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Making It BIG reported by Ziph Rhekor | 19/05/2006 16:34:24 BIG corporation celebrates the third anniversary of its galaxy renowned lottery program this coming Monday. The prize money is ever-increasing but, at last count, it exceeded 11 billion isk already - not to mention a coveted Navy Issue Megathron and many other goodies. Tornsoul, CEO of BIG corporation is thrilled by the donations that have allowed such a huge prize. "We had planned to just assure there would be at least 3 billion in cash prizes... A sponsor, out of the blue, approached us asking if it would be ok to donate for the anniversary round." This sponsor was the Eve Intergalactic Bank, who donated several billion isk as well as the Navy Issue Megathron, a very coveted prize indeed. This wasn't the last of it though - other sponsors have since donated a Freighter, among several other amazing ships and rare modules as prizes. Monday's draw will definitely make a few people very happy! Since its inception, the BIG lottery has grown considerably, now attracting almost ten times more entrants than the first draw, all those months ago. "Getting the lottery started," said Tornsoul, speaking on BIG's early days, "...was not really a problem. It was simply a matter of 'doing it', and then praying it would have some interest." One long-standing participant in the BIG lottery has played in each and every round since the beginning - and he's never won a thing. Tornsoul has more hopes for Omber Zombie, the lottery's most loyal player, this time round. To give Zombie (and everyone else) a greater chance of winning, the total number of prizes is higher than ever. There are over 40 separate prizes up for grabs, a separate draw being held for each. As the first pod-pilot only endeavour to reach such a successful third-year anniversary, the BIG lottery casts an optimistic light on the economic future of the community. Hopefully, BIG's success will provide inspiration to new corporations and hope to older, struggling entities. When quizzed on the future of BIG corp, Tornsoul was quite hopeful. The corporation's latest endeavour, the BIG Merchant Bank of Eve (BMBE) is having some minor setbacks, but is endeavouring regardless. "I'd much rather be able to help 'fledglings" start up, but the market just isn't there right now." And the future of the BIG lottery? It will go for as long as anyone cares to play it, says Tornsoul. Don't forget to purchase your tickets over the weekend if you wish to try your luck in this lottery. For more information, look here or join the channel "BIG Games". Copyright (c) CCP, Source article Source stream: Alliances Bloodlines Patch, 22 May from 1100-1500 GMT reported by kieron | 19/05/2006 19:47:38 The second Bloodlines patch will be deployed on Tuesday, 22 May, starting at 1100 GMT. We are estimating the patch will take four hours to deploy and TQ should return to service by 1500 GMT.Patch Notes are available for viewing.As always, we recommend you set a longer duration skill training in case there are issues delaying the return of TQ to service. Copyright (c) CCP, Source article Source stream: Announcements The path forward - EVE Voice, Lite, Vista, Kali and World Domination reported by Oveur | 18/05/2006 11:44:54 We're back from E3 and it's time to spill the beans. I've been checking the forums and the speculation has gone rampant. Accusations are flying back and forth, the main message of course being us in our featured role as the root of all evil, cause of world hunger, and so on and so forth  E3 and the information released The first thing which came up was the fact that we released information to the press first at E3. I can understand some getting frustrated by this move, but just to clarify: this was our first real E3 presence in years and releasing new information is kinda what the whole thing is all about. To get the attention of the press, you have to tell them something new, something they don't know. Remember, we're competing for news spots with strange things that possess names like "Wii". If the information had already been available before E3, the press wouldn't have covered us. Old news don't sell well. Old news, in fact, is an oxymoron. I don't think those sell well, either. The information continued: Kali release Actually, from the forum posts I read, the main point of Kali's delay isn't such a bad thing. TQ is doing well and a good stable Kali release is the best thing for everyone. However, Factional Warfare seems to be the main object of frustration. While it's great to see such enthusiasm for a single feature within EVE, there is a boatload of reasons for the segmented release. EVE China and its chain effect China is a very big project. We realized that it would be big, but never this big! The China release was not supposed to have any effect on Tranquility - and to try and ensure that, we doubled the number of developers here at CCP. We're now up to 96 people. Still, because of EVE's complexity, there is a need for a lot of the talent to work on the China release at some point in time, which has caused a cascade of resource shifts. With the expectations of the China market and the nature of the MMO industry over there, you only get one chance (the China MMO market alone is bigger than its entire western counterpart). We therefore switched the focus points of a number of core developers to make sure we would be successful. And I'm sure you would ask why; how can EVE China be in a position to cause delays for Tranquility projects? It's really simple at its core. If EVE is successful in China, the revenue which would become available to fuel the evolution of EVE would skyrocket. Note, there are a lot of reasons for this, one for example being that EVE China is a duplicate of the Tranquility universe, something which drastically decreases development cost. In addition, EVE China is on a delayed release schedule, receiving the same expansions as Tranquility does, but at a later date. This means all development effort directly benefits both universes. Oh, and of course, we want to be able to dance in stations, do Real-Time Strategy on planet surfaces and do joystick navigation combat inside massive comets or planetary dungeons. This you read here first. Prioritize, dammit! Factional Warfare is God! As much as I agree with this point, it's also the most risky project we have done for a while. We don't want a situation where 120.000 subscribers start doing Factional Warfare only. (Remember level 4 agent missions?) Likewise, there are a number of core features that need to be in place for us to be in a position to release Factional Warfare. Better Combat Organization is one, the Contract system is another. This simply needs to be taken in steps. The main frustration comes from the timeline, since the path to Kali spans the next year from now and Factional Warfare would be at the end of that. Well, this isn't exactly how it is today, but plans tend to change. This is why I'm going to show you a rough timeline so you can get a better feel for the current plans. I'd like to point out, however, that this is subject to change; it is shown here as an orientation and not as a hard promise of release dates. Kali One Release - September 2006 This is what we're aiming to release in Kali One. The list is created from a number of criteria, the main factors being a "Prerequisite for future release", "low risk, short development, big bang" or "we really need to get this done" project.
Kali Two Release - December 2006 Factional Warfare. Nothing else. Kali Three Release - April 2007 Our final graphics engine upgrades and a similar feature set to Kali One. To clarify a bit, EVE "Classic" is a DirectX 9 engine, which is getting an upgrade. We then have the EVE Vista DirectX 10 engine, which is being created from the EVE Classic engine, but with a focus on utilizing the new features and optimizations in Windows Vista. Both will continue to live, both will have the same content. You don't have to use EVE Vista unless you want to. Note, also, that EVE Classic graphics engine upgrades might be released earlier than Kali Three. EVE Classic, EVE Vista, EVE Mobile? Yes, that's right. A client strategy is being molded, where we will be able to have different interfaces to the universe of EVE. "EVE Mobile" is probably a misnomer for the client shown at E3. "EVE Lite" would perhaps be more appropriate, since the E3 client is only a PDA client, for Windows Mobile 5 and has nothing to do with mobile phones. EVE Lite is our way of providing a simplified client with a core set of functionality which does not necessarily require a 3D interface to use. Think EVE mail, Chat, Market, Assets, upcoming Contracts, Corporation Management and so forth. You'll be able to do a lot of things without having to have a laptop. The reason we started with Windows Mobile 5 as a platform is because it was very similar to what we do inhouse, it's quite easy to work with and Microsoft helps us out a lot. However, the server-side groundwork opens up possibilities for other clients to be written. Which ones? I don't know. Personally, I'd like to be able to check my contracts and train a skill on my Xbox 360 between playing Oblivion and PGR. Or on my smartphone. My PSP? DS? At work on my EVE Lite PC client? ("Uhm, this is the newest MSN messenger ... it has a market ... and stuff ..."). Let your imagination go wild. I know mine is. I'm thinking voice chat with my Directors in-game via my EVE PC Lite. This can all still change In addition to the features listed, all releases contain balancing, improvements, optimizations and fixes. Tuxford has given a glimpse of the upcoming balancing and you should see a lot of improvements showing up on Singularity when we deploy the first test builds. The purpose of this list is to show you what we are working on now. You'll continue to get further updates, via blogs and forum posts, about individual features scheduled for the September release. What about the voice? This was one of the more interesting points. Why are we working on voice when "nobody wants it" and "it's already free?" This couldn't be further from the truth - including the part with us "working on it." You see, we're working with the guys at Vivox to deliver this. As an example, the demo shown at E3 was almost entirely done by them - save for some hours of us giving them pointers on where to modify the code. It was great! We were like, "DAMN, that was fast (not to mention cool)!" The final integration will require more than a couple of hours from us, simply because both of us have some really crazy ideas for all this, but in the larger picture, the effort is minimal from our side. We're getting the ability to listen to multiple voice channels and a mute all when gang leader/ceo/director/moderate speaks. Thinking about future features, I mean, these guys can make us sound like the hawt chix we are in-game! (Not sure we want that tho ...) How about recordings of alliance meetings? Or voicemail in your EVEmail? These guys are hard-core and are providing some really scalable stuff; stuff we can't achieve elsewhere and certainly stuff we can't achieve on our own. The second point was "nobody really wants it." This rationale looks to me like it's mainly spun from the "why are you working on this" question. A lot of people I know use voice chat in some form or to some extent to play EVE, be it Teamspeak, Ventrilo, Skype, or MSN Voice. If they don't, it's usually because of the hassle involved. But that only covers voice, in a third-party application, where you may have problems getting larger organizations to meet. EVE Voice is much more than that. Just remember this point, the next time your corp needs to change TS servers for a joint op: Dude 1> What's the IP of the TS Server? Dude 2: 32.567.83.89 Dude 1: kk Dude 1: what's pw? Dude 2: insecure channel, see pm Dude 1: kthnx Dude 1: could you get an op to drag drag me to the fleet chan? Dude 2> omg die Been there? I have Sure, not everyone wants it. That's one of the main reasons why only those that do want it will have to pay for it. It's optional. There will be opportunities for a corp to enable it for all its members, which is really our main target group. Which brings up the main point of "free". This simply isn't true for the current voice services, though it can be in certain circumstances. Skype is free for up to four persons in a conference, Teamspeak/Ventrilo can be free for you if someone else is paying for the hosting cost of the server (or able to host it freely). The software itself is free too, but not much use if you don't have a server to connect to. But then again, this is exactly what we're talking about here too with EVE Voice and Vivox. Vivox hosts the voice servers and provides the bandwidth for the service and thus doesn't affect the EVE game servers. It's not about paying for the software; it's about covering the direct cost associated with the voice usage. I'm going to leave the discussion at this point, since I'd like EVE Voice to prove itself on its own. The level of integration, ease of use and eventual feature set will speak for itself (no pun intended). If you are not convinced at that point, nobody is forcing you to use it; all your corp mates can still use any other voice service you feel fulfills your needs. Summing it up Information flow. Sometimes we simply have to keep secrets. It's not fun for us, it's not fun for you and we always try to share as much as we possibly can. However, some opportunities require an amount of exclusivity. That's how the industry works and we're not in a position to change that ... yet Upcoming major releases. We tried to prevent EVE China from affecting the Tranquility release schedule and diverted considerable sums of our revenue into trying to ensure that. However, it still happened. Fortunately, EVE China will get launched over the next month and the effects of a successful EVE China will bring EVE to new station-dancing, planet-bombing, asteroid-bursting heights. EVE Voice? I urge you to wait till you try it out. There will be ways to check it out without paying for it. EVE Vista/Classic/Lite/Mobile. Wait for the revolution. Nobody will force you into Vista or DirectX 10, it's your choice. Do it when you feel like it. Oh, and speaking of clients and platforms - and this is actually just on the rumour stage, but we want to share it anyway - we hooked up with Transgaming at E3 and they told us about some really cool upcoming stuff. I can't tell you about it, but EVE works quite well today on Linux with their CEDEGA platform We're still here. Just a bit jet-lagged, been busy with resource-intensive and very costly hardware upgrades, trying to hit September with all the features we want in and make sure EVE China is going to be the benefit it should be for EVE as a whole. We want to continue our path to EVE's world domination with you, since you made it all possible. Hope you all stay along for the ride. Copyright (c) CCP, Source article Source stream: Dev Blog Intaki Spiritual Leader To Resign Caille Position reported by Arvalen Askaras | 17/05/2006 04:10:49 SINQ LAISON. Intaki spiritual leader Vrejama Idama has resigned from his lecturing position at the University of Caille in the schools of History, Philosophy and Politics.The resignation, coming just a few weeks after his hiring last March, was reportedly closely related to Mr. Vrejama's displeasure with the Federation government's lack of support for Intaki culture and citizens. In his own words, "as an Idama [Intaki for "Most Holy"], I made a vow to be an example to my people. I can no longer in good conscience allow myself to be associated with an administration which knowingly neglects a significant portion of its citizens. The [Federation's] Government is there to serve its people, not the other way around." Mr. Vrejama made no comment about his future, although a return to Intaki Prime is rumoured by the majority of the University's Intaki students.Carbircelle Hatiniestan, Caille's CEO, confessed to being dumbstruck by the news. "Although I tend to agree with [Mr. Vrejama's] perception that the Federation's government could, and indeed should, take more proactive measures towards protecting minority cultures, to my knowledge nothing has changed during the last month regarding the Fed's position towards Intaki culture, population or Homeworld. I would be at a loss to mention what, exactly, made Mr. Vrejama resign from a post he accepted not two months ago. It is a great loss to our University, and I wholeheartedly hope he will return to our faculty at a future date."Intaki students applauded what most of them consider a portent of the Idama's return to Intaki Prime and expect Mr. Vrejama to lead a pro-Intaki demonstration in the near future, citing a perceived increase in Gallente xenophobia as evidenced by presidential candidate Sen. Mentas Blaque's latest speeches as the major cause of Mr. Vrejama's resignation. Quite a few Deteis students agree with the above, considering Mr. Vrejama's recent marriage to Ms. Vika Kuvakei, a Deteis closely linked to Lai Dai, to be a potential source of Gallente pressure against him. Ms. Hatiniestan labelled these rumours as "nonsense.""Few places in the cluster can rival our University's multiracial environment, where both our professors and students come from literally every corner of the galaxy," she said.No official comment has been made by any Federation government officials. Related links: Corporation: University of Caille Faction: Gallente Federation Region: Sinq Laison Copyright (c) CCP, Source article Source stream: IC: Gallente War Erupts in the South reported by Tsuki Kiyuu | 16/05/2006 17:44:05 PARAGON SOUL - Last week saw a breakdown in the relationship between the two alliances Tribal Souls and Ascendant Frontier. Breaches of confidence, combined with resource and outpost placement disputes, reportedly lead to a slowly building crescendo of diplomatic ill-will. The end result: a capital fleet supported by hundreds of smaller vessels was deployed by ASCN for precision strikes in key systems of the Paragon Soul region. Facing little resistance, they quickly conquered and destroyed all of Tribal Souls's infrastructure, leaving the latter stranded in a deep-space region without any friendly ports of call."The current situation is that Tribal Souls has lost all of its stations and all of its space," commented Bjoern Bitter, Chief Diplomat of the Tribal Souls Alliance.Cyvok, leader of ASCN, stated: "The timing of this war was 100% wrong... it has set ASCN back weeks in our bid to upgrade our core systems. Our goal was simple: once fighting started, we needed to end the war as quickly as possible."Any single reason for the recent hostilities is difficult to ascertain. Statements from both sides quickly revealed that the lead-up to war was a mix of issues, although the greatest damage seems to have been done by a refusal on Tribal Souls's part to merge with ASCN."We didn't want to give everything we had built to ASCN rule," said Bitter. "That left only one option, war." When asked if the current desperate situation was preferable to a merger he became animated, stating strongly that "No, this is not preferable to a merger, but we see no option." Bitter argued that "the merger was not an option, as many corps could not merge." He cited the prerequisites for corporate access to Ascendant Frontier as the reason. "100 member minimum, 22 Billion ISK, no... There was no choice."Speaking on the same issue, Cyvok stated that "our [ASCN's] long term plans have always been to move towards the unification of Tribal Souls, a merger where they would disband and their member Corps would join ASCN." These long-term plans initially posed no threat to the relationship between the two alliances, as for many months ASCN had, despite repeated invitations, respected the continued wish of Tribal Souls to remain a sovereign entity. It was not until the leaking of a high-level discussion between key ASCN individuals about the possibility of forcing a merger that a large hurdle to the two entities' peaceful coexistence was created."The discussion was no more than 12 hours old when, due to an administrative error in our communications security systems, the information was leaked to Tribal Souls," Cyvok stated. "Obviously it totally inflamed their alliance, as it rightly should have, to be fair." From that point on, a relationship already strained by recent arguments over a multitude of issues started to deteriorate."Their reaction to the news, and the way in which they received it, lead both our alliances down a rather irreversible path. Some bailed out of their alliance just at hearing the news, others left Paragon Soul without even attempting to find out what happened," said Cyvok. "By the time the diplomats stepped in, both the ASCN and Tribal member bases were so furious that war was more or less the only option left." When asked why the situation was as volatile as it was, he stated, "ASCN had lost all respect and trust in the members of Tribal... and I am sure the feeling was mutual on their side."What the future holds still remains to be seen. Cyvok was reluctant to declare the war won, despite widespread public opinion, even admissions from Tribal Souls members, that in fact it had been. "I can assure you that it's definitely not 100% over. Once ASCN gains official sovereignty the battle for the region will be effectively over, but behind the scenes, communications from Tribal Souls are laced with all sorts of plans to regroup and counter attack at a later date."Bitter gave no such impression when he spoke of Tribal's future. "Many of us want to start afresh and learn from our errors," he stated. "One corporation is moving out to form its own alliance... and several others have accepted offers to move to new alliances."When asked about the future of some Tribal Souls members still remaining in the region, Cyvok said that discussions with the remaining pilots were still ongoing, and that at this time no details could be provided. He did however, spell out plans for the region itself. "We have no other powerful allies we trust to secure the region long term. ASCN core space is a bit overcrowded, so we have decided to hold the region as our own." Related links: Region: Paragon Soul Alliance: Ascendant Frontier Alliance: Tribal Souls Copyright (c) CCP, Source article Source stream: Alliances |