Fanfest. CCP reaching new heights in awesomness

This was my second visit to Fanfest and I'm absolutely certain it wasn't the last!

Each time I've gone though I have been expecting some wild announcement or earth shattering news about the game that non-attendees would not hear about until afterwards. Each time I've been slightly disappointed. But that is the only thing I have been disappointed with, everything else is great fun and CCP really do pull out all the stops to make it as engaging and fun as possible.

On saying that though, some of the detail released such as the Dominion infrastructure upgrade systems was pretty enlightening and good to know.

The whole experience really drives home how much they want to listen to the players. If you go to the fanfest and attend the roundtables, you will understand what I am saying. They really get into the subjects, and not in a laconic manner, they are really excited and passionate which is quite infectious!

On a personal comfort level, the breakfasts in Icelandic hotels are nothing to write home about so be prepared! Next year, for example, I'm bringing my own coffee because at 300ISK a cup (fanfest price and a tiny cup) an addict like me will go dry. Not good. Especially not after a night out! You might get a free cup at breakfast in your hotel. But if you get up in time for breakast then you aren't doing it right.

Hotels seem to vary wildly with regard to wireless internet facilities too:
In 2007:
CenterHotel Klopp
Klapparstig 26
101 Reykjavik
Tel: (+354) 511 6062

offered wired internet connection free of charge - which was awesome.

This year:
Hotel Cabin
Borgartuni 32
105 Reykjavik
Tel: (+354) 511 6030

offered wireless connectivity for something like 500ISK an hour. They also overbooked and tried to move some of our party to another hotel, which was annoying as many of us had booked back in June. We stood firm though and the rooms magically became available.

I also suggest nipping out to a local BONUS store to get some cereal and milk or something to snack on. I obviously cannot recommend you bring food into the country as that is not allowed by Customs but if you want to avoid paying over the odds for prepared food then getting food in is something you will need to consider to supplement your diet.

As a non-smoker but an ex-smoker I was tempted to smoke again and if you do, make sure you get your ciggies in at the duty free at the airport on the way in. Same for booze. It's a lot cheaper than buying it elsewhere in Iceland.

While in Iceland, keep your receipts as you can claim your tax back at the airport on the way out of Iceland.

Anyway, back to food.

Fanfest food was ok - the pizza was nice enough but there wasn't the variety although the chef did offer me the bakers portion, lol awesome!

Sandwiches, wraps, muffins and donuts were ok but you definately need other food unless you don't of course.

One restaurant we went to on the first night was
http://www.restaurantreykjavik.is/. I had the Seafood Soup and Grilled Monkfish. It was really good - the soup was almost as filling as a main course and the flavourings of the monkfish were sublimely delicious.

This is where we met Tomas who was a Dev. I'm unsure if he was actually called CCP Tomas but anyway, he was a great chap and told us a lot about the restaurant. He was obviously excited about his work and the the stuff he was involved with in the up and coming stars and planet makeover but coy enough not to reveal any trade sekrits. Which was a great shame but maybe their weren't any sekrits. Who knows? He wasn't revealing anything, damn him!

Once finished, we were all totally stuffed and were unable to finish off with any pudding. We were then bizarrely rewarded with a free shot of Brennivin in the Ice Bar which, if you excuse the pun, was cool.

The next night was the Pub Crawl with a Dev night. I was with CCP Chronotis's (awesome) group and have to say it was a lot of fun. I met some really cool people and had some very long and intriguing chats.

All the groups eventually merged into one amorphous blob of alchohol riddled, incoherently babbling spaceship aficionados and because of that it was more awesome.

Downsides were the lack of free Brennivin as was promised but the upsides were obvious for those that ventured to FanFest alone. It gave the opportunity to make new friends and get mildly inebriated as part of a gang which is really priceless. Free condoms were a bit of a worry but hey, if you are into posh wanks then that's ok.

Going back to the Fanfest, the media site goodies were great. It was rewarding to have the headset included and a few extra beer and food tokens. It was something CCP didn't have to do but I thought it was fantastic of them and will ensure that I will create a couple more sites for Eve and Dust. Thank you.

The presentations that really caught my eye were the Dominion one and CCP Presents! which are linked below. The CCP Presents! one includes the HTFU track which is probably the best employee advert for a company I have ever seen. Kudos for that!

The Party at the Top of the World will probably be written up by others much better than I could but needless to say it was great. A better arrangement for the smoking tent might help though as if you were at the far side of the hall it was a hike to get outside the front - plus you had to leave your drinks.

All in all though, totally brilliant. Would I go again? Yes. And if you answer that question with yes, then CCP got it right again.