exploration
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First details emerge about true exploration system in EVE Online
The sprawling setting of EVE Online is called New Eden, a galaxy with over 5000 known solar systems. This is a vast area for players to pursue their goals, but given how each of those solar systems is clearly mapped out, some of the feeling of being in such a deep setting is lost. There's not enough sense of the unknown. It's possible to be an explorer in the game, but the fact is that truly new places aren't discoverable, just hidden pockets within the known galaxy. That will change in the Apocrypha expansion this March, when a true exploration system based around wormholes is implemented. In his latest dev blog, EVE developer CCP Whisper writes, "We are going to give you uncharted, unknown places to visit via paths that shift and slide through the fabric of space. We are going to give you thousands of new solar systems which will contain new NPCs, new exploration content and new pockets of resources to exploit. You will have the chance to venture into places that promise great rewards but also bring with them great risks."
Massively's EVE Online new player guide
Since I began writing the EVE Evolved column, I've always prided myself on making the articles I write as accessible as possible to new EVE Online players and even people who don't play the game. From my first guide on EVE's skill system to my most recent guide series on the art of tanking, I like to think people of all levels of familiarity with EVE can get something out of them.In the past few months, the column has been aimed at informing new and prospective players about the varied world of New Eden and giving them the helping hand they deserve in getting started. In this handy wrap-up (or should I say warp-up?) article, I've collected all of the articles aimed at new and prospective players into a set of handy clickable image links. %Gallery-38200%
Players skeptical about EVE Online's introduction of Tech III
Everyone loves Lego, right? That childhood pastime of snapping together pieces to create new and often bizarre creations is coming to the spaceships of EVE Online, but not all players are happy to hear about this. The next EVE Online expansion, Apocrypha, is going to introduce some new aspects to gameplay. Some of these new features, like wormhole exploration, seem to be received positively by the player base. But others -- like the modular "Tech III" ship designs -- have drawn no small amount of criticism from EVE's subscribers. Tech III is an aspect of the game that has players pretty well divided, much like the upcoming Walking in Stations (aka Ambulation) expansion. The sentiment a number of players have been vocal about is 'Do we really need this?' Whines and tears are a daily occurrence on the game's official forums and perhaps the opinions voiced there aren't necessarily indicative of the sentiments of the larger player base. But concerns about Tech III are also beginning to show up on player blogs, far from the bandwagoning of the EVE Online forums, and in some cases from players who know the game very well.
Dates for EVE's next expansion, retail launch confirmed in video interview
Hilmar V. Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games, has given a rather softspoken video interview with Gamereactor on where the sci-fi title EVE Online is today, and what's on the horizon. The interview seems intended for those who haven't played the game before -- as Hilmar gives an intro to the game and its single world setting -- or perhaps gamers who haven't gotten their feet wet in a massively multiplayer online game yet, as he highlights some of the benefits of incorporating more social aspects into video games. Hilmar gives some history of the company, discussing how CCP Games has grown into having nearly 400 employees at present, with 300 of them focused on the next expansion and its retail launch (in partnership with Atari). The next expansion -- which will include Tech III and wormhole exploration -- will go live on March 10th, and EVE Online will appear on retail shelves on March 12th. Check out the video interview over at Gamereactor for more on the upcoming EVE expansion.Update -- embedded video below the cut:
EVE Evolved: Exploring New Eden
A common theme in popular MMOs today is the idea of exploration. For a surprisingly large number of players, their reason for playing an MMO is to experience new content and explore new lands. Each new MMO or expansion becomes a new country to explore with its own set of features and game mechanics. Limits such as levels, raid progression and quest chains are used to ensure we don't burn through all the game's content too quickly. New Eden:EVE Online is set in the expansive universe of New Eden. This nebular stellar nursery contains thousands of stars, of which approximately 5000 have been explored and added to the game's stargate network. Even though EVE doesn't have level limits, it does have a familiar approach to exploring content. Some content such as difficult complexes (space dungeons) will not be completable solo and other content like level 4 missions will be so difficult as to require large ships with a lot of skills behind them. The majority of the universe, however, is free to explore from day one and there's a lot to explore.In this visual article, I explore some of the stunning content of EVE Online and take a brief look at what the future holds for explorers in New Eden.%Gallery-38200%
10 easy Northrend achievements
Northrend is finally available, and it seems like everyone is out in full force. There are so many new things to do and see that it might be pleasantly overwhelming at the moment. In order to help you find some direction, I've put together a list of 10 easily attainable achievements that you can earn in the next few days while questing. These are along the way, so you won't have to break your stride. Many can even be achieved today.1. Train one of your professions! A skill of 350 in any of your professions will open up the ability to train Grand Master, which will award you with the achievement, Professional Grand Master. Check out our guide to finding your profession trainers.2. Most level 70s will have at least two professions with a minimum skill of 350 by this point, so why not train them both to Grand Master? This will give you the achievement, Working Day and Night.3. If you have leveled Fishing, First Aid and Cooking to at least 350, and train their Grand Master ranks, you will earn the achievement, Skills to Pay the Bills. If you haven't, but would like to, then check out our guide to leveling Fishing to 375 as well as Cooking to 375. First Aid should be a breeze, as all you need is cloth! Still, should you find yourself at a loss, check out our Guide to Farming Cloth.
MapWoW maps Northrend
MapWoW is one of my favorite WoW resources online. I have to admit, I don't use it as much as some other helpers, but it's really well done -- someone put the Azeroth map inside the Google Maps interface, and added herbs, ores, flight paths and everything else you need to find on the map. If you've ever asked "where can I find..." in a chat channel, odds are that MapWoW had the answer already.And now they've got Northrend in the mix, ready to go for your exploring needs. It's a little spoilery, actually -- a pretty detailed bird's-eye view of all the new content in the expansion. They do have flight paths included, but they don't quite have herbs and ores uploaded yet -- we're told they'll be in soon.Don't get me wrong -- there's definitely something to be said for exploring: pretty soon, we'll have tagged and catalogued every single mob up there, so it is fun to just run around now while it's all still a new world. Don't depend on maps right away, because you never know what might be just around the corner in the land of the Lich King. But if you need it, there's your map.
CCP reveals Tech 3 coming in EVE's March expansion
CCP Games revealed some details on the as-yet unnamed EVE Online expansion, slated for release in March of 2009. "The unnamed expansion will introduce 'Tech 3' modular ship designs, branching epic mission arcs, further improvements to the new player experience, and exploration of uncharted space through unstable wormholes," writes Oli Welsh, reporting from EVE Fanfest 2008 for Eurogamer.Welsh also reports that the exploration system of EVE Online will be revamped dramatically, now allowing for 'true exploration' where EVE's pilots will use "new skills and modules to travel through wormholes into all-new, unconnected space. There they will find unique stellar phenomena and the resources and artifacts that will lead to the third level of technology in the game universe, Tech 3 -- the first such update since Tech 2 was introduced back in 2004," Welsh adds.
Eskil Steenberg interviewed about his one-man MMO project "Love"
Have you ever wondered what it would take for a single person to create an MMO? Is a task this monumental even possible? Apparently it is, given what we've seen and read of Love, an MMO being developed by a single man -- Eskil Steenberg. Love isn't being created by a team of devs, nor does it have a multi-million dollar development and marketing budget. It's just one man with a vision, building the best game he can and showing it off on his laptop. Rock, Paper, Shotgun recently got an exclusive first look at the Love trailer and Jim Rossignol from RPS followed that up with an interview with Eskil Steenberg. They discuss how Love's unique visual style evolved into what we see today and talk about the game's trinity of activities -- exploration, combat, and building -- namely the system of city building. It's a very interesting talk with Steenberg, and really is a must-read if you're enthusiastic about Love and the ambition of its creator.
Nintendo conference screen mega-roundup!
Click for full-sized image Nintendo announced a lot of games last night at their Japanese conference. Many of them, like Punch-Out!! here, were brand new. Some, like Supan Smasher and Cosmic Walker, we still don't know anything about. But we've got screenshots. So many screenshots. After the break, you'll find galleries of all the new games, along with new screens of some upcoming games we've known about for a while. Of special interest to us: the previously-announced Oboro Muramasa Youtouden, coming to the US as Muramasa: The Demon Blade, because it looks super hot, Karaoke Joysound Wii, which appears to have art by Parappa creator Rodney Alan Greenblat, and Takuto of Magic (Wand of Magic), which appears to be a followup to Taito's LostMagic on the DS. %Gallery-33381%
Nintendo conference video reveals one billion new games
Well, it's a bit late for accurate estimation. Let's just say a lot of new games. And rather than write a separate post about each new game seen for the first time in this Nintendo media conference video, we'll just list out every new game we see in the order we see them, with a bit of description in case you can't figure out which is which. We'll also point out known games for which we're seeing the first video. Okay? Let's Tap, developed by Prope, published by Sega. The sidescrolling platformer/fireworks ... thing. Karaoke Joysound, developed and published by Hudson. We knew about the game, but this video was the first look. It's the one with the rabbity avatar. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile. We saw scans of this remake this morning, and now there's the first video. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii. It's the one that looks like a Taiko game! Coming December 11! And many Nintendo-published games for 2009!
Urban exploration in Age of Conan
Free running and urban exploration in virtual worlds have both taken off significantly in recent years. Players can be seen clambering around buildings and jumping between the rooftops in games from World of Warcraft to Everquest 2 and Funcom's Age of Conan is no different. Like a lot of players, I found myself eventually having to make my own fun after a while. For me, that meant finding my way onto the rooftops and jumping between them like a maniac. In this visual article, I find myself on the rooftops and back alleys of two cities in Age of Conan and see things from a perspective that most players will never see first hand. Age of Conan Freerunning Gallery %Gallery-32334% Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!
Urban exploration in Hyboria (part two)
Hyboria's other cities may hold more interesting finds. Despite its failings, one thing Age of Conan did well was providing breathtaking landscapes. When I got bored with quests and monsters, I looked for ways to make my own fun in Age of Conan.
A Star Trek Online interview about time travel and travel time
We've said before that the main source of information on Star Trek Online at this point is hints and implications peppered through interviews with Cryptic Studios' Jack Emmert. The latest of those interviews is lighter on details than were previous conversations, but it's still worth a read.Speaking to Ten Ton Hammer at Gen Con, Emmert started out vaguely answering questions about character customization. Nothing new there. But it got a bit more interesting when he used time travel as an example of something pivotal to the franchise, but that's made difficult to implement by technological and budgetary limitations. He spoke as if he'd already given a great deal of thought to it; perhaps that's a clue that despite the problems, time travel is something Cryptic intends to put in the game.Other topics included the uniqueness of Star Trek ship design, instancing, procedurally-generated areas for exploration, and travel time.
First Ask Cryptic for Star Trek Online addresses ship customization
The very first Ask Cryptic leveled at Star Trek Online takes some time to address cannon questions about the game. With regards to whether or not Cryptic plans to make the game as close as possible to the official canon, worry not. They're watching and re-watching all the TV shows and movies to make sure your Gorn attacks are as authentic as possible. They've also received all the sound effects featured in the movies and TV series from CBS. So your phaser blasts and teleports will sound pitch-perfect. As for the music, Michael Henry -- Cryptic's director of audio -- has been a huge trek fan for a long number of years. So plan on hearing music both new and old that helps recall you to many a days spent watching Star Trek.Other answers include adherence to exploration as an "integral" and encouraged aspect of the game, not just a side thought. We really like hearing that said. Although, what we especially like hearing is further confirmation that extensive customization (a Cryptic trademark, really) for both interiors and exteriors of player ships is definitely part of the game. Now we can finally dress our Klingon ships in bright pink stripes, oh happy day!
Urban exploration in MMOs
Urban exploration and free running are activities normally associated with the real world. In recent years, however, MMOs such as Everquest 2, Age of Conan and World of Warcraft have become a digital stage for the arts. With entire new virtual worlds to explore, no risk of injury and no physical fitness required, it's understandable that many would-be free runners are going digital.In this article, I take a visual tour of the world of urban exploration and rooftop running in MMOs and explain how you can learn to clamber onto the rooftops in your favourite game.%Gallery-30295%
Cyan porting Myst to iPhone
An employee of Cyan Worlds (proprietors of the legendary Myst series of games) has announced that they will be porting the original Myst to the iPhone. Apparently it's an "outside-funded" project -- though who might be funding it isn't yet clear -- and is apparently proving to be an "interesting and fun" project with a small team of just three people. No word yet on how it might work (or work differently) from the original, but the classic puzzle/exploration of Myst is good gaming no matter what platform you're playing it on.Starting with the NES emulator, the iPhone was following the evolution of gaming pretty well -- at least until the App Store started mixing things up a bit. After Myst, I think we're right around Wolfenstein and Doom at this point -- those were available jailbroken, but it's about time we get an FPS officially as well. Carmack, you interested?[via TouchArcade, which is strangely down as of this writing]
WoW Moviewatch: A glimpse of Wintergrasp
{Warning: This video contains WotLK spoilers.)I'm a little hesitant to feature anything by Devlin. The last time I blogged one of his movies, Vimeo made the announcement that they were removing gameplay videos. Let's hope that he has better luck with Veoh!Wintergrasp - First Glimpse is a Wrath of the Lich King beta exploration video from build 8770. Devlin checks out some of the vehicles and takes them for a spin. Whether you're into the catapult-like features of the Demolisher, or the circular saw-wielding robotic features of the Shredder, one thing is for certain -- there's something for everyone. While not the most polished production, it's nice to see some of the newest toys in Wintergrasp![Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
Intelligent space robots to dig around, throw raves on their own by 2020
Let's face it -- we owe a great deal of gratitude to the robots that get up each and every morning to explore far reaches of the universe that we humans are just incapable of landing on. But there's still the problem of we humans having to tell these things what to do from our humble laboratories here on Earth. The brilliantly named Wolfgang Fink, a physicist and senior researcher at the California Institute of Technology, has plans to remedy said quandary by creating autonomous spacecrafts "that will be able to analyze data about points of interest as it passes and then make quick decisions about what needs to be investigated." In essence, he's looking to remove the Earthlings from the equation, which would enable smart robots to explore on their own and possibly discover new pools of purified water, REEM-B's long lost siblings or the real most innovative NES-in-a-whatever mod. 2020 folks, mark it down.[Image courtesy of NASA]
EVE Online exploration video tutorial
EVE Online blogger Morphisat recently unearthed a good video tutorial on the profession of exploration, by a player called SRRAE. In a vast, open galaxy like EVE Online's setting of New Eden, the option of becoming an explorer is an appealing one. However, despite the name 'exploration,' players cannot actually discover new solar systems. They can, however, find hidden content throughout space, both in highsec and lowsec. This can include hidden asteroid belts (presumably with rarer ores to mine), hacking and archaeology sites, harvestable gas clouds used in drug production, and numerous combat encounters. Admittedly, exploration is not an easy profession to pick up for beginners, but with enough skills related to scanning and covert ops, paired with a decent understanding of game mechanics and the value of a cloaking device, exploration can be lucrative -- particularly in 0.0 space. Of course, there will inevitably be times where an explorer is simply burning off scan probes in the futile hope of finding something new. Perhaps SRRAE has become a victim of his own success, as he recently lamented the downside of exploration's growing popularity among New Eden's capsuleers.[Via CrazyKinux]
