If you weren't able to snag a place in the seventh EVE Online Alliance Tournament, you may be happy to know that you can currently pre-register for the Fanfest PvP Tournament. As the name implies, the event will take place at the EVE Fanfest convention, which will be held from Oct. 1-3 in Iceland. There are 64 team slots available, and according to a dev blog entry by CCP Claw, the tourney "will consist of a series of fights between two teams, with each team piloting three Strategic Cruisers to victory or death in some explosive EVE PvP action. Yep, that's 3v3 Tech 3."

The top four teams will compete on the main auditorium stage in front of everyone at Fanfest. If that sounds like your type of action, sign up your team now on the Fanfest site.

While you're at it, check out "Butterfly Effect," a new EVE promotional video that showcases "the essence of EVE." You can view it on both YouTube and Facebook. If you like what you see and haven't tried out EVE Online yet, head over to the Butterfly page on the official site and consider signing up for a 14-day free trial.

It was announced on July 1 that Hjalti Daníelsson, also known as CCP Abraxas, has written a new EVE Online novel called "The Burning Life." He's the main writer for the EVE Chronicles on the official site, so many players and fans are already familiar with his writing. Well, Abraxas has opened up today to discuss the novel and the writing process in his newest dev blog entry, which can be found it its entirety after the jump.

The 100,000-word novel is scheduled to be released in November, and its "main focus is on the pirates and other outlying factions." Abraxas says the difference between this novel and the last one that was published is it's not the focus of an expansion. Instead, it'll tie into the game through primary missions and PvE content. "We want to add depth to the game, make you feel like these are real, living, breathing people you're reading about, and these kinds of fiction-content connections aid us in that task," Abraxas said.

If you don't want to wait until November for some new EVE fiction by Abraxas, check out "The Ever-Turning Wheels," which was just published today.

the 64 first-round teams for EVE Alliance Tournament VII have been randomly selected from 91 valid applicants, and the full schedule of battles for Sept. 5 and 6 can be found on this page on the game's official site. If any of your friends or favorite teams are participating, you now know exactly when their fight will begin.

Eleven of the teams were automatically chosen due to their standing in the sixth tournament. Also, 10 teams were picked as reserves in case any participant fails to show up for the event.

CCP Caedmon has written a dev blog entry updating players on the status of COSMOS, an EVE Online community site that was first mentioned at last year's Fanfest. Well, it appears the site will be launched with the winter expansion, but features will be released a little bit at a time to keep you from being overwhelmed.

According to the blog entry, "the starting platform will have your character, corporation and alliance profiles, a new mail system and a new contacts system, which brings in two-way agreed friendships." New forums will be part of this endeavor, and you'll be able to accomplish EVE game stuff through COSMOS, but not in the first or second releases.

Caedmon said more information on COSMOS will be revealed every couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for more dev blog entries. Until then, you can read the full post below.

In this week's MMO Report, our pal Casey Schreiner talks about Champions Online's PvP system, another EVE Online bank going under, and Star Wars: The Old Republic record breaking voice acting. But there are other reasons for you to watch this episode. *Spoiler Alert* They finally clone Casey!

The latest episode is available in its entirety after the jump.

According to a dev blog entry posted today by CCP Soundwave, the new player experience is going to receive some updates in the upcoming expansion. As Soundwave mentions, the tutorial didn't even exist when EVE Online first launched, and it's currently in place to teach new players EVE fundamentals. Of course, as new content is added, the tutorial should be updated as well.

The first change Soundwave mentions is that the tutorial will be informing players about the importance of corporations. Also, exploration will be added as a fourth career path for players who like to poke around complexes and wormholes. Lastly, a special mission line will be added for players who have done one or more career paths. "This mission line should ultimately point you towards faction warfare, rewarding the player with enough standing to join a militia upon completion," Soundwave said.

You can read the full blog entry below.

CCP Explorer has written an extensive dev blog entry discussing the CCP Core Technology Platform and explaining how the significant engineering updates added in Apocrypha 1.2 and 1.3 have greatly reduced lag. "Before we released StacklessIO and EVE64 last year, Jita would reach a maximum of 800-900 pilots, often with a fair amount of lag," Explorer said. "The Sunday after the release of Apocrypha 1.3, Jita climbed to 1,150 pilots with no lag. ... We estimate that Jita can now handle 1,400-1,500 pilots with little or moderate lag."

Check out the dev blog for in-depth information on how the engineering changes came to fruition. As for the future, Explorer said the team is currently focusing on Apocrypha 1.5, which is scheduled to launch in August, and the winter expansion, but emphasized "we will continue to work on engineering tasks such as these in upcoming releases."

According to a BBC article, details have emerged surrounding a huge theft from EBank in EVE Online in June. Ricdic, the bank's chief executive, stole about 200bn kredits and traded it for £3,115. The article states that Ricdic's first name is Richard, and he's a 27-year-old Australian who works in the technology industry and used the money "to put down a deposit on a house and to pay medical bills."

Ricdic has been banned from the game, and although he said he's not proud of his actions, he also said he "probably would've chosen the same path based on the same situation" if he had to do it again. EBank had 2.6tn in its virtual vaults, which shrunk as players took out their money after the theft. The BBC article compares it to the credit crunch in the real world.

Signups for the Seventh Alliance Tournament have started today and will be open until Friday, July 17. According to the announcement, "unlike previous Tournaments the process is no longer first come first serve, and everyone will have a chance to sign up over the next two weeks." You can sign up through this page on the official tournament Web site.

There will be 64 slots available for alliances to compete. The first 16 have been reserved for the top finishers of the sixth tournament if they choose to sign up, while 48 have been made available for open entry. Ten slots will also be drawn for reserve teams. The full rules regarding the signup process can be found here or below.

CCP t0rfifrans has announced in a dev blog entry that a mini-expansion, which the team refers to as Apocrypha 1.5, is tentatively scheduled to launch in mid-August. The team is currently working on the winter expansion for EVE Online, but didn't want to make players wait that long to experience new content.

According to the blog entry, Apocrypha 1.5 will include the addition of "small and medium sized rigs (existing rigs will be considered large rigs), which will be cheaper to buy and make." The mini-expansion will also introduce new level 4 epic mission arcs will be more challenging and rewarding, and will each be themed around a specific race.

You can read more about Apocrypha 1.5 in the dev log entry below.