Sony Online Entertainment has announced a system-wide maintenance this afternoon:

Important: We will perform maintenance beginning at 2:00 PM Pacific on January 25, 2013. We expect this maintenance to take approximately 1 hour. This will impact the following services:

• Login for all SOE games may be affected, but players who are already logged in and remain logged in will not be affected
• Login for all SOE forums may be affected
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on our websites and in-game marketplaces, may be unavailable
• Account management may be unavailable

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

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

Confirmed earlier this week by John Smedley on Twitter, there is a Triple SC deal running on December 21. Players can enjoy this bonus Station Cash deal a bit early - Linda "Brasse" Carlson just mentioned on Twitter that the offer is already live (we just redeemed a SC code and can personally confirm this)! The deal runs until 11:59pm PST on Friday, December 21, 2012. It will include every form of Station Cash purchases excluding SMS payments. Happy Frostfell to all!

Some astute players in the Planetside 2 Reddit community discovered a picture in their game folder for a Triple Station Cash event on December 21. John Smedley just confirmed on Twitter that there will indeed be Triple SC on that day. The offer runs from 12:01am PST through 11:59pm PST on Friday, December 21, 2012. It will include every form of Station Cash purchases excluding SMS payments. We'll remind you of this event again later next week!

SOE is offering a one day only deal on Friday, November 23, 2012 for double Station Cash! Any SC purchased with credit card or pre-paid game cards (redeemed as Station Cash, not as game time) will be doubled in value. SMS purchases are excluded. This deal is valid until 11:59pm PST tonight!

UPDATE 7:35am PST: Game logins appear to be functioning again. Your Station Cash balance may unavailable until SOE fully finishes their maintenance, so don't be alarmed if it's displaying the wrong amount.

We have found out that many SOE game logins are currently under an unscheduled maintenance, which has caused players to be disconnected from their games and unable to log back in. The forums and account management logins are also subject to the same login issues. The reason for the maintenance is unknown. If you are still online you may get disconnected if you zone or change characters.

We are currently doing some unscheduled maintenance that is affecting logins. We anticipate it done shortly and appreciate your patience.

We'll update when we hear that login servers are back online!

Get Double Station Cash when you get an SOE Pre-Paid Game Card from 7-Eleven and redeem for Station Cash between November 16 and November 18!

Game Card must be purchased at a 7-Eleven store in the United States and redeemed for Station Cash (not membership time) during the promotional period to qualify. Offer valid only for qualifying Game Cards that are redeemed for Station Cash between 12:01 AM PST 11/16/12 and 11:59 PM PST 11/18/12.

Sony Online Entertainment has announced a system-wide maintenance on Thursday November 1, 2012 starting at 5am Pacific. This three hour maintenance will impact the following services:

• Login for all SOE games may be affected.
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on SOE websites and in-game marketplaces, may be unavailable.
• Account management may be unavailable.

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

UPDATE: Triple Station Cash is slated to run from 12:01 AM PDT through 11:59 PM PST on November 4, 2012.

Sony Online Entertainment was planning a triple Station Cash event near the end of October, but postponed it due to hurricane Sandy. On October 30, John Smedley, president of SOE, announced:

We were going to run a surprise Triple Station Cash promotion tomorrow. Due to the horrible storm and our East Coast players being impacted ... we are going to move that promotion to this upcoming Sunday November 4th. We normally do not announce these, but under these conditions we ... decided it was the right thing to do. Smed

UPDATE: Linda "Brasse" Carlson tweeted: "RT @neodraykl: @Brasse @j_smedley What’s eligible for the triple promotion? SC cards or online purchases? [Everything except SMS!]" This means that both retail Station Cash cards and credit cards will be eligible for this promotion.

Sony Online Entertainment has announced a four-hour maintenance on Monday, October 29, beginning at 4:00 AM Pacific.

• Login for all SOE games will be affected for the first hour.
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on our websites and in-game marketplaces, will be unavailable.
• Account management will be unavailable.

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

There was something different about the keynote address at SOE Live this year. It wasn’t Linda’s resplendent beard or the sense of anticipation in the audience; it was the sense that a new direction was being undertaken.

Of course there was information on the new expansions for both EverQuests, the new DLC 6 with Player Lairs for DCUO -- an interview with Jens Andersen and Larry Liberty coming this week -- the release date for PlanetSide 2 and the explanation of what has happened to EverQuest Next. There was plenty to digest, but it was the air of determination to make the year ahead for SOE something to make the industry take note that stood out that night.

As John Smedley put it, EverQuest had changed the industry 13 years ago and SOE wanted to do it again.

It was with the keynote fresh in my mind that I sat down with SOE’s president and asked him about the plan for the future.