Free Realms Character Prints

I guess this is kind of cool...
Sony Online Entertainment (SoE) and HP are teaming up to offer an in game service to purchase a quality print of your character. I wonder if it is just a screenshot of your toon. If so, then I'll just print my own and save myself $19.99 or whatver the cost will be. Thank you very much tho... And besides, I can take my screen, bring it into photoshop and spiffy it up ALOT so that it looks really cool. I used to do this for my EQ rogue Maximo Ceasar to make sigs, avatars, etc. I'm curious if this service will offer any type of design above and beyond just a simple screenshot. Anyways, here is the press release...

Following the Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) Fan Faire event June 25-28, HP today launched an innovative print-on-demand service for Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) gamers. The HP print-on-demand technology will allow players to view, create and purchase custom prints of classic characters, imagery and scenes from SOE’s various fantasy worlds, games and artists. The service, which will be accessed directly from the online games, is scheduled to launch later this year in EverQuest, EverQuest II and Free Realms.

“There is a significant opportunity among SOE’s gamers to provide personalized and customized offline souvenirs from the games and fantasy worlds they love,” said Rohit de Souza, Vice President and General Manager, Retail Publishing Solutions, Imaging and Printing Group. “We believe this program is a first of its kind in the MMO gaming segment and demonstrates the wide range of opportunities available for delivering custom print-on-demand services.”“This unique service allows players to create their cards during an online play session then, though HP’s state-of-the-art print-on-demand service, we’re able to provide ‘offline’ access to online content to create a whole new interactive experience,” said Christopher Sturr, Director of Corporate Strategy Sony Online Entertainment. “We’ve been impressed with the customization and personalization capabilities offered by HP and are excited about the value this service will bring to gamers.”

How it WorksThrough the in-game Station Cash® commerce system in SOE’s games, players will access the Marketplace and choose from a list of select art images and sizes. A simple in-game and/or web-based interface will walk players through the entire process from the initial order to purchase confirmation, without ever closing the game world and/or current game session.

For the initial launch of the service, SOE will debut 10 art images from the Legends of Norrath™ series. The companies plan to feature and debut new prints, limited edition collector’s prints and select prints from top game artists throughout the year. Ultimately, SOE and HP plan to offer players the ability to personalize and customize their own art prints, posters, and other merchandise using their avatar, screen shots and artwork.


Thanks you for viewing my Blog, and check back daily for updates on Free Realms and Everquest.

Free Realms & Everquest News from the Fain Faire

Sony had its annual Fan Faire held in Vegas this past weekend. This is where most of their announcements come from in regards to expansions and features they plan on releasing in their online games like EverQuest, EverQuest II, Star Wars Galaxy, and Free Realms. This was year was no different as they have announced some EQ expansions and updates planned for Free Realms. So, let's jump right into the announcements...

Free Realms

* Very close to 4 Million subscribers - (maybe a new party pack :)
* Demo Derby and Race Car driver will be able to advance to level 20!
* Each job will have 40 missions along the progression path.
* Players will be able to customize thier cars in a garage
* Soccer Star will be a new job! - Coming this Summer!!
* Guilds will be able to have matching uniforms for soccer.
* We showed a new desert region that will be the home of the dwarves.
* A new Druid job will come will be part of this region.
* TCG - There will be a feature where you can have your character portrait added to a physical card. You can buy a bunch of cards and give them to friends who can use a digital code to add your card to their digital deck.
* New Desert area to be released - Dwarven Homeland
* Methods to gain Levels beyond 20 for some jobs - Late Summer
* Sony is teaming up with HP to offer high quality art prints of YOUR CHARACTER for station cash.

So, all in all, lots of good info for Free Realms coming out of the Fan Faire.
Here are some newsletters recapping the daily events of the Fan Faire.

Thursday Night Recap
Fun Friday

Also, in further news Sony has announced new expansions from EQ and EQII.

EverQuest II’s next expansion is not Velious, as widely assumed based on the (now known to be) red herrings seen in Kunark. EQ2’s next expansion, Sentinel’s Fate, will bring the island of Odus back to Norrath.
At the same time (but not as part of the expansion), good races will be able to start in the frozen city of Halas, a move widely expected as it brings the number of good/evil starting cities to three each — Freeport, Neriak and Gorowyn vs Qeynos, Kelethin and now Halas.
Sentinel’s Fate also carries with it ten new levels — raising the bar for endgame activities to level 90.

Back in old EverQuest, their sixteenth expansion will be Underfoot, as in the Plane of, and Brell makes an appearance. Looks great for such an old game. All new underground content for EQ players to experience.
Expansion is scheduled to be released in November with small additional game updates every other month or so up until April of next year. EQ will be seeing no new levels which has some players happy and other upset...

From an EQ Game Designer: Doug Cronkhite: aka Elidroth

It's strange.. so many of you said the level increase only added about a week's worth of grind time to the game, yet now no level increase has got some people in an uproar.
No level increase means I need to work extra hard to make sure the AA's are worthwhile. It means Raramor has to work extra hard to come up with new and unique spell ideas. It means Ngreth and Aristo have to work that much harder to give you quality tradeskills and items. We're well aware of the task we've taken on.. and not one of us thinks it's going to be easy.
BUT.. it also means that come tuning time, we'll have a much better reference point for raid tuning, rares, basic population, etc. We know SoD was too easy in the end, for whatever reason. There were several raids in SoD that nobody in beta came ANYWHERE CLOSE to beating, yet who blew through them come live release. Why that is nobody is really sure, but it is the way it happened.
You guys have been asking for more challenge.. and I believe the new raids we're making are going to give you exactly that.


Thanks you for viewing my Blog, and check back daily for updates on Free Realms and Everquest.

Free Realms Fan Faire Picts.

Sony's Fan Faire started yesterday and folks were out in costume showing pride in their favorite game. As the weekend goes on, I'm sure we'll be seeing tons more photos and reports surrounding the Fain Faire in Vegas, which goes until Sunday.

Here are some photos we as Free Realms fans will appreciate...







They look so cute!!



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Free Realms News - Gold Nerf !!

Free Realms and the 6/22 patch. My, My, My. What a can of worms they opened up with that patch. On one hand they implemented guilds into the game which was awesome and well received by all. But, very sneaky and on the sly, they completely nerfed the gold rate drops and by back prices merchants pay for items. They did this totally unannounced, which is sooo Sony (Hello EQ nerfs) and left it for the players to find this out on their own. If this wasn't enough, the longest thread over at the Free Realms community boards has been going on for 3 days now with no word from Pex, the community manager, or any Dev at all. In other words, again so typical of Sony, they are aware of the outrage from the player base, but do not care and are not communicating anything to us, the PAYING Customer. It seems they only care about these World Records Free Realms and SOE are receiving, players be damned. Here's a new record for you, World Fastest decline in an MMORPG...

So, I was reading through the posts over on the MSG Boards and came across a very good post of how this effects the players in game...posted by stefferweffer.

Just something real quick on the math, cause I'm a number cruncher at work I saw someone earlier say they dropped what you get by 40%. This would be bad enough, but the drop was TWICE that amount. They dropped how much you get by 80 PERCENT!

Let's make it simple. A level 20 piece of armor, in this example, costs 10,000 gold (in game they are actually around 9500) from the vendor. Before this change the vendor would give me 5000 if I were selling him one of these - half the cost. In other words, I could sell him 2 level 20 pieces I had acquired and have enough to purchase 1 of my choice. Not too bad.

Now, after these changes, instead of giving me 5000 gold the vendor gives me 1000 gold!? Now I would have to acquire and then sell him TEN of these just to purchase ONE that I want. I'd also have to sell TWELVE of them to have enough money to purchase my level 20 weapon (which I feel I should get for free by the way - just for getting that far).
It's like taking your used DVDs to a guy in town who gives you $5 a piece, and sells them for $10. Good for him. Now imagine that the next time you bring him a video he says he now gives only $1 per video, but still sells them for $10 each. Wouldn't you be ticked off?

There can be one, and only ONE reason I can think of to make it harder for players to get money, and that is so they will pay REAL money for Station Cash items (that always have even better stats, have you noticed, than level 20 gear). I did it myself almost immediately when I started playing, but I can afford it. MANY CAN'T, and that is what bugs me about this the most.
So just know that if you say "Forget this 'grinding' stuff, I'm spending $5 or $10 for the BEST stuff, and be able to use it at level ONE!", you are doing exactly what you are "supposed" to do.
Just my humble opinion.

Now you may ask yourself why am I making a big deal about this change in the game?
It is because I really like and enjoy playing Free Realms on a casual basis. I think Sony has struck gold with this game and how the implemented it. As a long time gamer and old EQ player from '99, I really want this game to succeed because it was fresh, fun, cutting edge, and has tons of potential to change the genre. We expect changes to be made to the game along the way, like the Bruno nerf. This is expected.
But as paying customers, we do NOT expect a change so drastic it changes the way the game is played. It went from a nice casual game experience to a Grind Fest. Which is not what we signed up for.

Dev's. Did you know this changed your game?
From casual to Grind...

Yes the world is the same, dungeons the same , and quests are the same, but the game is now not a fun casual game. To gain any progress as a character in trade skills or certain job professions, one must now Grind to do this.
If the amount of gold in the game was too much, then implement a way for people to spend there gold. Introduce new weapons and items. Introduce the player housing, which I imagine noone will be able to afford now as I'm sure houses will cost an astronomical amoutn of gold. How are we going to be able to purchase a house when we can't even afford the upkeep of our pet??

In short, this change was too drastic and changes the style of play. And, for the sanity of your players, announce the changes you are making to the game. This has been stated many times in the past.

Oh, and thanks for introducing the tier 1 story line to the game. That was much needed.


Thanks you for viewing my Blog, and check back daily for updates on Free Realms and Everquest.

Free Realms Gold Nerf !!

Free Realms is now starting to follow EverQuest in that they are stealth nerfing things for no reason and not telling the players about it.
The patch update on 6/22 ushered in guilds to the game, much to the cheers of the palyers. But, updated unannounced, was some very sneaky and game changing nerfs that lowered the price of everything the players sold to merchants and lowered the coinage drop rate from mobs. However, the price to buy stuff from the merchants remained the same.

This is not a small change. It is a HUGE nerf. Prices were reduced up to 75% on items sold back to merchants. Any new players are starting with a hinderance in Gold which is required to buy healing and energy potions, trade-skill items, and weapons and armor. So, the gap between newer and older players are going to increase dramatically.

This nerf basically puts the game in an unenjoyable fasion. To go through fights we need to buy heal potions. The price for these before the nerf was fine with the amount of gold the player received. After the nerf, one cannot even afford these to go fight anymore.

And to add insult to injury, tickets received were also nerfed. They made tickets almost non existant. The vault rewards were an added bonus for completing different mini games, thus making playing them at least somewhat rewardable for your time. Now, with tickets rewarded nerfed, why would I waste my time doing these things?

Why would I go do an instance when the potions costs me more then I receive in rewards?
Why would I be a smithy when the item I make sells for LESS then the items I have to buy to make them??

Honestly, this breaks a game that was once fun and rewarding for the time invested into it. Sony wanted to make a game that was fun to log in for a few hours and still feel like you advanced your character without having to GRIND. They had this game before the 6/22 patch. Now they have steaming pile. Sony. Do you know people who play this game do not want to Grind...Do you know what that word means? Do you understand Risk vs. Reward?!?

Devs. WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?? Was this nerf intentional? Many on the boards think it is a mistake. It is that huge of a nerf, that players are thinking it is a joke or a mistake. If it is not, then you really do not know your game and what it is that makes a game enjoyable as a casual experience.
I suggest you take a hard look at these nerfs and change them back. Or, that 3 million registered record, will be 3 million customers LOST. Another new record for Free Realms !!

Sony, listen to your players who are in an uproar over this...If you have trouble finding the thread, I'll point it out for you here...UPROAR THREAD!!

The Sony Fanfaire is this weekend. I encourage anyone going to ask the Devs about this nerf and illicit their views on this and the reasoning for it.




Thanks you for viewing my Blog, and check back daily for updates on Free Realms and Everquest.

Free Realms Item Codes

Today over at FreeRealmsInsider they posted new directions to receive by email a Free Realms item code to claim on your account in the Station Store. Basically you go to the website HardCoreGamer and enter in some contact info and they will email you an exclusive in game item code.


Every code will be for a 1 time use and is for the same item, but different codes for each person who signs up.

Basically, it is a way for them to capture your email address and add you to a newsletter mailing list, which, I imagine, you can then opt out of once you receive it.

The item you receive is the Hot-To-Trot-Tots which make your feet on fire!! Pretty cool!!




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Free Realms Guilds Update !!

Posted by Pex over at the Free Realms Message Board is the Patch Notes for the latest update...

We've got a lot of great stuff today! In addition to the normal bug fixes and behind the scenes updates we have Guilds and more. Here are the update notes for today:



Mysterious incidents are happening across the land. Help out any of these people, and jump in the middle of the adventure:

*A Royal Courier is in trouble in Greenwood Forest.
*Impress Sal Monella at Blackspore, and see where the next adventure takes you.
*Henry Farnum has trouble with the local hooligans
*If you rescue Starshine's child, she will have another task for a hero like you.
*Help Sorin out near the Bat Caves, and see where he'll send you to, or
*Complete Ceard Bauchlog's task for further instructions.
(If you have already helped them out, return to them for another task!)

Quests & Collections & New Content
Guilds! Gather your friends and be one of the first to start a guild! Talk to players in your guild using /gu

Pets
Watch how your Pets react to wandering encounters differently based on their disposition

Marketplace
When viewing Pets in the Marketplace you'll be able to read about their personality before you purchase them

Check out the new tool tips in the Claim Window of the Marketplace.


Also, Pex was kind enough to post a help page FAQ about how to set up a guild and various other guild commands and funtions complete with screenshots.

To set up a guild, you need to be at least 15 in 1 of your jobs, guild names will need approval, you need only yourself to set up a guild (most games require 10+ people to sign a petition to create a guild), and guilds are free to create. So, I can guarantee we are going to see TONS of guild created. Hopefully the guild creation server will not blow up int he first 24-48 hours :)

Thanks you for viewing my Blog, and check back daily for updates on Free Realms and Everquest.

Free Realms News

Well it is a slow day for Free Realms News. So, instead I'll post some pictures I have taken in-game of the Community Manager Pex, and also a really cool pict of an Battle Axe on fire and cool Battle Armor.







Here is a cool picture of Pex dancing to the Dares when they had their E3 concert in Snow Hill.





Here is a really cool particle effect on a Battle Axe and Ninja Battle Armor.


Thanks you for viewing my Blog, and check back daily for updates on Free Realms and Everquest.

Free Realms Guilds !!

From the Free Realms Twitter we got a glimpse of what the guild names will look like for a character. Basically it's the same as it is in Everquest. Also, this confirms that the guild function will be coming very soon to our favorite game. Good news indeed !!

So, from the looks of this to be the first 'guild' in Free Realms, we can deduce they are testing out the guild functions for a very near future update. YAY !!

Also, Sony Everquest has registered 2 new IP's. This is something that they usually do before they release new expansions and is a 'hint' as to the annoucement and theme of the new expacs.

One is for the original game, Everquest, and the other for Everquest 2.

Everquest: Underfoot and Everquest 2: Sentinels Fate will be the names of the titles, though no other details were given. It is possible that the expansions will be revealed at the SOE Fan Faire next week.

Thanks you for viewing my Blog, and check back daily for updates on Free Realms and Everquest.

Free Realms Dungeon Maps !!

Free Realms is huge vast world in which one can get lost of they do not know where everything is. I came across a few maps that were posted online by Tara aka. Lady P. They are maps of where dungeons and trainers are located. Click the maps below to see the larger version.
The top on is of all the trainers in the world, and the bottom map is of all the dungeons.

Enjoy...

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Free Realms Story Line ??

Those of us playing Free Realms currently are enjoying because of the vast open space to explore, the mini-games, and character advancement. We do NOT play for socialization, as there is none in the game, nor do we play for the storyline. Basically, this game has no lore. No back story as to how this world exists, why we as players are in this world, and how we can change the course of future events. There are no quests that play into the lore at all. To most of us, it is just a free game to play with alot of different options to choose from on how to spend our free time. If this were any other gaming company who produced this game it would be fine I guess. but it isn't. It is Sony. the owners of the Everquest franchise which basically screams lore. Well, this is all going to change with Son'y announcement of a story line coming into the game. I guess it is better late then never.
Free-Realms-Gamer posted an article where a Free Realms Community Manager answers this question...Where is the Storyline??

Free-Realms-Gamer.com recently received a reply to our article about the lack of larger plotlines from someone who signed of as a Free Realms Community Manager. Here is an excerpt from their comment:

“We do have overarching storylines coming to Free Realms in the next update or two. Such plots are definitely more interesting to our older audience and not as much to the target audience, but it is still something we want to include. We will continue to add more big story arc stuff over time.”

This is exciting news indeed, but it does lead to questions:
How will they fold these larger storylines back into the earlier levels? With over three million subscribers already hooked in, and our concern that the story must begin at the early stages as the necessary Call To Adventure – we are curious to see how they handle this retroactively.
Second – at what point did storytelling become a part of an older demographic? Isn’t storytelling what youth is all about? Or has the art of the campfire tale, the bedtime story now just too old fashioned?

Thanks you for viewing my Blog, and check back daily for updates on Free Realms and Everquest.

Free Realms Item Code

Reported today over at FreeRealmsInsider is a new free item code. It is for the spiffy new Raceway Jacket which I suspect is to go along with the new Race Cart Driver profession.

CP24C5N - Race Away Jacket



Also, Pex posted some new updates to be expected in the next game update:

In addition to a number of behind the scenes bug fixes and performance enhancements, there are a few items in today's update players may find useful:
Pets
* Boomboxes now cause pets to dance that are near them.
User Interface
* Improved interface for cancelling buffs and status effects. * Power ratings are now visible for power shards in the merchant window.








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Free Realms hits 3 Million !!

Holy Schnikey !! The celebration continues in Free Realms with the huge milestone of 3 million registered players. WOW!! 3 million since launch. This game just keeps breaking records left and right. I am sure this is the fastest growth of a online mmorpg and SOE (Sony) must be partying hard everytime they reach a new milestone. Their offices are probably not even cleaned up from the last 2 million party when they are rolling out the kegs again for the 3 million. They mine as well order the beer and food for the 4 and 5 million parties now as I am sure they will be reaching these marks in the next coming weeks. Here is the press release...

'3M Pet Party Pack' Granted to All Three Million Players

SAN DIEGO, June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) today announced that more than three million unique users have registered for Free Realms(TM) (www.FreeRealms.com), the free-to-play, family-friendly online video game that launched on April 28, 2009. Recently awarded recognition by Guinness World Records for conducting the first concert to take place simultaneously in the real world and a virtual space during E3 in Los Angeles last week, Free Realms continues to redefine the scope and pace of online games.

"SOE worked diligently over the past four years to ensure that Free Realms would take the online space by storm," said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. "We are pleased to be able to provide such a vast, in-depth and, most importantly, fun world to an average of 500,000 new gamers per week."

To celebrate the rapidly growing community of players, SOE will grant its first three million Free Realms registrants the "3M Pet Party Pack," filled with goodies for use with their virtual pets, both cats and dogs. In Free Realms, players are free to do or be anything, including donning the job of pet trainer to raise a pet! From the in-game Marketplace, players can choose from more than 20 different types of playful dogs and cats to train, feed, groom and dress up. Players have until Friday June 19, 2009 (11:59 PM PDT) to redeem the "3M Pet Party Pack".

Free Realms also features 14 other fun jobs to master, as well as the Free Realms Trading Card Game: a full-featured trading card game, playable both digitally within the Free Realms online game and offline via physical card decks sold wherever you buy trading cards.

To support the initial release and launch of Free Realms, nearly one million Station Cash(TM) game cards were made available across five major retail chains. Free Realms players can pop into select retailers to purchase Station Cash cards, which are used to redeem Station Cash and buy virtual goodies or upgrade to a Membership status in the game.

Here is a picture of the 3 mil party pack. It is only claimable until June 19th. So log in and claim the prize by clicking on your Station Cash icon on the dock.




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Everquest Documentary - EverCrack

Everquest is making big headlines today with the announcement of a new documentary on the phenomenal success of their MMORPG. The documentary is appropriately titled EverCracked. I love it :) It is slated to be released at the 2009 Sony FanFaire in Vegas on June 26th.

Here is the press release from Sony ...

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) and The Jace Hall Show are pleased to announce the creation of the epic documentary based on the monumental entertainment property, EverQuest®. EverCracked! The Phenomenon of EverQuest chronicles the trials and tribulations leading to the development, launch and success of the hit massively multiplayer online game which celebrated its tenth anniversary in March 2009. The full-length film will debut at the 2009 Fan Faire in Las Vegas, NV on June 26.

“When we began mapping out ideas for EverQuest, we never anticipated it would endure to create such a powerful cultural impact over the next decade and beyond,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “As part of the continued 10th anniversary celebration, this film does a fantastic job at revealing the story behind the game and how the team created a franchise that forever changed the landscape of online entertainment.” EverCracked! celebrates EverQuest’s legacy by taking a look at the past, present and future of the franchise. The film, hosted by veteran video game developer and personality Jace Hall, includes never-before-seen footage and interviews with industry moguls and longtime players. EverCracked! details the events, products, personalities and art that graced the world of Norrath over the years, with many tongue-in-cheek moments that befit EverQuest’s own sense of fun and humor. “EverQuest was such an influential title; many people don’t realize just how daunting of a task it was to create,” said Jace Hall, President of HD Films. “With this documentary we were able to tell the epic story of the game and the people behind it while incorporating the light-hearted signature of the Jace Hall Show.” In addition to the film’s premier screening, SOE will host numerous EverQuest 10th Anniversary activities throughout Fan Faire in Las Vegas, NV from June 25-28. Online registration is open now. Please visit http://www.soefanfaire.com for more information.

I have no idea who Jace Hall is and if he is even a big gamer, but I can't wait to see it. With all the jaw dropping facts we have learned about Verant, SoE, Brad McQuaid, and Vanguard, I only thought it was a matter of time someone made a documentary about this. Although this will probably not touch upon all the drama, it should still be very good.

Maybe some day I'll write a post about all the drama chronicling the past 10 years of the MMORPG industry.

Thanks you for viewing my Blog, and check back daily for updates on Free Realms and Everquest.

Free Realms re-cap

It's a slow day for news in Free Realms, so I will just do a recap of what we can expect coming...


Let's see, tonight we have a 90 min patch with no notes as to what it will be updating.

In July we have the racing jobs being finally implemented so we can reach level 20.
Along with that patch in July, we may see the prestige classes going in to progress our current jobs that are maxed out.
August is slated to see new jobs such as the soccer profession and pro-driver which will unlock new racing tracks and cars.
At some unknown point (fall perhaps?) we will see the game ported to PS3 .
And finally houses, garages to work on your car, and guilds are being implemented in the near future as well.

Wow, thats alot of stuff in the works for the next few months. And this is just the stuff that we know of. I imagine there are also some unannounced goodies we can expect as well.
Whether you like this game or not, we can all agree that SOE is definately pouring alot of resources into Free Realms, which is a good thing, as it is progressing the genre we so know and love.
I think that this experiment with F2P and mini-transactions is a good one to 'test' the waters to see how successful it can be vs. the subscription based model. The only thing that is worrying me, and I'm waiting to see how it plays out, is the temptation to put the powerful items and gear in the mini-transaction catagory. This could seriously undermine the integrity of the game as any shmoe with some extra $$ can purchase their way to uber.






And now, because of the lack of news and because The SOE Fan Faire is coming in July, I thought I'd post a nice comparison of the live EQ Firona Vie and the painted one on the box art.



Thanks you for viewing my Blog, and check back daily for updates on Free Realms and Everquest.

Free Realms Housing News

I found some very interesting news about the Housing situation in Free Realms. this is post over at VirginWorlds.

Now that Free Realms is live - and by anyone's standards, tremendously successful - SOE's Free Realms team (at around 100 people) is busy working on new features and improvements. In September (or October, perhaps) they plan to add in player housing for everyone to enjoy. For those of you who have been pelting them on the forums for a home of your own - your request has been heard! A nice, shiny home in Free Realms should be yours in time for the holidays.

You'll be able to select land, size, and style of house; then really dig in and modify it to make it all your own. The plan is also to create new mini-games involving maintaining your house as well - we're guessing something along the lines of time-management games, perhaps? According to what we've heard, the garage coming out in July will be attached to your house, so you can show off your cars to friends. Neighborhoods will be instanced (currently planned for three buildings per personal plot with no word on neighborhood size) but they expect this will give players a new place to hang out and enjoy their time in Free Realms. There's currently no specifics on what will be available for F2P and paid members, so we'll have to wait and see.


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Free Realms E3 Update

This years E3 has seen alot of new games and announcements from major players in the gaming market. However, not too much has come out regarding Free Realms except a few snippets of info that we mostly already knew of, but was essentially reconfirmed. Which I guess is better then nothing. So without further ado, I bring you a compilation of the things we can expect to be seeing changed in the near future of our beloved game :)

*Soccer - Finally all those soccer fields will be used when this new job is implemented instead of being the empty pixels that they currently are.
*New Job Progression - Most games today go the route of new levels and AA's to keep players interested in logging in and grinding. I'm sure this is not out of Free Realms future. But for now, instead of getting higher levels for the current jobs we have, we get more jobs to level up to the current levels we have.
*Racing Beyond LV 1 :) - I'm glad to see this is going in as currently racing is fun, but without progression, it's pointless.
*Player Housing - I guess it's ok. But for me is just fluff unless they add something really really cool, like a Monopoly game where I can win other people houses, rent them out, make tons of cash, and open a Resort casino on an island :) The Landlord profession anyone?
*PS3 Compatibility - Cross server compatible is always a good thing for a game that is growing in leaps and bounds. And I think certain jobs would be perfect for the PS3. (word on the street is possibly this fall)
*Login Page Notes - I was always a huge fan of login page notes. I guess this goes back to my EQ days. Now if they just add server population back again :)

Also, we need some more FREE Codes !! It's been like forever since a free code has been found.

And for your reading enjoyment I found a booklet that Sony put out back in April regarding gaming and how it is beneficial for kids to play video games. Also there are some very very interesting facts in it. Example, video gaming is an 18 billion dollar bussiness. That's right BILLION !!
(also it has a picture of Smed at the end)

http://www.soe.com/docs/LTKG_Booklet.pdf

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Free Realms : The Dares : Guinness Book

With the concert at E3 and in the Free Realms game at Snowhill on all servers, The Dares and Sony Free Realms enter into the Guinness Book of World Records for the first ever simultaneous live and real world concert. (I think this has been done before in Second Life.) But, none-the-less, they are now in the Guinness. Cheers !! Here is a photo and some of the videos I promised yesterday of the performance both in game and live on the floor at E3.









I must say, these boys have to be psyched! Word has it they are huge fans of EQII and to be able to have their song as the theme to Free Realms and then being invited to play at E3? WOW !! And on such a huge stage (virtually) with all the press it has received? I know I would be on top of the world if I were them. Congrats to The Dares !! They deserve it 100%!

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Free Realms hosts The Dares Concert

So I went to the concert in Free realms that was supposed to be a live stream of the The Dares performing It's Your world. Instead what we got was a pre recorded animation of the dares performing to their MP3. The first time they came on stage the song ended half way through, then 15 min later they came back on and the full song played fine. I guess Sony made it seem like it was supposed to be a LIVE stream of the song The Dares were performing. Not a pre recorded MP3 of the song.

As posted on Sony's site:
Rock out with The Dares and experience the music of Free Realms in a live streaming concert on the …

So, as expected alot of folks were pissed and started to spam chat bubbles BIG time. That kind of sucked, but hey, when ya get 100's of people online in a space like this and then don't deliver, I guess you can expect that. And, on the Sony Forums people are pretty pised off. And rightfully so. Anyways, here are some of the screens I took and I'll have a video to upload of it all later as well...




And with this huge turn out as seen in the images above, The Dares set a guinness record for the most online for a concert?? Honestly I'm not sure what the actual record is, but they got one :)



Pictures taken by Hammerfel from Twitter @ E3

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Free Realms ~ The Dares Party is under way !!

The Dares Free Realms party is under way on server 1. It is craaazy and there at least 100 toons there. Lots of fun and dancing. Everyone getting ready for the concert in 3 more hours :)

Here are some of the pre party pictures I've taken on server 1.









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Free Realms The Dares concert T-Shirt

Free Realms is now offering Summer Concert '09 T-Shirts for sale at vendors for 100 station cash. That's not too shabby and it is just in time for The Dares concert tonight at 4pm PST / 7pm EST in Snowhill.

The shirts are only available for 1 week and come in a variety of colors.
Blue, red, green, orange, and yellow. FreeRealmsInsider has some images up of all the colors. Here are 2 of the colors and you can see the picture of a microphone on it too.
So see you tonight at the concert. Look for me there on Server 1 and say Hi. Larrz Fackler :)









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Free Realms concert - The Dares !!

Free Realms announced with their 2 mil milestone that The Dares will be performing their hot hit song "It's Your world" at E3 and in real time simultaneously they will perform in game on the stage at Snowhill !! How cool is that ?!?! I think this is a first time ever for something like this to be done in a game.

Official posting : The Dares in Free Realms
Where : Snowhill stage
When : Tuesday June 2nd at 4pm Pacific / 7pm EST

Sony also posted a video of the behind the scenes recording of the song for the game.

Thanks you for viewing my Blog, and check back daily for updates on Free Realms and Everquest.