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"SOE AKA Sony Online Entertainment has just announced the restructuring of their company and while over 200 positions hang in the balance (that's how many people's positions will no longer exist after this restructure) something else gamers might notice is the fact that SOE will no longer continue production forward on their PS3-bound MMO-FPS, The Agency."
"Sony Online Entertainment has launched The Agency: Covert Ops, its first game for the social network world of Facebook.
The game is free-to-play, with optional transactions found in the Black Market. Players may choose from five classes, customize their character with an array of clothing and other choices, and recruit their Facebook friends to join their spy network."
All Age Gaming look at the new IP's that are coming in 2010 and narrow the list down to 10 of the best. With so many great games coming in the new year, there is sure to be something for everyone!
"Many senior staffers, including the studio head, for Sony Online Entertainment’s Seattle Studio, the team behind the much delayed, The Agency, have suddenly left their positions. Studio director and executive producer Matt Wilson, art director Corey Dangel, and producer John Smith all decided it was time to move onto greener pastures, and, in doing so, formed their own company, Detonator Games."
Sony's Lorien Gremore gives a run down of what we should expect with the MMOFPS game "The Agency"
We haven't heard or seen much of The Agency lately. Now some brand new screenshots have surfaced up from Eurogamer. Showing off the varied environments, some the characters, weapons and first person view action.
Click the link to view all of them.
"Sony Online Entertainment have today released an updated Fact Sheet for the forthcoming PLAYSTATION 3 and PC title, The Agency. Expected to feature heavily in Sony Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) next month, The Agency is a highly-anticipated Massively Multi-player Online Game with a difference. The full Fact Sheet follows ad verbatim:"
"The public hasn't seen much of The Agency since it was first revealed in 2007. When questioned about the lack of updates on the ambitious PC/PS3 online espionage game, SOE's Hal Milton told us: "We don't want to keep having hype sessions just showing movies and crap. We need to make the game and not just keep promoting it."
GDC continues that idea, with Sony Online Entertainment revealing nothing more than a distant release window for both The Agency and DC Universe Online. John Smedley, p..."
"Thanks for your time, sir. It's always a pleasure to speak with you. So, you guys aren't canceled, right?
Hal Milton: No, no, we're not canceled. We have actually changed focus completely, though. We're now making a "Kitt Kittredge: live the life of an elite spunky pioneer girl" series. I think it's a great change for the product, I think our Eastern European assets will work well as assets for new colonial America. I think people will appreciate the change, we've had to make gambling game..."
"We see that marketing coming; we think it's there now, so we want to get a good market share there. I would say that we would be one of the early adopters on [bringing MMOs to consoles], and we plan on becoming one of the dominant players in the MMO space on consoles...
I think what's going to happen is you're going to see a whole new generation of players that have been playing 'Resistance' now start getting introduced to MMOs. I think it's going to be a cool way for them to experience ga..."
"You may know that Sony Online Entertainment's two upcoming MMO's, the shooter The Agency and RPG DC Universe Online, are coming to both the PC and the PS3. Guess SOE feels pretty good about how the development is going and it looks like more of their MMOs will appear on consoles in the future."
Extra Ammo take the liberty of previewing what hopes to be one of the PS3's timeless classics along with a PC version. The Agency also offers to be one of the first MMOs for the next gen console and includes gunfights, gizmos and good ol' Texas hold 'em!
"The Agency is promising to have some cool locations. I say cool because one of the hub cities in the game is Prague where I live.
There are some really interesting aspects about The Agency that I quite like and I think will give it a cool niche. When you start out you choose which agency to join and then move on to start completing missions. The competition is friendly and so while you can PvP against them you dont have to and at times might even have to team up."
There will be two different spy organizations in The Agency: ParaGON and U.N.I.T.E. They both have different methods to offer in their services. The United Nations Intelligence and Tactical Experts (U.N.I.T.E.) keep the peace but the Paramilitary Global Operations Network (ParaGON) only helps people who have the dough. Meet both of the organizations in this video:
According to John Smedley, who is the president of Sony Online Entertainment, MMOs are going to be a real strong selling point of the PS3 in the long term. He also said that the video game industry now has become more mainstream and that MMO games are also benefiting from that as well. He also spoke about the different variety of people who enjoy playing MMOs. He states that the MMO market is mostly male, but he expects that to change soon.
"ony Online Entertainment's upcoming game the Agency is full of Why hasn't anyone else thought of this, gameplay concepts and ideas. As though the thought of playing an MMO shooter in a slick world of superspies and mercenaries isn't cool enough, the game adds a collectible (and actually functional) Operative system and seemingly plenty to do between intrigue-filled missions. We spoke with lead designer Hal Milton about the game and got him to talk us through a mission, explain how the game g..."
Sony are looking to implement a micro-transaction policy in pricing with The Agency, Sony Online Entertainment's new spy-based MMO. Similar to games such as Guild Wars, micro-transactions are payments made for in-game items, and pay only areas, rather than paying a lump sum for a time period. However, sceptics remain critical of the possibility that end users could end up paying more through micro-transactions than a monthly fee system.
"In the press announcement on the game it was mentioned that SOE is looking to take the online gaming industry to new places with The Agency in terms of its design - could you elaborate?
HM: We're attempting to evolve the genre by taking the things that work and enhancing those, while minimizing some of the things that make a standard online game feel more like a going to work simulator than a fun experience.
We're addressing things like character creation and progression complexity and ..."
The New York Times takes a look at Sony's bid to revitalize their ailing presence in the online gaming world, now dominated by heavy hitters like World of Warcraft. Sony Online Entertainment has already revealed The Agency, a spy/action MMOR FPS. The company will make other MMORPG's that reach out to wider audience, like Free Realms for younger gamers (particularly girls). SOE also confirms will expand its nearly non-existant operations in Asia outside of Japan.
Sony Online Entertainment, (SOE) a global leader in the online gaming industry, announced it is developing The Agency, a fast-paced online action shooter filled with espionage, intrigue and betrayal. The Agency is being developed at SOEs Seattle studio for both the PC and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.
The Agency is a pick-up-and-play experience where players assume the role of elite agents in a modern-day world. Both solo players and groups will enjoy a wide variety of...
"The Agency, a massively multiplayer online game casting players as James Bond-a-like spy characters, is the first confirmed MMO for PlayStation 3. Our sister magazine PSM reveals several juicy details in its latest issue. The mag expects a holiday 2007 release date, but publisher Sony Online has clarified with GamesRadar that no official date has been set yet.
Developed by Sony Online Entertainment, the brains behind EverQuest Adventures on PS2, The Agency will offer "action, adventure an..."