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CCP looking for EVE Alliance Tourney XII commentators
Are you a knowledgeable, personable EVE Online PvPer with some free time in August and September? If so, CCP wants to fly you to Iceland and set you up as a commentator for EVE Alliance Tournament XII. The company is covering airfare and hotel, so all you'll need is a little spending money. Well, OK, you'll also need a passport, a sense of humor, and the gift of gab. Details and the full list of requirements are available at the EVE website. Don't delay, as you'll need to contact CCP before May 19th!
EVE Evolved: Alliance Tournament XI Grudge Match
The largest alliance war in EVE Online's history is currently underway, with the latest battle to hit the news reaching over 4,000 players and shattering the world record for players involved in a single PvP battle. While massive battles like are becoming a regular occurrence in EVE and have dominated the news lately, the strategy of just throwing thousands of ships at the enemy and seeing if it works doesn't work in every corner of New Eden. Wormholes, for example, limit the mass of ships entering a hidden Sleeper star system at once, promoting smaller-scale conflicts that are more about deep strategy and execution than scale. So it is for EVE Online's annual alliance tournament, a fairly matched drawing that attempts to simulate what would happen if small squads of ships from opposing alliances met on equal terms. Teams are drawn randomly against each other and put together squads of ships within the bounds of an imposed point limit. This year's tournament involved only 64 teams and had no elimination stage but still managed to pump out 128 action-packed matches with full commentary and studio coverage. The grand final even played host to the biggest grudge match in Alliance Tournament history as Pandemic Legion faced off against Hydra Reloaded. In this week's EVE Evolved, I round up all the matches in this year's massive Alliance Tournament and discuss the explosive final that saw old tournament rivals face off for glory and huge in-game prizes.
EVE Online seeks tourney commentators, plans dual character training for Odyssey
Want to be a part of EVE Online's 11th annual Alliance Tournament that starts on July 20th, 2013, but not from the cockpit of your ship? You can apply to be one of the PvP commentators who will discuss the tourney, tactics, and teams involved live on air with developers as well as providing commentary on matches as they unfold. Yes, live means you'll actually be in Iceland for this gig! Qualifications include having a valid passport, being over 21, having a sharp wit, and being well-versed in PvP. Full details for the application process are available on the official site. If you'd prefer to participate in the battles themselves, note that there will be a few changes to the tourney from years past. To start, Alliance Tournament XI will run over only three weekends, not four. Second, qualifying rounds and group stages have been replaced by double elimination from the get go. Next, from the second weekend onward, two ship types will be banned from the match by team captains. And finally, to fly with an alliance you had to have been a member since downtime this morning. Dev blogs covering all the rules, the broadcast schedule, and sign-up details will be coming soon. [Update: CCP has been busy today! The official site has now also been updated with a dev blog announcing that dual character training will ship with the Odyssey expansion next month.]
EVE Evolved: The $10,000 New Eden Open
Competitive tournaments are nothing new to gaming, but the past few years have seen an an absolute e-sports explosion. The rise of the MOBA genre is partly responsible, with new games taking DotA's tradition of industry-sponsored tournaments to new heights. Both Dota 2 and League of Legends have world championship top prizes of over a million dollars, and smaller MOBAs regularly hand out tens of thousands to winners. The recent surge in livestreaming has had an equally big part to play, with some games netting more home viewers than real televised sports. There's no doubt about it: This is the year that e-sports takes over. EVE Online has always had a tradition of in-game tournaments, with thousands of people tuning in every year to watch its annual Alliance Tournament. The tournament turns EVE's normally asymmetric PvP on its head by putting everyone on a roughly level playing field to compete for huge in-game prizes. Players were excited this week to learn that CCP Games is launching its very first competitive tournament with a real cash prize. The $10,000 New Eden Open could be the start of something really big, but will EVE's famous political and spying metagame get in the way? In this week's EVE Evolved, I investigate the details of EVE's $10,000 tournament, the source of the money pouring into e-sports, the potential of a big EVE e-sports scene, and how EVE's metagame could interfere with the New Eden Open.
CCP announces new tournament with a prize pool of $10,000
EVE Online is getting its first cash tournament. After the tremendous success of the Alliance Tournament X in July, own3D began talking about possibilities for a new tournament with the fine folks at CCP. Rather than focusing on Alliances as all previous EVE tournaments have done, this tournament will be team-based. Each team will have between eight and 24 players, and there will be a total of 32 teams in the tournament. Teams will have to be created on the official signup page (which will open October 12th) and enter through an online auction. Players may only belong to one team, regardless of how many accounts they own. A team may accept multiple characters from one person, but that person joining multiple teams is prohibited. If you're interested in joining, be sure to read the full blog post for information about ship bans, tournament rules, and the modified double-elimination system.
EVE Online's Alliance Tournament X starts tomorrow
Huge player numbers are the name of the game for CCP this weekend. Fifty thousand pilots are poised to take part in EVE Online's massive player-run Delve war. It's also time for Alliance Tournament X, which starts on Saturday, June 30th, at 11:00 a.m. EDT. The tournament will be streamed and will include live commentary. The first-round matchup will be Agony Empire vs. Exiled Ones, with 15 more pairings following at 20-minute intervals. The pre-qualifying rounds will continue on Sunday as well as the following weekend. For a full listing of events and information on streaming, check out the official schedule. [Source: CCP press release]
EVE Alliance Tournament X details posted
EVE Online's Alliance Tournament X is just around the corner. In anticipation of the kickoff, the game's official blog has been updated with some more information about the tournament. The blog has a lengthy schedule laid out that covers everything from the qualifying rounds beginning on the 30th of June to the finals on July 22nd. The blog's also chock-full of information about streaming and commentary. Own3d will be carrying the Alliance Tournament live streams. Additionally, replays of previous tournaments will be available in the weeks leading up to the tournament. Unlike in previous years when qualifying rounds weren't streamed, every match will be available with livestreaming. Although an exhaustive list of commentators wasn't provided, the first two weekends of qualifying rounds will be commentated by kil2, Raivi, Michael Bolton III, Zastrow, and Lazarus Telraven. The most important part of the post? Prizes. The Caldari State has created two ships, based on the Osprey and Merlin hulls, as prizes: The Osprey hull is Etana. The name is drawn from the same branch of mythology as the Gallente Ishtar and the AT8 Utu, and has a nice connotation with some ancient Caldari-Gallente history involving Caldari Prime. This variant, which is the first prize, is a pioneering logistics ship with the added capacity to fit a covert ops cloak along with some very powerful skill bonuses. The Merlin hull is Cambion. The name comes from a half-demonic entity which ties in nicely in with the description of a crazy, fiery rocket brawler with mad overheating bonuses plus it's believed that the Merlin of wizard fame was either a cambion or descended from one. Hit up the blog post for the full schedules and replay details.
EVE Evolved: EVE's Alliance Tournament IX
With all the recent controversy in EVE Online, the annual Alliance Tournament was all too quickly forgotten. CCP did its usual fantastic job with the tournament coverage this year, with live video streams of the two qualifying weekends and a live EVE TV studio show for the finals. For those of us who missed the action, all of the match videos have now been uploaded to the CCP Games YouTube channel in HD. As we take a step back from recent events to digest CCP and the CSM's statements, now is the perfect chance to catch up on some of the year's awesome PvP tournament action. This year's tournament winners walked away with a first place prize of 120 billion ISK and 50 blueprint runs for a unique Amarr heavy assault cruiser called the Vangel. The second place prize of 50 billion ISK was also accompanied by 50 blueprint runs for a unique Amarr assault ship called the Malice. Both ships are significantly better than their standard counterparts, but with only 50 ever to be introduced in the game, they're sure to become priceless collector's items. The third and fourth place winners received 20 billion ISK each as a consolation prize for coming so far in EVE's number one PvP tournament. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the meta-game surrounding the tournament and collect together links to videos and commentary on all the main matches in Alliance Tournament IX.
EVE's Alliance Tournament IX ends in controversy
The Alliance Tournament is one of the highlights of the EVE Online calendar. Every year, tens of thousands of people tune in to watch teams from competing alliances battle it out in a massive knock-out style tournament. With rules in place to limit the number and value of ships a team can field, the Alliance Tournament is as close to a fair fight as you'll find in EVE. This year's tournament came to a close last night after two weekends of qualifying rounds, exciting knock-out matches and a controversial final. Skip past the cut to find out how this year's tournament ended. Be warned that this post will spoil the outcome of the tournament. For those of you who missed the live stream, we'll be compiling an in-depth summary with links to videos of all the matches once CCP has uploaded the matches to YouTube.
EVE Online Alliance Tournament IX experiments with new format, banning mechanic
June is just around the corner, and if you're an EVE Online fan, you probably know that the annual Alliance Tournament isn't far behind. This year's event looks to be bigger and badder than ever before, and it has a couple of new wrinkles to boot. As Mindstar writes on the newest EVE dev blog, CCP used "a highly secret blend of player feedback, meeting room shenanigans, and just a dash of beer [to] come up with some new stuff that will spice things up a bit." The newness includes a format tweak that owes a bit of inspiration to FIFA World Cup (i.e., a 32-team group competition), and there's also a new banning mechanic that is sure to cause a few chuckles. Prior to the start of each match, captains will have the option to disqualify a single pilot from the opposing group, and you can almost hear the evil cackling resounding in the CCP offices as Mindstar explains the details. Check them out on the official EVE website.
EVE Spotlight: An interview with CCP Soundwave
EVE Spotlight is a new bi-weekly feature in which we interview prominent members of EVE Online's player community or development team. Every two weeks, we'll be shining the spotlight on a player or developer who has a significant impact on EVE so that we can highlight the efforts of EVE's most influential people. If you've ever tuned into EVE's annual Alliance Tournament, chances are you've seen CCP Soundwave in action. Through his work on EVE-TV, Soundwave has been a big part of the alliance tournament's studio team. Most players would recognise him for this work on the Alliance Tournament, but he's probably done more for EVE in his normal job than through EVE-TV. As a Game Designer for CCP, Soundwave has worked on some major features like the Tyrannis expansion's planetary interaction. Most recently, Soundwave worked alongside the other members of Team Best Friends Forever to produce the impressive Sansha incursions that are currently hitting New Eden. With the expansion having now been released, the team had been moved on to a project with almost universal support -- the quest to fix all those little issues with EVE that collectively add up to a big headache. In this EVE Spotlight, I talk to CCP Soundwave about the upcoming ninth Alliance Tournament, game design at CCP, the Incursion expansion, and CCP's new commitment to tackling all the small issues with EVE.
Pandemic Legion dominate EVE Alliance Tournament VIII
Battling their way through a series of impressive matches, HYDRA RELOADED and Pandemic Legion made it to the final match of this year's EVE Online Alliance Tournament. Twenty-two thousand people tuned in to watch this weekend's tournament coverage live, complete with expert commentary and guest developers chatting about what goes on behind the scenes at CCP Games. The question on everyone's mind was whether reigning champions Pandemic Legion would lose their title or win the tournament for a third year in a row. In a fast-paced fight that will have EVE players talking for weeks to come, PL wiped the floor with HYDRA to secure their place once again as the absolute best team in the tournament. PL took home the first place prize of 50 billion ISK, a gold medal for each participant and 50 limited edition "Adrestia" Heavy Assault Cruisers. HYDRA secured the second place prize of 25 billion ISK, a silver medal for each participant and 50 limited edition "Utu" Assault Frigates. With last year's "Freki" assault frigate prizes selling for upwards of 15 billion ISK, it's safe to say both the Adrestia and the Utu will sell for billions each on the black market. Third and fourth places went to Darkside and WE FORM VOLTRON respectively for their impressive efforts in this incredibly difficult tourament. Skip past the cut for a rundown of what happened in this final match. Alternatively, you could wait for CCP to upload the match video and see for yourself.
EVE alliance tournament finals start today
For those of you who have been following EVE Online's eighth annual alliance tournament, this weekend marks the spectacular conclusion of the past two weeks of fierce competition. The 64 initial entrants have been whittled down to 32 final teams, to be matched against each other to find which alliance has what it takes to crush all opposition. You can tune into the event's live coverage, beginning today at around 15:00 GMT (11AM EDT), via CCP's high-definition tournament feed. To encourage people to watch the feed live rather than just waiting for the YouTube videos, CCP will be giving away some huge prizes to a few lucky viewers at random. They have two NVIDIA GTX 280 graphics cards and a full set of E-ON magazine issue 1 to 20 to give away. In addition to the usual commentary on matches in progress, coverage of this final weekend of fighting will feature a live studio. Between matches, guest PvP experts and CCP developers will be discussing the state of play live on camera. As usual, CCP have prepared a few interesting videos for the interludes that offer a glimpse into the development of EVE. This year, they'll be giving us a look at their impressive "Video Production Team," and both CCP Hammer and CCP t0rfifrans will be on the show to talk about their latest projects. Videos of the finals will be put on the CCP Games YouTube channel in a few days, but there's nothing quite like watching coverage live. If you missed any of the matches in the first or second qualifying rounds, those videos are now also on YouTube. Skip past the cut to watch CCP's hilarious teaser video for Alliance Tournament 8's live coverage weekend.
Get ready for the second round of EVE's alliance tournament
The second round of EVE Online's annual alliance tournament event begins today. If last week's matches were any indication, this second round of qualifiers is going to be awesome to watch. In the first round, the 64 alliances entered in the tournament fought in 32 1-on-1 matches with opponents drawn at random. Teams gained points for each ship they killed, plus additional points for winning their match. In this weekend's second round, the 64 teams will head back into the arena for their final qualifying match. Each team will be matched against another of similar ability based on their performance in the first round. Tune into the tournament's live video stream, starting as of the moment this post goes live and ending late in the evening. The stream picks up again tomorrow at the same time for day 2 of the second qualifying round. If you've missed the first qualifying round, you can watch the matches in high definition on the official alliance tournament website. CCP has uploaded videos from the first round of qualifiers and even written up a great battle report on each match. Skip past the cut for a list of all 32 matches, links to their videos and a quick note of the ships on each side. Don't worry, there are no spoilers in this article, only links to some awesome PvP matches.
EVE's Alliance Tournament VIII kicks off today
Today marks the start of EVE Online's eighth annual Alliance Tournament. Each weekend for the next three weeks, teams from 64 alliances will face each other on an even playing field where strategy and execution are the deciding factor. Using expert commentators sourced from the EVE community and live video streaming of the event, CCP Games do their best to make the tournament a great spectator sport for the average player. For those that enter the competition, it's a chance to prove that their alliance has what it takes to come up with winning tactics and execute them flawlessly. The first qualifying round is already underway and you can tune into the matches through CCP's live video stream.
EVE Online Alliance Tournament VIII sign-ups open on Monday
The Alliance Tournament is one of EVE Online's annual highlights. Loved by participants and watched by hundreds of excited fans, the tournament is a showcase of EVE's combat mechanics and pure strategy. With the interesting new "flagship" rule to shake things up and the usual commentary on EVE TV, this year's tournament in June is definitely something to look forward to. In a recent news post, CCP confirmed that sign-ups for teams officially open on April 12th. Alliances wanting to enter have until April 23rd to submit their interest in taking up one of the 64 slots in the event. Most of the slots for this year's tournament will be assigned to applicants completely at random, with last year's winners being guaranteed a spot. In an effort to make sure EVE's big alliances aren't excluded by the luck of the draw, eight slots will be reserved for auction. Alliances will bid against each other for one of the eight guaranteed spots, allowing eight of EVE's richer alliances to choose to secure their slots. There are enough slots left over, however, that those who don't enter the auction will still stand a very high chance of winning a slot at random. To help reduce the number of absentee entrants from last year's total, every alliance entering will also have to pay a 2 billion ISK non-refundable sign-up fee. CCP Claw has helpfully summarised the entry conditions and procedures in a post on the EVE Online forums.
CCP Releases February CSM Minutes
EVE Online developer Xhagen, commenting on the EVE Insider Dev Blog last night, has released the minutes for the February 18 - 20 Council of Stellar Management summit, calling it "the best summit so far." Player response to the summit was equally positive, with CSM attendee Tim "Sokratesz" commenting "I was very skeptical initially, but the trip has convinced me that CCP has an active interest in the playerbase and is willing to listen. One of the best moments for me was when Noah [CCP Hammer] grabbed a pen to take notes during a heated debate between council members.'' A lengthy summary document details the various discussions between developers and player-elected Council representatives during the three day event held late last month in Iceland. Included in the seventeen page report are discussions regarding the Alliance Tournament, EVE Gate social networking, ongoing account security and customer support issues, and proposed economic regulations. You can read the full dev blog by clicking here.
EVE's 8th official Alliance Tournament to include a new "flagship" rule
The first details on this year's annual EVE Online Alliance Tournament emerged in a short devblog last month, with promises of further information to come. The Alliance Tournament is one the year's biggest highlights for EVE's PvP alliances. It provides a much-needed way to see which alliance can come up with the best strategies and execute them well. While massive fleets clash in the vastness of nullsec warfare, the tournament puts all alliances on an equal footing with restricted team sizes and ship allowances. In a new devblog, CCP have announced the finished format for this year's event along with an updated set of rules.
First details emerge on EVE Online's 8th annual "Alliance Tournament"
For players and spectators alike, the annual EVE Online Alliance Tournament is one of the year's biggest highlights. Teams from dozens of player-run alliances fight it out in qualifying rounds for a chance to compete in the finals and win massive prizes. A points-based system limits the number and type of ships a team can field, putting every team on equal footing. Restrictions on the types of modules a ship can use ensure no team can buy themselves an advantage over a poorer rival. This makes the tournament a game of strategy, planning and execution. It's a refreshing change from the fleet and gang warfare that's typically found in New Eden. Massively covered Alliance Tournament 7 back in September 2009 and in their latest devblog, CCP have released a few details on the upcoming 8th tournament. This year the tournament is taking place in June and CCP is once again planning on "spicing up" the rule-set to keep things interesting. As with last year, videos of the qualifying rounds will likely be released on YouTube and the final match will be available for viewing on a live feed with expert commentary. For those interested in helping with the tournament, CCP is looking for EVE PvP experts to do commentary on the fights and chat about them afterward. Several experts will even be flown out to CCP HQ in Reykjavik, Iceland to help with the production of the live final match. Applications must be in by the 28th, giving just over two weeks for potential experts to sign up. For details on what's required and how to apply, see CCP's latest EVE devblog. More details on the tournament's new rules and sign-up procedures are forthcoming in the next few weeks. If the camera-work and visual quality are anything like last year, this will definitely be a great tournament to watch.
Only one week left to sign up for EVE's Alliance Tournament VII
We're giving all of you capsuleers a friendly reminder that you have seven days remaining to sign up for the next Alliance Tournament in EVE Online. Jump in and test your mettle against some of EVE's best PvPers for the chance to win the tournament and take home the glory while your opponents get wrecked live on EVE TV. As usual, 64 alliances will be entered into this month long tournament, but only one group will walk away.Please note, however, that the system is no longer first-come, first-served. 16 of last years winners are autoqualified, while the remaining 48 will be decided by random selection. There are also a few rules changes, so we recommend all interested parties check our post on these changes, even if you're already familiar with the tournament rules.Interested alliance leaders in EVE can sign their alliance up for entry into the contest via EVE Insider. (Link requires an active EVE Online account.)
