The Chronicle Master system works much like City of Heroes Mission Architect, allowing players to use in-game tools to create their own missions and share them with the community. Since Sony Online Entertainment implemented the feature last month, players have been sharing the hell out of some missions. SOE cites one player who has already created more than 6000 playable quests all by himself. That’s relatively insane.

It’s even more insane when you take into account estimated subscription numbers for the game. MMO Data has Star Wars Galaxies’ subscriber list estimated at around 50,000 players. Even if they were off by half and it was 100k, that’s still 30 user-created quests per player. I suppose it helps that completing player-made quests earns you special in-game loot, but still, that’s a pretty impressive ratio.

It just goes to show that players who’ve stuck with Star Wars Galaxies this long are really, really into Star Wars.

SOE’s fascination with card games finally comes full circle. After years of creating collectible card games based on their popular MMO properties like EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies, now the company’s Denver studio is creating a strategy game based on the inspirations for those games – Magic: The Gathering.

Magic: The Gathering – Tactics draws on the Planeswalkers lore of Magic, putting players in control of 3D figures and spells from the popular CCG. The game will include both single player scenarios and online PVP multiplayer. As with any Magic-related product, fans can expect regular content expansions and strong tournament support, along with achievements and rankings.

“By collaborating with Wizards of the Coast, we’re able to combine the strengths of both companies to develop an innovative, online, 3D game based on an extremely popular IP,” said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. “We’re going to be taking the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse places players have never seen.”

I still prefer the Xbox Live Arcade Magic game myself, as it’s the straight-up card game and not a strategy derivative, but it’s nice to see the PlayStation 3 getting a little Magic loving either way.

Looks for Magic: The Gathering – Tactics to hit the PC in early 2010, with a PlayStation 3 release coming soon after.

Free Realms’ Super Spooktacular runs from October 14 through to November 11, at which point everyone will give up and start playing Modern Warfare 2. The spooktacular features decorations, daily trick or treating, special seasonal mini-games, new quests, and more than 35 new costumes for players and pets to dress up in. You gotta love a game that comes with animal costumes. Take that, World of Warcraft!

“We are celebrating the first Halloween in Free Realms, with weeks of spooky activities and festive live events,” said Andy Sites, senior producer at Sony Online Entertainment. “After a night of trick-or-treating the fun doesn’t have to end. Dressed as a chicken, mummy, witch or any of the other crazy costumes available, kids can explore virtual neighbourhoods with millions of friends from the safety of their own home.”

Those of you who’ve been following the site for a few years may remember my irrational love affair with the word spooktacular. This is why Free Realms’ celebration gets mentioned. For celebration plans for the rest of SOE’s MMO lineup, feel free to hunt for each individual website. Don’t search for ’spooktacular’.

To me, Planetside Next means we get a chance to take the essence of everything that was fun in Planetside and make it a lot better. Massive battles on a scale no other FPS will touch. None of this 64 player stuff. REALLY MASSIVE. With much better organisation, and a tight focus on making sure the action is always going on, with awesome graphics.

No official title has been given – heck, the project has not even been officially announced – making Smedley’s use of Next rather curious. And its deliberate capitalisation suggests that is at least the working title of this game.

I have emailed the press contact for SOE to ask if this is indeed the new game’s title. If I hear anything back, I’ll put it here.

What Planetside Next Means to Me [Smed's Blog, via Joystiq]

Soccer comes to Free Realms in a big way with today’s Goal Time update, which unlocks the various playing fields scattered across the land, allowing players to begin progressing in the Soccer Star job class. The update brings 20 new quests for the soccer aficionado, with new gear and equipment aimed at making the best of your footy career. Special skills and powerups will grant you an advantage on the playing field, as you test your skills against several AI teams or go 3-on-3 with a group of friends.

The Soccer Star job is available to free players up to level five, with paying customers able to take their skills all the way up to the level 20 cap.

Oliver “Ollie” Queen, that is, known as much for his ad choice of kid sidekicks as he is for his signature weapons. His first kid sidekick, Speedy, once became a heroin addict. The current one has HIV. In other words, if Oliver Queen asks to take you under his wing, just say no. It isn’t worth the hassle.

The email sought help from “loyal player(s) and experienced shooter fan(s)” in designing this next game. “Don’t worry about the original PlanetSide, it isn’t going anywhere,” the mail assures.

The independent site Planetside Universe found the Web site registration, and also reports that it reached John Smedley, the CEO of SOE, who said only, “PlanetSide fans will be happy we have big things planned in the next 12 months. We’re working on something new that’s really cool.”

I have emailed the press contact for SOE to ask if they’d like to shed any more light on this. Should we get a response, I’ll update with it here.

Not sure that I really see a theme here running between all five screenshots. There’s S.T.A.R. Labs in two or possibly three of the shots, but then there’s the picture of the hospital in Metropolis and those guys fighting with the Green Lantern. Perhaps I’m just not up on my DC lore, being a born and bred Marvel fan, to really understand the connection here. Help me out here, comments section!

The Dualist on Demand Program allows players to turn their Free Realms character into a personalised card for use in the physical version of the tie-in trading card game. The Free Realms Trading Card Game Duelist On Demand pack retails for $US12, and contains 10 cards complete with codes that allow them to be added to the online version of the game as well. Using Topps’ print-on-demand technology, players will be able to create and share themselves with friends in a distinctively family-friendly way.

“This print-on-demand option gives Free Realms players an entirely new way to immerse themselves into the game, with a unique, physical Topps trading card,” said Scott Martins, Director of Development, SOE Denver. “Imagine creating a trading card based on your in-game character and then trading it with your friends for their personalised card. It’s as if you are passing out your very own Free Realms business cards.”

Head over to the Free Realms website to give the card-creating a go.

More than just an art book, this large, hard-bound special edition tome is filled from cover-to-cover with the history of the EverQuest franchise, from the original release to the coming of EverQuest 2. You’ll find developer interviews, box art, concept art, and developer commentary that will have a lapsed player itching to get back into the fray.

Or at least it had this lapsed player itching. SOE delivered a copy of the book to me late last week, and I’ve had a hard time putting it down. It’s been years since I traveled Norrath, but half a decade of my life is contained in those pages, and the reminiscing is fine.

You can purchase the book for $US34.99 directly from SOE by clicking the link I cleverly hid in this sentence.