Today CCP Games launched this year's free winter expansion for EVE Online, dubbed Crucible.

Not only the expansion is packed with what EVE players call "Flying in Space" content (as opposed as "Walking in Stations"), in order to make it up for the lack of it in the summer expansion Incarna, but it introduces a major overhaul of several areas of the game, that will surely be welcome bewteen many of the veteran caapsuleers. I'm not going to write a full list here, because it would take ages, but you can read the full patch notes to get a clear idea of what was added and what was changed. 

If you think the screenshot above looks different from the ones I posted on my recent re-review of the game you would be right, because it does. Crucible also brings a major overhaul of the graphics engine, with the addition of detailed and spatially-realistic nebulae, engine contrails and an awesome new warp tunnel effect.

Things change a lot even when you get out of the capsule, as the three missing Captain Quarters have been added as well, creating a degree of diversity between stations belonging to different factions. You can even oogle at other people's avatar now, with a fully 3D avatar view feature activated by clicking on their portrait. It's a nice addition while we wait for fully featured establishments, that hopefully aren't too far away.