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Amazing EVE Online video tells epic tale of wormhole conflict

Brendan Drain — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, Culture, Game mechanics, Guilds, Lore, PvP, News items, Sandbox

PvP in EVE Online is more often likened to a game of strategy than of action. If that's true, then Rooks and Kings' impressive track record for tactical genius makes the alliance undeniably a grandmaster of intergalactic chess. The group's instructional video Clarion Call: Triage Special in early 2009 was released to wide acclaim, and the tactics demonstrated in the video became core strategies replicated by military corporations throughout the game. The follow-up video Clarion Call: Pantheon evolved those strategies to counter opponents prepared to come up against triage carriers.

Massively is proud to exclusively reveal Rooks and Kings' third and undeniably most impressive video to date. Clarion Call 3 moves the stage of Rooks and Kings' normal hunting grounds in nullsec and lowsec to the undiscovered lands of wormhole space. But star Alazais says "one does not simply walk into a wormhole," noting that the tight restrictions on the mass of ships that can enter a wormhole presents new challenges. The group fought outnumbered and outgunned against an enemy possessing an ability that later became known as "the infinity gun."

Skip past the cut to learn more about the infinity gun exploit and to watch the full film. Don't forget to set it to 1080p for the full HD experience.

Continue reading Amazing EVE Online video tells epic tale of wormhole conflict

Amazing EVE Online video tells epic tale of wormhole conflict originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Latest EVE dev video talks ship balance and features coming this winter

Brendan Drain — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Dev Diaries, Sandbox

Several weeks ago, EVE Online developer CCP Games restructured its company and announced a new laser focus on in-space features for EVE Online. Since then we've seen an absolute deluge of news updates and devblogs on features due for release in the winter expansion. In the first two of CCP's new In Development video series, CCP Guard explored the art department and showed off the new nebula effects, EVE's sharpened shadows and the new tier 3 battlecruisers.

In the latest In Development video, Guard talks to the EVE feature teams about the absolutely massive list of balance changes and features coming with the winter expansion. CCP Soundwave admits that developers have "probably done more rebalancing in the past month than we have in the past two years," before rattling off an impressive list of changes and new features.

Skip past the cut for a brief summary of the changes and to watch the video in HD.

Continue reading Latest EVE dev video talks ship balance and features coming this winter

Latest EVE dev video talks ship balance and features coming this winter originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Make your travel plans to visit Rift's majestic Meridian city!

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Previews, RIFT

If your tastes run more to the technological terrors of Rift: Planes of Telera's Defiant, then prepare to get to know Meridian, the faction's capital, quite well. Spitting in the eye of the old gods, Meridian is a cutting-edge metropolis full of harnessed magics, steampunk wonders and rogue water elementals.

Although it is on the front lines of the great world war, Meridian still prides itself on its beauty and elegance, as evidenced by soaring towers and technomagic constructs. The city will offer players a quick travel system via portals, which allows a character to instantly zip to any portal he or she has already discovered. There are secret places to uncover, colorful characters such as Sparky the potion-mixing automaton to meet, and plenty of places to drop your coin in exchange for goods and services.

You can read a guided tour of the city and watch the quick one-minute flyby of Meridian after the jump.

Continue reading Make your travel plans to visit Rift's majestic Meridian city!

Make your travel plans to visit Rift's majestic Meridian city! originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 Oct 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Medic ships, part 2: High-end healing

Brendan Drain — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, Guides, PvP, Tips and tricks, Grouping, PvE, Hands-on, EVE Evolved

In the first of this two-part guide, I looked at some of the more affordable entry level ships and modules available to dedicated healers in EVE Online. I went on to examine an effective strategy for using medic ships as part of a PvE gang, whether you need some help on a particularly hard mission or you're trying to crack one of EVE's hardest exploration complexes. This week, I look at high-end healing as I explore capital ships and the role of medic ships in both PvP and wormhole operations.

Healing in missions and exploration sites is a largely passive affair, with the healer permanently locked to the main tank. NPCs in these sites never switch targets but the same can't be said for players or the advanced Sleeper AI that roam wormhole systems. Repairing your gang-mates in PvP or a wormhole operation is a completely different affair, made all the more complicated by the fact that the dedicated medic ship is sure to come under fire.

In this article, I look at capital ships and the remote assistance strategies players use in PvP or wormhole operations.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Medic ships, part 2: High-end healing

EVE Evolved: Medic ships, part 2: High-end healing originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE video corner: "Clarion Call 2: Pantheon"

Brendan Drain — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, Culture, Guilds, Lore, PvP, Opinion

Whether you're a full-on EVE Online junkie or you don't play the game at all, EVE has undeniably produced some great stories and incredible gameplay videos. Just over a year ago in my weekly EVE Evolved column, I looked at ten of the best EVE videos of all time but since then a lot more videos have been made. In this new irregular segment, I aim to showcase some of EVE's best video productions and shine a spotlight on their creators. Once or twice per month I'll highlight a video that has particularly caught my attention, from high-class productions that play like a sci-fi film to gritty PvP videos showing real gameplay.

What better way to kick off this first edition of the EVE video corner than with the sequel to an old favourite? The original "Clarion Call: Triage Special" video came in fourth place in my top ten list last year and its sequel "Clarion Call 2: Pantheon" doesn't disappoint. Like the original, the video follows Rooks and Kings alliance as they engage in capital warfare against terrible odds. Once again the video takes an instructional tone, with Princess Aricia of Fairlight Corp providing explanation of the tactics being used as each fight progresses. In this video, Rooks and Kings unveil a new strategy they call "Pantheon", which is designed to combat the growing usage of specialised Triage tactics. Whether you play EVE or not, this is definitely a video to watch.

Skip past the cut to watch 10 minutes of scenes from this goliath 22 minute video. The full version is available for download from the video's page at the EVE forums.

Continue reading EVE video corner: "Clarion Call 2: Pantheon"

EVE video corner: "Clarion Call 2: Pantheon" originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: The road ahead for 0.0 alliances

Brendan Drain — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, PvP, Endgame, Opinion, Politics, EVE Evolved

A lot of MMOs rarely (if ever) revisit old gameplay mechanics or areas, focusing instead on new expansions. EVE Online is different in that the developers go back and re-visit old aspects of gameplay rather than just focusing on new mechanics and content. Even Blizzard have seen the wisdom in redevelopment of old content, and in their next planned World of Warcraft expansion "Cataclysm", the entire game world is being given a revamp to bring everything up to their most recent development standards.

CCP Games have been using this development strategy for years and coupled with player-based development in the community, EVE Online is truly a game that evolves over time. Player-managed political states shift allegiances, entire empires can rise, span the galaxy and fall within a year and the emergent gameplay that typifies EVE's sandbox style is constantly being expanding on by players. The game we know now is very different to the one we had a year ago and if recent devblogs are any indication, EVE is about to undergo a major evolutionary leap. The entire sovereignty system and the state of capital warfare is about to undergo a complete revamp.

In this article, I take a more in-depth look ahead at the changes that are coming to 0.0, capital ships and the sovereignty system and how I think they could turn out, given my experiences in EVE.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: The road ahead for 0.0 alliances

EVE Evolved: The road ahead for 0.0 alliances originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Realtime Worlds grabs $50 million

Mike Schramm — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, New titles, Virtual worlds, All Points Bulletin, Crime

Techcrunch is reporting that developers Realtime Worlds (makers of last year's Crackdown, which could be an MMO, and the upcoming All Points Bulletin, which we heard lots about at GDC) have picked up a whopping $50 million in funding from a round of investment capital, including lots of it from Maverick Capital.

So good news for APB fans -- of course, it's just a fraction of that billion dollars that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick claims anyone will need to take on World of Warcraft, but $50 million buys a lot of artists, programmers, and servers, all things that a great MMO needs for a strong launch. APB is still in the development stages of course -- we've heard that it'll drop this year, though at this point (and with the extra cash going into a little extra development), we're probably looking at a spring 2009 release.

Realtime Worlds grabs $50 million originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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