CCP unleashes spectacular 'This Is EVE' trailer

Back in September, CCP put out a call for EVE Online comms—recordings of the communications between pilots as they went about their business in the game. Today, at the EVE Down Under event in Australia, the studio finally revealed why, and what it's done with them is nothing short of spectacular.

EVE Online has carved a unique niche for itself in the decade-plus that it's been around, mainly for two reasons. One, developer CCP Games is famously hands-off—consider its non-response to the "Burn Jita" campaign, in which Goonswarm trashed the one part of the galaxy intended to be "safe"—and two, amazing things sometimes happen in its notoriously unregulated space.

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It's often fun to read about things like the massive battle earlier this year—the largest in EVE's history— that began because somebody forgot to pay their rent and ultimately resulted in real-money losses, by some estimates, of more than $300,000. But this trailer goes way beyond that. It works on a purely emotional level, and boy, does it work. I don't play EVE, and despite all the good stuff I've read about over the years, I've never had more than a passing urge to try it—until now. Now, I'm gripped by a sudden and powerful compulsion to climb into a spaceship and misbehave.

The next EVE Online expansion, Rhea, is currently in the works and scheduled to be deployed on December 9. The update will add 100 new wormhole systems to the galaxy, new models for the Blackbird, Falcon, and Rook ships, and a new freighter called the Bowhead. But the big thrill will be the addition of Tech 3 tactical destroyers, beginning with the Amarr ship The Confessor, which will have the ability to shift between defensive, speed, and sniper modes on the fly.

It's exciting news for existing EVE players, I have no doubt, but this trailer? It's thrilling for anyone with even a passing interest in blowing stuff up in outer space. And that's surely all of us.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.