Yesterday, Sony Online Entertainment held a press event in New York. They discussed their upcoming plans in the online market along with a showcase of what their six developmental studios are doing. First up, SOE revealed an upcoming PC client that’ll combine all of their PC MMO games into one simple program called the Station Launcher. The program will show all your installed and subscribed SOE online games along with any available expansion packs. The launcher will also notify you of any updates for the games, along with a mini-store where you can purchase expansion packs and download them. The Station Launcher will also act as a unified friends’ list, have support for various chat programs, tell what games your friends are playing and future support for downloading music, movies and TV shows. The Station Launcher will undergo open beta testing this summer and will officially launch at the end of this summer.
SOE’s San Diego’s studio is where primary development of Everquest and Everquest II happens. Expansion packs for Everquest will trimmed down to just one per year and this fall will see the release of the game’s 14th expansion titled Secrets of Faydwer. Among the new features include a raised level cap to 80, new zones and new creatures. As for Everquest II, the game’s 4th expansion pack will be released in November, which will coincide with the game’s 3rd anniversary. Titled Rise of Kunark, the expansion will offer a new playable race (the dragon-like Sarnak), a raised level cap to 80, a new starting area with new zones, hundreds of new quests, and plenty of new monsters. Upon its release, Rise of Kunark will be retailed package with Everquest II and all of its previous expansions.
SOE has another MMORPG in-development with developer Perpetual Entertainment called Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising. SOE gave a little update about the game, where the focus is still on the fast-paced combat and they showcased numerous classic mythological figures like gorgons and medusas, which you can fight in the game. Gods & Heroes is set for release by the end of this summer.
Back last month, Sigil Games mentioned plans for SOE to help out with their MMORPG Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. While SOE didn’t mention a whole lot about it during their press event, they said talks with Sigil Games are still going on.
Back in August 2006, SOE acquired developer Worlds Apart Productions. Newly dubbed SOE-Denver, SOE gave a small update regarding the company. They are currently running two games: Pirates Constructible Strategy Game Online and Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga. Just a few weeks ago, SOE launched Stargate Online Trading Card Game and they said that this game would be getting an expansion pack that’ll include content from Stargate Atlantis and a few Stargate DVD movies.
Over at SOE-Los Angeles, they primarily focus on games for mobile phones and casual downloadable PC games. First up, SOE said that the studio is working on God of War Betrayal, a brand-new game for phones based on the God of War franchise–the game will take in-between the first and second game. The game will be coming out in June. Over at SOE-Taiwan, they will focus on bringing SOE games to the Asian market along with developing original games. During the event, they revealed their first original game, which will be an online action game based on Stephen Chow’s kung-fu comedy film Kung Fu Hustle. The director will be involved with the project and it’ll be a 3D side-scrolling action game with fighting game elements. It’ll feature 8-player support, co-op, and versus. In addition, gameplay will be free for certain periods of time everyday. The game will launch in Asia this year, and will be heading to the U.S. in the future. "Working with Stephen Chow has been a fantastic experience," said John Laurence, General Manager of SOGA. "His sense of humor, directing and martial arts expertise has been an enormous asset for us; he’s an avid video game player, with a strong sense of game design."
At SOE-Austin, they continue to develop and maintain Star Wars Galaxies. Planned updates include the Storyteller system (players can create their own in-game quests) and Beastmaster system (players can create, buy, sell or trade their own beasts). At SOE-Seattle, they continue to maintain The Matrix Online.
Lastly, SOE revealed their future plans, which include a big announcement during their annual Everquest FanFaire in August and more information in April 2008 about their next MMO DC Universe Online.
[Via FiringSquad]
