Are you a fan of the art from Sony Online Entertainment games? Well, the company has opened a new Art Portal site that targets an audience comprised of students and professionals in the art world, as well as players who appreciate the concept illustrations and graphics tied to SOE games.

The first thing you'll notice when you visit SOE Art Portal is a series of illustrations that were recognized in international juried digital art annuals and shows. There's numerous pieces of art from Legends of Norrath, as well as pieces from EverQuest, EverQuest II, Free Realms and The Agency.

There's also featured articles from SOE developers on topics related to art asset creation and blog entries by Rystall, the director of artistic development for SOE. So are there any ZAM readers out there who are art students trying to enter the gaming field? If so, what are your thoughts on the site?

Three senior Sony Online Entertainment staff members who were working on The Agency have left the company to form Detonator Games, but SOE has told Eurogamer their departure won't lead to a reboot of the game.

Seattle studio director and executive producer Matt Wilson, art director Corey Dangel and producer John Smith left SOE and formed Detonator Games on July 4, according to the new studio's Web site. Wilson and Smith were founding members of SOE's Seattle studio."This was a very hard decision to make, but it's the right decision for both us and the project," Wilson told Eurogamer. "There were a variety of factors into making this decision, but we wish SOE and The Agency the best success."

So what does this mean for the future of The Agency? SOE wouldn't comment on the departures, but did tell Eurogamer "The Agency is not undergoing a reboot of any sorts — that is incorrect." The representative also said "the team in Seattle is still working diligently on this project and we’re looking forward to showing you new content in the future."

One of the bigger surprises that we had at E3 was the playable demo that Sony Online Entertainment had for The Agency. While the demonstration restored our faith in the project, we still had a few questions that we had answered at the 2009 Fan Faire. We spoke with Senior World Designer Kevin O'Hara to gain a deeper understanding of what this game is all about.

ZAM: Can you just give us a little bit of information about the three different classes, or archetypes, that exist in the game?

Kevin O'Hara: Sure; we've got three major roles and they are combat, stealth and support. They are about the different things you want to do as a super-spy in the game. Combat is all about taking more damage and being able to deal out a good amount of damage - really getting the enemies looking at him. Next is stealth. Stealth is, of course, about sneaking around, taking on guys from a long range and getting the lay of the land for the rest of the team. And then support, of course, is about helping out as much as he can. In this case, we've got a shotgun for him so that he doesn't have to be the most accurate guy in the world, but if anyone comes up close to him, he can definitely take them down. He can help revive other characters if they go down in combat, and he's got a number of things, tactically, that he can do to keep these guys alive and keep them informed of the situation. In this case we gave him a special item called a 'Martini Bomb" that he would have gotten out in the field somewhere, or he had an operative build for him. The "Martini Bomb" is a device that, when he shakes it up (shaken, not stirred!), he can throw it and it emits this icy concoction that covers the enemy and freezes them in place. In this way, he's supporting the team by holding the enemies in place. If you've got a lot of enemies, he might be the one saying "focus on these guys first, I'll keep these guys busy."

Fan Faire 2009 is just around the corner, and members of the ZAM team are preparing to head to Las Vegas from June 25-28 to cover the event. All of your favorite Sony Online Entertainment games will be featured at the convention, and our group plans to fill the ZAM.com home page with as much news as possible. This year, we'd like you to be a part of our reporting team by submitting your questions on three SOE games!

DC Universe Online and The Agency are two upcoming MMOs that are as different as night and day. One is full of superheroes, while the other focuses on espionage. And then there's EverQuest, the granddaddy of the genre that has been going strong for 10 years. We know members of the ZAM community must have questions on any or all of these games, and we'd love to hear them so we can do our best to get them answered at Fan Faire! Submit your questions by clicking on the name of the MMO above and posting them in the forum thread.

Also, if you're going to be at Fan Faire, there's going to be a ZAM panel held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 27. Stop by to listen to our team, including Jeffrey "Allakhazam" Moyer, discuss 10 years of Allakhazam. You can check out the full Fan Faire schedule here.

Members of the ZAM team were on the floor of the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 at the Los Angeles Convention Center last week to bring you all sorts of information on your favorite MMOs. You can check out all of our coverage on our E3 news feed, but we've compiled all of our noteworthy features and news posts in this post for easy access. So keep reading below and after the jump for our in-depth E3 coverage, from the unveiling of Final Fantasy XIV Online to our impressions on Star Wars: The Old Republic!

ZAM E3 Features

All Points Bulletin E3 Impressions: Andrew "Tamat" Beegle gives us a first look at All Points Bulletin, Realtime Worlds' upcoming fast-paced third-person action MMOG. While he didn't see any live gameplay, he was highly impressed with the level of depth available in character creation, as well the number of car models and in-game MP3 player.

Star Wars: The Old Republic at E3: The ZAM team had the opportunity to enjoy a private gameplay demonstration of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and everyone was amazed by what they saw. Of course, the team wasn't allowed to record footage of any of the gameplay, but Tamat did get an exclusive interview with SW:TOR Lead Writer Daniel Erickson and Lead Designer James Olhen. Check out the video!

The Potential in Heroes of Telara: Trion World Networks unveiled its new fantasy MMO at E3, and Tamat gives us his first impressions on the game. While he says it's too early to tell if Heroes of Telara will deliver on its promises, he does emphasize it's a beautiful game with some new ideas and improvements to ideas that have potential.

E3 Interview with Jens Andersen: Once you've watched the PS3 gameplay demo for DC Universe Online, check out our interview with Jens Andersen, the game's creative director.

E3 Gameplay Footage of The Agency: The ZAM team was able to get some video of a mission being played out in The Agency. Take a closer look at this espionage action game from Sony Online Entertainment.

With E3 still going on, Andrew 'Tamat' Beegle has snagged us some more information on The Agency! Actually, he's done a lot more than that and gotten us some footage of a mission being played out in The Agency and it looks fantastic. Hopefully next time they'll consider adding in the amazing stealth-in-a-box a la Metal Gear Solid! I'd love to roam the grounds under a box and invisible to the naked eye.

Check out the video after the jump!

The Agency Web site has recieved a makeover and now includes the team's Twitter feed (which is currently focused on E3 news), screenshots, the trailer that recently premiered, and information on the game.

In addition, you can decide whether you want to enlist with ParaGON or U.N.I.T.E. If you having trouble deciding, each side is offering an evaluation quiz. So which network will gain your expertise when the game is launched?

G4 has posted its exclusive world premiere of the trailer for Sony Online Entertainment's The Agency. The trailer doesn't show any actual gameplay footage, but the cinematic does give you a feel for the spy and espionage theme of the game.

So what do you think? Does the trailer make you interested to play the game, which was first announced in 2007? For more news and information, but sure to check out our games list page for The Agency.

MMO Portal has put together its 2009 MMO Calendar featuring autographed artwork from numerous games. The list includes Age of Conan, DC Universe Online, Dofus, EVE Online, EverQuest II, Free Realms, Guild Wars, Pirates of the Burning Sea, RuneScape, The Agency, Warhammer Online and World of Warcraft.

All of the proceeds go directly to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which treats children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases.

Also, everyone who purchases a calendar will be entered to win one of 10 prizes for each game, including boxed copies, premium accounts, 30- and 60-day passes, closed beta accounts and more. More information can be found here.

Our final mini-interview in this series also spotlights a highly anticipated new SOE game - The Agency.  Please see exactly how Steady-Cam(tm) doesn't help when the camera operator is a total newb in:

Three Questions with...   Matt Wilson, Director of Development, The Agency