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Get a closer look at Star Citizen's Gladiator bomber
So just what is the Gladiator, Star Citizen's newest ship, and why might it have some players salivating? Recently, the team posted additional information and technical specs on this carrier-based bomber for all those interested to check out. According to the description, "The Gladiator is the UEE Navy's premiere carrier-based torpedo-plane and space-to-ground dive bomber. Operating with Hornet escort fighters, Gladiators have seen service with great success in battles across known space. Rugged to a fault, the Gladiator is the most capable bomber chassis ever designed." Star Citizen is selling the Gladiator as a not currently flyable pledge ship for $165, or or you can pay $180 for the ship and an extras package. It will be available for pre-purchase only through December 22nd, although it will eventually be in the full game upon release. [Thanks to Cardboard for the tip!]
Star Citizen's latest patch adds another ship, drunk effects
Star Citizen's latest patch is now live. Actually, it's Arena Commander's latest patch, where Arena Commander is the dogfighting and ship pornography simulator that allows players to explore various craft as Cloud Imperium developers get them "hangar-ready." AC version 0.9.2.2 adds the Anvil Gladiator to the mix, along with a drunk effect for your hangar's liquor cabinet. CIG encourages you to "please drink responsibly."
Here's everything new and noteworthy in EVE's Rhea patch
Still wondering what's under the hood of EVE Online's Rhea patch? You must've missed all those CCP dev blogs, then. In any case, wonder no more, thanks to this newly released video that takes you on a tour of the sci-fi sandbox's newest features including PBR rendering, the new Thera system, 100 new wormhole systems, and more.
CCP dev blog talks PBR and 'making EVE look real'
Have you ever wondered about the math behind the visuals in your favorite games? If so, look no further than the latest EVE Online dev blog, which regales us with tales of the Phong Reflection Model and how it's giving way to something called Physically Based Rendering or PBR. The post features a bunch of equations, literally, and plenty of associated smart-person talk. Fortunately for me it also features quite a few pretty pics of internet spaceships! You can read it for yourself via the links below.
Star Citizen's Hornet available to all backers this week
I'm a Star Citizen backer, but I didn't pledge enough to pilot the Anvil Hornet prior to launch. Thanks to Cloud Imperium, though, I'll be flying it in Arena Commander anyway, at least for the next week. The Hornet has been unlocked for all backers, according to a posting on the game's website. "The Hornet is the civilian version of the F7A Hornet flown off of the elite Bengal carrier vanguard of the UEE Navy," CIG explains. "It may not be the prettiest ship but it is the go-to short range fighter due to Anvil's sturdy design and ability to take as much punishment as it can dish out." In other SC news, Chris Roberts published another Letter from the Chairman last night which includes tidbits on multicrew ships, modular ship design, and exterior customization options.
EVE Online's Rhea update launches with photo-realistic spaceships
The many sleek and styling spaceships of EVE Online are about to get a visual upgrade with today's Rhea update, thanks to something called physically-based rendering. By applying this tech, spaceships will have "a natural, photo-realistic look." Of course, when it comes to visuals, they must be seen or they didn't happen. So see! After the break, that is. CCP says that this new tech will be initially limited to spaceships but eventually will be used on stations and other space objects. You can also check out the patch notes for Rhea as well.
EVE's Rhea tweaks star map functionality
Rhea's on final approach, and EVE Online developer CCP has published another dev blog designed to clue pilots into the patch's new features. Today's installment tackles the star map, which has been tweaked with new visuals, a windowed mode, and zoom functionality that represents the beginnings of a consolidation project that will marry the star map with EVE's solar system map. There are some smaller changes as well, so click through to the dev blog to learn more.
Star Citizen's November report is long, informative
Welcome back, Star Citizen fans, curious onlookers, and trolls of all shapes and sizes. It's that time of the month where Cloud Imperium publishes an absurdly huge wall-of-text detailing exactly what it's doing with its crowdfunding windfall and provides some fairly unique insight into the making of a triple-A online game. But, eh, why bother reading all that when you can just skip to the comments and call it vaporware? On your marks, get set, go! [Thanks for the tip, Cardboard.]
EVE's Rhea update profiled in new dev video
Curious about EVE Online's forthcoming Rhea update? Have yourself a look at CCP's latest in-development video, which we've embedded just past the break. It features tidbits on the new Thera system, 100 new shattered wormhole systems, redesigned and remodeled ships, manual controls, and a lot of other stuff. CCP has also released a textual dev blog focused on the cloning changes that Rhea will introduce on December 9th.
CCP to target EVE Online botters in 2015
Last week, CCP Games updated its policy on multiboxing and input automation within the spaceship sandbox EVE Online. Multiboxing -- that is, " playing as multiple separate characters, simultaneously, across a number of accounts, either by using multiple computers to run the game, or by using a number of instances of EVE on a single computer" -- will continue to be allowed, CCP wrote. But input animation is off the table. "Input Automation refers to actions that are commonly also referred to as botting or macroing," explains the studio. "This term is used to describe, but is not limited to, the automation of actions which have consequences in the EVE universe," including automated "activation and control of ships and modules, navigation and movement within the EVE universe, movement of assets and items within the EVE universe, [and] interaction with other characters." Botters caught violating the rule after January 1st will be punished with a temporary ban on the first offense and a permanent ban on the second.
Star Citizen opens up a $350 ship for sale
Do you want to go out exploring with Star Citizen once it's actually possible to do so? It's one of the stated goals of the game, after all. If so, perhaps you'd like to do that exploration inside of the newly revealed Anvil Carrack, a ship that is available for purchase now for the not-at-all low price of $350. And you can't use it in any of the game's current modules once you do purchase it. According to the official page, the Carrack is being offered as a concept sale, which means that it is currently unavailable for use in any modules. It comes with lifetime insurance once purchased as well as decorative items for the player's hangar, although there's no ETA on when the ship will actually be available for use within the hangar. The ship is available for purchase until December 8th if you want to drop another $350 on the ongoing development of Star Citizen. [Thanks to Cardboard for the tip!]
Star Citizen eclipses $63 million, adds pets
Cloud Imperium has a lot to be thankful for, including the fact that Star Citizen surpassed the $62 and $63 million crowdfunding plateaus during Thanksgiving week. Chris Roberts has published a new celebratory letter in which he outlines the latest stretch goals (the Genesis-class Starliner at $62 million and the Reliant at $63 million). The upcoming $64 million goal should please pet lovers. "From Jones the cat in Alien to the Battlestar Galactica's Daggit, pets have a place onboard starships," Roberts writes, "and we want to give you that option in Star Citizen." What about $65 million? "We have a major feature we're investigating as an option. Suffice it to say, we've heard a lot of your feedback about modular ships and we want to expand our plan for how to do them," Roberts teases.
EVE rookies, look here first
Are you an EVE Online newb? Are you a vet who's returned thanks to that trailer and who's basically forgotten the game's finer points? CCP is calling your attention to a new blog post designed to mitigate a bit of the sci-fi sandbox's infamous learning cliff. You'll find a terminology and new player FAQ, EVE University guides, chat tips, and more, all waiting for you via the links below.
Star Citizen aims to redefine avatar death, combat realism
Remember way back in February of 2013 when Chris Roberts posted his Death of a Spaceman concept? It was a high-level look at how character death would function in Star Citizen, and it broke from gaming industry norms by aiming for an immersive system with strategy and consequences rather than the typical run-and-gun and die-and-respawn mechanics common to MMOs, FPSs, and most other games. This week Roberts and company have released another extensive design doc called Healing Your Spacemen, which greatly expands the original concept. "In the end, the team decided to run counter to the standard FPS mechanics of regenerating health and instantly respawning on death to make every fight a calculated decision that can have ramifications that impact your character and place in the 'Verse," Cloud Imperium says. Character health involves a limb-based system featuring four levels of health for each limb, and the system deliberately avoids "the current trend of hiding behind cover for blood to clear off your screen and jumping back in the fight ready for more." The post also explains how characters may be dragged to safety and how the spaceflight portion of the game will include "a robust rescue system" that complements the character death and damage mechanics. Read all about it via the official site links below! [Thanks Cardboard!]
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite physical MMO memento?
I was doing some housecleaning recently and found a box of old game geekery. Most of it was junk since I've gone digital, but there were a couple of odds and ends that I put on the shelf in my office where I keep mementos from titles that made an impression. In terms of MMO stuff, I found an original Neocron box and a hefty stack of all those EON magazines from EVE Online. What about you, Massively readers? Have you kept or collected any physical MMO-related mementos? Which is your favorite? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
'This is EVE,' and it's pretty slick
If you've got even a passing interest in sci-fi sandbox EVE Online, you'll want to take a look at the new trailer just unveiled by developer CCP at today's EVE Down Under player event in Australia. The clip runs for nearly four minutes and is comprised entirely of in-game footage. It's also underscored by the voice comms of actual EVE players (NSFW!), which CCP has cut together to form a rather scintillating soundtrack that attempts to answer the question "what is EVE." This is EVE, according to the trailer's title, and you can soak it up just after the cut!
EVE gives more market data tools to the mod community
EVE Online is such a mod-happy game that there's an official site for it, and it's on this site today that CCP said that it will be giving another valuable information-gathering tool to players with the advent of a new searchable resource. "We also are making available the MarketType resource. MarketTypes is a collection of all possible MarketType resources," the devs posted. Being able to search market history and orders will help modders pull in data from multiple regions and should be in the game with the Rhea content patch.
CIG kicks off Star Citizen Meet the Devs video series
Cloud Imperium has kicked off a new video series called Meet the CIG Devs. Episode one focuses on production coordinator Darian Vorlick, who is profiled via a question-and-answer vignette that's long on personal info but relatively short on game-specific stuff. Still, it might be worth watching if you're curious about the personalities behind the curtain on the largest crowdfunded project of all time. Click past the cut to view Episode 1.
EVE Online turns manual control of ships over to players
For the first time ever in its history, EVE Online is experimenting with giving players manual control of their starships. The change was prompted by observing new players who were frustrated that the game didn't include standard WASD controls. These "simple" controls will be introduced as an optional beta feature in next month's Rhea update. CCP also posted a list of other features that we'll be seeing with the upcoming content patch. Players will enjoy an improved star map, try out new ships such as the Confessor tactical destroyer, experience more atmospheric asteroid belts, and no longer lose skill points or clone grades when podded.
Wormholes opening up 101 new EVE Online systems
Think you've explored most of the known galaxy in EVE Online? First of all, that's a lie as the game is stupid big, and second, you won't as of next month anyway. CCP announced that one of the big features coming with the December 9th Rhea update will be 101 new wormhole systems opening their doors for business. The wormholes will be separated into three categories, starting with 75 "standard shattered" systems filled with broken planets and minable ice fields. Then 25 of the new systems will only allow smaller vessels to jump through. And finally, the 101st will be Thera, a story-heavy location that will be the largest system in the game. Like small ship shattered systems, Thera won't admit capital ships, but will host four stations for those who venture into its domain.
