Everquest 2: EQ II in Wired

Sony Online Entertainment said it plans to release EverQuest II for PCs this fall. Rather than a sequel to its popular standard-bearer EverQuest, the company sees its new massively multiplayer online role-playing game as a parallel world.

EverQuest II takes place 500 years after the original EverQuest. The moon has exploded, raining chunks down and destroying or altering many familiar places. EverQuest players can't import characters into EverQuest II, so Sony Online sees the offering as an all-new experience, one it hopes will attract players entirely new to the franchise, as well as ex-EverQuest members who have left the original game.

New to EverQuest II is advanced character customization, including unique tattoos, hairstyles and piercings. There are also 130 hours of voice-overs that Sony thinks will help new players through their transition into the game. After a quick tutorial, players choose citizenship in either good or evil cities.

While Sony Online is not abandoning EverQuest, it does acknowledge that the new version will be more accessible to novice players. The company said it expects that its existing 500,000 EverQuest subscribers will stay in that game, while those attracted to updated graphics and an easier learning curve will choose EverQuest II.