EVE: Online may not be a new title, but the award-winning massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (or MMORPG) is about to receive a very large content addition, The Empyrean Age, which sees the four major empires of New Eden, who have maintained an uneasy peace for the last five years, declaring open war.

The escalation towards hostilities bears more than a passing resemblance to the events that sparked the First World War. The Scope, EVE's news service reporting on galactic events, has been buzzing for months with news of the assassination of leaders, border disputes, denials, counter-claims and threats as the factions move inexorably towards an epic climax that has been hinted at since the game's release in 2003.