Thanks for all of the wonderful avatar screenshots submitted for this contest! It was a challenge for our team to select the top 3 entries, with so many great looking avatars to choose from. As such,  we decided to add some additional prize places to highlight those screenshots that made it to our final round of voting.

4 x Neurobiotic Booster A5 10mg

2 x Neurobiotic Booster A5 10mg

1 x Neurobiotic Booster A5 10mg

Each entrant will receive 1 x Neurobiotic Booster A1 10mg.

Thanks again to everyone who submitted screenshots in this contest, and congratulations to all the prize winners and finalists!!

MindArk would like to congratulate Entropia Universe participant Modified Akoz Power, for placing the winning bid of 1 500 000 PED for the new moon, and on becoming the new moon’s operator.

• http://www.entropiauniverse.com/bulletin/buzz/2013/03/01/Newly-Discovered-Moon-to-be-Auctioned.xml
• http://www.entropiauniverse.com/entropia-universe/announcements/moon/
• http://www.entropiauniverse.com/bulletin/buzz/2013/03/05/Moon-Estate-FAQ.xml

Q: If I deposit funds and bid on the moon auction, will MindArk forego the withdrawal fee for unsuccessful bidders?
A: Yes. The withdrawal fee will be waived for all participants who make an individual deposit of at least $25,000 between March 1 and April 4, 2013. The withdrawal fee waiver will apply to an amount equal to the total deposit amount made during the fee waiver period.

Q: What about deposit fees?
A: MindArk recommends that parties interested in making large deposits into Entropia Universe use the bank transfer deposit method. The only fees associated with this deposit method are those charged by your own financial institution; MindArk charges no fee for deposits made via bank transfer.

Q: When is the moon estate expected to be released?
A: After the auction is completed, MindArk will contact the Moon Operator to discuss overall design aspects of the moon estate. Depending on the specific details from that discussion, the moon estate is expected to be released late in Q2 or in Q3 of 2013.

Q: Will it be possible to add additional features and/or expand the moon estate?
A: Yes. Further development of the moon estate beyond the initial specification is indeed possible, and can be proposed to the MindArk team once the auction is completed. Note that any such added features will be subject to MindArk approval, as well as additional development costs.

Q: Can the Moon Operator use its own team to develop the moon estate?
A: No. All initial and future development will be performed by MindArk.

Q: Will the Moon Operator be required to sign any agreements or documents?
A: Yes. The person holding the account of the Moon Operator will be required to sign MindArk’s standard Marketing Partner Agreement, the Moon Operator Agreement, and a Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement.

Q: How will revenue from the moon estate and marketing partnership be paid?
A: Revenue will be paid out monthly to the moon estate deed holder.

Q: Are the revenue share percentages negotiable?
A: No.

Q: Can the Moon Operator sell shares or deeds?
A: There will be a single deed for the moon estate. Group ownership or further revenue sharing will not be supported.

Q: Is the moon part of Calypso or any other Planet Partner?
A: No, the moon is its own territory, just as other planets.

Q: Where is the moon be located?
A: A mysterious wormhole was recently discovered in local space. Exploration of the other side of the wormhole revealed a strange, planetless moon. A space station is under construction that will stabilize the wormhole and allow travel between local space and the region of space on the other side of the wormhole, where the moon was discovered.

Q: Will there be a teleporter to or from the moon?
A: All access to and from the moon will be made via the wormhole space station, which will allow avatars to enter the wormhole, transporting them directly to the Lunar Command Center.

Q: Will the subsurface cavern areas have hunting and mining taxes?
A: There will be no hunting or mining taxes on the moon estate.

Q: How large will the subsurface caverns be?
A: Approximately 1.5 times the size of the asteroid space resort domes.

Q: How will mining work in the subsurface caverns?
A: The caverns will use the indoor mining logic system, which results in a lower search radius and larger finds.

Q: What size will the apartments be, and how many item points will they have?
A: Apartments will be medium-sized compared to existing apartments in Entropia, and will feature 150 item points.

Q: Will the moon creatures have their own loot items?
A: The loot from moon creatures will be a mixture of familiar items and resources and completely new items. Those new resources will be used for manufacturing other new items unique to the moon.

Gothenburg, Sweden – March 1, 2013 /Entropia Universe/ – Entropia Universe announced today that it will be auctioning a newly discovered moon starting on March 21, 2013. This unique opportunity combines the Entropia Universe Planet Partner and Marketing Partner programs, allowing the winner to operate an estate in a virtual universe which just celebrated its tenth anniversary.

The winning bidder will work closely with the MindArk team throughout the estate’s development process with direct input on important design decisions, and will share revenue with MindArk resulting from all activity on the moon. As a way to further increase earning potential, the winning bidder will also have the ability to recruit newparticipants through marketing, and receive a share of revenue from resulting activity anywhere in Entropia Universe.

The moon estate includes a Lunar Command Center and two Lunar Habitats, along with eight subsurface caverns filled with unique creatures and rare resources.

The auction for rights to manage the moon estate will begin on March 21 and end two weeks later, on April 4, 2013. The estate deed will be listed on the Entropia Universe global auction with a starting bid of 1.5 million PED (150,000 USD).

For more information about the auction including full details regarding the Moon Estate, please visit the following URL: www.entropiauniverse.com/entropia-universe/announcements/moon

Since the upcoming Version Update and Planet Partner release has been postponed, we thought our participants might appreciate an early peek at some of the new features that Version Update 14.1 will bring.

A new Quest Tracker interface will be implemented which, as the name suggests, makes tracking currently active quests a breeze.

Another nice new feature is that the item information panel now displays the actual level of protection offered by unlimited armor parts which are below maximum TT value.

A few of the other features you can look forward to in Version Update 14.1 include:

• Lower global thresholds for low-level creatures.
• Global messages when special rare items are looted.
• Introduction of planet-specific TEN Edition weapons.

Please note that the features mentioned aboved are a small sample of what's to come, and that there are many other features and improvements included in Version Update 14.1. And of course there is a boatload of exciting new Planet Partner content to be released as well.

The ability to enter the avatar creation room an unlimited number of times will be disabled on Monday, Feb. 11, at 0800 UTC. After the change, each account will be permitted one final entry to the avatar creation room.

Any avatars who happen to be in the avatar creation room when the change is made will not be offered any further entries.

Makeup masks created during the avatar creation process will be issued after leaving the avatar creation room any time after the deadline on Monday morning.

We have already seen some amazing looking avatars created during the past week, and look forward to seeing even more next week.

Also, don't forget to submit your screenshots in the Before & After Competition, the deadline for submissions is tomorrow!

MindArk is very proud to announce that Entropia turns ten years old today!!

On this day, the 30th of January 2003, Project Entropia was officially released to the public. That release, also known as the PE ‘Gold’ release, marked the beginning of a very long and eventful evolution to the greatly expanded and advanced Entropia Universe of today.

In celebration of this exciting milestone, MindArk and the planet partners will be organizing a variety of special events, with special TEN (Tenth Entropian New year) edition items distributed in loot and as event prizes.

To start, each planet partner will be hosting its own TEN celebration event on its planet, with anniversary prizes supplied by MindArk. These prizes include two full sets of the extremely powerful Chronicle TEN Edition armor (1 male and 1 female), along with two sets of Paladin TEN Edition armor, some amazing new TEN Edition armor platings, and some fiery Arsonistic TEN Edition chips.

These planetary and other ten-year anniversary events will continue over the next several months. Each planet will also be introducing a special TEN Edition version of one of its weapons, which will be introduced in the partner release scheduled for late February.

Next week, MindArk will be announcing a major estate auction, quite different from the traditional land area model. All we can say for now is that the estate will feature some previously unknown alien lifeforms...

Finally, as some of you may have noticed, MindArk has already started celebrating by juicing up the loots, globals and HoFs! No one can be sure when this insanity will end so be sure to grab your share of these ‘Modified Loots’!

Feedback received through support cases and community forum discussions indicates that several issues related to the new avatar creation system have resulted in many participants finding it difficult to create their desired avatar appearance.

MindArk wishes to do everything possible to assist participants in achieving their desired avatar look. As such, it has been decided to temporarily allow participants to go through the avatar creation process as many times as they wish. This offer will be enabled when the mini-patch is deployed early next week, and will allow participants to use the avatar creation interface an unlimited number of times for a period of approximately one week.

Below is a list of currently known avatar system issues. Please do not submit support cases on these issues, as they have already been identified and will be addressed in the VU patch next week. For other issues not listed here, please make an effort to include as much description and information as possible when submitting support cases, so that the support and development teams can better prioritize issues and implement fixes.

Known Issues

• Locked movement can occur for Body Sculptor Designers after closing the Body Sculpting UI. In such cases a relog will correct the issue.
• Locked movement can occur when trying to enter avatar creation areas that are full. In such cases a relog will correct the issue.
• Due to last minute integration issues, makeup masks will not be available in this release. Makeup masks will be activated in the release patch, expected in one week.
• Makeup masks created during the avatar creation process are not visible in the Start Room, but will become visible again once your avatar arrives on a planet for the first destination.
• Female makeup masks appear fully decayed when arriving on a planet for the first time. This is a visual bug only, the masks are not decayed.
• Performance issues with certain graphics cards in areas with many avatars on screen.

We appreciate your patience and understanding while we work on resolving these issues in the coming days.

Due to several issues related to the new avatar system and avatar creation interface, we’d like to inform all participants that they will have another opportunity to redo their avatar appearance after the VU patch scheduled for early next week.

Below is a list of currently known avatar system issues. Please do not submit support cases on these issues, as they have already been identified and will be addressed in the VU patch next week. For other issues not listed here, please make an effort to include as much description and information as possible when submitting support cases, so that the support and development teams can better prioritize issues and implement fixes.

Known Issues

• Locked movement can occur for Body Sculptor Designers after closing the Body Sculpting UI. In such cases a relog will correct the issue.
• Locked movement can occur when trying to enter avatar creation areas that are full. In such cases a relog will correct the issue.
• Due to last minute integration issues, makeup masks will not be available in this release. Makeup masks will be activated in the release patch, expected in one week.
• Makeup masks created during the avatar creation process are not visible in the Start Room, but will become visible again once your avatar arrives on a planet for the first destination.
• Female makeup masks appear fully decayed when arriving on a planet for the first time. This is a visual bug only, the masks are not decayed.

The upcoming Version Update 14.0 includes an exciting new avatar system. Before the release, we’d like to share some information about the new avatar system to prepare participants for the upcoming improvements and changes. Some of the info in this Entropia Universe Buzz article was shared a few days ago in our press release, but we have included it here for those participants who may have missed it the first time around.

First, a quick overview of the new avatar system and then some answers to questions that existing participants may have about how the upcoming changes will be implemented in VU 14.0.

Overview
The new avatar system will bring Entropia Universe to the forefront of graphics technology in an MMO with highly detailed and fully customizable new avatars. The new avatars are significantly enhanced with over twice as many polygons as their predecessors for surprising fidelity. All character textures have been heightened as well, with faces becoming four times more detailed. Bilateral asymmetry is now a key factor in making distinctive creations as tattoos, scars and makeup no longer need to be even on both sides; and even hair has been improved so that it now moves and bounces naturally. Additionally all avatar animations have seen improvements so they move more fluidly, with clothes and armor redone to better fit the new models. This all allows for a much richer user experience as players' in-game representations will now be much more engaging and realistic.

To add to the gameplay the avatars not only look better, but they have been optimized for better performance on all machines as well. While overhauling the creation system to introduce the high-fidelity models the developers also took the time to work on the basic user interface. They made it far easier to customize a unique character so players can explore the world as anyone they wish. The new system also improves the handling of different races to better represent players and their backgrounds. The team also included pre-set appearances to allow for faster entry into the game if a player doesn't want to spend the time on their avatar. Upon release of the new avatar system all existing users will get a chance to re-customize their look for free.

FAQ
What are some of the best features of the new avatar creation interface? The new avatar creation interface has many useful features to help you create a huge range of avatar looks. The most useful feature might well be the history slider, which allows you to undo recent changes and revert to an earlier version. Also, the large number of built-in presets for each customization section offer great starting points for creating amazingly detailed and beautiful avatars.

Will avatars look the same after update? No. Upon logging in after the VU 14.0 release, every avatar will be presented with a dialog box allowing them to enter the new avatar creation system. If a participant declines the avatar recreation offer, a random avatar look will be generated and used until the participant chooses to define their own custom avatar look.

Will all beauty options and hair styles be available in the new avatar creation system? Yes, initially. Many participants are very attached to their Entropia Universe avatars and it’s important to give active participants an opportunity to recreate their preferred avatar appearance in the new system. After exiting the new avatar creation process, however, any further alterations or refinements to one’s avatar will need to be performed by skilled body sculptors and hairstylists within Entropia Universe.

Will new avatars created after the VU 14.0 release have access to all beauty options and hair styles? Yes, but only for a short time. Some of the more advanced looks and options will be restricted in a following release.

One of the exciting features of the upcoming Version Update scheduled for Jan. 22 is a brand new avatar creation system. To celebrate, MindArk is hosting a fun EU Avatar Before & After contest.

Simply send an email with before & after screenshot images of your avatar to screenshots@mindark.com to enter the contest. Entries will be judged on several criteria, including  avatar appearance improvement, creativity, and overall aesthetics.

Prizes

• 1st Place - 4 x Neurobiotic Booster A5 10mg
• 2nd Place - 2 x Neurobiotic Booster A5 10mg
• 3rd Place - 1 x Neurobiotic Booster A5 10mg

***Each Neurobiotic Booster A5 10mg consumable item increases skill gains in all professions by 50% after being consumed, and lasts for 10 hours of logged-in time. The timer is paused while the avatar who has consumed the booster item is logged out of Entropia Universe. Unconsumed booster items are non-tradable.***

Rules & Notes

• Entries must be received no later than Thursday, Feb. 7
• Be sure to include your full Entropia Universe avatar name in the email
• Limit of one entry per avatar
• Each attached image should be no larger than 4 megabytes in file size
• The winning entry images will be featured on the Entropia Universe Buzz page!

An update for the The Virtual Tycoon Android application is now available.

What's in this version:

• Fixed issues with Entropia Universe Gold Card login
• Improved stability
• Tweaks and fixes

The Virtual Tycoon app and update can be downloaded directly from the Google Play store.

Greetings Entropians,

While 2012 was an important and eventful year for Entropia Universe, the upcoming year promises to bring even greater opportunities for development of the EU platform and participant growth.

One very exciting milestone that will be reached early in 2013 is Entropia’s ten-year anniversary! The official “gold” version of Project Entropia (the predecessor to Entropia Universe) was released on Jan. 30, 2003, and MindArk will be celebrating the anniversary throughout 2013 with numerous special events and promotions. More details can be found in the 2013 Roadmap section below.

The MindArk team has spent much of December pinpointing the highest priorities and plotting our development roadmap for 2013. Some amazing improvements are coming very soon, and I am confident in stating that the future of Entropia Universe looks brighter than ever!

Before detailing MindArk’s development plans for the new year, I’d like to quickly share the highlights and progress achieved in 2012.

2012 HIGHLIGHTS

New Participant Experience
As mentioned in the State of the Universe Address 2012, MindArk made a conscious effort in 2012 to improve the overall Entropia Universe user experience, especially for newcomers. Towards that goal, MindArk and the planet partners put a lot of focus on refining the systems and content encountered by new participants during their first few hours in Entropia Universe. These improvements included revamping the Genesis new arrivals area to improve performance and ease the learning curve for newbies. In response to feedback from the community, creature loots were also adjusted by MindArk to dramatically reduce the incidence of ‘No Looters’. On the planet partner side of things, newly designed beginner areas were introduced on Planet Arkadia and Planet Calypso, with the goal of better educating and engaging new participants and helping them gain some early momentum in their Entropia Universe careers.

Marketing
In conjunction with the the improvements to new participant areas described above, MindArk gradually ramped up its marketing efforts during 2012, resulting in a 50% increase in the number of unique visitors to the EntropiaUniverse.com and planet partner websites. In addition, the redesign and optimization of the Planet Calypso website completed in early autumn helped to significantly improve the conversion rate of website visitors. The results of these marketing efforts are very encouraging indeed. Entropia Universe now has 2.5 times more new active accounts compared to 2011, and overall activity in the universe is increasing steadily. Without doubt, MindArk plans to build on this success by refining and expanding its marketing efforts during 2013, first by increasing the current Google banner campaigns, and later branching out to additional advertising networks. Finally, an exciting new Entropia Universe promotional video is being developed in conjunction with Arkadia Studios, to be released early in the new year.

Systems Development
While there certainly was a big focus on the new player experience in 2012, there were also tons of other enhancements and improvements introduced for existing participants, many of which were given priority based on feedback received through support cases and on community forums. Some of the highlights of those improvements include:

• New and improved crafting interface
• Instance system - major improvements and expansion (beacons/dungeons)
• Improved creature loot balancing
• Mission system enhancements & rebalancing
• Mindforce improvements and new effects
• Dozens of critical bugfixes and user interface optimizations

Platform Development
MindArk’s development team spent a large part of the second half of 2012 building the foundations to allow other types of client software to connect to Entropia Universe. The first of those new clients, Virtual Tycoon, was released in December and allows participants to connect to Entropia Universe through their Android powered smartphone. An iOS version Virtual Tycoon compatible with iPhone and iPad will be released in the very near future. More information about Virtual Tycoon can be found in this announcement. The effort invested in this project will pay future dividends as well, as it allows for much faster development to make Entropia Universe available on other client platforms such as tablets, additional mobile devices, along with various web-based interfaces.

Avatar Development
Another project that has kept the MindArk team quite busy in the latter half of 2012 focuses on improving avatar appearance and the avatar creation interface. Originally planned for release at the end of 2012, completion of this project has required somewhat more time than expected, and is now scheduled to be implemented early in 2013. The good news is that this allows MindArk and the planet partners to put the finishing touches of the new system, so your avatars will be looking better than ever!

2013 ROADMAP

Entropia’s 10 Year Anniversary
As mentioned earlier, Entropia will turn 10 years old on January 30, 2013, and MindArk will celebrate this historic milestone with some wonderful universe-wide events beginning on the anniversary date and continuing throughout 2013. As a token of thanks for the support we have received from our amazing community over the years, special anniversary edition items will be introduced in loots and offered as event prizes. These items will have enhanced stats and can be identified by the TEN suffix in the item name (Tenth Entropia New year).

Also in celebration of ten years of Entropia, there will be a major estate announced for auction at the end of January, with a completely new management/revenue model. More details will be released as the anniversary date approaches.

Veteran Appreciation
As another show of thanks, MindArk will focus lots of development time on improving the Entropia Universe experience for current participants and Entropia veterans. Many of the most common requests and wishlist items received from our participants via support cases and community forums will be addressed in the first two version updates of the new year. Issues that will be prioritized include:

• Fixing bugs
• Reducing cost to play / increasing average TT returns
• Lowering the volatility of returns for many activities
• Increasing UL item tiering speed / lowering UL item tiering cost
• Removing the UL armor equipping fee
• Lowering the minimum usable condition of many items

Many other interface improvements and game system upgrades are also planned for the second quarter of 2013 and beyond, including items such as PVP combat, mission system functionality, vehicle system, removing exploits, expanding crafting, interface enhancements, bug fixing, and much more.

Infrastructure Upgrades
Major upgrades will be performed on the Entropia Universe platform infrastructure beginning in January. These upgrades will result in improved server stability and faster development and deployment times for future version updates. While these upgrades will require a few months for full completion, participants can expect better performance, fewer unexpected server outages, and much shorter VU downtimes.

In addition, refinements to the development and release procedures for MindArk and its planet partners will help improve client stability, reduce bugs and other unexpected system behavior, and generally improve the overall Entropia Universe experience.

Taming
Many of our more patient participants will be happy to hear that a completely redesigned taming system will be developed in 2013. The new taming system will include many of the features from the pre-CryEngine system, along with many new and exciting features that will expand the utility of tamed creatures. Additionally, one of the upcoming new Entropia Universe planets will make extensive use of the new taming system as a core aspect of the planet’s theme.

Space
In the State of the Universe Address 2012, we mentioned plans for expanding and improving space. Several other projects received higher priority in 2012, resulting in the plans for space development being pushed forward to mid-2013. The early focus will be on addressing several issues that currently allow for practically risk-free travel between planets. Space combat and weapons will also be adjusted to improve hunting space creatures and ship to ship PVP combat. Towards the end of the year, we hope to implement several completely new features to space, perhaps even space mining.

Financial
Several new payment provider solutions will be introduced early in 2013, including Paypal and Paypal’s mobile payment service, Zong. MindArk is also researching opportunities for supplemental credit card processing solutions, in light of the recent disuprtions and issues experienced with DIBS.

New starter packs will soon be offered on the Entropia Universe and planet partner websites. These packs are designed to provide new participants with a full range of appropriate starter gear at a reasonable cost, and help them start their Entropia Universe careers off on the right foot.

CLD Estate & Political Systems
Concept design of the Calypso Land Deed estate and political systems is already in full swing. While many of the core concepts are already in place, we believe it would be worthwhile to gain valuable feedback from the community on several proposed aspects of these new systems. Therefore, we will be contacting CLD holders with a survey early in the year to get their input. Once the design plans are finalized, actual development of the estate and political systems is scheduled to begin after the summer. We are very excited about the potential of the political system especially, and look forward to working together with the community to make it something truly amazing and unique in the computer game industry.


All in all, we leave behind a fruitful 2012 and set our sights forward to some very promising opportunities available to continue expanding and improving Entropia Universe in 2013. We sincerely hope that you join us in celebrating ten years of Entropia early next year, and in developing the future of virtual reality in 2013 and beyond.

Warmest holiday regards from all of us at MindArk,


David Simmonds
CEO MindArk PE AB

MindArk is very excited to announce that Virtual Tycoon, the very first Entropia Universe mobile application, has been released on the Google Play app store today.

Virtual Tycoon gives players full access to the Construction system, the Auction system, Storage, Accounting, Avatar Skills and Professions, and Hall of Fame information.  One of the most exciting features is the ability to craft and auction items from your Android mobile device. With full access to storage and all the details of the items contained therein, colonists always know what they have to sell and what they need. This amazing overview includes all blueprints, and even has a helpful sorting functionality to assist players in finding the blueprints most suitable to craft at the moment.

"We are in a world where people are constantly on the go and they always have mobile devices with them," said David Simmonds, CEO of MindArk. “Since Entropia Universe is non-stop as well, players need access to their characters and accounts whenever and wherever. In short, this is the first step in making the Entropia Universe experience available when away from the computer.”

To download Virtual Tycoon directly, visit the Google Play App store on your Android mobile device at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindark.eu.virtualtycoon

The Apple iOS version of Virtual Tycoon will also be released very soon, stay tuned!

Since the direct trade method of distributing Calypso Land Deeds has proven to be so popular and fair, MindArk has decided to distribute the remaining 2000 CLDs in a similar manner.

No further deeds will be listed on the Entropia Universe global auction.

The MindArk official avatar James Bowerbird Estatebroker will be online in Fort Ithaca on Planet Calypso at the following times:

• Wed. November 7, at 1100 UTC. Each avatar will be allowed to buy a maximum of two (2) Calypso Land Deeds via direct P2P trade, at the price of 1150 PED each.
• Thur. November 8, at 1600 UTC. Each avatar will be allowed to buy a maximum of five (5) Calypso Land Deeds via direct P2P trade, at the price of 1150 PED each.
• Fri. November 9, at 0400 UTC. Each avatar will be allowed to buy a maximum of five (5) Calypso Land Deeds via direct P2P trade, at the price of 1150 PED each.
• Sat. November 10, at 1100 UTC. Each avatar will be allowed to buy a maximum of five (5) Calypso Land Deeds via direct P2P trade, at the price of 1150 PED each.

Five hundred (500) deeds will be available each session on a first come, first served basis.

The limits on the number of CLDs available to each avatar apply to each individual session. For example, it is permitted to acquire two deeds on Nov. 7, and five more deeds in each of the following sessions.

Please have patience and common courtesy when initiating trade requests with James Bowerbird Estatebroker. Interested participants are required to form an orderly line and wait their turn in order for their trade request to be accepted.

Any participants found attempting to purchase more than the permitted number of Calypso Land Deeds in a single session or to otherwise disrupt or abuse this offer will be subject to sanctions against their Entropia Universe account, including possible account bans. Any CLDs acquired in such a manner will be subject to transaction reversal.

Thanks once again for your support of Entropia Universe!

Gothenburg, Sweden – November 5th, 2012 /MindArk/ – MindArk, the developer of the largest Massively Multiplayer Online Real Cash Economy (or MMORCE), announced today that it is partnering with MOL Global to add a new method of easy payment for their Asian customers. This partnership will allow players to exchange MOLPoints for PED, the virtual currency used in Entropia Universe.

MindArk is the developer and publisher of Entropia Universe, the largest Massively Multiplayer Online Real Cash Economy (MMORCE) game in the world. Players have no monthly costs, but deposit and withdraw real funds for their adventures on any planet in the Entropia Universe. For more information on Entropia Universe or to download the free game please visit www.entropiauniverse.com .   

MindArk is the developer and publisher of Entropia Universe, a game space that encompasses multiple planet partners each with their own unique setting and gameplay style.  As the largest real economy Massively Multiplayer Online Game in the world Entropia Universe offers players the ability to participate in a unique virtual world where they have no monthly costs. Its innovative real money economy uses a virtual currency which has a fixed exchange rate with the US dollar. This allows players to deposit and withdraw real funds for their adventures on any virtual planet or in the real world. Planet Calypso uses a state of the art graphics engine to deliver the highest quality visuals in an MMO today.

For more information on MindArk please contact us at the email below or go to our website at http://www.mindark.com 

For further information about MindArk, please contact:

MindArk Media:
David Tractenberg
 

• James Bowerbird Estatebroker will be online in Twin Peaks on Planet Calypso starting at 1700 CET (1600 UTC; 11:00 am EST) on Sunday, November 4, and again at 0500 CET (0400 UTC; 11:00 pm EST) on Monday, November 5.
• Five hundred (500) deeds will be available for each session.
• Each avatar will be allowed to buy a maximum of two (2) Calypso Land Deeds via direct P2P trade, at the price of 1150 PED each. First come, first served.
• Deeds purchased via the global auction will of course not count toward this limit.
• Please have patience and common courtesy when initiating trade requests with James Bowerbird Estatebroker.
• Any participants found attempting to purchase more than the permitted two (2) Calypso Land Deeds or to otherwise disrupt or abuse this offer will be subject to sanctions against their Entropia Universe account, including possible account bans. Any CLDs acquired in such a manner will be subject to transaction reversal.
• Additional Calypso Land Deeds of the remaining 5000 not reserved for firect P2P trade will continue to be offered on the Entropia Universe global auction over the weekend and into next week.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for supporting Entropia Universe!

MindArk announced today that to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Calypso Land Deed event, MindArk will offer 5,000 deeds at US$115 each. The land deeds provide revenue sharing to participants so players can receive a share in the Planet Partner gross revenue of Calypso and the first deeds will be made available from the in-game auction on Thursday, November 1, 2012.

One year ago sixty thousand Calypso land deeds were offered at US$100 each and were available through the in-game auction system.  MindArk has now negotiated a buyback of 5,000 deeds out of the 25,000 acquired by one single investor.  By performing a buyback of these deeds from one investor, the company will be able to redistribute the deeds more evenly and allow more players to join in.    

"We are happy to have negotiated this excellent offer for our participants. As most of the 5000 deeds will be placed on the auction individually we hope many more users will take the chance to be part of this ground breaking program," said David Simmonds, CEO of MindArk.

Since their introduction eleven months ago, each of the 60,000 deeds has paid out US$22.00.  This is a 24% annual return on the original investment of US$100 per deed. Currently, deeds trade at US$130 on the in-game auction, leaving an annual return of about 18% on investment.  Based on the audited revenue sharing for Planet Calypso over the last 6 months, the return to deed holders has totaled US$708,573.00.

Dear Entropians,

As you are probably aware, there was an extended unscheduled downtime of the Entropia Universe servers yesterday while implementing Version Update 12.8, along with several important database issues that resulted in errors for some activities and avatars.

We sincerely apologize for the confusion and inconvenience this may have caused for our participants. Our developers are working hard to resolve the few remaining issues, along with correcting any errors that may have adversely affected avatar accounts.

To protect the Entropia Universe economy, a small number of accounts which were affected by yesterday’s issues have been temporarily disabled while our engineers implement fixes for incorrect database values. These accounts will be unlocked as soon as the problems have been rectified.

If you notice any unexpected behavior in Entropia Universe, please submit a support case on the official Entropia Universe website. This will help us prioritize and address any remaining issues as quickly as possible.

Despite the problems encountered yesterday, VU 12.8 contains some fantastic new features and content, which we hope you can now enjoy to the fullest.

Once again, kindly accept our apologies, and rest assured that our team is making every effort to ensure that future Version Updates are implemented much more smoothly.

Kind Regards,

David Simmonds
CEO - MindArk PE AB