It’s Thursday evening, and I just finished our banner setup for what is to be the greatest LAN Party of 2007 on the West Coast.  That’s right, RLS is casting off tomorrow morning for San Jose, the first stop of this year’s ShowdownLAN.   500 Gamers assemble in the San Jose Convention center, ready to battle for prizes, fame, and glory.  Roughly 20 members of RLS and its sister communities have dedicated this weekend to participate, and we cant’ wait to see what’s in store for us.  Can we walk away tournament winners?  Will one of us win the fabled Intel Q6700 Quad Core Processor?  What kind of shenanigans will we get ourselves into this year?

Personally, I am looking forward to the crazy contests Matt Conwell, event organizer for ShowdownLAN and PDXLAN, has up his sleeves.  There is rumor of yet another Power Supply toss contest, as well as a Guitar Hero Tournament.  One vendor is even supplying sumo suits, a mechanical bull and American Gladiator style jousting for prizes and swag.  Other vendors will be doing contests as well, aside from the ones Matt has planned.  Patriot and Antec always have fun booth events and contests, and I am sure other vendors saw their success at the last Showdown and will be brewing up some fun of their own.

Plus, Gabe Newell of Valve Software will be onsite as Showdown’s first ever keynote speaker.  All attendees will be receiving a free copy of Half-Life 2 as well as a chance to play-test Valve’s new zombie game "Left 4 Dead."  AMD as Showdown’s Gold Sponsor will have a booth, and will undoubtably be doing a presentation as well, possibly of AMD’s upcoming quad-core solution, Barcelona.

Well, I must go and pack some clothes, prepare my LAN bag, and shut this darned computer down and get it ready for transport.    There will not be internet connection at the LAN Party, so we will grace you with an event rundown when we get back.

Bon Voyage!
RLS-ThirdEye