Event:Octane + LGLAN - LAN Party Event Date: 8/16/02 Written By: Warhawk Date Written: 08/18/02

The Octane + LG LAN, last Friday night was definitely the coolest LAN I've been to. It was a collaborative effort between the LG LAN and The Octane LAN parties. It was held at Calvary Church in Los Gatos, which makes for a great venue, since the sanctuary that is used has lots of room, nice high ceilings, a good PA system, and even Internet access. Although there were a few hitches at first with the net access going down, everything got ironed out after an hour or so.

There were three large projector screens set up on the stage. Two were projecting popular console games (every console currently on the market was available for play), and the center screen was projecting visualization for the techno music that was pumping through the place. The music added a lot to the party atmosphere and at one point there was even a live DJ spinning records, which was EXTRA cool.

There was a lot of really cool free Nvidia stuff to be had, in the form of posters, t-shirts, stickers, calendars and some weird little glow in the dark bubbles (kind of like glow sticks). No video card giveaways this time, maybe they can work something out for the next one.

Outside there was a BBQ with all-you can-eat hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, soda, candy, and ice cream. The outside area made for a nice chill out spot when you wanted to take a break from gaming for a bit. There were always people out there to talk to, and everyone I met was very friendly.

QueMine, Raven and I were in attendance, representing the Mowers Clan. We set up our rigs on one table and began fragging. QueMine and Raven's pimped out water-cooled rigs got a bit of attention from some of the other party goers and there were more than a few pics taken of their rigs. The primary games that were played were Medal of Honor, Jedi Knight 2 and Counterstrike. While we didn't do so well at CS, our clan members were always in at least the top three of the Jedi Knight 2 and MOH servers. There was a free-for-all MOH tournament held, in which the person with the most frags after 30 mins of play gets a $50 gift certificate to Frys. I came away the victor of that tournament with 176 kills. The second place player had 119 and QueMine came in third with 109.

After the tournament was over QueMine, Raven and I kicked back a little and played some Dungeon Siege for a while. We found that there was plenty of time to play all the games we like as the party lasted till the early morning hours.

A lot of people began to take off around 3 or 4 am. At about 5 am, I could feel my eyes bulging out and could feel my brain pounding on the inside of my skull shouting, "I want to go to sleep!!!" At this point I decided I had enough and went home. I heard that a few die hards stayed until 8 am.

This is a really great venue and I really enjoyed the LAN. The next one is scheduled for Sept 13 -14th and will be a two day event. I can't wait!