eve-online posts

So Friday is usually on the slow side for game news, but we have a feeling that will not be the case tomorrow.

• Rumors are hitting the internet that there could be major layoffs at Test Drive Unlimited developer Eden Studios.
• There's more stupid commentary on the threat of violence from games from none other that Jennifer Hart.
• Apparently the team in charge of EVE Online like to do something called Chessboxing.
• EA wants 1 million "likes" on its Battlefield 3 Facebook page so it can release the 12 minute gameplay trailer early.
• Battlestar Galactica Online is now letting players take command of a Battlestar (or a Basestar if you swing Cylon)

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]

For once, today was actually a bit slow on the news side. We've been getting used to tons of stuff being announced every day.

• Don't forget that the first trailer for the live action web series Dragon Age Redemption will be shown on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon talk show later tonight at 12:35 am Eastern time.
• Steam users can finally pre-order Bulletstorm before its release on February 22.
• PC Gamer has given its picks for the 100 best PC games of all time.
• Game Informer chats with rapper Ice-T about his gaming habits.
• EVE Online has just updated with its latest patch for the space-based MMO.
• City Interactive announced that Sniper: Ghost Warrior has now sold over a million copies.

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.

Watch out EVE Online. There's a new sherriff in town and its name is World of Tanks. Developer Wargaming.net's WWII RTS MMO game has now claimed the new world record for having the largest number of players on one server. EVE Online previously set the record with 60,453 players on its one server back in June 2010.

Wargaming.net claims that on Wednesday its World of Tanks Russian server had a whopping 74,536 players online at one time. So now the ball is in EVE Online's court. Wargaming.net recently announced that it had over 1 million registered players around the world. The US and European version of the game is in closed beta and will officially launch later this quarter.

After Sunday's repeats of one-day PC game sale on Steam, Monday brings an all new batch of price cuts of games that will last on the PC game download service until 1 pm Eastern time on Tuesday. Today's batch of games until the price cutting blade include:

Serious Sam HD Gold Edition - $3.99
HAWX 2 - $33.49
Cities XL 2011 --$19.99
Neverwinter Nights 2 Platinum - $9.99
Street Fighter IV - $14.99
Victoria series - Save 50 percent off all games in series
Lost Planet 2 -$19.99 or $15.99 if you own Lost Planet
Killing Floor Complete Pack - $6.99
EVE Online - $4.99
Machinarium - $2.99
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic - $2.49
Mirror's Edge - $4.99

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.