LAN : Cape Town : 13 February 2010

[Skouperd]

:happy2:

Hi GRRR.

It is a new year and one of my objectives for 2010 involves playing more games. Last year I think I arranged only a single LAN party which is just wrong on so many levels that it should never be repeated.

With the above in mind, I am keen to arrange my first LAN party for 2010 as early as possible. However, a number of prospective LAN’ners need time to mentally prepare those around them for such a dramatic event. As such, I want to provide sufficient notice to prevent an inconvenience called reality from interfering (as it so often does) with our precious gaming time. Considering the above, the first possible weekend for the debut LAN of 2010 is that of the 13th of February.

For the benefit of those that have never participated in a LAN at Norita, this is more or less how it goes down:

1. We start anything from 20:00 the Friday evening with several “reality-constrained-individuals” only joining the Saturday morning. The network will be up ‘til the last man goes home.
2. Bring your own computer; any computer will do as long as it has a NIC in it and have some form of graphics card. If you don’t have a computer, fear not I have a couple of spares that can be pressed into service. If you need a new computer, let me know and I can provide you with a quote… ;)
3. Group sanity suggests that we stick to headsets only, full range speakers are not a good idea at a LAN.
4. Bring whatever you plan to consume. I’ll show you where the fridge, ice and glasses are, you help yourself. If there are no veggies amongst us, I was thinking to braai the Saturday evening. There is a SPAR and Checkers very close by in case anyone needs to go for refills.
5. I have enough sleeping space for those that do need to “meditate” a little bit. Gamers don’t sleep…
6. Reality-constrained-individuals that plan to go straight from the LAN back to reality should bring their own toothbrush…
7. Everyone should bring their own deodorant
8. A swimming pool is provided; bring your own towel.
9. If you have a good game that you think we should play, then bring it with. The games played are a very simple matter of democracy if you can convince other people to play your preferred game, then that game will be played.
10. I will not stop anybody from copying whatever, bring enough hard drives.
11. We tend to be around 8 regulars, but I can cater for around 25 people with minimum issues and around 40 with some additional logistics. I just need to know as soon as possible who will be joining, and how many people will be coming.
12. Any other questions (and RSVP) can be send to LAN@skoups.com. If you'd like more details, or my contact details without sending me an email, just send Dragon or Slodaz a PM and they'll provide it.

So, in summary:
Date: 12th and 13th of February 2010.
Time: Starting the 12th February at 20:00, and ending when the last person leaves.
Place: Norita 13, Rosendal, Durbanvile, Cape Town, South Africa, Planet Earth. See directions below
Games: Anything / Everything.
Food: Bring whatever you plan to consume. We could club together on Saturday and go and buy meat for a braai.
Contact Details: LAN@Skoups.com

Directions:
Proc Directions Data = LAN.Norita13 ;
Do while LOST EQ TRUE ;
Take.N1 to EAST ;
Left.join Durban_Road ;
Right.join Old_Oak ;
Left.join Melina ;
Left.join Norita ;
If StillLost EQ True then ;
%PhoneCell(Skouperd) ;
End ;
If Succesfull then do ;
LOST = NOT (LOST) ;
End ;
End ;
Run ;

For more information, contact me on Lan@skoups.com

Kind regards,
Skouperd

[s3xy_j0nny]

Gonna put in for holiday on the 12th & 13th so's I can klap it hard, Skoups. Will let you know asap if the application is successful. :happy2:

[Skouperd]

Now that will be good j0nny. If you could only get a single day's leave then make it the Saturday, the Friday is more setup / preparing / making sure everything work as it should.

By the way, I finally got around to use that clear perspex case of yours, doing the cable management thing and all, it is looking quite nice actually. Thanks for the case!

Adios
Skouperd

[Stu]

Skou, thanks for the invite to grrr membaz...

I would like to take you up on the invitation... Jono? j000 keen on pulling through wiff me? roll one for the road china!

[J_Th4ng]

Judging by the enthusiasm, Stu's Hard Drives obviously have some spare capacity which he needs to fill...

I'll start working on Camilla now to see if I can get a pass out for the 13th...

[Stu]

Judging by the enthusiasm, Stu's Hard Drives obviously have some spare capacity which he needs to fill...

I'll start working on Camilla now to see if I can get a pass out for the 13th...


your assumptions would be correct, I would like to add that in times of my hard drives running out of media that we haven't watched I am in fact encouraged to leave for a leech/gaming session to the point where I am actually asked when I will be going to another lan...

[s3xy_j0nny]

Skou, thanks for the invite to grrr membaz...

I would like to take you up on the invitation... Jono? j000 keen on pulling through wiff me? roll one for the road china!


Perfick, Stu. Will let you know my status asap. And as Candy's boyfriend so often says to him, "Don't you go pulling out on me, bitch..."

[J_Th4ng]

Good news. I've got my permission slip signed for the 13th, so I'll be gracing this LAN with my presence.

Should be a lot of fun!

[Phatso]

Wish i was in Cape-Town... :'(

[Voetsek-Mikey]

I will be able to make it toooooooo! :happy2:

I'm working till 4pm and I'm working the next day. But i can play through the night!

So count me in! :jig:

ps. Dude you stay like 3min down the road from my place!

[Onyx]

Wish i was in Cape-Town... :'(


You and me both...

[Skouperd]

This is an awesome response GRRR, sounds like 2010 will be a good Lanning year after-all... ;-)

Please, if you need any additional contact details or whatever, just ask Jarrod or Dazzie or send me a mail to lan@skoups.com

Looking forward to seeing you all.

Adios
Skouperd

[Paul]

I would come but I am um....er......washing my.......a.....um........carpets.....yes that is it. I am washing my carpets.

[Thor_23]

I am starting to regret moving :'(

[J_Th4ng]

Cool, just a couple of weeks to go until the LAN now. Just heard from Denis that Eggman and BadAssJack will be joining us, in addition to a few of my work colleagues too. Should be a decent turnout, now we just need to figure out what games we're gonna play in between leeches.

Stu, I'll be bringing my 1.5TB of stuff to share, and at last count Denis had >6TB of TV series sitting on his servers...

[Stu]

Stu, I'll be bringing my 1.5TB of stuff to share, and at last count Denis had >6TB of TV series sitting on his servers...


I just wet my pants a little!!! well my 500 has been replaced so I am all for the space and loading it up. I am up for any games as long as I can crack them :p I'm sure a BF2 server will be started.. and there are many other games COD4 Backlot for example can be grrreat fun after a fewwww beerz

[Voetsek-Mikey]

OK girls. Now you have put down your names. Now wie de fok is gone be there or not???????????????

I will be going f-sure!!!!!

- Voetsek




What game are we gone play or is it just gone be a piss-up!

[J_Th4ng]

I'm definitely going to be there. I got a pass out for the day, and I'm damn well going to use it!!

I'll get Denis to come and post here about games etc.

[Skouperd]

Hi guys, just a reminder that the LAN is happening THIS weekend.

I’ve been slowly but surely getting everything organized on my side. DHCP range increased, DNS configured, WINS enabled, Firewall disabled, Security settings set. The switches are all in working order, and depending on the number of people that actually pitch up, we should all have at least one 1Gb connection each. People that have network teaming enabled on their pc, could potentially have two x 1Gb. The network cables are almost finished but I still need to test a couple. The room will be re-organised this week with additional tables being moved thereto ready for Friday. The braai has been tested (well that happens every week irrespective). The electricity billed paid, so hopefully Eskom will play nicely. Ice production has commenced.

Regarding the games, I have prepared a provisional playlist for the weekend, but please note that this is merely based on the suggestions I have received thus far and definitely not the final list.

If there is anything you would like to add to this list, please feel free to do so:

1. Racing: TrackMania – Pre-Original. (This is the very first TrackMania that was ever created. I normally use this game to make sure that your computer can talk to the network without any issues. Requirements: A single core PC with any 6 series NVidia card or higher can play this.)
2. Racing: Insane – this game was a great hit at the previous LAN and the cause a lot of laughs / swearing / and just all round fun.
3. Strategy: Supreme Commander, but this require quite a hefty pc and may only interest a few so chances are few that this will actually be played.
4. Strategy: Empire Earth… come on, I love this game but nobody played this since 2001, and I don’t think it will happen this week either… but hell, had to add it to the list.
5. FPS: BattleField 2 (LAN mode, or perhaps online)
6. FPS: BattleField 1942 (an old classic which we could potentially dust off again)
7. FPS: BattleField Bad Company (a potential perhaps)
8. FPS: COD4: Modern Warfare
9. FPS: COD: Modern Warfare 2?
10. FPS: Serious Sam 2: (another classic that is just a good laugh)
11. FPS: Left for Dead (a potential perhaps)

The above is pretty much what I think will be played, but some other “networked” games that we’ve played in the past (between the big games just to “break” a little bit) include:

1. Risk
2. Worms
3. Insane
4. TrackMania

Ps I don’t have >6TB in series.

Adios
Skouperd

[Phatso]

WOW :O

Man, I wish I could fly down to CT for this.. You guys are UBER organised. Nice work Skouperd!

Enjoy it, i'll be there in spirit :happy2:

[Onyx]

I must admit I haven't played Empire Earth since 2001 and by looking at the list of games it sounds like a weekend of pure awesome leg-end fun.

Have a great time, those of you who are going.

[Voetsek-Mikey]

If any of you grrr girls get lost on the way to Skouperd's Palace on Friday night!

Phone me or stop by my place first! He stays like 3min away from me! ( I might even have a :smiley80: or 2 i will share with you ladies! )

[J_Th4ng]

I'm not going to be there on Friday. Saturday is my pass out day...

Jono/Stu/Anyone else - if you want a lift to Skoups' place on Satruday, let me know. I will probably have the Volvo for the day, so room for peeps and PCs.

[s3xy_j0nny]

Shot, drags. AFAIK Stu is picking me up on Friday night, but I'll check to make sure.

[KakHard]

It's onn mufuggaz!! :D
Glad to see Insane is still being played.... It R Osim!!

I'll be there on Saturday bright and early.
I have a birthday braai to attend on Friday.
(The birthday boy is also attending the LAN if he is capable the next day)

I'll also be bringing some series / movies and some 300+ GB's of music for your perusal...


Cheers bisches!

[Stu]

w00t w00t...

I plan on pulling through on Friday evening wiff j0nno douche and we will be there through Friday night and a little during Saturday day propbably leave later arvies sat or summfink...

Will bring my empty 500G and my two 250G externals which have a myriad of games/series!!! yippy!

[Skouperd]

Ok, final numbers just in, in total it appears as if there will be around 15 people participating in the LAN :jig: and another 2 spectators. Some will arrive on Friday, and the rest (those reality constraint individuals) will only arrive from around 07:00AM on Saturday morning.

BTW, just received my Bad Company 2 Beta key from NVidia's SLI club. So definately looking forward to try that game out over the weekeng.

Adios
Skouperd

[Voetsek-Mikey]

Skouperd You are a Legend!!!

Ek het Kak lekker aand gehad! (And the rest of the Grrr girls are still playing while i have to work! :banghead: )

[s3xy_j0nny]

Awesome LAN, Skoups, thanks for the use of your place & bandwidth. Thanks to all the grrrbians who put in a good show esp Stu and Drags for helping shift my rig there and back. Awesome to see Eggman and Bad Ass Jack again too. The best part was when Jarrod went to sleep and Denis did that thing! MAN those pictures are going to look grrreat in the news box...

[KakHard]

Dankie Skoups!!

Nice meeting all you guys again and some new ones. ;)

Sad that so many had to leave so early on Saturday. (but in all fairness you were there since Friday)
We really enjoyed Crysis Wars afterwards!


Skoups... organise some more LANS this year!
Can't wait another year for one. :D

[Paul]

Couldn't have been that great, I wasn't there

[Stu]

Thanks for the LAN Denis was great, the wife is happy I have series I got to spiel a bit and all in all was really cool. Nice to meet the [HF] fella's and good to see Eggy again!

It was especially awesome Paul lives in JHB so he couldn't ruin anything!

[s3xy_j0nny]

Couldn't have been that great, I wasn't there


Actually, that was the biggest part of the grrreatness. :fact:

[Skouperd]

Hi guys.

First of all, thanks to everybody for making it one of the more enjoyable LANs I’ve ever had in Cape Town.

If anybody has any suggestions on how to make it better the next time round, please let me know. For instance, I know that I underestimated the amount of space the food & drinks required. However, GRRR guys made up for it in terms of squeezing four players on a desk suitable only for 2 really. We had some issues in sharing some files on some of the LAN computers but that was solved eventually. The only other issue I am aware of was the GRRR guys only had a single switch (5x1Gb) with only a gigabit connection onto the backbone. Meaning, if all four leached at the same time from other people in the network, then the throughput to the individuals would drop to 250Mb. Apart from the above, any other issues, or suggestions to make the LAN better next time, will be appreciated. (Now don’t be shy…) Oh, and before I forget, Ic3nFl4me, sorry for the aircon. Next time, I’ll switch it so that it moves around a little bit and not blow straight on you.

For those analytical minded amongst you all, herewith the LAN breakdown:
• Maximum number of gamers connected at one stage: 11
• Total number of players at the LAN, 14
• Gamers pitching up at a LAN without a PC: 2
• Total number of people at Norita this weekend: 19
• Total amount of data copied from Aragog 3.2TB
• Total amount of internet bandwidth used 3GB
• The youngest player, Storm, 13
• The most popular games:
o Supreme Commander Forged Alliance
o Bad Company 2
o Crysis Wars
• Most religious people (i.e. those that chose meditation rather than gaming) Raven, Dragonne, & s3xy_j0nny
• Most dedicated gamers: P.A.N.D.A, Skouperd, Ic3nFl4me all with very little or no sleep
• Saddest reality constrained individual: Voetsek-Mikey, leaving a LAN to go to work… we feel for you Voetsek!
• Lamest excuse for being late: Slodaz, “The children need to swim”… wtf was up with that?? Swimming is easy Dazzie, just point the mouse down and keep on pressing “W”. When the screen start flickering, point your mouse up and you will breathe again, repeat until destination reached or taken out by a sniper. What’s so difficult about that?
• Funny events: The photo session with Dragonne and s3xy_j0nny

In the meantime, I am planning another LAN event around the end of April or middle of May somewhere, ergo, stay in “reality’s” good books till then.

Adios
Skouperd
:yawn: