Vanguard: Saga of Heroes players are getting into the holiday mood with The Festival of Gloriann. During this year’s event players will have several new features to the Vanguard MMO to celebrate. Sony is adding new race/class combos as well as enchanting. Fishing is also on the SOE gift list along with sailing in galleons and other surprises players aren’t allowed to unwrap yet.

Get ready for Atnas Claws to visit Telos, pass out those gifts and prepare for good things in your stocking this holiday during The Festival of Gloriann on Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

Gold farmers beware. Sony is undercutting your earnings by making Station Cash good on EverQuest and EverQuest II. Sony Online Entertainment’s new virtual currency can be used to buy premium in-game items on both EQ and EQ2 in North America and Europe as of today, December 10th.

You too can fork over your hard earned cash to buy virtual items like the Goblin Skull Fetish or a Handy Servant. Just fill your Virtual Wallet with Station Cash and head to the in-game Marketplace. Check out the Station Cash FAQ for specific questions and the Station Cash Overview for game specific details.

Thanks to EverQuest II – Station news for the heads up.

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.

John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, commented on the future of the PSP after his keynote at the New York Games Conference. He was there speaking on the future of MMOs, which he believes will be a good match for Sony’s portable platform. MTV Multiplayer shared his plans for the PSP.

“I think PSP is something that we’re definitely looking at; 34 million [sold] worldwide really opens your eyes, and they’re all connected.”

“We started to get very interested in [the PSP] when we switched over from Sony Pictures to Sony Computer Entertainment back in April,” he explained. “And as we’ve kind of got our heads up looking around the world within Sony Computer Entertainment, we’re really starting to see a big push for PSP. We think it’s a world-class device… In the future, we see full MMOs that are designed for the PSP.”

Smedley believes that before the PSP gets its own dedicated MMO, he would like to see it integrated into some of Sony’s existing MMOs. He has a couple ideas of how to go about it.

“Maybe one way to do it: In ‘Free Realms,’ you could have a pet-training system that literally connects to our online gaming where you can mess around with your pet.”

“Another way to do it might be to give them mini-games that they can do [on the PSP] when sitting at a bus stop,” he offered. “You’re sitting there leveling up your character, you log in at home when you’re on wi-fi, and all of sudden your character has leveled up. We think those kinds of experiences are very possible.”

Considering the versatility of the PSP and how well it can work with the PS3, I can envision MMOs on it. However something with very simple graphics like Gaia’s zOMG! or Maple Story which is actually in development for the DS, would work much better than Star Wars Galaxies or EverQuest. Besides, I’m sure Sony wouldn’t want to be responsible for people going blind playing MMOs for hours on end on such a small screen.

Lucas Arts and Sony Online Entertainment have launched their new trading card game, Star Wars Galaxies: Champions of the Force. The game is available only online for an MMO take on the traditional TCG. Players will test their mettle in ten battles while trying to reassemble the ancient Jedi holocron, the Codex of Tython. According to the press release, here’s what players can look forward to.

• Choose between the light and dark sides of the Force and build their own Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game decks to fight virtual matches for the Rebel, Imperial, Jedi or Sith; Enhance their digital card decks with 15-card Booster Packs;
• Find more than 20 “loot” cards in the first release, Champions of the Force, that can be redeemed for fantastic virtual items for use within the Star Wars Galaxies massively multiplayer game for players with a Star Wars Galaxies account*;
• Challenge their skills in story-based solo-play or against other Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game players in epic one-on-one matches, cooperative Heroic Encounters, and official tournaments.

Current and former Star Wars Galaxies players are invited to participate. However players with a current subscription will receive a bonus pack of boosters each month. A stand alone trial for SWG: Champions of the Force will also be available complete with tutorial and practice games. Of course you can also access the game within SWG using a 14-day trial for the MMO. There are many bonuses for both current and future SWG to be had listed after the break.
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Sony Online Entertainment is spilling more details on Fan Faire 2008. For the second year running, SOE president John Smedley will kick off the event with the Community Address. There will be a simultaneous streaming video broadcast online as well as a live audio broadcast in EverQuest, EverQuest II and Star Wars Galaxies through Station Voice by Vivox.

WHEN
Friday, August 15th at 6:00pm PST.

WHERE
To view the live webcast, please go to:
http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=50659

To listen to audio broadcast in-game, please go to:
www.station.sony.com/stationvoice

According to the SOE press release, SOE will be featuring all its MMOs including a lineup including the hit titles EverQuest, EverQuest II, EverQuest Online Adventures, PlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes as well as upcoming titles Free Realms, The Agency and more. SOE’s Fan Faire runs from August 15-17th in Las Vegas. For further details on events check out the official Fan Faire 2008 website. Although online registration is officially closed, on-site registration is now open at the Hilton Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Star Wars Galaxies Producer Christopher Field has officially confirmed John Smedley’s accidental revelation of plans for vehicle combat for Sony Online Entertainment’s MMO.

Field made the announcement official on Station’s Star Wars Galaxies forum. He also lets gamers know what will be announced during the Galactic Assembly presentation at SOE’s Fan Faire 2008 next week in Las Vegas. Attendees will get hear which vehicles included in The Battle of Echo Base will be available for the battle on Hoth.

Gamers can read about vehicle combat, returning events such as “Life Day” and details on the Champions Of The Force: Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game in Field’s Star Wars Galaxies forum post.

Sony has announced that starting next month Star Wars Galaxies and EverQuest II players will have access to Vivox’s Station Voice. This in-game chat program will be free with paid subscriptions. SOE has plans to integrate Station Voice into it’s other MMOs including The Agency in the future.

The initial launch of Station Voice will allow players to:

• Talk person-to-person in game with any microphone and headset combo
• Chat with their party, guild or any other group in game
• Play and communicate without worry of a significant increase in game lag
• Manage group/user participation with moderator controls
• Individually mute and set volume per user
• Set up easily without the need for separate software, accounts or registration

SOE plans to integrate more features into Station Voice later this year including voice fonts and the ability to connect to games from Station Launcher. Anyone who uses the Station Launcher, whether they subscribe to a SOE MMO or not will be able to use Station Voice.

For MMO players that like to keep in touch with voice chat, this will be great. Running a seperate chat program like Skype can bog down your system in some cases. If Station Voice works as well as advertised that is.

via Press Release

Straight out of this year’s Comic-Con, PlayStation.Blog has a live video demonstration of Sony Online Entertainment’s upcoming superhero MMO, DC Universe Online. People are actually getting to go hands-on with the game at the event, so what you see in the video above will give you a look at some actual gameplay. It’ll certainly give you a better feel for the game than the debut trailer Stephany posted last week.

It’s difficult to look at the game and not feel like you’re watching City of Heroes with DC characters sprinkled in — which, for the most part, would be perfectly fine by me. SOE is emphasizing fewer instances and grinding, and more action. But why do I feel like the game will without a doubt be filled with quests like “Take out 10 bad guys” and “Collect 15 trash cans?”

I really hope they figure out a way around that, because that’s really what I usually find to be the thing that kills MMOs for me.

Sony Online Entertainment has announced the winner of its inaugural G.I.R.L. Game Design Competition. Julia Brasil of San Francisco has walked away with a $10,000 tuition scholarship toward her education at The Art Institute of California – San Francisco and a paid internship of up to 10 weeks at the SOE studios of her choice; Austin, Denver, San Diego or Seattle.

“I am shocked and overjoyed to be the first G.I.R.L. Scholarship recipient,” said Brasil. “I’m really looking forward to my internship with SOE, and getting some hands-on experience at such a well-known company. It’s such a great opportunity.”

Brasil’s in-game design, original concept art and two essays were selected from nearly 100 applicants entered in the 2008 SOE G.I.R.L. Game Design Competition. The Gamers In Real Life competition is part of a combined effort by SOE and The Art Institutes across the US to encourage female developers and the development of games that are more interesting for women to play.

“We believe our groundbreaking G.I.R.L. scholarship can give Julia the foundation she needs to pursue a successful career in the video games business. SOE is thrilled to jumpstart the first step in pursuing her goals,” said Torrie Dorrell, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, Sony Online Entertainment. “We anticipate G.I.R.L. continuing to evolve and snowball, creating even more opportunities for women to get behind these games.”

via Sony Online Entertaiment