EVE Online Speedlinking for August 31st

It's been another busy week in EVE Online news. So here are the pieces of news I've chosen to highlight.

• Kill Mission Survival Guides - What to expect in those agent missions.
• EVE Missions list (Level 1 through 4) - Very useful info for those PvE players
• WTFBBQ - Route Planner
• Eve on a Mac, Part 2 - Rick seems to be having issues. Mac users, stay tuned.
• New EVE Ship Purchase: Myrmidon - A great market analysis by Godlesswanderer.
• PAX 2007: Graphics, social elements coming to space MMO - Trinitty II baby!
• EVE Online video - For the EuroDance lovers out there!
• Video Interview with Associate Producer Arend Stuhrmann - A must see!
• As an EVE Affiliate participant I got access to the video shown by Arend. All I have to say is that it's jaw dropping gorgeousness!! Can't wait until I can show it to you.
• Odd Pod Out - A new EVE players blog. Very refreshing.
• Quick Thoughts About Eve - An EVE players returns.
• A State of Ore - Wilhem2451 on the state of mining.
• The Rorqual: a whale of a ship - a great article over at EVE Tribune.
• Exploring EVE Online - A new EVE blog.
• PAX 07: Interview with Noah Ward, Lead Designer - A WarCry Interview.
• TenTonHammer: Ambulation Unveiled at PAX 2007 - A great article from Cameron Sorden.
• WarCry: CCP Game Convention News Links - All the recent links to CCP news
• Warp Drive Active Podcast #8 and #9 - Getting better with every show guys!
• Warp Drive Active #133 - POS cleansing!

Have Fun, and to those like me who have a 3 day week-end enjoy!

Gallente Vexor Screenshot

I haven't flown old Brutus IV in a while. The Vexor is one of my favorite ships. It's quick, packs a punch and can easily be armor tanked. I think I might take her out for a spin.

Two videos of the Rorqual in transformation mode

With this new industrial capital mining ship being introduced in the next Revelations Patch (2.2), I thought it'd be nice to see is it in action. Before you hit the play button though, here a description of the ship, taken from an interview done during Leipzig GC 2007 by the guys from TenTonHammer:

Another item that will be making an introduction into EVE Online in the near future will be the Rorqual, which is designed to be the mother of all mining support ships. "The Rorqual is designed to be able to compress ore to a fraction of its original size for easy transportation, and when it's in siege mode it has a 300 km tractor beam," Arend said. "It has a clone vat bay just like other capitals. It has a hanger array. The only thing I can compare it to is a Japanese whaling fleet. This is the mothership and all your mining barges are the feeders. We're still looking to balance it as far as compression ratios and defensive capabilities are concerned, but this is really going to be an asset," In the opinion of all those sitting at the table, we couldn't help but agree that even if some of the smaller corps could build one of these ships they could become much more economically viable.

"We're really looking forward to seeing how this affects the game," Arend said. "Our lead economist is tracking this particular ship very closely to see what kind of difference it makes. At the moment we're seeing mineral prices go to really, really high levels, and it's getting more expensive to produce stuff in the game. Seeing as our economy is player-driven, our economist is just keeping a really close eye on things. I think this is one of those situations where having a full-time economist is really going to pay off for us and especially the players. Economics in the real world is tricky at best; it's even different for a virtual world." According to Arend, the Rorqual will be released in Revelations 2.2, which is supposed to hit the servers in "a month or so."

This thing is going to be big, real big. Here are the videos then.





And here's a third one I just found after publishing this post:


Finally, here's a post on the EVE Forums with a few good screenshots of the behemoth. I can't wait to head over in a field of asteroids and rip through it! Oh well, you can't take the carebear out of me I guess!

A great video interview with EVE Associate Producer

The guys over at MMORPG.com have a great 15 minute interview with Arend Stuhrmann done during the 2007 Games Convention in Leipzig. There's a lot of great pieces of information in it, and a cool video comparing the before and after implementation of Trinity II, EVE's upcoming improved graphic engine - out by the end of the year. Here's a list of the major points covered in the video, though I encourage you to go over and take the 15 minutes to watch it.

• Trinity II will be out by the end of 2007
• It will require XP and DX9, not Vista and DX10 (woohoo!!)
• Dynamic Lighting (how sweet it looks)
• Trinity II lays the ground work for future DX10 improvements
• Moves a lot of the processing to the GPU, thus improving game performance (crosses me fingers)
• It'll be big at over 2Gb - a mother of a patch!
• Trinity II and the upcoming Revelations III patch might be separate patches (god, lets hope so)
• Revelations III's Factional WarFare is still being worked on
• Revelations 2.2 will have the new Rorqual Industrial Capital ship (this is one badass Carebear ship)
• A bit on the EVE economist
• "Avatars walking in station" feature is also being worked on

Told you is would be juicy!!

Here's a screenshot of a Scorpion as rendered in the new Trinity II graphic engine.

EVE Online Speedlinking for August 24th

And here are this week's links. Enjoy!

• Black Thorn - An EVE corporation
• Eve Online shakes up support - On the ISD shake-ups
• EVE Online: Spy Game - A Goonswarm espionage story
• The God of EVE Online, Hilmar Petursson - A great Hilmar interview
• EVE Online Goonswarm August - A great video by Stahlregen
• ICSC Jump planner - Very useful for long hauls
• Eve Strategic Maps - Lots of work done here for our benefit
• Beware of "Free" cans - You've been warned!
• Going the distance - Are MMOs marathons, or a series of sprints?
• New EVE Ship Purchase: Myrmidon - Looks like I'm not the only one with a liking for that ship!

A North American EVE Fanfest?

In one of my previous posts, I listed attending an EVE Online North American Fan Fest as one of my wishes. Well it seems that unless the community puts it together, there will never be one. In a recent interview over at Gaming Moments, CCP's CEO explained that if there ever was a fan fest on these shores (I'm in Canada), it would be put together by us fans, not by CCP themselves.

The question, submitted by yours truly, was fielded by Mandrill during an interview with Hilmar Petursson, at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival earlier this month. As a result of having my question chosen for the interview, I won a Gaming Moments T-shirt! It's currently on it's way! I'll post a picture of it when I get.

I highly recommend you head over and read the interview titled, "The God of EVE Online, Hilmar Petursson". It's not your typical interview, with the same old and repetitive questions - which Hilmar seems to have given over the last couple of weeks. Mandrill went out of his way to ask different questions, and as a result, I learned a couple of new things about EVE. Have a read and let Mandrill know what you thought.

Getting back to the Fan Fest, is anyone out there interested in putting together such an event? Maybe we could start with CCP White Wolf and start annoying them with the idea. As I've mentioned in the past, I've been to a fan fest held in Las Vegas (pictures here) and though a bit short, it was a blast. I'm sure there are enough EVE fans out there to hold another soon. Maybe on the east coast this time.

I'm convinced this could be really a big event. Taking into account the results of my latest poll, in which 69% of you wished they could attend the EVE Fan Fest in Iceland, I'm sure that some of you in the States or Canada would most likely travel to such an event. Hell, I know I would!

Anyway, the idea has been put forth. Let me know if this is something you'd be interested in putting together. I for one, am ready to give it a try. Let's see where this leads.

Another amazing Goonswarm video

Another amazing video from christianethic (Stahlregen) from Goonswarm. Seriously this guy needs to get paid by CCP for these videos, or at the very least get some freebies from the EVE Store. Have a look at the video and let him know how much you appreciate his work on the forum thread.

21 EVE Online acronyms for newbies

While setting up my Myrmidon for PvP, I came across a couple of new acronyms I'd never heard before. And that got me thinking. All these noobs joining EVE right now and coming along the forums trying to understand it all and put some good setups for their ships will most likely run into these difficulties. This is especially true when it comes to modules.

So in order to help you, here's my list of ten acronyms or terms you've got to know:

1. Newbie, noob: a new player
2. Carebear: an EVE player who does not engage in PVP
   
3. MWD: Microwarp Drive (1/10/100 MN)
4. AB: Afterburner (1/10/100 MN)
5. Hardener: Armour or Shield hardener, both active and passive
6. EANM: Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
7. RMR: Red Moon Rising
8. PVP: Player vs Player
9. PVE: Player vs Environment
10. NPC: Non-Player Character
    
11. 0.0: lawless space that lies outside empire sovereignty - also known as nosec
12. Ratting: going after pirates, both NPC and PC
    
13. Mission: running agent missions
    
14. Solo: solo PVP, usually self sufficient with ability to tank, gank, and tackle
15. Podded: Losing ones ship and the ejected pod
16. NOS: nosferatu
17. Gank: the amount of damage a ship is set up to do
18. Tank: The amount of damage a ship is set up to absorb
19. Tackle/Tackler: To Warp Scramble/Disrupt a target
20. Named: usually modules of higher quality (and price)
21. Camp or gatecamp: - a group of players sitting at a gate waiting to ambush other players
    

These were taken from a great forum thread started by Litus Arowar over on the EVE Forums. So get to it, read up and let him know how thankful you are for helping you to not look like the newbie you are!!

Dungeons & Dragon 4th Edition Teaser video

Ok, this is another one that has no relationship with EVE, but.... ...well in a way it has, it's RPG! MMORPG, get it? Anyways, enjoy!

EVE Online Speedlinking for August 17th

Here's this week's links:

• EVE Online Stackless Python Upgrade Q&A - For the geek in you
• EVE Online seeking Linux-client Beta-testers - EVE for the penguin lovers
• Reuters: Virtual world hires real economist - Old news, but it's now hitting main stream media
• How To Find An Agent in EVE Online - A great Howto from The Ancient Gaming Noob
• CCP's Technical Producer for EVE Online, Torfi Frans Olafsson Interview - Old but still current
• Gamespot: Q&A: EVE Online's Hilmar Petursson - A great article full of juicy info
• The Phoenix Rising - A great corp for elite EVE players (now recruiting)
• The scope of EVE Online - EVE is still an impressive MMO
• Warp Drive Active Podcast - Getting better guys!
• EVE Online: A Career in Asteroid Mining - Burn some roids and make money!
• CCP Games podcast - A self-promotional IBM podcast with Hilmar. A bit old, but come across it this week only.
• EVE Bank - Soon to be relaunched

Enjoy!

More CCP Interviews: Revelations III, Avatars and books

There's a great interview over at Gamespot. Game Journalist Emma Boyes, from Gamespot UK, interviewed Hilmar Petursson and she's got a ton of juicy bits of information for us. I've summarized them here, but I suggest you head over to Gamespot and read the full article.

• No Factional Warfare in Revelations III
• New graphic engine will be released soon
• Avatars are there mainly to attract new (female) players
• Of the 250 CCP employees, 200 of them currently work on EVE
• EVE Online novels by the first quarter of 2008
• The RPG books are coming along nicely
• The Art of EVE Online book is almost upon us
• EVE mobile is not a priority
• No playable Jovians any time soon

It answers a lot of the questions I've had over the past few posts. Still, I'd like to see some firm dates on a lot of this stuff - EVE Mobile, RPG books, new graphic engine. When are they really coming out? Oh well, we will just have to wait for them I guess.

And to bare that wait a bit more easily, here's a video interview with Torfi Frans Olafsson, CCP's Technical Producer for EVE Online. It was done way back in December of last year, during the last EVE Tournament I believe. It was put up on YouTube by Xyliana, who's now producing EVE TV for MMMPublishing. Torfi talks mostly about the avatar project, and so it's a great interview for those, like me, who long for this new feature in EVE. Enjoy!

The Gallente Myrmidon Battlecruiser

Here she is again, in all her beauty, the mighty Myrmidon Battlecruiser. Long day at work, so this is the lazy man's version of a post. Eh! Better then nothing.

EVE Online news from the Edinburgh Interactive Festival

The Edinburgh Interactive Festival was being held today and yesterday and CCP's Hilmar Petursson was there to give a session on the past, present and future of EVE Online. Some news started to trickle down to us unlucky enough not to attend the Festival.

The one piece that caught my attention is CCP's goal to have 3D character avatars (yes, that's the walking kind) some time by end of 2008. How realistic is that in view of the complexity most likely involved (hardware, lag, game play, purpose), only time will tell. Still, I can't wait to see this happen. This, and Trinity II will be the only reasons why I upgrade this PC to be able to run Vista and DX10.

Here's a few links I've put together for your perusal:

• EVE Online Adding Human-Form Avatars
• EIF 2007: Hilmar Petursson explains why EVE Online “will never stop”
• EIF: CCP's Petursson On EVE Online's People-Powered Universe
• Summary of Hilmar Petursson's session
• CCP Games CEO on how Eve Online differs from WoW
• Black Company: EVE Online, Hilmar Petursson

Enjoy!

P.S.: I'll keep editing this post, adding new articles as they appear. So keep an eye on this one!

Still looking for a good PvP setup for my Myrmidon

The saga continues. After recently posting about the tribulations (1) (2) of my PvP experimentation, fellow EVE Online player Arrghs was kind enough to suggest the following PvP setup after chatting with him in a private channel.

HIGH SLOT: 3 Nos, 3 Electron IIs
MED SLOT: AB/Web/Scram/Electrochem injector
LOW SLOT: 2 Medium Reps, therm/kin/exp hard, Damage control

Though I haven't really tried the setup yet, something tells me that this one should work a bit better, especially since this time, I'm getting all Tech II weapons and gear. I'm currently in the process of gathering the right modules, and also training accordingly to meet all these new requirements. Add to that the new tactics that I'm learning (like not to fly solo in low sec), and I should have an easier time during my next encounter.

It'll most likely take a week or two to get where I need to be in order to able able to fly such a set. Once I've got the complete setup, I'll let you all know.

Where are those EVE Online novels?

Over the week-end I finished reading EON issue #008. Again, a great issue from the folks at MMMPublishing full of great articles, interviews, news items and short stories. Speaking of which, of the three stories that were in the issue, one caught my attention more than the others, Man-Eater by Ivan Thomas. It's a creepy Minmatar tale of man vs beast, that kept me reading till the very end at the edge of my seat. I could read tons of these. Which brings me to the subject of this post. A while back we got word that Tony Gonzales was writing an EVE Online, following the success of his two short stories, Ruthless and Theodicy.

Where is it?

And why do we have to wait for Tony's novel? Why not publish all the EVE Chronicles so far released in an anthology? Add to it all the chronicles published in EON, give it a dash of EVE artwork and you've got yourself a great Christmas gift! I sure would love to get my hands on such a piece by years end.

And then, maybe Tony's book would be out. Who knows.

So here's my question to you: would you purchase an EVE Online novel if it were published? And how about a graphic novel? Lore books?

Please let me know by comment!

EVE Online Speedlinking for August 10th

This week's list of links:

• Against All Authorities - The alliance that podded me twice in a week!
• Pandemic Legion - Another alliance killboard
• EVE Online is a casual MMORPG - EVE, a welcome haven for noob
• EVE Online graphic service - get your signatures done here!
• Chimps in Space - a new blog on EVE
• Fantasy/Sci-Fi MMO Steelcage Deathmatch - At opposite ends
• EVE Wiki Ships - All you wanted to know above EVE spaceships

That's all the links for the week!

PVP Myrmidon setup

So after an evening of hard work, here below, is the PvP Myrmidon setup that we put together last night.

Here is the list of modules from the Highs to the Lows:

• High Slots
• 4x Heavy Electron Blaster I
• 1x E5 Prototype Energy Vampire
• 1x Drone Link Augmentor I
• Medium Slots
• 1x Sensor Booster II
• 1x 10mn Afterburner
• 1x Warp Disruptor I
• 1x Patterned Stasis Web I
• 1x Medium F-RX Prototype I Capacitor Booster
• Low Slots
• 2x Medium Armor Repairer
• 1x 1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
• 1x N-Type Kinetic Hardener I
• 1x N-Type Explosive Hardener I
• 1x Armor Thermic Hardener I

So this is the setup with which I left Khanid Prime earlier this evening, on my way to defend FIX properties in 49-U6U. That was 15 jumps away. Right after I completed my fourteenth jump, 6 pilots jumped with me in 5V-BJI. Unfortunately, even the best PvP setups can't help you when the odds are stacked up 6-to-1. Let's just say I never made to 49-U6U! I'll post the evemail (or killmail as it's called) in the comments section. The one thing that I'm proud of, id the length of time I lasted, even with six ships pounding me!

After waking up in Badivefi, I can say that I've learned my first lesson on PvPing: never travel alone in low sec. Guess I learned that the hard way. But do not despair, I plan on getting funds from the corp, getting a new Myrmidon, and setting her up with the same setup. This time though, I'll try using my brains a little bit more!

The next Montreal Player Gathering

Right on the footsteps of our previous player meet, I've decided to hold the next one in on September 22nd, same place, same time. So if you're in the area at that time next month, and you want to join us for a jolly good time, then mark your calendar!

Oh, and please let me know you'll be coming in the forums thread, right here!

The Carebear that dreamed of going pew pew!

I've been playing EVE for over 4 years now, and have mostly been what is commonly known as a carebear within the EVE community. That is, a player that either does PvE, mines, manufactures, trades, or any combination of the previous, as opposed to PvP.

I've always wanted to go after the rats that have destroyed my ships, looted my cargo, or ruthlessly podded me. The funny thing is that though I've always acted like a carebear, I've trained like a PVPer. Case in point, of my 32 million skill points, 8 million are in Gunnery, almost 7 million in Drones, and 2,5 million in Missile Launcher Ops. That's almost half my skill points in combat. Talk about a harmless carebear! Not!!

So tonight, I've spent all my time in a hangar in Badivefi, chatting away with two professional PvPers, Alexis Aristide and Sine Tamar, going over a PVP Myrmidon setup. I can't wait to take her out and let it rip on some poor unsuspecting pirate - and I'm not talking the NPC kind.

I'll let you know about the setup we came up with and tell you how I did in my first PvP engagement where I wasn't the victim!

Fly safely all - there goes the carebear in me!

My extensive EVE Online wish list

Following Wilhelm's Five EVE Online Wishes, I've decided to put my own list together. As I was thinking about it over the last few days, I realized that a lot of my wishes were related to EVE, but not necessarily about the game itself. A lot of these wishes could, and may eventually, be fulfilled by either CCP, CCP White Wolf or the EVE Community (through the available API program).

Still, I decided to share the whole list with you. I'll only provide the list here today, since I plan on exploring each item in separate posts. Some of these I've already discussed here in past posts, and so I've linked them to their original post.

Feel free to let me know what you think of this list and what would your EVE Online wishes would be.

The list, in no particular order:

1. Customizable ship exterior
2. Evemail clients (either web based or a separate application)
3. EVE Mobile edition
4. EVE Skill training through the EVE Insider site
5. Training multiple characters within the same account at the same time
6. Switching between characters without exiting the game
7. Avatars walking in space stations
8. Accessible planets for ground level bases
9. RPG & Lore books
10. EVE Online Novels
11. Graphic Novels
12. EVE Artwork book (I know this one's coming)
13. A North American EVE Online Fan Fest
14. A book on the History of CCP and the making of EVE Online
15. A detailed history of the EVE Online universe
16. The Jovians - where the hell are they!!
17. Books on the Races, the Science, the ships of EVE
18. Video tutorials
19. Savable ship setups
20. Some new music by John Hallur

So there you have it! As I mentioned, I'll further explain this list in later posts, as doing it now would have made this post way to long to read, never mind to write! Until then, let me know what you think? Is there anything on your wish list that I've missed here? If so, please share it with the rest of us!

Montreal's first EVE Online Player Meet

Last night at Hurley's, a bunch of strangers met with a common passion, EVE Online. We arrived strangers and left with smiles, knowing that we would have to do this again. Though the turnout was not as high as I would've like, still, for those who were there it was a blast. We had a few pints of Guinness and Kilkenny, a few good laughs and a lot of war and ship setup mishaps stories!

Pictured above (from left to right) are Sinjin, Sine Tamar, Alexis Aristide, Pandore, Treenara Mazouk (that's me) and Phreacker. And I guess you can tell by the look on our faces, we had fun and the pints they were flowing nicely. So the guys have asked me to setup the next meeting, which I plan to do soon. As soon that is as when they get me a few good PvP ship setups for my Vexor, Myrmidon and Dominix! Now we're talking!

P.S.: 1 million isk to the first one who points out the pirate amongst us!

The beautiful vistas of EVE Online

One of the first that strike people when I show them screenshots of EVE, or the videos with in-game footage, is how beautiful it is. And even today, after three years of playing the game, I'm still awestruck once in awhile by its visuals.

The screenshot below gives you a glimpse of what I mean. With the current rework of Trinity, EVE's graphical engine, the future looks even better. Of the few before and after Trinity II screenshots that we've been fed by CCP, I really can't wait for them to roll it out.

I've put together a set over on Flickr of my favorites screenshots. Have a peek, enjoy, and let me know about your favorites. Oh and while you're at it, have a look at the Trinity II comparison shots I've also added.

And now, I'm off the the First Montreal EVE Player Gathering over at Hurley's on Crescent St., downtown. I'll have pictures and stories to tell in tomorrow's post. I'm looking forward to meeting fellow capsuleers and share a few war stories while drinking a nice cold one. See you there boys!

Fly safe everyone!

EVE Online Speedlinking for August 3rd

Here are links to article of interest on EVE for this week. In no particular order.

• EvE Careers - For pilots looking for corps and corps looking pilots.
• Ok, Now This Is Getting Ridiculous... - Bekka Jae on EVE TV
• Revelations Tutorial - Part II - The second part of Wilhelm's "new tutorial" review.
• EVE Chronicles: Summer Breeze - Average in my opinion, but still interesting.
• Warp Drive Active PodCast #4 - Somewhat average, but the only EVE podcast we have!
• Learning Skills for Learning Skills - Learning Skills Guide from Wilhelm
• EVE Online on a Mac - Get your MacBook Pro out and start her up!
• EVE TV: From the Inside - News from EVE Tribune
• Edinburgh Interactive Festival - Hilmar (CCP's CEO) will be there to talk about the evolution of EVE and the financial cut throat economic game play.
• EVE Fitting Tool (v2.2) - A nifty fun utility for fitting your ships.

Get more EVE Online speedlinking here!

Know thy ship setup before heading out into danger

As I type this I'm sitting down in the living room typing away on the laptop, somewhat upset. You see, my problem is two fold. First, I've lost a brand spanking new Celestis to 2, maybe 3, enemy pilots, who finished me up by podding me. I kind of blame myself for this one, cause I headed off onto a 19 jumps trip to 49-U with a new set-up I had barely put in, and not even tested. Duh! That'll teach me.

My second, and most frustrating issue though is that I can't log back into EVE. After being podded and waking up in Badivedfi, I tried to activate the Medical facilities to buy a new clone. But I was getting no response from the GUI. So I decided to log out and in of the EVE client, thinking that this should do the trick.

Well if I'm here typing away on the laptop, you know that I wasn't able to get back in. So unfortunately, I won't be able to share the Celestis setup that got me in this predicament. That'll have to wait until the time I can log back in and get the evemails. All I know at this time is that it was most likely two pilots from Rens (?) or Triple A; two entities with which FIX is at war. I'll let you know later.

What I 'can' tell you now though, is that you need to test you ship's setup before heading too far out in low sec or unfriendly space. Or else it can cost you dearly, as it did for me tonight!

I've learned my lesson.

On that note folks, Good night and Good luck!

CrazyKinux's Musing - Looking back at July 2007

With July behind us it's time to look back, see the month that was, and understand where I can improve this blog.

A bit of statistics first, please. July was...

• 13 posts
• 1 poll
• 38 comments
• 7894 page views
• 5422 visitors
• 848 returning visitors

A pretty good month in terms of visitors and comments, not so much on the posting side. Which is why I've given myself the royal kick in the arse to post at least once a day for August. Still, I'm quite happy with the results. Compared to June, were looking at an increase of 64% in pageviews and 54% in visitors. Quite impressive in my opinion. What's less impressive is that July had half as much posts as June. Not too happy with that one, but I'm working on it.

During July I also spent a good number of hours improving the overall look and feel of the blog, with some nifty Blogger hacks - the labels a the top of the sidebar is a good example. I'm currently happy with the way the blog is, and now want to focus my attention on the content and get some more quality posts.

Special thanks goes out the sahlregen, vargas and Syncaine for their feedback and encouragements. It's very much appreciated and always welcomed!

Will you attend the EVE Fanfest 2007?

With the month of August now started, the end of summer is nearing - though we still have some nice weather ahead of us. And after summer comes fall (or autumn), which is the season of a bizarre world wide phenomenon amongst a particular class of geeks. This bizarre behavior, scientifically known as the Icelandic late fall migration, happens in November of each year and sees a number of mmorpg playing geeks travel to the remote northern island country.

The more intuitive, informative, and EVE addicts will have guessed by now that I referring to the EVE Fanfest 2007!! Those lucky few, who will be part of this migratory pattern, will witness some interesting events, learn fascinating new features of EVE, and thoroughly enjoy themselves, while feasting on various incapacitating beverages.

Unfortunately, I won't be partaking in this year's Fanfest, which would have been my first. The birth of my daughter earlier in the year, work travel schedule and different vacations plans, makes it difficult to attend this year's community gathering. I still wish I could go, but I have to settle for news and fan videos as I've done in the past (here and here).

Since I'm not going, I'm curious to know who amongst you is. Let me know in the survey at the top of the right side bar. I'll leave it up a bit longer than usual, say mid-August, to have a good overall picture of who's going or not. And while you're at it, please let us know by commenting if you've been to any of the previous Fan Fest. I'd love to know!

In the mean time, the Montreal EVE Player Gathering I'm organizing is coming up this Saturday! So far we should be about 12 to 15. Should be quite interesting. I'll be taking the camera with me and will be sharing the event with you in Sunday's post.