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EVE Online: New patch coming tomorrow for both Mac and Linux game clients

Matt Warner — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Patches, News items, Mac, Linux

Any new EVE Online players using the Mac and Linux clients survive the two week trial? I hope so because the newly-minted Mac and Linux clients prevented many new capsuleers from even finishing the tutorial; however, it worked great for some others. Reading the EVE forums during this craze, I couldn't help but grimace at the debilitating problems new and old players using the clients were having. I experienced random disconnecting while playing on a MacBook Pro that made for a trying experience when rampaging through the belts in my cheap paper-thin frigate. My shallow hull, where'd it go again?

The good news is both Mac and Linux clients will be patched during scheduled downtime tomorrow, November 27th. This patch will not change the current Windows clients in anyway or patch some secret in-game hacks only Mac and Linux users can profit from, although that would be nice as I'm a bit burnt out on the ISK farm and I think my capacitor has had enough that it jettisoned itself from my ship. These patches are specifically engineered to improve performance and fix a few client specific bugs. If you are using the Linux client, the client should automatically download and install a patch for the TransGaming components. Players using the Mac client will need to download and apply a different client patch -- the hard way. This patch will be uploaded onto the EVE Online website during tomorrow's maintenance. I included the full patch notes after the jump:

Continue reading EVE Online: New patch coming tomorrow for both Mac and Linux game clients

EVE Online: New patch coming tomorrow for both Mac and Linux game clients originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Online passes the 200k subscription mark

Matt Warner — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 23:10:00 EST

Filed under: EVE Online, MMO industry, News items

CCP announced earlier that EVE Online has surpassed the 200,000 subscription count, (a number CCP has been flirting with for many months now) which does not include more than 45,000 trial accounts in effect. I'm not sure how many trial accounts were active six months ago, but given the release of the Mac and Linux clients there a lot of new capsules floating out there in space.

Not to diminish this accomplishment, it's important to note that these are subscriptions and not unique subscribers. CCP has been pushing "The Power of 2" heavily on their current playerbase and hundreds if not thousands have several subscriptions. I also believe CCP could have already hit their ultimate goal to have a bigger subscription base than Iceland's population, 300k, if they had retuned the newbie experience. Free game client; free expansions; decent rookie help channel; all this ease-to -accessibility is fantastic, but it still isn't enough, and I'm sure CCP has some telling numbers on how many players didn't get past the tutorial. CCP is addressing a small part of this problem in 2008 and beyond with a planned in-game EVE-pedia, but I am a bit surprised they haven't emphasized more focus on improving the newbie experience aside from the newbie tutorial revamp, which could be a lot better.

EVE may not be the behemoth WoW is, but EVE has proven to keep a slow steady growth since it launched in 2003, which normally isn't the case for most MMOGs. The last true pinnacle point in overall subscriptions occurred in early 2006 when EVE reached 100,000 subscriptions. The players drive this game. The players are the content. I'm looking forward to the day when EVE actually breaks 300k unique subscribers.

EVE Online passes the 200k subscription mark originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 Nov 2007 23:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The ultimate EVE Online Fan Fest 2007 wrap-up link post

Matt Warner — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: EVE Online, Events, real-world, News items

The EVE Fan Fest held in Reykjavik, Iceland ended days ago, and aside from some poor schlep blogging about his nipples freezing off there wasn't much information to "reblog" early-on since everyone was partaking in the Icelandic imbibing culture. I'm disappointed, ~~I wasn't getting drunk off my ass at the EVE Fan Fest~~, none of us from Massively were able to attend, and provide up-to-the day reports on the various round-tables and panels, but now that the jet-lagged reporters and citizen journalists have returned back to their abodes across various ponds, how about a link-mmorgy to make up for it. Don't forget to bring your own toga, capsule, and most importantly, your own booze because I'm not sharing.

Last Updated: (11/16/07 3PM PST) EVE Trinity teaser video after the break! Several more links added!

Continue reading The ultimate EVE Online Fan Fest 2007 wrap-up link post

The ultimate EVE Online Fan Fest 2007 wrap-up link post originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Online: Revelations 2.3 Post-Patch Mac and Linux client live on Tranquility

Matt Warner — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:45:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Bugs, Patches, News items, Mac, Linux

I looked at the calendar and it turns out its patch day, the patch has come and gone, Revelations 2.3 has a pulse and the servers are cooperating sort of, I got stuck on bulking at the login screen but after awhile it let me on. I hope you capsuleers didn't suffer too long, the wait was killer. Now, time for some not so pleasant news: For those EVE Online players, who already downloaded the Mac or Linux client when testing it on Multiplicity, you will need to redownload the EVE client if you are having trouble with it.

Before the Mac Alumni jettison their Macbooks, and place a bounty on my head for following my mere suggestion the enjoyment one might attain when deleting their Windows Partition, I beg for mercy as the download isn't that that big, unless you use dialup -- then it could be a problem and you're welcome to strangle me. The client says 636 MB on the download page, but the Mac client is really 844 MB in size. PC users looking for the patch notes can real the full wrapup here. Not many additions from the preliminary patch notes.

If Linux users who downloaded the Test client already and prefer to take a shortcut without having to do a complete reinstall you may download the .dat and the .dat.md5 files to your home directory. Start the EVE Configuration utility and select reinstall. Point it at the new dat/md5 files and the game will reinstall with the new version overwriting the old version.

http://ccp.vo.llnwd.net/o2/linux/EveOnline-linux-000893_41736.dat
http://ccp.vo.llnwd.net/o2/linux/EveOnline-linux-000893_41736.dat.md5

I have listed some more pertinent questions and answers regarding the Mac and Linux EVE clients. Follow the space rabbits down the yellow brick road.

Continue reading EVE Online: Revelations 2.3 Post-Patch Mac and Linux client live on Tranquility

EVE Online: Revelations 2.3 Post-Patch Mac and Linux client live on Tranquility originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Online: Mac and Linux clients available for public testing

Matt Warner — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:45:00 EST

Filed under: EVE Online, Patches, News items, Mac, Linux

Yes! Time to delete Windows partition, throw it out with the putrid garbage where it belongs, and save some hard drive space for more cowbell. EVE Online players waiting for the Mac and Linux clients can now test them on Multiplicity, the test server, before they officially go live on all servers when Revelations 2.3 deploys on November 6th. You might as well get an early start and get everything up and ready, prepare for the rats and skills and what about EVE Mon. I like to play with that too. The bad news is that the Linux client does not support ATI graphic cards, which probably has something to do with driver support. (heh. I've had more problems with ATI cards running EVE Online than Nvidia cards. The 8800GT just launched and the reviews look sick and it doesn't cost a kidney and an eyeball either -- it will be my next card). The Mac client supports either Nvidia or ATI graphic cards, but to run the Mac client an Intel based Mac that is 2 Ghz or better is required. Further system requirements and how-to-install for both Mac and Linux clients, including download links to the EVE Online Mac and Linux clients are after the jump:

Continue reading EVE Online: Mac and Linux clients available for public testing

EVE Online: Mac and Linux clients available for public testing originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Online: Revelations 2.3 preliminary patch notes

Matt Warner — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:15:00 EST

Filed under: EVE Online, Patches, Mac, Linux

If you Build 37459 to 41698, EVE players will download it, available November 6th. The 2.3 Revelation patch notes are trickling in and the listed updates so far read like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo -- behind the scenes dealings -- this patch will scratch your computer gears to make EVE purr or something.

There is one change that stands out and slaps me in the face:

If an office's rent expires while a BP is in production and is not re-rented before the job is completed, the BP's will return to the impound.

That could be bad, so yea, those crafty players better make sure they aren't evicted because there is nothing more fun than your landlord tossing billions invested into a black-hole when the lowly office rent payment doesn't clear in time.

The patch notes seems small on the surface, but the big news that isn't listed in the official patch notes yet is the addition of the Linux and Mac game clients, and because of those changes the server will see an additional three hours of downtime. Boo, infidels -- keeping the server down longer than necessary! It is important to note that the Linux and Mac client use Cedega/Cider wrapper and won't run on older PPC Macs -- Intel or bust. Sorry guys, I was wanting to rock EVE Online on my Apple Performa with you. I'm starting the save our Mac friends from WoW campaign. We all have that 1 Mac MMOG friend still playing WoW, tell them about the EVE Online Mac client. You will get a whole lot of nothing and bad jokes in return.

The 2.3 Revelation patches notes are still sketchy and incomplete; more information will be added as the developers make them available. If you want to stick around, I copied the patch notes after the jump:

Continue reading EVE Online: Revelations 2.3 preliminary patch notes

EVE Online: Revelations 2.3 preliminary patch notes originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Online Mac and Linux game clients to be released on November 6th

Matt Warner — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 05:30:00 EST

Filed under: EVE Online, Patches, News items, Mac, Linux

They're here... new clients at long last, well almost... There is word from Erlendur S. Thorsteinsson, Software Director at CCP Games, that the upcoming Revelations 2.3 patch will contain formal support for Mac OS X and Linux. The new patch will also include a few other minor fixes for those left in the dark ages with the Windows XP client. The new clients use Cedega, but this version has better functionality since it will be directly integrated into the game for Linux and Transgaming's Cider portability engine for the Mac client. I pity da-foo with no EVE Online client.

The twenty or so players waiting for the official Mac client can breathe a sigh-of-relief and start gloating about how shiny EVE Online will play on their Macs, and how it's an infinitely better playing experience because EVE is running on a Mac. Sweet, I can't wait.

Earlier today, I attempted to play EVE Online on my brother's MacBook Pro via CrossOver and the results led me to punish my G4 tower, a sad carcass languishing in a corner left to serve only one function -- my kicking post. I was taunted and shunned away thanks to some duplicate trial account error when attempting to get my capsuleer on. Three trial accounts later and junk gmail accounts added to the fodder; one activated EVE account; some tissue boxes; I threw-up my arms in disgust. After some soul-searching, I found that I wasn't the only one suffering with this problem and no one had posted a solution. This news makes it all happy fun-times again. I'm going to go hug it out with my dead G4 now. The full post deets after the jump:

[via: Linux Games]

Continue reading EVE Online Mac and Linux game clients to be released on November 6th

EVE Online Mac and Linux game clients to be released on November 6th originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Nov 2007 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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