition of Brew Day! Receive a Tumpy Tonic bottle for your in-game house when you complete the quest given out by the Avatar of Below. Keep an eye out for the magical appearance of portals, and listen for the shouts of rowdy patrons who will lead you to The Bar of Brell where adventures await those thirsty enough to enter. For those who can't seem to stop celebrating, you may just run into pink elephants and flying pigs as you embark on quests.

Bristlebane Day:

Fans of mischief are invited to celebrate the King of Thieves and the Grand Prankster himself, Fizzlethrope Bristlebane. Be on the lookout for the Comfort Cube as you never know what laughs and pranks you may come across.

WHEN: Game Update #43 is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, March 4, 2008.

The Brew Day Festival is expected to run March 14-21 and Bristlebane Day is Tuesday, April 1, 2008.

WHERE: www.everquest2.com

EverQuest II is rated T (for Teen) by the ESRB with content descriptors for suggestive themes, use of alcohol and violence.

Post your thoughts on our forums.

Want to know a little bit more about the SWG Team? Remember - they don't just work on the game ... they also enjoy playing it! Get an inside look at how the folks behind-the-scenes enjoy Star Wars: Galaxies.

Click below to read this week's profile featuring SWG Associate Artist Christine "trandoshYar" Chugon.

Visit the SOE Podcast Website today to listen to Podcast #30 and catch up on any podcasts you may have missed in the past. Every episode kicks off with news from Jason "Pex" Ryan as he tells you all about the latest and greatest news from many of the SOE titles. Hear from Sheri Davenport from the SOE Human Resources department to learn about our intern program, listen to EverQuest II Associate Producer Babs Saito, and more. Be sure to send your feedback to Brenlo@soe.sony.com or you can head over to the Station Forums and post your feedback there.

CNN has a piece on women gamers, based partly on a party SOE threw at GDC in San Francisco last week to promote them. According to the article, 38% of all gamers are now female. Sadly, the cast of WarCry got caught in a rainstorm halfway across town and failed to make it until after the presentation had finished, so we'll let CNN tell the tale.

"Go to any video game convention and it appears quite obviously that there are more men than women in the industry," says Courtney Simmons, public relations director for SOE, who helped spearhead the G.I.R.L. program at the company's San Diego headquarters.

Speaking to an invitation-only crowd at that San Francisco bar, in town for the recent Game Developers Conference, Simmons was joined by several other women from SOE to announce the details of the program, a partnership with The Art Institutes. The program, the first of its kind, would give the winning female student currently enrolled at an Art Institute school $10,000 toward her tuition and a paid internship at one of SOE's development studios.

Read it all here.