Respawn LANtheon wrap-up! Options

[Zardoz]

So, we've finally recovered after the LANtheon event. The most important thing?

Thanks for coming. Seriously.

When we run these events, we run it for you. If you didn't come, then we wouldn't be here. So it means a lot to us when each person walks through the door when we open them.

It was almost a last-minute decision for us; our existing venue was undergoing refurbishment works and our old booking was pulled; we found a venue at the same site that was able to accommodate and we threw down the gauntlet and said "let's do this". Challenge accepted.

The result? Respawn LANtheon, around 180 gamers rocked up, the atmosphere was really something else!

The new venue provided some great opportunities and challenges. Loading/unloading was a challenge for us so it took a bit longer for bump-in than we initially anticipated.

We dropped DOTA 2. Yes, we got a LOT of requests about restoring that tournament and you bet that this is just a temporary thing specific to the LANtheon special event; DOTA 2 will return to our lineup for our next event slated for late June. SMITE was popular and we thank Hi-Rez for their support. Lewis developed a game on the Saturday known as PNOG - it's pong with random rules that make it really challenging to play with a sense of random, a perfect way to give away the God Pack we received from Hi Rez to kickstart one gamer's SMITE experience.

Our sponsors showed their full support - GIGABYTE and NVIDIA contributed over $3000 worth of GPUS including their new GTX960, along with a solid contribution from Corsair (wow!), Fractal Design, Scorptec, Aerocool and Plantronics. We had some awesome demo systems set up including a GTX980 powering a 4K IPS display. This was the first time a lot of us saw a 4K gaming system and it's now testing my resolve to not dash down to Scorptec and pick one up after discovering that the 980 does a fantastic job of powering most games at 4K. The Corsair M65 gaming mice in white were unique - one of those would look fantastic alongside our white Fractal R4 demo system someday...

We've got a Fractal R5 case to show off next. Stay tuned for the review and comparison.

Had a play with DSR - Dynamic Super Resolution, the technology from NVIDIA which aims to beat anti-aliasing technology. The retention of detail is where this shines, in CS:GO, we would see tree branches disappear but with DSR, the branch detail remained. No, NVIDIA didn't ask us to say this. Yes, we think this technology is cool and creates a better gaming experience.

So, what's next from here?

We're planning two big events, one in June, one in September. We've got a new website on the way which will make the registration process a lot more straightforward and simple... and we've got some exciting features coming that we can't wait to show you.

We've created a Facebook community so we can all keep in touch between events. Meet-ups, pub nights etc are coming back. It's a closed group to prevent spammers; just request an add and one of us will add you pretty quickly.

Game on!

-Zardoz.