Codies Online reveals space MMOG

By Robert Purchese Published 29 January, 2008

Jumpgate: Evolution from NetDevil.

Codemasters Online Gaming has revealed its next big project as a space MMOG from Auto Assault developer NetDevil.

Dubbed Jumpgate: Evolution, it boasts epic battles between fleets of spaceships, a vast and persistent universe to explore, thousands of others to interact with and ships to customise into enormous warmongering craft or profitable mining ventures.

NetDevil is describing it as having twitch-based combat and it is due for release late this year on PC in Europe and the US.

It does sound an awful lot like EVE Online, but the original Jumpgate from 2001 (also by NetDevil and still alive) was keen to mark itself out as a "space flight combat game" not an RPG.

"Jumpgate brings something new and fresh to the online persistent space," said David Solari, big shot at Codemasters Online Gaming with a science fiction-sounding surname.

"The all-action approach and thrilling, twitch-based space combat really sets it apart from other MMOGs in the market."

NetDevil is most well known for post-apocalyptic vehicular MMOG Auto Assault, which closed its servers at the end of August 2007 after barely over a year on sale.

The developer is also currently working on a persistent online LEGO world that should be arriving later this year. Sounds like rather a lot on one plate to us.

Still, you can pop over to our Jumpgate: Evolution gallery for the first screenshots.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • mechamonkey #1 4 years ago

    Space mmuperger YAY
    Codemasters noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

  • Inspirius #2 4 years ago

    I'll be sticking with Eve online thanks.

  • Schiraman #3 4 years ago

    So, like Eve but less dull? Could be a winner!
    Also: Ooh, pretty!

  • Gurgeh #4 4 years ago

    Don't forget Jumpgate has been around for years as an MMO, just not a very big one. Comparing Jumpgate to EVE is like comparing Space Invaders to Excel.

  • Starman #5 4 years ago

    Ah JG how I loved thy...

  • MightyMouse #6 4 years ago

    Looks good, but I'd be interested in seeing how they match up the usual grind of a mumorpuger with the action of a space shooter. Seems likely that the game will become fairly pvp-centric, and quite different from eve.

  • Benno #7 4 years ago

    screenshots look good

    i will be keeping an eye on this

  • skillian #8 4 years ago

    I love the idea of Eve but it just seems so HARDCORE it scares me a little bit. Maybe this could tempt me to play...

    edit: Looks good, but I'd be interested in seeing how they match up the usual grind of a mumorpuger with the action of a space shooter.

    To be fair, it describes itself as an MMOG rather than an MMORPG, so maybe (hopefully) the grind won't be so much of an issue.
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/08 @ 16:59

  • paulf #9 4 years ago

    blizz will announce world of starcraft soon and this will be forgotten ...

  • penhalion #10 4 years ago

    Looks cool. Hopefully not in the way that X3 looked cool and then required a mainframe to get any performance out of it (yes I know it was patched later!)

  • Res #11 4 years ago

    "The all-action approach and thrilling, twitch-based space combat really sets it apart from other MMOGs in the market."

    Apart from the space section of SWG?

  • Slamhound #12 4 years ago

    Isn't Auto Assault, like, the only MMO to completely fail commercially to the point where they shut the damn thing down in recent times? Even other failed MMOs tend to become F2P.

    I wouldn't sign up for any lifetime subscription in this case.

  • azwipe #13 4 years ago

    if it were a hybrid game, where you could leave the fucking spaceship once in a while and do on-foot sections, i might almost care.

  • Jetset_UK #14 4 years ago

    Feel free to join the official group!*
    [link url=h ttp://gamers.eurogamer.net/groups.php?group_id=842
    ]http://ga mers.eurogamer.net/groups.php?g...[/link]

    Seems likely that the game will become fairly pvp-centric, and quite different from eve.
    The original game managed to blend trading and PvP (as well as other careers)very well. Players could play without firing another shot at another player for as long as they wanted, if that was the style of play they were more happy with.

    Looks cool. Hopefully not in the way that X3 looked cool and then required a mainframe to get any performance out of it
    One of NetDevils main concern from the start, is that you will not require a ninja PC to play this on.

    if it were a hybrid game, where you could leave the fucking spaceship once in a while and do on-foot sections
    Personally, I have no idea why you would want to run about with an avatar. All I want to do on a space station is trade, equip my ship and get on with it.







    *Unofficial

  • joff #15 4 years ago

    I'd love to get into Eve but sadly my laptop's video card is pityful and won't let me into the game. Any other alternatives (maybe one I can play on the Xbox) would be more than welcome!

  • vane101 #16 4 years ago

    A new Jumpgate - should be interesting. All action space combat probably with a single player bias. That's different to Eve. Free to play will help a lot.

    There's been other high profile failures in recent years apart from Auto Assault. Asheron's Call 2 was probably the biggest name to go down. Earth and Beyond, a decent space rpg went down too as did Motor City Online.

  • GamerAddict #17 4 years ago

    Oh yay, ANOTHER mmo from Codies!! Why don't they just concentrate on making 1 excellent title rather than flooding an already busy market with lots of substandard ones?!

  • bad #18 4 years ago

    Oooh. Jumpgate was the first mumorpuger I ever played (and paid for) (although thinking about it, Planetside has been the only other one). It was great, but I can't remember why I stopped now.

    Certainly far more immediate that EVE online which I wanted to love but really couldn't bring myself to make the time commitment required to get into it.