MMORPG Merger Announced

I received this press release last night. I figured I would just post it here in it's entirety and let you digest it. -------------- 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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XD
# Apr 04 2005 at 5:24 PM Rating: Default
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58 posts
charm a wookie. fragin golden.
LOL
# Apr 04 2005 at 3:51 PM Rating: Default
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111 posts
I read this and thought it was real!

It's 4thApril and I've only just seen this news item, even though I've been on the site over the past few days. I think this is the first time I've let the news load or something lol. So that's why I thought it was real :P

I'm glad it's not. It would totally ruin the game- seriously. There would be chaos. It's quite a stupid idea for it to actually happen, but was fairly believing lol. I was about to set fire to Square-Enix's inbox, if you know what I mean :p
*pOp*
# Apr 04 2005 at 3:31 PM Rating: Default
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111 posts
Woah, I was about to go set fire to Square-Enix's inbox, if you know waht I mean ;)

Omg, this would have been so damn awful LOL!

I thought it must have been an April fools, but today (4thApril) is the first time I've actually seen this lol, and I've been on the site the past few days too. Strange, but whatever.

That was really good lol, my heart sunk XD

Everyone would just move to Vana'diel anyway cus our graphics/sound pwn :p
RE: *pOp*
# Apr 05 2005 at 9:58 PM Rating: Decent
please dont say "pwn"...^^
NOOO!!!!!!!!!!
# Apr 04 2005 at 3:15 PM Rating: Default
One of my friends is in the hospital because of this prank...hope you guy feel good about yourselves..he had a stroke from the stressfull news..doctors say he was overwhemlmed with expectation. He will never be the same again....seems he will experiance siegures FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE!!!! Sure their will be a heafty law suit.






APRIL FOOLS!!!!
LOL hey great april fool joke I enjoyed it you had me I was just about to send a mass amount of emails...LMAO
WOW
# Apr 04 2005 at 3:07 PM Rating: Decent
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3,101 posts
If you really think about this idea you would realize how crappy it would be. Not that being able to change worlds would be crappy cause well it would be awsome. However....imagine being able to choose the easier game like WoW, and then saying ehhhhh ill take my endgame WoW character and move into FFXI's world and play all it's endgame content. The anger that would then ensue would be great enough to start a World War 3. The digital war of the 21 century.


lol...on a sidenot you really had me going. I was about to start topic on the forums! lmao

Malcolinus
nj
# Apr 04 2005 at 2:11 PM Rating: Decent
/sigh

If only it were so... A lot of my friends are leaving FFXI for WoW, so this was an answer to my prayers. Until I realized after a second that it was bs.
geez
# Apr 04 2005 at 1:15 PM Rating: Decent
Talk about got my hopes up... I kinda thought this was real... I admit it. Not very possible. I have seen both games played side by side. Um Wow doesn't fit into a final fantasy world. Its still wrapped in a cartoonish design. Either way that was a funny joke. Had me going till the last line too. Damn. Good Stuff.
Dr. Evil
# Apr 04 2005 at 9:22 AM Rating: Decent
You are clearly an Evil Genius. You can now tell your kids one day, "You whipper snappers don't know nothin' bout April Fools pranks! I duped my whole website back in the good old days."

Well played, old sport.
April Fool's
# Apr 04 2005 at 8:41 AM Rating: Good
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172 posts
Haha that's twice now... once in the MNK forum, now here, haha. It certianly had me fooled, nicely done.
Hilarious
# Apr 04 2005 at 8:06 AM Rating: Decent
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73 posts
I read this and my mind started Racing thinking about all of the Possibilities and trying to decide if it was a good thing or bad. Then i got down to the bottom and read "April Fools" I almost fell out of my office chair. Thats frickin Hilarious. Great job LMAO !!!
Wow...
# Apr 04 2005 at 7:45 AM Rating: Decent
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119 posts
You had me going, Scared the crap outta me too.

/em pokes writer in the eye! :P
Teeheehee XD
# Apr 04 2005 at 5:59 AM Rating: Decent
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248 posts
*Falls down dead.*

X_X
hurray for madness
# Apr 04 2005 at 3:37 AM Rating: Decent
its good to tell that we'll never run out of ways to torture the human mind with false expectations and jokes which would actualy seem pretty good or bad......Nice one guys
:P
# Apr 04 2005 at 2:55 AM Rating: Decent
That was a very evil thing to do, and you should be proud of yourself.
Hehehe...
# Apr 04 2005 at 2:27 AM Rating: Good
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141 posts
Hehehe. It's kinda a good idea from a player standpoint but think of the business risk! Not to mention the pitfalls with payment and such, it didn't seem too believable to me. x.x;

Great April Fools joke though. :P
Finally...
# Apr 04 2005 at 1:46 AM Rating: Decent
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274 posts
Hey, they finally posted "April Fools" on it.
And here I thought we'd see wave upon wave of people coming to the site for useful information weeks down the line, seeing this article, and going "Oh my god, I need to tell Ethel, I can be a Wookie/Red Mage and kill Vrtra with the Force!"
Good idea, bad joke
# Apr 04 2005 at 12:33 AM Rating: Decent
Here is what I have to say to the person who posted this as a joke .l.. (middle finger).

I read this and thought it was a good idea. Mainly because leveling in FFXI is such a pain after level 45, it takes about an hour for me (57 Pld) to get a party. Not because I'm a bad Pld, but on Titan there are typically only 3 exp parties going at any given time at my level.

Would be nice if I could feasibly solo, like I hear you can do in WoW.

Would be a good move for Square/Enix since they are loosing tons of people to WoW.
100% believable
# Apr 03 2005 at 11:13 PM Rating: Decent
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252 posts
Based on Square-Enix's recent and somewhat desperate moves to stop people from leaving FFXI for WoW and other MMO's (Return to Vana'diel anyone?), I would have believed this article completely if it wasn't for the date.
lame
# Apr 03 2005 at 11:07 PM Rating: Decent
32 posts
I would have quit video games I think if this had been real.
lame
# Apr 03 2005 at 11:07 PM Rating: Decent
32 posts
I would have quit video games I think if this had been real.
class development
# Apr 03 2005 at 11:06 PM Rating: Decent
Taru/thf/rng/goblin sapper/wookie/jedi/mechanic...
come on
Holy Crap
# Apr 03 2005 at 10:28 PM Rating: Decent
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122 posts
I actually was excited about this...now that I think about it, it would never happen.

GREAT APRIL FOOLS JOKE!
/slap allakhazam
# Apr 03 2005 at 9:46 PM Rating: Default
hmm i hated this post, if it was true i'd quit playing ffxi.

i played wow, its not a good mmo, or should it be called one either
haha
# Apr 03 2005 at 9:46 PM Rating: Good
34 posts
i for one am happy its fake, i just read it today and was like WTF?!! I can't see my taru mage runing around with a lightsaber... >< but flying **** would be cool lol
No Way!!!
# Apr 03 2005 at 8:26 PM Rating: Good
omg omg wow!!!!
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