Tag: SOE

Triple Station Cash, December 17th Only


Sony cash days have achieved almost holiday status for some, like the return of the McRib or when your bank fires that teller who asks you for identification every time you just want to deposit a check. While Sony has performed double cash weekends in the past, this is one of the few times that triple cash has been offered, least of all allowing players to use a form of payment outside of the Station Cash cards (which are not available everywhere). For today only, until midnight pacific standard time, players can either purchase cash using a credit card or redeem Station cash cards, and receive triple the amount.

Station cash is based on $1 = 100 points. You can read more at Sony’s website. Sony is currently running a “12 Days of Christmas” promotion, with new deals in various games every day.

(Source: Station Cash)

Star Wars Galaxies: Final Address To The Community


Looking back on Star Wars Galaxies and all these years I am so thankful for being able to be a part of the Star WarsGalaxies community both as the Producer and as a fan. It would not have been the incredible experience that it was without you, the players and fans, the dedicated team of people who worked on it over the years and the fantastic Star Wars® galaxy itself, which offered us a very unique and compelling place to explore, fight, play, make friends, and build our homes.

This is a book of memories, so let me start with a few of my own.

When I was a little boy, my father brought me to the movies to see a new science fiction film that he heard was pretty good. What I remembered most was the feeling of awe I had back then, and still feel to this day. Once I had experienced Star Wars, my life would never be the same again. In May of 2004, I walked into the office at Sony Online Entertainment to start a new job working on a game based on the very same story that had amazed me in my youth. Cool! I was very excited. All I wanted to do then was learn how this thing worked, and I spent the next seven years doing just that. I can say that not a day passed in the development of Star Wars Galaxies where I didn’t learn something new. Each day presented different challenges and solving them was always a rewarding accomplishment. It is everyone’s hope to find a job that you look forward to each and every day. Being a developer onStar Wars Galaxies was just that kind of job for me.

Star Wars means something different to each of us. That’s why we played Star Wars Galaxies. On June 26th, 2003, SOE and LucasArts released Star Wars Galaxies and, for the first time, you could play online with your friends in the Star Wars universe. I was amazed at how much there was to do in the game – player housing, crafting, entertaining, combat, and more. One of the most exciting times for all of us on the team was the launch of the Jump to Lightspeed expansion, which let players fly and battle it out in space in a true 3D simulation. Now we could all truly live out our Star Wars fantasies. It was like being a kid again.

Continue reading “Star Wars Galaxies: Final Address To The Community”

It All Ends Today: Star Wars Galaxies To Shut Down


Credit for this amazing piece of art goes to JakinIrali on the Star Wars Galaxies forums.

It’s been eight years since Star Wars Galaxies first came on to the scene and amazed us with an endless amount of content, a sprawling world to explore and allow our characters to live out their lives. Since then Galaxies has become one of the most controversial MMOs in history, and I don’t think I have to tell you why. If we learned anything from the New Game Experience, it is that MMO players are passionate and unforgiving, but mostly unforgiving. But at the same time, the most nostalgic. Not a day goes by (at least judging by my inbox) without players lamenting back to the old days of Galaxies, where they could set up camp and go hunting, to come back to the Mos Eisley bar and watch a Wookie dance to relieve their battle fatigue. Where playing doctor was a profession and not merely sexual innuendo.

Unfortunately, I’m terrible at eulogizing. Despite the absolute loathing many Galaxies fans hold (and will hold for a long time) for Sony and Lucas Arts, I think Galaxies will go down in history as one of the most determined and resilient MMOs in the industry. There is so much to learn from this game that allowing it to fade into history would be a disservice to the work the developers put into it.

And speaking of history, what better to send this game off than the original Xplay review?

New Player Experience: Is Vanguard Prepping For Free To Play?


Here’s something you didn’t expect to hear today: A Vanguard content patch was released. Sony Online Entertainment has been making relatively good on its past promise to begin supporting the title, and has unleashed a new dungeon as well as a new player experience. For starters, corpse recovery has been removed, making death less frustrating. Additionally, the experience required to attain each level has been scaled back, as well as increased loot drops (permanent) and the “golden path,” a leveling guide that assists players in finding areas to gain experience.

So is Vanguard in the preparation stages for free to play? It would certainly seem so, what with laying down the carpet and rose petals for the influx of players that the change would bring. We’ll be keeping an eye on Sony for the time being.

LiveGamer, Sony Online Entertainment Part Ways


According to the Live Gamer website, the two companies have ended their partnership and the service will shut down on December 14.

After careful consideration and review, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and Live Gamer (LG) have mutually made the decision to discontinue auction services currently available in EverQuest II (EQII), Free Realms and Vanguard. Beginning on December 14, 2011, SOE will suspend exchange services for all three games. For EQII, SOE will merge the LG exchange-based servers with its existing game servers, specifically Vox will merge with Nagafen and The Bazaar with Freeport. LG continues to be a valuable partner to SOE for a variety of e-commerce services. SOE and LG will be updating the FAQs from time-to-time to help answer questions you have regarding the discontinuance of the auction services.

As stated in the announcement, more information is to come.

Splitting Everquest 2 Services Bad Idea, Merging In December


Let’s be honest, who among us did not see this service merger coming? Back when Sony announced Everquest 2 Extended, and how the game would be its own product split from Everquest 2, I questioned how long it would be before the Everquest 2 community either filtered into the service or filtered out completely, and Sony merged the two. Dave Georgeson states that this is due to Sony reviewing their other free to play games, but the factor of developing two separate versions of the same game must have had some factor.

As a result, EQ2X will be updated to bring gold subscription in line with what live players expect, losing restrictions on classes and races. Silver is being reduced to $5 from $10. Platinum, the $200 yearly membership, will be discontinued while anyone still with time left will live out the rest of their paid time without automatic renewal. In a surprising move, Georgeson revealed that power items will be removed from the cash shop. Potions, Rez scrolls, mastercrafted gear, etc, and a vote will be taken with the community as to how, or rather if, these items will be reintroduced.

This is great for people who have allowed their Everquest 2 subscriptions to lapse, but didn’t want to pay the money to transfer to Freeport and did not want to create a new character and start new. Everquest 2 changes to free to play in early December.

DC Universe F2P Just Too Popular, Server Down


Someone better call Queen Latifah, because DC Universe players are bringing down the house. Literally! The US servers were in a state of limbo yesterday, going up and down as players flooded in to see Superman break Bane’s back, or vice versa. In response, Deadmeat has posted an announcement on the DC Universe forums:

As folks have seen we have had some major issues today keeping our US Servers up and running.  We are working very hard to correct the problem and we will be keeping the servers down until we can deploy new software to help us fix the issues.  The response to our new Free to Play model has been overwhelming (literally) and we are very excited about all the new players in the game.  We are working hard to make sure DC Universe Online is the best experience possible.

Hopefully Sony can get this fixed in a manner that does not involve the ritualistic sacrifice of whoever suggested merging servers right before a free to play transition. Or the sacrifice of a blogger who questions the viability of said sacrifice.

Important: Sony Was Not Hacked, 93K Accounts Compromised


A title certain to cause confusion among my readers, but I did so to force the few of you who only read the title to read the article itself as well. Despite how some of my fellow MMO journalists have been wording their writing, the Sony database has not been hacked. Rather, Sony announced on the Everquest forums that they’ve detected an attempt to test username/password combinations for a massive amount of accounts ranging from the Playstation Network (PSN) to Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). RadarX, otherwise known as Sony’s Chief Information Security Officer, posted that

“these attempts appear to include a large amount of data obtained from one or more compromised lists from other companies, sites or other sources. In this case, given that the data tested against our network consisted of sign-in ID-password pairs, and that the overwhelming majority of the pairs resulted in failed matching attempts, it is likely the data came from another source and not from our Networks.  We have taken steps to mitigate the activity.”

Approximately 93,000 accounts passed the “test,” and Sony has subsequently locked them down to prevent further intrusion. Players will have been emailed if they are affected, and will need to unlock their accounts and change their passwords. Since now would be the best time to be preachy, one of the most efficient measures you can take to protect your account is to not use the same password on fan sites.

Star Wars Galaxies: So This Is How The World Ends


Did you know that if you pay for a month of Star Wars Galaxies now, you never have to pay again? If your account is active and in good standing on September 15th, you will no longer have to pay for Star Wars Galaxies until the game shuts down on December 15th.

Starting in September, Sony Online Entertainment is laying the plans to take the game out in style. Similar to Tabula Rasa’s events or The Matrix Online, the factions in Star Wars Galaxies have decided that enough is enough: It is time for a decisive victory. Players will be able to acquire Galactic Civil War points at a faster pace, with more activities available to them. At a point prior to the December 15th shutdown, a victor will be decided and the game will update to match. For the victor bear the spoils. For the loser? SOE says at least you’ll be going down with a bang.

We’ll have more coverage on the Star Wars Galaxies shut down as it appears.

Sony’s “Back To School” Sale: Double Station Cash


Sony’s “Back to School Bonanza” sale strikes me as odd, given spending more on MMOs isn’t even on my list of priorities once I go back to school in September. Either way, put down your Ramen and tell your homework exactly where to shove itself, because between September 2nd and 5th, Sony is holding a double Station cash event. You can redeem a cash card on the above dates and receive twice as much cash.

Check it out here. Certain games will be having specials during the above period including cash shop sales and double experience.