EVE Online's official magazine E-ON releases latest quarterly issue

E-ON is the official magazine of EVE Online, released quarterly and one of the most focused sources of EVE content out there. We've spoken with E-ON in the past and a few of us on the Massively staff are regular readers -- our EVE columnist Brendan Drain has been an E-ON contributor himself. The Spring issue of E-ON is now shipping and although it doesn't have the instant gratification of clicking on a hyperlink, there's some excellent content there that we really want to mention to our readers and in general point out that E-ON has a lot to offer EVE Online players.

This issue's cover story is "The End of New Eden" by Jim Rossignol and is an inquiry into the dreaded question of when the game will finally run out of steam. Sad as it is, all MMOs end eventually. Or do they have to?

The E-ON cover story looks at how different EVE is from the other MMOs running. Since EVE is really all about what happens in New Eden, an open sprawling galaxy where players do what they choose, the game isn't necessarily tied into expansion zones, new classes, certain quests or raid bosses. In other words, EVE doesn't suffer from the pitfall many MMOs do in that players quickly progress through the new content and then have nowhere else to go. EVE is unique in that it's a setting -- sometimes a harsh setting -- where PvP and PvE exist side-by-side and players determine their own path. Perhaps it's that freedom that's been a draw for many players so far and "The End of New Eden" looks at the prospects for this attraction continuing in future years. As there will be no EVE Online 2, it's all about one continually evolving setting and the possibilities this brings, and Rossignol's article is well worth a read.

E-ON editor Zapatero also caught up with one of the game's most accomplished machinima creators, Ian Chisholm, to discuss what we can expect from Clear Skies II, the follow-up to the award-winning blend of Half-Life 2 character models with the ships and lore of EVE Online.

There's plenty of other content in this issue as well, ranging from guides to certain aspects of gameplay to player and alliance profiles and a ton of news. A refreshing aspect of E-ON is that the few ads it has in a given issue are EVE-focused. Most are created by the players themselves, typically for services offered or recruitment for player corporations and alliances. Issue 15 is a substantial 84 pages of content, which will no doubt keep some of us on the Massively staff reading for quite a while, at least until the next quarterly issue comes out. You can check out the rest of the listed contents for this issue over on its official site.