Can it be? New in game web browser arriving for EVE Online

The developers at CCP Games just dropped some good news about the new in-game web browser (IGB) for EVE Online they've been working on, codenamed "Moondoggie", one that will deliver a "tenfold performance boost" over what exists today. We've checked CNN and BBC, and even Fox News, but hell is not freezing over... pigs are not in flight. The long-awaited new browser is on the way.

EVE Online players have been screaming about wanting a revamped in-game browser since well before Massively was even born, particularly as so many useful third-party sites function as in-game utilities for players to use without the need to alt-tab out. Of course, despite the frustrations players have felt with the IGB, delivering a better one is no simple matter. CCP Games has periodically stated that it's something they're looking into or working on, but today's dev blog written by CCP Pleognost, "The Second Coming of Moondoggie", confirms the details of the project. And that it's close to being ready.

For those of you who are code-saavy, the new IGB is being built with Awesomium, and uses the Chromium browser toolkit that powers Google Chrome. CCP Pleognost details the nuts and bolts of how the browser will function, and how they're handling security.

For the rest of us, he explains how Moondoggie will allow for greater interaction between the IGB and the third-party sites that the playerbase has come to rely upon, and how new options will open up. He gives an example: "We can allow Trusted Sites to make certain requests to your client - for example, a link on a website might allow you to import a ship fitting directly into your saved fittings." We're also curious about the ways in which the IGB may tie in with the COSMOS social network also in development for EVE Online.

CCP Pleognost cautions that some of the third-party IGB resources that are popular with the playerbase may not play nicely with Moondoggie right off the bat. To deal with this in advance of the feature going live, CCP is going to put an operational version of Moondoggie on the Singularity test server and have implied they're interested in working together with the various authors of IGB-driven sites to make the transition a smooth one.

You can read the full details in "The Second Coming of Moondoggie" over on the game's site and bear witness to a rare sight on the EVE forums, an unbroken string of positive response.