novel posts

EVE Online announces Dominion expansion, 'Walking in Stations' renamed Incarna

by James Egan Aug 31st 2009 at 4:45PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Guilds, MMO industry, News items

CCP Games has announced their 11th free expansion for EVE Online, called "Dominion." As the name suggests, the winter expansion focuses on territories and player control over them. We're told that the Dominion expansion focuses on conquering and holding space, and will feature a reworking of the sovereignty system of territorial control for player alliances. We don't have any further details on the sovereignty revamp yet, but according to CCP the changes have been made with subscriber feedback in mind, particularly through the player-elected Council of Stellar Management.

Given that CCP Games is tying more of EVE Online's gameplay into the planets of the New Eden galaxy, the next step they're taking with the Trinity graphics engine is to add more detail to these planets (and presumably moons).

Tags: alliances, ambulation, breaking, ccp-games, cosmos, council-of-stellar-management, csm, dominion, dust-514, epic-mission-arcs, eve-fanfest-2009, eve-online, expansions, game-mechanics, guilds, new-eden, novel, piracy, pirates, planets, sci-fi, sovereignty, the-burning-life, trinity, walking-in-stations

There's a... er... Twilight MMO coming...

by Seraphina Brennan Jul 28th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Culture, New titles, News items

Because absolutely no license goes unturned these days, we've gotten word that there will, indeed, be a Twilight MMO.

Details are pretty sketchy right now on what exactly this whole experience will entail. It will be a virtual world where you get to play as either a human, vampire, or werewolf -- that much is pretty known. The game will also be an open, non-linear world set around the town of Forks, Washington, that will let the player roam freely.

Of note is the functionality of the game's journal, which is said to work not only like a novel, but also as a way to teleport back and forth through time to experience the events written inside of it.

The game is still early in-development, so we'll keep an eye on it for you as more information is released. Now where's our Harry Potter MMO, hmmm? We want a wizarding war!

Update: Apparently, this MMO isn't as official as it seems.

[Via Twilight Source]

Tags: breaking, forks, in-development, novel, twilight, twilight-mmo, twilight-the-video-game, vampries, werewolves

The challenges of storytelling in EVE Online's player-driven setting

by James Egan Jul 13th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Lore, MMO industry

MMO storylines finding their way into books is becoming increasingly common, but typically it's the fantasy titles we see in print. Guild Wars, Warhammer Online, and of course World of Warcraft all have their lore fleshed out in paperback form. But sci-fi lends itself well to novelization as well, and in the MMO scene as it exists today, EVE Online is a prime example. The game's far-future setting of New Eden is known for its sweeping warfare between vast empires, republics, and federations, but the game's lore has also shown there's a lot happening on a much smaller level.

That sweeping warfare was the focus of the first EVE Online novel, The Empyrean Age written by Tony Gonzales, and this was tied in with the storyline events leading up to all-out war between the game's races. However, EVE's creators CCP Games will be showing a different side to the game with the second novel, The Burning Life, written by Hjalti Danielsson.

Tags: brian-crecente, ccp-games, fiction, hjalti-danielsson, kotaku, lore, new-eden, novel, novelization, sandbox, sci-fi, storytelling, the-burning-life, the-empyrean-age, tony-gonzales

New EVE Online novel "The Burning Life" is on the way

by James Egan Jun 4th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Lore, News items

There may be big things on the horizon for the lore of EVE Online with the forthcoming release of a second novel for the game, "The Burning Life". The sci-fi novel is written by Hjalti Daníelsson (aka CCP Abraxas) who has written many of the EVE Chronicles -- short, gritty tales that show readers the various facets of life in New Eden.

The Chronicles have been a way of driving the game's lore forward for years, so we're wondering what to expect from The Burning Life. Could it possibly be tied in with the new directions that CCP Games wants to take with EVE's lore?

At this point we don't know have much information about the novel, or whether it will be tied in with an upcoming expansion as the Empyrean Age novel by Tony Gonzales was in 2008.

There are paperback release dates listed for 2009 in North America (Tor) and 2010 in Europe (Gollancz).

[Via Ga'len]

Tags: backstory, ccp-abraxas, ccp-games, empyrean-age, eve, eve-online, gollancz, hjalti-danielsson, lore, new-eden, novel, novels, storyline, the-burning-life, tony-gonzales, tor, tor-books

The Daily Grind: Do you read MMO novels?

by Shawn Schuster Apr 14th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Lore, Opinion, Comics, The Daily Grind

Most of us play MMOs for the social interaction among real people from all over the world. Sitting alone reading a book or comic book is not exactly the most social activity, but most of our largest MMO IPs began as books in some form or another. Since then, it's the games themselves that have spawned books or graphic novels. World of Warcraft has a whole collection of literature to choose from. Warhammer Online recently released their second book in the Age of Reckoning series: Dark Storm Gathering. Even the Guild Wars universe is getting its own novel series to tie in the events of GW 1 and the upcoming GW 2.

So we want to know if you enjoy your favorite MMO enough to read the paperback novel version when you're not online. If so, which are your favorites? Are these books solid enough to stand on their own, or would the specific game's players be the only target audience? Let us know!

Tags: books, comic-books, dark-storm-gathering, graphic-novel, novel, the-daily-grind, war, warhammer-online, world-of-warcraft, wow

Red Eagle Games to develop The Wheel of Time MMO

by James Egan Nov 12th 2008 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, MMO industry, New titles, News items

Red Eagle Games is a relative newcomer to video game publishing, but their first MMO will be based off of a well-established IP -- Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" series of novels, which are a blend of fantasy and eastern mysticism. Although Jordan passed away in 2007, he left behind 11 novels and a deep imaginative legacy that could prove to be a popular setting in the MMO world. Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon from Red Eagle Entertainment, which has spun off Red Eagle Games, recently spoke with VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi about their plans to bring The Wheel of Time into the realms of film and games.

Film tie-ins with The Wheel of Time IP have already been funded, they're still in the process of raising funds for Red Eagle Games, according to Selvage. "That could prove to be difficult, but he said he has already received an enthusiastic reaction, largely because the rights to the series are considered so valuable," Takahashi writes. Funding issues aside, whether or not Red Eagle Games can break free of the stigma connected with games released in tandem with films isn't clear yet. "Selvage said he is aware of the risks and he believes that most games based on movies fail because they are made in too short a time and there isn't enough cooperation with the movie studio," Takahashi adds.

Are you familiar with The Wheel of Time series of novels, and do you think the setting and lore would lend itself well to a massively multiplayer online title?

Tags: business-models, dean-takahashi, eastern-mysticism, fantasy, film, films, ip, larry-mondragon, mmo-industry, mysticism, myth, new-titles, novel, novels, red-eagle-entertainment, red-eagle-games, rick-selvage, robert-jordan, the-wheel-of-time, venturebeat, venturebeat.com, wheel-of-time

First novel releases for WAR: Age of Reckoning

by Shawn Schuster Sep 12th 2008 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Lore, New titles, Warhammer Online

While you sit and wait patiently for the September 18th retail release of Warhammer Online to unfold, take comfort in the fact that the Age of Reckoning lore is building up all around you. The first novel set in Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, Empire in Chaos, has been released just in time for the game's launch.

Written by Anthony Reynolds, formerly of Games Workshop's UK Design Studio, this book covers the lore set in place for the WAR MMO. According to the book's description, "In the Empire, mutants and brigands run riot, and a ghastly plague breaks out. Is this illness a natural occurrence, or does it herald a far greater evil? As the apocalypse draws ever closer, can our heroes rally the defenders of the Empire to face the most terrible of all enemies – the hordes of Chaos?"

Tags: age-of-reckoning, anthony-reynolds, empire-in-chaos, mythic, mythic-entertainment, novel, the-black-library, war, warhammer-online

EVE Chronicle: Masks of Authority

by James Egan Jul 31st 2008 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Lore, Races, Roleplaying

Most EVE Online players wouldn't characterize themselves as roleplayers. Simply by piloting their ships as capsuleers -- whether it's to make New Eden a safer place, or to lay waste to every unfortunate soul that crosses their path -- all EVE players assume a role of sorts. However, for those who prefer greater immersion, one of the real strengths of EVE Online is the depth and breadth of its backstory, which provides a gritty setting for players to delve into, should they choose to.

The latest EVE Chronicle provides a look within New Eden's power structures that goes beyond the heads of the four races. "Masks of Authority" sheds more light on the corporate paradigm that governs one's life as a Caldari player in EVE, a system overpowered by the Chief Executive Panel -- eight megacorporations whose collective wealth and influence makes or breaks the lives of all Caldari citizens.

Tags: backstory, book, caldari, capsuleer, ccp, ccp-games, empyrean-age, eve, eve-chronicle, eve-chronicles, eve-online, fiction, lore, megacorporation, novel, roleplay, roleplayer, roleplaying, storyline, tony-gonzales

EVE Chronicle puts players at the center of factional warfare

by James Egan Jul 7th 2008 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Lore, PvP, Roleplaying

The latest EVE Chronicle is called "The Dark End of Space." This installment connects the events seen in the full Empyrean Age trailer (namely, Jamyl Sarum's utter obliteration of a greater Minmatar fleet) with the lowsec militia conflicts and missions that have embroiled EVE Online's players in factional warfare. Indeed, "The Dark End of Space" focuses on how each of the four races -- despite having conflicting goals and ideologies -- view the capsuleers... the actual players in EVE Online: "A group of people so powerful they're practically a faction unto themselves. Immortal, fearless and wealthy beyond imagining. Born of all four empires but beholden, in truth, to no one but themselves. And utterly untapped, in this little skirmish of ours."

"The Dark End of Space" shows how each of the races face similar difficulties, and how the players of EVE are thought by each faction to be the solution to their problems. EVE dev CCP Abraxas says of the newest Chronicle: "... this one breaks rank and instead focuses on the capsuleers. It explains how we went from the end of the novel to the onset of factional warfare, and how you guys got pulled into it." This could get very interesting if factional propaganda enters into the game, with each race's militia trying to further sway the capsuleers to their cause and tip the balance of power in the Empyrean Age. But for the time being, the Empyrean Age novel, the trailer, and the Chronicles are intertwined, and it seems that EVE's players are firmly at the center of what is to come.

Tags: amarr, backstory, caldari, capsuleer, ccp, ccp-abraxas, ccp-games, chronicle, empyrean-age, eve, eve-chronicle, eve-online, factional-warfare, fiction, gallente, lore, militia, minmatar, novel, propaganda, pve, pvp, roleplaying, storyline, territorial-control

Inside the War Room: video interviews with key EVE Online developers

by James Egan Jun 21st 2008 at 1:30PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, Expansions, Interviews, PvP, News items, Roleplaying

The devs at EVE Online have been busy of late. They rolled out a new expansion, released a CG video for Empyrean Age, organized EVE Fanfest 2008 and now they've put up video interviews with four of their key developers. CCP Games gives these highlights of the clips:

Tony Gonzales, EVE Online's Lead Writer, explains that tensions built within the Empyrean Age novel were developed to entice both veteran and EVE players and the 'uninitiated' science fiction fan. Gonzales also toys with the idea of writing a sequel to the book.

Noah Ward, EVE's Lead Designer, discusses the new features in Trinity 1.1: Boost Patch. Learn all about the new improvements, deadlier ships and interface renovations now available.

Matthew Woodward, Game Designer for Empyrean Age, tells us,"These new missions give players the strength of narrative." New missions within Factional Warfare alter the focus from isolated PvE, taking these objectives and tying them into the sweeping story found in the Empyrean Age novel.

Nathan Richardsson, Executive Producer, discusses the origins of EVE Online while providing an overview of Empyrean Age's features. All out war was the most brutal and obvious choice for this new expansion. Was this war inevitable? Yes. Richardsson also offers his view on what makes PvP exciting and worthwhile.

The video footage of the devs at EVE Online's dedicated Empyrean Age site is found in the interviews section. Check out all four to gain a little more perspective on what's led up to the factional warfare expansion, and what is yet to come.

Tags: ambulation, backstory, ccp, ccp-games, empyrean-age, eve, eve-fanfest, eve-online, faction, factional-warfare, interview, matthew-woodward, nathan-richardsson, noah-ward, novel, oveur, pve, pvp, sci-fi, storyline, tony-gonzales, video

The Empyrean Age Q&A with author Tony Gonzales

by James Egan Jun 13th 2008 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Interviews, Lore, News items

TenTonHammer has done a well-timed interview with Tony Gonzales, Lead Writer for EVE Online, who as of next week will be the published author of a sci-fi novel titled The Empyrean Age. The novel ties in with the namesake game expansion that CCP rolled out just days ago; both the novel and the game deal with the strife of all-out galactic warfare between the four races of New Eden.

Gonzales talks about how he began as a volunteer writer for CCP Games, churning out fan fiction a cut above the rest and catching CCP's eye in the process. He discusses the challenges of making The Empyrean Age novel accessible to any fan of sci-fi, particularly those who are not familiar with the setting of EVE Online and the serendipity of 'being at the right place at the right time.' Have a look at the TenTonHammer interview and get an idea of the universal conflict Tony Gonzales brings to readers and gamers alike in The Empyrean Age. If you're interested in a sneak peak before the June 19 release date, TenTonHammer also has an excerpt from the novel at their site.

Via EVE Online

Tags: book, ccp, ccp-games, dev, empyrean-age, eve, eve-online, expansion, faction, factional-warfare, interview, lore, novel, sci-fi, tentonhammer, tony-gonzales, volunteer

June 10th marks the dawn of EVE's Empyrean Age

by Samuel Axon May 28th 2008 at 7:15PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Launches, News items

CCP announced today that EVE Online's Empyrean Age expansion will go live on the 10th of June. The expansion will be free for all EVE players. Features added include factional warfare with a ranking system, new agents, a new region of space, details on hidden deadspace complexes, and new system occupancy rules.

EVE's in-game news sources have been filled with reports of one violent diplomatic disaster after another, setting the stage for the all out war to come. In addition to those reports, CCP commissioned writer Tony Gonzales to write a novel (also titled Empyrean Age) that reveals in detail the back-story of the conflict.

Empyrean Age is already live on EVE's test server, Singularity. User reactions have been positive so far, and we suspect this update will offer plenty of satisfactory content to tide users over until the Ambulation update downloads later this year.

Tags: agents, ccp, empyrean-age, eve, eve-online, expansion, factional-warfare, june, launch, novel, ranks, singularity, tony-gonzales

Bartle to old guard: "We've already won"

by Akela Talamasca Apr 29th 2008 at 10:30AM

Filed under: Real life, Culture, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Kids

In a wonderful, feel-good-story-of-the-year type of article, Richard Bartle, the father of online gaming, has written a laudable rant in the Guardian, essentially informing the old school haters that they're officially obsolete. You know the ones -- every reporter making a quick buck off of the party line that videogames are dangerous to our psyches; every politician riding the easy ticket of attacking our hobby in the name of protecting the children; every concerned parental activist group calling for the heads of the developers who worked on our chosen pastime -- Bartle has given them notice.

In his delightfully-worded article, Bartle reminds us all that these witch hunts are generational: previously, it was television; before that, the enemy was rock 'n' roll, comic books, even the novel. People fear what they don't understand, and aggression is what they employ to mask that fear. Every previous generation seeks to destroy the entertainment of the new generation, and for our age, it's the videogame that's under fire. Bartle understands this and quite calmly uses this knowledge to signal an end to the previous generation's influence. Yet he doesn't just condemn, he also offers a way out.

Tags: children, comic-books, novel, rant, richard-bartle, rock-n-roll, television, the-guardian, world-of-warcraft

The Daily Grind: Would you read an MMO novelization?

by Akela Talamasca Apr 9th 2008 at 8:00AM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Lore, Opinion, Hellgate: London, The Daily Grind

The funny thing about translating a game to a novel is that it's a tightrope walk between sticking to canon, and inventing something new that feels canonical. Balancing between just writing up the events of the game, and trying to expose action lying just outside of view. Stray too far, and you'll alienate the fanbase; hew too closely, no one will feel the need to read it.

A game like World of Warcraft, though, has a fairly extensive lore, with lots of unexplored nooks and crannies just begging for attention. We can see a great deal of promise in books based on the Hellgate: London title, and can imagine the complexity of EVE Online fiction. What's a good way to turn a game into a novel, and which worlds deserve the treatment?

Tags: canon, eve-online, hellgate-london, novel, novelization, tdg, the-daily-grind, translation, world-of-warcraft