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EverQuest Next confirms cross-region play
Amid all of the revelry surrounding EverQuest Next's announcement are a few grumpy faces concerned that SOE was looking to region lock the upcoming title. President John Smedley took to Twitter to address the confusion. "Clearing up a few misconceptions about EverQuest Next in Europe and UK," Smedley tweeted. "All players -- including ones from Prosieben -- can play on all servers. If you are from the EU or UK you will go through Prosieben, but [you] will be playing on SOE servers." So there you have it: We will soon be one happy family with an infectious case of the voxels.
SOE Live 2012: Smedley assuages ProSiebenSat.1 concerns
When announcing that European players can keep their accounts with Sony Online Entertainment during the move to ProSiebenSat.1, SOE President John Smedley specifically mentioned three games, concerning the players of other SOE titles. However, during an exclusive interview with Massively today, Smedley clarified that those three are not the only games involved. As he explained, those games were just the most topical, not the sole selections on an exclusive list. Players of other SOE games such as Vanguard can rest assured that they have the same opportunity to choose to stay with SOE. That answer covers all current titles that are already published, but what about future SOE titles? And how does the ProSieben partnership affect Station Access? And when will these changes be taking place for the different games? Continue reading for Smedley's insights on these matters.
John Smedley: EverQuest II seeing 'amazing growth' following F2P
Following a rocky and often-troubling year for Sony Online Entertainment in 2011, it's got to be good to have a clear win for the team. So we certainly can't begrudge SOE President John Smedley from climbing to the mountaintops to trumpet EverQuest II's success following its full free-to-play transition last month. According to a series of tweets, Smedley says that the numbers are looking impressive: "We are seeing some amazing growth in EQII. 40% increase in daily logins since going F2P, 300% increase in new players, and 200% increase in item sales. Plus we have added a lot of new subs. All during the time that some really good competition hit the market." Smedley also says that SOE is "very excited" with its partnership with ProSiebenSat.1, which grants exclusive publishing rights in Europe to eight of the studio's titles, including EverQuest, DC Universe Online, and Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures.
Sat.1 HD and ProSieben HD go offline 'til 2010 in Germany
Just as quickly as it began, so it ends. Unfortunately for Germans who have thoroughly enjoyed the high-definition programming available over the past few years on Sat.1 HD and ProSieben HD, you'll be forced to check out the SD variants until 2010. You heard right -- apparently, the demand for the HD stations in Germany wasn't as high as originally predicted, and considering the dearth of HD support from other networks in the country, these two have practically been set aside on an island. 'Course, rumors are already swirling that the real reason for the move is that its free ride on ASTRA's HD transponder is up, and rather than paying to continue using it when demand is down, the parent company is hoping to jump back in at a later date when things will hopefully be more profitable. Either way, it's tough to hear of a country losing HD channels.[Thanks, Chris]
Astra touts boost in HD channel offerings, expects more to follow
It wasn't too awfully long ago that Astra was tooting its own horn about 20 extra HD channels hitting the European front, but not only did the company maintain its word, it exceeded expectations as well. In a recent announcement, the satellite provider boasted that it is now broadcasting 26 high-definition channels across Europe, including BSkyB, Discovery, National Geographic, and The History Channel from the UK, CANAL+, M6, and TF1 from France and Premiere, and ProSieben, Sat1, and Anixe from Germany. As if this weren't good enough (it never is), Astra is also planning to match DirecTV's recent claim and offer up 100 HD channels -- but it'll likely be closer to 2010 before Europe reaches the coveted milestone.
Welcome to the party Europe, first major HDTV broadcast
Take your shoes off though, I just put in new carpet. And the first thing broadcast in HD? Why Tom Cruise of course, while I don't agree with their choice of Minority Report (I'm a Top Gun/Days of Thunder guy), it does make a great show in high definition what with the CG and blowing stuff up.Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 will be the first to broadcast nationally on Sunday, although a regional cable channel apparently started showing science programs on Tuesday (don't they know? Tom Cruise has done the scientific research). Rival German broadcaster Premier will launch its own HDTV transmissions on December 3. BskyB, CanalSat and Ski Italia have all promised to have their high definition ready for next years World Cup, which will be a showcase for the technology in Europe.
