EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey is officially live. The fifth expansion for SOE’s EQ2 brings in the Moors of Ykesha, a massive overland zone once known as Innothule Swamp and the legendary dungeon the Ruins of Guk as part of 20 new zones for players to conquer.

Here’s the game trailer to get you in the mood.

You can pick up the at retail stores or grab it by digital download at www.station.com. The full features list for EQ2: The Shadow Odyssey follows the break.

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Sony has released the details on incentives for pre-ordering EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey. If you already have the game, you may want to pay attention to your options since the rewards for pre-ordering the retail box are different from downloading the pre-order digitally. Here’s the breakdown on the different packages:

Digital Download Pre-Order Bonus Items:

Void Beast Pet

• Watch as a beast from the void rails against its plight, trapped within a magical cage, and receive a rent status reduction of 500 points.

Legends of Norrath ™ Loot Card

• Hang the first-ever horizontal wall painting of the Ethernauts Airship, and receive a rent status reduction of 300.

Retail Pre-Order Bonus Items:

Retail box pack includes in-game Dire Bear mount, Legends of Norrath™ Ethernauts loot card and collectible poster.

Collectible Pewter Figurine

• An actual replica of the in-game mount. Available at select retailers while supplies last.

Dire Bear Mount and Pet

• A Dire Bear cub that grows up as you level to become a fearsome mount!

Legends of Norrath Loot Card

• Hang the first-ever horizontal wall painting of the Ethernauts Airship, and receive a rent status reduction of 300.

The retail pre-order package seems to give gamers more bang for the buck. I’d personally choose a dire-bear that grows into a mount over a pet void beast any day. Armed with this information, you have until the November 18th release of EQ2: The Shadow Odyssey to make a choice.

Sony Online Entertainment has tricks and treats for everyone as it celebrates Halloween on all its MMOs and the Legends of Norrath: Oathbreaker TCG. EverQuest and EverQuest II will be celebrating their traditional holiday events. The Matrix Online and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes are into the act as well.

The inaugural Galactic Moon Festival runs until November 7 on Star Wars Galaxies. Set a course for Naboo or Tatooine to get in on the thrills and chills. Full details on each event follow the break.
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Sony Online Entertainment announced the release of Oathbreaker, the fourth set of the EverQuest franchise online strategy game, Legends of Norrath.

Oathbreaker continues to draw upon the influence of SOE’s EverQuest franchise, adding fun and familiar elements, including items and characters illustrated with high-fantasy flair. Oathbreaker tells the tale of corruption from within, and redemption that comes at a terrible cost, providing a level of drama in the ongoing saga. While Oathbreaker brings the story of your Oathbound hero to a dramatic finale, new gameplay builds on existing functionality and allows for even more creative strategies to emerge.

According to Scott Martins, director of development:

“In just over nine months since launch, Legends of Norrath has had more than one million matches, and, with the introduction of Oathbreaker, many more matches are on the horizon. There are more ways than ever to enhance your strategies, explore different decks and try out new combos. We’re eager to introduce the new raid and open up cooperative play. And, with the Monthly Sprint Tournaments that started in early June, there are more opportunities for players to climb the rankings and earn special promo cards and free loot.”

Legends of Norrath is the only online strategy game based on and playable from EverQuest and EverQuest II MMOs, as well as from a stand-alone client using a free SOE Station Account where players can challenge opponents on their game server and across other EQ and EQII servers.

Oathbreaker’s features include:

• New Cards– More than 250 new cards for your online arsenal! Collect all 210 base set cards, four starter decks featuring 16 new quests and three random rares, 10 scenario rewards, fantastic new loot cards for EverQuest and E verQuest II and lots of new promotional cards.

• Play For Free – SOE is providing all registered LoN users even more complimentary content and bonus features in the game client, including ten new scenarios that tell the tale of Oathbreaker and a brand new raid. Go to www.legendsofnorrath.com for complete details.

• New Raid Play– In the Antechamber of Fate, up to four players can face off against the powerful island guardian Chel’Drak, the dragon turtle!

• New Gameplay–“Charge” is a new keyword that provides additional bonuses to cards while players have, or get rid of, their charge tokens. Re-linkable navigation offers greater flexibility in play by allowing linked cards to be linked again to a new target.

• New Faces – Delve into new avatar races (Froglok and Erudite), unit types, legends, keywords and abilities. Explore more of your favorite EverQuest and EverQuest II classes with the introduction of“unarmed” Monks, Coercers, Templars and Beastlords (with their warder pets)!

• Oathbreaker cards will be available via digital download from SOE’s Station Store in both 58-card digital starter decks for $9.99 (plus any applicable taxes), and 15-card digital booster packs for $2.99 (plus any applicable taxes).

Not only does Oathbreaker complete the story arc which originated with LoN’s first set, Oathbound– it’s also the last LoN release before the World Championship event at Gen Con Indy, August 14-17, where up to 32 finalists are slated to compete for up to $100,000 in cash prizes.

July 12-13 marks the last opportunity to compete in a monthly online Championship Qualifier tournament before the World Championship event. At Gen Con, two days of qualification heats, open to all Gen Con attendees 18 and older, will take place before the final championship day.To get started, players can download the client for free, test their skills 24 hours a day against AI and real opponents, and then head over to the tournament lobby to compete. Monthly Championship Qualifier eligibility limited and subject to Official Rules. Residents of certain territories are not eligible to participate in LoN tournaments with rewards. Please see the EULA for details. For a schedule of events, rules and further details, see the Events Calendar and the Tournaments page. For more information on Legends of Norrath, visit the website at www.legendsofnorrath.com.

Via: Press Release

SOE has announced a release date for the new set for the Legends of Norrath trading card game, Inquisitor. The expansion will be out March 7, 2008. To celebrate the release, Sony has planned game tournaments at hobby stores world wide.

For further details on new features and tournaments, check out our spotlight on Legends of Norrath Inquisitor on Gaming Today.

SOE and Vivox Inc. have signed a deal that seems destined to change the way that gamers communicate online. Gamers will be able to access a suite of voice communication tools that will give them voice mail and the ability to synthesize their voices into their avatars’ voices; and still be able to receive outside calls in SOE MMOs.

Need standard chat for groups and raids? Check. Don’t want to tie up your own bandwidth? Roger that. Want your voice to sound completely different? Done. Late for your raid but want to take part in the group setup by cell phone? Can do. Dream of having in-game voicemail? There ya go. Playing a non-SOE game but want to use this service, free of charge? Aye.

For everything these companies are promising, it’s hard to believe that these services will remain free for very long. Call me skeptical, but I can imagine the free ride will last just long enough to get players totally hooked.

Check out the complete details in the press release listed after the break.
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The Legends of Norrath card game is introducing a new set; Inquisitor. The new set introduces Monks, Enchanters, Inquisitors and Bards with over 250 new cards.

Set forth in the role of an Inquisitor and continue the storyline of the Oathbound and the battle for Order. As elite agents of the Tribunal, Inquisitors have been sent on a mission to hunt down the Forsworn, former champions of Order who have gone rogue and betrayed the Tribunal. Fight alongside your favorite Oathbound heroes and be prepared to conquer new Chaos Masters – Ariseph, Mistress of Verse and Kul’tak, Master of Carnage!

Inquisitor features include new unit types, legends, keywords and abilities for EverQuest and EQII classes with more than 20 new loot items for EQ and EQII. Check out more of the latest screenshots up on FileFront.

SOE is also hosting Championship Qualifier Tournaments. Players vie for a chance to go to GenCon Indianapolis to play for cash and prizes worth more than $100,000 USD. Full Details are listed after the break.
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Card games. Not something you’d think has a natural connection to the electronic gaming generation. Traditionally the act of playing cards is a social one but technology has improved and allows millions of gamers to play Uno via Xbox Live! or gamble your life away playing poker online. The digital age removed the physical requirements of needing friends and opponents in the same space but it introduced card players to a world of challengers.

One area of the card game industry that’s exploded in the last 15 years is the collectible card game (CCG) market. Comprised of brightly colored cards usually with gorgeous illustrations or photos and a semi-random distribution mechanism like old Baseball card packs, players build entire decks of cards to battle with other like-minded players in casual play and at tournaments for cash prizes. While the concept of a CCG dates as far back as the turn of the 20th century, the modern CCG really came to prominence with the advent of Magic: The Gathering.

Magic: The Gathering originally was designed as a short, quick card game for gamers at traditional tabletop conventions to play in between matches or tournaments. Richard Garfield and his team at Wizards of the Coast developed the core system concepts that are used in most commercial CCG’s today and marketed Magic to the gamer crowd with great success. Soon, Magic pushed traditional gaming off to the side. The game designed as a fun activity between other games became the game that filled convention halls and comic stores and really signaled the kick off of the CCG craze.
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From the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas comes a look at the first expansion for the EverQuest, EQ2 spin off card game Legends of Norrath. Forsworn will add 250 new cards including over 40 new loot cards to redeem for cool online in-game items and a multiplayer, tiered aspect to the game. It also introduces multiplayer raids. These first two scenarios are The Goblin Dojo which is a two-player game and Trakanon which can handle a party of four. For a preview of detailed game mechanics, read the full report from MMORPG.

Sony Online Entertainment announced today that Forsworn, the first expansion set for the online strategy game Legends of Norrath is now available for purchase via digital download at the SOE Station Store. Based on the MMOs EverQuest and EverQuest II , Forsworn expands upon the Norrathian story arc, high-fantasy art style and gameplay offered with the set of virtual trading cards, Oathbound, which was released in North America this past summer. Localized versions of the original online game and the new expansion are now live for players in France, Germany and the UK.

“Challenging even the most seasoned strategist, Forsworn presents further opportunities to duel friends and defeat foes with the addition of more than 230 unique cards, several new game mechanics and highly sought after loot items,” said Scott Martins, Director of Development, SOE. “Bringing Legends of Norrath to the international markets of France, Germany and the UK has been a goal for us since the beginning of the development process and we are proud to see that come to fruition.”

Forsworn, the second release in the Legends of Norrath storyline, features enhanced multiplayer support that allows team-based 2 vs. 2 games, as well as cooperative multiplayer “raid” games against AI opponents. Forsworn also boasts 22 additional loot items each for EQ and EQII, including player mounts, potions, clothing and spells and also introduces an updated client with new content and bonus features for all registered users.

Available in both 58-card digital starter decks and 15-card digital booster packs, Forsworn cards will be available via digital download only from SOE’s Station Store. The digital starter decks will be available for $9.99 with digital booster packs selling for $2.99.

For more information on the game check out our previous posts or log onto Sony’s Station Store.

Via: Press Release

Legends of Norrath: Forsworn Art Work After the Break

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