The contest has ended, the winner has been chosen!
Congrats to Shadowduet!

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is still going strong on the PC and we're here to celebrate that! Enter for a chance to win a NA region copy of the PC Collector's Edition, signed by Producer/Director Naoki Yoshida! Here's how!

Eligibility

• No purchase necessary, but you need to register for a free account with ZAM if you haven't yet
• Most US or Canadian residents qualify; some restrictions apply
• Read the Official Contest Rules for all eligibility requirements

The contest begins at 12:01am (midnight) ET on Monday, April 7, 2014 and will end at 11:59pm EDT on Friday, April 11, 2014.

Winner must be able to provide valid shipping information to receive their prize.

How to Enter

• Log in to your ZAM account (registering is free!)
• Post a comment to this article stating what you love about FFXIV!
• Deadline for entries is 11:59pm EDT on Friday, April 11, 2014
• Only one entry per person, please!
• Read the Official Contest Rules for all entry details

How We Judge

• All entries that meet the above guidelines will be entered into a random blind drawing
• The random drawing will take place on or about April 12, 2014
• Read the Official Contest Rules for the full description of How to Win

That's everything... good luck!

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that early registration for SOE Live 2014 is now open! This year’s event will be at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, A‌ugust 1‌4-1‌7.

There are three pricing levels available: the Day Pass, Evening Pass, and the all-encompassing Premium Pass. The Premium Pass has Early Bird pricing of $129 if you buy one before the May 12, 2014 cutoff. Kids 12 and under are free this year, but they need a badge so be sure to include them in your registration.

There are also two optional upgrades: Priority Grand Banquet and Welcome Seating, where you can buy a 12-seat table for $60 at the big events (each reservation requires a separate purchase), and the Sunday Dev Brunch, which costs $59 and requires a Premium Pass.

Check out the in-game items after the jump.

UPDATE: The contest is now closed. The winner has been chosen. Congrats to Petard!

The Elder Scrolls Online is coming to PC and Mac on April 4^th! Celebrate with a chance to win an awesome ESO prize pack!

The Prize Pack (valued approximately at $350USD) contains:

Hello and welcome to the eleventh edition of the Eorzea Examiner, ZAM’s column on Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. For this column we'll be talking about FFXIV's competition. For those of us playing on the PC, we're well aware of the other fantasy MMO offerings available: World of Warcraft, the EverQuest series, Lord of the Rings Online, etc. We have to remember however that FFXIV exists not only on the PC, but on consoles as well. As I talked about in one of our previous columns, the PlayStation 4 client is a perfectly viable way to enjoy FFXIV. Of course it also helps that there's no fantasy MMO alternative for console players other than FFXIV and its predecessor on the PS3, Final Fantasy XI… for now. This Friday marks the PC and Mac release of Zenimax Online's new MMO, The Elder Scrolls Online, with the PS4 and Xbox One versions not too far behind, due out this June.

PC players will have both games available to choose between right on launch day, but those wishing to play a fantasy MMO on their PS4 will have to wait even longer; the PS4 client for FFXIV won’t be out until April 14^th and TESO’s console versions won’t be released until June. That leaves those players (and potential newcomers) with some time on their hands and a decision to make. Do they stick with the Eorzea they know or do they see what Zenimax has to offer in the world of Tamriel? How does their gameplay compare to that of FFXIV? Given that I'm ZAM's FFXIV columnist as well as the person who wrote our preview for TESO, I'm probably the best equipped here to compare the two for any undecided players.

Free Realms will shut down forever at 6pm PT (9pm ET) on Monday, March 31, 2014.

I spent the past month trying to come up with how I wanted to write this article. Should I reflect on all the changes and updates to the game? Ponder the reasoning behind the game shutting its doors? Be angry, be happy, be sad? I still don't know, to be honest.

I've seen plenty of friends be affected by other game closures, but this is the first one to hit home. My entire household of five has played, or still plays, Free Realms. My youngest two children are playing as I write this, with my six year old (whose first video game was Free Realms, starting at the age of 2.5) alternating between happiness at the various things he's accomplishing, and grief at losing his beloved characters forever.

I can't blame him one bit. His sadness is mine.

Free Realms was the first MMO where I actually felt part of a community. Starting even in the beta, players banded together in friendships that still remain. Guilds like Gone Postal, Mystic Mayhem, FR Insider and Bunny Foo Foo made an indelible mark on many people. Even as the older crowd moved on as the game aged, many of us still kept in touch, checked in on the game, and so on.

Bristlebane Day returns tomorrow, Friday, March 28th, and runs through Thursday, April 10th. There's new recipes, new rewards, and a new event currency! Keep your eye out for interesting Patchcraft mobs all over Norrath and earn your Patchcraft Slayer achievements! All your favorites from last year return, some with new rewards.  

On April 1st things really get hopping! New this year... bunnies. Everywhere, bunnies. You may have been stumbling over them around the world, and on April 1st you can collect them for three new achievements. Returning are the Jester's superior gardens in Enchanted Lands, giving harvestables from all holidays. Frostfell crafting stations will also pop up in Enchanted Lands on the Highest of Silly Days. There are two quests offered exclusively on April Fool's Day, so you'd best like riddles if you want to add to your dice collection!

Read all about it in our Bristlebane Day Guide! And if you've got a lot of alts, use our Bristlebane Day Quest Tracker to help keep track of them during the event.

Square Enix has released Final Fantasy XIV Patch 2.2: Through the Maelstrom today. The new content offers an exciting new storyline, dungeons like the Lost City of Amdapor and new Hard Mode dungeons, including the lurid Halatali and the Illuminati overrun Brayflox's Longstop. High-level players can test their mettle with the Second Binding Coil of Bahamut raid which will be the highest level of difficulty available.

Check out the massive eight minute trailer after the jump!

EverQuest II takes part in the celebration of 15 years of EverQuest with the Chronoportals live event. Ancient portals take players back in time to battle creatures of a distant past. Several of these encounters have memorable dialogues that any former EverQuest player can appreciate.

Whether you're looking for the chronoportal that Quillmane dwells within, need some help defeating the Nagafen's Lair encounter, or just want some info on collecting event shinies and buying merchant items, our Chronoportals guide has it all. The event begins at 12:01am PDT on March 20, 2014 and will run until 11:59pm PDT on March 27, 2014.

After sharing details on the story and characters of the upcoming patch, which we detailed last week, Square Enix published an 8 minute trailer listing all the new features coming to FFXIV in Patch 2.2: Through the Maelstrom. Check it out after the jump!

Hello and welcome to the tenth edition of the Eorzea Examiner, ZAM’s column on Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. For this column we'll be talking about FFXIV's take on equipment and itemization. I touched on this some back in column #5 with crafted items, but those aren't the only area where some variety in equipment could stand to be added. Does the system work as is? Yes but after playing a bunch of Marvel Heroes and the new Diablo III patch these last few weeks, I can't help but look at the loot in FFXIV and be left wanting more.