CCP Posts 2013 Financial Results


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CCP has posted their 2013 financial results and the results are interesting, if not confusing. While the company posted an annual revenue of $76.7 million USD, net loss amounted to $21.3 million during the same period. 2013 saw multiple milestones reached, including the launch of PS3 shooter DUST 514 as well as Eve Online’s 10th anniversary and surpassing five hundred thousand subscribers. DUST 514 brought in a fair amount of revenue, although nowhere near Eve Online’s sales.

As for the net loss, our friend The Ancient Gaming Noob took some time to explain how it is due to assets being derecognized as a part of 2013’s restructuring.

Basically, the wrote some software that they felt added value to the company and called it an asset at some point, adding to the total value of the company.  Now they have decided that the software in question does not have value, so they have to take it off the books. To the shareholders, the company effectively “lost” that much in its overall valuation, but no actual cash money disappeared or changed hands.

As for what those assets were, CCP isn’t saying. CCP also announced a partnership with Sony to bring their dogfighting game Valkyrie to the Playstation 4. You can check out the entire financial report at the link below.

(Source: CCP finances)

Eve Online Graphic Novel Released


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CCP Games has announced that the first issue of Eve: True Stories is now available for download. The graphic novel series follows the real events of players in the game Eve Online, with the first issue in the series devoted to the fall of the Band of Brothers alliance. The novel is published by Dark Horse Digital, written by Daniel Way (Deadpool) and features the artwork of Tomm Coker (Daredevil Noir) and David Palumbo (Aliens).

Interested readers can nab the issue for free using the Dark Horse app. Three more issues are set to release over the course of March and into early April, with a hardcover edition coming in June. More information can be found at the link below.

(More Info: Eve Online)

Eve Online Bans Impersonating Your Own Alts


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A recent change to Eve Online’s Terms of Service has prompted several inaccurate reports that CCP now disallows scamming, spying, and sabotage, and is actively banning players for said actions. The alteration, according to CCP, clarified an already in-place rule which made impersonation of another player a bannable offense. For example, pretending to be a representative of an organization to scam a player is considered a bannable offense. Pretending to be an alt of another character is also a bannable offense under this rule. One player (Abdiel Kavash) on the forums asked if impersonating one of your own alts to scam someone was against the rules:

CASE 2: I decide that I want to make some extra money off my past customers, without necessarily having to provide any extra services. I create a new character, Phill McScammer, on my account. I then go talk to a past customer of AbdielCorp and I claim that Phill McScammer is an alt of Abdiel Kavash. Customer falls for it, sends me their money and never sees it again.

Short answer: Yes. GM Karidor’s response:

Your character Phill McScammer impersonated Abdiel Kavash, the same way as Joe McScammer did, thus gets it from us the same way if reported. From our point of view, as well as from a victims, there is no technical difference between those two cases of a character impersonating another.

In fact, CCP views a player claiming affiliation with one of his alternate characters to be on the same level as one player claiming affiliation with another player entirely.

Both characters Phil and Joe used the name Abdiel Kavash to give of the impression they were somehow related to him. The cases are effectively identical.

So if you claim to be an alt of yourself, in CCP’s view you are still lying. In response to a wave of player feedback, CCP has opened a thread to gather further discussion on the newly clarified rules.

(Source: Eve Online)

Listen To Eve’s Most Expensive Ship Blow Up


One time I accidentally broke a piece of equipment at my old job that was worth $200. I got yelled at by my boss. Factor that damage up to eight thousand dollars, and make the item rare to boot, and you’re going to have a very angry person on the other end. In the case of Eve Online, the object in question is a Revenant Supercarrier, a ship worth over $8,000 USD and so rare that only three are believed to exist in the game world. The ship was destroyed when the corporation Habitual Euthanasia took it out to respond to a distress call.

I may be oversimplifying the story, to which I will respond by simplifying it further: Big rare ship went boom. This isn’t the first time an event of this sort has happened in Eve Online and it certainly won’t be the worst, but have you ever sat back and wondered what was going on in the corporation’s chat in the aftermath?

Pretty much what you’d expect. A lot of blame to go around, a lot of strong language, and a lot of finger pointing. Check it out at the Soundcloud file above, if you think you can handle the raw anger. Then head down to the link below and read comments where people debate putting a real money value to ISK.

(Source: Gamebreaker.tv)

Listen To Eve's Most Expensive Ship Blow Up


One time I accidentally broke a piece of equipment at my old job that was worth $200. I got yelled at by my boss. Factor that damage up to eight thousand dollars, and make the item rare to boot, and you’re going to have a very angry person on the other end. In the case of Eve Online, the object in question is a Revenant Supercarrier, a ship worth over $8,000 USD and so rare that only three are believed to exist in the game world. The ship was destroyed when the corporation Habitual Euthanasia took it out to respond to a distress call.

I may be oversimplifying the story, to which I will respond by simplifying it further: Big rare ship went boom. This isn’t the first time an event of this sort has happened in Eve Online and it certainly won’t be the worst, but have you ever sat back and wondered what was going on in the corporation’s chat in the aftermath?

Pretty much what you’d expect. A lot of blame to go around, a lot of strong language, and a lot of finger pointing. Check it out at the Soundcloud file above, if you think you can handle the raw anger. Then head down to the link below and read comments where people debate putting a real money value to ISK.

(Source: Gamebreaker.tv)

50,000 Skill Points Gifted By CCP Due To Downtime


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So the issue of Eve Online’s servers being hit by a DDoS attack and brought offline for extended maintenance has been fixed, and players are once again flying through space and shooting each other to death. With the attacks behind them and security teams working on new methods to protect the servers, CCP has turned its attention to compensating players for the loss of June 2nd and 3rd. In an announcement on the official website, in lieu of granting accounts with extra days of access, CCP will be handing out fifty thousand unallocated skill points.

You can read more about the incident in this statement by our Chief Operating Officer, CCP Spielmann. A friendly reminder if you hear of someone doing or planning something bad, even if it’s your friend, we do have the PLEX for snitches program.

All active accounts are eligible, barring trial accounts, and the points have already been handed out. Check out the link below for the full announcement and guide on how to allocate said points. No word on whether DUST514 players will be compensated as they share the same server with Eve Online players.

(Source: Eve Online)

Eve Online and DUST514 Hit By DDoS Attack


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CCP has taken down the Tranquility server cluster after a sustained denial of service attack early this morning GMT time. CCP’s task force was mobilized and suggested keeping the servers offline for further investigation. As of this writing, the Tranquility servers are still offline.

While we initially reopened EVE Online and DUST 514, we have since re-evaluated. With the highest sense of precaution we have taken Tranquility and associated websites back down for further investigation and an exhaustive scan of our entire infrastructure. We will update you more frequently via our Twitter feed (www.twitter.com/eveonline), however, an extended service interruption of several hours is expected as this process should not be rushed.

For up to the minute updates on Eve Online and DUST514’s server status, follow Eve Online on Facebook or Twitter.

Eve Online Could Be Receiving Steam Workshop Treatment


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This Eve image is still current, right? I’m sure someone will tell me if it isn’t. Rejoice, netizens, for Eve Online is on Steam! What’s that? Eve Online has been for sale on Steam for longer than MMO Fallout has existed? Oh. Well, starting today (if today is May 30th), you will be able to purchase Eve Online subscriptions as well as PLEX through Steam itself, rather than through CCP’s billing system. The program to allow subscriptions directly through Steam was launched alongside Darkfall: Unholy Wars.

Enough about that, though. According to CCP, the developer is looking further into Steam integration, including the Community Hub and even Steam Workshop, a hub where players can create and submit their own custom content for various supported titles.

“Other aspects of Steam we are potentially very interested in are the Community Hub and Steam Workshop. Our community team has already started looking into the possibilities here, and we would love to hear your feedback on this as well.”

No clue on what players would be able to create via Workshop, and hopefully more details will be coming in the next few months. It is worth noting that the new subscription plan does not extend to existing accounts at the moment.

(Source: PC Games N)

Eve Online: Odyssey Coming June 4th


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When it comes to MMOs, you don’t get much more massive than Eve Online. Launched ten years ago, CCP has grown its hardcore sci-fi title with over five hundred thousand subscribers battling for control over nearly eight thousand solar systems. As part of its service, Eve Online has consistently been the target of numerous free expansion packs, each bringing with it major changes to the game’s structure. Coming June 4th, CCP will be releasing the nineteenth free expansion to Eve Online, titled Odyssey, bringing with it a whole host of updates.

Players will enjoy a brand new scanning system, rewarding exploration all over the universe. Resource distribution and ship balancing will also be tweaked with Odyssey, along with graphical updates and the introduction of new ships and starbase improvements, not to mention a revamped and more user-friendly interface.

“Odyssey is an expression of our love for space and exploration,” said Andie Nordgren, Senior Producer, EVE Online. “It brings changes that will wake the wanderlust and taste for adventure in both new and veteran pilots.”

More information will be revealed at the sold-out Eve Fanfest.

(Source: CCP press release)

Eve Online Introduces Official Dueling Mechanic


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The Eve Online community will never cease to amaze me in its creativity. For a while now Eve Online players have enjoyed an unofficial dueling system via a rather awkward system called “can-flipping.” One player would steal a single unit of ammunition from another player’s jet-can, the player would be flagged and could legally be attacked by player #2, allowing for something of a dueling system to exist in the relative safety of high security space. As the mechanic caught on, players have used it to set up entire tournaments and king-of-the-hill contests. So why implement an official feature when the emergent version has been so readily available?

Well, Eve Online launched Retribution, and chief among the changes to the manner in which players interact is that stealing from a player now flags the thief as legal to attack by anyone, not just the person they stole from. Thus, the unofficial dueling system was rendered broken (or at the very least unsafe). With the upcoming Retribution 1.1 patch, it will now be easy as pie to challenge another player. Simply send them a challenge in high security space, and CONCORD will step back and give the two of you five minutes to blast each other into space dust.

Just a warning to those thinking of joining in from the sidelines: Outside players are able to interact with the combatants just as they would normally, interfering with a limited-engagement via remote-assistance will flag the assistor as a global target).

(Source: Eve Online)