06:27 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says...
The eternal struggle continues online!! Because that's what eternal things do!! They continue!!

Back when we first posted about CCG Workshop, I wasn't sure things looked good for them, and announcements of subsequent additions to their roster frankly didn't make them look much more like they had a promising future. Well, that's all changed. White Wolf has announced that Vampire: The Eternal Struggle will be playable online, using CCGW's engine, both in the existing CCG Workshop setting and through WW's own servers. Development has already started on the online version, and something will be in beta sometime this year. It's good to see this. Press release below.

Below is press release text from White Wolf.

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle® Adding Online Play

Atlanta, GA, August 12, 2004 — White Wolf Publishing formally announced today its collaboration with CCG Workshop, LLC to bring the Vampire: The Eternal Struggle collectable card game to online play.

Development has already begun to port the #1 multiplayer CCG over to online play. “Vampire’s graphical and strategic intensity are a good work-out for our development staff. We aspire to bring over as much dark flavor and feel as possible into the online adaptation, and look forward to inviting VTES players in for beta-testing later this year," said Ed Mittelstedt, president of CCG Workshop.

Online VTES will be hosted on its own dedicated server accessed through White Wolf’s website or CCG Workshop’s website. Normal pick-up games as well as organized online tournaments are all planned, with White Wolf providing real world prize support for the tournaments.

“Vampire’s player community literally spans the world from Singapore to Prague to LA. We’re looking forward to hosting some exciting international events and tournaments using the online platform,” said Steve Wieck, White Wolf’s VP of Card Games. There will be a nominal monthly cost for play which will give players access to all of the active cards. Initially all cards from the Camarilla Edition set will be available for play with more expansions added after launch. Online players will be able to construct and save decks, as well as share them with other players.

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Designed by Richard Garfield, designer of Magic: The Gathering®, VTES allows players to pit clans of vampires against one another in a mix of intrigue and action. Two special 100-card Tenth Anniversary Packs, complete with exclusive carrying tins, are available this November.

About White Wolf: Since its entry into the roleplaying game market in 1991, White Wolf Publishing, Inc. has grown, maintaining an average market share of 26%. With collective book sales in excess of 5.5 million copies during this time, White Wolf is one of two undisputed worldwide publishing leaders for pen-and-paper roleplaying games. White Wolf properties have been licensed for television series, comic books, action figures, console and computer video games, coin-operated arcade games, professional wrestlers, replica props and weapons, interactive media events and myriad merchandise. More information on White Wolf can be found at http://www.white-wolf.com/.

About CCG Workshop: CCG Workshop is a company that hosts online play of strategy games. It was started in 2001 by Ed Mittelstedt with a mission to adapt orphaned collectible card games for online play, but has since grown to host all forms of strategy games. CCG Workshop is an online community, a culture that shares the love of strategy gaming. CCG Workshop’s core technology is the gatlingEngine, a Win32 application used to play strategy games over the Internet. CCG Workshop also created the gatlingDevKit. With it, a prospective game designer can create an online strategy game that can be instantly playable on the gatlingEngine. More information on CCG Workshop can be found at http://www.ccgworkshop.com/.