The Official SOE Podcast #95 has been released, and this one's going out to all you EverQuest fans out there. Co-host Linda "Brasse" Carlson stops in to chat with host Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske, and their discussion topics include EverQuest: House of Thule and the upcoming Legends of Norrath set.

House of Thule, EverQuest's 17th expansion, is scheduled to launch on October 12. Dragonbrood - The Anarchs, the 11th Legends of Norrath release, is going live on the same day. Listen to the podcast for more details and these games and all other Sony Online Entertainment titles!

According to posts on most SOE forums:

Account services, including account maintenance, all commerce, and Station Store, will be down for maintenance for 3 hours on Thursday, September 23, 2010, from 9:00 pm PDT to 12:00 am PDT.

The Station Store and all commerce avenues will be unavailable for the duration of maintenance. This may also affect the performance of the forums and any or all accounts' abilities to log in.

Here's our handy Time Zone Conversaion Tool to help you plan.

Sony Online Entertainment has published its newest official podcast this week (it's #94 for those of you keeping track), and this one focuses on Dragon*Con and Star Wars. Fans of Star Wars Galaxies and the new Clone Wars Adventures game may want to give this podcast a listen. In fact, two members of the Clone Wars Adventures dev team stop by to talk about the free-to-play, kid-friendly MMO.

Of course, players of all other Sony Online Entertainment games should get some enjoyment out of the podcast. For example, Jason "Pex" Ryan gives a rundown on the latest updates for SOE titles. The podcast is a little more than 60 minutes long, so relax and enjoy the show!

Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske posted on the Station Community Forums:

Account services, including account maintenance, all commerce, and Station Store will be down for maintenance for 3 hours on Thursday, September 2, 2010, from 5:00 am PDT to 8:00 am PDT.

The Station Store and all commerce avenues will be unavailable for the duration of maintenance. This may also affect the performance of the forums and any or all accounts' abilities to log in.

Here's our handy Time Zone Conversion Tool to help you plan!

According to a post by Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske on the Station forums, there will be an estimated five hour downtime at SOE on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010, at 2:00 AM PDT.  The services impacted are:

• EQII Voice Chat
• EQOA
• Star Wars Galaxies all servers
• Vanguard log in
• EQ Marketplace
• The EQPlayers Website

The SOE Fan Faire schedule was updated today, and now includes "an informal Community Address" by John Smedley to kick off the festivities Thursday night.  Fan Faires past have included a Community Address with high production values and players were disappointed to find it missing from the schedule.  Fear not, SOE fans, Smed will be addressing the masses!  See the revised schedule on the Fan Faire site.

SOE has announced that the Executive Producer of ABC’s “V” television series, veteran video game developer and ultra personality Jason “Jace” Hall, as the master of ceremonies of Fan Faire 2010 at Bally’s Las Vegas from August 5-8. Jace Hall wowed the attendees of the 2009 Fan Faire with a preview of the SOE documentary EverCracked. 

Hall will maintain the flow of the show by hosting the annual Kickoff Reception, Grand Banquet and Costume Contest. "I’m honored that SOE chose me as their official emcee for Fan Faire," says Hall. "Giving the show a bit of my own flavor and personality and mixing it with traditions from the past will be just the right combination to make this event PWN 4LL n00bs!"

source:  SOE Press Release

Have you registered for Fan Faire yet?  It's less than a month away and registration closes in two weeks. That means it's time for my annual Fan Faire Tips!  This is stuff I and other Fan Faire veterans have learned attending past Fan Faires and other conventions.  All this may mean nothing if you're the type who can toss a change of undies in a bag and be good for a week, but me, I need to plan a bit.

On the heels of today's announcement about Free Realms reaching the 12 million player landmark, SOE also mentioned that there will be another Double Station Cash Weekend coming up to celebrate the 4th of July. Additionally, non-members will get a taste of membership, when a free trial period will be activated to last through the holiday weekend.

To celebrate the Fourth of July weekend, SOE is running a Double Station Cash Weekend where players can purchase Station Cash^TM cards, excluding Starter Cards, from local retailers, which can be redeemed from Friday, July 2 at 12p.m. PDT to Monday, July 5 at 12a.m. PDT for double their value in Station Cash, which can be used to buy virtual goodies or upgrade to a Membership status in the game. Also, for those who have wanted to see what the buzz is all about, SOE is offering a free trial membership all weekend long. All players will have access to the membership content during the trial period and at the end of the weekend, players will have the option to keep their member status through a variety of multi-month membership payment options.

Double SC will only be rewarded for retail Station Cash cards (excluding the starter cards), which can be found at a variety of vendors. Only game cards redeemed between July 2nd at 12PM PDT and July 5th at 12AM PDT will have their value doubled.

The latest SOE Podcast includes co-host Linda “Brasse” Carlson talking about E3, G.I.R.L, and Legends of Norrath: Doom of the Ancient Ones.  Listen in as they start counting down the days until Fan Faire and Hallie and Emily continue to look into Hubert’s whereabouts.  Aaron Bisnett’s news gives all of the latest updates on SOE titles!

You can download the podcast from the Podcast Website and iTunes (search for SOE and click "subscribe")

Have comments about the Podcast, your favorite game, or anything vaguely SOE related? You might get a sweet goodie bag for sending Listener E-Mail to podcast@soe.sony.com!