CrazyKinux's Musings: July 2010

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Taking my leave...

In looking back at the last 2 years, I've decided to take my leave of the EVE Blog Pack. Not this blog, nor EVE Online of course! What? What did you think? :p
Indeed. It's time I applied the same rules I've forced other Pack Members to follow, to myself and my part in the Pack. As @casiella rightfully mentioned recently, this blog is no longer just about EVE Online. And though I'm not one to shy away from the traffic the Pack generates for its members, I'm no traffic junkie either. I write this blog because I like to share what I find interesting about EVE, about MMOG, gaming and geek related stuff. That's my nature.

When I created the Pack, I wanted it to be the elite in EVE Blogs. And I still do. This blog no longer needs to be promoted. It gets all the attention it needs, and then some! :D

Since I wrote about How to get into the Pack a while back, asking bloggers to submit their blogs, or blogs they'd see in the Pack, I've received a good number of great and interesting blogs.

Here's the list of potential new Pack members so far:

I'll be taking in new applicants over the week-end and will make my final decision Sunday evening. Expect an update on this by Monday morning! And don't worry if your blog is not on the list. I may, or may not, pull a few surprises up my sleeve!

So long EVE Blog Pack, you've been a lot of fun!

The ever expanding EVE Blogosphere! - Part 11

Another shot to the EVE Blogroll listing. Not as many as in previous updates, but that's understandable. Thanks to the help of two dedicated and very helpful readers, I'll soon be cleaning out the dead links in the list; removing blogs that no longer exist, or are simply dead.

And did you know we're Saturday today, not Sunday! Yeah I know, I went OMG another day off! Seems the brain gets confused if you take a Friday off! So enjoy the rest of the day, and your Sunday too! And welcome to these new EVE Bloggers!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Disappointed but undeterred: why you'll never get me to quit helping EVE Bloggers

I've recently come under fire for somehow being a marketing tool of CCP. These accusations, have led others to ponder over my relationship with CCP and as well as question my writing style.
I thought I'd try to respond to these accusations.

It's kind of funny that after putting all these efforts over the last 2 to 3 years helping out other EVE Bloggers (by providing them with opportunities to be in the spotlight through the EVE Blog Pack, win some EVE merchandise, ISKs or GTC, or discuss various aspect of the game in the EVE Blog Banters) that my reputation should be slandered in this way.

It's a bit disappointing to be honest.

I promised myself that this post wouldn't be too long, but bear with me while I tell you a story.

The Beginnings

I started this blog back in 2005. Back then, there were not many other EVE Blogs. Over the years I started gathering links to other EVE blogs, to guides and anything that I found useful or that would help me out playing in EVE. At that time, I had no children and could easily play EVE for 30 to 40 hours a week without facing the wrath of my better-half. Then MiniCK came into our lives, and my gaming time started to suffer.

EVE Blog Banter #19: Growing Pains

Welcome to the nineteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by none other than me, 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 to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This months topic comes to us from @evepress, who he asks: The CSM: CCP's Meta Game? The CSM, an EVE players voice to CCP. Right? In the grand scheme of things yes, the players bring up issues and the CSM presents them to CCP. But in its current iteration the CSM was supposed to be given small authority to assign CCP assets to projects that the CSM thought needed work on. As it has come out, this was not the case. So fellow bloggers, is the CSM worth it, has the CSM improved the game in any way, or is it just a well thought out scam by CCP to give us players a false sense of input in the game? What's your take?

Talk about a loaded question!

The ever expanding EVE Blogosphere! - Part 10

Here's this week's crop of new EVE Blogs. Welcome to all of you my "mindless minions"!

A little Voodoo Doll with that PvP? [Contest]

I was recently contacted by @String_Doll, who is one of the current sponsors of Hulkageddon III and the talent behind the particularly original, you'll have guessed, MyStringDolls.com. He was looking for some promotional opportunity and I thought, well, why not have a little contest and let you the reader get a chance to win one of those little cute voodoo doll, and at the same time help out a Internet entrepreneur!

This little contest will be quite simple. Your mission, if you accept, is to tell us "what's your favourite String Voodoo Doll and why?" Do so in the comments below and Ed (@String_Doll) will pick one winner and send them a doll of his choice. The runner-up would get a 10% discount code to purchase a doll. The contest is open from now until Friday, July 23rd (11:59:59) EDT.

The dolls seen above are just some of the example of the dolls you can pick as your favorite. Feel free to explore some more on his site MyStringDolls.com.

Good luck!

The State of Pod: EVE Online Podcast Listing

Over the last few years, EVE Online has seen quite a few number of great podcasts done by its player community. Some, like Winterblink's and Urban Mongral's Warp Drive Active, have been around for over 3 years now!
If like me, you've been trying to keep track and find a list of ALL these podcasts, well I've decided to put a little research into it and put together such a list. I myself have had the opportunity to partake in 2 of these, The Drone Bay and Micro Warp Cast. Unfortunately, both these shows have come to an end. As of this writing, the last Drone Bay podcast recorded has yet to see the light, and may never.

[UPDATE: See the comment below. Seems that Crovan is back, and we may see some development re The Drone Bay! Will keep you posted!] As for Micro Warp Cast, the podcast I had started with @YoMma, it unfortunately suffered the fate. Sometimes RL can be a harsh Mistress.

Please feel free to let me know of other past or current EVE Podcasts, and I'll make sure to add them here. Just leave me a comment. Also, this post is a work in progress as I plan to add old and current podcasts, and add their blogs, sites or Facebook Fan pages if they exist. Now if, you'll excuse me, I have a not-so-secret podcast project I have to work on...

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The Hulkageddon Effect - An EVEPress Contest

Our friends over at EVEPress are hosting a contest from today until the 27th of July. The topicof this contest is none other then Hulkageddon III, the unofficial week and a half of torture, [where] some of the game's more vicious players band together with one common goal -- the complete eradication of mining ships. Whether you're a fan, a participant or an opponent to the event, you have to agree that it has a major impact on the game.

I'm happy to report that I've been asked to judge this first contest. Details of the event can be found on EVEPress.

Good luck to all who enter!

EVE Mobile Edition: EVE Online running on an Android Phone [VIDEO]

I first wrote about it way back in 2007, but it looks like we might almost be there. The below video shows an EVE client running on a Motorola DROID (Overclocked to 1. 3GHz Bugless Beast V. 1. 1). I just might get myself a DROID phone soon!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Terra incognita: Setting off for Wormhole Space

Over the last few days I've been gathering all my belongings into one system near Bourynes, some 27 jumps away where I was stationed with Phoenix Labs. Suffice to say that the enterprise has been very time consuming, though not what would call boring though. Indeed, I've used this time to accumulate a plethora (damn I love that word!) of links, guides and tutorials that will be useful to me as I join my corp, Chaosstorm, in wormhole space.

During this transition, I've queued up a long list of skills I'll need as I enter this terra incognita: Astrometric skills, probing and other scanning skills...

In trying to share all this information with you, I've put together the following list of guides and links that I've come across in my InterTubes exploration. Please let me know in the comments below of other links you've found helpful.

As always, fly safe!

Wormhole Wikis:

Wormhole Guides:

Exploration, Scanning & Probing Guides:

CCP's Official Scanning Video Tutorial:

Friday, July 09, 2010

Friday Video: Predators Trailer

Thanks to UberFanGirl for reminding me, I'll be seeing the movie later tonight! If the trailer is any hint, this is going to be a great movie. I'll let you know!

Monday, July 05, 2010

The Best "Behind the Scenes of CCP Games" Videos

Having recently gone through all of the videos of the Final Day of the Alliance Tournament 8, I've had a chance to see some rather cool videos of what happens at CCP. Below you'll find all 3 "Behind-the-Scenes" videos - on Planetary Interaction, Making EVE Trailers and Recruitement. If you haven't had a time to see them, they're well worth the time!

Sweet n'est-ce pas!

Friday, July 02, 2010

The ever expanding EVE Blogosphere! - Part 9

Still some more EVE Blogs to add the EVE Player Blogroll, though soon, I'll be removing quite a few number from the full list. Indeed, recently I've received help for some fine folks to help me weed out the old, outdated blogs from the master list. Expect this to happen soon (tm)!

In the mean time, lets welcome these new EVE Bloggers!

Friday Video: Iron Sky Teasers - Space Nazis attack!

It's not everyday that you get to see Space Nazis! But these two teasers sure got me interested in learning more about Iron Sky [Official Site].

From Wikipedia we learn that "Iron Sky" is [...] a dark science fiction comedy that plays with Finland's history of being oppressed by Sweden and Russia, Iron Sky is a deliberate thematic throwback, a modern implementation of once-popular science fiction tropes that have fallen into disuse, such as Nazis in space.

In addition, from the summary we know that [...] as World War II comes to an end in 1945, Hans Kammler and other German scientists make a breakthrough in anti-gravity research. From a secret base in the Antarctic, Nazi spaceships are sent to the "dark side" of the Moon to establish the military base "Schwarze Sonne" (Black Sun). Their plan is to build a powerful fleet and return to conquer Earth. The film is set in the year 2018 when their descendants finally return.

Here are the 2 teasers:

Pretty cool n'est-ce pas?

Thursday, July 01, 2010

The Super Physics of EVE Online

Though we only get to play with the results, we all know - to some extent - that somewhere deep within the Matrix of New Eden, some fundamental physics is keeping it all together. But what you wanted to pull the curtain of beauty that the masterful artisan of CCP Games have used to cover the inner workings of the favorite of virtual universe we call EVE, to see these formulas and principles that govern ship behavior, combat fundamentals, and other inner-workings.

Well that's what upsideyourhead, over at Knol - a unit of knowledge, has decided to do. I won't try to summaries or explain what he's doing here, has I failed miserably during my undergrad year in Physics way back during my University days. Suffice to say, this will please and intellectually stimulate the inner geek in all of us, whether big or small.

Here are the first 3 articles he's written. I'll keep adding more as he lets me know about them.

Enjoy!

P.S.: Did you understand any of what he wrote?

CrazyKinux's Musings

Pages