The new EVE Online character creator: It just gets better! [VIDEO]

The more we learn about the new Character Creator that will get realeased with Incursion, the more I get excited about Incarna! And despite the fact that the following videos shows a work-in-progress version of the creator, it hints at some major tweaking ability which will hopefully allow for some character diversification - when it comes to their looks.

I'll let you be the judge!

EVE Online's New Character Creator Looks Promising [VIDEO]

Can't wait to start playing around with it!

Friday Video: James Cameron's Avatar

I'll be honest, when I first heard about this movie, and the game project behind it, I was very skeptical. The initial teaser was a piece of crap and didn't promise anything interesting. But then again, this was James Cameron, the guy behind Escape from New York, The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, as well as a favorite of mine, Aliens. We knew there was potential!

I have to say, this trailer looks pretty sweet! I'd love to know your thoughts though!

For more info: [Official Twitter] [Official Movie Site] [Comic-Con Avatar Interview] [Apple HD versions]

Amazing Video of Ambulation Character Creation

The fine folks at TenTonHammer (TTH) have done it again. Earlier this week they released a really cool video of a Comic Con presentation from Ben Mathis, Character Artist at CCP. In the video, Ben goes over the Character Creation process which we'll soon have a chance to play with, when Ambulation comes out - remember that we will all have to redo our character's look when it rolls out.

In the video Ben explains that as they've done with the ships and station with the release of Trinity, they want to move away from cartoony looking avatars and get closer to a realistic and shadowy look. The character creation process looks something like this:

• bloodline
• physique (skinny to fat)
• depending on your weight/height ratio, you will walk differently
• complexion
• facial modifiers (tattoos, scars, make-up, freckles, etc)
• facial hair
• hair styles
• costumes

He goes on to say that avatars will have mood and be allowed to portray facial expression - that depending on your mood your expressions will differ.

He then goes into details about the costumes and interior decor and how professional fashion designers (costumes) and architects (interior decors) worked on Ambulation.

There is a bit of old info, but being able to see CCP's latest work on Ambulation is really amazing.

So head over to TTH and take a look at that video!

/me wipes the drool off my chin...


[see other EVE Online videos]

EVE Online Speedlinking for March 22nd, 2008

Well as I start to put together this week's list of links, I've just docked into Phoenix Labs Home station in Khanid Prime. Seems that our ops in Nuken is coming to a close. During my absence on the other side of the pond, the orders were given to move back to KP. Khanid Kingdom has been home to PPL for so long it's hard to imagine leaving for too long.

Anyways, back to this week's news and links. It's a long one this week, so grab yourself a coffee and start reading!

• Post your interstellar résumé at EVE Careers - Massively.com on EVE-Careers site
• Beastoria strikes again? - EVE runs skin deep for this dedicated gamers!
• Probing - Votrian comes across a great probing guides and shares his thoughts on it
• Caldari Navy Ibis: Noob Adventures in New Eden - a new EVE Online newby blog
• Mahogany Finish - Very opinonated, yet so entertaining (Warning! WoW content present)
• Goonswarm wants you! - James from Kill Ten Rats comes across an interesting corp ad
• Warp Drive Active Podcast #31 and #32 are now available at the VW Podcast Collective
• Try Catch in Eve Online - Proof that the EVE Devs have a sense of humour
• EVE Online: Frickin Huge, Frickin Difficult, But Kinda Frickin Cool. - Even Halo players get hooked
• Return of the Drake - Meaderings of Wihelm2451 on Caldari NPC missions
• The Drone Bay Episode #3 - This time, without yours truly
• The Council of Stellar Management, new blog by Xhagen - the title says it all
• The Council of Stellar Management - Call for Candidates officially began on March 18th
• Eve Avatars - Animated Forum Avatars - as mentioned below, get yours quickly!
• Your favourite ship in Eve - So what's your pick?
• Elections for EVE's player council begin in May - The CSM becomes a reality, well almost.
• Player governance in EVE - James, yes the same James from above, on the CSM
• What Can Virtual-World Economists Tell Us about Real-World Economies? - Scientific American covers EVE Economics!
• Maugrim McFiriba's Eve Online Journal - A well done in-Character EVE blog
• The Daily Grind: In-game cash for subscriptions? - CCP's (partial) answer to Real-Money-Trade
• Probing part 2: Tools of the Trade - Votrian continues his essay on Probing
• EVE Online Holds Democratic Elections - More coverage of the CSM
• The Seven Month Itch - Keeping your EVE Mojo up!
• The Amalgamated CSM Thread - Omber Zombie's list of all CSM EVE Forum threads!
• EVE's Council of Stellar Management: Making E-Democracy Work - Crovan on the CSM
• The architects of EVE society talk player elections - An interview with CCP on the CSM
• Speaking of the CSM, WDA Podcast #32 has a great segment on it - Make sure you listen to it
• Agony Unleashed - Copter's EVE Online Corp website
• The Stoned Hippies - An EVE Corp website; don't let the name fool you though

As I said before, a busy week. Losts of news on the Council of Stellar Management this week, a result of CCP making the annoucement that the Call for Candidates was now open. MMO history in the making folks. We live in interesting times I tell ya!

Ok, now it's time to undock and pay a visit to a couple of pirates! Fly safe folks!

EVE Avatars: get your EVE character portrait animated

I recently got contacted by a fellow EVE player Copter Pilot, who runs a nice little business animating our EVE Online character portrait. I must say I was surprised at the quality of the work and the results. It's almost freaky! Check out Treenara animated expression in the sidebar.


If you're interested in seeing a great example of his work, head to over to The Stoned Hippies Corp and you'll see a flash animation with voice over - very impressive. Looking to get your avatar animated? Head over to EVE Avatars and get yours done. Copter "charge[s] 20 million isk to capture and animate a player's portrait and return to him an avatar package consisting a single animation in 4 default sizes: 125x125, 100x100, 85x85, and 65x65 to use as forum avatars on all their favorite forums." It's a great way to add some fun to that static character portrait.

EVE Online to use latest animation engine technology

As it's been mentioned on numerous sites over the course of the day (Gamasutra, IGN, GamesIndustry, Voodoo Extreme), CCP has chosen NaturalMotion's Morpheme animation engine to render the avatars, aka player characters (and NPCs I guess) in full 3D, as part of it's Ambulation project (see this EVE Forum thread for the whole story).

From the various videos available on NaturalMotion's site (a 69mb video requires registration), on Youtube, as well as an earlier video post on this blog, I'm very impressed to see the length to which our favorite Viking devs are going, to offer us an immersive game. There has never been better rendered motion in any MMO, to my knowledge.

"CCP has shown that they have the ability to take virtual worlds to new places," said Andy Payne, NaturalMotion's VP of Sales, Europe/Asia. "With NaturalMotion's morpheme technology, CCP will be able to blaze even more trails through the MMO space."

Ambulation looks very promising. Don't you think?

Are you using EVE Voice?

For many of us, voice chat in MMORPGs is a must. At Phoenix Labs we've been using TeamSpeak as the de facto software choice, despite the recent release of EVE Voice. We use it mainly for important operations such as mining and hauling. It's a simple and efficient way of working together as a team, and that's the main reason why we use it.

But there is also the ability to roleplay, and in turn this creates some interesting problems. Gents playing female characters and ladies playing male characters. Now, my corp doesn't roleplay, so in a way I don't have this problem, but if they did I would have an interesting delima.

As many of you know, my avatar in EVE is female; Treenara Mazouk is a Gallente, one of the for races in EVE. When I play games I create characters of both sexes with no particular preferences - sometimes males, sometimes females. This poses an interesting problem if I were to roleplay her "and" use a voice chat software like EVE Voice. Now I really do not sound like a Treenara and hearing a 35 year male speaking as a female gallente would surely kill the mood.

Which brings me to the following article over at Terra Nova , which referred to this article over at Wired. Go ahead, take the time to read both articles before continuing here. I'll wait for you.

So if I 'was' able to alter my voice while using a voice chat software would I do it? In terms of roleplaying this would surely provide a more immersive experience, but what would the consequence be? Would I need to tell every new player character I met that I was a man playing a female avatar? Would I wait a while before telling them, until, say we had developed a roleplaying relationship and I would feel weird continuing without "coming out". Which bring me to another recent post over at Random Battle, "Wait, you're a girl?" Cameron's article is very interesting and the tests he's done are very impressive. But what are the implications of using them. With these voice altering software the roleplaying capabilities have been expanded. I'd certainly will give it a try, though as a non-roleplay corp member, the opportunities won't abound. But if were doing more roleplaying as part of my EVE experience, I would seriously consider using such a tool with EVE Voice or whichever voice chat software I'd be using.

What about you?

The recent poll I ran on EVE Voice, showed that almost half of you use a voice chat software while playing EVE. Have any of you had a chance to use these voice altering add-ons? I'd love to know if you did. Are you still using it? How was it when you tried? Did it feel weird? What was the reaction from the other players? I'd love to know.

Video of EVE Online avatars walking through station

Though this may be a bit old, I still thought that you'd want to see it. I was blown away wen I saw the video. There's no date as to when CCP will be releasing this amazing feature in-game, but the wait will be worth it. The video was filmed as part of a Ten Ton Hammer interview with Magnus Bergsson, CCP's CMO. It's full of interesting (though somewhat outdated) information. To some of you this won't be news, for the others, enjoy.

Tomorrow at fmx in Stuttgart Germany, Torfi Frans Ólafsson, Technical Producer at CCP, will be speaking on this very subject: "From space ships to avatars: Adding full-body Characters to EVE Online". I wish I could get my hands on his speech or a video of his presentation. If you happen to have additional information, please feel free to post a comment and share it. Here's and excerpt on his presentation"

"Torfi will talk about the development of a hybrid motion capture and procedural character animation system being built for an upcoming EVE Online expansion, currently in development. The system will allow its players to socialize inside stations using high resolution full-body avatars."

Gaming: The Escapist issue #30

The Escapist #30 was released yesterday. This week they cover how the gaming industry was influence, and still is, by pen-based Roleplaying Games. Makes for a great read for any of us who's ever played D&D, AD&D, MERP, Traveler. Boy does it ever bring back memories. This is one issue you definitely do not want to miss.

In Celebration of the Inner Rogue
by Mark Wallace
Is the avatar separate from you, or is it an extension of yourself?

The Contrarian: Masks in the Woods
by John Tynes
How has MMO influenced the Role-Players and is there a place for them (us) in today's MMORPG

I Enjoy Playing a Girl
by Chris Dahlen
Why? Why not play someone completely different from yourself! Also see my earlier post on the subject.

A Roleplayer in Azeroth
by Will Hindmarch
With computer based RPG, we've gained a lot in terms of the visuals, but at what cost? Is it limiting our imagination or making it boundless?

Remember the Ice Chicken
by Nova Barlow
It's a whole new experience out there!

Terra Nova: Virtual Transvestitism

A lot of the characters I play in games are female, though I do play male characters from time to time. I've never given it any thoughts. I mean basically it comes down to esthetics: if I'm going to spends hours a week playing and looking at an avatar, it might as well be pleasing to the eye.

Over at Terra Nova, a great blog on virtual worlds, there's a very interesting discussion (Terra Nova: Virtual Transvestitism: An Introduction) on this subject and some of the implications one has to consider.

I suggest heading over there and giving it a good read. It's worth your time.