Developer CCP has revealed the contents of the upcoming EVE Online (PC) retail release, set for launch on March 10.

The box will conveniently include all ten of the free expansions to the spaceship MMO, including the major upcoming update "Apocrypha."

In addition, the box will also ship with 60 days of free game time. As the by-month subscription to EVE costs $14.95, and the retail box costs $34.95, the thing will nearly pay for itself.

CCP also notes that the game time can be used to extend an existing subscription, or be split into two 30-day codes that can be sold for in-game currency. Only in EVE.

A few more retail bonuses after the break: ... Read more

In what may be the most significant case of in-game espionage in history, one of the largest guild of players in CCP's spaceship MMO EVE Online, Band of Brothers (BoB), was entirely disbanded today when a BoB director defected to the SomethingAwful-derived Goonfleet.

In a story that only EVE Online could spawn, Goonfleet Intelligence Agency (GSA) leader The Mittani and his league of spies managed to "encourage" a Band of Brothers director to turn coat, transferring trillions of BoB's in-game ISK currency to the Goons before nullifying BoB's control over all of its territory.

"A director with full access to BoB alliance controls defected to Goonfleet and The Mittani was happy to accept his conditions," writes Shacknews tipster Frylock, who noted that while BoB can reform, the name "Band of Brothers" is now permanently owned by Goonfleet.

Shacknews readers may remember The Mittani from our 2007 article series on his expansive, fascinating spy network. At the time, Band of Brothers was already the Goons' larger, more powerful arch-rivals. Now the Goons, long the underdogs in their fight for universal dominance, are gloating over a massive victory. Meanwhile, The Mittani himself was the first to deliver the news to EVE Online's official forum.

"Today we destroyed BoB," said The Mittani. "Thanks for the free capfleet towers and isk."

The Mittani added that the defection also produced a copy of the Band of Brothers director forum, which Goonfleet plans to publish in full.

"Tonight was one of the most historic and epic nights in EVE history," added Frylock. "The universe will no longer be the same."

Band of Brothers was the primary target in The Great War, in which many of EVE's larger corporations formed a coalition in order to oust BoB from its territory. After a long and bloody struggle, BoB eventually retained much of its space, with Goonsfleet being the last member of the coalition to eventually withdraw.

Developer CCP today announced that its spaceship MMO EVE Online is receiving another major free update on March 10.

Titled Apocrypha, the expansion will bring "unpredictable" wormholes to the game, connecting new regions of the universe to the existing space of New Eden.

The expansion will also introduce modular Tech 3 ships and Epic Mission Arcs--lengthy, branching quests for deep-space explorers to complete.

CCP recently announced that the previous record for concurrent EVE players was broken when over 45,000 users were recorded to be playing the single-shard game simultaneously.

Developer CCP today announced that its spaceship MMO EVE Online recently reached a peak of 45,000 concurrent players. The impressive number tops the previous record of 35,000 simultaneous users.

Unlike most MMOs, EVE Online is operated as a single instance, allowing every player to communicate and meet up within the massive universe of New Eden.

The game has been a technical challenge to maintain, with users often testing the limits of CCP's technology by swarming single systems en masse.

Ever-worsening economic conditions may force EVE Online and World of Darkness MMO developer CCP to relocate its main operations outside of Iceland.

"The present currency restrictions are putting us in a straitjacket," CCP's Eyjolfur Gudmundsson told The Guardian. "We are in talks with the government, but if we can't let capital in, we might be compelled to leave Iceland, even though this would be against our wishes."

Iceland has been hit particularly hard by the recent credit crisis, as the country's currency, the krona, has plummeted in value. This has caused foreign debts to significantly increase, with the government recently taking control of the nation's three biggest banks.

At present, Iceland's unemployment rate is sitting at at 5.4%, according to IcelandReview. At this time last year, the unemployment rate sat at a mere 0.8%.

Perhaps forunately, CCP's base of operations in Reykjavik, Iceland is not its only office. In October 2007, CCP opened a branch in Atlanta, Georgia dedicated to producing game content, while the Iceland office was tasked with the technical end of things.

Developer CCP today announced that publisher Atari will distribute CCP's spaceship MMO EVE online in retail outlets across North America, Europe and Asia.

The boxed version of EVE will hit stores for in March 2009.

CCP also teased some new footage of an unannounced game at its fan fest this weekend. The footage showed a "Halo-like shooter" with an EVE-like art style, according to Eurogamer.

The footage was shown following a presentation by CCP developers, which featured a slide that mentioned Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 development plans.

In addition to a large update to EVE Online, CCP is currently developing an MMO based on the White Wolf RPG series titled World of Darkness.

The second phase of the free Quantum Rise expansion pack will hit EVE Online on November 11, developer CCP announced today.

Certain portions of the expansion, such as StacklessIO and EVE64 optimizations, have already hit the space-faring PC MMO, enabling over 1,000 players to battle in the same system without experiencing significant lag.

Come November 11, players will find the following among EVE's new features:

• The introduction of In-game Subscription Services. You can now convert your 60-day EVE Time Codes (ETCs) into two 30-day items in game. These "30-Day Pilot's Licenses" can be traded freely through all regular means (via market or contract or directly between players) and can be activated at any time. This feature will be available on November 11th or shortly thereafter
• Assembly Array upgrades for those wanting to produce... Read more

The reported decompiling of the source code for spaceship MMO EVE Online (PC) will have no effect whatsoever on the game's subscribers, according to developer CCP.

A file purported to contain the game's source code began appearing on torrent sites earlier this week, with popular tech website Slashdot calling attention to the reports.

The supposed leak joins other high-profile data thefts, including that of Valve's Half-Life 2 and NCSoft's Lineage III. The source code for Flaghip's Hellgate: London was rumored to have been stolen as well.

"CCP is aware that an individual claims to have access to the source code of the EVE client," stated CCP. "Access to the source code for the EVE client exposes no security vulnerabilities, has no privacy protection... Read more

CCP's MMO in space, EVE Online, was announced today as the first massively multiplayer game to be available on Valve's Steam downloadable service. It will be promoted with a 21-day trial for "all Steam gamers." Shacknews confirmed with CCP that the promotion applies only to new EVE subscribers.

New players will receive a $5 discount for the first month. Like many MMOs, EVE subscriptions run $14.99/month, with discounts when purchasing multiple months. Pricing information for the purchase of the game itself is not yet available on Steam, but CCP sells it online for $19.99, which is likely to be the price point used.

EVE Online has some 220,000 subscribers worldwide, a number that is dwarfed by more convention MMOs such as World of Warcraft but which has given the niche game a dedicated player base and made it a considerable success for its developer.

Previously CCP had offered gamers a 14-day trial, but in an interview with Shacknews, community manager Mike Read expressed doubt as to whether that... Read more

The latest expansion pack for CCP's space-based MMO EVE Online (PC) will arrive as a free download for subscribers next Wednesday, December 5.

Known as Trinity, the expansion packs a number of graphical enhancements, such as normal and specular mapping for all of the game's spaceships and shader 3.0 support. For a closer look at Trinity, check out the teaser trailer, which can also be viewed below.

Though the recently launched Mac and Linux versions will receive the update the same day, they will not support for the new graphical touches until Q1 2008.

The next substantial update, referred to as The Ambulation Project, will introduce human avatars to the game. Targeted for a 2008 launch, the possibilities of player-maintained bars and clothing shops are hoped to expand the game's female population, its vast economy, and the paranoia-laden antics of its multinational corporations.

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The online and event-filled universe of EVE Online will expand to include Mac and Linux players tomorrow, November 5.

Support for both platforms are part of the Revelations 2.3 patch, which contains several bug fixes and optimizations. In anticipation of the update, developer CCP has provided a full list of the changes, as well as Mac and Linux system requirements.

The expanded userbase of Mac and Linux users marks the latest in CCP's efforts to increase subscriber numbers. "The population of Iceland is 300,000," communications director Valerie Massey told Shacknews earlier this year. "We have about 200,000 EVE players. So our goal is to get [beyond that]."

This all leads up to the Trinity expansion, which is slated for an early December launch according to GamesIndustry.biz. Along with new content, Trinity packs a ... Read more

Because EVE Online skill training is a constant for all players, it can take nearly a year's worth of dedication in order to fly one of the game's massive capital ships, on top of the exorbitant monetary cost.

This would explain why the EVE community has been in a full revolt over the past two days, following an announcement by developers CCP that detailed proposed changes to the game--changes which would significantly weaken the power of both Motherships and Carriers

"What we want is pretty basic: We want to make fighter wielding capital ships more reliant on their support fleet and less of a direct über deathbringer," wrote newly-instated game designer Zulupark. "We feel that capital ships are being used way too much as better-than-battleships-at-killing-stuff ships, when we in fact think that they should be used more as the-ships-that-keep-other-ships-alive and provide-them-with-additional-firepower ships."

Dealing with a game that takes months to get into, and years to master, any far-reaching changes instantly become sensitive issues. Sensing imminent backlash, Zulupark stressed that the drastic proposal was only... Read more

The game servers and website of the popular spaceship MMO EVE Online underwent a surprising shutdown on Friday, after a database security breach caused developers CCP to pull the plug.

"At 10:25 GMT today we discovered an anomaly in the EVE Online Database indicating a potential exploit," said CCP chief of operations Jón Hörðdal following the restoration of the company's website. "What we discovered was an indication that one of our databases was being accessed through a security breach."

Because the EVE website and game servers are tied together, both were brought down during the length of the emergency maintenance.

"Our policy in such cases is to mobilize a taskforce of internal and external experts to evaluate the situation," continued Hörðdal. "At 12:57 that group concluded that our best course of action was to go completely dark while an exhaustive scan of our entire infrastructure was executed."

Early rumors circulating amongst EVE player forums indicated that a CCP database administrator had at some point fallen victim to a keylogger, a computer program which captures a user's keystrokes. CCP representatives... Read more

During a tour of White Wolf Publishing and CCP's new Atlanta office, CCP North America president Mike Tinney revealed several new details on both the World of Darkness MMO currently under development and the future of EVE Online.

World of Darkness
"[World of Darkness] is in a prototype stage right now. There's a lot of experimentation, nothing is set in stone. It's a very open and active exchange of ideas," Tinney explained. "This project is being co-developed between both the Iceland and the Atlanta offices, with some outsourcing assets being coordinated by our Shanghai office as well."

Tinney noted that the Atlanta office will focus on developing the content for the game, while the Iceland office will be responsible for the technology behind the game, which is based on the EVE Online infrastructure, and also discussed how the company plans to keep development on-track for the ambitious project. "Everybody [on the World of Darkness in Atlanta] is grouped into teams of four, cross-discipline teams between designers, artists, programmers, quality assurance testers," he explained.

Development Setup
"That group is responsible for developing a fixed aspect of the game on a two to four week development cycle that is then turned in, reviewed ... Read more

Over at WarCry you can find an EVE Online Q&A conducted during PAX 07. Designer Noah Ward is asked about Revelations 3 and more.

Also at TenTonHammer is this article format EVE Online Q&A. Arend Stuhrmann of CCP is asked about the Trinity 2 game engine, balancing issues and other related topics.

In the first of a series of stories from within the massively dangerous universe of EVE Online, we reveal the cutthroat underworld of cosmic espionage. An elusive figure, the GoonSwarm Intelligence Agency's founder--named only The Mittani comes out from the shadows to detail the spies and intrigue present in one of the MMO genre's most entertaining sandboxes. Check it out.

"You do indeed seem to be from Michigan and the phone number you gave fits that," The Mittani concludes in a nonchalant manner, as if locating my house were on par with a handshake. He tells me that it's the nature of my request that has him on edge. "Anything that appeals to my vanity I'm always really suspicious of because it's such a weak spot with people."

There's an EVE Online Q&A on WarCry, asking CCP's Nathan Richardsson about the recently launched Revelations II expansion pack.

CCP sends along an EVE Online Revelations 2 trailer, offering a 2.5 minute look at this new expansion pack. Revelations 2 launches tomorrow.

Following widespread allegations of corrupted employees abusing in-game powers, EVE Online manager CCP has a new response: Democracy.

Players of the space-based MMO will soon be given the chance to vote on nine members who they feel would make up a fair team of independent inspectors. The established oversight committee will then be flown to CCP's Iceland headquarters for their own appraisal of the EVE team's innocence.

"Perception is reality, and if a substantial part of our community feels like we are biased, whether it is true or not, it is true to them," EVE corporate chief Hilmar Petursson told the New York Times. "EVE Online is not a computer game. It is an emerging nation, and we have to address it like a nation... Read more