EVE Online 'Exploratory Project' For Tablets, Smartphones Demonstrated

At its EVE Fanfest gathering over the weekend, CCP Games showed off an "exploratory project" it conducted with Nvidia to run an abridged version of its MMORPG EVE Online on Tegra 2-powered tablets and smartphones. While not a complete version of the sci-fi game, the demonstration showed a spacecraft rendered in realtime from EVE Online with a similar user interface. The Reykjavik-based developer and publisher said the mobile edition would take place in the same single-shard universe, too. "We've been working a lot on the backend to enable EVE over http, but the problem we run into is that a lot of people seem to equate that with a web browser," said CCP's chief technology officer Halldor Fannar at a press event during EVE Fanfest, according to a report from Edge. "It doesn't necessarily mean that – it means any of these devices can start extracting data and also writing data back. So it opens up the possibility of having dedicated applications for doing market transactions, managing your skill queue and, for instance, fitting your spaceship." CCP did not announce a public release date for the project, nor did the company hint at releasing it for systems not powered by Nvidia's Tegra chip, like Apple's iOS devices, but it mentioned that the game could be used for EVE Online tasks like trading on the in-game market or managing skill queues. Online game publishers like Blizzard (World of Warcraft), Sony Online Entertainment (EverQuest II), and NCsoft (Aion) have released similar mobile and browser applications for their titles that allow subscribers to manage their auctions, equipment, and other aspects when away from the games.