Sony Online Entertainment has announced maintenance beginning at 7:00 AM Pacific on June 18, 2013. This will impact the following services:

• Account management will be unavailable for 30 minutes.
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on our websites and in-game marketplaces, will fail until 7:30 AM Pacific Time.
• Pay Pal and SMS Transactions will fail until 9 AM Pacific Time.
• Login for all SOE forums may be affected. You may lose permissions and experience occasional disconnects from 7 AM Pacific until 9 AM Pacific.
• Login for all SOE games may be affected from 7 AM Pacific until 9 AM Pacific.
• Players who are already logged into game may be disconnected and unable to log back in until 9 AM PDT.

Here's our handy Time Zone Conversion Tool top help you plan.

Each year SOE Live (formerly Fan Faire) features "live quests" for attendees to take part in. These quests typically run two hours and involve teamwork, roleplay, trivia, ingenuity, and lots of fun. Expect to do crazy things such as be guided through a maze blindfolded, roleplay an orc doing grunt work, answer a crossword puzzle about your beloved game, or say "Mithaniel Marr" with six or more jumbo-sized marshmallows in your mouth (yes Kander, I still haven't forgotten that day!).

The themes change each year, as do the tasks in the quests. The tasks will be revealed when the quest commences, but SOE announced the various times and themes earlier today. Continue after the jump for the full live quest schedule!

Earlier today, Sony Online Entertainment revealed a teaser website for EverQuest Next. It has little information aside from mentioning that the worldwide debut will be at this year's SOE Live on Friday, August 2, 2013. Along with the website there are several new EQ Next social media accounts that fans can follow for tidbits of information:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EverQuest_Next
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EverQuestNext
• Google+: https://plus.google.com/116076382061631523609/posts
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/EverQuestNext
• Twitch TV: http://www.twitch.tv/EverQuestNext/

Also make sure to tune in to SOE's Twitch TV channel on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 3:30pm PDT (6:30pm EDT) for the EverQuest franchise E3 live broadcast!

UPDATE: The recording of this video is now available on Twitch TV.

Sony Online Entertainment will perform maintenance beginning at 7:00 AM Pacific on April 30, 2013. This maintenance is expected to take approximately 1 hour. This will impact the following services:

• Account management will be unavailable.
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on SOE websites and in-game marketplaces will be unavailable.
• Login for all SOE forums will be affected.
• Players who are already logged in may be disconnected and unable to log back in starting at 7:00 AM to approximately 8:00 AM PDT.
• Login for all SOE games may be affected during the maintenance.
• Login for Free Realms and Clone Wars Adventures will be unavailable.

SOE Live (formerly Fan Faire) will be held from August 1 - 4, 2013, at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Late this morning Sony Online Entertainment announced that badge registration is now open, with special Early Bird pricing available. There are a variety of passes, which offer the following:

• Friday or Saturday Only Day Pass: $39* (reg. $49), includes an SOE Live T-shirt and Swag Bag; exclusive SOE Live in-game goodies**; access to the exhibitor showroom, panels, and roundtables; one complimentary green screen photo; eligible for game tournaments and live quests.
• Evening Only Pass: $99, grants entry to the Welcome Reception (including the Thursday Keynote Address), Pool Party, and Grand Banquet (including the Costume Contest). 
• All Access Pass: $129* (reg. $149), includes everything the Day and Evening passes get, as well as complementary copies of both the upcoming EverQuest and EverQuest II expansions.
• Optional Dev Brunch Add-on***: $59, join various SOE developers for a breakfast buffet on Sunday, August 4 from 10am - 12pm. Space is "extremely limited" and registrants are accepted on a first come, first serve basis.All Access Pass is required. Seating is assigned based on primary game chosen during registration.
• Kids ages 12 and under are free and must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

* Special pricing only available for a limited time. Register by May 22, 2013 to take advantage of these prices.
** In-game goodies will be granted after SOE Live, but the registrant does not need to attend to receive their goodies. See below for more details.
*** Dev Brunch requires that you have an All Access pass.

Find out more information about SOE Live this evening (Thursday, April 25) during the webcast on Twitch TV! Tune in at 4:30pm PDT (7:30pm EDT) to watch Brasse will chat with Jen Belfield (Marketing Services Director) and Casey Roberts (Marketing Services and Events Specialist) to give you the details on registration, tournaments, panels, Live Quests, in-game items, the Keynotes, and more.

Register now for SOE Live and continue reading for more info on the exclusive in-game items!

This evening, Thursday, April 25, 2013, SOE will be broadcasting the EQII: Scars of the Awakened and the SOE Live 2013 webcasts back-to-back live on Twitch TV. The EQII webcast at 4pm Pacific will go over some final details regarding Game Update 66 and delve into what the team is working on next. The SOE Live webcast at 4:30pm PDT will have details regarding registration (which opened up earlier today), tournament, panesl, in-game items, and more.

Join SOE on Thursday, April 25, 2013, at 4:00pm PDT (7:00pm EDT) and 4:30pm PDT (7:30pm EDT), as they live stream these webcasts on Twitch TV! The webcasts are expected to last about 20 minutes each.

With the announcement that Storybricks will be joining SOE in breathing life into EverQuest Next, time has come for the prognostication to recommence.

We expect that we will have some more concrete information revealed at SOE Live this year, but there are some snippets that are certainly making me a little rabid with anticipation.

The involvement of the Storybricks team itself is exciting, in that it reveals SOE is looking to add levels of player interaction with the world that will have some interesting AI and choices under the hood.

For a better idea of what we can anticipate from Namaste Entertainment’s involvement, check out this enlightening interview by David Souza, formerly of RepublicTrooper.com and now one of our marvelous new writers at ZAM (keep an eye out for his excellent first editorial on PvP, coming soon).

Sony Online Entertainment will perform maintenance beginning at 8:00 AM Pacific on April 9, 2013. This maintenance is expected to take approximately four hours. This will impact the following services:

• Account management will be unavailable starting at 4:00 AM to approximately 8:00 AM PDT.
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on SOE websites and in-game marketplaces will be unavailable between 4:00 AM to approximately 8:00 AM PDT.
• Logins for all SOE forums may be affected, you may lose permissions and experience occasional disconnects between 4:00 AM to approximately 8:00 AM PDT..
• Players who are already logged in may be disconnected and unable to log back in starting at 4:00 AM to approximately 8:00 AM PDT.
• Logins for all SOE games may be affected during the maintenance.

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

Sony Online Entertainment will perform maintenance beginning at 6:00 AM Pacific on April 3, 2013. This maintenance is expected to take approximately 2 1/2 hours. This will impact the following services:

• Account management will be unavailable starting at 6:00 AM to approximately 8:30 AM PDT.
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on SOE websites and in-game marketplaces will be unavailable between 6:00 AM and approximately 8:30 AM PDT.
• Logins for all SOE forums may be affected, you may lose permissions and experience occasional disconnects between 6:00 AM and approximately 8:30 AM PDT.
• Players who are already logged in may be disconnected and unable to log back in starting at 6:00 AM to approximately 8:30 AM PDT.
• Logins for all SOE games may be affected during the maintenance.

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

SOE just announced a Double Station Cash weekend, which will begin at 12:01am PDT on Friday, March 29 and end at 11:59pm PDT on Sunday, March 31. This offer is valid for pre-paid SC cards or online purchases. It excludes SMS (mobile) purchases.

Starting tomorrow, get Double Station Cash between March 29th-31st when you buy Station Cash or redeem an SOE Pre-Paid Station Cash card.* Stock up on Pre-Paid Station Cash cards now to take advantage of this special offer! Be on the lookout for special deals on the Marketplace, too!

*Offer valid from 12:01 AM PDT March 29, 2013 to 11:59PM PDT March 31, 2013. Double Station Cash offer excludes purchases made via SMS.