Thanks, Massively.

Okay, Iceland: you are now on the naughty list. We’re taking Sigur Rós from you as well. You can keep Bjork if you want.

According to a report from Fidgit (via Big Download), the formal reveal of Bulletstorm, which was due to take place next week, has now been cancelled due to the Icelandic volcano still giving out more ash from within.

And despite numerous airports and airspace now opening up again in various countries after the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, which has scared the fuck out of Northern and Western European airspace for the past week, publisher EA has decided it’s still not safe enough to fly over journalists to San Francisco for the debut of the People Can Fly shooter.

It’s unknown if the event will be rescheduled or if it’ll be revealed at E3.

Bulletstorm was revealed in the latest issue of Game Informer earlier this month, with a formal announcement last week.

The game’s due for a release in 2011 for PS3, 360 and PC.

Mindscape, the Australian distributor for Konami, has revealed to Kotaku that some of its upcoming releases have been delayed due to canceled flights around Europe.

This is all thanks to the ash from the volcano heard round the world – Iceland’s very angry Eyjafjallajokull.

“Due to the second eruption of the Iceland volcano and further disruption to flights, our shipment of Wii stock will be delayed,” said a Mindscape spokesperson.

“One of the world’s leading freight forwarders, Expeditors, has advised this morning that, due to the substantial freight shipments that are building up around the world, they are uncertain how quickly the backlog will be cleared.”

Here is an update on some of the delays until man is once again allowed to take to the skies:

• Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii) will miss its April 22 release – while PS2 and PSP versions will still hit on Friday.
• Puzzle Chronicles (PSP, DS)
• Karaoke Revolution (PS3, Wii)
• Scene It? Twilight (Wii, DS)
• GTi Club Supermini Festa (Wii)
• Sports Island (DS)

Thankfully, EVE Online players will not be affected.

Just in case you thought Icelandic developer CCP was in some kind of lava survival situation, you can stop panicking: it isn’t.

The EVE Online creator has told Eurogamer that the amazingly helpful Eyjafjallajökull volcano – the one that’s currently fucking the living shit out of European air travel – is 130km from its office in Reykjavík.

“Volcanic eruptions are a regular occurrence here in Iceland,” said CCP spokesperson Sveinn Jóhannesson Kjarval.

“As such we have been wise enough to locate our major settlements mostly out of harm’s way.”

EVE’s servers are in London, for the record.

So. That crisis there never was? Never happened. If you and your Icelandic brethren could get the magic earth monkeys to switch the big fire off now, Sveinn, that’d be awesome.

EG has for you four new screens of CCP’s console MMO Dust 514.

They also have a massive preview of the game taken from the developer’s fanfest at the weekend in Iceland. Read it here.

Get the screens through the first link. No date yet for the game.

The Guardian’s reporting that Iceland’s banking collapse may mean CCP may have to move itself, and EVE Online, out of the country.

Says the piece:

On three shiny floors of a former fish factory is CCP, a company best known in computer gaming for Eve Online, which has 300,000 participants all over the world – as many inhabitants as Iceland itself. However, restrictions on access to foreign currency for individuals and businesses and on foreign investment into Iceland are making life difficult. “To make new games, we need foreign investors,” says Eyjolfur Gudmundsson, formerly an assistant professor at the University of Akureyri, who
supervises Eve’s virtual economy. “The present currency restrictions are putting us in a straitjacket. We are in talks with the government, but if we can’t let capital in, we might be compelled to leave Iceland, even though this would be against our wishes.”

Unthinkable. Via Massively and Blue.

CCP’s told attendees at the EVE fanfest in Iceland that the graphics of the MMO’s Premium version are only half complete.

The Premium version was introduced with the Trinity expansion late last year.

“EVE in a a state where, if you run the Premium graphics edition, half of it is done, you could say,” said CCP’s chief technologist Halldor Fannar.

“The particle system really shows its age now if you’re flying a Premium ship,” he added. “The effects are like from another era.”

There’s much more on Eurogamer.

The fifth Fanfest takes place from November 6-8 at the Laugardalsholl Conference Center in Reykjavik.

Go. Iceland’s amazing and it should be windy enough in November to make lead boots necessary.

“We had a great dialogue with the developers and they were exceedingly open to our ideas and suggestions and pretty straightforward in explaining technical limitations where not. It was clear that some changes we suggested were already on CCP’s agenda, but it was also nice to see the occasional ‘eureka’, ‘why didn’t we think of that?’ moment amongst the developers. This clearly demonstrated the value of the process both to us as players but also to CCP,” said Andrew Cruse, CSM chairman.

Game aside, having a meeting in Iceland would be pleasing to anyone, frankly. Amazing place. Full thing after the link.

‘Internet Chieftains’ Head Home from Iceland

First Council of Stellar Management meeting hailed a success

Delegates from the first democratically elected MMO player Council have declared themselves pleased with their initial face-to-face meeting with CCP (www.ccpgames.com), the developers of leading Internet spaceship game, EVE Online (www.eve-online.com).

Over 25,000 EVE players voted to select the initial nine delegates to represent them on the ‘Council of Stellar Management’ (CSM). Following the elections, the nine Councillors worked with the player base to identify and prioritise game-related issues ranging from combat through economy to design of the user interface. These issues formed the basis of the agenda for the three-day meeting at CCP’s Headquarters in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Prior to the face-to-face meeting, Councillors (and players) aired concerns that the CSM had been created simply as a PR tool to generate publicity for the game. However, it soon became apparent that senior management at CCP have really bought into the process and see a long-term role for the CSM as an important institution for player participation in the future development of EVE.

Over the course of the CSM meeting, more than 30 game related issues were discussed by Councillors and senior members of the CCP development team, which included game designers, programmers, storyline staff and members of the quality assurance team. The meetings were chaired and moderated by a neutral arbitrator from an Icelandic university.

Many issues and ideas raised by the CSM were accepted by CCP and are being built into the game development pipeline for implementation in future patches. Other ideas were seen as problematic to implement but compromises and alternatives were discussed for further feasibility investigation by CCP. A few ideas were dismissed outright on the basis of being technically difficult to implement without diverting huge programming/development resources, at the detriment of advancing other elements of the game.

“We had a great dialogue with the developers and they were exceedingly open to our ideas and suggestions and pretty straightforward in explaining technical limitations where not. It was clear that some changes we suggested were already on CCP’s agenda, but it was also nice to see the occasional ‘Eureka’, – ‘why didn’t we think of that?’ moment amongst the developers. This clearly demonstrated the value of the process both to us as players but also to CCP,” said Andrew Cruse, Chairman of the CSM.

As part of their trip to Iceland the CSM Councillors were taken to visit the birthplace of Icelandic democracy at Thingvellir (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Eingvellir). Thingvellir is reputedly home to the oldest Parliament in the world. From 930 AD chieftains’ from across Iceland would meet there annually to discuss the law and settle disputes. During the visit to Thingvellir, Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, CCP’s lead economist, made a rousing speech describing the CSM delegates as the first ‘Internet chieftains’ and ‘pioneers’ of democracy in online communities.

“While it is very gratifying to be described as an ‘Internet chieftain’ what really matters is proving to our constituents, the players of EVE, that we have actually delivered results that improve the virtual universe in which they play. To that extent we are reliant on CCP continuing to be an active partner in the process and delivering on the promises made in Iceland,” said Sean Conover, a CSM delegate.

If you get in quick you may be able to get cheap flights with the various Early Bird packages, as detailed here.

If you’re into EVE and you’re a player you should consider the trip. Iceland’s mental. You certainly won’t forget it in a hurry.

This book offers an insider’s view of online games and how they change us. “In May 2000 I was fired from my job as a reporter on a finance newsletter because of an obsession with a videogame. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.” So begins this story of personal redemption through the unlikely medium of electronic games. Quake, World of Warcraft, Eve Online and other online games not only offered author Jim Rossignol an excellent escape from the tedium of office life. They also provided him with a diverse global community and a job – as a gaming journalist. Part personal history, part travel narrative, part philosophical reflection on the meaning of games, “This Gaming Life” describes Rossignol’s encounters with gamers in three unique gaming cities: London, Seoul, and Reyjkavik.From his days as a Quake genius in London’s increasingly corporate gaming culture, to his encounters with Korea’s high stakes, televised professional gaming culture to his adventures in Iceland, the national home of his ultimate obsession, the idiosyncratic and beguiling Eve Online, Rossignol introduces us to a still emerging and largely undocumented world of gaming lives.

Torn between unabashed enthusiasm and optimism about the future of gaming and lingering doubts about whether games are just a waste of time, “This Gaming Life” also raises important questions about this new and vital cultural form.Should we celebrate the “serious” educational, social, and cultural value games, as academics and journalists are beginning to do? Or do these high-minded justifications simply perpetuate the stereotype of games as a lesser form of fun? Could it be that the true value of games lies in their ability to stave off boredom? In this beautifully written, richly detailed, and inspiring book, Rossignol brings these abstract questions to life, immersing us in a vibrant landscape of gaming experiences.

Jim – one of the RPS quartet – covered GDC for VG247, and is generally a non-twat who’s prepared to offer free life-counseling in the middle of the night from Moscow, so do him a favour and buy it. You may well enjoy it.