Project Entropia goes gold
Which regulars will appreciate means it's been patched
"Wa wa it's not a game" game Project Entropia has "gone gold", with version 4.2 of the freely available massively multiplayer space community now considered non-beta. Entropia, for those of you with short memories, is the controversial online game which asks you to put up real money to provide in-game currency, allowing really rich players to secure an unfair but perhaps unwieldy advantage and genuinely good players to amass real wealth in exchange for their efforts. Cutting out eBay as the middleman.
Version 4.2 makes several changes to the formula. In-game changes include the introduction of PVP areas, where gamers can amass to kill one another and fight for rare/valuable minerals. Also new in 4.2 are PSFs (Person Storage Facilities), which act as safe deposit boxes for personal items, located throughout the world. Think chests in Resident Evil and you aren't far off, unless you're thinking about Jill Valentine.
Other changes include the introduction of a 'newbie guide' to help people starting out, and a download resume function - allowing you to resume where your update left off if your connection goes tits up for a bit. Another change is the reward for bug reports - anything the team wasn't aware of is rewarded with 1,000 PEDs, which is pretty much real money. Want to become a tester? There are worse starts.
Meanwhile, in a separate announcement, developer MindArk revealed that they've struck a deal with ISP Telia to provide direct access to the Internet backbone at various worldwide locations - thus reducing lag for players of this "interactive entertainment" medium. The game can now cater for one million low-lag users.
More information and the game itself is available from www.project-entropia.com.