CCP and Atari announce contents of EVE Online Retail Box

[SWATJester_os]

CCP AND ATARI ANNOUNCE CONTENTS OF 'EVE ONLINE' RETAIL BOX

Extras Include Exclusive New Ship, 60 Days of Free Game Time, Instant War Access and More

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND and LYON, FRANCE – 24 February, 2009 – Atari and CCP, one of the world's leading independent game developers, today confirmed details regarding the contents of the retail box version of EVE Online, coming to retailers in North America beginning March 10th, 2009 and in Europe and Asia Pacific regions beginning March 12th. The retail version of CCP's award winning PC massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) will ship with a number of high value extras offering newcomers a rewarding first voyage into the incredible universe of EVE Online. The Peak Concurrent User (PCU) record for EVE Online 's 260,000 subscriber single-shard game world has been broken three times in 2009, recently surpassing the 50k mark with 51,675 players online simultaneously, proving EVE's long-lasting depth of gameplay and the importance of the players themselves in its success.

The EVE Online box will include all nine previously released expansions plus the forthcoming tenth expansion entitled EVE Online: Apocrypha which introduces numerous new features including unstable wormholes to explore and modular ships that pilots may tailor-build to suit their own specifications and needs. All subsequent expansions will be free of charge to all subscribers, continuing CCP's commitment to offer free updates and expansions to its subscribers at regular intervals.

Breaking with tradition, the collection of extras will also include 60 days of free game time, a departure from the standard 30 days offered for most MMOGs, allowing players to sign up and get started without paying any subscription fees for the first 60 days of a new account. Alternatively, the included game time may be used to extend an existing subscription or be split into two 30-day codes known as "Pilot License Extensions" (PLEX) that can be sold to other players through the in-game market for in-game currency.

Players redeeming the code to activate a new account will also receive these special in-game items:

INSTANT WAR ACCESS: This certificate allows rapid access to organized combat (through increased standings), helping new players get into the action quickly.
EXCLUSIVE CAREER GUIDE: Accessed via the website to allow for dynamic updates, the guide includes insider tips and tricks.
VIP PASS: Use this card to invite a friend to try the game for 21 days. When that friend becomes an EVE Online subscriber, you will get an additional 30 days of free game time.
EXCLUSIVE IN-GAME SHIP: An exclusive new ship, the Interbus Shuttle, will allow players to fly in style with an increased capacity cargo hold to ferry those extra crucial items at high speeds.
Availability
The manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) for EVE Online is $34.95/€39.99. Price in some regions may vary. Check with your favorite local or online retailer for availability and pricing.

About EVE Online
Set tens of thousands of years in the future, EVE Online is a breathtaking journey to the stars, to an immersive experience filled with adventure, riches, danger and glory. With nearly a quarter of a million subscribers worldwide inhabiting the same virtual universe, EVE features a vast player-run economy where your greatest asset is the starship, designed to accommodate your specific needs, skills and ambitions. EVE offers professions ranging from commodities trader to mercenary, industrial entrepreneur to pirate, mining engineer to battle fleet commander or any combination of these and much more. From brokering business deals to waging war, you will have access to a diverse array of sophisticated tools and interfaces to forge your own destiny in EVE. Learn more and sign up for a free trial at www.eveonline.com.

Definition of Subscribers
EVE Online subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active electronic time code (ETC) to play EVE Online, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions and expired ETCs.

About CCP
CCP is widely recognized as an industry-leading pioneer of the single-server persistent universe architecture as the developer and publisher of EVE Online, the critically-acclaimed, science fiction-based massively multiplayer online game (MMOG). Utilizing a cross-discipline approach combining cutting-edge technology and artistic excellence, CCP is dedicated to providing vibrant, compelling products that transcend the boundaries of conventional MMOGs and facilitate social networking through virtual worlds. Privately held and founded in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1997, CCP's international reach now spans the globe with offices in Atlanta and Shanghai as well as a base of operations in London. More information about CCP is available at the company's website, www.ccpgames.com.

About Infogrames Entertainment and Atari:
The Infogrames group, including the Atari brand and the massively multiplayer online game company Cryptic Studios, is a global producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software for all market segments and all interactive game platforms including consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, advanced smartphones, Personal Computers, web and online. Its games are sold in more than 60 countries through an international distribution network and direct to consumers via www.atari.com.
Atari's extensive catalogue of popular games is based on original franchises (Test Drive, Alone in the Dark, V-Rally, My Horse & Me, Backyard Sports franchise, Total Annihilation, Outcast etc.), Cryptic Studios titles (StarTrek Online, Champions Online), publishing properties (Ghostbusters, The Chronicles of Riddick, The Witcher, Race Pro etc.), international licenses (Dragon Ball Z, Dungeons & Dragons, Jamie Oliver etc.) and classic games covering the entire history of the video game industry (Pong, Missile Command, Asteroids etc)© 2009 Atari Europe SASU. All rights reserved.

[SWATJester_os]

Someone with news privileges should post this on the front page, since I am too lazy to format it

[D0INK]

I want a god damn special shuttle.

[Captain Colon]

So basically

1. Buy box version to get sweet shuttle
2. "Invite" friend who wants a second account anyway, get 30 days free
3. Sell time for ~700mil-1bil? (forget how much it goes for) ISK
4. ???
5. Profit

[PsychoMantis]

Basically you should just download the damn game anyways like we've been doing for years.

[BattleWhack]

Someone with news privileges should post this on the front page, since I am too lazy to format it

Hmm... I guess I can take a whack at it.

E: done

[Ashlita]

I'll probly buy it, I want that friggin shuttle. Then Ill just take the 60 days and sell em. They are going for about 600 - 650mil.

-Ash

[Splitlip]

I'll probly buy it, I want that friggin shuttle. Then Ill just take the 60 days and sell em. They are going for about 600 - 650mil.

-Ash

if its possible, this. they prolly have the game-time tied to the account key in the box though.

[friedCrumpet]

if its possible, this. they prolly have the game-time tied to the account key in the box though.

You can sell the included time:

Breaking with tradition, the collection of extras will also include 60 days of free game time, a departure from the standard 30 days offered for most MMOGs, allowing players to sign up and get started without paying any subscription fees for the first 60 days of a new account. Alternatively, the included game time may be used to extend an existing subscription or be split into two 30-day codes known as "Pilot License Extensions" (PLEX) that can be sold to other players through the in-game market for in-game currency.

Whether you can get the Interbus shuttle or not in an existing account is not clear.

[Tori Storm]

i needed a GTC around that time neways, so ill go ahead and buy the boxed version.

[Krull]

wtf is the war deal,,, they gonna let noobs train faster??
INSTANT WAR ACCESS: This certificate allows rapid access to organized combat (through increased standings), helping new players get into the action quickly

[BattleWhack]

Yeah.. the gist of it ill be instead of noobs starting out with 900k sp, they'll start out like with 100k but will train skills at 2x speed for 2 months or something like that.

[xStormwingx]

wat? i thought it was just that standings were increased so that boxnoobs can get into FW faster.

increased skilltraining would be fail and i havent seen any whines about it so i doubt its true tbh

[friedCrumpet]

http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=630

tl;dr - Double training speed for noobs until they reach 1.6mill SP. Applies to all new characters.

[Maddog]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a179/Vesty/IMG_6663.jpg

saw this bad boy in my local walmart back in 03 and from the box alone, knowing nothing about it, bought the game.

[BattleWhack]

wat? i thought it was just that standings were increased so that boxnoobs can get into FW faster.

increased skilltraining would be fail and i havent seen any whines about it so i doubt its true tbh

You dare to doubt me? The forum whore? Silly man!

[xStormwingx]

http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=630

tl;dr - Double training speed for noobs until they reach 1.6mill SP. Applies to all new characters.
what the shit!? fail!
You dare to doubt me? The forum whore? Silly man!
:(

[friedCrumpet]

what the shit!? fail!

:(

I dunno I'm not too concerned about it - a while back one of the expansions (trinity?) gave noobs 800K or so SP when they first started, vs the 30-150K that older players had got. They've changed it so that you now start with that low amount again but double train to 1.6m - if you consider starting at 800 and training regular speed to 1.6m vs starting 100K and training double speed to 1.6m it works out about the same. The difference is you get to pick almost exactly which skills you want to train.

[BattleWhack]

I dunno I'm not too concerned about it - a while back one of the expansions (trinity?) gave noobs 800K or so SP when they first started, vs the 30-150K that older players had got. They've changed it so that you now start with that low amount again but double train to 1.6m - if you consider starting at 800 and training regular speed to 1.6m vs starting 100K and training double speed to 1.6m it works out about the same. The difference is you get to pick almost exactly which skills you want to train.

That. Makes training shit alts faster.

[Druzil]

70k SP starting char representin' <---


edit: maybe it was 90k...can't remember

[friedCrumpet]

Thinking about it a bit more you can probably reach 1.6m a bit quicker than the old way if you focus heavily on learning skills. So it's good for starting new alts, but most noobs don't like training learning skills as it feels like training time wasted (no new unlocks!).

[Nano]

CCP will probably give existing subscribers the shuttle anyway. I'd probably get the box set anyways just for completeness. (I still have the original Retail EvE-Online CD somewhere, just reread the manual again for many lols).

Edit: Taking bets on how many I'll get out of suicides in next 60 days...go!