Features

SOE showed us EverQuest's 14th expansion, Secrets of Faydwer. It brings in some of the most innovative gameplay wrinkles anyone has tried in quite some time. Read on to see what's new in the original world of Norrath.

"We did more action-oriented stuff," said Senior Game Designer Ryan Barker.

In the dungeon, Barker showed off four examples. He turned down the fire-themed hall full of monsters, which seemed pretty straightforward. Along the walls are stone dragon heads, and as the players fight the enemies, these dragon heads shoot lethal flames across the hall. Players need to pay attention and time their progress or get burned to death.

Click below to read more.

John Smedley is the President and CEO of Sony Online Entertainment. We had a chance to talk to him by phone last week about his company, the games they make and where they're going. Here's a sample:

"We are very focused on taking the grind out of our next round of games," he said simply. "Our next generation is not trying to do what we did in this generation." He cited The Agency, with its more mature theme, FPS elements and cinematic-storytelling as an example.

It's been a turbulent path for Smedley and SOE. The online game division of Sony began when the company purchased Verant, the studio behind EverQuest of which Smedley was a co-founder. That blossomed into "The Station", a game hub that has since been the model for the entire industry. It included EQ and a host of smaller games, like Tanarus, an online tank-combat game, whose mechanics were a forerunner to games like Battlefield.

Read more after the jump.

Recently, WarCry had the chance to speak to EverQuest Producer Clint Worely about this most venerable of MMORPGs. At eight years old, they're on a hard march towards a November expansion and have changed the way they approach things a bit. Find out what they're up to, how they're tackling it and what awaits in Secrets of Faydwer in this new look forward.

Right now, their focus is squarely on those players who've stuck with them and continue to pay the bills. In contrast to EverQuest II, which clearly seeks new fans, EverQuest is all about the hardcore. New people come, but in a game this established, they are just as likely to be returning players.

"EverQuest has always been a hardcore game," Producer Clint Worely told WarCry. It has a steep curve and while they have made efforts to correct this, the new player experience is not really their current focus. Specifically, he characterized the churn of players out of the game as extremely low, a major reason for them to focus on keeping those long lasting subscribers happy.

Read more after the click.

Every gamer and fan of fantasy certainly knows Keith Parkinson's art. He was the man behind the original EverQuest's iconic cover art, as well as a cover artist for fantasy authors like Margaret Weiss, Tracy Hickman and Terry Brooks. Parkinson later went on to become the Art Director for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

It was then appropriate that in early February, Sigil Games dedicated their launch party to Keith's work and that of his close friend Larry Elmore. Held in San Fransisco, the event marked the start of a cross-country tour to celebrate the two men's work. At the party, their works lined the walls and showed the range of both men's talents. It was surprising to see that so many iconic scenes could belong to one man.

In October of 2005, Keith lost his battle with Leukemia and was taken from his family much too soon. As the tour commemorating his work continues onto its second stop in the coming days, we were lucky enough to have his son Nick Parkinson - the Community Manager for Vanguard - to take the time and tell us about his father and his art.

To read the interview with Nick, click the link below.