Legit Reviews

Hey LR Gang,

Those of you who are in or around the St. Louis Area take note that we're hosting another LAN this Summer on July 25th, 2009.

This is going to be a "Back 2 Basics" affair where we hope that the true LAN enthusiasts who want to show off their rigs and play a variety of games will show up and participate. We're not going to announce formal PC games tournaments, but rather organize them upon arrival by a basic vote for those who want to participate.

Registration and Details are here: http://www.warfactory.net/registration/

Adjacent to this event will also be a Halo 3 tournament for those who aren't into PC gaming.

Hope to see you there!

Dave "killdashnine" Derington

<---- waits for 50 people to demand a CS 1.6 Tournie


I might actually have to come. I haven't been to a LAN since a Lacledes LAN like 3 years ago.

Hmm the wife and boy are gone for a few days then. I may have to get a few friends together for a road trip.

Think the last LAN I attended was the last no frills at the KC hall in st. peters. I just dont game enough any more to warrant unhooking and draggin my box out of the house... that and I dont have a van any more so I can haul my comfy chair LOL

Damn, I'll miss it by 5 days! But I won't have my PC with me anyway would be fun though

Hey Guys ... Just chiming in for the discussions. I'd love to hear any and all suggestions about revitalizing the LAN scene.

Lots has changed in the last 6 months and other local LAN groups are dead. I can understand why a lot of gamers may migrate away or think they're "too old" or have just switched to online play, but every time I hit a LAN event I remember why I love playing (and hosting) them. There's nothing like the experience of trying out some new games or just having an uber-low ping.

I just dont game enough any more to warrant unhooking and draggin my box out of the house... that and I dont have a van any more so I can haul my comfy chair LOL

Bubba you're crazy! PCs are lighter than they were in the good 'ol days and it's not that much trouble ... I'd hope you have an LCD by now too ;)

<---- waits for 50 people to demand a CS 1.6 Tournie

Skippman, If 50 people signed up and demand a tourney, I'd love it! In fact I challenge the local/regional community to do so. We have several high-end servers and a kick-ass network (plus corporate Internet). Right now we're a bit limited on space, but the building we're hosting the event in does have more available ... if I had the people I'm sure we'd figure it out.

Fact is that over the last couple of years that it's been harder and harder to bring the teams out to actually play; most of them seem to want to wait around for other teams to sign up before they decide to register. Are CS guys afraid of stepping up?

I say "bring it"! Show me the teams and we'll work it out.

I think you misunderstood my statement. I wasn't saying I was wanting that. I was saying that's the thing that drove me away from Lacledes LAN. The same thing that almost ran me out of the local RPG conventions like DieCon (this weekend) when all the kids would show up to play Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon then leave. Soon the event began to tailor to that and us old school dice users got the boot.

Same thing seemed to happen to the LAN scene. LAN's became obsessed with being "big" and so held nothing but CS 1.6 or CSS tournies. Don't get me wrong, those are great for those who play those games. But when you dedicate 80% of your resources to those individuals those of us who play other games (BF2, CNC, etc) begin to feel like second class citizens and wonder why we bothered to haul our 60lb rigs (steel case and water cooling does NOT equal a lighter PC).

That being said, I've never been to a Warfactory event so I don't know how you guys run things. Laclede turned me off of large scale LAN parties for quite some time. But I'm willing to give the benifit of the doubt.

I must be older, but all the LAN parties seem to have lost the special touch they used to have... It's not just local, its nationwide though... When I was doing LAN parties back in 1999-2003 broadband wasn't too widespread, but now in 2009 I don't have to haul my crap to a LAN to get good pings. Also back in college you'd go to a LAN to prove who was best... I don't play enough locally for anyone to think they are better than me

killdashnine wrote:Bubba you're crazy! PCs are lighter than they were in the good 'ol days and it's not that much trouble ... I'd hope you have an LCD by now too ;)

You'd think, but two kids and an ex wife I'm still rock'n the 19" CRT at home. Work yeah, nice big 22" Samsung. My rig is far from light, even housed in an all aluminum Lian Li full tower. There is just a lot of crud crammed in it. Days of the separate slimmed down purpose build game rig and general rig has been replaced with a single monster workstation of sorts.

The hassle for me comes in with getting someone to watch the kids, get it all loaded up and drive a minimum of 40min and that's if you have it in St. Peters, to over an hour+ if you have it down towards the science center.

Just not as into it as I was 4-5 years ago, hell I can't tell you the last time I played on line. Most of the games I have are hand me downs from Toph when he gets bored with them

Haven more fun setting at home playing Lego Star Wars with the boy, and Wii bowling with the daughter.

Apoptosis ...

I'd say that the scene isn't dying because of broadband. LANs are the only option for truly competitive gaming. Lag isn't the only killer ... it's cheats and hacks, griefers, and sheer laziness.

I think people aren't coming out for a lot of reasons, but "disillusionment" is the #1 right now. All the "big guys" died ... WSVG went belly-up first, then CPL, CGS, and most recently ESWC. Details aside as to why they failed, without them most gamers who have any interest in "going pro" just no longer see a future in gaming. I can ramble on for days as to other stuff, but if you want to listen to it you can listen to this podcast I did with nineX at ReadyUpRadio: http://www.readyupradio.com/2009/05/epi ... ssion.html.

I really think, however, that LANs are underrated and they will come back unless we somehow magically eliminate lag caused by the speed of light. The world is a pretty big place and sometimes it's good to actually see people!