"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."

"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 don’t have to and at times might even have to team up."

"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..."

"At this week's Leipzig Games Convention, the president of Sony Online Entertainment John Smedley held a talk on "Subscriptions vs Micro-transactions" in regards to MMO games. During the briefing, he indicated that Sony was looking at making their upcoming pc/ps3 spy-themed MMO a free play title, meaning there would be no subscription fee (unlike World of Warcraft). Instead, SOE would fund the title via micro-transactions and a 'velvet-rope policy' where certain area are only available if peop..."

"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 ..."

"So today, Sony Online intends to unveil its plan to retake leadership in online gaming by unveiling three new games in development. More broadly, the new games represent an attempt to broaden the company in four major ways: diversifying its business model, expanding the demographic profile of its customer base, moving into the console market in addition to making games for PCs and increasing its presence in Asia.

At the same time, Mr. Smedley said he wanted to diversify his customer base, ..."

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"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..."