iGame Radio

CCP, developers of EVE Online, is in the final polishing stages of their upcoming expansion, Incursions. So we thought we’d give a quick update about what you can expect from Incursions and the updated timeline for the release.

Incursions features two main aspects, the Sansha Incursion and the Incarna Character Creator. The Sansha Incursion is both a main storyline addition as well as a new PVE aspect to the game. Sansha Kuvakei was a messiah of a Nation, bent on creating a Utopia. Until everyone found out that he was creating cybernetic “True Slaves” by melding man and machine. The last Alliance of Empires supposedly wiped him, and his nation, out of existence. Now raids by Sansha Nation ships and claims that “The Master” still lives cast doubt upon this belief.

The PVE aspect means random as well as purposeful encounters with NPC characters in-space at the level of large-scale encounters. The focus will shift from awards for knocking off NPCs to completing objectives. The idea is to tie all of those objectives into the larger picture of the Sansha incursions.

Incursions will also include the Incarna Character Creator, which shows some of the most awesome character creation tools that I’ve seen in a game. You could spend hours just creating your own characters for EVE Online. The trailer for the character creator below says it all.

The entirety of the expansion will not be released in one fell swoop, however. The first release, by November 30th, will be a big patch that is intended to pave the way for the rest of the expansion. It will probably include 80 new story lines, tech updates, and UI and bug fixes. A second patch will be released before Christmas, but CCP has not yet revealed what will be in this patch. Most likely it will depend on what made it into the November patch. And finally, the Big Momma of the expansion, the Sansha Incursion storyline/PVE and Incarna Character Creator, will be released in January 2011.