Over the weekend of 26 January 2013, mighty armies clashed in the EVE Online universe in what has been tentatively dubbed the Battle of Asakai.<\/p>\n
As spotted by Velocity Gamer, 3,284 players (278 Alliances and 740 corporations) set the heavens ablaze during a 2-hour long space battle royale.<\/p>\n
While player’s personal reports from the battle are trickling in, some harrowing details have emerged. As reported by Velocity Gamer, one EVE player lost a space ship worth US$800 (\u00b1R7,175) – a vessel worth a couple of months of play time.<\/p>\n
With stakes this high, the battles seem that much more intense, although I’m not sure I could handle the loss myself.<\/p>\n
Personally, I don’t know much about how EVE Online works, and the time investment required seems quite daunting – however, these epic space battle scenes make for a convincing argument for getting into CCP Games’ persistent space-world MMO.<\/p>\n
Resident EVE fan Jan Vermeulen was consulted for insight into the subtle political and economical influences that lead to this mighty conflict, but he simply told me to “harden the f$%& up!”.<\/p>\n
Check out a time-lapsed video of the battle below, with screenshots below that. Follow the link for detailed stats<\/a> on the battle.<\/p>\n