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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.,
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:50 AM Rating: Decent
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83 posts
doh ><
.,
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:50 AM Rating: Decent
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83 posts
doh ><
Oh.. hehe
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:39 AM Rating: Decent
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75 posts
At first I thought... What the F?!?!?
RE: Oh.. hehe
# Apr 01 2005 at 1:45 PM Rating: Decent
Yeah that was definitely my first thought. Complete confusion.
doh
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:35 AM Rating: Decent
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915 posts
I fell for it at first, just the merger part. But as I read further, and realized today's date, I knew it was fake.

Moving characters between games just isn't realistic. Also, I don't think Sony is about to merge with anyone any time soon.
wookie
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:29 AM Rating: Excellent
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3,769 posts
Quickly BST's, we have found our new pets! Wemust find how much +CHR it takes to charm a wookie!
RE: wookie
# Apr 01 2005 at 1:46 PM Rating: Decent
lmao^^ that would be a reason to brush the dust off my BST again... Wookie {/fight} Nightelf {/cheer}
RE: wookie
# Apr 01 2005 at 12:54 PM Rating: Decent
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936 posts
Louispv wrote:
Quickly BST's, we have found our new pets! We must find how much +CHR it takes to charm a wookie!

lol that's better than Allakhazam's joke
RE: wookie
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:47 AM Rating: Decent
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429 posts
omg, that's freak'n hilarious
/sad
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:26 AM Rating: Decent
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95 posts
You people are sick! How dare you play with my emotions! How am I sapose to know what day it is?

But it was funny, right?
lol
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:24 AM Rating: Good
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722 posts
Ha, first thing I thought as I was reading that was "April Fools." Was pretty funny though~ lol
whoa
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:17 AM Rating: Decent
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1,392 posts
OMG!! lol I really fell for that one lol, i thought i was fixing to take my little taru whm into EQ and own all!! lol
...
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:17 AM Rating: Good
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89 posts
YOU SHUT UP SIR! The sky is pink, cats favorite past time is swimming, and ***** smell like a fresh spring breeze!

EGM is real big on April fools stuff I wonder what they did this year. You know, as ridiculous as this sounds it would be nice to try a new game and have some sort of carry over instead of doing everything all over again like not having to do stupid level cap quests that no one wants to help with...oh well, back to looking for all those people who just love to help with Genkai, and get their drops on their first 3 mobs...
wow
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:13 AM Rating: Decent
I fell for it =(

that was incredibly funny after reading the first post saying "April Fools"

APRIL FOOLS
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:13 AM Rating: Good
Oh man great joke. The wide success of World of Warcraft. Man thats a good one
Loki
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:09 AM Rating: Decent
I love April Fool's Day. It's the one day of the year when I play absolutely no jokes.
lol
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:08 AM Rating: Decent
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387 posts
[b][/b]APRIL FOOL'S DAY LOL
Umm..
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:06 AM Rating: Good
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694 posts
I hope you feel better, you just made me cry.

So far today:

Michael Jackson overdosed on sleeping pills.

My favorite radio station has changed formats after 30 years from hard rock to easy listening.

I got fired. Twice.

My house burned down on my way to work.

My dog is dead.

SqEx, Blizard, and SOE are merging.

Thank god its april first, or I might have to shoot myself.
uhm
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:04 AM Rating: Excellent
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119 posts
It doesnt even sound possible, how would you possibly allow people to jump from game to game without having some major problems, like say, having laser guns in FFXI.

anyway yeah, april fools, but it doesnt actually sound real if you read it though >.>
/laugh
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:02 AM Rating: Decent
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352 posts
Now that gave me a laugh, it would have been cool if it was true though.
Bah!!!
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:01 AM Rating: Decent
37 posts
It took me about halfway through, of reading this in disbelief, before I decided to scroll down and check to see if it was a ApRIl fUlZ Joke.....
Yeah it is kinda funny I just hope the the $#*7h3dz from SqEnx or SOE or Bliz dont read this and think it sounds good and really do something like this in the future, while it would be fun to see my FFXI char jumping and nuking in EQ
LOL
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:00 AM Rating: Good
Lol, you almost got me, very nice.
nice
# Apr 01 2005 at 10:58 AM Rating: Decent
27 posts
that was the best! i totaly belived that:)
April fools yo
# Apr 01 2005 at 10:53 AM Rating: Decent
23 posts
not bad lol, For a second I thought I could actually **** WoW people off, then I read about Star Wars Galaxies....and it went straight to April Fool's :p
Got me for a sec...
# Apr 01 2005 at 10:49 AM Rating: Decent
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365 posts
ugh, double post...stupid school servers >.>

Edited, Fri Apr 1 10:50:24 2005
Got me for a sec...
# Apr 01 2005 at 10:49 AM Rating: Decent
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365 posts
Very nice, April Fools

My jaw dropped when i read the first paragraph...then i remembered it was april fools >:D
I <3 April Fools
# Apr 01 2005 at 10:47 AM Rating: Decent
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823 posts
lol best one today :)
Ummm yeah right
# Apr 01 2005 at 10:44 AM Rating: Decent
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183 posts
Good april fools
RE: Ummm yeah right
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:19 AM Rating: Decent
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299 posts
lol...

run in fear Storm Troopers...

Taru summoner incoming
RE: Ummm yeah right
# Apr 01 2005 at 10:49 AM Rating: Good
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164 posts
lol as I was reading this I hadn't realized what day it was and I was in disbelief. I was thinking "omg.. they've just ruined everything!"

Took me alittle while to realize it was April Fools! =p
RE: Ummm yeah right
# Apr 01 2005 at 10:47 AM Rating: Decent
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340 posts
BWUHAHAHAHAHAHA!
RE: Ummm yeah right
# Apr 01 2005 at 11:22 AM Rating: Decent
31 posts
Somewhere...
Someone...
is having a major heart attack right now @_@
April Fools day...It's all fun and game suntil someone has a coronary o_O

Good one though, lol (^^
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