rAge events

[Paul]

Tickets: Check
Accommodation: Check

Whether or not we make it to the Championships we will still have a contingent going to rAge. Now those who have been the previous years will know that just rocking up without know what games you are going to play or what you are going to do is a recipe for disaster.
So I think it would be a good idea to start planning

Firstly the events outside or rAge, these have been pretty much the same each year but lets just confirm

Thursday – Drinks at Heatherdale, very informal just to greet and
Friday – Party at Greek Sizzler (maybe Hooters)
Saturday – Grrr Braai

Now stuff to do at rAge could go 1 of 2 ways, we get into the playoffs so that means 8 people will have their schedules decided for them.

Or we don’t get into the playoffs (or people who aren’t playing in the play offs) then we need to organise which games we are going to play bearing in mind that you won’t have an internet connection. My preferences would be to play Borderlands 2 but I think we may need some more games.

The best is for the games to be decided up front so that we make sure they are all installed and then we can hit the ground running. SO lets discuss

[RussianElite.]

Good idea Paul, I would love some Borderlands 2 but is it gonna work ofline coz its runs through steam or is the gonna be a "cracked" offline version? I can dload it and bring it to Rage if it becomes availible. I have all my original games but for Rage and steam I'm worried for the steam version.. Also Left for Dead is an amazingly fun LAN game.. Also in for some RTS if you guys want.

[Phatso]

Good thinking Paul.

What they have done in the past 2 years Russian, they run a sort of script that lets you connect to Steam. You can't really download games from Steam but you can authenticate fine to get into Steam games. I am sure they will do the same this year.

My preference of game will no doubt be Borderlands 2. Maybe some ArmaII?

[RussianElite.]

O yes ofcourse Arma II if you guys are game? That would infact be very awesome!

[J_Th4ng]

Borderlands 2 is a great idea, but because it only supports 4 players in co-op, we'd have to divide into groups of four to play it.

All good as long as we have enough players thta everyone can get into a group, but noit so great if one person is left out.

If we get into the comp, I for one won't be gaming at rAge, I'll be there to support the team. In that case, Jono can use my PC for the weekend, will save him lugging his up from CPT.

Two years ago, we had a pretty successful (I thought) Unreal Tournament comp. I think that it would be good to do something like this again, at least it keeps the competitive spirit going at rAge.

[Paul]

I don't think we should limit it to 1 game. I say we need 2 or 3 games and depending on what they are we could organise a comp if there are enough people

So for example 8 people can get their game on with Borderlans while 3 people do X and 2 people do Y while another is downloading porn of DC of what ever.
All I am saying is we need to get therei with a plan and not everyone rock up with their own game because then you might as well be at home.

[J_Th4ng]

I don't think we should limit it to 1 game. I say we need 2 or 3 games and depending on what they are we could organise a comp if there are enough people

So for example 8 people can get their game on with Borderlans while 3 people do X and 2 people do Y while another is downloading porn of DC of what ever.
All I am saying is we need to get therei with a plan and not everyone rock up with their own game because then you might as well be at home.

Isn't that pretty much what we did last year? Had a list of games that we were keen to play, but it all kinda fell apart?

Borderlands is a big one this year, it's a new game that a lot of us are keen to play. The thing with the game though is that it's a long campaign. Once you get in with a group, that group is going to play through the entire game. It's not like L4D which is an easy drop in/drop out game.

I have another idea, not sure how popular it'll be though... What about CounterStrike? GO is released in a couple of weeks (it's $15 on Steam), and you can be sure that it's going to be HUGE at rAge. I personally haven't played CS since about 2001, and I wouldn't mind giving the new version a go.

[Megageth]

Unless I missed a thread somewhere there's also the annual "Who the fuck shall we whine at this year" Elections to think about.
We should start thinking about Candidates.

[Skouperd]

Ok, if I may make my 2 cents. The previous games failed partly because of poor planning. We should approach this as if there is absolutely no internet connection, and absolutely no Steam connectivity. As soon as we start relying on that, that is when the problems start because this person can authenticate, the next one can not. If you recommend a game, I would suggest that you also ensure that a cracked, lan friendly copy is available and that it actually works. All of my games is legal, and I will support legal games as far as possible, but when it comes to a lan, I am sorry, I found cracked copies just works so much better. Also, anything that requires patches, or original disks, or real serial keys, always tends to be a failure when it comes to playing "informal" lan games.

So, without further ado, herewith my list of workable, no-authentication needed, tried and tested lan games that works and which I have the copies off.
1. Supreme Commander Forged Alliance
2. TrackMania - Original version
3. Insane
4. Serious Sam
5. Crysis Wars
6. Empire Earth

I appreciate some of them are classics, but for me the fun factor is more important than the graphics settings.

With regard to fast past FPS games, I appreciate it is the clan's main thing, but please, can I ask that we don't do it again for so long like we did with Unreal. I don't mind an hour or two, but geez guys, we were playing it for like 8 hours non stop.

Russian, what RTS games do you want to play because I can easily play that the whole weekend.

[Paul]

I agree Skoup the reason it fell flat last year was because we pretty much said we were going to play TF2 but by the time we could get it up an running the weekend was over.

So I say every needs to suggest 2 games, then we take the top 3 from that. Please bear in mind that people may not have the game so if you suggest it you need to be able to provide a copy that can be installed quickly.

DOubt people will want to buy a game just for a couple of hours play during rAge