Thursday, November 30, 2006

Some great Kali PVP video



A very well done video with great shots and angles. I especially liked the flybys. One thing you'll notice, which I really find cheesy and can't wait until CCP fixes it, is the "twitching effect" that titans have when they get shot and take hits. I mean as if such a huge ship would behave like that! It doesn't change anything combat wise, but visually it kills the ambience. CCP, fix that bug!

What do you think?

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

We made news in the "Alliance News"

About 2 week-ends ago the alliance of which Phoenix Labs is part had a major battle with the AAA. At the time we were obligated by the executive branch of FIX to keep quiet and say nothing of it, since we we're defending an egg (the building block for a Player Owned Station - POS). Well I just read that we made the Alliance news!
QUERIOUS. Firmus Ixion (FIX) has successfully erected their first outpost in the Querious region following a short but violent conflict between alliances based in the south. Firmus Ixion was defending their latest outpost construction effort with gathered allies against a vicious attack launched by Against All Authorities (AAA) from the Catch region. (Read More)

Friday, November 24, 2006

Here comes Kali!!

On November 28th, CCP will be deploying the first of three parts of Revelations (formerly known as Kali). The expected downtime is a full 24 hours -- but I'd expect more with a update this big.

So as usual in these cases, set yourself a long long skill to prevent loss of training time in case a skills finishes while the update is still being released.


Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Amazing new graphical upgrades to EVE

Here's a great video to wet your appetite on what the pre-Kali upgrades (Revelations) to EVE will bring. If that is what CCP can still do with DX9, I can't wait to see EVE running on Vista with DX10!

Some great photos of the EVE Fanfest 2006!

Before you start hating me for having had the chance to attend this year's fanfest, let it be known that the following pictures are not from me. This lucky son of a gun had the chance of flying in to Iceland and took some great photos of the fan festival. Additionally, he took some videos and you can watch them also.

And of course, here are the official fanfest photos from CCP, courtesy of MMORPG.com.

Hopefully by this time next year I'll have my own photos and videos, and memories! I just have to plan for it, and convince my better-half that I deserve to go. This shouldn't be too hard right? I mean I did convince her to go to Vegas earlier this year. But then again, Celine Dion and O were on our agenda and last time I checked neither offer venues in Iceland. Damn!

Anyways, until that happens, I'll just have to read about it. Which reminds me, MMORPG.com has got some great articles on the fan fest, here, here, and some amazing ship comparison here.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

New Poll: which E:ON article was your favorite?

Now that we've had a chance to roam through and thoroughly read the fifth issue of E:ON, I was curious to know what was the one article that stood out for you.

Was it one of the Chronicles? Which are getting better and better with each new issue. Or was it one of the 3 guides? Or maybe the update on Darwin's Contraption?

In my case, picking one over another was quite hard, but I would say that "Confessions of a TV Junkie" is the one that sticks out for me in this issue. I guess it's the "behind-the-scenes" tidbits from Spiral Junkie that made the difference in my choice. But I do have to say the Chronicles were particularly well done; I really couldn't put down the magazine until I had finished reading one from beginning to end.

Please take the time to vote (see Current Poll on the right) and let me know your thoughts by commenting. Let me know what you think of the issues so far, what you'd like to see and read about. Now you may think that I have something to do with E:ON, but in reality I don't, except as an avid reader and someone who wants to do his part to see this magazine prosper and improve.

As such, I'll make sure all your constructive criticism and your praises get to Zapatero.

Can't wait for the next issue! Now get to that vote booth!

EVE Intergalactic Bank scam poll results

It's been a few weeks since I ran my poll on the EIB scam and the results are on par with what I would have expected. Most of you -- 51% -- believed that it was all "part of EVE Online life", with only a few -- 8% -- judging the deed "morally questionable".

On the other hand some of you -- 16% -- thought that "the player should be banned" or that at least "CCP should try to prevent these" scams from happening at all. Oh, and a quarter of you
-- 26% -- had no clue whatsoever on what the EIB scam was even though I had linked a few good articles in the post!

For those of you who would want to see my thoughts on the subject, read the comments and had yours, then head over here.

In my next poll, I'll be asking you your opinion on the latest E:ON issue.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Which games would you always reinstall?

Some of you know that I've recently updated my current gaming rig with a new 320Gig drive from Seagate (see post here for the juicy details). Having completed the install of XP and a bunch of utilities I can't live without (future post subject), came the time to start to install the games.

The first one to be installed was an easy choice: EVE Online. And don't tell me you're surprised! The second, was also a given, Guild Wars -- the first two since I don't have Nightfall yet. But then came the questions; which would I reinstall, which would be next, should I install all of them, or just the ones I play regularly.

After giving it some thought, I took most of Wednesday evening reinstalling the following games, since CCP was making some hardware upgrades, which meant that EVE was down -- duh! So without further ado, here are the games I deemed important (which means FUN) enough to take the time to reinstall.

  1. EVE Online: The Second Genesis
  2. Guild Wars (original and Factions)
  3. Homeworld 2
  4. Dungeon Siege 2
  5. Starcraft (original and Brood War)
  6. Battle Realms (original and Winter of the Wolf)
  7. Warcraft 3 (Reigns of Chaos and The Frozen Throne)
  8. Lord of the Ring: The War of the Ring
  9. Neverwinter Nights (all 3 versions)
  10. Aquanox 2
So there you have it. These are the games that I'll pretty much install every time I do a Windows reinstall. Don't get me wrong, I still spend most of my time playing EVE and Guild Wars, but I also like to come back to old games. There's nothing like a good Starcaft match against an opponent half-away around the world.

So what are the games you would reinstall? Let me know.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Video games make kids fat eh?

These days gaming is becoming every politicians scapegoat. According to them it makes kids and teenagers violent and aggressive, turns them into anti-social zombies, if it doesn't kill them by making them obese. Then how do you explain this?


Do you think this five year old will grow-up a loner with no social life and an aggressive behavior. I didn't think so either!!

Gaming is a hobby as much as reading, watching TV, studying (to some it is!), playing chess or any other type of activity. It does not prevent someone from doing sports, playing outside or other physical activities. Playing a console or PC game for 15 hours a day, is unhealthy, so is playing chess, or reading, or watching TV for the same amount of time!

Remember, everything in moderation is good for you. Well, almost everything that is!