AGDC 07: EVE Online Interview with CEO Hilmar Petursson

As our AGDC coverage comes towards a close, we relate our conversation with CCP Games CEO Hilmar Petursson. He talked to us about EVE Online, the cheating scandal, it's coming graphics upgrade, the next expansion, democratic reforms in the game and the integration of CCP and White Wolf.

One of these developments will be evident in the next free expansion to EVE Online when players finally get to take their pilots out of their ships. Last year, CCP introduced the concept of "walking on stations" with much hype, but few details. It was part of a long range plan that had no timeline. Now it does. Petursson said that he hopes to launch the expansion that lets players walk on stations by the end of 2008, a goal he admits is a bit ambitious.

Before they get people on stations though, CCP will launch their much-hyped graphics upgrade by the end of November. It is almost done - Petursson showed off a bank of images on his laptop - and will revolutionize the ship graphics. EVE has always looked very good, but once they show the before and after images, it's impossible to imagine it any other way. These graphics and shader upgrades completely change the look of the game.

Read more after the jump.

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