Brace yourself for the Eve Online Fanfest where Icelandic gaming company CCP opens its doors to hundreds of players and entertainment press from around the world. Those unfamiliar with the popular sci-fi MMORPG (massively multiplayer on-line role playing game) are invited to come and discover one of the more popular of its kind over three days, culminating in one of the most creative parties Reykavík’s Laugardalshöll has ever held.
Eve Online is a popular game in which people from all over the world fight each other in a ‘single-shared’ space (one universe shared by all players). You’re forgiven for thinking that there’s nothing extraordinary about an online game or its fan festival, but since CCP announced its new venture DUST 514 earlier this year, the gaming industry’s collective gaze turned to the Reykjavík based gaming company in anticipation.
So, why go to Fanfest? Essentially it’s a celebration of a decade of the company’s work, the first major opportunity for CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson to show players all the work put into developing EVE Online in the past year, and a chance to show the world what CCP have been striving so hard to achieve with their new project, Dust 514.
Here it is!
“DUST 514 will redefine its genre. Never before has a first person shooter (FPS) been directly linked into a massive online world like Eve Online, offering console gamers the opportunity to participate in a momentous war,” says Magnús Bergsson, CCP’s VP of Sales. “CCP is going to concentrate the gaming and social experience PC-based MMO gamers enjoy and allow console gamers to directly take part in that experience, while at the same time playing a first class, adrenaline-fuelled FPS. That is what DUST 514 will offer, beyond the enjoyment of a perfectly executed headshot.”
Apart from a sneak peak trailer released at the Games Developers Conference earlier this year, Fanfest will be the first time any information on the game is released.
The Party on Top Of the World
Fanfest’s program includes lectures and roundtables on Eve Online’s development and expansions, interactive agent missions for guests, huge-scale player tournaments, a keynote speech, and The Party On Top Of The World on the 3rd. Event organizer Oddur Ö. Halldórsson describes the party as a transformation of Laugardalshöll “into a sci-fi space station for a massive concert with Margeir and his Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Samúel Samúelsson, Developer Band Röxör and many, many more surprises.”
Hundreds of people from around the world will descend on Reykjavík for Fanfest to celebrate their love of this one game. That’s pretty incredible! The event highlights the massive community following that Eve has amassed and applauds all the hard work that makes Eve a success. More importantly, it shines a spotlight on Iceland, as many players stay for weeks at a time. Finally, it’s a positive example of a creative and passionate Icelandic enterprise taking the world by storm.
- What: fanfest
- When: October 1-3, 2009, Reykjavík
- How much: Full tickets cost 5000ISK
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