Eve Online is one of the biggest games ever made; a massive multiplayer online (MMO) universe with millions of players that’s been around since 2003. The game features complex true-to-life economies, political factions that often ally and sometimes betray each other, and epic space battles involving tens of thousands of players. It’s more than a game to many players. Some of the ships destroyed in battle cost thousands of real-world dollars to create, the Verge reports.
Eve Online went free-to-play last year as part of its Ascension expansion, and now its creators plan to bring the vast sci-fi universe to mobile devices with Project Aurora.
CCP Games, the developer of Eve Online, has partnered with PlayRaven to deliver its epic sci-fi universe to the handheld market. “We’re all longtime fans of CCP and EVE Online, so we’re immensely proud and honored to be working with such a legendary developer and beloved franchise,” co-founder and CEO Lasse Seppänen said in a press release. “It’s really a dream come true to have the opportunity to create a new Eve experience on mobile.”
CCP has tried Eve spinoffs before, with the PlayStation 3 exclusive Dust 514 and the virtual reality experience Eve Valkyrie, which supports Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, and HTC Vive. Engadget reports that you can even help search for real-life exoplanets with the Project Discovery mini-game launched earlier this year.
Other than a few screenshots, little has been revealed about the actual game itself, such as how the mobile experience may be integrated with the larger Eve universe. According to PlayRaven, players must work together to become the most powerful corporation in the universe by dominating the center of the galaxy.
“For years and years we have wanted to bring the Eve Universe to mobile devices in a way that is tailored to the platform and Eve fans.” Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games, said. “We wanted to find a partner who is passionate about Eve, has a track record of producing high quality and deep mobile games and is capable of creating completely new experiences on mobile.”
Project Aurora is planned for a wide release in 2018, with some limited availability sooner in certain territories in the upcoming months.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.