bob
Latest
This robot guard keeps an unblinking eye on suspicious activities
If ever Pepper gains sentience and starts looking for a boyfriend, Bob sounds like the perfect candidate. Just like Pepper, Bob takes on a legless, rather funny appearance (as opposed to South Korea's intimidating robotic prison guards) and serves a specific purpose: to assist human security personnel and alert them when there's trouble. In fact, he just joined security company G4S for a three-week trial, where his current duties include scanning and filming every room in its Gloucestershire headquarters in 3D. He can also notify his operators not just of any suspicious activity, but also of things that changed since his last round, like if an emergency exit is closed when it shouldn't be. Obviously, the University of Birmingham researchers who created Bob didn't design to replace human guards, so you can breathe easy -- for now, anyway.
EON Magazine issue 22 tackles Incarna, surviving the EVE fanfest and more
These days it seems like every MMO has some form of microtransaction system or merchandising deal. It's clear that players don't seem to mind spending a little extra on their MMO hobbies now and then, whether it's for an in-game item to cut out some of the grind or a geeky T-shirt to show off to friends. Several online games even have their own dedicated magazines, and EVE Online is no exception. Published four times per year, EON magazine by MMM Publishing provides guides, interviews, sneak peeks at upcoming expansions, fan-written chronicles, and big news from across New Eden. Issue 22 of EON popped through my letter-box a few days ago, and I've spent most of today thoroughly absorbed in its pages. This quarter's mag focuses on the Sansha incursions happening across EVE and the upcoming Incarna expansion with its long-awaited walking-in-space feature. Also in this edition is a featured look at the rise and fall of the Band of Brothers alliance, a guide to surviving your first time at the annual Fanfest in Iceland, and all the usual features. This issue will be the first officially released under the name EON -- the previous name of the magazine being E-ON. Skip past the cut for a roundup of what you'll find in EON magazine issue 22 and my impressions of its content.
One Shots: Gate camping
When it comes to names that are immediately recognized outside of the EVE Online playerbase, say what you will, but BoB (Band of Brothers) is one of them, along with the Goons and a handful of others. One of the most divisive corps in all of New Eden, BoB has pretty well become a corp that many love to hate. (Or perhaps hate to love.) Today's One Shots from Sigþór shows off a moment from their history -- a cluster of ships, just waiting for someone to jump. He writes in: "Memories ah memories! This screenshot is from late 2008; a BoB fleet movement. We were searching for another fleet of hostiles. [While] we were waiting at the gate I caught this beautiful screenshot. Not much more I can remember from that day, except for horrible lag when [the] fleet engagements started." Have you managed to capture a great screenshot while waiting to pounce on someone in PvP? If so, we'd love to see it and hear more about the situation. Just send those screens in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll post it out here on Massively and give you the credit. %Gallery-85937%
Inhabitat's Week In Green: solar panels, solar planes, solar trains
The Week in Green is a new item from our friends at Inhabitat, recapping the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us. It was an interesting week in green tech, as Inhabitat explored the past and future of solar technology. We dug up the world's first modern solar panel (still working after 60 years!) and wrapped our brains around MIT's plan to create super-efficient photovoltaic panels by folding them up like origami. Not to be outdone, IBM unveiled plans to roll out a new solar desalination system that could transform entire expanses of desert into rivers. Solar power also took to the skies this week as the Solar Impulse plane made its first successful flight. And speaking of futuristic transportation, Minority Report-style podcars may be just around the corner if this solar powered urban transit system takes off. We were wowed by Finland's new all-electric supercar, which will be vying for the Progressive Auto X Prize this summer. We also took a look at several innovative kid-friendly designs including an incredible Game Boy made from paper and a biometric baby monitoring alarm clock that lets parents monitor their babies' temperature and heart-rate remotely, as well as cue up lullabies from anywhere. The past week also produced several promising developments from the realm of energy storage as Hitachi announced that it's developing lithium-ion batteries that last twice as long. And finally, meet BOB, a battery the size of a building that is capable of powering an entire town in Texas. The gigantic sodium sulfur backup battery can store up to 4 megawatts of power for up to 8 hours.
GoonSwarm alliance disbanded in EVE Online political drama
In the sandbox of New Eden, rival alliances vie for control of vast swathes of star systems. The lawless nullsec regions of the EVE Online universe are home to violent alliances of all sizes and fleets with hundreds of ships clash on a daily basis. The political machinations of nullsec have produced many stories of wars fought over territory, stations conquered and fleets dismantled by force. Over the years, each story has become part of the game's living history. Recently, a new chapter in that history began as the nullsec sovereignty system governing territorial warfare received a complete overhaul in the Dominion expansion. The transition period has been rough on some alliances as a new sovereignty system requires new ways of thinking. Some alliances are falling, new ones are being forged to fill the power vacuum and the race is on for people to adapt to the new sovereignty system. As we've been watching the EVE galaxy performing its Darwinian reshuffle, it came to our surprise that GoonSwarm, the game's biggest territorial alliance, had been disbanded. In the early hours of Wednesday 3rd February 2010, GoonSwarm CEO "karttoon" kicked almost every corp from the alliance, effectively disbanding it. There's more to this story than meets the eye and in this investigative piece, I delve into the thick of it to discover just what's going on with this troubled alliance.
Bob the Apple guided tour guy leaves for greener pastures
Apple's guided tour videos have featured an endless variety of creepy-android perfect "Apple Store employees" in the recent past, but we'd just like to take a moment and pour one out for OG Bob Borchers, who kicked off the entire series in 2007 with the original iPhone tours and followed 'em up with the iPhone 3G tour. Bob's leaving his post as Apple's senior director of worldwide iPhone product marketing to join VC group Opus Capital -- yeah, it's not hard gadget news, but we're getting a little misty on Sunday evening remembering how closely we all watched those initial demos looking for any tiny nuggets of information about the then-mysterious platform. Peace out, Bob -- it's been a ride. Video after the break.
Has EVE's most powerful alliance fallen?
Band of Brothers (renamed KenZoku) was once the most powerful alliance in EVE Online with a stated goal, even here at Massively, to control all of the game's New Eden galaxy. Now, KenZoku has reportedly left the contested, lawless frontier of 0.0 space after months of resisting the combined forces of rival alliances. One of EVE's in-game journalists, Interstellar Correspondent ISD Clarity Brown, reports from the site of KenZoku's last holdout: "GoonSwarm and their allies deployed a camp on KenZoku's sole remaining outpost last night. A joint force of pilots from Pandemic Legion, GoonSwarm, Morsus Mihi, Razor Alliance and KIA deployed 27 titans around the station in a show of force and gave a demonstration of the sheer power embodied in such a gang." Titans are the game's most expensive weapons of mass destruction, massive ships capable of unleashing 'Doomsday' area-of-effect attacks that melt fleets caught in the blast. To unleash 27 Doomsday blasts at once is... quite a sight, as the video footage demonstrates.
What's in a name? EVE alliance name change causes player unrest
The sci-fi game EVE Online is different from most other massively multiplayer titles on the market due to its nature as a 'sandbox' game. The developers provide the setting while much of the content of the game is what the players choose to do, typically struggling against one another for power collectively through player alliances. Given the efforts these alliances put forth to gain supremacy over their rivals, the EVE Online subscribers are acutely sensitive to any form of developer involvement in the outcomes of conflicts and struggles in EVE's setting of New Eden. CCP Games seems to have distanced themselves from the powerhouse alliance (formerly known as) Band of Brothers since the t20 incident in the past that eroded confidence in the developers, at least from some of the playerbase. The incident involved a CCP developer, at the time a member of Band of Brothers, who abused his powers to spawn blueprints which were put to use by the player alliance. The dev eventually came clean and safeguards were put into effect to prevent such an issue from occurring again, but animosity from groups of players remains to this day. Ever since that time, even the slightest hint of favoritism from CCP Games toward this particular alliance has drawn fire from some players. We received a number of tips from Massively's readers about a recent action CCP Games took with regards to the former Band of Brothers alliance. Band of Brothers was eliminated as an entity -- in name -- through an act of betrayal, or espionage, depending upon your perspective. Following this act, the alliance reformed last month under a new name: KenZoku. However, as of this week they successfully petitioned CCP Games to change their name to Band of Brothers Reloaded, despite the fact that such name changes are not allowed for other alliances in the game. (Note: If the alliance reformed under a new name via in-game methods, it would cause KenZoku to lose control of their territory, while having the name changed by a GM wouldn't present this problem.) Predictably, this sparked forum drama, with a number of players calling out CCP Games for favoritism.
WRUP: Who isn't playing EVE edition
It seems there's been some excitement in EVE Online this week. At the dawn of the week, everyone was talking about the PVP tournament assassination and by the end of the week everyone had something to say about Band of Brothers disbanding. The end result? More of your Massively staff are in EVE this week than any other game. Brendan Drain: This weekend I'll be preparing a plan on what to do in EVE when the next expansion hits in March and watching the BoB drama unfold. I'll also be going to an all-nighter LAN party on Saturday to celebrate someone's birthday, too, which should be fun. Oh, and I finally hit level 60 on my Bruiser "Mailea" in EverQuest 2. \o/ Colin Brennan: Final Fantasy XI has my attention this weekend. Getting my friend up to level 10 so we can go hit Valkurm Dunes together. Then, later in the weekend, getting to level 77 in World of Warcraft. James Egan: With all the drama in EVE Online this week, I'll probably be glued to that game, plus the Alliance PvP Tournament is being streamed in live video this weekend. Anything else I do will involve a Spy, a butterfly knife, and Team Fortress 2. Maybe killing zombies as well. Krystalle Voecks: I'll be offline for most of the weekend myself between homework, projects and a date with my other half to go see Coraline. If I do get a moment to game, I'll probably stick with console games since I don't get sucked into those as long. Kyle Horner: Since everyone I know seems to be downloading the EVE Online client, I'm tempted to eschew MMOs this weekend and play Aurora Feint on my iPhone. It's either that, or I pretend like I'm playing Jumpgate Evolution Michael Zenke: I'm going to play this awesome game called Packing to Move Across the Country (Multiplayer Edition). It has a pretty low Metacritic score but I'm feeling obligated to try to ding a few levels just the same. William Dobson: Coming home from interstate this weekend. After the joys of travel are over, I will probably get back into a bit of Vanguard, and perhaps even venture over to my growing (and already huge) stack of plastic-sealed console games and try to knock at least one off the "to-play" list. So, dear readers, that's what we're playing. But what are you playing this weekend?
Further developments in EVE's 'Grand Theft Alliance' drama
[Notify] Drama bomb hits you, wrecking for total damage. var digg_url = 'http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/02/05/further-developments-in-eves-grand-theft-alliance-drama/'; We broke the story late last evening that one of EVE Online's most powerful alliances has finally fallen after years of continual struggle with rival player alliances. While some details surrounding the incident remain hazy, we do have some more information than we did when we published the rumor. Band of Brothers (aka "BoB"), the self-styled villain alliance in the game, have repeatedly professed a desire to control all of EVE's galaxy of New Eden. This motivation driving their collective action has made them the focal point of hatred for much of the community, and BoB wouldn't have it any other way. More enemies equates to a real challenge for them to overcome, and in this respect -- whether you love them or despise them -- Band of Brothers has been a major driver in player warfare since the early days of EVE Online. Despite the thousands of pilots in the game fervently committed to wiping Band of Brothers from the influence map, the alliance has held on. Even though they were forced to sacrifice vast territorial control for a smaller region of consolidated strength, even when on the ropes, they remained impossible to destroy. The irony is that for all their raw military power, the alliance was ultimately cut down from within, with only a few simple clicks of a mouse. It was a bureaucratic snafu from the perspective of Band of Brothers -- a member of the alliance named Haargoth Agamar (a director with Black Nova Corp) being entrusted with too much control -- and a windfall for GoonSwarm, the major alliance rival of BoB.
Rumor: Band of Brothers breaks apart in EVE, GoonSwarm responsible
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Band_of_Brothers_breaks_apart_in_EVE_GoonSwarm_responsible'; One of the oldest and best known alliances has broken apart in EVE Online today. Band of Brothers (BoB) has disbanded, or been disbanded, under circumstances which have not fully yet come to light. Band of Brothers is well-known for their role in "The Great War" in EVE for their fierce opposition to GoonSwarm alliance and their allies over the years. Through that war they claimed such firsts as the first Titan ship kill through their conflict with Ascendant Frontier, and have been well-known amongst the media.Current rumors suggest that this was a GoonSwarm infiltration, but as of this posting this is unconfirmed. Multiple sources suggest that a director of the alliance has defected to GoonSwarm, stealing billions worth of assets, and compromising the sovereignty that Band of Brothers had previously established.Massively.com will keep you up to date as more information is known about this major EVE event.Update: GoonSwarm has released a audio file (NSFW), allegedly explaining what happened. This account is still, however, unconfirmed.(Thanks, Six Strangelove!)
EVE's combat elite sets aside differences to teach PvP
Among the PvP-centric massively multiplayer online games on the market, EVE Online stands out as a game where players struggle for supremacy against one another on multiple levels, either on an individual or collective basis. Given how heated alliance warfare is -- one needs only read a few posts in CAOD to get a feel for this -- it's notable when players firmly entrenched in EVE's politics take some time out to show newer players the ropes. That's the case with Seppuku Warriors, a PvP training corp which draws top notch instructors from Band of Brothers (including SirMolle), Morsus Mihi, and Southern Cross Alliance, with apparently more to come. What's most interesting is that they've put aside their political differences (some of the instructors come from or lead opposing alliances) to teach less experienced players what they know.
A 200 billion isk theft in EVE Online
Corp theft is a daily occurrence in EVE Online. Unlike most MMOs, stealing from other players or organizations in EVE is permissible, assuming that normal in-game methods were employed to pull it off. Simply stated, corp theft in EVE involves becoming a member of the corp and then stealing from the target corporation's hangar(s). Once a thief has access to assets, they can literally clean the corporation out to whatever extent they are able to, depending on their level of granted access. Sometimes corp theft is premeditated, other times it's a crime of opportunity. There are players who approach these heists as a profession, others may do so out of revenge. Regardless of the reasons behind theft in EVE, it's a part of the game and does help establish New Eden's setting as being a harsh, corporation-dominated galaxy where deception is a style of play. Most corp thefts that this writer is aware of inflict minor damage, often a few billion isk in losses. Generally this isn't enough to cause serious harm to any solid corporation's future, and the only real impact on the corp is emo rage and a few pages of forum drama, and the offender's name being added to Fitz VonHeise's list "The Thieves of EVE" which should be required reading for corp CEOs and Directors who are involved in recruiting players.
HD Guru evaluates 125 HDTVs in the resolution loss test
Motion blur has been a big topic in the world of HDTV for as long as we can remember, but it wasn't until recently that someone figured out a way to test it in a non-subjective way. Our friend Gary Merson -- aka the HD Guru -- actually got his hands on 125 2008 model HDTVs and not only ran them through all the more traditional tests like 3:2 pull-down, and de-interlacing, but also tried out his resolution motion loss test that indicates how many lines of resolution a set is capable of displaying when there is motion -- yeah, so like most of the time. For the most part Pioneer plasmas ruled the charts at about 900 lines, as expected, but the real surprise is that the ultimate winner was the Samsung LN-46A950 -- in fact it was the only 1080 set to actually display all 1080 lines when there was motion (but only in one specific setting, other settings were as low as 330 lines!). What's more of a reason for 46A950 fans to rejoice in is that most 120Hz LCDs were closer to 600 lines, so it really is in a league of its own in regards to LCDs. These stats are fun and all, but we'd like to remind you while you download the PDF and check ou the specs on the latest sets, that specs seldom ever tell the whole story, so we still recommend buying with your eyes instead of a spec sheet.
EVE's alliance warfare the largest virtual conflict ever waged
Alliance warfare is an aspect of EVE Online that sets it apart from virtually any other MMO on the market. It commands a devoted following of players who continually exert their collective strength to conquer new regions of space while subjugating their numerous opponents.Although it's been said that only a minority of EVE Online's entire playerbase are entrenched in alliance warfare over 0.0 (lawless) space, this is where much of the action in the game takes place. 0.0 is where the most valuable resources in the game are found, and where the authorities do nothing to hinder player activities. The wealth, freedom and potential for power turn EVE's vast swaths of 0.0 space into hotly contested regions... the battlefield of "the largest virtual conflict ever waged," in the words of games journalist Jim Rossignol.
Leadership in EVE Online applicable to real-world ventures
EVE Online has been getting increased mainstream media coverage. Recently the New York Times covered EVE's Council of Stellar Management (CSM) summit in Reykjavik, as well as the self-styled 'bad guy' alliance Band of Brother's initiative to annihilate their rivals in New Eden, wiping them from New Eden's star maps. A new MMO article at Forbes takes a close look at the corporate paradigm of EVE Online, both in-game and out. The piece touches on the views of Goonswarm alliance leader and CSM delegate Sean Conover (aka Darius Johnson, CEO of Goonfleet) and the real-world CEO of CCP Games, Hilmar Veigar Petursson. The Icelandic CEO states: "There isn't a lot of difference between what you can apply within the game and out of it... It's more about social skills than gaming skills. It's very hard to stay on top."
Band of Brothers announces 'MAX' strategy in The New York Times
Mainstream media seems to pick up on this odd, new 'MMO-thing' occasionally, but now and again they turn up something interesting. A piece from The New York Times does just that, in an article about one of EVE Online's most powerful alliances -- Band of Brothers (BoB). The alliance holds a player gathering each year, the most recent of which was a weeklong get-together in Copenhagen for over 150 members of BoB. The alliance's leader, SirMolle (real name: Pär Molén), announced a new direction that Band of Brothers will take in EVE in the coming months, which he calls 'MAX' -- as in 'maximum damage.' MAX, if SirMolle is able to make good on his pledge, will be a different direction for Band of Brothers. Rather than establishing sovereignty over as much of EVE's galaxy as possible, BoB will attempt to lay waste to the vessels, holdings, and power structures of their numerous enemies in New Eden.
.jpg.cf.jpg)
EVE's Mercenary Coalition has been disbanded
A pilot deep within the lawless lands of EVE Online's 0.0 space is never truly alone. In EVE, there is always some alliance, some corporation, or some like-minded capsuleer watching and waiting to strike. Within this realm flew an alliance that was a powerful force for nearly four years. Their trademark ace of skulls, four of which represent the leading corporations of the alliance, struck fear into the hearts of anyone on the wrong end of their blasters. They were hired guns, killers, and they were good at it. They were the Mercenary Coalition. For them, the war is now over, the contract killing has ended, and the alliance is no more.That's right, the alliance has unloaded their ammunition, shut down their offices, and is calling it quits. From a press release on the EVE forums, Seleene, alliance leader of Mercenary Coalition, made the grim announcement and thanked members for their service. She said, "Everyone who has ever worn the MC tag participated in something truly unique. I can do nothing but salute you and give my heartfelt thanks." The reasons for disbanding are numerous, but a particular focus is placed on their betrayal of Band of Brothers. For some of us, one less mercenary alliance is a great thing. For others, this is sad day for the history books to record. The alliance, which has seen the better part of three years as a force within EVE, has docked for the final time. [Thanks Nyphur!]
Everyone vs Everyone Online: The End is Nigh
I'll be the first one to say it: the Great War is over. What once began as a campaign of conquest has become something none of the original participants could have conceived in their wildest imaginations. Anyone who has had any real exposure to EVE will know who the major players are; the GBC, or Greater BoB (Band of Brothers) coalition and their allies on one side, and RSF or Red Swarm -- most commonly called Goonswarm -- the "Something Awful" forumites on the other. Now that BoB has beaten back the RSF's invasion, a sense of calm and serenity has come to New Eden. Along with it, there is a renewal of an older form of hostility. Small scale alliance warfare is springing up, which makes this peace tenuous at best. The bonds made out of necessity during the Great War are now dissolving and a different type of peace is materializing. The peaceful shooting of one's neighbor. The universe is still at war, but the sides have blurred, everyone is involved in a great melee that in EVE is the only true peace. While it's possible, even likely, that most of the major powers that formed The Coalition (RSF) will remain as players in the broader galactic conflict, things will never truly be the same. To exasperate matters, the North -- to quote a popular post from the official EVE message boards -- is "on fire." Wary players watch the Triumvirate's recent escalation of hostilities, which if the forums are to be believed, are drawing a lot of parallels to the ignition of the BoB/Goon war. Combine that with a growing destabilization due to the anticipated all out Mercenary Coalition / BoB conflict. (Most of the player-base has assumed this will occur since MC overtly back-stabbed BoB in their moment of need.) War once again threatens to engulf EVE, and who will win is anyone's guess.
One Shots: Goonswarm vs BoB
We threw out the call, and sure enough, we were answered by an EVE player! Today's One Shots comes from Rob, who sent this awesome picture of a group gathering up before an enormous battle in EVE. He also gave us a great back-story on just what this screenshot is all about, so I'll turn this over to him.This is a shot, head on, of my Taranis (Interceptor) with the fleet assembled at a POS waiting for our next fight. I believe it was in 25s or FAT during a conflict (a few days before Christmas 2007) there between BoB and the Goons. It's always been one of my favorite shots because its such a mess of so many ships.For those of you who aren't in the know, both BoB and the Goons are short form for two very large and fairly influential corporations in EVE Online. Think of it as two of the largest guilds in any other game setting up a giant war on one another, with total loss of gear, and permanent effects on the universe you play in. This is hardcore PvP.Do you have any screenshots of your experiences in game? We take PvE, PvP, landscapes, you name it. If it's going on in a game world, we want to see it! Just grab your screenshots, toss them in a mail with whatever information you'd like to give us and send it to oneshots@massively.com. Yours could be our next featured image!%Gallery-9798%
