MMORPG Merger Announced

I received this press release from Sony last night. I figured I would just post it here in it's entirety. --------- SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT, SQUARE-ENIX AND BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE CROSS-OVER GAMING DEAL - In an unprecedented merger of gaming assets, online gamers will be able to take their existing characters into new and exciting adventures in other gaming worlds. SAN DIEGO, CA - March 31, 2005 - Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), Square-Enix (S-E) and Blizzard Entertainment (Blizzard), the worldwide leaders in Massive Online gaming, have announced a joint venture where players of any of their games, including the enormously successful World of Warcraft, the granddaddy of online gaming Everquest, S-E's hugely successful online version of the Final Fantasy franchise, and the popular titles Everquest 2 and Star Wars Galaxies, can take their existing characters and move seamlessly into new gaming worlds. Through new technology developed jointly by all three companies, your character will be converted over to the rule set and graphical look of each new game as you transfer back and forth, opening up literally tens of thousands of new gaming possibilities for every player. Players of all these games will suddenly be confronted with not just new zones to play in, but entire new universes. "We have been looking for ways to add more end game content to World of Warcraft, and this just seemed a natural fit" said Mike Morhaime, President of Blizzard Entertainment. "This gives our players instant access to a range and depth of content that would otherwise take us years to develop through our current schedule. Now you can simply pick up and walk into another universe and open up an entire set of new and unique content" "The enormous success of World of Warcraft proves that there is a large market for online gaming" said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. "We decided that the best way to tap this market is to combine all of our assets into what is in effect one massive, massive-multiplayer game. By opening up more content and variety like this, our player base can only benefit and thrive." The details of the agreement will be released in more details later. The current timeline calls for the merger to be completed by May 16th, in time for a complete demonstration at the Electronic Entertainment Expo held annually in Los Angeles. The companies have put together a transition team lead by venerable programmer Raph Koster of SOE that will finalize the details of the changes that will be needed in each game to make the transitions from game to game smooth and consistent. "Some things are going to have to change in each game to make this work" said Mr. Koster. "Expect each class in each game to get altered somewhat to allow them to fit into the new rule sets. We are excited about the possibilities of how this can improve the gaming structure of all our franchises." Each company plans on releasing more detailed statements on their respective websites over the next few weeks explaining to the players the impact of this agreement on their specific games. About Blizzard Entertainment Best known for their series Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo®, Blizzard Entertainment (www.blizzard.com, a division of Vivendi Universal Games) is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. The company's free Internet gaming service Battle.net® provides a forum in which owners of Blizzard's games can play in a multiplayer mode remotely across the Internet and against other gamers from around the world. About Sony Online Entertainment Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Digital Inc., is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, with a subscriber base of over 800,000 active accounts around the globe. SOE creates, develops and provides compelling entertainment for the personal computer, online, game console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchises, EverQuest®, EverQuest II, Champions of Norrath and PlanetSide®, as well as for developing Star Wars Galaxies(TM): An Empire Divided(TM), SOE continues to redefine the business of online gaming and the creation of active player communities while introducing new genres on various entertainment platforms. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, with an additional development studio in Austin, TX, SOE has an array of cutting-edge online games in development. About Square Enix Co., Ltd. and Square Enix, Inc. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix) develops, publishes and distributes entertainment content including interactive entertainment software and publications in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Square Enix brings two of Japan’s best-selling franchises – FINAL FANTASY®, which has sold over 60 million units worldwide, and DRAGON QUEST™, which has sold over 35 million units worldwide—under one roof. Square Enix is one of the most influential providers of digital entertainment content in the world and continues to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation. ------ Updated 4/3/05 - Just wanted to say "April Fools"

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http://www.benzotriana.com
# Aug 10 2006 at 5:07 AM Rating: Default
We provides high quality cng,lpg kits.
yeah and
# Jul 02 2006 at 9:51 AM Rating: Default
Imagine quitting EverQuest....
Almost
# Apr 17 2005 at 12:30 AM Rating: Default
Had me going until I got to the part about Raph Koster. Then I knew it was a joke. That dude lead that POS game SWG .. there's NO WAY he could handle something like this :p

What, someone slap that person !!! LOL
# Apr 09 2005 at 10:05 PM Rating: Default
Told my daughter who's a big player in Final Fantasy, me being EQ 'Fantasy' player, thought what a company that make, make Redmond zone out, thats Bill Gates town FYI. 8) Beat that Giant.
seek help ...
# Apr 06 2005 at 2:56 AM Rating: Decent
If you fell for this for even a second, you need to seek deep, professional help.
Who said the Monk would be a Jedi?!?!?
# Apr 04 2005 at 1:03 PM Rating: Decent
Quote:
I thought there may have been some sorta conversion kit that would make a monk on one game into a jedi of equal level


Get Real....druids would be the Jedi Equivalent.
I mean Really a Monk? Duids are in touch with Nature (AKA THE FORCE, our epic is a 1hs (Lightsaber) and we have all sorts of spells just like Force powers.

Monks would be more like the Banthas..lmao
RE: Who said the Monk would be a Jedi?!?!?
# Apr 22 2005 at 1:04 PM Rating: Decent
obviously you know nothing of star wars.. the eq equivelent of jedi would be paladin... "Jedi, (Knights) of the republic.. as the inverse a sith lord would be shadow knight.. just wanted to clear that up

Star Wars Geek )
ok haha or whatever
# Apr 04 2005 at 11:00 AM Rating: Default
Pretty extravagant joke to add a quote from Blizzard's president. The one about the fee increase was great and purely and obviously a joke; I guess someone thought, "gee, that first one was too easy, let's do another one that will really f**k with people hardcore"
SUE ME!
# Apr 04 2005 at 7:24 AM Rating: Decent
35 posts
SOE can't sue and win this one. They have an obligation to "mitigate" their damages.

In addition, they need positive proof that this was the SOLE reason for the account cancellations, and that means contacting the users, which in turn means they had ample oppotunity to notify them of the joke before service is interrupted.

They also have to prove future losses by proving when and if those accounts would have been cancelled in the future. ROFL

Only an idiot would have fallen for this one. There is such a thing as common sense.

Edited, Mon Apr 4 08:31:50 2005
bah
# Apr 03 2005 at 5:09 PM Rating: Decent
Man I was thinking this would be a cool way to hook back up with all my friends that left for WoW. I thought there may have been some sorta conversion kit that would make a monk on one game into a jedi of equal level skill on a nother game and whatever they had on the others thus allowing you to level one character by playing 4 differnt games!
Joke backfired?
# Apr 03 2005 at 11:40 AM Rating: Decent
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429 posts
Sorry to say but I think this hoax and the fake fee increase earlier may have hurt Allakhazam the most. It seems several people fell for those 2 hoaxes and had their accounts cancelled. I don't know how many but a GM was saying almost 32,000 accounts were cancelled over these jokes. If this numbers are true, this represent a major loss in SoE's revune, about $3 million in yearly fee collected and I heard SoE may sue.
RE: Joke backfired?
# Apr 03 2005 at 7:49 PM Rating: Default
Posts like this dissapoint me severely. Usually allakhazam readers are smart and crack jokes and trivia almost immediately.

Anyone who actually read the jokes would have to know what they were. The pricing changes were so over complicated it shouldnt have taken a rocket scientist to figure out it was a hoax.

And all the people having a big crap and cancelling their accounts? well, thats just retarded to me. The joke was so obvious. If anyone is angry about cancelling their account they should be angry at themselves for jumping to conclusions.

Oh, and its time to buy a calander and stop living under a rock too. Everyone knows what this site does on April fools day, but this year apparently there were a lot more fools~
RE: Joke backfired?
# Apr 04 2005 at 12:35 PM Rating: Decent
22 posts
OMFG, Sony got me again this year... Can't believe that, bastages.

LOL
I know it's fake, but...
# Apr 03 2005 at 8:27 AM Rating: Decent
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1,344 posts
Imagine 2-3 full groups running sorties on Gornaire in Dreadlands in X-Wing Fighters... oh the carnage.

/ooc Where is the ammunition vendor here in PoK?

Your skill in spacecraft piloting goes up (10)
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FUN... LOL
# Apr 03 2005 at 6:58 AM Rating: Decent
Hmm, could you imagine trying to Power level a wookie with your druid? Happy April Fools:-)
hmmm
# Apr 02 2005 at 5:36 PM Rating: Decent
25 posts
I don't see what is so far-fetched about it. I'm not familiar with what SoE "does every year", but after only a few minutes thought this seems like the way to go if you ask me. Think about it. How many people would flock to this new conglomerate given the promise of having access to ALL the worlds these companies have created with ONE toon? LOTS and LOTS.
Obviously it would be a programming nightmare, but I'm not seeing yer comment about it being far-fetched. Not in 2005. Money is king. Period. Profit drives everything. Even online games...
cruel joke
# Apr 02 2005 at 6:59 AM Rating: Decent
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166 posts
lol
LOL
# Apr 02 2005 at 5:08 AM Rating: Default
You know I didn't find the actual article NEAR as funny as all the whining people did about it. Get real people these are games, if you take them so seriously that a joke about them on a website gets you that worked up, you need some serious help.
RE: LOL
# Apr 03 2005 at 10:58 PM Rating: Excellent
10 posts
I'm with you Ammdar. Like Merf said, I want to jump into my X-wing fighter and do a dive bombing run on Gornaire. rofl. Loosen up people. I can just see the skies filled with neophite pilots, and Drolvarg's running for cover and even Venril Sathir himself coming out of Karnor's Castle for the first time in ages to see what the hell is going on. Made me laugh.
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dupliciti
#Anonymous, Posted: Apr 02 2005 at 1:46 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) very mean trick not everywhere in the world does your stupid aprils 1 holiday how are we to trust your info from now on
hmm...
# Apr 01 2005 at 10:10 PM Rating: Decent
/sigh...first thing I read was "SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT, SQUARE-ENIX AND BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE CROSS-OVER GAMING DEAL " and Immediatly figured it was a joke, without having to remember it was April Fool's day. There's just WAY too much controversy between these companies, and of course there would be news about this ahead of time, completed with tons of delays upon delays.

Although, what would be the real humorous irony of it all is if they actually did do this and for the vast majority of us all say this was a stupid joke get smacked in the face, lol.

Edited, Fri Apr 1 22:11:16 2005
Lightsaber
# Apr 01 2005 at 7:53 PM Rating: Decent
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69 posts
LOL, was hoping against hope that I could get a lightsaber for my warrior toon! The epic is close, but just doesn't have that sound.
RE: Lightsaber
# Apr 03 2005 at 11:45 PM Rating: Default
ugh! if whip sounds weren't bad enough lol
Not that High
# Apr 01 2005 at 7:02 PM Rating: Good
Come on guys I am a stoner not a moron you can do better.
Every Year...
# Apr 01 2005 at 6:10 PM Rating: Decent
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104 posts
I can't believe you guys bought into this ;-). Sony has done this every year that I can remember. And I'm surprised more of you didn't realize that today was April Fool's with the dozens of times it's been brought up in the server merger discussions with people praying that today they would announce those as just a joke.
OMG
# Apr 01 2005 at 5:44 PM Rating: Default
Us DAOC players get left out in the rain again.
Duh...
# Apr 01 2005 at 4:45 PM Rating: Decent
Too far fetched to even considering falling for this one....
credulity?
# Apr 01 2005 at 4:43 PM Rating: Decent
It seemed a bit obvious, but quite humorous, more of a joke than anything. Considering the complexity of the problem, the completion date alone is a dead giveaway. And it would require at least a beta test.
hehe
# Apr 01 2005 at 4:04 PM Rating: Decent
29 posts
haha... nice joke... ****** i was abt to go buy WoW too.
hehe
# Apr 01 2005 at 4:02 PM Rating: Decent
29 posts
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