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EVE Online Fanfest 2011: Final video roundup
Just over a month ago, the EVE Online Fanfest was in full swing and some exciting new information on EVE's future was being released. Massively was there to bring you all the big news as it came out, but most EVE players were unable to attend the event. Thankfully, most of the Fanfest panels and events were filmed and the main ones were even streamed live to viewers at home. For those who missed all the Fanfest excitement, CCP Games has spent the last few weeks preparing those videos for launch and uploading them to YouTube. The team has also sent us 150 professional photos from the event to include in our Fanfest gallery. In this final Fanfest roundup article, we've put together a handy list of every video from the Fanfest along with a handy summary of each. Not included in the list are the very technical Dev Tracker workshops designed to inform third-party app developers. Many of these videos contain swearing and some are definitely not safe for work. Talks definitely worth watching include the CCP panel, the EVE keynote, the content panel, incursions, words words words and live events. Things you absolutely don't want to miss are the hilarious but not work-safe alliance panel, the PvP tournament finals, the war on lag talk, guest lecture "Who Needs a CEO?" by Battleclinic founder Chris Condon, CCP Sreegs' talk on security, and of course, the EVE: A Future Vision trailer. Skip past the cut for a full roundup of all the videos from this year's EVE Fanfest.
Nokia and Microsoft sign definitive agreement, bring Windows Phone handsets closer to realization
Microsoft and Nokia's industry-altering announcement of a strategic alliance back in February has today been bolstered with the signing of a definitive agreement between the two companies. In announcing the inking of the paperwork, the Microkia crew point out that they're already hard at work developing "a portfolio" of Nokia Windows Phone devices, which will be shipping "in volume" in 2012, but there's still a twinkling hope that they can get something out on the market in 2011. Nokia devs have started porting key applications and services to Windows Phone, with mapping and navigation getting a highlight mention, while there will indeed be a "Nokia-branded global application store that leverages the Windows Marketplace infrastructure." Notably, this is described as a single portal where devs can serve their apps to users of Windows Phone, Symbian and Series 40 devices -- it'll be interesting to see how they work out the details of that. There's also confirmation that Microsoft will pay Nokia multiple billions of dollars as part of the agreement, some of which will be spent on completing an intellectual property-sharing agreement between the two teams. So yes, the third ecosystem is well and truly on its way.
How lag forced me to play a little differently
Most people who follow my exploits in World of Warcraft know me as a dyed-in-the-wool member of the Horde. In fact, I've played Horde my entire WoW career, from the early days of the official release up through the end of the Wrath. I killed Nefarian for a second time alongside my Horde brothers and sisters and ended Cho'gall's reign over the Twilight Hammer cult. If you've been following my main character's exodus from Horde to Alliance through the WoW Insider Show or Twitter, you've heard bits and pieces of why I transferred servers. Falling into the hands of the Alliance is the fault of two men -- Lodur and Matticus. Most people who follow my exploits also know about the dreaded lag issues that I was having because of still unsolved issues with certain internet providers and odd packet inspection (presumably). Connecting to the Chicago data center was never a problem until the release of Cataclysm and, really, not until I started to raid heavily around late December 2010. Things got real ugly during late December. This is my story of changing what I could to keep playing the game that I love.
Know Your Lore: Rise of the Zandalari
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. In the beginning, there was Azeroth. It existed as one continent called Kalimdor. Prior to the Sundering -- indeed, prior to the rise of the elven race at all -- there were the trolls. The troll race is one of the first sentient races on Azeroth, it's been suggested on more than one occasion that the troll race predates even the arrival of the Titans. Needless to say, Azeroth is full of trolls, from the Darkspear, Horde allies that joined during the orcs' trek to Kalimdor from the Eastern Kingdoms, to the various splinter tribes scattered across Azeroth. But the troll races share a common point of interest -- once, long, long ago, these trolls were all part of one empire, one tribe of trolls from which all others originated. The Zandalari tribe isn't an unfamiliar name to those that have played through Northrend content. The Zandalari were assisting both Alliance and Horde against the maddened remnants of the Drakari ice trolls. However, players were first introduced to the Zandalari in vanilla, when the mysterious progenitors of the troll race appeared to ask for help from both Alliance and Horde against the combined might of the Atal'ai trolls to conquer Zul'Gurub -- once the capital of the Gurubashi Empire. Please note: This edition of Know Your Lore spoils some elements of the upcoming 4.1 patch, Rise of the Zandalari. If you'd like to avoid spoilers for upcoming content, turn away now, before it's too late!
EVE Online Fanfest 2011 roundup: Day 1
Once per year, EVE Online developer CCP Games throws a colossal party in its home country of Iceland. EVE players from around the world fly to Iceland to meet up with other players, talk about internet spaceships and usually get completely drunk. CCP hosts a series of events, round-table discussions and presentations all about EVE, showing what the team has been up to over the past year and revealing plans for the game's ongoing development. Fanfest has typically catered to EVE's most dedicated fans, or at least those motivated enough at the prospect of an EVE convention to brace the Icelandic weather. This year, the focus is much wider, with over 3,000 players in attendance and a huge contingent of press. Day one of the EVE Fanfest has come to a close, and the event is now in full swing. Read on for a roundup of what happened today, along with detailed explanations of a few personal highlights from today's festivities.
Google, Best Buy, Sony and others form alliance to defend FCC's proposed 'AllVid' standard
We've already seen Sony, TiVo and others come out in support of the FCC's proposed CableCard replacement, known as AllVid, but it looks like they're now stepping up their game considerably. In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the group -- which also includes Google, Best Buy, Mitsubishi and others -- has announced that they've formed the "AllVid Tech Company Alliance" in a concerted effort to defend the proposed AllVid standard, and counter arguments from those opposed to it -- namely, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (or NCTA) and the cable companies that are a part of it. As you might expect, the Alliance isn't making a lot of new arguments, but it is stating its position pretty frankly, telling the FCC that "it is essential for the Commission to break down the wall separating the home network from MVPD [or pay TV] networks – not just poke a few holes in it, or rely on progress on the peripheries." You can find the complete letter (in PDF form) at the source link below.
Nokia and Microsoft enter strategic alliance on Windows Phone, Bing, Xbox Live and more
It's happened. Former Microsoft exec and current Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has married his future and his past in the holy matrimony of a "strategic alliance." Windows Phone is becoming Nokia's "principal smartphone strategy," but there's a lot more to this hookup -- scope out the official press release just after the break. Microsoft's Bing and adCenter will provide search and ad services across Nokia devices, while Nokia will look to innovate "on top of the platform" with things like its traditional strength in imaging. Ovi Maps will be a core part of Microsoft's mapping services and will be integrated with Bing, while Nokia's content store will be integrated into (read: assimilated by) Microsoft's Marketplace. Xbox Live and Office will also, as is to be expected, feature on these brave new Microkia handsets. An open letter on Nokia's Conversations site, penned jointly by Stephen Elop and Steve Ballmer, sets out the foregoing details along with the following statement of intent: "There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them. There will be challenges. We will overcome them. Success requires speed. We will be swift. Together, we see the opportunity, and we have the will, the resources and the drive to succeed."
Lenovo and NEC partner up to become Japan's biggest PC vendor
Lenovo's insatiable ambition for growth has taken another boost today with the news that China's best-known computer maker is partnering up with NEC for a "strategic alliance" in Japan, the world's third biggest PC market. Under the terms of the deal, a new NEC Lenovo Japan Group will be formed, wherein Lenovo will benefit from 51 percent of the shares and NEC will own 49 percent plus the choice of first CEO, for which it's selected its own Hideyo Takasu. Lenovo will also pad NEC's pockets with $175 million of change and contractual formalities are expected to be completed by the end of June this year. Sadly, specifics on how this will benefit consumers are light on the ground -- both companies will continue to sell products under their respective brands and there's only general talk of collaboration, economies of scale, harnessing operational synergies, and leveraging each company's strengths. At least you'll know your computer's been made in the spirit of fraternal cooperation. Full PR after the break.
WoW Insider's Weekly Webcomic: Safe Passage
Welcome to another edition of the WoW Insider's Weekly Comic, Safe Passage. This comic takes place post-Cataclysm, so there will be minor spoilers. Our groups' unwanted -- and so far unseen -- visitor has made herself known. The tension in the air is palpable. On a more technical note, I'm trying something new with textures. It's not very noticeable, but I think it gives the page a little something. What do you guys think? Keep or toss? Check out the full comic right here, and tune in next Tuesday morning for a new page. You can also see all the previous pages in the gallery below. %Gallery-102091%
EVE extended downtime has some unfortunate consequences
reddit_url = "http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/02/eve-extended-downtime-has-some-unfortunate-consequenceshttp://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/02/eve-extended-downtime-has-some-unfortunate-consequenceshttp://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/02/eve-extended-downtime-has-some-unfortunate-consequenceshttp://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/02/eve-extended-downtime-has-some-unfortunate-consequences/"; reddit_target="gaming"; Tweet Early this morning, the EVE Online server underwent an extended scheduled downtime for the deployment of the Tyrannis 1.2 patch. The patch deployment proceeded as planned and almost exactly to schedule, with the entire downtime lasting around 12 hours. When the servers came up, however, members of some nullsec alliances noticed that something was amiss. All of a sudden, a number of systems in Delve that had been vacant before the downtime were now owned by Reddit-based alliance Test Alliance Please Ignore. It soon became apparent that Test Alliance had placed territorial control units in the systems just before the extended downtime began. Under normal circumstances, territorial claim units must be protected by a fleet for the six hours they need to start up. During that time, enemy fleets have a chance to engage the hostile force and destroy their claim unit. If the six hours pass without event, ownership of the system is then awarded to the alliance that placed the structure. By placing the structures immediately prior to the extended downtime, enemies of Test Alliance were unable to contest the claim, which meant it automatically succeeded. What happened next has been the cause of a great deal of controversy on the EVE forums and Reddit. Skip past the cut for a run-down of what happened next.
Sony and Global HID to unify FeliCa and NFC laptop reader technologies
Sony and Global HID are coyly batting their eyelashes at each other over a memorandum of intent to jointly develop an embedded contactless smart card reader platform for laptops. The idea is to create a single reader compatible with Sony's popular FeliCa solution in Japan as well as NFC, HID Global's own iCLASS, and more. As a refresher, about 315 million FeliCa cards are in circulation worldwide with another 67 million FeliCa-capable mobile phones in Japan used for electronic payments, access, interactive advertising, and membership rewards systems. Hell, Sony's even got a FeliCa reading remote control. The dark arts of Near Field Communication have been given a boost recently with support from Nokia and the US carriers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Even Apple is rumored to be getting in on the action. So let's ink a contract already fellas, anything that will unify all these "standards" into a common embedded laptop reader sounds like a good idea to us.
Cataclysm Beta: Worgen are their own mounts? [Update: Confirmed!]
Update: Zarhym has confirmed Running Wild as the worgen "mount" in Cataclysm. There have been a lot of people anxiously awaiting the arrival of worgen mounts on the beta. Goblins have had their mounts for a little while now, and most people are still curious what the worgen mounts will even look like. With some of the information mined out of the most recent beta build, it looks like a worgen mount will end up being the worgen themselves. A new racial ability called Running Wild has been added for worgen, with a 1.5-second cast time that adds the "mounted" aura to the player. The description says, "Drop to all fours to run as fast as a wild animal." However, worgen already have their own version of Sprint called Darkflight, which gives them a temporary speed boost, but this new racial implies mounted speeds. If this is true, then it will mean different things for different groups. For worgen druids, you never have a reason to buy a mount of any type now. For those Alliance players out there, this might mean a lack of worgen racial mounts, which will probably be compensated elsewhere to keep the number of mounts equal between Horde and Alliance. For tauren players, yes, someone else appears to be getting Plainsrunning before you. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Is faction antagonism story-driven or player-driven?
Spoilers for Cataclysm in this post, me hearties. One of the things I've noticed in my time back-and-forthing between Alliance and Horde toons is that each faction seems to have many, many vocal partisans who believe the opposite faction to be filled to the brim with churls, knaves and scalawags. Perhaps even hooligans and ne'er-do-wells. You see it all the time in general chat: "Those ally fellows are nothing but mountebanks!" Or perhaps: "Horde? Nothing but disreputable scoundrels, bounders and cads!" What I find interesting is how much of this factional divide is created by the game itself ... how much comes from quest lines and zone design and world events ... and how much is purely based on the players. It's true that over the past several expansions, we've seen a shift in the game itself from the days of the AQ gate event and the opening of the Dark Portal, when Horde and Alliance stood shoulder-to-shoulder against threats to Azeroth, to the present Wrath/Cataclysm direction when even Old Gods, Lich Kings and insane dragon aspects can't get the Horde and Alliance to cooperate. Still, until fairly recently, I'd never really felt much of the infamous Horde/Alliance hatred from the game itself. Even the Wrathgate /Battle for Undercity and the Broken Front quests didn't come close to matching the intensity of a forum flame war or a really acrimonious Wintergrasp battle. Playing Horde back in the day, you couldn't help but notice the perception of superiority Horde players (including myself, at the time) felt over Alliance. But the story didn't really have much to do with it.
WoW.com's Weekly Webcomic: Safe Passage
Welcome to the first edition of the WoW.com Weekly Comic, Safe Passage! This comic takes place post-Cataclysm, so there will be minor spoilers! Hello, dear readers, and welcome to our next visual saga. This is called "Safe Passage," and despite what this meager first page shows, this is not faction-biased one way or the other. So please, I ask all of you to just take in each page and let the story take you along. I like the Alliance for my own reasons. Check out the full version right here, and tune in next Tuesday morning for a new page. You can also see all the previous pages in the gallery below. %Gallery-102091%
Breakfast Topic: Can't we all just get along?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Ever since I first looked at my character's skill list (almost six years ago now) and saw there was actually a skill bar for languages, I have had an idea planted in my head. If my character has the technical ability to learn languages in WoW, why couldn't I choose to learn Orcish? This notion led me further to ask, "Why can't I be in a cross-faction guild consisting of both Alliance and Horde races, working together to accomplish great deeds?" When I relayed this idea to my guildies at the time, one guy actually told me it was the stupidest idea he'd ever heard. Really? There has always been precedent in the game for this kind of cross-faction cooperation. We can see it in groups like the Argent Dawn and the Cenarion Circle. Hell -- even the Twilight's Hammer is more racially progressive than the Horde or Alliance. And don't even get me started on that racist jerk Varian Wrynn. Oh, I know he was mistreated in captivity by orcs, but his mistreatment is nothing compared to what Thrall endured at the hands of humans, and Thrall's first instinct has always been of peaceful resolution rather than conflict (and for reference, I'm an Alliance player, folks).
Nokia sells wireless modem business to Renesas in bid to refocus
Nokia just announced a $200M-ish deal to sell its wireless modem business to Japan's Renesas Electronics Corporation. The deal is part of a broader alliance to develop HSPA+ and LTE modem technologies while working together to research future radio technologies. Per the agreement, Nokia will transfer its wireless modem technologies for LTE, HSPA and GSM standards, "certain" related patents (interesting in light of the Apple lawsuits), and about 1,100 Nokia R&D staff to Renesas, the majority of whom are located in Finland, India, the UK, and Denmark -- assuming regulatory approval of course, something the two expect to receive by the end of the year. Why now? Well, according to Kai Oistamo, Executive Vice President at Nokia, "The alliance enables us to continue to focus on our own core businesses, connecting people to what matters to them with our mobile products and solutions." Sounds like somebody's slimming down in preparation for a fight. P.S. Though the 'Shop above only shows a Nokia USB modem, the agreement goes much deeper to cover the modem technologies used inside billions of Nokia handsets. So yeah, this is a fairly significant change of direction for Nokia.
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.
Know Your Lore: Current Alliance politics -- the humans, part one
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Over the past several weeks we've looked at the political situation of the Alliance races: night elves, gnomes, dwarves and draenei. This leaves just one race to take a look at, and while it's been around and active for the shortest amount of time in history, it's easily got the largest amount of conflict of any of the Alliance races in game. Without it, the Alliance wouldn't exist in the first place. That's right, this week we're covering the backbone of the Alliance, the human race -- and there is a lot of ground to cover. Wrath of the Lich King contained several reveals in regard to the history of the Alliance races, but perhaps the most surprising was a neat and tidy explanation for the existence of the humans of Azeroth. While other races have either been around since the dawn of Azeroth or were constructed by the titans, the humans have a unique explanation for their presence that was briefly explained in a quest line in Howling Fjord.
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.
