Additionally, the Comic Book Creator software and special SOE game-themed art packs will soon be available for digital purchase from SOE. The web version is expected to be added to Station Players this fall, while the digital version is expected to be available for purchase through SOE's Station.com Store this summer.
"SOE continues to offer industry-leading innovations in the realm of ancillary service offerings for online game subscribers," said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. "We're always looking for unique ways to both enrich the online gaming experience as well as offer our subscribers services that extend beyond our game worlds. Comic Book Creator provides additional value for our online communities with its unique features, allowing players to strengthen their connection to their avatars and social groups in a whole new way."
"We see this strategic relationship with Sony Online Entertainment as the innovative way to empower video gamers, who live through their virtual online identities and who want to share their heroic feats and epic victories from their online gameplay," said Kevin Donovan, president of Planetwide Games. "What better way to extend some of the industry's greatest games to this incredibly dynamic community, than to join forces with SOE, a company with a stellar reputation for quality interactive entertainment, who continues to lead this exceptional growth."
Comic Book Creator allows consumers to take game screenshots, DVD movies, digital photos or art assets and create personalized comic books and comic strips. Fans of Sony Online Entertainment's highly acclaimed Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games EverQuest, EverQuest II and PlanetSide will soon be able to share their online experiences with fellow guild members and friends by creating personalized digital comic books starring their online avatars using Comic Book Creator.
SOE has entered into a licensing agreement with Planetwide Games that will make Comic Book Creator available to SOE's hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Planetwide Games and SOE are developing a web-enabled version of Comic Book Creator for subscribers of the Station Players service. This new web version will be available to SOE players, on an exclusive basis, for one year after commercial release. Station Players is the official online service that connects players to the EverQuest and EverQuest II communities. This web-based suite offers an array of features that give players incredible access to their characters and guilds by merging the game world with the world wide web. Station Players features include Guild web sites and tools, character profiles, personal images, screen shot galleries, leader boards and advanced game data.
The agreement also allows SOE to bundle their MMO games with Comic Book Creator software, as well as sell a downloadable version through the Station.com Store. These versions of Comic Book Creator will include customizable digital art assets from SOE games. Supplementary art packs themed around SOE games will be available for separate purchase.
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