EVE Blog Banter #23: Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was New Eden

Welcome to the twenty-third 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 or so 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 for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

With Incursion giving us glimpses of what Incarna will have to offer (the the Character Creator), this month's topic, by @Minerpewpew, comes just at the right time. He asks "What are your thoughts on how Incarna will effect the current EVE Online social dynamic?" I'd like to see this questioning go a bit further. How will this affect EVE's player base? Who will Incarna attract? New players to the genre? Seduce old players back into the game? Will we see new players come in that will never leave their station? Please explore to the best of your abilities!

EVE Online is a game about spaceship combat. Right? I mean, in the end what ever you do in this virtual world, the result is some ship, somewhere, somehow, gets blown to smithereens! That's the whole purpose of the game right? Not quite so.

EVE Online: Tyrannis Trailer [1080p HD]

I love the voice over!

You can download the video on the Tyrannis feature page .

Tyrannis Planetary Interaction Winners Announcement

Like any good miner looking out for some exotic and pricey minerals in his Covetor, I recently had the difficult tasks of reading through no less than 31 entries to the Tyrannis Planetary Interaction Contest. As always, the EVE Blogging Community did not disappoint. The entries were varied in their content, their approach, their opinion. Some were descriptive, some speculative, some bloggers approached the contest through fiction, other with lists and bullets.
All in all, narrowing it down to just 5 entries was a monumental effort, one which saw me scratching my head for some time, having to drop a few more great entries in order to choose the winners. In the end, the 5 entries below, were as varied in their approach and argumentation as one would expect from a healthy, organic and dynamic blogging community such as EVE Online has. Thanks to all who partook in this contest, and congratulations to the following 5 winners who will receive a PLEX, courtesy of CCP:

•  I am Keith Neilson: Thus Always to Tyrants
• Eve Illectrocuted: It's Not Just About Planets You Know
• .5 or Higher!: Abyssus in Terra
• The hydrostatic capsule: Let the Gods be Gods!'
• No War Too Small…: Planetary Interaction: Nothing Personal, It’s Just Business

As for the lucky winner who will get to interview a CCP Dev during one of The Drone Bay podcast, the honour goes to Cailais of  The hydrostatic capsule who wrote the Let the Gods be Gods! entry. Congratulations again are in order!

To all 5 winners, in order to ensure that I'll in touch with the right individuals, I ask that you write a new post in which you mention that you've won the contest, in which you will provide me with an email to reach you at. I'll then confirm your prize through email, at the address you'll have provided.

Tonight We Make Landfall! - Tyrannis Contest Participants

With the deadline to the Tyrannis Contest fast approaching (it's the 10th, midnight!), I thought it would be a good idea to start listing the participants so that both you and I could start reading and picking some favorites so far. So here they are:

1. One Shot Blog: Tyrannis, by Iamien
2. Tastes Like Chicken: Tyrannis: A Planetary Interaction Contest, by Kaarbaak
3. The Hydrostatic Capsule: Let the Gods be Gods, by Cailais
4. Starfleet Comms: Can I Have a VAT Receipt Please?, by Max Torps
5. Aggressive Logistics: Tyrannis, by Khan
6. A Barrel Roll: Planetary Infraction, by Alathus Christensen
7. Loaded Barrels: Five Thousand Stars, Devil Knows How Many Planets, by Brutus Septimius
8. No War Too Small...: Planetary Interaction: Nothing Personal, It’s Just Business, by Kail Joric
9. CrazyKinux's Guest Blog: My thoughts on Tyrannis, Contest Entry, by Cyric Kilbright
10. Pocket Pairs & Pod Pilots: Planetary Interactive Possibilities, by Diametrix
11. Garhead: "The Fall", by Garhead
12. Guns Ablaze: I'm a Lumberjack and I’m OK, by Jager
13. EVE Tyranus: A grind blend, by Ed
14. Vissios Altacras Presents: Tyrannis, Planetary Interaction and what (I hope) it means for EVE, by Vissios
15. Void Burn: Tyrannis Impact Prognosis, by Miroven
16. Unstable Terrain: Eve Online Planetary Interation Predictions, by Trent
17. Mike Azariah: Land Rush, by Mike Azariah
18. Pod On The Run: About Tyrannis, Expectations of an underskilled Jack of all Trades, by LoRDa
19. Musings of a Casual Industrialist: Planetary Interaction: What does it mean offworld?, by Igor Epocci
20. Ashireka's Adventures In EVE: Tyrannis Impact, by Ashireka
21. I am Keith Neilson: Thus Always to Tyrants, by Mandrill 
22. No War Too Small...: Planetary Interaction, by Video Game
23. A Merry Life and A Short One: Sic Semper Tyrannis, by Hallen Turrek
24. Khopa Ascetic: Delusions of Tyranny, by Mathew Melnon
25. A Sebiestor Scholar: Zargyl's Tyrannis, by Zargyl
26. A Mule in EVE: Ripples of Tyrannis, by Manasi
27. EVE Illectrocuted: It's Not Just About Planets You Know, by Illectro
28. .5 or Higher!: Abyssus in Terra, by David E. Talvoces
29. EnerlaNet: EVE Online Tyrannis, by Enerla
30. Nestor the Chronicled: Here A World, The A World, by Nestor
31. CrazyKinux's Guest Blog: Tyrannis: a Planetary Interaction Contest, by Trimutius III

If you want to help promote your entry and get it read and commented, be sure to reply to this EVE Forum thread - with a link to your entry, just like Igor Epocci did!

EVE Online Tyrannis Teaser Video

Coming May 18th, eh! The wait begins!

EVE Online Dominion Trailer and Expansion site go Live

About an hour ago CCP Games released the trailer for their latest expansion and launched the Dominion site. Have a look and be prepared to be amazed once more!


I really look forward to this expansion as the end of the year will see me have a bit more time to log into EVE in the evenings and play with my mates from Phoenix Labs; which is something that has been very difficult these past few months for reasons I'll explain in a later post.

As for this expansion, it seems to me that they've out done themselves again if one looks at all the features that will arrive next week. Can't wait for it!

The upcoming and visually stunning Planets & Moons of EVE Online

From starfields, to moons, to beautiful earth-like worlds, New Eden is getting a much needed visuals boost. Though we can't call this Trinity III, it sure will forever change the visual landscape that capsuleers will soon get to watch as they warp through the EVE universe.

We should get to "Oooooh!!!" and "Aaaah!!!" in just a little over 2 weeks, when Dominion rolls out on December 1st!

Walking in Stations teaser looks amazing in HD

I recently hinted at my desire to add mini-games within the confines of a space station. The idea came to me after seeing the SecWars mini-game created for the Walking in Stations expansion, which last I heard should be released before the end of the year. Here's a glimpse of what to expect.

It's evolved nicely since the first time we saw Ambulation over 2 years ago, don't you think? It'll also be interesting to see how our avatars evolve when WiS (aka Ambulation) finally comes out!

While waiting for Apocrypha I came across this...

If I can't play the game at this very moment, I can at least watch this trailer and drool!

Apocrypha CCP Devs Interview videos

If you're interested about the up coming EVE Online expansion - Apocrypha - then you'll want to see these videos. Enjoy!










Told you so!

Empyrean Age High Quality Teaser Video

Thought you'd enjoy a high quality version of the Empyrean Age teaser which I found here. You can also download the video from here. Enjoy!

EVE Online Trinity expansion released on Dec 5th

By next Wednesday, over 200,000 EVE players will be drooling as they log into a new universe. Both the NY Times and WorldsinMotion.biz have confirmed that the latest and greatest EVE expansion will be released on December 5th, so mark your calendar, call in sick, cancel appointments cause it's gonna be showtime!

Here's a quote from the CCP press release:

CCP is releasing two versions of EVE Online: Trinity. Gameplay will remain the same in both versions and both will be available as free downloads. A Classic version of EVE Online: Trinity will be available December 5, 2007 for Microsoft Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms at http://www.eve-online.com/download/. The Premium version of EVE Online: Trinity, which will include updated and enhanced graphics, will be available on Microsoft Windows on December 5, 2007 and to Mac and Linux subscribers in the first quarter of 2008.

The premium version is compatible with graphics cards capable of displaying Shader 3.0 graphics or better.

Looking good people!