After going over the votes, consulting the scriptures, and having Whut pound my head against a desk for a few hours the decision has been made. EvE Online will be the first game to kick off our E3 coverage. As you can already tell with our link right up here on the main page and our forum section dedicated to it, we at WDFnews are rather fond of EvE Online. I can see that some of you are wrinkling your brow wondering what EvE is while others are questioning why a 3 year old game would be a big deal at E3, well how about we just let Mark Smith from CCP Games do the explaining for us.
(EvE Online booth.)
(CCP minions converging on us before the interview.)
The_Spaniard: Mister Smith, as a developer for and representative of EvE Online and CCP games what would you like us to know about your title? Be mindful of those that are not familiar with it, what do you want us to know about the game, the new expansion packs, advancements you have made, new graphics, everything we should know.
Mark Smith: EvE Online is a new breed of MMO that opens up the player to do whatever they want to do, whether you want to do PvP (Player Versus Player), per sue markets, explore, EvE gives you the tools to find your method of gameplay and figure out how you want to play and what you want or would like to do.
TS: *nods* Sounds pretty involved.
MS: Yes and with some of the new expansions we are doing, Kali (nickname for new expansion) for one, we are focusing on giving the player a wide range of new opportunities and letting them do things, more things, to control space. They can put up sentry guns and say, "This is our space and nobody else is going to come into it and we are going to run it how we want to" basically giving players the ability to set up their own empires. You can build entire space stations and populate systems yourself. Now in addition for people who are maybe not interested and don't care about that aspect of gameplay we are bringing in a new graphics engine that will support DirectX 10 and windows Vista when it comes out which will enable people to view the game in much greater detail than they have previously.
(My balls are this big!)
TS: Alright, that is very interesting. Now EvE Online has been around for three years and is to this day getting allocades. I mean three years after release and it is still getting game of the year awards, MMO of the year awards, it has been recently named top MMO of it's kind by a website that exclusively covers MMOs even over World of Warcraft and Everquest 2. What would you say has attributed to its long lasting popularity and then also mushroom popularity recently so long after release?
MS: Well quite simply put.. it's unique. That is the reason it is so popular, continues gaining popularity, and has won awards year after year. There are no other games that cater to the kind of people that we cater to. The people that want realism in the game, the ones that want to do what they want to do when they want to do it and not have to worry about arbitrary rules or PvP flags and things like that. As far as the burgeoning popularity recently, that can be attributing to people finally starting to hear about it and the word is really getting out with the recent awards being won and recent pushes from us to the market. We are just doing our best to get out there and people are hearing about it.
(Don't look directly into a videogame sun.)
TS: Now while you guys may be doing great, games like Earth and Beyond which are in the same vein have tried and failed, crashed and burned what would you say makes EvE different from them, what would you say sets you apart and has made EvE flourish?
MS: I think it is because CCP understands the gamers. They play the game, they built the game they wanted to play.
TS: So they play their own game regularly?
MS: Yes. Everybody in CCP plays EvE, some have multiple accounts, two accounts, three accounts, we are all hooked. I truly believe that what sets us apart is that everybody in the company is really involved in the game and everybody wants to see it do well. So as you can see this is really a vested interest.
(This is the opening to Space Balls.)
TS: Alright, with all these new expansions that are coming out we would like to know if they will be free.
MS: Every Expansion is free, if you are a current subscriber you can just download it and use it.
TS: That's great.
(So what's it like to work for a company that makes games only lame people would like?)
(...Gurgle...)
TS: Ok now one final question, do you listen to the players comments and suggestions on the forums, in the game and in any other ways online and implement them into the game?
MS: Well as far as the game goes, we are getting feedback all of the time, from players, volunteers, message boards, we get a lot of feedback. Also members of CCP talk to the players and post on the boards themselves, because they
are players and they know what the community wants and listen. There is an insane amount of feedback that CCP takes.
TS: And that is all looked through and one by one taken into consideration? You guys take a look at it all and see what can be implemented into the game and what can't be and it is all looked at legitimately?
Charles Danes: *Interjects* Player comments are very important to CCP.
TS: *Interrupts* This is Charles Danes speaking who is the community manager for EvE online.
CD: Yes that's right. Now the amount of player feedback is not only important in game, but also what is said on the forums and during the development process as well. They players not only have simple feedback but a real say in what goes on in EvE. So without them the game wouldn't be where it's at.
TS: Well that's all our questions for today, we thank you for your time, we had a very nice time, enjoyed everything that you had to show us, and we hope to hear more from you guys in the future.
(OMG it's the CEO of CCP games. Breathe Spaniard, breathe.)
(The EvE folks are actually really cool personable people and even invited us into a private lounge to hang out.)
Keep an eye on EvE Online, even coming up on 4 years after release this game is coming out with enough new content and upgrades to keep it interesting for years to come. Be sure to check them out and if your interested give their free trial a shot by clicking the link at the top of the page.
(Our lovely hostess at the private EvE area.)
[01:34] whutdufk: I love you Spaniard
Lead Salad wrote:I love you Spaniard
FinalGamer wrote:I love you Spaniard <3