After more than four years of existence, EVE Online is finally going to see an engine upgrade with their next patch. While facelifts often leave MMOs scarred and delirious like an aging Courtney Love, the graphics we've seen so far of the new build look almost exactly like the old engine -- fantastic news to those who are already in love with an MMO that has aged as gracefully as Robert Redford -- only with all the added bells and whistles of today's modern technology.

I sat down with Noah Ward (disclaimer: he once saved me from being eaten by a bear) during PAX and while the majority of the chat consisted of that elaborate lie about the time he saved me from being eaten by an ursine menace, he assured me that they've taken pre-emptive steps to silence the ubiquitous detractors that come along with any decision an MMO dev might make. While it's quite common for MMOs to add graphical bumps as they age, many such actions have forced long-time players to upgrade their computers to continue their addiction. EVE on the other hand will allow players to choose which engine they would like to view the game in, either the old engine or the newly upgraded one, and the system requirements for the new engine -- while greater than the old -- aren't much of a jump, aside from the necessity of a Shader Model 3.0 compliant graphics card.

Run your mouse along the gallery for a few pictures from the new engine. Warning: The pictures are huge. I resized them to be half the size of what they originally sent me, but well, they're still gigantic. It's the only way to see the added detail, but if you're using dial-up, you might wanna step away, make a sandwich and write another chapter in your crappy novel while the thing loads.