ccp-games posts

EVE Online continues to expand, not just in its player population but also for its future plans for content. At this weekend's EVE Fanfest in Iceland, the development team for the space-based MMO showed off a trailer that offers a glimpse of the game's future.

The trailer doesn't show real gameplay but does use the same engine that developer CCP Games is working on for its future projects. It shows how EVE Online's space-based game play will be merged with the planetary ground first person shooter combat that's the subject of the still mysterious console-only game Dust 514. It's all highly ambitious and if CCP can pull it off it will be something in gaming that is truly new.

[Via Massively]

The massive earthquake and the resulting tsunami in Japan last week has caused untold damage and human suffering in that country. Now game developers and publishers are trying to raise money in order to help relief efforts for Japan.

The Facebook-based game publisher Zynga is asking its tens of millions of players to donate money to the Japan Earthquake Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund. In its first 36 hours Zynga game players have already raised $1 million for the fund. Meanwhile CCP Games, the developers of the space-based MMO EVE Online, have announced that it is allowing the game's players to convert its in-game cash to real money that will be donated to the Red Cross for earthquake relief. The effort will last until March 31.

CCP Games, the Iceland-based game developer in charge of the space-based MMO EVE Online, has announced that it is moving its North American offices and also hiring a lot more people. The offices, currently located in Georgia's Gwinnett County, will soon move just a few miles away to the Atlanta suburb of Decatur in a 40,000 square foot facility.

CCP Games currently has about 150 employees in its North American office but today's press release states that number is expected to increase to 300 by 2013 with the move to the new Decatur location. In addition to continues developer of EVE Online, CCP Games has at least two upcoming game titles; the horror-themed MMO World of Darkness and the console-based shoote Dust 514 that's set in the same universe as EVE Online.

[Via email press release]

As promised, developer CCP Games has launched its latest content update for the space-based MMO EVE Online. The 1.1 update for the Incursion expansion pack includes the all new character creation system for the game that gives players much more sophisticated tools to make a highly detailed avatar. The system is scheduled to be expanded later in 2010 when EVE Online launches its long awaited "Walking in Stations" update.

Also included in today content patch are many other additions and improvements including more features for the Planetary Interaction section of the game. Next week, EVE Online players will have to deal with a new threat to their space lanes as the Sansha's Nation Incursions begin.

As MMO games age they also upgrade their system requirements to allow for things like more features and better graphics. Such is the case with CCP Games' popular space-based MMO EVE Online. Today the developer announced that gamers with older Intel and AMD processors won't be able to run the game beginning on Tuesday with the new Incursion update.

Specifically, PC owners that have Intel Pentium 3 processors or older or AMD Athlon XP processor or older that don't contain the SSE2 instruction set inside won't be able to run the game (PCs with AMD Athlon 64 processors won't be affected). CCP estimates that only 0.3 percent of EVE Online's player base will be affected by this change. If you happen to be one of those 0.3 percent it might be time to get an update for your PC anyway.

There's a bunch of new PC games being released this week but there's also some new free content coming to two major MMO games today. One of them is for City of Heroes. The long running super hero MMO from developer Paragon Studios and publisher NCsoft has just launched "Issue 19: Alpha Strike" to its subscribers. It includes, among many other things, a way to unlock the "Alpha Slot" which will give high level characters access to new powers. You can check out the full patch notes at the game's web site.

The other free content update is actually the first of three planned for EVE Online. The space-based MMO from developer CCP Games has pushed the first part of the Incursion expansion to subscribers It adds a new salvage ship and lots of other new features and improvements. The second part of Incursion is due out in December and the final part in January.

Earlier this year CCP Games announced plans to release Incursion in November as the latest in a long line of free content expansions for its long running space-based MMO EVE Online. Now CCP plans to release the expansion in three separate parts with the first planned for release on November 30.

That first patch will include a number of player suggested improvements for the main game. The second part of the Incursion update will be coming to subscribers in December but CCP is keeping detals on what it contains to itself for now. The third and final part of the Incursion expansion is due in January and will have the biggest features including the avatar character creator that will be used for the forthcoming "Walking in Stations" expansion that's due out in summer 2011.

Download the EVE Online install client
Download the EVE Online Mac install client

If you have always wanted to get into EVE Online but didn't want to bother with downloading a massive MMO game client, the folks at Atari have you covered. The publisher has announced details on a new retail release of the CCP Games space-based MMO game called EVE Online: Commissioned Officer Edition.

Due to be released to US retail stores on October 19, this edition of the game will have 30 days of free play time. It will also include an exclusive in-game item called the Cerebral Accelerator. This item will "significantly increases a new pilot's skill development" in the game but will only boost those skills for a player's first 30 days. CCP Games says this new retail version will allow new players to get a "running start" in playing the game.

[via email press release]

For a while now CCP Games has been hinting about its plans for its next big MMO World of Darkness. Based on White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade pen-and-paper RPG, CCP Games announced their plans for World of Darkness way back in 2006 when CCP bought out White Wolf. Since then, however, little info on the game has been officially announced.

This weekend, at a Vampire: The Masquerade convention called The Grand Masquerade in New Orleans, a little more info on the game was revealed, along with a (very adult) video that shows some concept art. As reported by the fan site the Ardwulf's Lair reports that the game is currently targeted for a 2012 release date and will have some "player politics and social interaction" involved in the game design. You can check out the trailer after the jump:

[Via Massively]

A long awaited expansion for EVE Online is still in development and will be released sometime in summer 2011, according to Eurogamer. Chatting with CCP Games' creative director Torfi Frans Olafsson he is quoted as saying that Incarna, also known as Walking In Stations, will be released for the space-based MMO "next summer".

The expansion will allow the game's players to finally have and control human 3D avatars in space stations in addition to controlling space ships. This November's free expansion, Incursion, will give players a way to create the character avatars and Olafsson states, " .... the goal is that the first implementation of Incarna will becoming in the next expansion." And even when the summer 2011 expansion comes out it will be just the first step in making EVE Online a much larger game when Olafsson stating, "Essentially, it's the transition from EVE being 'the space game' to EVE becoming 'the ultimate sci-fi world."