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EVE Evolved: First impressions of DUST 514
Every time I'm in a conversation about DUST 514, I find myself excusing its gameplay problems on the basis that it's treading new ground and has years of development ahead of it. But even though CCP has revealed an aggressive new schedule of big monthly updates, console gamers aren't willing to give it a free pass today based on future potential. I finally convinced my console gamer friends to pick the game up this week and gave it a fair go myself. I absolutely love the idea of DUST 514 and want to see the game succeed, but console gamers just don't seem impressed. When the game officially launched on May 14th, it was largely regarded as just another mediocre and buggy first-person shooter with a perishable gear system. The MMO components such as territorial control aren't very visible or accessible to new players, the gameplay balance and graphics need serious work, and the link with EVE Online feels practically non-existent. It pains me to say it, but DUST is neither a great FPS nor a great MMO. In this week's EVE Evolved, I delve into DUST 514 and give my first impressions of it as an EVE player.
GDC Online 2011: CCP on virtual goods in EVE Online
Remember Monoclegate? CCP sure does, and at GDC this week, the company reflected on some lessons learned from its introduction of virtual goods to EVE Online. Associate Producer Ben Cockerill from CCP games offered a candid look at what the team learned through both player response and market data. While the initial launch of virtual goods in Incarna sparked a fierce objection on the forums and even in-game protests and riots, things have settled down quite a bit, and CCP seems confident that it is headed in the right direction now. Read on for a look at why virtual goods were introduced into EVE Online and what the team has learned so far.
EVE is Real reaches first content milestone, Aurum gifted to active account holders
A couple of weeks ago we told you about CCP's new EVE is Real web endeavor. The ad campaign essentially asks capsuleers to upload artwork, screenshots, videos, and other player-generated metagame content to a new web portal designed to show off EVE's emergent gameplay. CCP kicked off the campaign by offering in-game incentives based on the number of player uploads, and today the company has sent out a PR blast touting the fact that the first milestone has been reached. Players have uploaded over 1,000 pieces of content, triggering a gift of 1,000 in-game Aurum to every active EVE account (you'll recall that Aurum is the controversial new cash shop currency that surfaced with the Incarna expansion). So what will 1,000 Aurum buy your pod pilot at the Noble Exchange? As of today the pickings are somewhat slim. The only offering in that particular price range is a pair of black men's boots.
EVE Is Real website presents visual record of EVE, hosts launch contests
Two weeks ago, EVE Online developer CCP Games announced a new advertising campaign with a twist. An external marketing company was hired to create a unique virtual museum of EVE artwork, screenshots and videos that would function as a growing visual record of what EVE means to its players. People interested in seeing what EVE is all about could then skim through the site and hopefully get a better impression of what it's like to be part of the EVE community. Players got a head-start in uploading content to the EVE Is Real website last week and we've been eagerly awaiting the website officially going live. Although no official announcement has been made, it appears that the EVE Is Real website has launched. To encourage players to upload their work, the site's creators are running launch contests with some huge prizes. The top 20 images uploaded to the site will win their owners a brand new EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SE graphics card, and the video that gets the most votes will secure its creator an expensive Alienware gaming desktop machine. Submissions end on August the 18th, and the voting phase then takes place between August the 18th and September the 1st. If you've created some nice screenshots, an epic EVE video or even an awesome My Little Pony version of the latest EVE trailer, submit it before August the 18th for your chance to win. In an interesting move, CCP will be rewarding every single EVE player with several thousand of its new microtransaction currency Aurum if the website takes off. A running total is maintained of the number of times images and videos on the site have been shared via Facebook and Twitter, and at certain share levels every single EVE player will be gifted a lump sum of Aurum.
CCP issues brief mea culpa, EVE CSM to meet with devs
It seems as if an olive branch has been extended in the escalating conflict between CCP and hardcore fans of the company's EVE Online MMORPG. Arnar Hrafn Gylfason, otherwise known as CCP Zulu, has issued an apologetic blog post as a followup to the controversial piece he penned last Friday. Zulu chalks up the confrontational tone of the previous post to the stresses surrounding CCP's recent data leaks and also advises fans that the company is flying the Council of Stellar Management to Iceland for meetings on June 30th and July 1st. More importantly for players chaffed by CCP's assumed about-face regarding game-altering microtransactions, Zulu finally answers the burning question regarding whether or not EVE Online will eventually see pay-to-win cash shop items. "There are not and never have been plans to sell 'gold ammo' for Aurum," Zulu writes, alluding to fan reactions to the Fearless newsletter leak. While CCP certainly isn't out of the woods yet with regard to this public relations nightmare, the fact that the company is acknowledging a serious breach of customer trust, coupled with the "no gold ammo" quote, seems to be having a calming effect on the community as it waits for details to emerge from next week's emergency CSM summit.
The Lawbringer: Paying for addons and APIs
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play? Not unlike most topics featured here on The Lawbringer, this one started with a blog post and a subsequent link to said blog post. CCP, the creators of MMO darling EVE Online, recently announced that players and customers could charge for third-party applications, utilities, and websites as long as the creator purchased a license. This is a fairly unprecedented move. CCP is probably the only company who could get away with this right now, but more on that later. This story got my mind spinning about what this means for data feeds all over the MMO world, how Blizzard's free APIs coming out soon will change the way people make apps and utilities for WoW, and some thoughts on for-pay addons. MMOs have spawned an impressive gray market of features, apps, utilities, and services that exist only because players are willing to partake in them. From Eve Online ship "fitting" apps to gold selling, the gray market lives alongside virtual worlds, and it is fascinating to think that these industries only exist because of the success of the genre. Recently, Blizzard previewed its own APIs that it would be releasing for web developers and app creators, providing easy-to-parse information to these development communities. This stuff isn't free, of course, which is interesting amidst the news that CCP would be charging a license fee for for-pay versions of utilities that make use of its APIs.
Controversy brewing over EVE Online microtransactions
When we first heard that EVE Online was planning to add microtransaction options, players were most concerned with the effect of microtransaction items on gameplay. CCP was quick to reassure players that microtransactions would focus on vanity items for Incarna and no gameplay-affecting items would be released. Fast-forward to today, when the first phase of Incarna finally went live along with the new Noble Exchange cash shop. As promised, the store contained only vanity items for Incarna, starting with a series of alternative clothing options. The one thing we didn't really think of while we worried about microtransactions affecting EVE's gameplay was price. The current prices on items in the Noble Exchange are far above typical microtransaction charges and an order of magnitude higher than expected. Items in the Noble Exchange are bought with a new currency called Aurum, 3500 of which can be created from one 30-day pilot's license (PLEX). With the price of PLEX set at around $19.95 US, players can expect to pay over $20 for a skirt, $25 for a blouse, and more than a whopping $68 for the much-desired ocular implant monocle. In a bizarre twist, many of the clothing options for sale at the Noble Exchange actually cost more than real clothes of the same type. As PLEX can be bought from other players for ISK, however, most players will not be spending their own cash on these items. PLEX prices have already spiked to over 400 million each, putting the price of the monocle at over 1.3 billion ISK. CCP could not provide any more information on the issue, but we expect an issue this hot will prompt an announcement.
CCP bringing vanity item store, new currency to EVE
If you've ever dreamed of a stripper pole for your captain's quarters or a monocle for your captain, CCP's latest dev blog aims to make your wildest wishes come true. And no, we're not kidding. CCP Zulu breaks the news about the forthcoming EVE Online vanity item store, which will sell a wide variety of incidentals ranging from clothing to accessories to custom ship paint jobs. Of particular interest is the creation of a new EVE currency, Aurum, which Zulu says is acquired when you break up PLEX. "Each PLEX gives you a bunch of Aurum that you can spend in the virtual goods store. If you don't want to spend Aurum on these vanity items, you can always wait for someone else to do so and then buy it off them for ISK. [...] Items bought in the virtual goods store will be transferable between characters, just like PLEX is today," he explains. Zulu also points out that the item shop is for vanity gear only, and you'll want to head to the official EVE Online website for all the details.
