[bcvideo id="1043057567001"]

The large convention hall is bouncing with dance-club music as roughly two thousand gamers find a place to sit at the launch event Las Vegas for SOE's latest Fan Faire. I'm waiting for John Smedley, SOE's president to walk on stage to tell us about PlanetSide 2. But instead, a lady in a full horns-and-hide-and-dog-hair-bear dwarf costume marches on stage laughing about drinking and pool parties in a thick Scottish accent.

It's a tough act to follow, but John Smedley knows there's a sure-fire way to one-up a dwarf: lasers, futuristic jet fighters, and explosions. In other words, the official announcement trailer of PlanetSide 2.

We all knew the big reveal of the sequel to their 2003 hit MMOFPS was coming sometime tonight. The game was confirmed to be in development as far as a couple years back, and a counter has been working its way down to zero on www.planetside2.com, set to expire at the launch of Fan Faire.

As for me, I'm running out to hound the development team through the deserts of Vegas (or at least the smoky rooms of this air-conditioned casino) to ask them all the questions I have about PS2. Expect more details on the site tomorrow morning, when the embargo lifts.