Hi folks,

    I understand the confusion for those folks who have resubbed since the email notice went out. We are in discussions about how we're going to deal with the issue and will have an answer for you as soon as possible. Unfortunately, those discussions are taking a bit longer than usual due to key folks being in transit from E3.

    The answer may not come today, but we are looking into it. Raijiin and Virrago will have an answer as soon as I can get them one.

    -Walrus

In May 2004, I embarked upon a journey. I decided to take the red pill in a big way—I became the online community lead for The Matrix Online. Later that year, many of you joined me as you jacked in for the first time. It was a brand new world—a vision of online games that didn’t involve elves, spaceships, or dragons. We became part of the Matrix storyline; living our own adventures in the world painted by the movies.

It seems not so long ago I was jumping into Mara Central and going toe-to-toe with other devs at E3 2004. I had no idea this journey would take me to a whole different company, managing a major revision of the game, and my first producing gig. “Long, strange trip” doesn’t describe the half of it.

Now we’ve seen how far the rabbit hole goes and it’s time to wake up from that dream (or go back to sleep, depending how you look at it). On July 31, 2009, we will be jacking out for the last time. It’s a bittersweet moment for everyone involved with the game; as a player or as a developer.

It has been a good run. Where many games have fizzled out before or shortly after launch, by August we will have lived on in our home at SOE for more than 4 years. To this day, I have never worked with a community as dedicated as The Matrix Online community.

I’ll be at Fan Faire this year showing The Agency and hanging out with any redpills making the trip. The past couple years have been a blast, so I hope to see some of you there again..

The team will also be whipping up an end-of-the-world event. It won’t be quite the same as having over 100 developers in the game as Agents like when we ended beta, but we have 4 years of tricks up our sleeve. It’ll be a chance to revisit all the things that make MxO the memorable experience it is. And how could we pull the plug without crushing everyone’s RSI just one more time?

I have a lot of fond memories from my years working on MxO. We’ve had a good time in the Machines’ little playground and will be sad to see it end. I hope everyone enjoys the last few months of playing The Matrix Online.

See you on the other side.

Daniel “Walrus” Myers

Quick Note:

I know this doesn't cover all that Rarebit posted about how we're changing our updates--I began writing this quite some time ago and it had to go off for approvals before posting. And since this is the appoved version, I'm posting it as-is instead of updating it. We are reading your feedback to Rarebit's post even if we haven't responded so far.

Cheers,

Walrus

 -------------------------------

Greetings Redpills,

Well, it's been a while since Fan Faire, so Virrago's harassment for me to kick out a producer letter is increasing apace. I'm lucky that his office is 2,000 miles away or else he'd likely be ambushing me at the coffee machine by now - an action of which I'm sure many of you would approve.

Seriously, though, it's been quite some time since the last one and The Matrix Online community deserves some relatively undivided attention from me. If only so that those players who didn't make it to Fan Faire will believe the ones who did when they say they saw me there. Yes, really, I do still exist.

Speaking of Fan Faire

Every year when Fan Faire rolls around, there's a part of me that dreads the weekend. Long hours, late nights, little sleep ... it's an exhausting time for everyone, especially the folks doing the set up and tear down. But it never fails that, once I'm there, the energy from the players picks me up and keeps me rolling through the entire event. Come time to head home on Sunday, I realize exactly how wiped out I am but how worth it the trip is each year.

For only our second event, we had quite a turnout. and I'd like to thank everyone who came out this year. Although we don't have the sheer numbers of EQ and EQ2, we make up for it in dedication and enthusiasm. It also makes it easier to sneak into the closing banquet and claim tables for the entire game before anyone else gets in.

We also had an incredible non-U.S. representation at Fan Faire this year. And I'd like to send a special shout out to Kazuki, who arrived from Japan on the second day of the show. Your English is still much better than my Japanese, friend. I'm just glad we had Midori there to show you around.

As the saying goes, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," so I'm not going into detail on the entire event. I've yet to see any video of me doing karaoke on YouTube, so I'm happy to see others feel the same way.

Thanks again to everyone who made it this year, however far you traveled. I look forward to seeing even more of you next year.

What's New in The Matrix Online

By the time this letter goes out, Update 63 will be long released into the wild. If you haven't been in lately, there have been lots of additions to the game. From the last few updates we've seen:

A batch of level 45 to 50 weapons has been added; filling in the big loot gaps at high levels.

• The new Datamine and Sati's Playground constructs have come online with new gameplay, loot and bosses.
• A new mission involving the stern-and-sexy Valkyrjar.
• Chapter 10 missions became available through the Archive system.
• New moods and emotes added to the game.
• Lots of bug fixes.

Players who pay close attention to the 11.2 critical missions will learn about a dramatic turning point in the storyline.

Looking Forward

The next update to the game will be our annual Halloween Event. By our current schedule, we'll update the game for the event on Thursday, October 23 and run it through Thursday, November 6. The usual jack-o-lantern shenanigans and ultra-dark sky will return with another new set of masks. As you may have noticed, Rarebit has already started dropping hints as to what you'll see this year via Image Retrieval. This year's costumes should be a big hit.

Update 64 will come in and Chapter 11.3 will begin on November 6 - right on the heels of the Halloween event. We will decide what goes into that update in the next few weeks. We're delaying release by a week both to make our logistics simpler - much easier to end the event and patch on the same day - and because we need to revisit how we're providing updates to the game.

That last comment requires some explanation. You see, as far as major updates go, we base our decisions on what is feasible and what time allows. That we've squeezed out two new constructs is above and beyond expectations. Rarebit drives the design and implements most of the functionality, and I'm always impressed with what he achieves.

Rarebit has some plans for better ways to provide content for more people - including possibilities for bringing some form of cinematic back to the game. He and I will both be addressing that with the community on the forums.

That's all for now. Get ready for Halloween fun and a new take on what goes into our regular updates. I'll see everyone on the other side.

Cheers,

Dan "Walrus" Myers

Hi everyone,

I apologize for not getting an announcement up about restarting the Syntax server. We needed to correct some issues we've had since this morning's hotfix and it required a quick server bounce. Syntax should be available again shortly.

Thank you for your patience. You may now return to your regularly scheduled gaming.

Cheers,

Walrus

Hey folks,

Walrus here with a bit an update on Sati's Playground. We have a fairly important bug that has to be fixed before allowing everyone in. So, Update 61 will release tomorrow, Friday, June 27; however, you will not be able to teleport to the new construct.

We're hoping to have the fix ready for a hotfix update next week. Sorry for the disappointment, but we wanted to go ahead and get the rest of the update out instead of waiting for the bug fix.

Cheers,

Walrus

Hello again, redpills. Welcome to the first The Matrix Online producer letter of the year. Let's get the ball rolling with the first big topic.

New "Datamine" Construct is In!

If you haven't checked out Update 58 yet, then you're missing out on a great new construct added to The Matrix Online. The Datamine construct is a "free-for-all" style player-versus-player area in the game, allowing players to take on all comers, even those in the same Organization.

You'll also find the construct filled with active data nodes for you to mine, another first for the constructs. The Anniversary Event update will include new luggable Data Taps available only in Datamine. These will be must-have items for maximizing your $info extraction, but because only a few will be available, finding and keeping one away from all the other operatives will be a real challenge.

Jack in and head to your Organization's Archivist to check out the new construct.

A Fond Farewell to Paul Chadwick

As recently announced, Paul Chadwick has decided it's time for him to move on with other projects. It's been great working with him over the past four years and the team wishes him all the best in the future.

Paul wrote the first six chapters of The Matrix Online story during development of the game. He also created the material for The Sentinel in-game newspaper and storyboarded our cinematics. His work has been an integral part of MxO for years and we will miss his contributions to the ongoing storyline.

Fortunately Paul and Rarebit worked closely on the story over the past three years, so moving forward won't be a problem. Rarebit has already mapped out the storyline for the next year and more, so things will be proceeding much as they have in the past.

Cinematics and The Sentinel

Last year we committed to completing cinematics for each chapter up through and including the recently released Chapter 9.3. We've had a lot of fun making our story cinematics, and you've had fun unabashedly critiquing them, but after a three-year run, the time has come to continue the story through other means.

So we're reviving the long-neglected in-game newspaper, The Sentinel. Rarebit, with some help from the Live Events Special Interest Group, will continue building The Matrix Online story through new editions of the newspaper that flesh out what's going on in the missions and daily events. Look for updates coming to newspaper stands by your favorite hardlines in the near future!

The Matrix Online Third Anniversary

Believe it or not, The Matrix Online is about to turn three! (That's 11 for all you binary folk out there.) On March 19, 2005, redpills who preordered the game jacked in to the world for the first time. Three days later, the floodgates opened and we began learning about living in the Matrix after the truce.

We'll be celebrating our anniversary between March 20 and April 3 this year to allow two full weekends of play. The Smith virus will return for its annual infection of the system, along with twelve new T-shirt designs, and new consumable items to help fight off...the inevitable.

Jack in and join the fun!

It's not every massively-multiplayer online game that gets to celebrate its third anniversary. Many never even make it out the gate much less survive their first year. Thanks to all our players out there for continuing to jack in and fighting the good fight--whatever fight you consider "the good one", that is.

See you on the other side.

Cheers,

Walrus

Hi everyone,

I'm here today to announce that Paul Chadwick is ending his run on The Matrix Online. Below is his personal message to all you redpills out there. I'll talk about this and other things more in a producer letter going up later today. But this announcement is Paul's spotlight. So, without further ado, Paul Chadwick: 

The Matrix Online is poised for another intriguing year of unfolding story and gameplay, and I can now announce that I'm leaving the game to get back to doing comics exclusively.

Players are aware my involvement has been cut back for some time, and mainly limited to cinematics and some input in the broad strokes of storyline.  The crackerjack team mostly responsible for the last year's gameplay is still in place, and nothing will change about the game - except the story will continue to evolve, as it always has. 

Some of my contributions remain in the pipeline and I hope everybody will stick around to see what comes next - some great things are in store.

Thanks to all the players who have shown great kindess to me, and especially everybody who's contributed to this strange, intricate virtual culture and its ongoing story.  MXO has been one of the highlights of my life.

Sincerely,

Paul Chadwick

Discuss this announcement at Broadcast Depth.

Hey folks,

As with all things dev, not everything comes in on schedule. In this case, the combat animation changes and tweaks planned for December 6 will be going in with the Winter Holiday Update on December 13. We decided to give QA an extra week to go through all the combat animations--yes, I said *all* the combat animations. There are an awful lot of them, but we wanted to try and ensure the tweaks didn't break anything.

So, there will be an extra little present in next week's update--a cleanup of combat animations for all!

Cheers,

Walrus

Hey folks,

As with all things dev, not everything comes in on schedule. In this case, the combat animation changes and tweaks planned for December 6 will be going in with the Winter Holiday Update on December 13. We decided to give QA an extra week to go through all the combat animations--yes, I said *all* the combat animations. There are an awful lot of them, but we wanted to try and ensure the tweaks didn't break anything.

So, there will be an extra little present in next week's update--a cleanup of combat animations for all!

Cheers,

Walrus

Where's Walrus

Hey everyone. It's been a long time since I've put "fingers to keyboard" to talk to The Matrix Online community-not that Raijinn hasn't been bugging me about that. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that I've been neck-deep in The Agency since I started working on it in April-there's a lot to be done. And since the guys on MxO are pros at keeping the game going, I don't feel the need to constantly oversee what they're doing. However, I'm way overdue for sending out an update from my perspective.

Most of what "keeping the game going" means is moving the storyline along. This has always been the most important post-launch element for The Matrix Online and continues to be the case. While we've occasionally made some larger changes, such as the combat revision, most of development has been about the storyline. Every six weeks there are new missions for each Organization and daily events that carry on the plot. With few exceptions, we've been on that schedule for about a year-and-a-half now.

With that in mind, we actually have a bunch of updates coming in the next couple months.

Coming Updates

The update schedule for MxO is pretty busy through the beginning of 2008. Here's our current rundown of what we're looking at. Please keep in mind that dates and other things might change:

Tuesday, November 13: End of Halloween plus server updates

Yes, even our servers need operating system updates occasionally. Since we need to go offline for about 4 hours for that and because we got a late start on the holiday due to the SoCal fires, we're going to run the Halloween event an extra 5 days. Then we'll return you to your regularly scheduled visibility.

Thursday, November 15: Update 56 and Chapter 9.1

With the introduction of Chapter 9.1, all Chapter 8 missions will be going to the archive. Not only does that mean chapter rewards, but also our second 4-chapter story-arc reward!

Thursday, December 6: Combat Animation Hotfix

Rarebit has been working on customization for the Bullet Time that occurs on finishing and special moves. We wanted to release the changes with Update 56, but wanted thorough QA testing before they go out, so we'll be taking an extra few weeks to review before releasing them to the live game.

Thursday, December 13: Winter Holiday 2007 Begins

Hard to believe, but we're not far from our Third-Annual Winter Holiday event. Snowballs and hats for everyone! (Along with a few additional new clothing pieces.)

Thursday, January 10: End of Winter Holiday plus Update 57 and Chapter 9.2

And then we're into 2008. With the craziness surrounding the holidays, we'll be waiting until January 10 to release a new update to the game. Until then, the Winter Holiday festivities will continue.

The team has been focused on bug fixes when it comes to our numbered updates. As we head into our third year, we'd like to see as many of the remaining headaches gone as we can possibly take care of. Speaking of which...

Graphic Issues

We've done as much as we can internally to deal with the various compatibility issues the community has been discussing on the forums. At this point, we're going to see if we can get some direct assistance from our contacts at Microsoft and nVidia to analyze the issues. Hopefully we can find something we have the capability to fix that will alleviate the different problems. It would be even better if we found that Microsoft and/or nVidia had something in the works that take care of the problems, but we'll just have to see.

We know more and more players will likely run into similar issues as time goes on, so it's important for us to do everything we can to take care of them. You'll know more when we do. Thanks for everyone's help tracking them down

Fond Farewell and Warm Welcome

As you all know by now, Joel "Raijinn" Sasaki is moving on to other duties. He's been helping out with MxO almost since the first day we came to SOE, back in 2005. While he hasn't had the benefit of working in the same office with the team, he's done a great job taking over CRM duties since I moved over to production full time. Joel is moving on to work on projects down in the San Diego studio and everyone on the MxO team wishes him the best of luck.

Virrago has also occasionally helped out with MxO and works in the Austin studio. He's spent a lot of time with the Star Wars Galaxies community, so he's bringing a great deal of community experience with him. I hope you all make him feel welcome to our little corner of the SOE world.

That's all I have for you with this update. Given the pace of our development, a once-a-quarter letter to the community seems appropriate. In the meantime, have fun with the zombies, snowballs, and the odd stranger who has entered the picture recently.

See you on the other side.

Cheers,

Daniel "Walrus" Myers

The ops team is bringing the game back online now. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the failure, we have had to restore the game database from backup. The best we could do is restore the database to how it was at 11:25AM PDT yesterday morning (Saturday, June 9). We apologize for any inconvenience this causes.

I apologize for the extended downtime. The hardware failure made it difficult to get things back up and running quickly, but things should be good to go now.

Edit: As of 4:57 PM PDT, the game was back online, but players couldn't load abilities while jacked in. (You can load abilities in the loading area.) The ops team is switching the game to Admin Only access in anticipation of another restart to resolve the issue. If you aren't already logged in, you won't be able to get in until we resolve this issue.

I'll put up another update when there is more information.

Hi folks,

I apologize for the delay in getting this message out, but I just got the information myself. We apparently had a hardware failure on the database machine this morning that the ops team is working to fix. The best ETA I have at the moment is that the game will be back up later today. If I get a better ETA or if there is a change to that, I'll post another message.

-Walrus

Hi everyone,

Due to my lack of video-editing finesse, the 7.3 Cinematic is weighing in at 21MB. Due to the amount of action on screen, I was unable to reduce it any more and keep the quality up to a reasonable level. If you have a black screen for a bit when you first play 7.3 in game, it's most likely that the video is taking some time to load.

Cheers,

Walrus

PS: The video *is* scheduled to deploy at 3:45AM this morning. I just checked. If it doesn't go out on time, it ain't my fault.

We're working to fix the current luggable duping issue. We have commands that allow us to clean things up and will be doing so occasionally. If a luggable disappears from your Inventory, this is why.

We've made some server configuration changes that should help reduce the duping issue. We'll see how we stand tomorrow morning with those changes in place. We're hoping they do a decent job of keeping luggables in check. If not, we may have to turn off the spawners until we can get a hotfix in.

Either way, we are working on a hotfix for next week to fix the issue. We also may have a fix for the ability "shutoff" bug which will also go into testing. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work on the problem.

Below are the notes for the Anniversary Event Update, scheduled to release on March 29, 2007.

Second Anniversary Event - March 29 through April 10

Disturbing rumors are circulating about recent viral outbreaks inside the Matrix. This "Smith Virus" apparently appeared after pieces of Agent Smith's viral code were found inside the Matrix. Data Miners have located odd objects at the center of each outbreak; however, we have lost contact with all Operatives dispatched to investigate.

Reports have also come in of programs called "Smith Virologists" that have appeared near the various city monuments. When approached, they state that they carry a message from the Oracle. All available Operatives are requested to contact the Smith Virologists and obtain whatever information they can from the Oracle.

Changes and Improvements

• Toned down the "Enraged" visual FX.
• NPC pathfinding optimized to improve performance in complex buildings (particularly in Downtown).
• Doubled the duration of the mission archive chapter reward FX items (Code Eyes, Blue Headlamp, etc) from one to two minutes.
• The NPC version of the Oracle now has Details text.

This weekend from Saturday to Sunday morning, the time will be set ahead at 2:00 am to 3:00 am in Europe. The time difference from PST to CET is once again 9 hours.

Servers will be restarted at 4:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time (1100 hours GMT) on Thursday, March 22. The game should be available again within 1 hour from shutdown.

Telephone support will close at 5:00pm PDT on Friday March 16th 2007. Phone support will return at it's normal hours of Monday through Friday 10am through 7pm PDT on Monday March 19th 2007.

Chat support will remain available during it's normal time Monday through Friday 10am through 7pm PDT at http://station.sony.com/chat

Email support is available any time at http://station.sony.com/email

Our knowledgebase is also available any time at http://station.sony.com/kb

Servers will be restarted at 4:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time (1100 hours GMT) on Thursday, March 15. The game should be available again within 1 hour from shutdown.

For those of us in the U.S., Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday, March 11th at 2am. So don't forget to set your clocks ahead by one hour Saturday night before you go to bed!

Update 50 will be released on Thursday, March 8 at 4:00 AM Pacific Standard Time (1200 hours GMT). Servers will go offline at 4:00 AM for the update and should return to service within 2 hours of shut down.

Note: The Chapter 7.1 cinematic clocked in at 17.5 MB, as it runs 2:43 long. You may have to wait a bit for the cinematic to load after you launch it.

This thread is for discussing Image Retrieval, posted March 7, 2007 on Data Node One.

/walks away chuckling

The forums will go offline at 10:00 AM Pacific Standard Time (1800 hours GMT) for a necessary maintenance period. The forums should be available again within 1.5 hours of the shutdown. We apologize for any inconvenience.

During this maintenance, the following issues will be addressed:

• Links on MY Profile and Switch Personas page still go to "Forum Index" 
• Batched Stats table updates
• Private message can be sent with only a space in the subject line
• Search all/search any are not correct
• Re-enable private message indicator in header
• Forum personas are switching on user posts
• New topic submit shows 3 views
• Add a "Switch Personas" link to the links along the top of the page (when a user is logged in)
• Change wording on the Privacy management page
• Deleting posts leaves blank records on the last page of a thread