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Sony Online Entertainment is a unique company in the MMO industry. Not only do they have a stable of games, they try to make it easy for you to play all of them. Our giveaway today celebrates this with an SOE game sampler. We have a great box with 30 days of gameplay for Planetside, EverQuest, The Matrix Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and EverQuest II all included! Plus, we'll throw in two additional 30 day time cards. Extend your play of one of those games to 90 days, or try out two games for two months. We've got a ton more swag for you on top of that greatness; we'll throw in an SOE podcast t-shirt, SOE-branded binoculars, and a DC Universe Online pen/flashlight that shines the Bat Symbol! Estimated total retail value of the pack is $130.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite SOE game is and why. To get this unique prize pack you'll need to comment before 7:00 AM EST Friday, November 7th. You can only enter once per person, and after the contest closes we'll ship out this fantastic prize to one randomly-selected winner. Give us at least a week to ship out this massive pile of swag, though. To win you must be age 18 or up and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec). For full eligibility details, we suggest you read our official rules. Good luck!

The Massively giveaway week extravaganza rolls on! Today it's all about our friends over at Sony Online Entertainment. That's right, today is a giveaway day entirely devoted to SOE games and the gamers that love them. We'll kick things off with the brand-new expansion for the game that started it all: EverQuest. The Seeds of Destruction expansion only launched just a precious few weeks ago, but the addition of NPC allies to the game has come with enormous positive feedback from the community. New dungeons, more levels, and even more content for players to explore makes this easily the best-recieved new EQ pack since the days of The Serpent's Spine. We have ten of these fantastic expansions to hand out, and they each go for about $40, making total retail value of this giveaway about $400.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite EverQuest zone is! Remember, the new expansions come with all the old ones packaged in. Even if you haven't played in a while you'll be getting the whole experience with this new content. To get it you'll need to comment before 7:00 AM EST Friday, November 7th. You can only enter once per person, and after the contest closes we'll ship out these fantastic prizes to 10 randomly-selected winners. Give us at least a week to ship out this massive pile of swag, though. To win you must be age 18 or up and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec). For full eligibility details, we suggest you read our official rules. Good luck!

We were there for the announcement of the expansion, with our fantastic chat with the developers. We had the chance to walk through the all-new content with you, and we've waited while the lore has trickled out over the last few months. Now today's the day! EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction launches to eager fans. Check out this wrapup of our coverage below, and read on below the cut for the full patch notes for today's most excellent expansion. Good luck in Norrath!

	Massively explores EQ's upcoming expansion, Seeds of Destruction Though we've interviewed the design team, read the lore as well as watched an introductory video, we were given our own tour of the expansion by Lead Designer Ryan Barker. You can join us in the tour either by clicking on the first picture below or heading after the jump to watch the 2 minute video of expansion highlights we recorded.
	Exploring Seeds of Destruction with the EverQuest design team Join us now for another chat, this time with the heads of the EverQuest development team. EQ's Senior Producer Clint Worley and Lead Designer Ryan Barker chatted extensively with us about the new content.
	Unfolding the lore of EverQuest's Seeds of Destruction The official EverQuest players site has begun a new series of articles exploring the lore of the game's upcoming expansion. Seeds of Destruction will feature a big leap forward in Norrath's storyline, catapulting players into the far-flung future of the world. This first piece frames the setting for that future, a bleak ruin inhabited only by a crazy god and a tree.
	EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction teaser trailer released In conjunction with the deluge of EverQuest II news we've given you from Fan Faire today, there was also the announcement of an expansion to the original EverQuest as well. EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction features twenty new zones, a new Mercenaries system, a level cap raised to 85 and much more.

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	Well met, fellow Norrathian! Make sure to check out all of our coverage of the next EverQuest II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey as well as Seeds of Destruction, the next expansion to EverQuest!

If you're a fan of SOE games, you may have noticed some big changes this week to the Station Launcher beta. Similar in function to the PlayNC launcher for NCsoft games, Station Launcher manages games, updates, and downloads, but it also allows you to chat with your friends across the SOE titles. While the idea of it is appealing, there have been problems with how the Station Launcher functioned.

Dan Kinney, Senior Director of Platform Client Applications at SOE gave a rundown of the changes they've made based off of player feedback:

Massively's first birthday is only a couple of weeks a way! We've been having fun looking back at our first year of coverage -- first with our ten most important interviews, then our most helpful guides, and most recently our top 5 weirdest news stories. This week we've compiled six of our hands-on previews of games that are yet to be released.

Jump into the gallery to see what's on the genre's horizon with new expansions, Sci-Fi, super heroes, and more. No matter what your interests, we've got you covered!

There exists a very close relationship between MMOs and table-top games.

Yesterday saw the launch of Ethernauts, the fifth expansion to EverQuest-related collectible trading card game Legends of Norrath. LoN is digital, but gameplay-wise, it's totally a table-top game. World of Warcraft has an entirely material trading card game. Warhammer Online is of course based on the Warhammer miniatures game, and WoW is getting a miniatures game of its own. And of course, the RPG genre originated on the table-top with Dungeons & Dragons.

We're wondering: how much crossover is there between digital and table-top games? How many of our readers play them? Tell us! What do you think of table-top games?

Today marks the release of the fifth expansion to the Legends of Norrath digital trading card game -- Ethernauts. More than 280 cards join the existing arsenal, including four avatar cards, two new unit races, and 20 loot cards. They all play into a story that sets the stage for EverQuest II's upcoming The Shadow Odyssey expansion. In fact, there are even some scenarios based on never-before-seen TSO content.

In an attempt to give would-be newbies an incentive to buy in, SOE has also introduced the Legendary Starter Pack at the price of $19.99. If you're a vet, though, you can pick up Ethernauts booster packs for $2.99 each. Current EverQuest or EQ2 subscribers will get a free starter deck, 'cause, y'know -- you're not hooked on Norrath enough already, right?

Oh, and there are a bunch of special events all weekend celebrating the launch.

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	Well met, fellow Norrathian! Make sure to check out all of our coverage of the next EverQuest II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey as well as Seeds of Destruction, the next expansion to EverQuest!

SOE has announced that starting October 7th, which would be today, EverQuest players who locate the herald of Druzzil Ro in the Plane of Knowledge will be transported to a time rift leading them to the new zones from the upcoming expansion, Seeds of Destruction. They've also released the patch notes for the update, in case you want to get right into the nitty gritty details.

The two weeks early look include the zones The Void, Oceangreen and the Temple of Bertoxxulous. There will be quest lines and group encounters to keep everyone busy as they traverse the new content. Overall this looks like a very cool way to showcase upcoming new content to the people who matter the most: current subscribers. If someone wasn't sure about picking up the new expansion or not, this early look will definitely allow them to make an informed desicion.

Our third and final Legends of Norrath preview card for the Ethernauts set is on display this morning. Ethernauts releases this Thursday, so this card brings our preview series for LoN Expansion 6. We've previously talked about several other 'card counter' mechanic offerings, including the personal attack card Vicious Assault and the pet buff Geotic Rune. Today, finally, we have a defensive card using the card counter mechanic; a quick flip of the wrist to get you out of a tight spot.

This past week we also took a look at some of the loot cards coming with this set. Those and all three of our preview cards are in our gallery for the set, below. Check them out, and get ready for the Legends of Norrath expansion's launch the day after tomorrow. Read on below the cut for a closer look at Temperence.

Our discussions with Sony Online Entertainment's CEO John Smedley have touched on a number of issues. The changing face of Star Wars Galaxies, the company's connection to Live Gamer, and even the possibility of sequels to Free Realms. In a recent discussion with MTV Multiplayer, Mr. Smedley expanded on many of these issues and reconfirmed the innovative vision of SOE's future development. In the CEO's words, every game the company makes in the future will be playable on a console ... one would imagine Sony's.

The executive also notes the company's commitment to expanding the appeal of MMOs with non-fantasy titles. Smedley also notes the company's efforts to appeal more to women with titles like DC Universe Online. That said, fans of the company's headlining franchise shouldn't worry too much about its future: "It's pretty safe to say that "EverQuest" has not seen its last game. So we've got our own cards to play there, and I think we will play them at the right time. But the quality level will be something that people will be very happy with." Read on to MTV Multiplayer for the full interview.

We've been walking through some previews of the Legends of Norrath cards over the last two weeks, and now SOE has some more 'fun stuff' to show off. We have three brand-new loot cards to show off. Two are transformations for your EverQuest II character, and the third is a brand-new pet for your EverQuest character. Check out Allakhazam for even more EQ2 and EQ loot card hijinks!. Plus, keep your eyes on Massively for more loot card information soon, and another preview card through next week!

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	Well met, fellow Norrathian! Make sure to check out all of our coverage of the next EverQuest II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey as well as Seeds of Destruction, the next expansion to EverQuest!

Last week we began our latest preview series for the upcoming expansion to the TCG Legends of Norrath: Ethernauts. Vicious Assault, last week's card, introduced the 'card counter' mechanic that is taking a bow in this newest expansion. This week's preview card, Geotic Rune, utilizes that same mechanic to provide an all-new level of power to a very traditional Mage deck build.

Another early-to-midgame card, Geotic Rune will increase the power level of all those 'pet decks' out there. It sounds in general like pet fans will be getting a few treats in Ethernauts, a topic touched on in this week's designer analysis. SOE-Denver's Evan Lorentz joins us once again to discuss how Geotic Rune fits into the new expansion to Legends of Norrath, and where you might end up using it in your decks.

Read on below the cut for full details.

Some of you surely played EverQuest back in the day. Whether it was your first MMO or not, one thing's for sure: it was the first huge MMO. When we say huge, we're not referring to subscription numbers; we're talking about the size of the world. It was much grander than that of Ultima Online, Everyone who played EQ remembers his or her first trip from Freeport to Qeynos or vice versa.

That trip was a very dire one, especially for a level 10 character. If memory serves, you had to go through Kithicor, the goblin dungeon of Runnyeye, the Beholder's maze (that was the most dangerous part, since it was all narrow canyons), the orc-sieged Highpass Hold, and of course all of the Karanas, griffins and giants be damned. It was not safe. It also took a really, really long time. If you were coming originally from Faydwer, before any of this you also had to take a fairly long boat ride -- certainly much longer than the almost-instant inter-continental rides in World of Warcraft.

But the journey was exciting. It actually felt like it was an epic adventure. In most recent MMOs, fast travel is prevalent and everything is streamlined to take as little time as possible. As the genre has become more casual with regards to travel time and danger, have we lost something? Are there no more epic cross-continental treks full of thrilling close calls?

We announced the upcoming expansion to Legends of Norrath just a little less than two weeks ago. Already the release date for the new card set is approaching, and for the next few weeks we'll be offering up a preview-card-a-week to familiarize you with the expansion's new game elements. The art for the new set meets the standard set by previous expansions, and this time around we'll be trying to include comments from card designers along with the actual art itself.

Today we're previewing 'Vicious Assault', an early-to-midgame ability that starts an avatar-on-avatar combat. SOE Denver's Evan Lorentz walks us through the card and its use; despite the ability itself being fairly straightforward, the new set offers up some different takes on tried-and-true LoN strategies.

Read on below the cut for the full card art and Lorentz's take.

On October 21, SOE's EverQuest will release its 15th expansion, the Seeds of Destruction. Along with with a level cap raise from 80 to 85 and twenty new zones, EQ will also introduce a new Mercenary system to the game. Long considered a grouping dependent game, players have often struggled to find a group at odd hours or on low-population servers. SOE's solution is the new ability for players to hire NPC tanks and healers. These fill-ins will do the job adequately until the group slot can be filled with another player.

What of those 20 new zones? Some are re-imagined classic zones and some are entirely new. And they all are tied together with the new storyline. The agents of Discord have tampered with Norrath's timeline to engineer the destruction of the planet. Players must travel back in time to make sure history goes as planned, even if it means letting good people die and treacherous creatures prevail.

Though we've interviewed the design team, read the lore as well as watched an introductory video, we were given our own tour of the expansion by Lead Designer Ryan Barker. You can join us in the tour either by clicking on the first picture below or heading after the jump to watch the 2 minute video of expansion highlights we recorded.