Event: Showdown LAN 2008 - LAN Party Event Date: 09/19/2008 Written By: Warhawk Date Written:

Showdown 2008 took place on September 19th, 2008, about a month after Nvision 08 set the high watermark for corporately sponsored LAN events. Showdown was coming in with two previous years of successful  LAN events under their belt, and was poised to continue the tradition and ride the positive momentum of Nvision 08.  

Instead, Showdown LAN 2008 established the low point of corporately sponsored LAN events.  

This was not because of anything that was broken, or a specific thing that was done wrong, but more because a lot of little factors that added together to make the whole thing feel a bit mailed-in. Then again, maybe our expectations had been set too high with previous LAN events of this kind. 

Showdown 2008 was held in San Mateo in a very large building. Upon entering the building, it was not clear if lack of budget or lack of enthusiasm was to blame, whatever the cause, the atmosphere could best be described as completely dull. If there was a color that represented what this event was like, that color would be beige. There were a few lackluster vendor booths, staffed by some tired and underpaid employees who were doing their best to fake enthusiasm about their products; despite being stuck at this event for long hours (I could sympathize with this as this was the sort of thing I had to do many times for Antec).  

It could be that my experiences at this event were largely colored by my own personal experiences, and what was going on with TMC at the time as well. There was still residual Metalslug drama going on; which cast a malaise over the entire group. There was awkwardness caused by Metalslug still wanting to sit certain members of our group. He was not at the event long after I arrived, having convinced GNR to leave with him, which is when it was abundantly clear that the two of them were back to being inseparable. 

One thing I remember vividly was that there was the atmosphere of the event in general.  Gone was the community vibe of gamers introducing themselves to new people, getting games started, and making new friends. Instead there were rows of gamers were sitting mostly in silence at their designated tables, playing together with the group of friends that they came with. Gone was the exciting and fun party atmosphere that many LANs had. There was no thumping background music, or gamers shouting in excitement over the game they were involved in (or because of some physical challenge they were taking part in). There was just a subdued atmosphere, with harsh fluorescent lights shining down on a drafty convention hall.  

I remember at one point there was some sort of physical challenge game that took place, I think it was hard drive shuffleboard or something like that. Even that seemed uninteresting to most attendees. It was one of those things that at one time seemed novel and fun, but had at this point been done at so many events prior that everyone was tired of it. It seemed more like a hoop we were being forced to jump through to compete for prizes than the fun activity it was supposed to be. 

The event did deliver on all the important points: there was a LAN, there was space, there was power, there were games, there were prizes. Even with all of those boxes being checked, it still felt like the soul had gone out of the event, and my extension the LAN community in general. Instead of being a vibrant community, it felt segregated and unwelcoming. 

As I said, this could have been due to what was happening within TMC at the time, but on the other hand I did not feel as though I was the only one not having a great time at this event. It seemed like many gamers went home with little desire to attend another event like this.

At the time this felt like the nail in the coffin for the LAN scene. This was the last Showdown LAN held in the bay area, and there would not be another corporately sponsored LAN event of this type again until 3 years later when the next GeForce LAN took place on the USS Hornet in 2011. 

In the coming months and years there would be less and less publisher support for PC gaming, as many major publishers focused on more profitable console releases. Some publishers still put out PC releases, but more often than not they turned out to be poorly optimized versions of the xbox or playstation version of the games. These were known as “ports” and almost always sucked, even if the xbox or playstation version of the game was a relatively decent game.  

At the same time, publishers began leaving out the LAN capabilities of their new releases, which meant that a game could no longer be played multiplayer on just a LAN. Instead, a constant connection out to the internet was required to play multiplayer, even if the people you were playing with were in the same room. In the past, LAN venues having internet access was more of an added bonus, but now a hefty internet connection was a requirement. 

Not only that, but newer PC hardware was becoming more and more powerful and as a result gaming PC’s were drawing more and more electricity from the wall. 

Added power and internet bandwidth requirements made finding a venue with enough power and internet extremely difficult. In most cases, either suitable venues were simply not available, or the costs for running LAN events was too high and cost prohibitive. As a result, the majority of LAN communities in California died out, or went dormant around 2008 and 2009. 

However, even with the lull in LAN events, there was still activity and events within the industry. 

It appears that all pictures of this event have been lost: