if we don’t fight, they’ll kill us both

Sadly there hasn’t been much news from CCP on when or where the next Alliance Tournament will appear. I’m reminded of asking since it was this time last year that we headed over to Iceland to prepare for and broadcast the fourth of EVE’s inter-Alliance PvP contests (this was back when EVE TV was kicking its hooves in the tiny MMM stable).

Being a rather large and expensive logistical exercise, it’s not one I myself am keen to be involved in again, although I remember it with great fondness… as do the hundreds who took part and the thousands who watched it live. For the sake of that and for continuity though, I’m curious as to whether November’s Super Ultimate Eve Online Mining Tournament of Awesomeness is a welcome re-imagining of the Fanfest PvP Tournament, a financially necessary re-branding of the bi-annual telethon, or a conjugation of both?

Whatever the future of the Alliance Tournament, I do hope it continues in some form. Even if it means getting all the alliance leaders into a bear-pit and arming them with lirpas. (Daa-da dah dah da-dah…)

clash of the titans

The 5th Alliance Tournament is almost upon us and I predict it will be the best yet. I have no scientific evidence on which to base this assumption, nor any kind of foresight or behind-the-scenes knowledge, just an old-fashioned hunch. Sadly I will have to miss most of the fun and games due to prior arrangements across both weekends of the broadcast (a small matter of an F.A. Cup showdown between Manchester United and the mightyness of Pompey), but I hope to be able to tune in for the final day… some of it, at least.

Picking a winner is hard – there are lots of new teams I know little about. My safe-hands choice to take home the £5 book token will have to be Pandemic Legion, although I do hope The Star Fraction goes at least as far as it did before. Regardless, I expect some good battles, controversial decisions and enraged tears in equal measure and the usual attempts at mimetic engineering. (And, of course, Pompey through to the semi-finals on April 5th… which will clash with another EVE event, sadly.)