The biggest expansion to date for EVE Online will be released March 10, 2009, according to CCP. The announcement came on the last day of Fanfest. Eurogamer has the details:

The focus of the expansion will be "true exploration," with players using new skills and modules to travel through wormholes into all-new, unconnected space. There they will find unique stellar phenomena and the resources and artefacts that will lead to the third level of technology in the game universe, Tech 3 - the first such update since Tech 2 was introduced back in 2004. The star feature of Tech 3 will be modular, customisable ships. Instead of providing each faction with one or two new ships each, CCP will provide each with a template that comes in five sections, with five options in each.

One bit of clarification is needed: the Eurogamer article incorrectly states the amount of permutations possible for ship combinations. As seen in this thread, the correct amount is 3,125 (five sections with five options each). Or, CCP Mephysto mentions in the thread that 12,000 combinations may be possible if you consider all four races. The full Eurogamer article can be found here or below.

According to Dr. John Parmentola, Director of Research and Laboratory Management with the U.S. Army’s science and technology office, the Army is working on some paranormal stuff straight out of the X-Files or Terminator, including realistic holographic images, memory deletion and quantum ghost imaging.

What does that have to do with all you World of Warcraft and EVE Online players? Well, Parmentola has said MMORPGs such as these may be used to test out virtual human beings.

“We want to use the massively multi-player online game as an experimental laboratory to see if they’re good enough to convince humans that they’re actually human,” he said.

Visit www.dodbuzz.com, an online defense and acquisition journal presented by military.com, for the full article. It can also be found below.

Since it's my post, I'll tell you why I play, and then you can join in after!

I started out in Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs), back when AOL was the only internet I knew.  Don't snicker!  Internet connection costs of $484 a month were enough to make my parents ground me for weeks.  But then came Ultima Online (UO).

I once played on the Sonoma server of UO, back when it first launched. For a while I played Tovin, an anti-pk. Then Tovin became a role playing tailor. She mostly stayed in town and, one day, was scammed. I was outraged and reported the scam via in game reporting and a Counselor appeared. Dressed in a pretty blue robe he explained to me that though I had technically gotten the short end of the stick, the guy had used no real bug or exploit, but had just been smarter than I had been. I decided then and there that I loved that blue robe. So I went out to find counselors.

Here it is people!  The notes for Quantum Rise, due to come out soon!

CRITICAL

• Vastly outperforming previous network technology, StacklessIO brings reduced latency and faster response to EVE Online. With StacklessIO, the groundwork has been laid for pushing the limits of today's server technology to new heights. For the past two years we have been developing this new technology to increase the performance of our network communication infrastructure in EVE. This new network layer reduces network latency and improves performance in high-volume situations, e.g., in fleet-fights and market hubs such as Jita. More information can be found in CCP Explorer’s blog on StacklessIO

• We've migrated all of our key servers to 64-bit software, allowing the scale of player battles to surpass the previous limit of a few hundred on each side and improving performance in extremely high traffic regions of space. Full details of EVE 64 can be seen in EVE64 Dev Blog by CCP Explorer.

FEATURES
Ships

• Outer Ring excavations (ORE) and Deep Core Mining (DCM) have completed a joint venture by creating The Orca. This new empire-capable vessel is designed as a "sub capital" logistical ship with a mining command focus, ideal for the day to day needs of corporations or individuals. Filling a void between regular and capital ships, the Orca is a more affordable option for pilots who can’t yet fly capitals. These boats are able to use stargates but do not have jump drives. CCP Chronotis provides full details in the Orca Dev Blog.

CCP has a lot on their plate, what with the newest expansion, Quantum Rise on the way.  But they're also aiming to expand the EVE franchise with a possible console based shooter!  Eurogamer reports :

EVE Online developer CCP has hinted that an FPS based on the EVE universe is in development.

Footage was shown of a Halo-like shooter on a daylit, Earth-like planet surface. The architecture and gun designs were clearly redolent of the space MMO's art style.

There was also a third-person view of a land vehicle driving across the surface.

Earlier in the presentation on the future of EVE, CCP bosses Hilmar Petursson and Nathan Richardsson had mentioned that CCP has a "game console strategy", and a slide mentioning PS3 and 360 was shown.

Between QR, World of Darkness (CCP's other MMO development project), and this, we've got a lot to pay attention to in the coming months!

The Child's Play 2008 charity drive has officially launched, and the Web site has been updated so you can donate toys and games to children in hospitals worldwide. The charity was organized in 2003 by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade.

We ended our 2007 drive with over 1.3 million dollars in donations, thanks to gamers all over the globe. We’re welcoming ten new hospitals in Canada and the US to the Child’s Play network, so please have a look at the map to see if your local children’s hospital has come on board. Every hospital has a wish list full of gifts, and is hoping for your support.

We hope you'll visit the Child's Play site and consider purchasing some gifts. All you have to do is click on a hospital on the map and you'll be sent to the hospital's wish list on Amazon.com. It's that simple. For more information, check out Mike's recent post on the Penny Arcade site. The "thank you" letter they received from a hospital in Connecticut says it all. The full post is also below.

With Fan Fest in full swing, it's time to start the voting for the second Council of Stellar Management!  CCP Xhagen has posted a dev log on the issues at stake, and why voting is so important!

Today the voting booth has been opened for the second CSM. The campaign so far has been vibrant and lively and we truly look forward to seeing the results.

Why should you vote?

This question is asked in every election, no matter where said election is being held. The answer to why you should vote in EVE is that the CSM is there to influence us in regards to EVE.

We want to bring to your attention several topics that the CSM has affected to varying degrees.

An example of how they have affected change would be the Orca, a ship type that has been worked on for some time, which became reprioritized due to CSM input. That is, the CSM had presented the need for an industrial ship of a size between the ‘old' indies and the freighters, thus the Orca was bumped up in the development line.

As in any democratic environment, I urge you to vote!

Eurogamer has some coverage of EVE's Fan Fest, going on this weekend, including a look at the premium graphics offering, and changes to come.

"EVE in a a state where, if you run the Premium graphics edition, half of it is done, you could say," CCP's chief technologist Halldor Fannar told a press conference on the first day of the EVE Online Fanfest in Reykjavik, Iceland today.

"The particle system really shows its age now if you're flying a Premium ship," he conceded. "The effects are like from another era."

Lots of good information, and today's presentations should including WiS, so lots to look forward to!

Quantum Rise is coming soon, and the features page is now live!

EVE Online surges forward with both breakthrough core performance upgrades and further evolution of the game world in our ninth free expansion. The rapid and successful deployment of the Stackless IO component and the EVE64 migration presented such a sudden and significant ascent to the very edge of technology that it was only fitting to name this expansion QUANTUM RISE.

Changes aplenty, including the speed rebalance!

EVE Online Executive Producer Nathan "Oveur" Richardsson posted an extensive blog entry today outlining a number of upcoming additions to the game, including the EVElopedia, the ability to convert EVE Gametime Codes into CONCORD pilot licenses that can be put on the market or into a contract, and the development team's two-expansions-per-year target.

The EVElopedia will see the light of day before the end of the year. It will start out with a simple integration, while over time it will become more and more intertwined within the EVE client. ... [It] will help you delve further into the depths of the combined knowledge of all EVE players and developers.

Richardsson also said that social networking and communication tools, including blogging, should be available next year. The CONCORD pilot licenses should be available in the Quantum Rise expansion or shortly before, and he believes they can benefit both players and CCP in a number of ways. His full post can be found here or in its entirety below.