Sony Online Entertainment has announced that the annual event previously known as "Fan Faire" has been redubbed "SOE Live." Plans are underway for this year's event, which will take place October 18-21 at Bally's in Las Vegas. As usual, it will cover the gamut of SOE's various offerings, including DC Universe Online, EverQuest II, Free Realms, Magic: The Gathering - Tactics, and more.

Read more: New name to reflect broader SOE line-up »

EverQuest II is one of the oldest RPGs still running. Even as a newly free-to-play title, Sony Online Entertainment is aiming to keep players invested with new content updates. One will come in the form of the Skyshrine update on April 17.

Read more: New level cap, 100 more quests, and more »

It looks like going free-to-play was a good decision for the world of EverQuest 2, as Sony Online Entertainment has said the game has seen "amazing growth" since making the switch last month.

Among the stats released for the game is the staggering 300% "increase in new players." Daily logins have also jumped, seeing a 40% spike since going free-to-play.

Read more: More F2P loving stats »

Sony Online Entertainment has announced a release date for the upcoming DC Universe Online DLC, just as the classic MMO EverQuest II goes free-to-play. Both MMO events are set to hit next Tuesday, December 6.

Read more: EverQuest membership changes coming »

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that it will combine its current free-to-play version of EverQuest II with its standard title, hopefully minimizing complaints of a divided community.

A letter published from EverQuest II producer Dave Georgeson earlier today explained the decision: "We believe the key to meeting your expectations is to provide more flexibility and to deliver what you want when you want it, whether it's basic game content, full subscription access to the game, or something in-between. So in early December we're going to change things to be 'Free to Play. Your Way.'"

Read more: Additional changes for EverQuest II »

MMO magpie Sony Online Entertainment has relaunched its 'Station Access' subscription under the new name 'All Access' and knocked $10 off the monthly price. It includes membership to ten SOE games, four of them free-to-play, for only $5 per month more than a single subscription.

An All Access sub will let you play DC Universe Online on PC, EverQuest, EverQuest II, EverQuest Online Adventures for PlayStation 2, PlanetSide, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes with the single subscription fee. Read more »

Sony Online Entertainment is still down following the hack of SOE and PlayStation Network. In an update, Sony outlined the make-good rewards it plans to dole out for its various franchises.

Each of the game-specific rewards will be available on both PC and PlayStation 3, as applicable. You'll also get 30 days free added to your subscription, on top of a free day for each that the system was down. So far, SOE has been down almost two weeks, so that's a month and a half of free time and counting. Read more »

[Update 12:30pm - XdM] An anonymous source at Sony Online Entertainment tells Shacknews that rumors of layoffs and the cancellation of The Agency are accurate. According to the source, a number of the layoffs also reduced the size of the EverQuest 2 team and although the Planetside Next team also took some layoffs, the project is alive and well. Read more »

EverQuest II Extended, the free-to-play version of Sony Online Entertainment's fantasy MMORPG, has launched. Play it here.

Adventurers playing for free will face a number of restrictions on character, bank and bag slots, playable races, chat options and the like, which can be raised or removed with several membership plans. A one-off fee of $10 upgrades you from a Bronze member to Silver, while the $14.99/month and $200/year Gold and Platinum options offer even more. There are also optional microtransactions for items and other content. Read more »

Shacknews receives a slew of new screenshots and trailers for upcoming games everyday. The most anticipated titles receive their own post, because we know you're eager to see that content. For the rest, we have the Daily Filter, a place to feature all of the media we add to our enormous database on a daily basis.

Today's Daily Filter features the "launch" trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, a dev diary with an insane amount of hoodies for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, a "combo" trailer for the upcoming downloadable title Shank, a trailer featuring the upcoming DLC "The Golems of Amgarrak" for Dragon Age: Origins, a video for Naughty Bear announcing upcoming (and free) DLC, and additional videos for Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, the newest EverQuest 2 expansion Destiny of Velious, the PSN-exclusive Top Gun and Tales of Cosmos. Read more »

Following in the footsteps of other MMORPG games in the shadow of Blizzard's World of Warcraft, Sony Online Entertainment now offers a free-to-play version EverQuest II called "Extended". It will, however, run alongside the subscription-based service the game has utilized since launch November 2004.

"EverQuest II Extended is a completely separate gameplay service from the EverQuest II live subscription service," explains Sony's FAQ. "The server lists are not shared, it has completely separate forums, and if you don't want to be around the community that plays in the free adventure service, then there is no reason for that to ever occur." Read more »

Much like Blizzard and World of Warcraft, Sony Online Entertainment has added a trio of colorful (and premium-priced) in-game mounts to EverQuest II's online marketplace--a move, believe it or not, the company says was driven by "player demand."

The three "Prowler" mounts come in three different colored variates: Ethereal (purple), Ulteran (blue), and Sinister (green), though are much the same, otherwise. Purchasing one of these creatures from the Station Marketplace will set you back 2500SC ($25). Read more »

A new "complimentary addition for current EQII subscribers with characters level 80-90" will hit Sony Online Entertainment's flagship PC MMO the same day that the new 'Sentinel's Fate' expansion hits.

The free add-on, called Battlegrounds, enables up to forty-eight questers to engage in player-versus-player combat matches that can be joined from any server. When the free update launches on February 16, players can duke it out in three new zones in an attempt to unlock a new Chaos armor set. Read more »

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that it's partnering with gamer-driven charity Child's Play again in an effort to raise up to $50,000 for its "2nd Annual Virtual Fundraising Drive."

From December 17th through January 17th, SOE will donate $10 to the charity each time a player purchases or gifts special Child's Play virtual items in the MMO's EverQuest, EverQuest II, and Free Realms using Station Cash (SOE's in-game currency). Read more »