Hold the Presses - Something Free from SOE
Yes, hold on to your hats or helmets, if you will. SOE is offering you something free.
Okay, it's only a .pdf file and it's a marketing attempt to draw you into their new magazine, but still it's free.
You can check out the official site of the magazine, called SOE Worlds, here and the free preview is here.
My review: For free it's not bad. For $4.99? Meh.
Page 1: Cover - Lucan looking tough. I guess he is on a break from his job delivering pizza.
Page 2: Planetside - Basically an ad for the boxed game set. I'm sure we can expect plenty of these "hard-hitting take-no-prisoners" editorials.
Pages 3-7: Everquest - An account of the accomplishments of selected players and guilds on each server. Each blurb is brief but specific. I guess this is a pretty cool way to garner some fame for your guild.
Page 8: Everquest - A back and forth on soloers vs. groping. Word like kiting, uber and whining put me to sleep.
Page 9: An article which is really just an ad for Station Pass.
Page 10: Everquest - Why it's great, what makes it great, it's general greatness. Yawn.
Page 11: SWG - Boy, they really have some nerve talking up the jedi system.
Pages 12-14: SWG - An article which is just an ad for an expansion pack.
Pages 15-18: Everquest - A very nice article about three different druids, their playstyles and gear. Gets very specific.
Pages 19 - 21: Everquest II - Ah, they saved the best for last. Fifteen pretty good tips. Some I hope you know already (i.e. Don't AOE everything in sight okay???). But, some are helpful. I had no idea you could get a full refund on items you mistakenly bought from a merchant while the merchant window is still open. There is also a handy reference for sending tells to people in other SOE games.
The preview finishes off with yet another glossary of "gaming slang." Yuck.
A note: The magazine will be shipped free if you have a Station Access subscription. They are really pushing the Station Access thing.
This seems a similar move to what NCSoft has been doing for a while. City of Heroes has been issuing a free comic book to all their subscribers for quite some time. Of course, it's the worst comic book I ever read but hey, the price is right. Speaking of free comics you might want to check out the free comics which will be available at many local stores on Free Comic Book Day, which is right around the corner (May 7th).
Hey, with these subscription fees we need all the free stuff we can get right?
posted by Aggro Me at 8:00 AM
6 Comments:
want to bet lick every other 'special' that game companys do its only for americans and europe get nothing.
Its great watching all special offers and features have a north america only feature.
Yeah, looks like you are right anonymous - is in the fine print - North America only and that is a shame.
I can understand you're being annoyed, I would be too. Don't know why Sony would be so provincial in their thinking.
Sorry didnt realise i didnt have to have a blog to post with my name.
SOE is often guilty of being limited in thier thinking, gamecards for instance to use them in the uk you have to use a credit card to order them (with a really hefty postage cost) from the sony store. They in other areas are really helpful in that they use global collect to allow none us residents to use direct debits (bank payments) to pay for eq etc(but strangly not for station all access).
I guess its really about numbers for them but the company that remembers none orth american people (not just uk/europe although im uk) with specials like comics magazines etc would stand out of the crowd.
It is eye-opening to see the way SOE treats different geographic areas in different matters. They will create entirely new character models for certain parts of Asia but they appear to skimp a bit on the European contingent.
I suppose it comes down to the almighty Dollar, or Euro or Yen as it were...
This is a surprise? If a product starts in one country, it generally rolls out in that country first, and then expands. This magazine is par for the MMO course: You build your business at home first, then take it on the road.
Pick something else to be annoyed about, please.
Well, in recent news for our European gamers, Moorgard recently announced that they are changing the server schedule on Runnyeye and Splitpaw to one that makes more sense for European players.
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