Kaonashi Ga Suki

A very good friend of mine works for Newegg.com, an online software and hardware store. This weekend Newegg is hosting LANFest 2k5, which is basically a massive LAN party.

What is a LAN party, you may ask? It’s when a group of people play on a computer game either together as a team or against each other. Conveniently enough, the event is being held right here in Pasadena, so I saved myself 7$ in parking fees and walked there instead.

Although I’ve gone to E3, I’d never been to a LAN party and was curious to see what it was like. Lucky for me, I’ve got connections

As I walked into the Pasadena Conference Center, I realized right away that LANFest2k5 is severely dwarfed by E3. Although LANFest is relatively big, nothing compares to the monstrosity that is E3. While E3 takes up pretty much the entire Los Angeles Convention Center and takes all 3 days to see every booth in every floor in every building, LANFest2k5 was contained to one large room, and it took me about an hour to see everything. In spite of its size, the atmosphere at LANFest2k5 was just as energetic and intense as E3.

Some of the setup is similar to E3. For example, there are booths that house LANFest’s sponsors- big name companies such as AMD, Microsoft, Canon, Creative, ATi, and LG. Each booth presents samples of whatever newfangled hardware they are promoting. For example, EVGA was promoting their new graphics cards, so naturally their booth featured monitors that demonstrate the superior quality of their product.

Some of the booths offered little freebies like lanyards and keychains. I loves me some free stuff. LAN party players received a little goody bag from Newegg itself, which contained stuff like a T-shirt and license plate holder.

One of the coolest things about this year’s LANFest is that Fatal1ty himself was there. Fatal1ty is a professional gamer. Yes, I know that sounds odd but believe it or not, some people who are experts at certain games actually make money challenging other people in contests and winning. Anyway, this guy is the undisputed champ at Painkiller, a game with a military theme, and he was there on the first day of LANFest helping promote his new line of computer hardware in the form of a contest. Basically, anyone can challenge Fatal1ty to a game of Painkiller and, if the challenger can frag (kill) him, he (most of them were guys) wins a prize. There are 4 possible prizes, which increase in value according to the number of kills against Fatal1ty. For example, if you get to frag Fatal1ty once, you win a headset; frag him 4 times and you win a video card, and if you by some Act of God actually beat him, you win $1000 worth of prizes (headset, graphics card, etc.). Since he is after all, the undisputed champion, I doubt that anyone can frag him 4 times, let alone actually beat him. That being said, I did witness at least two people who were able to frag him once- and one of them was a girl!

In spite of his menacing nickname, Fatal1ty is a really nice and likeable guy. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet him, but from what I could see, he didn’t appear to be arrogant or anything like that. After playing each person, he would warmly shake their hand and thank them for playing. He was a good winner.

Most people who were watching Fatal1ty play seemed pretty respectful and in awe of his talent, but there were one or two hecklers in the audience. One guy groused that if Fatal1ty really is a champion, he should be able to play anyone on any game, not just the ones he knows. Another guy kept trying to challenge Fatal1ty to a game of Aliens Vs. Predator for 20$. He even muttered something about Fatal1ty playing some “game that’s 6 years old”. However, I don’t think that the master gamer heard any of these snarky remarks since he had headphones on as he played.

Another really cool thing was that I got to meet case modders Paul Capello, creator of the wickedly cool Doom 3 casemod (a photo of the finished product is waaaay at the bottom of the page), and Jeffrey Stephenson, creator of several humidor casemods. These guys were really cool and friendly, and happy to talk about their work. Unfortunately, Paul didn’t get to bring the Doom 3 casemod (I don’t think he’s quite done with it), but he did bring his Nighthawk casemod, which is basically shaped as the body of a stealth cockpit. It’s really sweet looking. Jeffrey brought some of his humidor casemods. You can see photos of some of them at his website. Aren’t they beautiful?

Paul and Jeffrey aren’t just there to showcase their craft- they’re judging a casemod contest, which is this Sunday. Paul jokingly mentioned that some of the contestants were relieved upon hearing that Paul was only there as a judge and not as a contestant. But after seeing some of the competing casemods, I have to say, they’re pretty awesome themselves.

After checking out all the booths, meeting with Jeffrey and Paul, and watching Fatal1ty mercilessly smoke player after player, I met up with my friend and he took me to the actual tournament areas, which are off limits to everyone but the players themselves. Woohoo to having connections!

There are two LAN tournaments- one in which players are invited to bring their own cases (BYOC), and the main tournament, in which players use computers provided by Newegg. Incidentally, some of the players who brought their own cases were also competing in the casemod contest. As I visited each section, I noticed that there was a difference between the BYOC and main tournament. Whereas players in the BYOC area seem more laid back and relaxed, teams in the main tournament were quite noisy and excited, hooting whenever a teammate would make a kill, or yell out instructions to each other in their headsets as they battled with their opponents. As I walked around observing for a respectable distance, I noticed 5 guys, wearing matching yellow T-shirts, get up and leave. I presume that they lost.

As I left the area, my friend took me to the Microsoft tour bus. I guess having your own tour bus is better than having a booth. Basically, they were displaying several HP tablet PC’s, but nothing really spectacular. I used to want a tablet PC because it sounds like a neat idea, but today was the first time I actually got to hold one in my hands. Those things get very hot! I know that tablet PC’s are for people who want to be able to write on their laptops and be able to carry them around like a notepad, but those suckers can get quite hot! I would have to wear gloves if I had to use one all day.

Overall, I had a good time. I’m not sure if I’ll be returning on Sunday though, since I saw everything today. However, there is still the casemod contest, and I would like to see all of the entries and who wins.

Here are some photos that my friend took. Click on the thumbnails to view the whole picture.

Here’s a photo overlooking the crowd. The point of view is from the main stage where the DJ was set up and several of the contests were held. Yes, that is indeed a camel to the right. There was a military theme since the game of choice for the main tournament was Counterstrike.

 
 
 
Check out this sea of computers from the BYOC section.

 
 
 
 
 
 
This is the main tournament area, where teams of 5 battle it out for really cool prizes.

 
 
 
 
 
 
These are the Ruby Girls, ATi’s mascots. I put them up for the “chix0r” element

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The one and only Fatal1ty, with Newegg staff. Note the coolio T-shirt launcher he’s carrying. Reminds me of the one that offed Maude Flanders.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here’s Fatal1ty launching a few shirts to the screaming masses.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Apparently there was a chugging contest after I had left. They’re drinking an energy drink made by NOS, and it tastes like a cross between Red Bull and Mountain Dew. The dude on the far left was the winner, though I don’t know what he won.

 
 
 
Here’s the Microsoft tour bus, parked under the bloody hot sun.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Here’s the inside of the bus. The AC wasn’t very strong in my opinion, and I felt kind of sorry for the guys who are forced to stay in that tin can instead of having a nice, spacious booth indoors.

 
 
 
 
This isn’t a casemod, but I thought that this Star Wars themed PC by Alienware looked pretty sweet. The other side of the case has Han, Luke, and Leia. My friend took a pic of it, but he was at an awkward angle and so the picture didn’t come out as clear as this one.

 
Here’s one of the computers provided by Newegg for the main tournament. I think the main prize was one of these babies. Pretty sweet, eh?

 
 
 
 
Here’s the super coolio Nighthawk casemod. To answer your question- yes, it looks this awesome in person.

 
 
 
 
 
I thought that this little case mod looked great glowing softly like an ice cube. It’s really hard to see, but just in case you’re wondering- no, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. That indeed, is me standing next to it. I hope you can’t see me very well, because I look awful in the picture!

 
 
I just had to take a photo of this coolio case mod. Unfortunately, it was so dark in there so it’s hard to see in the photo, but on top of the case is part of a (fake) human vertebrae and a human skull. Wicked.

 
 
 
This totally makes me think of Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid. Note the small desk fan on top of the case. I guess this guy tends to sweat a lot while playing.