EverCracked!

[Mrbloodworth]

Sony Online Entertainment and The Jace Hall Show Bring the Epic Tale of EverQuest® to Life in Documentary
EverCracked! The Phenomenon of EverQuest Film to Debut at Fan Faire 2009; Trailer Available Now Online

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – June 10, 2009 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) and The Jace Hall Show are pleased to announce the creation of the epic documentary based on the monumental entertainment property, EverQuest®. EverCracked! The Phenomenon of EverQuest chronicles the trials and tribulations leading to the development, launch and success of the hit massively multiplayer online game which celebrated its tenth anniversary in March 2009. The full-length film will debut at the 2009 Fan Faire in Las Vegas, NV on June 26. The film’s trailer is available for download online at: www.soepress.com.

“When we began mapping out ideas for EverQuest, we never anticipated it would endure to create such a powerful cultural impact over the next decade and beyond,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “As part of the continued 10th anniversary celebration, this film does a fantastic job at revealing the story behind the game and how the team created a franchise that forever changed the landscape of online entertainment.”

EverCracked! celebrates EverQuest’s legacy by taking a look at the past, present and future of the franchise. The film, hosted by veteran video game developer and personality Jace Hall, includes never-before-seen footage and interviews with industry moguls and longtime players. EverCracked! details the events, products, personalities and art that graced the world of Norrath over the years, with many tongue-in-cheek moments that befit EverQuest’s own sense of fun and humor.

“EverQuest was such an influential title; many people don’t realize just how daunting of a task it was to create,” said Jace Hall, President of HD Films. “With this documentary we were able to tell the epic story of the game and the people behind it while incorporating the light-hearted signature of the Jace Hall Show.”

In addition to the film’s premier screening, SOE will host numerous EverQuest 10th Anniversary activities throughout Fan Faire in Las Vegas, NV from June 25-28. Online registration is open now. Please visit http://www.soefanfaire.com for more information.

To download the trailer visit http://www.soepress.com.

Link.

Trailer

[Brogarn]

Its not a documentary about EQ without a bit on Furor losing his absolute fucking mind.

[shiznitz]

It is nothing but a PR piece if they aren't even dragging McQuaid off his bar stool.

edit: NM. They found him!

[UnSub]

What's a Jase Hall?

[HaemishM]

For fuck's sake, why?

[Soln]

PR fluff.  Needs more poopsock and unfed kids to show the real history.

Edit: I like teh Tigole quip

[taolurker]

A documentary? WTF?

This is a definite for PR move, because documentaries don't do any box office, and this one will likely be direct to video/cable.

A blockbuster CGI "World of Norrath" adventure action movie makes infinitely more sense than this.

SOE must smoke the good stuff, and are still as clueless as ever.

[Merusk]

Better yet, a documentary that makes it seem like Smed came up with the idea for online games all on his own and SOE was the first to do it in any significant way. At least that's what I got from the trailer.

[rk47]

A Lord British documentary would trump all that. The castles and shit. In real life.

[peryn]

It is nothing but a PR piece if they aren't even dragging McQuaid off his bar stool.

edit: NM. They found him!

Apparently his blog is back. http://www.bradmcquaid.com/

as of late, he’s starting to get that itch again...

And apparently, his hiatus was spent somewhere in Thailand.  

[sam, an eggplant]

Wait, so SOE is making a documentary about their own product? Isn't that conventionally called an advertisement?

[Mrbloodworth]

Wait, so SOE is making a documentary about their own product? Isn't that conventionally called an advertisement?

I think its for the fanfaire.

[Draegan]

Brad's blog says he's getting that itch again to make video games.

I need to stock up on popcorn.

[Soln]

and pills

[NiX]

Not to start a Mac v.s. Windows fight, but why the need to put "Made on a mac" for a website?

[Mrbloodworth]

Not to start a Mac v.s. Windows fight, but why the need to put "Made on a mac" for a website?

Auto generated.

[Dtrain]

A Lord British documentary would trump all that. The castles and shit. In real life.

I'd watch a Richard Garriot reality TV show. I heard a story once about how he came home to his castle one evening, and some strange guy had broken in and was hiding in his closet.

Someone needs to pitch this to G4. You know Lord British needs the money.

Pro-tip: "Lord British" became his name because some other kid at computer camp thought he had a british accent.  

[Modern Angel]

And apparently, his hiatus was spent somewhere in Thailand.  

Brad McQuaid killed David Carradine!

[Simond]

And apparently, his hiatus was spent somewhere in Thailand. 

That would explain the itch, at least.

[WindupAtheist]

And apparently, his hiatus was spent somewhere in Thailand. 

That would explain the itch, at least.

 

[Tale]

UO was just another computer game for nerds. Great, but not worth a movie.

EQ is where other parts of society said "holy fuck, online worlds!" and started joining the nerds. More so in WoW.

[WindupAtheist]

Oh please, EQ was as much a punchline for nerd jokes as anything else. MMO went mainstream with WoW and not a second before.

[Ratman_tf]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr-FkWsvEcg

 

[Tale]

Oh please, EQ was as much a punchline for nerd jokes as anything else. MMO went mainstream with WoW and not a second before.

I didn't say it went fully mainstream with EQ, I said it started happening there. If I was making a film about WoW going mainstream, I'd preface it with EQ reaching 500,000. The Lord of the Rings films coming out also helped. In my two EQ guilds, we had a few real life meets, which always produced a mix of nerd joke types and mainstream folks who had gotten into EQ.

[WindupAtheist]

My old UO roleplayer guild had officers who were a personal trainer, a pub owner, and a bouncer so I don't know who's supposed to be impressed that your EQ guild had some normal humans in it. As someone who's played a lot of UO, you can take that "UO was for dorks but EQ was mainstream!" thing and blow it out your ass. If anything, years worth of "guy lets his baby starve to death while he raids" stories branded it even more of a nerd lifesink.

It had more subs because it had 3D graphics and didn't let PKs run the game. Period.

[Venkman]

People new to MMOs with WoW would marginalize EQ1 for the same reason people new to MMOs with EQ1 marginalize UO. But the truth is that UO had as much relative impact as EQ1 did as WoW did. It's about the relative market potential of the day.

UO was a runaway success compared to games like the first M59 and NWN, reaching 100k subscribers within 6mos launch. It'd be another year after before EQ1 launched, and the two games appeared to be at parity for a year before EQ1 started pulling away in mid-2000. AC1 would take over eight months to hit 100k, and it barely broke that beyond.

No, none of this was mass market. WoW doesn't either. It's a title that has sold a lot of units and is a household name. But the rest of the medium is still a fringe pursuit.