Well, just a small news update while I've got some time. I've been reading up on some of the goings on at the Game Developers Conference. CCP devs have been talking about upcoming additions to the game and some of them are pretty mouth-watering. Sometime near the end of this month, CCP and Vivox will be finally implementing Voice Chat, which sounds pretty awesome. Initial reports are saying that it'll most likely be a $10 per year service... sounds fair to me.
Next, and I know Frank's gonna appreciate this news with me. It looks like GamersInfo.net is reporting a Linux client as soon as 3 weeks from now, and a Mac client coming sometime this Summer! Finally, I can stop booting onto the Windows side of the MacBook Pro! I think this'll be an awesome reason to stick with Macs for me. The best OS, and now the best MMO, it's really a win/win situation.
And Finally, EVE Ten Ton Hammer has the first exclusive video of in-station avatars. This is another thing that has me drooling in anticipation. And like it said in Issue #6 of EON Magazine, they're looking at early 2008 for a launch date on this feature, so they haven't pushed it back yet, and that time frame has been mentioned twice. And judging from the video, they're well on their way. Also, MMO Evolution has a blog talking a bit about avatars with a bit of interesting info from Magnus: "Bergsson stated that they are looking to synchronize the voice chat with the lips of the avatar. How's that for immersion?" That's one thing that I was speculating might make it to the drawing board, as well as the "hanger" in the video, and the "ship management console" that we see towards the end. Notice also the smoothness of the animations and how natural they look, that's something that's pretty hard to come by these days in MMOs. I have to say, I'm really thrilled with all the effort and imagination the fellas at CCP are putting into this avatar system. But I've talked enough, here's the video from Ten Ton Hammer, enjoy!
