EVE Fanfest 2014 day two: Details on EVE's Kronos update, plus booze and fighting

Last night I watched a procession of CCP developers wrestle with undefeated MMA fighter Gunnar Nelson. Unsurprisingly, they didn't win, but it certainly was a spectacle—especially when the last guy, who looks like Zangief and towered over Nelson—arrived in in the arena from above, suspended in the air by ropes. CCP know how to have fun, but Fanfest is also, as players often say about EVE, serious business. Throughout the day fans join developers in round table meetings to steer the direction of the game based on their own experiences. It's a remarkable community event as well as a way for people like me to see what new projects, and updates of existing ones, the company is working on.

The main event yesterday, besides the fight, was the EVE Online key note. Senior producer Andie Nordgren talked players through some of the changes coming to the game. Rather than release two big updates a year, CCP are instead doing 10 smaller releases, starting with Kronos in June. This update will overhaul industry in the game, and make manufacturing more intuitive, as well as a number of changes that only the most hardcore of EVE fans will understand. Fanfest is a place where people cheer for percentage tweaks and new ship sounds like they were at a football match. Being in a room with so many passionate people rubs off on you. As soon as I get back from Iceland, I'm playing EVE.

One of the biggest reactions at the keynote was the new jump animations. That might not sound particularly impressive, but they were genuinely brilliant. When ships jump in and out of a system, they disappear in a flash of light with a satisfying thooom sound. The sight of an entire fleet jumping in is a sight to behold, and created such a stir in the crowd that they showed the video twice. Kronos is a large update, but the others, also named after Titans, will be smaller. The thinking behind it, Nordgren says, is to allow CCP to get new content into the game faster. They think this will result in more creativity from the team as they can get new ideas and concepts into the game more efficiently.

I spent some time wandering around the venue talking to players, asking them why they play EVE, and what brings them to Fanfest. The variety of people and answers was really interesting: I spoke to a mother whose children play with her and her husband, and a representative of EVE University, a corporation that helps new players who are understandably daunted by the game. The people here are crazy about EVE, and it's infectious. Everyone I spoke to was incredibly polite and friendly, even though, by their own admission, their in-game alter egoes are anything but. I heard some great war stories, and I don't think I've ever met a more interesting group of people.

After the Gunnar Nelson fight, the attendees of Fanfest poured out onto the streets of Reykjavik for the infamous pub crawl. Split into teams, players, press, and developers got hammered together, and you're allowed to drink on the street in Iceland, so the boozing never really stops. At least until everyone is unconscious back at their hotels. There's a really great atmosphere around Fanfest, and it feels like the event is taking over Reykjavik. Everywhere I go there are huge posters of the game, including the airport when I arrived, and Fanfest attendees get discounts at bars and shops around the city. After aluminium, fish, and Bjork, EVE is one of the country's most profitable businesses.

So that was day two of Fanfest. Today is the last day, and is ending with what CCP are calling the 'Party at the Top of the World'. If the last couple of days are anything to go by, it promises to be quite the event. I'll be talking to more developers and players today, and seeing more new EVE stuff, so keep your eye on the website for more reportage.

You can read Andy's recap of EVE Fanfest's first day here .

Andy Kelly

If it’s set in space, Andy will probably write about it. He loves sci-fi, adventure games, taking screenshots, Twin Peaks, weird sims, Alien: Isolation, and anything with a good story.

Latest in Sim
An ancient, angry stone mech from No Man's Sky's new Relics update
No Man’s Sky lets you unearth ancient, angry mechs in the astro-archaeology filled Relics update
Dwarf Fortress adventure mode art
After 23 years of making Dwarf Fortress, even its creator is still 'terrified' of drowning all his dwarves with aquifers: 'Part of the problem is we are just not good at videogames'
Tarn Adams, who cofounded Bay 12 Games with his brother Zach, talks about their single-player simulation game "Dwarf Fortress" during an interview at their home office in Poulsbo, Washington, west of Seattle, on December 9, 2022. - A cult favorite among indie game fans, "Dwarf Fortress" has been available for purchase on the Steam online store since December 6, a first for this title that has been distributed for free since its debut in 2006. The real-time management game, set in a medieval-fantasy world and involving overseeing a group of dwarves seeking to build a mighty fortress, has climbed to the fourth best-selling weekly title on Steam. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
Dwarf Fortress' creator is so tired of hearing about AI: 'Press a button and it writes a really sh*tty, wrong essay about something—and they still take your job'
Decorations in TCG Card Shop Simulator
TCG Card Shop Simulator finally adds the ability to decorate our stores, and suddenly all my profits are being spent on adorable Pigni posters
A person on a snowmobile riding a track in the forest in game Sledders.
Powder enthusiasts seem pretty pleased with new physics-based realistic snowmobile sim Sledders
Dean Hall at GDC 2025.
Outer space inspired DayZ's Dean Hall to become a modder and game developer, and now he's making a Kerbal successor called Kitten Space Agency
Latest in News
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Otter AI Meeting Agent
As if your work meetings weren't already fun enough, now Otter has a new all-hearing AI agent that remembers everything anyone has said and can join in the discussion