Massively^™

We recently ran a screenshot from our very own EVE Online fiend, James Egan, of his favorite first faction ship. Since then, other EVE Online players have written in to send us some of their favorite ships as well! Today's cool first ship comes to us from Jonathan C. (sorry, no character name given) who sent in the above image of his Angel Cartel frigate. Jonathan writes: I still fly my Dramiel around from time to time. Not really much of a ship, but it can be fun, and I still love how it looks. For a frigate class, we have to agree; the Dramiel is pretty wicked looking.

If you've got a favorite method of transport in your game (be it a ship, a horse, flight form, or what have you) we'd love to see it. After all, the achievement is more fun when you can show it off -- and what better place than One Shots? Just send those screenshots in along with your name, game and a quick description of what we're seeing in the image. Mail them to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com and relax. We'll post them for everyone to enjoy and give you the credit.

If you'd like to get an early taste of what ship types will be offered in Jumpgate Evolution, then head on over to their ships page and take a gander. For the time being NetDevil is showing off combat, mining and transport ship types on its website. That's a lot to choose from, but thankfully you're not left in the dark on any ship. There are paragraph long write-ups on everything from heavy military escort ships up to speedy blockade runners.

We're looking forward to darting our way through some contested space in our "GZ 23 Mad-Rabbit" (yes that's a made up name) to make a quick buck. Of course, we're sure that somebody will try and blow us into frozen space giblets with a light interceptor. That's what we (will eventually) get for trying to earn money by selling armaments between opposing factions, we (at a later date, will) suppose.

The latest Ask Cryptic focusing on Star Trek Online addresses a number of questions sci-fi fans have about where the IP is heading in the MMO space. Not surprisingly, many of the questions asked of Cryptic deal with how well they'll adhere to Star Trek canon.

The Cryptic Studios devs were asked about how they would handle the iconic story and characters of Star Trek, namely with voiceovers and cut scenes. The devs state that Star Trek Online avoids issues of tampering with Trekkie canon by setting the game in 2409, a good 30 years after Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek: Voyager. So while some of the locales familiar to Star Trek fans will be present in the game, players shouldn't expect to bump into any (or many) familiar faces.

Jim Rossignol has become well-known in the game journalism scene, more recently as a regular contributor at RockPaperShotgun and the author of This Gaming Life. Along the way, he's become a veteran EVE Online player, and he's passing along some of that combat know-how to readers in a series of articles at Eurogamer. Rossignol is starting out slow with the first installment, easing readers into "the basic principles of killing people," but he'll progress to more advanced aspects of combat and conflict in EVE. Ultimately, he hopes to introduce players to the ambitions and tactics of New Eden's alliances, which can number well into the thousands of players.

In 'combat basics', Rossignol relates the basic principles of combat in EVE Online to the standard groupings of damage, tank, crowd-control, and healer that most MMO gamers are familiar with from other titles. He notes that these combat roles are quite different in EVE, as a given ship's module fittings give players a great deal of flexibility, but of course makes for a more complex PvP system. Rossignol touches on the idea that speed is king in EVE, and he's correct. Just keep in mind that the nano-era's days are numbered, a fact which Rossignol stresses as well. Have a look at Rossignol's combat basics, and his take on the ever-changing state of PvP in EVE Online.

[Via CrazyKinux]

Steam is having a weekend sale which includes the sci-fi MMO EVE Online, now offered for $9.99. The Steam sale pricing ends on Monday, June 9th. If you're interested in giving EVE Online a go, then grab it on Steam now. That's not a bad way to burn $10 and 6 gigs of hard disk space, take it from a convert to the game. And of course you'll get the free Empyrean Age expansion that CCP Games is rolling out on June 11th. Check out Steam's EVE page -- where they're also offering a free 21-day trial -- and who knows, maybe we'll see you in the galaxy of New Eden soon. Just don't get too attached to that ship...

Via Gaming Today

The SS Galaxy is impressive. Crossing three simulators and on the order of 600 metres long, it is the single largest structure that we are aware of in Second Life. (If there's something larger than the SS Galaxy, by all means let us know!)

We took a trip to the SS Galaxy this week, and crawled over it from stem to stern, to see exactly what it offered, other than just an event venue.

Many people have wanted to get involved and enjoy Pirates of the Burning Sea's user-submitted content system, but as things currently work, the turnaround time between submitting a flag or sail design and actually being able to purchase it in game has left something to be desired. Thankfully, Flying Lab Software realized that this situation needs fixing, and have announced that User Content 2.0 is on the way.

This re-haul of the user content submission process changes the way that player's designs are voted on and approved. Other players will be shown two different designs at a time, and will have to choose which one they think is better/more appropriate to the time. After a design receives a certain amount of winning votes, it goes off to be approved by FLS. To be able to submit more designs, players need to spend some time in the voting process, so there's incentive to do the sorting work. Some other changes to how you can show off your work in the forums are also detailed in the User Content 2.0 announcement.

We haven't been told when exactly the new system will be in place, but for now the old process is still in use. Don't forget that if you're that little bit more adventurous, you can submit a 3D ship model as well, and if this intrigues you then check out the Shipwright Discussion forum -- you'll be in good company.

We have to say, one of the things that we've enjoyed in games was watching the evolution of travel systems. Now, this isn't to poke too much fun at the old way -- after all, a lot of friendships were started while sitting in Butcherblock Mountains or Qeynos in EverQuest and waiting for the boats to show up. (You know, when they actually worked.) But there's something to be said for having your own personal way of getting around quickly -- be it a horse, a super travel-power, a spaceship, or a pirate ship! As games evolve, there are more and more options; Warhammer Online has some pretty cool-looking mounts coming up. On the other hand, games like Perfect World do utterly bizarre things with them like piling people on top of tigers on top of giant flying manta rays like the one in the picture above. Today we'd like to know what your #1 personal method of travel has been in your game? Are you addicted to Flying or Super Jump? Is the Skeletal Warhorse your pick of choice? Is there nothing better for you than a high-end spaceship or a nice heavy pirate ship? How do you get around?