Filed under: Fan art

EVE Online's starship design contest has had EVE players and deviantART users excited for this past month. Hundreds of entries were submitted in a bid to win some massive prizes. Last week, the deviantART team picked 15 semi-finalists from all the submitted entries. Those 15 were then sent on to CCP's own art department for appraisal to select the first, second and third place winners. There was some controversy over the quality of the selected semi-finalists, with many popular entries being left out and others that might not fit with EVE's graphic style being put in their place.

Yesterday, the final three winners were selected and announced on the competition page. First place went to deviantART user dreamwa1ker for his impressive Minmatar battleship Tornado, drawn in a truly dark and cinematic style that perfectly fits in with EVE. Second place went to Baranha with the sleek Gallente design Naru-Kami Final, with third place going to machinefire for his Minmatar cruiser Tsunami. The three finalists win an impressive array of prizes, and the first place ship will be forever emblazoned in EVE as an actual in-game ship to be released in a future expansion. As an added bonus to the competition, CCP has announced that they'll be running a second contest in the near future in which EVE players will vote on their favourite entries. This comes as good news for those disappointed by the semi-finalist selection first time around.

Last month, EVE Online developers CCP Games teamed up with the folks at deviantART to run an exciting competition. Artists from across the globe were given the opportunity to design their very own starship. For artists, the opportunity to show off their skills to a professional game development studio proved to be a strong motivator. To sweeten the deal, a prize fund worth several thousand dollars was included for the winning entrants. Yesterday, the deviantART team picked 15 semi-finalists from an uncountable number of submitted entries. Congratulations go out to the semi-finalists, who each take home a $50 iTunes gift card.

While the contest has produced some incredible artwork, it seems that not everyone is happy with how the 15 semi-finalists were selected. Some players have complained that the deviantART team removed some excellent entries from the running in favour of submissions that don't really fit with EVE's art style. The 15 winning entries will now be passed on to CCP's very own art department, where deliberations will take place to select the best three entries. The second and third place winners will receive $750 and $500 respectively, while the first place winner walks away with $900. Perhaps more importantly, the first place entry will be transformed into an actual ship in EVE Online, allowing the winner to make a permanant mark on the game.

The community of Star Wars: The Old Republic did not quite make the Twitter and Facebook goals, so the developers decided to punish us by announcing another species that we will not be able to play. (Just kidding, it wasn't punishment.) In addition to spotlighting fan art and video, this week's Fan Friday column mentions Cathar as being another species players of SWTOR will bump into on their travels across the galaxy. The feline species from the planet bearing the same name was first mentioned by name in Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith, but gamers are probably more familiar with it from the other BioWare game, Knights of the Old Republic. Although the devs did not say where or how the players will run into this highly anticipated species, fans are hoping for a Cathar companion character.

As mentioned above, the social media goal was not reached. Even so, the community team did give the fans some gifts. The Fan Site Kit has been updated with more digital goodies. New avatars, screenshots, and biographical images can now grace your SWTOR fan site. Not to mention, the team has included six new desktop wallpaper images straight from the exciting "Hope" trailer.

Be sure to check out all of this and the amazing new fan art on the official SWTOR site.

Although the North American anniversary doesn't take place until later this year, Final Fantasy XI has been running for eight years as of this past May. When that milestone rolled around, Square-Enix announced their 8th Anniversary art contest as a chance for players to show off their talents and potentially get rewarded for them. The official winners have just been announced, complete with the requisite gallery of all the winning entries for fans to peruse, with the results both creative and indicative of the game's long history.

The recurring visual elements seem to be food, tarutaru, mithra, and mandragoras -- which certainly goes a long way toward showing what's stuck out in everyone's minds over the duration. There are even a pair of entries (such as the one above) that use food itself as the medium for the celebration. Final Fantasy XI players are encouraged to take a full look at all the artwork on display in the winners' gallery -- enough to bring a nostalgic tear to any player's eye.

Sometimes you notice them and sometimes you don't, but the background touches in City of Heroes are always there. They're little reminders that you're moving through a city full of people. The Rogue Isles has its share of shady billboards and decorations (including no-questions-asked investigators and a minion recruitment service), while Paragon City has law firms and socially-conscious advertisements about the Rikti. And Praetoria has propaganda for Emperor Cole... and against him. That's the crux of the now-concluded contest to declare your loyalty in artistic form for Going Rogue, and the winners of said contest have been announced.

There are three winners in each category, for both Loyalist propaganda and Resistance subversion. Two of the pieces of Resistance graffiti and one of the Loyalist billboards have also been adopted by the developers -- they will be featured in Going Rogue, albeit in a slightly-altered form. The gallery of winners showcases both the original submissions and the slight alterations made for the appearance in-game. City of Heroes players who haven't yet picked a side -- or those who are just interested in seeing some nicely-done propaganda pieces -- should head on over to take a look.

On May 16th, 2002, Final Fantasy XI was released in Japan, meaning that the game has marked a full eight years of service in its country of origin. (It didn't come stateside for another year and a half, so we're a bit behind.) The team at Square-Enix is understandably excited about how far the game has come since that day, and what better way to show it than letting the players strut their stuff? That means it's time for the Eighth Anniversary Art Contest, complete with requisite fabulous prizes -- which include the coveted Chocobo Beret.

Running until June 16th, the contest calls for players with an active Final Fantasy XI account to submit a picture of their finished artwork. As one might assume given the timing, the art is expected to have an anniversary theme, although how one wishes to tackle the subject is entirely up to the player. Only one submission is allowed per person, with all the winners receiving the Nomad Moogle Rod, and the two top winners also receiving the aforementioned Beret. Take a look at the official rules for all the details, and get ready to see what the game's worldwide community can come up with.

Last month ArenaNet began their annual Guild Wars Wintersday art contest, offering some coveted prizes in the form of signed copies of The Art of Guild Wars 2, signed art prints from PAX, and everlasting reindeer tonics. As always, participants brought some outstanding talent and creativity to the table, and all the winning entries -- including the adorable Yakkington doll -- showed a fun variety of ideas and themes ranging from funny and random to practical to downright beautiful.

The Guild Wars community pitched in to encourage one another in the form of the Wintersday Workshop, a fan-sponsored forum event and contest designed to encourage new artists and old alike. Workshop participants were very happy to see quite a few of their number gaining recognition in the contest.

All of the winning entries can be viewed at the official site, and we at Massively join ArenaNet in offering our congratulations to them all.

Remember April Fools Day in Guild Wars earlier this year when we all turned into excruciatingly cute Chibi Gwen dolls? And the Nicholas the Traveler feeding frenzy when word got around he was handing out Chibi Gwen minipets? If you love the uber-cute little figurine and just can't have enough adorableness, ArenaNet can help you out.

Chibi Gwen is the first in a series of holiday papercrafts that Guild Wars fans can download the patterns for. Every Tuesday this month, ANet will release a new pattern for a special Guild Wars themed paper model. Upcoming patterns are a secret, but there is a pretty broad hint as to the last one: "We won't tell you what it is, but save room at the top of your tree!" Hmm, what winged, angelic figure would go nicely at the top of a Christmas tree?

At any rate, the pattens can be found all month on the official site, and are a fun way to add a bit of Guild Wars flair to your home.

Her ascension has come, her name is well-known -- Shantotto is blessed both afar and at home. Final Fantasy XI's resident genius has long been admired as clever and devious. Not so very long hence, you'd recall our report that a contest was held, an artistic sport. After all, who could deny that true inspiration would come from a lady of such reputation? That contest is over, the judging all done, now look through the images to see who has won!

Three pages of entries await to be seen, a collection of art unrivaled on one's screen. The portrait above, while quite suited for framing, was not the first winner in the contest we're naming. That image must indeed be seen and admired, but all of the portraits should meet one's desires. At the top of the tier, there's more than just rotes, for each entry is graced with the professor's own notes! View all of the entries, we gladly suggest, for Shantotto as subject is quite hard to best.

As Halloween fades into a memory of candy, costumes, and cheaply-made outdoor decorations, the MMOsphere slowly closes its doors on the various holiday events. Final Fantasy XI's pumpkin-carving contest on Allakhazam has finally drawn to a close, with the votes in and tallied and the winners determined. And if you doubt that there's a great deal of talent and originality on display with the contest, the excellently-rendered San d'Orian knight charging into battle above wasn't the winner -- they placed fourth.

Third place went to a rendition of the title image for this year's Halloween event, while second place went to Final Fantasy XI's resident mad professor herself. First place went -- quite deservedly -- to this hauntingly well-rendered image of a tonberry in the darkness. The official announcement includes a tally of the votes, but that might not be quite as exciting to casual observers as a gallery of all the entries. Congratulations to the winners, and here's hoping that next year brings still more pumpkin-carving fun for FFXI.

One of the greatest thing about MMOs is the player involvement. Fans pick up a game's story and run with it, constantly coming up with fun new results. This hold true as holidays approach, as games start getting into the festive spirit of Christmas, New Year's Eve, Halloween and their own unique storyline-driven celebrations. Player creativity really shines during special events and everyone benefits from the fun.

Halloween is approaching, and party planning in every game is well under way on both the community relations side and the player side. Game sites are starting to talk of pumpkin carving contests and character costume sales, and fans are planning their parties as well. One of the longest running community events is the fifth annual King and Queen's Horrorween in Guild Wars, but it's not the only player-run party out there by any means.

The list of games and fan events is long, and offers a wealth of spooky fun for everyone, so we want to know: who's partying in your game of choice? Tell us what community events you're looking forward to attending this Halloween!

It's almost that time of year again for Guild Wars fans -- time for pumpkin crowns, squash serums, and Mad King Thorn. Halloween is approaching, and with it comes the fifth annual Guild Wars Halloween art contest.

Entrants are invited to show off their talent by creating a Guild Wars themed Halloween concept. There are no limits or restrictions on what participants can dream up and create -- the contest information suggests everything from creating a costume to decorating your house to baking a cake. As long as there is a Guild Wars theme, anything goes.

Twenty winners will be chosen from all entries. All twenty will receive a Mad King's Guard mini pet (this event marks the introduction of this brand new miniature). The top ten will receive a signed art print from PAX 2008 as well, and the top three will also be awarded the Guild Wars 2 art book, signed by members of the GW2 development team.

The deadline is 12:00 Noon PDT, October 23 -- good luck to all!

World of Warcraft tattoos are probably a dime a dozen, and if you've gotten one, you're relatively safe, because clearly that title's proved to have staying power.

But how about getting permanent ink for a game that's not even officially out yet?

That's what 25-year-old Sweden resident Joakim has done. The support technician for a Swedish internet service provider has gone out and gotten the logo for the upcoming post-apocalyptic MMO Fallen Earth on his leg.

Both Joakim and developer Fallen Earth LLC have sworn that this isn't some coordinated PR stunt. We recently got a hold of Joakim via e-mail, and he explained why he got the tattoo and why he'll never regret it.

I am in love with the Champions Online character creator. I may not have a character past level 8 in the open beta, but I'm already wishing I had more character slots. I guess it's a good thing we can save our costumes!

With the recent GI Joe movie hype, and the simple fact that I'm a ginormous GI Joe fanboy since I was probably 6 or 7, I decided it might be fun to see how close I could get on recreating GI Joe characters from my youth in Champions Online. We've paid homage to this amazing character creator before, but we just can't get enough! Follow along after the jump (warning, large pictures ahead!) to see if you can name the five characters I created. This is not an official competition, and the only thing you'll win is my respect and love. Isn't that totally worth it?