Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Roll up roll up, get your £79 Eve Fanfest 2013 tickets now

Add a "Pub Crawl with a Dev" for an extra £31.

Iceland, the final frontier, and the location for another Eve Fanfest romp fuelled by beer and soaked in controversy let's hope.

The dates are Thursday 25th April to Saturday 27th April, and the location is Reykjavik's Harpa Conference Center.

Ticket sales are now open and early bird prices are £79 a head. There's a spouse ticket for other-halves that costs £158 but only grants access to the party not the Fanfest, because why on Earth would they want to go there?

Yep, that happened. Wait! Is that Wesley?

There are some intriguing events you can pay extra for as well. There's "Pub Crawl with a Dev" for £31 ("experience the night life Reykjavik with fellow Eve fans and devs"); "Golden Circle with a Dev" for £38 ("see the best bits of Iceland with fellow..."); "Blue Lagoon Soak with a Dev" for £50 ("party in the Blue Lagoon with a live DJ, drinks and fellow..."); and a "Charity Dinner with CEO and Devs" for £79 ("wine and dine with CCP at one of Iceland's finest restaurants").

The Icelandic Symphony Orchestra has even been called upon to perform Eve music (accompanied by some video) although no price for this has been announced.

This coming Fanfest will be particularly special because it's the game's 10th anniversary, so there will be a "massive" party at the end of the three-day event.

"We're pulling out all the stops as we head into our second decade of EVE - it's going to be the most mind-blowing Fanfest ever," roared CCP boss Hilmar Petursson like Eyjafjallajökull personified.

The Fanfest itself will be stuffed with presentations, tournaments and roundtable discussions, and will map out the future for Eve Online and Dust 514.

Last year there was a hullabaloo when Alex "The Mittani" Gianturco drunkenly mocked a suicidal Eve player. As a result he resigned from his chairman position on the player-elected Council of Stellar management and waged war in-game for the rest of the year, as befitted his notorious game personality.

At the time, CCP vowed to review the "out of control drunkenness" of Fanfest and admitted it was "time for us to grow up a bit". There's still plenty of focus on parties in the Fanfest 2013 announcement - perhaps the real changes won't be noticeable until the actual time.