Earlier today, Free Realms introduced a new 3D minigame called Pirate's Plunder. Players be able t' go head on head wi' either matey, stranger or AI an' wage battles while findin' or stealin' booty.

Th' three different minigames--Arctic Bay, Shipwreck Cove an' Treasure Isle--each be havin' a unique terrain wi' th' elements o' th' minigame intertwined quite nicely. Whirlpools will transport ye t' a different spot on th' map while currents will speed up yer getaway. Beware th' cannon towers an' snag some power ups t' best yer swabbie combatants in battle!

The Festival of Hearts has departed Free Realms for the year, but in its place players now have some new content to enjoy. Mysterious fences cropped up around the major towns of Sacred Grove, which were revealed to be the display pens for rideable mounts. These mounts offer players up to 150% of their movement speed when travelling through the realm, with the T-Rex and Dragon models currently available.

A couple of new pet species, groundhogs and owls, were also introduced with today's patch. Both come in a wide variety of colors and continue the trend to expand the widely popular pet market. Both the Marketplace and the Coin Shop received some new housing furniture and decorations, such as the Flower Round Rug and the Sunny Wedgeback Dining Chair.

SOE has announced the dates and location for SOE Fan Faire 2010!  This annual event allows players and developers from all SOE games to mingle and discuss all matters MMO.

Fan Faire will be August 5 - 8, 2010 at Bally's Las Vegas.  See the official Fan Faire website for details!

Source:  EQII Official Forums

The Internet is always changing and each day sites hit the World Wide Web with new features, designs, and options for users. Although we had a fondness for our previous look, the ZAM staff knew that we could do things better… make our site bigger, better, faster, and stronger. The results are in front of you.

In addition to the new, non-drab colors and enhanced feature story box, we made a number of improvements that should help you navigate around our entire network. Whether you want to take a trip around the content features on ZAM.com or check out the headlines before heading to Wowhead or MMOUI, everything is accessible by an easy mouse click.

There are lots of subtle changes throughout the site, but below you'll find a few things that are new to ZAM.com and might be of interest to you, our users. Once you’ve read through the changes and had some time to check out the site, we’d like to hear your constructive feedback on what you like or don’t like about the new look, and you can do this by simply logging in and leaving a comment below this article.

There will be planned maintence at SOE Wednesday, February 24, 2010 that will affect all game servers for all SOE games.  Maintenance will begin at 3:00 AM PST and is estimated to last until 12:00 PM PST.  All game worlds will be unavailable for at least the first several hours of the estimated 9-hour maintenance. The Station Store and all commerce avenues will be unavailable for the entire duration of maintenance.  This may also affect the performance of the forums and any or all accounts’ abilities to log in.

Source:  EQII Forums