gaming Vampire MMO World of Darkness is Happening

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Vampire MMO World of Darkness is Definitely Still Happening

Will have cities modelled on real-world locations

At this year's EVE Fanfest in Iceland, developer CCP has taken the opportunity to reassure fans that the long-awaited World of Darkness vampire MMO is still very much in development, and will be possibly ready to show for the first time later this year.

Senior producer Chris McDonough from CCP Atlanta hosted the session, where he reassured the audience that last year's staff cutbacks and the challenges that CCP faced with EVE Online during 2011 have not resulted in the World of Darkness project being shelved.

World of Darkness will be a sandbox MMO with brutal hand-to-hand combat and a giant, single-shard universe made up of many different cities (though we don't know exactly how many yet). Players will be able to form vampire clans, and there will be a Prince of each city - presumably the player with the greatest PvP prowess. The look - showcased in a concept trailer in 2010, which you can see on

if you can tolerate the shaky off-screen footage - is very gothic, very sexy and rather violent. Much more True Blood than Twilight, then.

Answering a question from the audience, creative director Reynir Hardarson said that the cities will be modelled on the real world, implying that the game will offer everything from gothic, narrow European streets to Japanese super-modern neon cities the verticality of a Chicago or a New York. Concept art up on the screen behind him showed wildly varied city environments, from minimalist penthouses to ground-floor dilapidated dens.

CCP did not show any in-game footage, but McDonough claimed that the studio will be ready to start dropping more details and showing off the game later this year. The studio doesn't feel pressure to release the game as soon as possible to capitalise on Twilight fever, said marketing boss David Reid, and so we won't be seeing it before it's ready. There's still no release date for the title.

Keep an eye out for more on World of Darkness over the next few months. The combination of CCP's unique, sandbox approach to MMO development and a very cool vampire universe is pretty irresistable.

IGN

[Emn1ty]

Glad to see they are still working on it. They put it on hold for all the new EVE content and Dust 514 but I sure hope they get it going soon.