Sony Online Entertainment will perform maintenance beginning at 7:00 AM Pacific on April 30, 2013. This maintenance is expected to take approximately 1 hour. This will impact the following services:

• Account management will be unavailable.
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on SOE websites and in-game marketplaces will be unavailable.
• Login for all SOE forums will be affected.
• Players who are already logged in may be disconnected and unable to log back in starting at 7:00 AM to approximately 8:00 AM PDT.
• Login for all SOE games may be affected during the maintenance.
• Login for Free Realms and Clone Wars Adventures will be unavailable.

SOE Live (formerly Fan Faire) will be held from August 1 - 4, 2013, at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Late this morning Sony Online Entertainment announced that badge registration is now open, with special Early Bird pricing available. There are a variety of passes, which offer the following:

• Friday or Saturday Only Day Pass: $39* (reg. $49), includes an SOE Live T-shirt and Swag Bag; exclusive SOE Live in-game goodies**; access to the exhibitor showroom, panels, and roundtables; one complimentary green screen photo; eligible for game tournaments and live quests.
• Evening Only Pass: $99, grants entry to the Welcome Reception (including the Thursday Keynote Address), Pool Party, and Grand Banquet (including the Costume Contest). 
• All Access Pass: $129* (reg. $149), includes everything the Day and Evening passes get, as well as complementary copies of both the upcoming EverQuest and EverQuest II expansions.
• Optional Dev Brunch Add-on***: $59, join various SOE developers for a breakfast buffet on Sunday, August 4 from 10am - 12pm. Space is "extremely limited" and registrants are accepted on a first come, first serve basis.All Access Pass is required. Seating is assigned based on primary game chosen during registration.
• Kids ages 12 and under are free and must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

* Special pricing only available for a limited time. Register by May 22, 2013 to take advantage of these prices.
** In-game goodies will be granted after SOE Live, but the registrant does not need to attend to receive their goodies. See below for more details.
*** Dev Brunch requires that you have an All Access pass.

Find out more information about SOE Live this evening (Thursday, April 25) during the webcast on Twitch TV! Tune in at 4:30pm PDT (7:30pm EDT) to watch Brasse will chat with Jen Belfield (Marketing Services Director) and Casey Roberts (Marketing Services and Events Specialist) to give you the details on registration, tournaments, panels, Live Quests, in-game items, the Keynotes, and more.

Register now for SOE Live and continue reading for more info on the exclusive in-game items!

This evening, Thursday, April 25, 2013, SOE will be broadcasting the EQII: Scars of the Awakened and the SOE Live 2013 webcasts back-to-back live on Twitch TV. The EQII webcast at 4pm Pacific will go over some final details regarding Game Update 66 and delve into what the team is working on next. The SOE Live webcast at 4:30pm PDT will have details regarding registration (which opened up earlier today), tournament, panesl, in-game items, and more.

Join SOE on Thursday, April 25, 2013, at 4:00pm PDT (7:00pm EDT) and 4:30pm PDT (7:30pm EDT), as they live stream these webcasts on Twitch TV! The webcasts are expected to last about 20 minutes each.

Sony Online Entertainment will perform maintenance beginning at 8:00 AM Pacific on April 9, 2013. This maintenance is expected to take approximately four hours. This will impact the following services:

• Account management will be unavailable starting at 4:00 AM to approximately 8:00 AM PDT.
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on SOE websites and in-game marketplaces will be unavailable between 4:00 AM to approximately 8:00 AM PDT.
• Logins for all SOE forums may be affected, you may lose permissions and experience occasional disconnects between 4:00 AM to approximately 8:00 AM PDT..
• Players who are already logged in may be disconnected and unable to log back in starting at 4:00 AM to approximately 8:00 AM PDT.
• Logins for all SOE games may be affected during the maintenance.

Here's our Time Zone Conversion Tool to help you plan.

Sony Online Entertainment will perform maintenance beginning at 6:00 AM Pacific on April 3, 2013. This maintenance is expected to take approximately 2 1/2 hours. This will impact the following services:

• Account management will be unavailable starting at 6:00 AM to approximately 8:30 AM PDT.
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on SOE websites and in-game marketplaces will be unavailable between 6:00 AM and approximately 8:30 AM PDT.
• Logins for all SOE forums may be affected, you may lose permissions and experience occasional disconnects between 6:00 AM and approximately 8:30 AM PDT.
• Players who are already logged in may be disconnected and unable to log back in starting at 6:00 AM to approximately 8:30 AM PDT.
• Logins for all SOE games may be affected during the maintenance.

Here's our Time Zone Conversion Tool to help you plan.

SOE just announced a Double Station Cash weekend, which will begin at 12:01am PDT on Friday, March 29 and end at 11:59pm PDT on Sunday, March 31. This offer is valid for pre-paid SC cards or online purchases. It excludes SMS (mobile) purchases.

Starting tomorrow, get Double Station Cash between March 29th-31st when you buy Station Cash or redeem an SOE Pre-Paid Station Cash card.* Stock up on Pre-Paid Station Cash cards now to take advantage of this special offer! Be on the lookout for special deals on the Marketplace, too!

*Offer valid from 12:01 AM PDT March 29, 2013 to 11:59PM PDT March 31, 2013. Double Station Cash offer excludes purchases made via SMS.

Ambassador Amnerys posted on the official forums:

We will bring the Free Realms servers offline on Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 8:00 a.m. PDT (San Diego Time) for a Game Update. Anticipated downtime is around 1 hour.

This update will bring some spring fun, and hey...isn't time about time for a Birthday Bash??

Our Birthday Bash guides from years past can be found right here!