May a wonderful day of automotive frenzy begin!
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We are back after our wonderful Sunday, where we soaked up on BMW technology and we felt the joy of every second when driving some amazing models. This is the first article of a series, because we received so much information, that we can’t fit into just one article (that would be waaay to long anyway).

Me and my colleague, Ciops, had the pleasure of sharing a wonderful experience with 3 of our RevvNation players: Sorin Rusi, Andrey Dobra and Georgiana. Alex, from BMW Romania, was kind enough to invite us to their BMW Innovation Days event, which consisted of two presentation and two drive test modules.
The day started off with heavy rain and I was already thinking how to take some good pictures with so much water pouring down, but after the first presentation the sun came out and it was all sunny and hot after that. I guess out good mood had quite an impact on the weather. While we waited for the first presentation, we were given a tour through the mechanical shop at the MHS Motors, the showroom where the event was held. We say some pretty wrecked BMWs who had saved their owners’ lives. While some cars were in pretty bad shape, the drivers has came out of the accident with nothing but a small scratch. That says a lot about BMW safety, a subject I’ll discuss further in the article. A very interesting thing in the shop was the engine diagnosis computer, that is constantly connected to the main BMW server. If disconnected, it won’t work for the next 12 days, because every update and every technical detail is in that specific server.
We attended two series of presentations: about the new BMW X5 and the technologies that are incorporated in it and about the ActiveHybrid, EfficientDynamics and Project i technologies. We had a blast discovering the new systems that BMW is constantly working on and I can tell you, hand on heart, that they are really making a difference.

Here are a few videos from yesterday and the pictures will come soon.
The new BMW X5 presentations: general presentation, 8 speed transmission, Adaptive Drive, Active Steering and Park Assistant, Central Information Display and Lane Change Warning, Cruise control with Stop & Go function, Equal Weight Distribution demonstration, Head-up Display and BMW iDrive, Lane Departure Warning System, Side View and Top View, Night Vision with Pedestrian Recognition and Adaptive Headlights.
The ActiveHybrid, EfficientDynamics and Project i presentations: Project i, EfficientDynamics 1 and 2, ActiveHybrid Technology 1, 2 and 3.
Drive tests: BMW X1, BMW ActiveHybrid 7 Series 1 and 2, BMW ActiveHybrid X6 parts 1, 2 and 3.
Thanks Sorin for being our photographer and camera man for the day. You did a great job!
I’ll tell you all about the new BMW technologies in the following articles.

LE: Here are the pictures! Enjoy them and don’t be gentle with the Like button.

But most importantly, we’re trying to make it easier for you to call your friends and have fun around RevvNation. Moreover, you’re actually rewarding your efforts to click that button on your mouse. If you click that bad boy and get to the Invite a friend section of the game, you’ll get 5 invites to send out to your friends. The cherry on top is that you can use a referral link when you’re out of invitations.

The link looks like this: http://www.revvnation.com/player/ref/your username and all you have to do is replace “your username” with, well, you username in the game and give it to your friends. Every time one of your friends creates an account, $500 (virtual money) will drop into your pockets.

We hope you’re enjoying the new stuff. Play on!

Share on Facebook ]]> http://blog.revvnation.com/2010/04/revvnation-stalking-and-making-money/feed/ 0 http://blog.revvnation.com/2010/04/open-registration/ http://blog.revvnation.com/2010/04/open-registration/#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:17:21 +0000 Andra Zaharia http://blog.revvnation.com/?p=185 We’re very happy to let you know that the private stage of the game is officially over! This means that you can now create an account on your own, without having to send out a request. It also means that we’ve tested the features enough as to provide you with a nice gaming experience. Of course, we’re constantly working on improving that. 

You can also just login and register using your Facebook account.

Don’t forget you can still send out invites to your friends from your account and get virtual money for it ($500/invitation, to be precise).

We’d also like to take the chance to announce the new RevvNation Fan Page, where we will be posting relevant information and photos. The old page is actually our Facebook application, important to know, also.

Just this We are waiting for your friends to join RevvNation!

Also, we added a banners page so you can tell everyone you are playing RevvNation (and bring more players in the process): here.

Isn’t this a great day for a joke? I bet it is, but this is not an April Fools joke: the game server was down for about an hour, because of some geeky stuff we worked on.  But do try not to fall into anyone’s trap today.

For more speedy info related to the game, keep an eye on our Twitter acccount: @RevvNation.

This was a big morning for us. We’ve just deployed the new version of RevvNation and we can’t wait to tell you all about it!
This deploy was not a general reset, as the last one we did in January. Still, due to some important features we introduced, some of the indicators were reset.
I’ve said this before, but I thought it might be easier to have all the information in one place.

Here are the indicators that have been reset:
- the cars and car upgrades. It’s all gone, baby! But don’t worry, we’ll refund you all the money you invested in the car, but this means that you’ll have to chose a new car, because the old ones have been replaced. This is necessary because we’re trying to get closer to reality and we’re trying to make the game more dynamic;
- the driving lessons you’ve taken will be canceled, so it’s back to school for everybody (invested money will also be refunded);
The racing history will not be changed, but some running actions might be deleted.
You Reputation and Rank will be untouched. You’ll still have all of your sent and received messages and, most importantly, you’ll get back all the money you’ve spent on your car, upgrades and driving lessons. With this money, you’ll be able to buy a new car, new car parts and take the driving lessons again.

But these aren’t the only things we’ve been working on, because we’ve tried to fix a lot, and I mean  a lot of bugs from the existing features. We’ve also optimized the features for a better gaming experience. Overall, we’ve fixed over 50 bugs and tweaks in almost every section of the game, including the clubs, races (stoplight/challenges), internal messaging and moderation process.

And I saved the best for last. We’ve worked quite a while on new features and the most important ones are the Garage and the new Marketplace. These have been fundamentally changed and will make the game more exciting!

The new Marketplace:
- now you can buy new cars! You can chose between BMW 116i, Citroen C4, Ford Mustang and Renault Megane RS.
- the upgrades will be available only according to a specific car. You won’t be able to install a BMW tire on a Citroen (d’oh).
- the Second Hand Market is now available and it’s the place where you can sell the car parts and the cars you don’t need and make some extra money.
- the Special Offers section, where there will be sales on car parts and you’ll be able to buy stuff for special prices, so keep an eye on it.

The Garage:
This is the place where you’ll find all the info you need about your car:
- there is an inventory, where you can store your parts
- and there is the Other Cars section, where you can manage the cars in your garage. Pretty cool, eh?

Go ahead and test the new features and give us your opinion. I’m sure all of you will be on a shopping spree today! Have fun!

For more information, the RevvNation forum is always open!

I will let you know as soon as RevvNation is up and running again!

We know we’ve kept you waiting for a long time, but now the wait is over: early next week a new version of RevvNation will be deployed! We’ve worked quite a while on new features and we’ve fixed a lot of stuff that wasn’t working properly. Some sections have been fundamentally changed and will make the game more exciting!

This deploy will not be a general reset, as the last one (for those of you who remember). But because we introduced new features, some of the indicators will be reset. Here they are:
- the cars and car upgrades. Don’t worry, we’ll refund you all the money invested in the car, but this means that you’ll have to chose a new car, because the old ones have been replaced. This is necessary because we’re trying to get closer to reality and we’re trying to make the game more dynamic;
- the driving lessons you’ve taken will be canceled, so it’s back to school for everybody (invested money will also be refunded);
The racing history will not be changed, but some running actions might be deleted.
You Reputation and Rank will be untouched. You’ll still have all of your sent and received messages and, most importantly, you’ll get back all the money you’ve spent on your car, upgrades and driving lessons. With this money, you’ll be able to buy a new car, new car parts and take the driving lessons again.

But these aren’t the only things we’ve been working on, because we’ve tried to fix a lot, and I mean  a lot of bugs from the existing features. We’ve also optimized the features for a better gaming experience. Overall, we’ve fixed over 50 bugs and tweaks in almost every section of the game, including the clubs, races (stoplight/challenges), internal messaging and moderation process.

So stay tuned, check the RevvNation Forum and we’ll let you know exactly when it happens!

More T-shirts that go with your car in the RevvNation Store!

So enjoy this lovely day ladies and have lots of fun behind the wheel!

Image source.