In a surprising move, the developers of Free Realms announced that their upcoming free-to-play, kid-oriented MMO will be opening its servers in early April with the heavy beta testing period to "begin in a few weeks." While this Ten Ton Hammer staffer thought Free Realms would appear later in the year, the early release date is an extremely valuable time period for SOE. With any luck, they will hit a period where there are few other MMOs to compete with Free Realms. Here's the quote from Eurogamer:

At a press preview of its free-to-play, family-friendly MMO Free Realms in London today, Sony Online Entertainment confirmed that the PC version of the game will launch in early April.

The beta test will begin very soon - within "a couple of weeks", according to associate art director Sebastian Strzalkowski.

Free Realms is also in development for PS3, but that version is further down the road. Strzalkowski said it was on track for a release in the third quarter of this year - so, some time between July and September.

You can read the entire Eurogamer article