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Oculus VR co-publishing EVE: Valkyrie, exclusive to Oculus Rift
EVE: Valkyrie, CCP Games' space dogfighting game, will be co-published by Oculus VR as an Oculus Rift headset exclusive. EVE: Valkyrie started life as EVE VR, an Oculus Rift tech demo built by a small team at CCP. The experience snowballed from there and snatched up several awards at last year's E3 and this year's CES. EVE: Valkyrie is being developed by CCP's Newcastle, UK studio. "The core purpose of CCP is to make virtual worlds more meaningful than real life," CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson said during his DICE 2014 talk. Pétursson's talk mostly revolved around EVE Online, but near the end he talked about how "super excited" CCP is by Oculus Rift. "It is much easier for people to accept as reality," he added about the implementation of Oculus Rift. "It's a much shorter leap of faith to really accept that we really have the ability to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life." Oculus VR still hasn't announced when it plans to launch the Oculus Rift at retail, but EVE: Valkyrie will be there on day one. [Image: CCP]
Massively unboxes EVE Online's Collector's Edition
Sci-fi MMO EVE Online initially launched as a physical disc sold in stores back in 2003 and saw limited success in the fledgling MMO space. A decade of regular updates and digital distribution has seen EVE grow organically into the largest sci-fi sandbox on the planet with over half a million subscribers, but until now something has been missing: EVE has never had an actual collector's edition box. To celebrate 10 successful years of operation, last month CCP officially released the EVE Second Decade Collector's Edition box. I recently received a review copy of the Collector's Edition from CCP and have put together an unboxing video with my general impressions of the items within. The collection comes in a sturdy presentation box and contains a 192-page commemorative hardback book looking back on the first decade of EVE's history, along with an anniversary re-release edition of CCP's board game Danger Game and a physical Rifter model that doubles as a USB hub. The pack also comes with a new account key with 60 days of game time, a soundtrack CD of the EVE music played by the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, and keys to unlock billions of ISK worth of virtual collectables in-game. It's pretty expensive at around €150 or $150 US, but the virtual items can be sold in game to claw back some of the cost in the form of PLEX. Enjoy our look at the new CE!
CCP adds Owen O'Brien to EVE: Valkyrie roster
CCP has announced its new Executive Producer for the multiplayer dogfighting shooter EVE: Valkyrie; Owen O'Brien is joining the team based at the company's Newcastle studio. O'Brien previously hails from the development studio DICE (owned by publisher EA), where he had a long tenure leading the production of the first-person action game Mirror's Edge. EVE: Valkyrie, set for release in 2014, utilizes virtual reality to give players the sense of being a real pilot in an EVE Online spaceship. On his appointment to this new position, O'Brien said: "The opportunity to work with a focused, talented and passionate team at the forefront of game-changing technology is a dream scenario for me. But it's not just about the technology. This was a project born out of a genuine passion for gaming, and that shows in what the team has already achieved." [Source: CCP Games press release]
EVE: Valkyrie, formerly EVE VR, sets sights on Oculus Rift in 2014
EVE: Valkyrie, previously known as the EVE VR tech demo created for Oculus Rift by five CCP employees in their spare time, is a multiplayer space dogfighting game coming to the PC in 2014. EVE: Valkyrie is currently in development at CCP's Newcastle, UK studio, IGN reports, though not much else beyond that is known at this time. Though CCP has yet to issue a formal announcement, the description on the announcement trailer above says the game will focus on multiplayer. EVE VR was first revealed at this year's Fanfest, an annual celebration of the EVE universe created by CCP Games. CCP CEO Hilmar Veiger Peturrson told IGN that ever since its unveiling, the biggest question regarding EVE: Valkyrie has always been: When can I buy this? "What started as a passion project by a small, incredibly talented group of CCP developers became one of the most highly anticipated games of the year – before we even announced it. We have big plans for EVE: Valkyrie and I can't wait to share more details later this year."
CCP Games reveals EVE Valkyrie
There's another game on its way to share space with EVE Online and DUST 514. EVE: Valkyrie is the official name for what had been referred to before now as EVE-VR, what was described as a tech demo assembled with the Oculus Rift and a few fighter craft. Yes, that high-speed dogfighting sim in a virtual reality headset turned out to not just be a brief bit of playable speculation but a peek at the next game from CCP Games. CEO Hilmar Petursson stated that as soon as players got their hands on the demo, they wanted to know when the whole thing could be purchased -- and that was when it was just a concept demo developed by a handful of people during some spare moments. No official statements have been issued on what format the game will take or whether or not there will be components other than multiplayer dogfights. But there will be spaceships zooming around and shooting one another, and that's what attracted people in the first place.
EVE Online flirts with virtual reality
At this year's Fanfest, EVE Online teased the possibility of putting players into the game with the magic of virtual reality. The VR demo, courtesy of an Oculus Rift dev kit, turned a few heads both metaphorically and literally. Today, CCP put forth a blog post explaining the hows and whys that went into this intriguing project. CCP Karuck details the journey that led the team to adapting the studio's flagship title for a VR headset: "We brought up many genres and styles, but in the end decided to make a game in the EVE universe where players could fly fighter spaceships. That idea just checked all the boxes, and who hasn't wanted to experience first-person space flight in EVE?" Challenges for the team including modifying the UI to work with a headset and tweaking the experience so that users wouldn't get motion sickness. Karuck estimates that around a thousand players tried out the EVE VR demo at fanfest, and the team has plans to bring it to E3 for press previews. Still, he admits that he doesn't know what is in store for the future of it all: "We still don't know what will become of this little project of ours, with CCP considering various options."
