Play Valve’s Team Fortress 2 for FREE: June 20 - 22

The Ravecast held their latest TF2 night on June 20th, joined on-air by two guests: Steve and DJWolf.

Pictures from the event are in our new Team Fortress 2 gallery. We had a great turnout; a lot of people joined us for the battle, including:

CattAttack

Zomgz

Hakuto

Redfox

Manwithplanx

Frozenfire

poopofdoom

Beece

Bigwig

If you weren’t in on the TF2 action don’t feel too bad, you’ll just have to try and join us next time. We’ll definately be doing this again in the future.

Valve’s free TF2 weekend is still going on through the 22nd, though. So if you don’t have TF2 and want to give the game a try, you can play the full version for a couple more days. Details and instructions for getting both Steam and TF2 can be found HERE, and the system requirements for TF2 are listed at the bottom of the page HERE.

Brett Norton the Lead Designer at TimeGate Studios sits down with us.

Sheyla and myself chatted with Brett about game design. We recorded the entire interview and tonight we are going to share it with our listeners. More Information about TimeGate Studios can be found Here

The Podcast will go up tonight after the show. More information can be found in our forums over Here

I’d like to thank TimeGate Studios and everybody else involved in making this interview happen. Brett was great about our format and conducted a fun interview.

Tune in tonight at 8pm Eastern.

How to tune in:
Point your favorite media player at: http://live.onlinegamingradio.com/ogr.m3u

A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to an invite-only event that was hush-hush, don’t tell the public until after the fact, sort of a deal. I don’t often get the chance to “get out” in the industry, and seeing as how I live just under an hour south of the Seattle office, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to attend this event.

It is now the day after, I’ve had about 3.5 - maybe 4 hours of sleep, have a grande sized dark chocolate mocha of goodness from Tully’s filtering through my system, and the memory of meeting quite a few people that I’d love to talk with again in the future.

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Its time of the year again. The beginning of the crazy hazy days of conventions has arrived. For all of you SOE game fans, this means 1 primo location for your convention going goodness.

Fan Faire.

Fan Faire Returns to the Las Vegas Hilton,
August 14 – 17, 2008!

If you’ve never been to an SOE Fan Faire before, you’ve been missing out! Fan Faire is a great place for SOE gamers to mix and mingle with each other and meet some of the faces behind their favorite SOE games. Here’s just a taste of some of the great stuff we’re planning:

* In-game tournaments
* Live, game-themed tournaments and quests
* A costume contest
* Lots of social activities, including a Kickoff Reception, a Grand Banquet and a VIP Party with live entertainment
* Sneak peaks at SOE titles currently in development
* The 2nd Annual Community Address from SOE President John Smedley
* Developer forums and roundtables

And that’s just the beginning! No matter which SOE game you like to play, Fan Faire will be a blast! Even if you’re not an SOE gamer, we encourage you to join us and bring your friends!

Visit SOE’s official Fan Faire website for more information.

Did you miss last year? Well we have a gallery full of pictures taken from 2007. Seriously, you should check them out.

On Saturday, March 1st, Blizzard artists Samwise Didier and Glenn Rane headlined a standing-room-only signing for World of Warcraft®: The Art of the Trading Card Game, a hardcover title released this year by Chronicle Books celebrating the award-winning art and artists of Upper Deck Entertainment’s World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. Held at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Huntington Beach, California, many of the artists featured in the book were also present, shaking hands, signing books and discussing their artistic contributions to the trading card game. Other attendees included Tom Bava, Randy Gallegos, Terese Nielsen and Justin Sweet, along with Ben Thompson, a contributing artist and key participant in the compilation of this deluxe volume of World of Warcraft Trading Card Game artwork.

World of Warcraft®: The Art of the Trading Card Game, a cooperative work from Upper Deck Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment, features artwork created for the highly popular World of Warcraft Trading Card Game (TCG). Published by Chronicle Books, the 288-page, 11”x9” hardcover book includes more than 300 full-color iconic pieces of art showcased during the first year of release of the World of Warcraft TCG.

Visit UpperDeckStore.com/WoWArtBook for more information.

Based on Blizzard Entertainment®’s hit massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), the TCG allows players to experience the action and adventure of World of Warcraft in a new format. Released in October 2006, the TCG’s premiere set quickly became the hottest and most sought-after trading card game in the industry, prompting UDE to produce additional quantities to support the overwhelming demand.

World of Warcraft is the most popular MMORPG in the world, with more than 10 million subscribers playing the game in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Europe, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. In World of Warcraft, players assume the roles of legendary heroes and interact with thousands of other players online as they explore, adventure, and quest across a vast realm. Whether journeying together or fighting against one another in epic battles, players form friendships, forge alliances, and compete against enemies for power and glory.

Ma Bell, meet Joe Gamer:

Sony Online Entertainment Ushers in New Era OF voice chat

FOR ONLINE GAMES with powerful suite of Communication services

- SOE Gives In-Game Chat an Audio Overhaul in Agreement with Vivox^® -

San Francisco, Calif. — February 20, 2008 — Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, is poised to revolutionize the way gamers stay connected with sophisticated new voice services where fellow gamers and guild mates are never more than a shout away.

Need standard chat for groups and raids? Check. Don’t want to tie up your own bandwidth? Roger that. Want your voice to sound completely different? Done. Late for your raid but want to take part in the group setup by cell phone? Can do. Dream of having in-game voicemail? There ya go. Playing a non-SOE game but want to use this service, free of charge? Aye.

These powerful community building features and tools are coming to SOE games at no additional cost to players and go far beyond basic real-time chat with the usual headset and microphone setup that is commonly used today.

In an agreement announced Wednesday at the Game Developers Conference between SOE and Vivox Inc., an established provider of high quality voice communications, players will be able to access a suite of voice communication tools including voice mail, voice fonts to synthesize player voices into in-game character voices, and the ability to receive external calls in SOE games.

“We’re proud to offer this level of communication power and flexibility to gamers. These new voice services not only replace many of the voice chat options currently available but add a broad range of capabilities that streamline communication and empower gamers to maintain their online relationships in both the real and virtual worlds,” said John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment. “We are giving gamers the ultimate one-stop shop to stay in touch at all times.”

Beyond voice and guild chat channels, North American players will get a special PIN number to dial in from either a land line or cell phone and connect with fellow guild members. SOE anticipates adding additional features including voicemail, broadcast messages, SMS text messaging and an initial offering of six high-quality voice fonts that replace a player’s actual voice with something completely different.

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John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment, to Deliver First Keynote for Seattle’s 2008 ION Game Conference

SEATTLE, Washington, January 28, 2008 – The 2008 ION Game Conference solidified its credentials as a premier online game industry event with the announcement that John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), is scheduled to deliver the Wednesday, May 13th keynote address at the conference. Mr. Smedley intends to focus on the accomplishments – past, present and future – of the renowned and successful online gaming company and of the MMO category in general. He will also highlight SOE’s Seattle studio, the powerhouse behind the development of the highly-anticipated online adventure/shooter currently in development for the PC and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, The Agency.

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Codemasters Online today revealed that their next MMORPG set for release in 2008, Jumpgate will be fully playable at their forthcoming 2-day community event, Codemasters Online Connect.

Available to play across 400+ machines this will be the first chance players have to get hands on with Codemasters Online’s latest blockbuster MMORPG set for release in Winter 2008. Lucky attendees to Connect will also walk away with an exclusive BETA key for Jumpgate as part of the gift pack being distributed to all attendees at the show.

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Codemasters Online Partners with NetDevil to Bring

New MMO for 2008!

Codemasters Online set to release NetDevil’s all-new space based MMORPG Jumpgate Evolution for North America /

SEATTLE, Washington, January 2, 2008 – With the start of a fresh new year, Evergreen Events announces the new ION Game Conference identity for the game industry conference formerly known as “OGDC”. Empowered with a new name, logo and website, the identity and schedule for ION is not only on track but infused with an even stronger focus. The ION Game Conference will take place at the well-appointed Seattle Waterfront Marriott Hotel in the picturesque waterfront district, from May 13 to May 15, 2008. The ION Game Conference will feature a broad array of expert-level lectures and panels, networking events and an expo area exhibiting cutting-edge technology and games for 2008 and beyond.The new ION Game Conference identity and logo reinforces the global reach of a game industry event that remains focused on top-quality networking and online game development. Last year, the conference drew nearly 20% of attendees outside the United States, such as from Korea, Germany, Japan and Australia.

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