EVE's Alliance PVP Tournament returns
EVE Online players have been noting the conspicuous absence of the Alliance PvP Tournament, which was brought up at a dev panel at EVE Fanfest 2008. The news imparted at that time did not bode well for the future of the alliance tournaments, given the expense and level of involvement on the part of the CCP Games staff to run it. But EVE developer CCP Mindstar has given word that the alliance tournament is on for 2009, and listed the relevant dates as they presently stand:
Tournament Signups -- Dec 19th - Jan 9th
Qualifying Round 1 -- Jan 24th, Jan 25th
Qualifying Round 2 -- Jan 31st, Feb 1st
Finals -- Feb 7th, Feb 8th
The tournament rules will remain largely the same as in previous years, but some changes are to be expected. The EVE Alliance PvP Tournament VI will take place over six days -- specifically, over three weekends so weekday conflicts won't be an issue.
CCP Claw has a forum thread on the tournament rules and CCP Mindstar has posted a thread on the Alliance Tournament VI format. The final week of the tournament will be broadcast on EVE TV, so CCP Games is also reaching out to the playerbase for commentators. "You'll be flown out to Reykjavik Iceland to join the team here at CCP headquarters to help us run the show during the live broadcast of the final weekend. Flights (from all Icelandair destinations) and accommodation are supplied by us, all you need is a little spending money and several layers of coats!" EVE dev CCP Charlie stated. If you're interested in being a tournament commentator, you can check out what's involved with applying in his thread, which lays out most everything you'd need to know.
