Sony Online Entertainment has announced that it has extended the deadline for online registrations for its upcoming Fan Faire 2008 event in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new deadline is available for viewing over in the full article,  along with some details on the event.

A third year anniversary of anything is usually a cause for celebration. That applies to the community of The Matrix Online, too. Sony Online Entertainment hase some goodies lined up for players of the game.

Unfortunately, this article is just an illusion, so we won't discuss it here. For more info, turn to the real article after the jump.

Attention denizens of Sony Computer Entertainment (SOE) virtual worlds. Your favorite SOE MMO games (like Vanguard: Saga of Heroes) will be having an extended service downtime on September 25, as reported by the VGPlayers website.

According the announcement, "All SOE games, websites, message boards, Knowledge Base, Station store, and other services" will be down for maintenance for an entire day (more or less) this Tuesday. The report indicated that the maintenance is aimed at upgrading all SOE services' authentication systems, therefore the said services will be down since nobody will be able to log in. Technical or account problems will still be addressed, though the only way to reach them would be via phone.

If you've been playing The Matrix Online and felt that you need to get your friends in on the action, then you might want to take advantage of this. Sony Online Entertainment has just announced The Matrix Online Buddy Rewards Program which will run from July 25 to August 31.

This event allows players the opportunity to invite up to five buddies to play the game for up to 14 consecutive days for free. The trial account buddy keys to be issued are only good until 11:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time on August 31.

Remember though that trial keys will only work for new accounts. Players need to make sure that the friends they refer do not have an existing account for The Matrix Online or an active Station Access account.

If any of your friends want to continue after the 14-day trial period, they can turn their trial account into an active subscription by simply entering a valid credit card or loading an official SOE game card onto the account. So start asking your friends if they want to take the "Red Pill" and get into the Matrix Online. More updates on this game as it happens.

Been having fun with Matrix Online for quite some time now, haven't you? Well, if you think you've had enough of Neo (or what's left of him) and the gang, and you can't put up with the game glitches you've been experiencing, think again podnah. The release notes for Update 48 have just been...errr...released, and they bring tons of changes AND fixes to improve your gameplay experience.

Aside from your traditional bug fixes and changes, the latest release notes says that the 6.2 storyline missions and cinematic are now available in-game. To get a gist of what these missions are, let's get it straight from Sony, shall we? "The Machines have placed Neo's partially assembled RSI in the Matrix for the edification of their redpill operatives. A remote location was chosen so as to cause minimal disturbance in the lives of those plugged in to the simulation."

However, you're gonna have to wait for the patch to go live before you can take on the first 6.2 critical mission. As for the remaining four missions, they will be made available on succeeding Thursdays (Nov. 23, Nov. 30, Dec. 7, and Dec. 14) at 1:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time (0900 hours GMT).

Tons more changes and fixes await in the release notes so if you wanna check 'em out, just head on to the game site which you can access by clicking on the read link below. We'll keep you posted for more.

Recently,  information about a hidden forum called the “Champagne Room” was “leaked” to The Matrix Online community. The purpose of this forum was to allow a specific group of players to help provide directed game feedback. These players were asked not to talk about the group outside of that forum, but  the information got out anyway, leading to misunderstandings and hard feelings.

Once the information got out, there was no real reason to hide or deny it,  other than the fact that players had been instructed not to discuss it. Attempts to hush the leak during investigation only made the problem worse, as it appeared there was something that needed to be hidden. Naming the forum “Champagne Room” without providing  information about how players were selected led to protests and cries of favoritism.

Feedback groups are important, however, this was handled poorly. TMO will be having feedback groups in the future, but information on how those will work will be withheld until the moderators decide how these should be run.

Sony Online Entertainment's moderators did issue the following statement on the matter:

"Playing favorites and being unnecessarily harsh are not accusations we take lightly here. It’s not in the interest of the game, the community, or the company to allow these behaviors. I won’t say it never happens, but when it does we act to correct the behaviors.

"We’re human, too; and we make mistakes and poor judgment calls. We do our best to remain professional about situations and try to improve our performance based on the lessons we learn. We also leave channels open to discuss issues with the community and with players who feel they’ve been unfairly treated. It’s in our interest to keep players happy, so when a situation is presented in a bad light, remember there are always at least two sides to every story."

Remember that the first rule of diplomacy and good relations is to keep those communications lines open!

"Exploits" - something a player does that is technically against the rules - have become something of an issue in The Matrix Online gaming community.  These are considered particularly egregious if they give one player an unfair advantage over others. (This, incidentally, does not refer to the skills players gain through experience that allow them more power than others.)

All well and good, but how does one know if something they're doing constitutes an "exploit?" Generally, these are announced as an in-game Message Of The Day (MOTD). Sometimes, however, these "exploits" are not obvious. A recent example is one in which the Q-Gun was doing excessive DOT damage. While an experienced player would (and should) have known something wasn't right, there is no way a newbie would have realized it. On the other hand, someone may discover they can create an unbreakable Evade Shield by performing a spacebar-jump at a certain point. Since this doesn't exist in the game, it constitutes a fair case of an "exploit."

Entering "White Rooms" are also considered "exploits," although a player doesn't gain a special advantage by doing so. The reasons are (A) someone has to break out of the game “grid” in order to access a White Room without the help of a team member, and (B) they were built for CSR and team use. The presence of an unauthorized player could create communication problems, and may even interfere with an in-game event.

If you run across an "exploit," the proper course is to use the /bug command. You may even wish to repeat the action a few times to make sure, but once you determine it is an "exploit," you should discontinue its use. Players who continue using "exploits" after an initial warning risk suspension or even a ban.

The folks at Sony are still working on crew and faction issues that some players of The Matrix Online have been experiencing. Although the root cause has yet to be determined, work is continuing. In the meantime, players are warned NOT to delete crews or factions. Instead, Sony asks that players submit a CCR, describing exactly what is happening, what is appearing on the screen, characters experiencing the issue, and any other pertinent information.

In the meantime, The Matrix Online free trial is continuing into the foreseeable future. Since the response to this promotion has been overwhelming, Sony sees no reason to stop . New players can get free trial keys from Fileplanet, or download a key here (registration required).

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) will be increasing the subscription rate for Station Access effective June 1, 2006. The new rate will be $24.99, up $3 from its current price of $21.99 per month. Though this may be a bad news to gamers on tight budget, SOE has included The Matrix Online and Star Wars Galaxies in the catalogue, as well as incorporated the Adventure Packs for EverQuest II at no additional fee, including The Fallen Dynasty due out this summer.

Station Access is an account subscription option that SOE is offering to customers who want to subscribe to more than one SOE game. The cost of operating the game service has increased significantly prompting SOE to increase its rate.

Subscribers will be automatically migrated to the new billing structure when their current subscription plans expire. Subscription rates are subject to tax and value-added taxes, as applicable.

Matrix Online receives some major updates to the combat system along with other balancing updates.

Subscribers of Sony Online Entertainment's The Matrix Online will have noticed something of an overhaul in the MMOs combat system in recent days with the launch of CR2.0 (Combat Revision 2.0), which aims to streamline the experience with a number of significant changes.

The update sees the removal of features such as Zero-Sum Combat and events of Tactic Number vs. Tactic Number, with the four Tactics states (Block, Grab, Speed, Power) turned on permanently although each are subject to their own upgrades and downgrades. Additionally, a second hotkey bar is now available for use at the top of the screen.

Other minor changes have been made to the combat system including a change to the rules of Withdrawal - the ability to end a fight is now dictated by a roll.

Whether The Matrix Online community will appreciate the changes made to the system will have to be seen, although feedback from the testers has been largely positive.

We'll have more news shortly...