iGame Radio

UPDATE: The patch notes from the previous 1.0.0 release made mention of Fixed and resizeable Windowed-modes not working in the Mac. Those still seem to be disabled, but anti-aliasing has been enabled now for Snow Leopard users only (disabled for Leopard because of client start-up problems).

CCP, developers of EVE Online, has released the final stage of the free Incursion expansion for EVE Online. Incursion 1.1 includes the Sansha Incursion/PVE play and the long-awaited 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.

Incursion 1.1 also includes the Incarna Character Creator, a character creation tool for creating highly detailed and individualized characters. This tool alone could end up sucking hours of your time away from your day.

CCP, developers of EVE Online, has released the first stage of the free expansion, Incursion, for EVE Online. This portion focuses on storyline and ship additions, game mechanics, and user interface improvements.

Changes in Incursion 1.0.0 include the addition of over 80 new storyline missions, the Noctis salvaging ship, and rebalancing rockets and Tech 2 ammo. The update also includes improvements to EVE’s user interface (UI) based on player feedback. A full list of changes is available in the patch notes. It’s important to note that a few of the changes have not made it into the Mac client yet, such as the new windowed-modes and anti-aliasing.

Incursion 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. Incursion will also include the Incarna Character Creator, a character creation tool for creating highly detailed and individualized characters.

The second portion, 1.0.1, will be released on December 14th. Though CCP has not revealed all the details of what will be in this patch, they have said it will include removal of learning skills with another holiday gift for EVE players. The final portion of the expansion, 1.0.2, will include the Sansha Incursion storyline/PVE and Incarna Character Creator, as well as updates to EVEGate and the Planetary Interaction feature, and will be released in mid-January 2011.

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.

CCP, developer of the Sci-Fi themed MMOG EVE Online, has announced their next expansion for all users of the game. EVE Online: Incursion will focus on the escalating attacks of the Sansha’s Nation, a group intent on instituting their own utopia and destroying anyone who stops them. Pilots can join public fleets and cooperate to destroy the Sansha Incursions, returning the universe to normal, receiving wealthy bounties, earning loyalty rewards and high commendation.

Features of Incursion will include improvements suggested by the Council of Stellar Management, hardware upgrades, software improvements, and new cluster components aimed at increasing game and fleet battle performance to even higher levels. Updates to the character creator will be made with CCP’s Carbon character technology for fresh pilot portraits. Ships will be added as well, including a Sansha Mothership and fighterbomber, and the Noctis salvaging vessel. EVEGate, the web-based social networking platform for pilots, will also see improvements and additions, such as new forums.

More details and features can be found at the EVE Online: Incursion site. The expansion is set to release this November.

One developer I really wanted to catch up with at PAX and couldn’t was CCP, makers of the popular sci-fi MMOG EVE Online. The few times that I could get a chance to pop by their booth there was never anyone available…they were that busy! Hopefully, I’ll be able to bring you some chats with them soon, but in the meantime here’s a great trailer about cause and effect in the EVE Online world, Causality.



Also, CCP is holding a new contest, the Universal Glory Sweepstakes. Entering the sweepstakes could net you a custom EVE Online gaming PC system (yeah, just a PC, not a Mac, but you get what you get), one year EVE online subscription, gaming keyboards, mouse, decals and mousepads. The contest ends October 3, 2010. Go to the Universal Glory Sweepstakes homepage to check out details and to enter.

CCP and Bigfoot Networks will be presenting the Killer 2100 Plexplosion event throughout September. Participants can win prizes every day, including 30 PLEX, 30 T-Shirts and two Killer 2100 network cards. In order to participate you need to “Like” both the EVE Online and Bigfoot Networks’ Facebook pages. Two prizes will be awarded daily and winners will be announced on Facebook (presumably both EVE Online and Bigfoot Networks’ Facebook pages).

You can also participate to increase your chances of winning by visiting the CCP booth at PAX and signing up for the event.

CCP has launched the 13th expansion to EVE Online. Tyrannis opens up new avenues of player control within the MMOG with Planetary Interaction, which allows players to scan the surfaces of planets and place structures on them to develop planetary resources and profit from what they reap. EVE Online promises well over 65,000 planets for discovery. On June 8th, seeding of planetary command centers will commence, which will allow players to gather, process, and export natural resources and refined goods.

EVE Gate is the new web frontend and social networking platform for EVE Online, allowing access to in-game mail and other features. Available through any web browser, EVE Gate will give players the ability to manage their mail, calendar, contacts, corporations, and alliances without having to enter the game.

Both EVE Gate and Planetary Interaction are seen by CCP as the first step of a process to encourage players into greater interaction and community building, especially from outside the game client itself. CCP intends to provide more options for accessing the game API, for example, so players can continue to develop EVE-related programs.

CCP, developers of EVE Online, have announced that Tyrannis, their upcoming expansion, will be delayed one week to May 26th. A devblog post on the EVE Online site discussed the delay in some detail:

In our regression testing, we have identified scalability issues with the Planetary Interaction feature, which led to code refactoring that then needed further testing before being launched to Tranquility. Planetary Interaction is a unique feature in the sense that it is available to almost all players in the game providing opportunity for manufacturing for the masses, so ensuring that it runs smoothly on our cluster is of great importance to all.

The seeding of Planetary Command Centers, which is the feature that will allow players to create new planets, has been pushed back to June 8th. EVE Gate will also be released on May 26th, with its web access to EVE Mail, Calendar and revamped contacts, both in-game and on the web.

EVE Online also wanted to make sure that all players had ample opportunity to review the Planetary Command Center features, as it represents a huge addition to the MMORPG gameplay mechanics.

EVE Online, CCP’s space-opera MMO, has updated Dominion, their latest expansion, to version 1.1. This update redesigns all Mothership-class vessels into Supercarriers, which command the Minmatar fighter bombers in frontline conflicts. This update also includes a voice modulator called Voicefonts which will allow players to alter their voice, raising or lowering it, even switching genders to match their avatar state. Additional fixes and improvements are outlined in the EVE Online updates page.

EVE Online: Dominion was launched today, making this the 12th expansion for the free sci-fi based MMOG. New features in the game included sovereignty changes that intend to catalyze player relationships into closer conflict, doing away with the entrenched siege battles.

“Our goal for EVE is to maximize human interaction and then leverage it to make a more meaningful, interesting game,” said EVE’s Lead Game Designer, Noah Ward. “Dominion was designed to give players more tools to mold their experience with better means of communication and extra rounds of ammunition. Undoubtedly, the compelling intrigue we’ve seen in EVE will never end as pilots fight to bend the universe to their will.”

New features include unprecedented alliance control over territory, allowing them to change things to suit their goals and playstyles, the re-engineering of many ship classes, a new in-game browser and mail system, and some major graphic improvements to various planets, moons, and stars. More info can be found at the EVE features page.