Performance of the EVE Online servers took a major leap forward with the successful deployment of Stackless IO to Tranquility. Players were able to notice an immediate reduction in lag - the bane of any and all MMOs - when traveling through Jita, an area commonly populated by hundreds of pilots at almost any given time of day. According to CCP Explorer, Stackless IO has "vastly outperformed the old network technology" and has paved the way for further enhancements to be made. With that door open to us, we couldn't just stop there... With Stackless IO in place, we were finally in a position to start moving our server software to 64-bits. The team started it, completed it, and deployed it to several of the servers inside of one week. Aside from daring to do the impossible and succeeding, what this means for EVE is more processing power and almost quadruple the memory to work with. What it means for our subscribers is smoother battles, more stable high concurrency areas and an even better gaming experience. September 26th marked the beginning of candidacy runs for the second term of the Council of Stellar Management. Existing members may run for a second term, and some have already begun their campaign. Some dates to keep in mind: September, 26th. Opening for candidacy runs for the second CSM. October, 17th. Closing of candidacy runs for the second CSM. November, 7th. The voting period for the second CSM begins. November, 21st. The voting period for the second CSM closed. In general CSM news, meeting #10 of the existing council occurred earlier this month, bringing the alliance logo system, test server skill speed increase, citadel torpedo balance, and several other issues to the table. We're taking our Fanfest presentations of "what's to come" a step further than usual this year. Attendees will be treated to presentations and slideshows of the upcoming Walking in Stations content, followed by the chance to actually experience what has been built so far. Fanfest 2008 will be home to the first working and playable exclusive of the Walking in Stations content including characters, environments and... well, you'll just have to head there to find out! Visit the Fanfest 2008 page for the latest information and to purchase tickets for the event. Empyrean Age 1.1 was packed with new content and a ton of fixes, but we weren't about to call it a day just yet. We've followed it up with two more patches introducing even more features and content for EVE Players! Autopilot received some new tech and now players can use Avoid System to set systems, constellations or even entire regions to be ignored by your autopilot. High traffic areas and enemy territory can be flagged as a no-go zone for plotting the path to your destination. Three new gates have also been added in order to alleviate congested traffic areas. If you head through or near Jita, these new gates just might help make your trips a little faster: Muvolailen – Maurasi Maurasi – Perimeter Veisto - Sarekuwa The blogosphere is not immune to the infectious power of EVE Online and its passionate gamers, but sorting through the web's sea of blogs to find ones on the topic you are interested in is a nightmare and a half. If only there was someone that would do it for you... someone that would find all the EVE blogs and make a concise list of the ones that are regularly updated. Eh, a guy would have to be crazy to take on a task like that. Well, he is and he did. Stop by CrazyKinux's EVE Blog Pack for a list of some of the best blogs and podcasts dedicated to the coolest online game on the intarweb. To CrazyKinux and all the bloggers of the EVE community... Nice work! That's how some of the cool new gear in this year's Fanfest store is being created. Dogtags for the four races, Factional Warfare pins and several other novelties by Dragonfire Laser Crafts will be available for purchase, PLUS... members of the Dragonfire team will be on hand to take orders for custom work. Click to learn more information about Dragonfire Laser Crafts and the custom work they'll be able to provide EVE fans in the future.