EVE Online Speedlinking for November 28th, 2008

This is my last Speedlinking list before going back to work. And though it's dated on the 28th, I'm actually posting this one on Sunday the 30th. My bad. Let's just say the last few days were busy, but I still wanted the post to be dated on the Friday.

This last week has seen some nice link on the Fanfest still, as well as our second EVE Blog Banter series. Also, 4 new EVE blogs were added to the Blogroll, for a new total of 126 blogs! Finally, I'm still working on the editing of the latest MicroWarpCast show, and I promised to get back on track with the EVE Blog Pack Member profiles, by the next week-end!

New Blogs:

• Macs in EVE
• PNTS EVE-Blog
• A Fistfull of ISK
• Blackheart Pirate

From CCP Games Dev Blogs:

• The Council of Stellar Management: second election results are in!
• EVE Online and Windows HPC video
• Windows HPC: Home Page
• MS_CCP Games Tech_750K.wmv (video/x-ms-wmv Object)
• Forums: You want AA+HDR on nvidia card in Eve Premium... Look here!
• News on the next QEN and a new Econ Devblog
• EVE Chronicles: Under the Sea, the City
• EVE Fanfest 2008 Videos

Massively articles:

• EVE Evolved: Where's the grind?
• Natural selection applied to MMOs
• First titan class ship in EVE to be destroyed by non-capital fleet

EVE Online News:

• EVE Online's Torfi Frans Interview - Page 1 // MMO /// Eurogamer - Games Reviews, News and More
• EVE Online Screenshots & Images /// Eurogamer - Games Reviews, News and More
• Eve Fanfest 2008 Videos | Rock, Paper, Shotgun
• MTV Multiplayer » Who Would You Vote For In This Video Game Election?
• A post-Quantum Rise Video Q&A with EVE Online's Arend Stührmann | Ten Ton Hammer
• EVE Online : A Guide to Interceptors - EVE Online for Mac, PC and Linux at MMORPG.COM

EVE Blogosphere:

• One Man And His Spaceship: Guide to Industry - now with stuffy voice
• The man, the myth, the legend « A Misguided Adventurer
• Master and Commander, the Far side of CK’s Musings… | EVE Network News
• Eve Online - What is rich? | EVE Network News
• EVE Online tries the World of Democracyc
• Vive Virtual: Fleet Blobbing Technorati!
• Winterblink's EVE: Quantum of Polish
• eve : nature vraie
• Very shiny EVE « A Misguided Adventurer
• Our EvE » Pod Pilot’s Guide to The Musings
• Eve Tribune #47, Year 3 - Banking and You: the Tribune talks to EBANK
• The Sky Is Falling! | EVE-Mag.com
• Quantum Rise or Falling? | EVE-Mag.com
• EVE Blog Banter #2: Space, the Final Frontier...
  
• New Fanfest 2008 Videos over on YouTube

Fly safe all!

New Fanfest 2008 Videos over on YouTube

Now this little post is a complete rip off of the email I got from my CCPGames YouTube subscription, but it would be a horrible mistake not to post the it here. Whether you've been to Fanfest 2008 or not, you should have a look at these videos.

Originally I was supposed to be interviewed by StevieG, but somehow our schedules did not match and I ended up not being on EVE TV. I blame the beer. But eh, I always do! Oh, and make sure to watch AlienHand's interview! A Great guy, and one hell of a composer!

Enjoy!

• Fanfest 2008 Interviews - Group Interviews
• Fanfest 2008 Interviews - Party on Top of the World
• Fanfest 2008 Interviews - Tony Gonzales
• Fanfest 2008 Interviews - Serenity Steele
• Fanfest 2008 Interviews - Eve Radio
• Fanfest 2008 Interviews - EON
• Fanfest 2008 Interviews - Battleclinic
• Fanfest 2008 Interviews - Alienhand
• EVE Online Fanfest 2008 - Speakeasy
• EVE Online Fanfest 2008 - The Economy
• EVE Online Fanfest 2008 - WIS Environments
• EVE Online Fanfest 2008 - CSM Panel
• EVE Online Fanfest 2008 - Eve IP

So, you want to be part of the EVE Blog Pack?

Today marks the last day of what became an 8 month "sabbatical". Next Monday, I'll head to downtown Montreal to start a new career. Though I'm very excited and happy to start next week, I must admit that I enjoyed these last few months. I had time to focus my time and attention to one of my passions, both personal and virtual, and I think it paid off.

Indeed, the last few months have seen an exponential increase in both the numbers of EVE blogs, the quality of the content put out by the EVE Community, and a general feeling that we've built something unique amongst MMOs communities. It's something I'm quite proud of to have participated in, and something which is in part the result of the time I was able to dedicate to the task.

As you might expect, I will not have as much time to blog about EVE. You may have notice a decrease in the amount of posts I've published in the last few weeks. Expect this to be the new output. There's so much one man can do and still live a normal, healthy, family life.

Rest assure I will neither blogfade, nor podfade. The new schedule for MicroWarpCast will be bi-weekly, though I will still publish the EVE Speedlinks once a week (this week's should go live later today). I'm currently working on the editing of show #4, which I expect to have ready by the end of the week-end.


This is where the EVE Blog Pack comes into play. Since I won't be as prolific in my blogging, you can always count on the Pack for constant, quality content on EVE Online. This has been its purpose since day one, and continues to be so.

As such, I have made a little pre-Holiday clean-up of the list, with the result that there are now 2 openings on the Pack. I'll admit that I took the liberty of adding my good friend Black Claw's blog to the pack, as he has showed a genuine interest for several weeks. Not only that, but he has posted more than 30 articles over the last 2 months, and has been a force within the community.

What about those 2 spots you ask? They're open to anyone who has a dedicated EVE blog, which is updated regularly (at least once a week that is) and which provides great material for the community. If you think you've got what it takes, then please let me know by leaving a comment below. I'll give you 2 weeks to consider this. Then I'll ask the 27 other pack member to vote for whom they would want to add to the Pack. I won't be voting myself, as I want to leave it up the the rest of the Pack to decide.

So who will be the 2 new EVE Blog Pack members? That's up to all of you!

EVE Blog Banter #2: Space, the Final Frontier...

Welcome to the second installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month's EVE Blog Banter comes to us from Brinelan over at The Shard. He asks: What drew us into EVE, what keeps us playing the game and what brought us back if we've ever left?

I was born in 1971, at the end of the Apollo Space Program. By my second Christmas, man had stopped walking on the moon. As I grew up over the next few year, I felt out of touch with the era I was living in. As a child I dreamed of being an explorer, discovering new lands, new frontiers.

But it seemed I was in between two such great periods in the history of man. The Chinese sailed the oceans and explored the world during the 14th century with their great imperial fleet. The European did the same over the next 2 centuries in their smaller sailing ships. By the end of the 18th century, every major land mass had been discovered and less and less new territories were up for grabs. As for the next phase of exploration on this scale, the manned-space exploration, it will not happen for at least a few decades, if not a century or two.


At this point, you may be asking yourself, where's he going with this? And you'd be right in asking that question.

So lets get back to it.

Here I am, a young lad living in the 70s, stuck between dreaming of sailing with Cristoforo Colombo or Amerigo Vespucci on their exploration of the Americas, of discovering the great Aztec civilization (see here), of seeing the greatness of feudal Japan (see here), and between dreaming of being a colonist on Mars (see here, here, here and here), of establishing a settlement on Europa, or of being first to set foot on a planet in a new solar system.

Today, I'm still torn between these two dreams, but I've got a place where I can catch a glimpse of what it must be like to explore new worlds, new systems, to conquer new regions of space, to build an Empire. This place is New Eden, the universe is EVE Online.

The Americas of the 1400s will never exist again, and the chance of moving my family to Mars in the next few years is pretty much null. But in New Eden, I can claim sovereignty over a whole region of space with the help of my Alliance. I can setup a space station and establish trade with others as a member of Phoenix Labs. I can dream of being an immortal, a capsuleer.

That's what brought me to EVE and part of what keeps me playing.

What also keeps me playing and pulls me back in every time I stray away, is the EVE Community. Over the last 4 years of experiencing the virtual universe that is New Eden, I've become friends with countless people, who were but strangers before and now now friends with whom I engage with daily. And though this may also be true to other MMOs out there, is even more so with EVE's one-server-one-universe design.


I'd be lying if I also did not consider the visual aspect of EVE Online. Let's be honest, EVE is gorgeous! It was when it first came out in 2003, and it still is today! The artists and developers at CCP Games have done an amazing job of continually improving the graphics (and features) of EVE. We often take it for granted as were playing, until we hop into another MMO, and are are struck by the sheer beauty that is EVE in comparison. I've got over 2000 screenshots to prove my point! (see Trinity I screenshots) (see Trinity II screenshots).

Now if you'll excuse me I've a universe to conquer!

So, what lures you to New Eden?


Participants:

• CrazyKinux's Musing: EVE Blog Banter #2: Space, the Final Frontier...
• Ombeve: OOC Blog Banter 2
• The Wandering Druid of Tranquility: Internet Spaceships is Serious Business
• Semper EVE: The Allure of EVE
• A Merry Life and a Short One: EVE Blog Banter #2 - This Is My Time
• Life in Low Sec: Blog Banter #2: EVE's Enduring Allure
• Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah: Eve Blog Banter - What Drew Me Into Eve?
• Roc's Rambling: Blog Banter #2: Staying Power
• Sahirs Journey: Why am I sitting in an internet spaceship?
• Diving into PsychDiver's Psyche: EVE Blog Banter #2: All I Ever Wanted To Be Was A Capsuleer
• Achernar: Just gathering intel
• Sweet Little Bad Girl: Blog Banter #2
• The Ralpha Dogs: The Appeal of the Never-Ending Story
• A Mule in EVE: Mule Psychology : EvE Style
• A Misguided Adventure: Blog Banter - Enduring Allure
• One Man and His Spaceship: Blog Banter 2 - November 2008 Edition
• Letrange's EVE Blog: That Banter Thing
• Diary of a Space Jokey: EVE Blog Banter: How'd I get here ?!
• I May Find Peace Within The Emptiness…: EVE Blog Banter #2: New Eden Bearhug…
• The Shard: EVE Blog Banter #2
  

Win some EVE Fanfest 2008 Memorabilia!

Always wanting to share my EVE Fanfest 2008 experience with you my beloved readers, I decided to give you the chance to win some Fanfest 2008 memorabilia I brought back from Iceland. I've got 3 prizes to give away.

1st Prize:


EVE Fanfest 2008 T-shirt (Size L) and a wireless laptop mouse.

2nd Prize:


EVE Fanfest 2008 Schedule, 8 EON Magazine coasters, 2 postcards and an EVE magnetic pin.

3rd Prize:


EVE Fanfest 2008 Schedule, 8 EON Magazine coasters and 2 postcards.

So, how do you get to win one of these packages? By doing a bunch of things that will give you points, which I'll then tally. Here's the list and the points you get.

• 1 point - Make a relevant comment on any of my posts, as many as you want
• 1 point - Follow me on Blogger (for Gmail users only)
  
• 2 points - Add me to your Favorites on BlogCatalog
• 2 points - Join my community on MyBlogLog
• 2 points - Favorite this blog on Technorati
• 5 points - Add me to your blogroll
• 5 points - Follow me on Twitter
  
• 10 points - Write an article or review of CrazyKinux.com

Make sure you make a comment on this post to let me know you want to participate and add your relevant links. Otherwise I won't know to look for you and won't tally your points either.

The Contest lasts until Friday November 28th, 2008. I'll then tally all the points and announce the winners on December 12th, 2008. This should give me time to ship all 3 prizes in time for Christmas.

Good luck to all!

EVE Online Speedlinking for November 21st, 2008

It's been a week since the last Speedlinking post (well 6 days to be exact) and you can definitely see that Fanfest is over and Quantum Rise has been launched. The number of articles and blog posts have plummeted along with the price of petrol. I can't deny I appreciate the quieter times. It'll give me a chance to step into New Eden and appreciate (or not) the changes rolled out with Quantum Rise.

New Blogs:

• Vive Virtual
• Blogging from inside the Pod

From CCP Games Dev Blogs:

• EVE Online Newsletter vol.23 November 2008
• CCP Fanfest 2008 Videos

Massively articles:

• EVE Online's very own Corpse Bride
• Making/Money: EVE Economic Review Reviewed
• EVE Evolved: Beating the learning curve of EVE Online

EVE Online News:

• EVE Fanfest Q&A Panel, Part II
• Empryean Age Discussion, Part One
• Empyrean Age Discussion, Part Two
• EVE Online : PvP Guide Part One

EVE Blogosphere:

• Waking up, after a loss
• The PVP Guide for Assault Ships
• The Assault Ships Strike Back
• A Death In The Family: Chapter Three
• Thoughts on Quantum Rise
• Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah: Thoughts On Certificates
• Overview Setup for EvE
• Rising to the challenge « A Misguided Adventurer
• Thicker Than Blood: Chapter Two
• Today's Lesson: Lack of Movement = Getting Set Up
• MMO natural selection, and what it means to your game

And last but no least:

• Winterblink's EVE: Chapter N

Fly Safe!

Some much needed rest

I haven't posted much since my return from Fanfest so I wanted to give you a bit of an update as to what I currently working on.

Those who already follow me on Twitter know that over the last few weeks I've been busy with job interviews. I'm happy to report that I've accepted a position as a MediaVantage Sales Specialist for CNW Group, where I'll be starting in December. A lot of my time right up to Fanfest had been dedicated to finding employment. It's now a done deal!

On the gaming and blogging side of things, I've got lots of things planned in the near future. YoMma and I will be recording the next (4th) episode of MicroWarpCast later tonight, and Crovan and I are scheduled to record the 17th episode of The Drone Bay next Sunday night. So look for those shows soon.

I'm also getting ready to send an email for the next EVE Blog Banter which I'd like to get published by end of next week. Additionally, I've missed the last 2 week-end's EVE Blog Pack Member profile posts and well have to remedy that as well.

As for my gameplay, I've spent some time playing Mass Effect and other games since my return from Iceland, but really spent most of my free time wasting it in front of the TV. I've been really tired the last 2 weeks and need some time-off.

Now that I'm well rested, expect a lot in the coming days!

Fly safe!

EVE Online Speedlinking for November 15th, 2008

It's be just shy of a week since the Fanfest 2008 has ended, and a bit over two weeks since my last Speedlinking post. Suffice to say a lot of great articles and material has been published since then. Though I've tried to gather all the interesting stuff out there on the Intertubes over the last 14 days, some may have slipped through. If so, please let me know and I'll add it to this list.

On another related subject matter, YoMma and I should be recording the next installment of MicroWarpCast early this week. It was planned to do so this past Friday morning, but certain events prevented me from being available. You'll have to wait a few days for it. Knowing that you'll have to go through the list below, I'm not too worried that you'll get bored too quickly. And with Quantum Rise just out, you have a lot on your plate anyways!

New Blogs:

• The Adventures of Eirellle
• The Yaarrrk side
• The Adventures of Birdog Freelance Privateer

From CCP Games Dev Blogs:

• EVE Online | EVE Insider | Patchnotes
• The second election for the CSM
• I can resist anything but temptation
• Beasts of the Field - EVE Chronicles
• EVE API - Quantum Rise

Massively Interviews:

• EVE Community Spotlight: SirMolle
• EVE Community Spotlight: SirMolle Part 2
• Massively interviews E-ON editor Zapatero Part 2
• Massively interviews E-ON editor Zapatero
• Massively interviews Clear Skies creator Ian Chisholm Page 2
• Massively interviews Clear Skies creator Ian Chisholm
• EVE Online film 'Clear Skies' wins at Machinima Filmfest 2008
• Outlaws of EVE Online: Miz Cenuij
• Outlaws of EVE Online: Miz Cenuij Part 2

Massively articles:

• Interplay between ownership and game mechanics in EVE Online
• EVE 'Blog Banter' discusses Walking in Stations expansion
• Establishing trust in EVE's player-run financial institutions
• EVE Fanfest 2008 keynotes broadcasting live, November 8
• Voting for EVE's second Council of Stellar Management begins
• Outlaws of EVE Online: Miz Cenuij
• EVE Online's very own Corpse Bride
• Fanfest details emerge on EVE's Walking in Stations expansion
• CCP reveals Tech 3 coming in EVE's March expansion
• Massively's EVE Online PvP masterclass
• EVE Online moving to the world of First Person Shooters
• EVE's Quantum Rise trailer depicts escalating conflict
• EVE Evolved: PvP masterclass - Fleet warfare
• EVE Evolved: PvP masterclass - The dark side
• CCP Games issues heads up on phishing emails

EVE Online News:

• Halldor Fannar Video from FanFest 2008
• Torfi Frans Olafsson FanFest 2008 Stations Presentation
• EVE Online : Future of EVE Overview
• EVE Online : Walking In Stations Presentation (FanFest)
  
• EVE Online : The Raw Power of the Harbinger
• Walking in Stations with Torfi Olafsson
• EVE Fanfest Q&A Panel, Part 1
• EVE Online : Making a Successful Corporation, Part Two
  

• EVE Fanfast 2008 Photos
  
• Winterblink in EVE
  

• Giant Eve Expansion For Summer ‘09
• An Eve FPS?
• Eve: Quantum Rise Trailer
• EVE Fanfest 2008
• EVE's Premium graphics only "half done"
• EVE Fanfest 2008 Teaser
• EVE Online premium graphics pack demonstrated
• Facebook | EVE Online's Notes

EVE Blogosphere:

• Fly Reckless - Episode 17
• Titan Weekly Episode 17

• Sweet Little Bad Girl: Announcement
• Life in Low Sec: Roundup: Pirate Tactics and How-To's
• Life in Low Sec: Guide to Love for the Lonely Blog
• Why Ank/Eva Gets My Vote for CSM

• Guide Part 4 - Electronic warfare
• Guide Part 5 - An overview of the POS
  
• Guide Part 6 - Mission Running

• An Interview with EBANK’s Ricdic
• A Continued Look at EVE Corporation Leadership
• Running an Eve Corporation Website
• The Art of War: Waging War
• Jacob’s Patch Day List
• Tanking 101

• Quantum Expectations:Player Reactions to QR
• Realistically Realistic
• 1on1 with Massively’s James Egan

• Professions in Eve: Pirates, Goons, and Anti-Pirates
• Professions in Eve: Electronic Warfare Specialist
• Professions in Eve: Tank/Damage Dealer
• Professions in Eve: Scout

• EVE’s Weekend Warrior - Review - Hyperion
• winterblink.com » EVE: The Empyrean Age Review
• The EVE Online Advertising Network
  

• Eve Online Fanfest 2008 Closing Party
• YouTube - EVE Fanfest 2008 Videos
  
• Fanfest 2008 - a set on Flickr
• EVE FanFest, 2008 - a set on Flickr

Back from Fanfest and asking for more

It's been 3 days since my return from Iceland, and a bit longer since the end of the 5th EVE Fanfest. Quantum Rise has been deployed and from all accounts, all has gone smoothly. Life is slowly returning to normal for me, though I'm still very much busy with the job hunt and taking care of the little family.

This last Fanfest was my first and, as I've been telling everyone and their mothers, hopefully not my last. Though the whole event was short, and I didn't get to enjoy the Icelandic scenery, the whole experience was a blast. I finally met face to face with folks I'd been chatting and emailing for over a year. And I also met with folks who were complete strangers, leaving with new friendships which are likely to last. Never mind 3 days of EVE Online news and discussions!

I still have got loads of notes and subject matter that came out of the Fanfest for about a dozen future posts. So expect more over the next two weeks. I just need a bit of time to wrap my head around a few ideas and get my facts together.

This Friday's Speedlinking post is likely to be one of the lengthiest, as I've put together the news of the last 2 weeks, which as you know, has been quite extensive. This one should go live early Friday morning. YoMma and I are scheduled to record the 4th installment of MicroWarpCast also on Friday morning, and with some luck, I should have the editing done by the end of the week-end.

I leave you with these two photos of me and some lovely Icelandic ladies with whom I had a bit of fun on Saturday night, during the Fanfest Party. Should convince a few of you boys out there to definitely make it to Fanfest next year!




All innocent fun, of course. I mean, I'm an honorable Canadian of course!

Cheers!

Quantum Rise Trailer

Here's the latest gem from CCP. Enjoy!

Video: Eve Online - Quantum Rise Trailer (1:46)

EVE to be released (again) in retail next year - Box Cover

During today's World Domination presentation, Hilmar explained that CCP Games had partnered with Atari to release EVE Online in retail again. The photo of the cover box (as of today) is shown below. They decided to do this because they've noticed that a lot of players new to MMORPGs are introduced to these games through retail. With the recent retail success of Age of Conan and War Hammer, who can blame them for trying.

As such, and looking to bring in more players to the game, a retail DVD box will be released next year. The two pirates sitting behind me during the presentation kept giggling at the thought of all these newbies they'd have a chance to rip through!

There's a perverted thought currently being debated within the confine of my brain to get that new retail version, or not.

I know, that's so fanboy, but eh, I can't help it! :p

EVE Fanfest Day 3 - Highlights

I'm back from the third and last day of the EVE Fanfest, a few hours before the big Party! I've had a chance to upload all the photos and videos and I wanted to share a few of the big news with you. You'll probably read all about the details of the coming Quantum Rise expansion on the big news sites, so I'm not going to go into all those details myself.

What I will show you are the videos below, which I know you'll enjoy. Here are links to my Flickr photo sets (and videos) for the presentations I saw today, as well as some photos and videos.

• TQ Servers: Making mountains out of molehills
• Modular Tech 3 Ships
• All EVE Fanfest 2008 Videos
  
• World Domination Presentation

CCP Games


Scope - Quantum Rise


CCP Games & Atari Deal


EVE Online First Person Shooter is coming soon(tm)

EVE Fanfest Day 2 - Lots more goodies!

It's Saturday afternoon here in Iceland, and the last and 3rd day of Fanfest is coming to a closure. Though, not before the big presentation by Hilmar which is an less then an hour, nor before the Party later tonight!

Yesterday, the second day of the Fanfest, was filled with lots of great presentation and the showcasing of some great new content in the works. Some of which I've showed you in previous posts.

I've already showed you all the videos I had previously, but there are a few additional photos I took during the presentation "Environments in Walking in Station". Take a look at this set for all the WiS material.

I participated in 3 other panels yesterday, New Player Experience, Industry and EVE Marketing. I've got a bunch of notes I took that I want to share with you, but I'm still at Fanfest and still have stuff to see. So you'll have to bare with me and wait a bit more before getting all the juicy details.

In the mean time I'll still upload photos and videos and link to them.

I'll leave you with this great slide from the Ivy League presentation. Enjoy!

Walking in Stations Videos - EVE Fanfest 2008

I've got 8 short videos for you this morning; 6 are about Walking in Station (WiS) and the last 2 are a demonstration of a lighting technology developed by Geomerics (Cambridge UK) used by CCP in their station environment.

Walking Stations (Ambulation) Videos:













The Geomerics Demonstration Videos:





I'm now off to breakfast before heading to the Fanfest for a session on the History of EVE. After that, I'll have a bit of time to write some more before Hilmar's "World Domination" keynote. This one promises to be interesting!

SecWars - An EVE Walking in Station mini-game video

I'm back at my hotel after an exhausting day running around trying to see everything and meet everyone I had intend to today. As such, the days wrap-up I wanted to do will have to be pushed to tomorrow morning. I just can't get myself to go through the several pages of notes I took today.

But, since I still wanted to give you a little something before getting some much deserved rest, I thought I'd share this little short video with you. It was taken during today's presentation on Walking in Station (WiS - as opposed as Flying in Space; FiS as CCP puts it) by Torfi, EVE's new Senior Producer.

Within the station environments, players will be able to play mini-strategy-games against an AI, or each other. The video below showcases the start of such a game, SecWars. It's not much, but it gives you an understanding of the attention to detail that CCP is putting into WiS. It also looks like a lot of fun, and something I could waste a few hours on.




What do you think? I know the video was long and didn't show much, but it at least gives you a hint. Impressed eh?

EVE Fanfest Day 1 - Recap and more

It's been two days since my arrival in Iceland, and the first day of Fanfest is now behind us.

While traveling from Boston to Reykjavik, I met several EVE players waiting at the gate - some fellow players, some ISD members and I even spotted (quite easily actually) a few Goons who had gathered near the latrines (well in front of actually). I'm sure that half the folks traveling on that plane were going to EVE Fanfest.

Yesterday, after a short half hour bus trip from Keflavik airport to my hotel in Reykjavik, I dropped on my bed, half-dead, for a little 3-hour nap. Refreshed and re-energized, I was ready to hit the town for some dinning and winning, ready to lose a leg and an arm having to pay those crazy Icelandic prices.

I introduced myself to a group of fellow players who were hanging out in the lobby and we headed over to the Vegamot, where we met one of their chefs, a fellow EVE player by the name of Bergur. A nice chap, with whom I enjoyed some great conversations.


After a great dinner (at a reasonable price - 15$ for a great meal and $7 for a pint), we headed back to the hotel and shared some more fine alcoholic beverages. Then it was time to get some rest before the first day of Fanfest.

When I woke-up this morning there was no rush to head over to the venue, since it only started at 12:30. I met Chris from FM4.0rf.at, whom I'd only met the previous evening, for breakfast, which was a buffet style and much better than I would have expected. Gotta thank Winterblink for recommending this place!

We then walked over to the Lagerschmool (no that's not the real name, but it escapes me and is too complicated anyways) to get our passes and swag bag. After getting my Fansite pass and the goodies, we headed over to the press area to check out the schedule. On the way I took some more pictures (which are all available here).

I attended the first 2 panels - Economy and Market, and Future Expansions - before going to lunch. Here below are my notes of these panels.

Economy and Market - with CCP Dr.EyjoG


Here are some of the topics discussed:

• Provide live economic data dashboard are in the long term plans
• 5-year long term plans would ideally include
• Full Stock Market feature
• EVE Central Bank
• Race-based currencies
• Insurance and Trade
• Consumer Goods usage
• Changing Market Order while OOG
• Store Front
• Factional Warfare and Tech 1 items prices

Future Expansions - with Hammerhead


Here are some of the topics discussed:

• Development pipeline has enough to last until 2012
• Anchorable Player Objects (individual)
• Atmospheric Flight (what would be the goal)
• Cloaking and projected cloaks
• Ambulation and Adult Content (poker, strippers and corpses)
• Removing Local chat from nullsec
• Sovereignty
• Better Camera Control
• Better and enhanced corporate tools

Now remember that these were "discussions" of what players would like to see in-game, and not stuff that's actually coming soon(tm).

After being refused from the next panel, Women in EVE (I can't understand why), I roamed around and just let the experience sink in.

After that, I dropped by the Singularity room for a chat with the Community Devs (Valerie, Misty, Ed, Mitnal) folks and other fansite folks (AlienHand was there, as well as the fellow behind the Jump Planner tool).

Not bad for a first day!

One more Stargate to go

Having gone through the Montreal-Boston Stargate earlier today, I'm waiting for the Boston-Reykjavik Stargate to be activated. Engineers have stated, over the station PA, that their repairs should be done soon and that the gate would be activated somewhere around 20:35, local system time.

We're also being told that the normally instantaneous system to system jump, will this time take a few hours instead. This is due to the nature of today's tweaks with the stargate's inner workings.

Hopefully I'll wake up in Reyjavik system in one piece!

I'll let you know as soon as I make planetfall.

EVE Online Podcasts for the week of November 1st. 2008

Four new EVE Online podcast this week, enough to please everyone!

Enjoy!