“ You ’re going … where ? ”
That ’s the general reaction from almost everyone who ’s learned that I ’m headed to Iceland to coverCCP Games’fourth annualFanfest , in the developer ’s dwelling town of Reykjavik . I acknowledge , it ’s not exactly a key holidaymaker localisation , but I ’m always up for an escapade . Besides , it ’s about time I consecrate my passport some use .
CCP Games is using the event to formally roll out the Macintosh and Linux versions ofEVE Online , its massively multiplayer on-line game gear up in out space . It ’s a game I ’ve been really excited about seeing on the Mac ever since I first acquire about CCP ’s plan this preceding March , at the Games Developers Conference ( GDC ) in San Francisco . It ’s yet another game that ’s being add to the Mac by TransGaming , creators of the Cider engineering that EA recently used to fetch six games to the Mac , including Madden NFL 08 and Need For Speed Carbon .
EVE Online has n’t been released for the Mac just yet , but keep your eyes peeled — announcement should be forthcoming by and by this week .
While Reykjavik may not be as crowing a media hotspot as New York , San Francisco , or Los Angeles , it makes a tidy sum of logistic sense , beyond just being CCP Games ’ domicile townsfolk . It ’s smack- splash in the middle of various points throughout North America and Northern Europe , two geographical regions where EVE Online is the most popular .
Besides , Iceland is cool . I mean , beyond the obvious — it ’s cold , too . When we landed , it was minus-2 grade Celsius . I ’m glad I packed my parka .
“ Iceland ” is something of a misnomer . It ’s pretty temperate , given its northerly latitude , thanks to being on the Atlantic Ocean ’s Gulf Stream — strong waters from the Caribbean make their mode up from the south . According to Landnámabók — Iceland ’s official Holy Scripture of settlement — the region was diagnose by a Scandinavian explorer namedFlóki Vilgerðarson ; the folk tale variation of the fib suggests that he shout , “ Bah , Iceland ” as he left , after suffering a particularly harsh winter .
Iceland is warm for another reason , too : It ’s robust in geothermic activity , so much so that the nation ’s authorities has a very realistic goal of weaning the entire commonwealth from fossil fuel by 2050 — convert all vehicles to H and other zero - discharge systems . That ’ll be an impressive feat to see .
The citizenry , descend from Nordic and Gaelic settlers who came here as far back as the 9th century , are every flake as supernaturally in force wait as their repute suggests . ( Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino once notice “ supermodel working at McDonald ’s ! ” when asked about the dame here . ) But they ’re not all uniformly blonde hirsute and blue - eyed . They are implausibly friendly , however , polite , and almost everyone speak English , which makes it wanton for an unworthy American holidaymaker like me to get around .
If you ’ve never listen of EVE Online , you ’re not alone — while the game has quite a rage following , it miss the tremendous worldwide popularity ofWorld of Warcraft . It ’s understandable : I ’ve been play EVE Online for a few month now , via a Mac with Boot Camp installed , and I can tell you that it ’s a bit intimidating for the newbie . There ’s a lot to empathise . Fans of the biz tell me that they arrive back to it over and over again simply because there ’s so much to do and explore in the plot , and so many different ways to bring it , it never gets boring .
In EVE Online , you assume the theatrical role of the captain of a spaceship . You start out with only the most small-scale , wide-eyed craft , go on canonical missions that demand mining and salvage , step by step increasing your skills until you could pursue in more advanced mission . Many , many EVE Online players at last fall in guilds and tummy , sharing the wealth and experience among many other players .
And unlike World of Warcraft , actor are n’t fragmented into individual server , each with a few hundred player online at any given time . In fact , EVE Online keep a tenacious universe where everyone toy together — tens of one thousand of gamers have accumulate in the EVE universe all at once . Even better , you do n’t involve to be on-line in order for your secret plan character reference to build up skills . As this is set in the far - flung hereafter , you’re able to depend on cybernetic implant to build your technique even when you ’re not playing .
There will be a circumstances to report from the Fanfest , so please appease tuned for more detail . I ’ll be posting from the show day by day .
