Computer Collection of Essays from Scholarship 2006 Peace Love and Rockets Brian Gruening-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com

Brian Gruening

Peace Love and Rockets - QuakeCon 2006
- By Brian Gruening

PART I

It was the highly anticipated morning of the 1st of August, three-thirty am to be exact, when a clan of seven young video game enthusiasts entitled UAV (unstoppable allied vanguards) came together to embark on what would be the holy grail of video gaming. The journey to Quakecon had begun.

First let's set the picture seven guys, seven computers, two cars and twenty-two hours to Dallas Texas. Most of us have only had a few hours of sleep anticipating the ride and the games we were about to undertake. The cool Wisconsin breeze of three am passed over our faces as we closed the doors and left the cheese state behind us. Turning onto Johnson Street there was noting that could come between us and the Western hemispheres largest LAN party�. Except, for a Train, figures five minutes into the ride we get stopped by a train, great. Although not a big deal I think a few of us though Titanic style omen for about another half an hour (luckily we were wrong). After what was a painfully long train (four engines), we headed south, Down around Madison, over the Illinois border through Rockford always keeping an eye out for cheap gas prices. Scattered bathroom breaks here and there and of course no LAN party trip would be complete without a stop at the infamous Taco Bell.

I would have loved to have a third person point of view on that a car full of five gaming nerds singing along to DJ Sammy's Heaven like Barney and friends. You know what on second thought, maybe not.

You just keep driving just keep driving just keep driving, driving, and driving. There were many a time in Okalahoma when UAV began to succumb to the perils of hours without sleep, but short stories of frags always seemed to bring everyone back to reality. For whatever reason Okalahoma is way bigger then you think it is. I'm telling you the only thing that got us through, was the saving grace of our Case'O'Bawls. By the time we hit the Texas border we had been driving for about seventeen hours with only a few gas and lunch stops. But just as we thought there was no hope of ever making it to Game Capitol of the United States something happened, something wonderful. We saw for the first time a Dallas sign.

It was as if the doors of heaven opened up for us. Our dank smelly travel worn bodies rejoiced in the sight, and all at once our carcasses came to life with the power of 100 bottles of bawls. Only a few hours later after passing many hotels which we though must have been the Anatole we saw a glow on an otherwise dark horizon. Driving closer and closer the haze began to turn into a glow, and even closer, night turned to day. When all at once out of what seemed nowhere the blue glow of a gargantuan sign and chain of buildings challenging those of the Egyptian pyramids came into view. We had arrived, arrived at QuakeCon 2006 at the Hilton Anatole convention center in Dallas Texas. Now all that was left to do was play games.... or so we thought.

PART II

Upon arriving earlier then expected, UAV's mental high of minutes past was quickly refilled with the onslaught of pure boredom and a twenty two hour drive. Without a room for the evening the Vanguards roamed the vast hallways of the Five Star resort stopping to talk with some other gamers in our same predicament. Heck undeterred we stopped and enjoyed a midnight serenade played on the lobby piano by none other then one of our fellow Quakecon attendees.

After our musical vendetta some of UAV's members, completely run down, decided to bug out and head for a Motel six down the road and crash for a few hours. While the rest of us continued to walk the hotel feeling extremely out of place in the 500 million dollar five star resort. Businessmen in suits spoke capital while we gamers trudged around in "I wouldn't frag you for practice T-Shirts". Eventually we decided to get in the volunteer line for setting up the BYOC section of Quakecon (for those of you non computer buffs out there BYOC means Bring your Own Computer).

Ok here is the thing those of us who stayed back filled out the appropriate forms online before we left to volunteer setting up one day early. We had heard form some of last years volunteers that if you did aide in setting up you could get you and your clans rigs all set up in your choice of spots in the 3200 spot BYOC. It sounded too good to be true so we figured why not. UAV got in line. The time read 0700 the four of us had been meandering about the Hilton for nearly nine hours��.. While more and more volunteers showed up at the impenetrable gate of the BYOC, Quakecon staff notified the anxiously awaiting crowd that there was no need for more volunteers. And that they were so far ahead that they were considering opening the BYOC up to ten hours early. Now, as much as we were excited that we most likely going to be able to get our game on ten hours early. UAV was equally depressed in that we had just waited the better half of a day to volunteer and we didn't even get in early. Now all in all it turned out not to be such a bad thing, for although we were unable to volunteer we did secure a place in line 8th from the front. It would be here where our QuakeCon adventure would really begin�

PART III

So how smelly can a person be right? How about when you add up these crazy twenty- two hours in a car full of guys without stopping for more then an hour or so, nine hours of wondering around aimlessly in a five star resort in the middle of Texas. And five hours of waiting in line�.. Well I guess Ill let your imagination take over on the smell part, but to say the least, those of us who stayed at the resort all night and fought for a place at the front of the line were pretty ripe.

By the time noon rolled around the four of us and everybody around (although they did not say so) could not take it anymore. We still had no room but there had to be a way to freshen up a bit there just had to. When it dawned on us we could use the Pool, of course the pool would cleanse us of the filth we had been sublimating in for the last two days. We got one of our new found friends from the line who had been waiting just as long in line but had not had the tremendous ride down to watch over our stuff while UAV double timed it to the pool. Now I have to describe the pool there was just noting like it in the world. Outside of course the four of us headed to the pool bathroom to change into our trunks, and proceeded towards what looked at first to be a puddle. We walked through Anatole up the rock steps and found ourselves gazing at what had to be the most awesome pool (outside of Wisconsin dells) that any of us had ever seen��. Five waterfalls flowed in from above filling the pool with pristine chlorinated water. Tropical trees, plants, huts, and taverns dotted the poolside, where I was told you could get any drink imaginable (for a hefty price of course). For a while I think we must have been intimidating to some of the younger kids using the pool as we ever so cautiously tested the crystal clear water. Well that is all but one of us, the daring Rev jumped through the waterfall landing in some type of makeshift cannonball feet first into the two meter center section of the five star puddle of moments past. Not long after as not to be shut out by a fellow team mate the rest of the clan followed in Rev's footsteps creating a scene somewhat characterized by Pirates of the Caribbean. "I'm Capt'n Jack Sparrow we all yelled as the grime left our bodies.

Not long after our under-sea adventures of jeau coustiu we were able to check into the room. Ok so the room (300 smackers a night) with the negotiated QuakeCon price of 150 a night excluding some luxury fees was also something else. Goose Down pillows beds so soft that you seemed to be sitting on top of a Gamecloud, a balcony with overlooking view of the main Atrium, Refrigerator Marble countertops and tile Cedar wood, it was almost a paradise. I mean the room had a frickin safe in it �of which took centerfold in the room debates of later". The others who had gone to the Motel 6 arrived not long after, not terribly impressed with the room stating the Motel 6 at 1/3 the price was the same size and just as nice. Needless to say I disagreed with them (also in the room debates of later). Still I really don't think anybody minded since when you could no longer stay awake playing games you were free to crash upstairs at anytime you damn well pleased. We spent the rest of the day taking turns guarding our valuable position in line eight places form the front (along with our newly upgraded 70,000 dollars worth of computers) I spent the majority of my day there, while others explored the Convention Center and got a little bit of shut eye in�..

The time was 1900 hours UAV still guarded its sacred place in the now thousand people at least long line, when we got our first real news from the inside. They were hoping to open the doors around midnight still earlier then expected. UAV's laptops played movies, games, anythingyou name it as the minutes ticked passed. Two hours later more classified news, they are almost ready and the volunteers are getting ready to bring there stuff in�Cheers went out from all over the line like the sound of a supersonic jet flyby��.That meant we were eight places away after those lucky volunteers from the largest LAN party in the western hemisphere. I quickly called the room where four of UAV's members were graciously catching some much needed Z's my call was short but it said everything that needed to be known. "It's ON�.

Now I have to take a second to talk about the line picture 800 people with their computers monitors and everything else you would need to play games all waiting in line. Some of us got a little anxious and plugged our power strips into the walls around us and played some games. Before we knew it there were about 10 power strips daisy chained together running of the same socket, also before we knew it we had blown the breaker. This process went on in the line periods entirety.

Before I thought even humanly possible, the clan of UAV in its entirety for the first time in hours converged on our pile of PC's, cables wrapped around necks, hands full of modded cases. Little did we know that just as we picked up our stuff to move forward the network suffered from a virtual heart attack��..Once again our contact on the inside came forward with top secret info from beyond the gate "They were almost ready then the network died, it's going to be a while longer before they open the doors." Battered by almost no sleep in the past thirty hours I was forced to go back to the room and try to get some sleep (with the assurance that when they did open the doors my phone would ring).

Sure enough after about three hours of sleep my Motorola V325 on Super Dooper loud mode indicated that it was time. Not bothering to change cloths we yelled at one another "this was really it". Arriving at our precious spot with the speed of lightning we loaded up our stuff and finally entered the land that we had dreamed of for month prior. Quakecon's BYOC had opened. Well sort of because at that point we were only allowed to find our sots put our stuff at them and leave. But still to UAV who had been waiting and driving for 37 hours it was open. We checked our computers through security and got our first glimpse of the finalized inside of QuakeCon.

PART IV

Walking through the doors of the once forbidden fortress, our mouths sank to our toes. Hanging banners embroidered with the Quake 4 logo, Intel nIVIDA, Activision, Creative, Doom 3, PhysX. Any company or game that was anything in gaming minus perhaps ATI and AMD, nIVIDA, Intel's and nIVIDA's rivals. Had set up booths sponsoring their latest and greatest obviously. But as our eyes gazed over to the right had side where the BYOC area was........................And OOHHHH was it a BYOC........

Stopped dead in our tracks views partially blocked by the towers, monitors, in our arms and power cables wrapped around our necks the full power of QuakeCon was seen. Tables, rows upon rows of tables, cables miles and miles of cables, and power strips, gigawatt's and gigawatt's of power strips adorned an area so unimaginably large it hurt to think about it. As the world of LAN parties is somewhat limited in the state of Wisconsin Normally maxing out at 25 seats or so. This Texas LAN party put Wisconsin to shame with over 3,000.

Being basically the first in (as a direct result of our endless wait in line position eight), UAV starred in awe. Now just because they let us in does not mean they were going to let us hook up our gaming machines and start up the frags. No that was not the case, Just as hours of waiting before the network was still suffering from what we were told, "an attack of imps" or for those of you non gamers out there (the main part of Quakecon was broken). UAV quickly picked our spot six rows in on the right hand side. Perfect for getting in and out in a hurry (you know just in case something happened aka. Free stuff was being offered outside or more Imps showed up). The sleep deprived clan of UAV quickly dropped our stuff and without haste headed back to the room to get well maybe 4 more hours of sleep before 8 AM when the network was schedule to come online and the gaming could begin.

Yes in 5 hours Quakecon 2005 would be officially turned on, and the frags would begin.

PART V

Sure enough five hours later, after what would be a quick sleep catcher upper. I awoke to a black room full of travel hardened sleeping UAV members. "Wake them up"? My mind cautiously thought to itself. "No", if they wanted to be up they would be. I threw on my official Quakecon entry badge, and headed out the door. Leaving UAV to its slumber. Riding the elevator down from the third floor, anxiously awaiting so see Quakecon in full force, I stepped over the shaft gap a little quicker then normal.

The line of hundreds just hours before had now subsided to only a dozen or so gamers (problem from the Dallas Area) As the main doors grew closer with each passing step the sound of thousands of excited gamers rang out louder and louder everywhere you looked there was someone ready to game. A swift breeze of maximum air conditioning passed over my body as I stepped through the Quakecon main gate. It was official Quakecon had begun. The smell of Artic silver permeated through air as the sound of thousands of 80mm fans filled the hall with their ambiance, cold cathode lights and led lit up the darkened exhibition hall. "Excellent", and "Impressive" rang out constantly over the gamers. Trash talk between dueling clans in the distance. This was truly the world's greatest game event.

Bypassing the vender booths to get the computer booted up and ready to go I made "HASTE" to the sixth row where UAV had set just hours before. I pressed the round silver button atop my CM STACKER, and all at once the power of 3 GHz of CPU and video card burst into life, the red lights from inside seemed to call out "FRAGS".

Sitting down, basking in the power of my gaming machine I readied her for action. A-while later another member of UAV entered the area it was Revstan (our best quake3 player) and with him we decided to go check out what the venders had to offer. nVIDIA, Ageia, Intel man free stuff galore shirts, pens posters, cpu's ram cables everything. But one thing caught our eye and it was that of QUAKE WARS. Now this is a game we have been waiting for about 5 years now. And lord behold this year there was a playable demo. We sat down at the game computers and got our frag on. All I have to say is that this game when it is officially released is going to be the most awesome game of all time. We played for a while and then let the already long line of people behind us give it a try. We retreated back to the UAV stomping grounds of row 6. There the rest of the clan sat setting up. Soon after buying our first cases of BAWLS, UAV was kicking some butt on the multiple servers of the Quakecon BYOC. We played straight until the opening ceremony sponsored by nVIDIA.

The opening ceremony was for all intensive purposes simply awesome, it consisted of people doing strange things for computer parts. Eating butter popsicles, Fish smoothies, eating worms, eating onions, holding onto a computer without letting go, the macareana for three hours. All was going great until they called for a Push up contest. "Oh god, a push up contest with a bunch of computer nerds against a navy guy" Man I could beat all of these guys without even thinking. Before I knew UAV had hoisted up into the air upon the throne of Quakecon (the chair I was sitting on) and carried me through the thick crowd of cheering gamers and green light to the front of the stage where I was chosen to contend for a nVIDIA 7800gt video card) and all I had to do was some pushups. On my hands and knees I watched with a sense of pride at the other gamers as they one by one fell out of the competition. After five minutes of up downs. It was down to me and another guy. The announcer (a sergeant in the army) called for us to switch to diamond pushups. No problem my arms said. The crowd shouted at the top of their lungs for us to fall or keep going on, the green purple lights and black light illuminated the dark stage. A few more push ups and a couple of grunts later Cockat00 arose victorious with a new video card in his wings. And from then on was known as cockat00 the King of Quakecon for the chair performance. UAV spent the rest of the night and most of the next day in the 6th row competing with the thousands of other gamers in the BYOC leaving only a few times for bathroom breaks or special events.

PART VI

We ate our breakfast burritos, went to building laptop seminars, gathered up as much schwagg as possible, watched Fatal1ty gun down dozens in Quake 4,drank our Bawls, and played Quake/Doom in the BYOC, getting little more then a few hours of sleep each night. We watched Kevin from G4 shoot his Quakecon segment live. We played Quake Wars before anyone else, got a sneak peek at the future if Id Software, Watched Carmack speak about the future, and stayed in a five star resort.

But sadly, marking the end of Quakecon, [UAV] wondered into the convention center where just nights before had been welcomed by nVIDIA, and watched the tournament finals. Quake 2, Miss Quakecon Q3, and Quake 4, all people who have amazing talent. Start, Turn Off Computer, Turn off. UAV packed up its Razer Mice and G15's never speaking to one another dreading what lay ahead of us.

As we said goodbye to the Hilton we also said goodbye to some new friends, gamers alike we shook hands traded im names and email addresses. The Cathode light room of nights past was now lit by conventional lights revealing the miles of cat 5 that had treaded us so well. Computers in arms we waited almost in silence to check out leaving behind what had been the greatest times in our lives.

Customer Feedback through Yahoo!
	Join our Newsletter

Shipping Policy	Customer Services	Payment Policy
Est. Shipping Cost Time-in-Transit Map FAQ - Shipping Top Reasons for Delays UPS, FedEx, Postal Office Walk-in Sales APO/FPO Shipping International Tracking Orders	Return Rates Store Statistics Customer Satisfaction Account Applications Frequent Errors FAQ-Services FAQ-Tech Support Newsletter Order Status	Credit Card via Phone Purchase Order Prepay, PayPal Resellers Corporate Schools, Government Terms & Conditions Price & Tax FAQ-Payment
Top Brands
Abit, Acer, AMD, Antec, AOpen, Asus, ATI, Biostar, Buffalo, Cooler Master, Corsair, Creative, Dell, D-Link, Enermax, FSP, Gigabyte, Hauppauge, HP, Intel, InWin, Kingston, Lenovo, Lian-Li, Linksys, Lite-On, Logisys, Logitech, Maxtor, Microsoft, MSI, Mushkin, Netgear, OCZ, Seagate, Shuttle, Sony, SuperMicro, ThermalTake, Vantec, ViewSonic, Western Digital, XFX, Zalman.

Have a question about our products, services or technical issues?
Find the answer instantly! Type your question or key words in English: 95% email/ phone questions already have answers on our web site.
Please check the answer online before calling or e-mailing.

Copyright (c) 1997-2009 Directron.com, Inc., Houston, Texas
Buy - Sell - Trade - Build - Repair - Upgrade - Help - Troubleshoot - Shopping
Computers - Laptops - Servers - Hardware - Parts - Software - Peripherals - Services
High Quality - Low Prices - Discount Shop - Large Selection - Free Products - Fast Shipping
Affiliates: Dallas Computer Store - San Antonio Computer Store - K12 Education Computer Systems

My Cart

Tracking

Order Status