Today marks the beginning of the end of EVE Online normality. Of course we are referring to the release of a new patch. With it, they are preparing us for what is to come: New ship technologies, new systems to explore, new NPCs and all new stories are due, with the upcoming release of their latest expansion, Apocrypha. Downtime is scheduled for 6:00 AM EST until 7:15 AM. This release also contains their new Redeeming System, slated to make paying for your online game-of-choice a secure breeze.

Quantum Rise 1.0.5 was deployed today and it brings with it the new redeeming system.

The redeeming system allows players to take advantage of special offers made available by CCP and affiliated companies. In this release, the redeeming system will allow for game time credit to be purchased via the Secure EVE Online website in the form of 30 Day Pilot License Extensions (PLEX). More information about the use of PLEX can be found here.

You can read the full patch notes, which also contain some minor fixes, here or below.

Not wanting to vary from their completely immersing story and feature additions, EVE Online wrote today in their development blog about how they are going to add a whole new aspect to the game, with wormholes.

Wormholes will bring us to this new frontier, appearing all over New Eden as a result of a cataclysmic event, the nature of which we'll reveal in the coming months. These wormholes are unstable and will spawn and vanish randomly throughout the known universe. A pilot who stumbles across one of these stellar phenomena can fly through it and travel to unknown space, where there are no stargates or stations, just the unexplored void of a new solar system.

This is an exciting development that will tie into their story seamlessly. One has to wonder where they get so many innovative ideas but they continue to surprise everyone with the way they keep the game interesting.

The Sixth Alliance Tournament is here ! This massive PvP tourney comprised of 64 teams will go on for the next three weekends. Today and tomorrow are the first round of qualifiers, so it's a great time to get in on the ground floor of all the action. Matches start at 3 p.m. GMT both days and go until around 9 p.m.

For the first time the qualifying rounds will be available via an audio broadcast. We'll have our commentators in place to give you the action as it happens live via Eve Voice in the in-game channel "Alliance Tournament".

If you can't get log in, you can still listen to the commentary on www.eve-radio.com, www.siradio.fm and www.newedenradio.com. The second round of qualifiers is on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. The finals on Feb. 7-8 will be televised. More infomation and discussion can be found in the official tournament forum.

In case you weren't aware, there is a quarterly, full color magazine devoted to EVE Online called E-ON. If you're interested in picking up a copy, now's the perfect time. The newest issue, #014, comes out today.

The newest issue of E-ON magazine is out and this issue is full of goodies for all you EVE Online fans. Curious about Tech 3? E-On gives you scoop on EVE Online: Apocrypha's customizable Tech 3 ships and wormholes. Missed Fanfest 2008? Blogger CrazyKinux shares his impressions as a first-time attendee.  Be sure to check out new profiles, reports, the definitive made-up history of RoXoR, and more!

You can order the newest issue or back issues here.

CCP announced today that the 10th free expansion for EVE Online, entitled Apocrypha, will be released on March 10 as a free download. That's the same day EVE will be released as a boxed product through a partnership with Atari. Of course, Apocrypha will be available in the retail box, as well.

The fabric of space itself will be transformed as vast, unpredictable wormholes open to connect previously unexplored regions of the universe to the stars of New Eden. The seeds of advanced new technology await inside of these cosmic anomalies for those brave enough to explore them. This infusion of technology will enable production of the most dynamic vessels ever – Tech 3 modular ships with an astounding amount of customizability that can fill any role from skirmish muscle to industrial support.

Also, NPCs will assign Epic Mission Arcs to pilots willing to take on the task, and CCP has reworked the New Player Experience for players entering New Eden for the first time. You can read all about the expansion here or below.

When MMOs start to hit the 5-year mark, there's always a concern that players may start to wander away from the virtual world. Well, it's actually the exact opposite with EVE Online. CCP announced today that they've just hit a new record for peak concurrent users at 45,186!

While we've made tremendous serverside changes in the EVE Online infrastructure with the EVE64 and StacklessIO initiatives, it is truly a testament to our loyal fans that 5 years into EVE's existence we are still breaking records and more people are flying in New Eden than ever before. We know we'll be trying to find leftover champagne from New Year's EVE to celebrate. When we do, we'll toast to you!

It's great to see so many players online at the same time in New Eden. Congratulations to CCP and the EVE Online team, and we hope that record continues to be broken.

If you have any snowballs left from CCP's winter event in EVE Online, you might want to start launching them. The event ends on Jan. 6, but CCP has a much more fun way of putting it :

We have been working closely with weather specialists regarding this matter. They have been ceaselessly running weather prediction simulations since the mysterious arrival of these snowballs. According to their models, temperatures will rise .0001 K on 6 January 2009. This slight temperature change will result in the complete melting of all snowballs in New Eden, regardless of their location.

The CCP team always goes above and beyond to make sure their events and announcements remain within in the theme of the world they've created. Oh, and if you're worried that universal warming is the cause of all this, scientists are assuring us it's just seasonal temprature variations. Regardless, I think Al Gore should make a stop in New Eden.

Now that 2008 has come to an end we thought it might be fun to do a recap on some of the major news and features that you may have missed. Overall, 2008 was a great year for the gaming industry as a whole, with some amazing advancements in the MMO space. So sit back, nurse that coffee and take one final look at Allakhazam in 2008.

January

• Allakhazam visited the Consumer Electronics Show. The fun began on Jan. 7 as Tovin reported on the first day of activities, which included Sony’s announcement that the PSP would support Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider Skype and new rigs from Voodoo PC and Alienware.

• At CES, EverQuest and World of Warcraft were honored with Emmy Awards and AutumnKiss talked to Curt Schilling of 38 Studios about their upcoming MMO code-named Copernicus, which includes names like R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane.

• Day two of the event was just as crazy, and AutumnKiss got a ton of information on a pirate's life in both Pirates of the Caribbean Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea. Of course, the team also focused on the then-upcoming Age of Conan and delved into Legends of Norrath. Tovin also got a glimpse of all the tech gadgets, such as a wallet-sized USB flash drive.

CCP is currently warning players about the newest phishing e-mail making the rounds to EVE Online players.

There is currently a phishing email circulating that claims to be sent from EVE Customer Support. This email claims that we had a database issue and lost some customer information and it asks you to login to make sure your information is still there. They conveniently provide their very own login link. This is of course not true; we have not lost any account information.

As always, use extreme care when any e-mail asks you to log in with your name and password. It's always a good idea to visit the game's official site first to confirm whether the e-mail is valid.