SOE is offering 50% off all Station Cash in-game items this weekend! Pick up these sweet deals in EverQuest, EverQuest II, Pox Nora, Free Realms, Clone Wars Adventures, DC Universe Online and Magic the Gathering: Tactics. 

Offer valid from 12:01AM PDT June 16, 2012 to 11:59PM PDT June 18, 2012, and is limited to PC games only.

UPDATE June 16:  At 12:02am PDT 6/16, in EverQuest II, everything in the Marketplace including recurring subscriptions is 50% off.

UPDATE June 15: In EverQuest and EverQuest II the sale has already started, and we think it's important to note that non-recurring memberships are (at least on Friday evening) marked 50% off and we weare able to successfully purchase one at that price.  The purchase of memberships with Station Cash will end on Monday, June 18.

Buy any SOE Pre-Paid Game Card at your local retailer and when you redeem from June 8th through June 10th, you’ll get a 500 Station Cash Bonus! Cards must be redeemed between 12:01 AM PDT 6/8/2012 and 11:59 PM PDT 6/10/2012. 

Click here to find a retailer near you and stock up on game cards! Redeem in-game or at soe.com/gamecards.

The awesome folks at SOE are bringing the "role" back into "roleplaying" with an exciting new feature that will debut in EverQuest II. SOEmote uses a webcam and and voice features to let the game track your movement and facial expressions and replicate them on your avatar in real-time.

See the entire demo video (it's worth watching!) and read the interview over at PCGamer.

Today on the Station Blog SOE announced that they are relaunching their Facebook giveaways. Every Monday check out the new Sweepstakes tab on the SOE Facebook page. Prizes will vary, from game-themed swag to partner giveaways (like Sony and Logitech) and even SOE Live passes.

They're kicking it off with ten passes to E3, the industry-only convention in Los Angeles June 5-7, 2012. As I type this the SOE Sweepstakes tab says there is one day and 13 hours left in the promotion, so hurry and sign up (you'll have to approve an ap to do so)!

Restrictions will apply and may vary for each giveaway, so be sure to read the rules. Good luck!

SOE is giving away 1000 Station Cash to ten random entries on their Facebook page! Click here to sign up.

Must be 18 to enter.  The giveaway runs from 4pm Pacific May 21, 2012 through 4pm Pacific May 22, so don't delay!

Sony Online entertainment will perform maintenance beginning at 6:00 AM Pacific on May 15, 2012. Maintenance is expected to take approximately 90 minutes. This will impact the following services:

• Logins for all SOE games will be affected.
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on SOE websites and in-game marketplaces will be unavailable.
• Forums will be read-only.
• Account management will be unavailable.

Here's our handy Time Zone Conversion Tool to help you plan!

Source: Station Community Forums

SOE pre-paid cards are now available at EB Games® Canada!

Celebrate Victoria’s Day by buying the SOE $15 Pre-Paid Card now available at most EB Games Canada stores and get BONUS 500 Station Cash® when you redeem your card in-game or here this Saturday 5/19 - Monday 5/21!

According to EverQuest.com you can get triple Station Cash all day today, Saturday, April 28, 2012. The Station Cash can be tripled through any means excluding SMS (text messaging). Retail SC cards are included in the promotion. This offer is valid until 11:59pm PDT tonight, so act fast!

UPDATE, 3pm PDT: EQ and EQ2 servers are confirmed up! However, expect to see a lot of "Login Rejected" while zoning, but you should be able to immediately log back in.

UPDATE, 3:25pm PDT: EQ2 EU servers are reported to be giving a "fatal error" when attempting to login.

NOTE: This information has changed multiple times since originally published. This is the official maintenance notice as of late Sunday evening:

SOE will be performing maintenance beginning at 00:01AM Pacific on April 23, 2012. This will impact the following services:

• Logins for all SOE games will be affected from 00:01 AM Pacific to approximately 23:59 PM Pacific.
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on our websites and in-game marketplaces will be unavailable between from 00:01 AM Pacific to approximately 23:59 PM Pacific.
• Account management will be unavailable starting 00:01 AM to approximately 23:59 PM Pacific.
• Forums will be read-only starting at 00:01 AM to approximately 23:59 PM Pacific.
• All Games will be unavailable starting 12:01 AM to approximately 11:59 PM Pacific*

We apologize for this interruption and will resume all affected services as soon as the maintenance is completed.

Here's our handy Time Zone Converserion Tool to help you plan!

Source: SOE Forum Announcement

During the downtime you are welcome to join us in ZAM's IRC chat. Feldon of EQ2Wire also has set up a ZAM IRC java applet that you can use (will autojoin the #EQ2 channel).

Several SOE games are having "Friday the 13th Sales" in their respective Station Cash Marketplaces. Login and browse the sale tabs to see the deals or follow the links below:

• Clone Wars Adventures: Holoprojectors
• DC Universe Online: Select "Spooky" Guises and Exobyte Data
• EverQuest: Polymorph Wands; LoN booster packs
• EverQuest II: Heritage Armor Crates; LoN booster packs
• Free Realms: SC Style Cards

Sales are available from 12:01am PDT through 11:59pm PDT on Friday, April 13.*

* Time updated from the original announcement being modified to match the emailed announcement.