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CCP releases details for EVE Fanfest 2011
We knew it was coming, considering we caught a whiff of the travel packages for fanfest the other day (which, interestingly enough, are down as of the time of this writing). This morning, however, it's official -- the EVE Online full fanfest site is online, with quite a lot of information for curious capsuleers. As expected, this year's celebration looks like it's going to be enormous, running from March 24-26, 2011, and will additionally feature optional excursions before and after the event for those who would like to make it an extra-long vacation. The website lets us know that we'll see the return of not only the wildly popular PvP tournaments and silent auctions, but also "pub crawl with a dev," which offers a menu that could only appeal to extremely open-minded foodies or gobsmackingly drunk people. We hear that those evenings are legend... wait for it... dary. Along with the fun, CCP is partnering with Icelandair and Iceland Excursions to bring back the Sisters of EVE offering for partners/friends/stowaways of EVE Online players. This will allow capsuleers to get their party on at the event while knowing their non-EVE-playing [insert relationship here] won't be sitting around getting progressively grumpier about being left out. To top it all off, passes for the party on top of the world can be purchased via PLEX, for capsuleers who are rolling in ISK and would like to defray at least some of the cost. For the rest of us, the current ticket prices are $99 US for the Fanfest badge, and $200 US for the Sisters of EVE excursion, although neither are currently available through account management as yet. For all the most up-to-date information, warp on over to the official fanfest 2011 site! [Thanks, CrazyKinux!]
Make your travel plans for EVE Online's fanfest
With the holidays coming up, there's a plethora of things a capsuleer could ask for: that shiny new T3 ship you've been eyeballing, a pile of PLEX, or perhaps a bargain at the EVE Online store sale. But the savvy holiday shopper knows to save his cash for the upcoming Fanfest that is slated to be held in 2011. With Incursion coming up, Incarna to follow, DUST 514 underway, and World of Darkness recently announced, this year's party at the top of the world looks like it's going to be full of all manner of cool stuff to check out. Thanks to a bit of internet digging, it appears that IcelandAir has already released its travel packages for those looking to get the jump on the event and book in at the lowest rates. The travel site indicates that the dates for the upcoming Fanfest are March 24-26, leaving lots of time to get those vacation requests in early. Additionally, IcelandAir lists a CCP dev-attended city tour and a party after the event that offer some idea of the festivities to come, although they're not included with the travel package itself. We've contacted CCP for additional information and will be certain to let you know when we hear more. For now, make sure your passports are in order and get over to the IcelandAir site to get your package booked!
GDCO 2010: CCP talks EVE, Dust, and World of Darkness
Gamebreaker.tv recently sat down with CCP's Nathan Richardsson at GDCO for a lengthy video interview about EVE Online, Dust 514, and World of Darkness. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the EVE discussion focuses on the new character generator, recently made live on the Singularity test server and representing the first step towards 2011's long-awaited Incarna expansion. Richardsson doesn't have a lot to say regarding Dust 514, even though he talks about it for several minutes. The gist of the conversation is that CCP will release it when it's ready, and they're not even close to being prepared to talk about it. He does reiterate the game's console focus, stating that "our goal is delivering the EVE experience on different platforms, console being one of them of course. We'll be looking at more platforms, we already are." Moving on to the recently announced World of Darkness, Richardsson again declines to answer most of the pressing questions, though he does drop an interesting nugget relating to control of the game's intellectual property. Turns out that CCP's plans for a WoD virtual world required a certain level of control over the IP that wasn't possible with it residing in the hands of another company, hence the acquisition of WoD parent company White Wolf. Check out the full 30-minute interview after the cut and on Gamebreaker.
A Dust 514 novel may be in the works
Development studio CCP Games has been in the news a lot this year with their ambitious MMOFPS project codenamed Dust 514. When it's released, Dust will actually tie into the studio's current MMO EVE Online. Dust players will hire themselves out to EVE players as mercenaries, their combined aim being to dominate territories on a planet's surface. The first steps toward this unique integration of two MMOs in the same concurrent universe came with EVE Online's Dominion and Tyrannis expansions. Dominion gave EVE players a new Sovereignty framework, which will later be adapted to include planets as strategic points of interest. In the recent Tyrannis expansion, the planets of EVE began producing resources worthy of domination, ensuring that players will fight over them once it becomes possible.
EVE CSM delegates voice disapproval of CCP's attitude to council summit
In recent years, CCP Games have made significant efforts to get players involved in EVE Online's game design efforts. In addition to pre-releasing features on a test server to collect feedback, CCP have involved players more effectively in the development process through their innovative Council of Stellar Management. The council members are voted for by players, with the highest-voted member securing the chair position for the year. Players bring important EVE-related issues to their council representatives, who meet with CCP developers in Iceland twice per year for a week-long council summit. During the summit, all the most important issues backed by the council are posed to developers and discussed. Previous council sessions have made a significant impact on the game, getting features like the skill queue implemented and providing key feedback on expansions. This year's council had a record voter turnout, with confidence in the team at an all-time high. At the conclusion of their first council summit meeting with CCP, however, two key delegates have begun to voice concerns at the dismissive attitude with which they were met. Skip past the cut to find out why two council members are annoyed with CCP's approach to this year's summit, and why it's not all bad news and negativity.
EVE Tyrannis site is go, flight!
Come May 18th, planets are fair game for exploitation and industrialization in EVE Online, as the much-anticipated Tyrannis expansion goes live. For those who simply cannot wait for a taste of the good life, CCP has just launched the official EVE Tyrannis website for the enjoyment and dissection of all. EVE Online is heading in new directions with Tyrannis, allowing players to finally explore planets (presumably in preparation for DUST 514) -- and not just explore them, but to build industries on them that will revolve around completely new materials. Tyrannis will also usher in EVE Gate, a social networking hub to tie EVE players together. The new website is a grab bag full of goodies, including promotional videos, overview of the new systems, and a screenshot gallery. Wanna-be colonists looking to get a head start on the inevitable competition would do well to devour every snippet of information presented here. Head over to the official Tyrannis site and let us know what you think!
CCP: Unreal Engine 3 will power Dust 514
EVE Online developer CCP Games has announced a partnership with Epic Games China that will bring Unreal Engine 3 technology to their forthcoming console MMOFPS known as Dust 514. Set in the same universe as their successful PC MMORPG, Dust 514 is a console-only title that will enable players to interact with EVE pilots as they battle for control of New Eden's resource-rich planets. "The dynamic large-scale battlefields of DUST 514 presented an interesting challenge for us," said Hilmar Petursson, CEO of CCP. "We determined Unreal Engine 3 to be the perfect solution because its tremendous flexibility allows us to easily integrate new technology and produce stunning results." Hit the link for the full press release. [Thanks Amethyst Lynx!]
EVE Online devs opening new UK studio
Other than birthing one of our favorite female singers and one of our favorite unicorns, Iceland isn't a country that comes up a lot around Joystiq. Today, however, we've got one such occasion where Iceland-based CCP -- developer of EVE Online and upcoming MMO FPS Dust 514 -- was able to bring our Scandinavian friends to the front page. According to a GamesIndustry.biz report, the developer is expanding, announcing plans to open a new studio in Newcastle, UK. Apparently the studio will be "initially targeting" a 10 - 20 person head count, with a handful of ex-Midway Newcastle employees being picked up in the process. Additionally, the company confirmed that the UK-based offices would be targeting "current and future" console projects, rather than the PC-focused content CCP has been known for in the past. Presumably, this means the aforementioned MMO FPS, said to be headed to current-gen systems. With a mess of trade shows in the not-so-distant future, we'll likely see what CCP has cooking fairly soon.
CCP opens UK office
Growth in the MMO industry hasn't been limited to companies named after weather phenomena. CCP Games, makers of the popular sandbox title EVE Online and its upcoming spinoff DUST 514, have done quite a bit of growing themselves. Their merger with game publisher White Wolf and their office in China are old news, but they've just added a little more space under their control. It's confirmed that CCP has opened a new office in Newcastle, their first branch in the United Kingdom and a new home of development with a slight console focus. Much of the staff in the Newcastle office has been absorbed from the former offices of the recently-defunct Midway Studios branch in Newcastle, including executive Robert Troughton. It's slated to work on "current and future" console products, which no doubt includes DUST 514 as well as future games from the studio. After a number of closures and failures, it's good to see the industry regaining its footing, and expanded studios can only be good for CCP's fans and its games. And if you happen to be a software engineer in the area with some console experience, well, they are hiring...
EVE Evolved: What could planetary interaction be like?
On Friday, CCP released the first details of EVE Online's next expansion, Tyrannis. The expansion's main feature is a form of planetary exploration and control but details on what exactly that will entail have been limited. Like walking in stations, planetary interaction has always been a major missing component from EVE. It's been on the drawing board from day one but the technology and resources were never really there to do the feature justice. A prototype planetary flight system was even demonstrated at EVE Fanfest 2004 and while it impressed Fanfest attendees, the feature never materialised. The announcement that Tyrannis will include a form of planetary exploration has a lot of players excited but is their enthusiasm justified? The information we have so far on the expansion is limited to a single devblog, which provides only a general mission statement for the expansion. In the absence of further information, I find myself wondering what the planetary interaction in Tyrannis might be like. In this speculative opinion piece, I look over the information we know for sure about Tyrannis and go on to speculate on what it might be like.
EVE Online's next expansion revealed: Explore planets in Tyrannis
It's been known since the last EVE Online Fanfest that the next expansion would be based around planetary interaction, but details on exactly what that interaction would constitute have been thin on the ground. In a bumper devblog today, EVE's Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olafsson gave a first glimpse of what we can expect this summer. Following the graphical overhaul planets received in the Dominion expansion, the next expansion is set to place them in a functional role. The expansion, aptly named "Tyrannis" after the Latin for "Tyrants," will put the fates of New Eden's populated planets in the hands of pod-pilots. Players will be able to survey planets and build planet-bound industrial infrastructures to tap into previously unobtainable resources such as minerals. Planets with harsh environments such as gas giants and plasma planets will be harder to manage infrastructure on but the rewards could be well worth the effort.
CCP Asia discusses China operations, DUST 514
The Asia branch of CCP Games had modest beginnings -- the company's Shanghai office was simply formed to administer EVE Online in China, although there was always the hope that the team would eventually be able to develop new games as well. Now CCP's Shanghai office is growing into a full-fledged game development studio with their work on DUST 514, a ground-based console MMOFPS that ties in with the galactic struggle for control between players in EVE Online. A recent interview with Gamasutra's Christian Nutt discusses CCP Asia and their work on DUST 514 from both a western and eastern perspective. Environment Director Larry Herring and Lead Level Designer Jing Yu Zhu give us a better idea of the challenges (and red tape) involved with developing games for Western markets in China, and a look at the console game development scene in Shanghai.
CCP Asia on innovation and risk with DUST 514
This past August's announcement from CCP Games of a new title -- DUST 514, a console MMOFPS set in EVE Online's New Eden galaxy -- drew both great interest and intense criticism from gamers. If successful, CCP Games will be the first game company to tie a console FPS in with a separate MMO. (Not entirely separate, however. DUST 514 mercenaries will fight it out on the surface of the same planets seen from space in EVE Online. Their successes and failures will ultimately play a role in the balance of power in EVE.) Since that first flurry of info about DUST 514, it's been rather quiet on the news front. However, a two-part article published at Edge Online this week focuses on CCP's new game. Edge Online's "Enter Planet Dust" is something of a primer on the core concepts behind the title but is also one of the most comprehensive pieces written about DUST 514 to date. Edge also interviewed some of the key CCP Games staff working on the game in Shanghai -- Kjartan Pierre Emilsson, Managing Director of CCP Asia and Atli Már Sveinsson, Creative Director on DUST 514.
Creating the planets of EVE Online
One of the nice things EVE Online players have to look forward to with the Dominion expansion launch today is the addition of redesigned planets. EVE developer CCP jBot was recently interviewed about the game's new look at MMOZONE and explained how CCP Games generated the planets with their in-house development environment. The work was done in tandem with the company's Shanghai team working on the ground-based DUST 514; the shaders they created allow the devs to manipulate landmasses and oceans, cloud density, city lights, and even regions with vegetation. Textures for 10 different planet types coupled with new planet shaders "should ensure that every planet in EVE is unique," said CCP jBot. The end result is that New Eden will now have procedurally generated gas giants and ice planets, not to mention various terrestrial worlds. CCP's goal is to have the look of a given planet be identical in both EVE Online and DUST 514. CCP jBot told MMOZONE: "We're working hard to make sure when you're in space over your favorite planet in EVE or on the ground of that same planet in DUST 514 that it feels right. Obviously there are different constraints between console and PC that we live under which could mean a slight difference in the look but we're pretty excited about how things are looking on all platforms."
Solidifying the design of DUST 514
Everyone was more than a little surprised by the announcement and sudden appearance of DUST 514, the console-based shooter cousin of CCP's EVE Online. Information about the game has been coming at a steady and yet almost agonizingly teasing pace, but MMORPG.com has brought out more information regarding the design and playstyle of DUST 514's battlegrounds and matches. The game's integration with EVE has been a consistent point of explanation, but we're beginning to see more of the points of difference between the two games. Certainly many parts of the gameplay will feel familiar -- in particular, there will be no preset "classes" as found in other MMOFPS games, but rather there will be several outfitting options that force players to select as they feel best for a given role. Advancement will happen via in-game accomplishments unlocking more powerful options in what's being called an "achievement matrix", as well as increasing the power and available equipment in a given match by capturing strategic points on the map. The article also discusses the role of the battle commander, who remains inside the main command center and relays order and information with a wider range of intel than the troops on the ground -- but no real ability to offensively affect the battle. Read the article for more details and points, and to get even more of a sense of how the game will tie into the extant CCP universe.
DUST 514 trailer released
EVE Online creators CCP Games made quite a stir when they announced the console title DUST 514 in August. It's one of the more ambitious game concepts we've heard about in quite a while. A ground based console MMO that ties in with EVE Online? Two separate games, one setting and one community? (The game's tagline is "ONE UNIVERSE // ONE WAR".) There are so many questions that remain unanswered about how DUST mercenaries will interact with and affect EVE's capsuleers, but a more immediate question is, "How does it look so far?" Unless you were actually in Cologne to see CCP's DUST 514 reveal at GDC Europe, it's likely all you've had to base your impressions off of was a somewhat blurry video capture of the presentation. That is, until now. CCP's released the GDC Europe DUST 514 trailer and it's good to see a crisp version of that footage. The trailer shows how the conflict between EVE's Caldari and Gallente races plays out on the ground on the Gallente planet Intaki V. It gives us a look at War Barge interiors, Mobile Command Centers (MCC) floating over what is now a war-torn Intaki homeworld, and some of the ground and air vehicles that DUST 514 players will put to use. We've got an embed of that video, so stick with us after the jump for a look at DUST 514.
Dust 514 trailer: see the MMO FPS of the MMO
If you like the setting of Eve Online, but don't find the dense, economics-heavy gameplay scintillating, CCP is making Dust 514 just for you. You can still inhabit the Eve universe, but you're pretty much just shooting guns at it instead of destroying financial systems. Unfortunately, while the kind of grim space setting is fairly unique for an MMO (as is just about everything about Eve), it's kind of ... well-heeled in the FPS world. As in, there's nothing particularly novel about seeing an FPS that takes place in a gritty sci-fi world. That said, this looks like a good ... one of those, and the MMO idea and Eve integration still manage to be interesting. And in general, we like the idea of using the same universe to express totally different game concepts -- like how WWE Crush Hour spun off from the wrestling games. Bad example. Download in HD (84MB)
EVE Fanfest 2009 videos are up
We mentioned some highlights from EVE Fanfest 2009 in Reykjavik the other day and Permaband's "HTFU" video went down very well with a lot of our readers. Now CCP Games have made video of some of the Fanfest panels, presentations, or general madness available on their YouTube page as well. Of course there's the main keynote that included DUST 514 info and gameplay footage, but the CCP Panel gave players in attendance the opportunity to ask the EVE Online developers whatever they felt like. The responses from the devs explain quite a bit about the choices CCP Games has made with both EVE and DUST 514, and there are some hints of what's to come. More than anything, it's interesting to see this kind of direct interaction between the players and the people who create the game. (Obligatory disclaimer: The CCP Panel video is a bit NSFW with the language in parts, but if you're watching something like this on the job... you probably don't care.)
EVE Fanfest 2009 highlights
The biggest player gathering of the year for EVE Online fans is EVE Fanfest, held annually in the CCP Games hometown of Reykjavik. Some interesting announcements of what's to come have been made over the past few days, as well as more details or clarification on previously announced aspects of both EVE Online and DUST 514. Read on for a few highlights of the info revealed at EVE Fanfest 2009 for the game and the IP beyond the Dominion expansion (slated for a December 1st launch):
EVE Fanfest streaming in live video Saturday, Oct 3
Are you disappointed you couldn't attend EVE Fanfest 2009 in Reykjavik this week? If so, there's some good news. CCP Games announced today that they're going to stream live video of the Fanfest presentations on Saturday, October 3rd, from 12:00 - 17:00 GMT. The live video stream can be viewed at the EVE Fanfest 2009 site and will feature keynotes on the future of CCP Games and EVE Online -- namely DUST 514 -- and Senior Producer Torfi Frans Ólafsson's keynote on the Dominion expansion (recorded Friday evening). CCP Games will also stream video of the finals from this year's Fanfest PvP tournament with its free-for-all and Tech III matches. If you're unable to view the video stream, you can also listen in on the keynotes through the EVE Online Facebook page thanks to Vivox. Information will be made available on the EVE Facebook page tomorrow, and this audio will stream from 15:00 - 17:00 GMT.
