Combining the convenience of an Internet cafe or hotel business center with the thrill of action-packed gaming to create an ideal environment for work or play, The Office Games in San Diego is hosting a launch event for the Sony Online Entertainment’s EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey. This will be an exclusive event for fans to play the game, get tips and tricks from SOE’s Community Relations team and EQII developers, as well as have the chance at exciting prizes and giveaways. Light refreshments will be available.

When: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Where:  The Office Games, Mission Valley Westfield Shopping Center
1640 Camino Del Rio N #1228
San Diego, CA 92108

AND THE WINNERS ARE....

skipen
Uinamil
knoble
Brailynx
Vikingstaff
Olgie
litterflinger
lovemuffenn
Shadowydreamer
Miut

Each winner has been emailed a The Shadow Odyssey Retail Key, as noted in the official rules.

UPDATE!  Now with the actual Dire Bear Mount pics!

Much recent discussion has centered on the The Shadow Odyssey premiums, especially the dire bear mount and pet which is only available with the retail box version of the expansion.  This item scales with the level of the caster:  at low levels it's a pet, and as your character grows it becomes a mount, becoming more and more useful to you.  Allakhazam has acquired exclusive pictures and video of the level 80 Ykeshan Warbear!

Disclaimer:  all this information is from the TSO Beta server, and may change at launch.

UPDATE!  Due to overwhelming response, we have acquired five MORE retail keys, bringing the total number of available keys to ten!  Be sure to enter!

To celebrate EQII's fourth birthday, we have acquired five ten highly coveted The Shadow Odyssey RETAIL KEYS. That's right, RETAIL KEYS, which will not only give your account full TSO access, but give you the highly coveted Dire Bear Mount and Pet!

And, in the spirit of birthday parties, all you have to do to enter is show up. Follow these easy instructions:

1. If you have not already, register on Allakhazam.com.
2. Make sure your email address is correct and that your email filter won't throw calthine@allakhazam.com into the trash.
3. Post in this thread.

November is always an interesting month for EverQuest II considering the anniversary is on the 8th. Though this year, fans of EverQuest II have The Shadow Odyssey to be excited about. Having been a part of the EQ2 community on such a personal level, for so long -- it's difficult for me to remain neutral when I tell you about how creative the community can get. So tonight, I'm just going to show you.

After the jump you'll see a trailer created by Jessica Nelson that will blow your mind.

About a dozen fansite folks milled around excitedly in the Moors of Ykesha as Christine “Kiara” Renzetti summoned us in from all over Norrath for the Beta tour of The Shadow Odyssey.  Moors of Ykesha is the (very) large overland solo-content zone for the expansion.  Current estimates give the number of quests available around 400.  We were greeted by Lindsay Morgan  “Miss Doomcookie” Lockhart, the zone designer and the developer responsible for all the pre-TSO lore at EQII Players.  She told us that the Ykeshan landmass is about the same size as Fens of Nathsar, but there's action in the waters, making it actually larger.  The continent was once attached to the south east of the Desert of Ro, and is where Grobb and Gutka used to be.  It's home to Clan Ykesha and the Rellosian Ogres, who turned from Rallos Zek to Cazic Thule to survive the Greenmist.  It's also home to the Gunthak pirates.  

Morgan also worked on the Signature quest, and tells us it involves some of the toughest zones in the expansion.  At launch there will also be six new Heritage Quests which tie in EverQuest lore, and of course two new Diety quest lines. 

We were joined by Brett “Breb” Schienert as Kiara began taking us through the exciting new group content.  These zones all scale to the level of the first person zoning in (most start at level 50), so remember to mentor down before you zone.  There are a ton of new collection quests, and it was fun watching Niami Denmother scamper from shiny to shiny. 

Would you like to own a 46" Sony Bravia V-Series LCD Flat Panel HDTV worth approximately $1,800? Would you like to accomplish this goal by playing Legends of Norrath? Well, you're in luck! SOE is holding the first tournament in a new Premier Event Series on Nov. 1 starting at 10 a.m. PDT. It's free and and is a 5-8 round contructed deck event.

The rest of the Top 16 prizes aren't too shabby, either. Second place earns $200, and third place earns $100 and 14 Legends of Norrath booster packs. The full prize list can be found after the jump or here.

For full details, read the official rules. The tournament is limited to 256 entrants. You must be 18 years of age or older to participate and be a legal resident of the United States.

From EQII Players :

Legends of Norrath ™ Ethernauts tells the story of the brave heroes who defended Norrath from the Void thousands of years prior to the events in The Shadow Odyssey!  It’s like a sneak peek into the upcoming MMO storyline.  For an even bigger peek, jump into the Legends of Norrath The Shadow Odyssey scenario from October 9, 2008 – November 12, 2008.  We’ll provide the new Cloudskipper deck for you to play with to relive this part of the Ethernauts history. 

EverQuest II players who beat the scenario will receive the Draught of the Vigilant (1EQII25) loot card and access to The Shadow Odyssey beta!* 

Some restrictions apply - read more at EQII Players !

SOE has released this cool TSO video to celebrate pre-orders opening for this highly anticipated EQII expansion.  Take a look!

Calibratrix posted on the Official Forums:

The Dev Team is looking for several guilds to help test the EverQuest II The Shadow Odyssey expansion. Interested guild leaders are invited to post in this thread with the following information:

• Guild Name
• Server
• Guild leader's in-game character name

This solicitation is open to guilds of all sizes.

Please note that responding to this thread does not guarantee that your guild will be selected for the beta program; it is, however, the one place you need to post if you are interested.

Guild leaders will be contacted via email in the event their guild is selected; a confirmation email will also be sent to each guild member who has an active subscription in good standing at the time of contact. Please ask guild members to read and accept the NDA by clicking on this link to speed the process along. If guild members have already accepted the NDA, then no further action is required.

We thank you for your continued support of EverQuest II The Shadow Odyssey and greatly appreciate your help!

Another chance to get in the TSO Beta, woot!  Click here to get your name in!