If you're like me you might enjoy playing non MMO titles such as Left 4 Dead, Bioshock and Team Fortress 2. I find it extremely convienent to buy said games through Steam, which I can then download, and play through the Steam client. Well, imagine my surprise when I loaded Steam this morning to find some new products available for purchase: EverQuest, EverQuest II, Pirates of the Burning Sea and Vanguard! This is great news for existing players because you can most certainly count on an influx of players giving your favorite MMO a try!

"We are always looking for additional ways to introduce our great catalog of games to new audiences. It's hard to think of a larger group of PC gamers interested in multiplayer games than those connecting to Steam," said John Smedley, president of SOE. "We've long been a leader in MMOs and this agreement will help bring our exciting content to millions of additional online gamers around the world."

While Sony left out a title that I think would do great on Steam *cough* Planetside *cough*, I'm sure they will add more titles down the road. For now, the products available on Steam are listed below.

• EverQuest
• EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction
• EverQuest II
• EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey
• Pirates of the Burning Sea
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

For more details, visit the Steam Store.

Some of you may remember a recent editorial that was published here at Allakhazam about my concerns with Station Cash. Obviously, there were people at Sony Online Entertainment who disagreed with me. During my time at CES last week I had the opportunity to sit down with John Smedley to let him know why I decided to write the piece and our conversation quickly turned into an interview opportunity. Mr. Smedley was both rational and receptive during our off the record talks and clearly understood my opinions, regardless of his own. He even went out on a limb to let me know that he'd like to take some of the concerns that I had back to the EverQuest II development team. You don't have to have a very big imagination to know that those remarks put a smile on my face.

During the interview, which is nearly ten minutes in length, we talked about Station Cash, Free Realms, EverQuest's ten year anniversary, and the EverQuest movie which has been rumored for years.  I have to admit, some of the Station Cash products that Sony Online Entertainment is going to be rolling out are exciting. I even found myself saying 'I'd buy that' during the interview. As far as my opinions of Station Cash are concerned, as long as the experience potions available for purchase are where they draw the line, I'm willing to co-exist.

'Imagine being able to open up a book with every member of your guild, and have that physically mailed to you as a part of station cash. Our goal is to be able to buy both in game items, and those kinds of items, but be able to do that among all of our games in the future.'

Please check out our interview with John Smedley which we've transcribed for those of you who don't want to see John Smedley and me stare into each other's eyes for ten minutes. Also, please tell us what you think about the interview, Station Cash, the EverQuest movie and anything else that comes to mind, in the comment box below.

Sony Online Entertainment has teamed up with Child's Play. Child's Play is a charity dedicated to donating toys, games, books and cash for sick children across North America. This is a whole new angle for Child's Play, and will give them more ink and more attention than they previously garnered.

"We're excited to announce a month-long fundraising campaign in the online worlds of EverQuest and EverQuest 2. Please visit our Events page to see how you can purchase in-game items that show your support of Child’s Play!"

Not only is it a creative way to raise money, but it's a fantastic way to make sure those ailing children can at least be entertained while they are cared for: Kudos to Sony for thinking outside the box and making their lives a bit more comfortable!

Source: Child's Play

It's just about time for the January Legends of Norrath Premier Series Event. This time you can compete for a 40" BRAVIA S-Series LCD Flat Panel Television and a Blu-Ray Disc Player. The free 5-8 round constructed deck event begins at 10 a.m. PST on Jan. 17 for legal U.S. residents. Other prizes include money and Legends of Norrath Ethernauts booster backs. Check here for all the details.

Also, the Legends of Norrath King Naythox Thex Tournament Pack is now available at the Station Store for a limited time. It costs $10 and contain a King Naythox Thex Legends of Norrath promo card, three Ethernauts booster packs, and either the EverQuest Nimbus of Discordant Souls or EverQuest II Marble Defender loot card.

Now that 2008 has come to an end we thought it might be fun to do a recap on some of the major news and features that you may have missed. Overall, 2008 was a great year for the gaming industry as a whole, with some amazing advancements in the MMO space. So sit back, nurse that coffee and take one final look at Allakhazam in 2008.

January

• Allakhazam visited the Consumer Electronics Show. The fun began on Jan. 7 as Tovin reported on the first day of activities, which included Sony’s announcement that the PSP would support Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider Skype and new rigs from Voodoo PC and Alienware.

• At CES, EverQuest and World of Warcraft were honored with Emmy Awards and AutumnKiss talked to Curt Schilling of 38 Studios about their upcoming MMO code-named Copernicus, which includes names like R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane.

• Day two of the event was just as crazy, and AutumnKiss got a ton of information on a pirate's life in both Pirates of the Caribbean Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea. Of course, the team also focused on the then-upcoming Age of Conan and delved into Legends of Norrath. Tovin also got a glimpse of all the tech gadgets, such as a wallet-sized USB flash drive.

We have a ton of links to share with you in this week's recap of our exclusive content and noteworthy news items (which can be found after the jump). With the holiday season upon us, most MMOs are celebrating with numerous events. Some, such as World of Warcraft's Feast of Winter Veil, are listed below. Whichever game you play, take some time to enjoy the festivities. Also, feel free to browse our news archive to check out everything that couldn't fit in this weekly recap.

Allakhazam Features

Dangers of Sanrio Town : Hello Kitty Online features an in-depth social network. While it's a good tool for meeting other players, it could be dangerous for the game's younger fans.

Ten Years of Lineage II : Sam Han, Lineage II Producer for NCsoft West, and Young Park, the original Lineage Production Assistant for NCsoft West, talk with us about the Lineage franchise.

Jumpgate Evolution Media #3 : These exclusive screenshots showcase fighters class ships and factories that are used in crafting.

Swordsman Screenshots : We take an in-depth look at this class from IGG's free-to-play Zu Online.

Station Crap : Allakhazam Editor-in-Chief Andrew "Tamat" Beegle has a less than favorable personal opinion on SOE's new Station Cash microtransaction service. What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments section.

Today Dan Kinney announced the next Beta Build of the Station Launcher, v 1.0.5, to be released December 19.

Release 1.0.5 (Beta) Highlights:

• Games marked Keep Up To Date will now update in the background.  When you leave your machine idle (the current timeout is 10 minutes), Station Launcher will check for patches that need to be applied.  There will be a pop-up window near the system tray to allow you to cancel the update if it’s inappropriate.
• Updating is no longer interrupted when leaving the Game Update screen (e.g. clicking on "Show All Games").  When on another Game Update screen, you can see update status messages from the other game.

 

The following editorial contains views that are the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of Allakhazam.com

Last week Sony Online Entertainment announced Station Cash, which was met with an uproar from the community. Station Cash is a new virtual currency program that gives players the option buy in-game items from their virtual wallet. This has been seen by many as a short sighted attempt to put money in their pocket without consideration of tomorrow. I don't know about you, but my letter to Santa didn't say anything about getting screwed by Sony. That's how I feel though. I feel somewhat betrayed by the company that I've always talked about as one that listens to their players. It seems that this is no longer true of Sony Online Entertainment.

This isn't the first time that SOE has pushed the same kind of envelope. The launch of Station Exchange back in July of 2005 was met with the same criticism. So what's different this time around? Everything! First of all, we're not getting the choice this time. With Station Exchange they only implemented it on select servers that players had the option to transfer to. The same was true with the introduction of PvP into EverQuest II. First there was discussion which resulted in the creation of dedicated PvP servers because this was what the fans indicated they wanted. This time around it's being forced on everyone, and it was done that way no discussion, no warning and no choice.

My biggest question is why they decided to ninja implement such an important "enhancement" if they didn't already know it was going to piss people off. It's my opinion that they did know; they just simply didn't care. It seems that a simple compromise, like creating specific Station Cash servers for people to transfer to, would have been held with higher regard in the community. So why didn’t they go that route? That's a question as enigmatic to me as their choice to continue PS3 MMO development.

SOE announced:

Limited Customer Service Friday, December 12, 2008

Please be advised that SOE phone support and in-game support will be unavailable this Friday, December 12th.  Phone support will resume at 10:00am Monday, December 15th.  In-game support will be available during their normal business hours however response times may be delayed, response times will resume to normal on Saturday December 13th.  Chat and email support will be available normal business hours on Friday December 12th. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause.

source:  EQII Forums

In a move bound to send ripples through the MMO world, today SOE annouced a new service, Station Cash.  This new microtransaction service is available in EverQuest and EverQuest II. 

Station Cash, Sony Online Entertainment’s new virtual currency, is now live in EverQuest and EverQuest II . Station Cash can be used to purchase items that will provide convenience and customization in game, providing everyone the opportunity to create a unique gameplay experience.

Want to learn more about Station Cash? You can learn more at the Station Marketplace, and by reading the Station Cash FAQ. Please note that Station Cash will not be available for customers in Europe until Wednesday, December 10th.

So far the items available for Station Cash are fairly limited. For more information, see the Station Cash website.