Leaving the pod.

CCP Games, the Iceland-based company behind EVE Online and the forecast 'World of Darkness' MMORPGs has announced that EVE is moving planetside and has been under development by its Shanghai team for nearly three years. DUST 514 is a hybrid first person shooter (FPS) and real-time strategy (RTS) experience set within the (MMO) EVE universe. "The primary gameplay features brutal ground combat that takes place on the surface of the planets, delivering the visceral, adrenaline-fuelled experience of futuristic firefights. Developed for the current generation of consoles — initially available on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 — DUST will be equal parts battlefield reflexes and strategic planning, allowing commanders and ground infantry to work together, utilising the real-time configurable modular weapons and vehicles at their disposal to adapt to and control dynamic battlefield conditions." Actions in the DUST514 environment will affect the rest of the EVE universe: a DUST team conquering a planet will gain control of that planet in EVE too. Where EVE pilots are the fleet, DUST are the infantry. All in the single universe. I've been looking forward to this sine I first heard about it last year and decided recently that I would create and run a 'DUST' info and discussion site. Keep watching this space! but until then go watch the trailer from Gamescom 2009 followed by CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson talking about their plans.

Leaving Life

Second Life, that is. I joined the artificial world that is 'SL' a few years ago, eventually buying quite a lot of virtual 'land' and building a beautiful home by a waterfall along with shopping malls, nightclubs and even an office for my 'real life' company, but now I've cashed out. Why? Because, eventually, it becomes more expensive that 'first life'. A monthly fee for the land rental which wasn't too far off the monthly council tax (land tax) and whereas when I'm walking down a real street or across the real Hampstead Heath I don't suddenly disappear in SL the technology doesn't always keep up with the ideal, so sudden loss of connection ('disconnects') or suddenly finding yourself mov-i-n-g a-t a q—a—r—t—e—r speed ('lag') meant that the enjoyment factor, so necessary for any online experience, was slowly disappearing. Going 'in world' became more of a chore than a happy pastime. So in the last month, as I was approaching my annual account renewal at the end of this month, a started knocking down my buildings and selling off my unreal real estate, transferring the cash generated (called 'linden dollars') into real money in the bank. Over the three years I met some interesting people and worked in-world with them on various projects. Fun times, yes, but now ultimately unrewarding and a money pit.

My spaceship is docked

About four months ago I was elected to the 'Council of Stellar Management ' in the Eve Online MMORPG. In the summer this meant a four-day trip to Iceland to meet with the folks at CCP who develop the product. Today is time for the second meeting (the New York Times wrote about the first one ), but this time it is taking place via an in-game chat room with 'our side' sitting at keyboard in their homes in the UK, Denmark, The Netherlands, Eastern Europe and Australia. At some point the USA will be added to that. On the CCP management side they are also mostly at home, but in Reykjavik! And so far, so smoothly (but so slowly too!) Of course, because we aren't face-to-face during the meeting I can run that on one machine while continuing to write and test new code on another... and drink coffee... and listen to music... ;-P