The last two weeks have been a load of EVE-related info for me. First off, the Fanfest for this year, covered by the great guys over at EVE-TV, covering many topics such as the Council of Stellar Management, to the new Trinity expansion.
In a bit of detail regarding the Trinity expansion:
The Trinity expansion is a total rework of the graphics engine of EVE Online to allocate for Directx9 graphics capability and the use of Shader Model 3.0. This allows for such fancy effects you would expect in today's games like HDR, not in a game that's 4 years running. CCP do love their baby after all.
In fact, I best not link stuff here about the new shiny graphics and stuff, since the EVE-TV fanfest coverage covers nearly all topics regarding this...
...oh who am I kidding, here, have a teaser trailer made exclusively in the new graphics.
(bigger version here!)
I'll wait till you picked up your jaw from the floor and cleaned yourself up.
Done yet?
Okay, done yet? Okay good. Did you enjoy yourself? ;)
EVE, when it first came out, was a leader in graphics in 2003. Won awards for it, and it shows, still as stunning as it was back in it's day. But wait!
Does this mean we're forced to upgrade to keep playing EVE (albeit shinier and prettier)?
Nope.
You heard me, nope.
This is why, or in case you're too shocked to read a proper Dev Blog...
The reasoning is simple: the old graphics (new engine, just with the shiny bits turned off, but with the core optimizations in place) will be made available still, alongside the new shiny graphics in a seperate optional download in case you wish to (either) burn your videocard to a crisp, or finally see how EVE should have been back in 2003, only in the next-gen age of 2007/8.
Also, omg new stuff?! In my EVE?! Of course! Its an expansion after all. Lots of new Tech 2 ships like electronic-warfare frigates, heavy interdictors, marauder battleships and the secretive black-ops battleships. More toys for everyone to play with, eh?
Also, with the new graphics/engine/updates, comes more user-friendliness, in the form of a badly-needed UI update, along with EVE Voice being made, wait for it...
Free.
Yes, free.
Dont believe me, read it again.
Yes, EVE-Voice, the ingame-based voice communication system, will be made free alongside Trinity for the foreseeable future. This indeed would bolster communication in small corps/alliances who do not have external voice comm systems like Teamspeak/Ventrillo servers for them.
This though brings up a sensitive topic in regards to those who are hearing/speech impared...
And now, regarding the Council of Stellar Management:
Before GM Xhagen was able to write up a dev blog about it, along with a paper, I decided to bring the matter up after reading about it (and subsequently hearing about it on EVE TV's coverage). Barring all the topics said already, I suggest reading up on it, since, player or not, this is an important step in the development of MMO's gaming communities, and not only EVE.
It is the biggest can of worms CCP has had to open in regards to EVE's community, and has all the chance of blowing up all over their faces when they do open it.
EVE's community is rapidly growing out of just being a gaming community into being a sort-of society on it's own. In fact, CCP hired an economist to act as an "EVE Central Bank" to keep the economy in check for it's own good. Here's his quarterly report in a blog if you're interested.
Considering the arrival of Trinity to be before the end of 2007, I'd say its going to be one very interesting holiday for those who are in EVE.
Too bad for me being too busy/unable to play EVE properly as of late :(
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