Video games have become a huge part of mainstream culture. However, a great deal of gamers only play with other people online; they don’t get the same kind of experiences as the pre-online age when you actually had to be in the same physical room as your opponent. That changes with events known as LAN parties.
You might remember Stephen mentioning this in last week’s Dot Com Pho episode. We’re going to be at LANcouver 2011 at the Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver this weekend. What’s different is that while there is still a significant focus on BYOC (bring your own computer), LANcouver is expanding its scope to other kinds of games too, including trading card games and console games.
Myself, I’m not much of a PC gamer, but I do enjoy playing with my Xbox 360. There are going to be tournaments for games like Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (which I write about from time to time at Hadouken Online). I’m not sure if I’m going to participate in those tournaments, but I am going to be there as part of the Futurelooks and MegaTechNews team to cover the event. Who knows? Maybe I’ll play the winner of the tournament.
In any case, if you like to play games, head on out to LANcouver this weekend and don’t hesitate to say hi. We’re unofficially holding Dot Com Pho there on Saturday too. LANcouver itself runs from July 22 (today) until July 24 (Sunday). You can go to the official site for directions, admission price, and all that jazz.
As an aside, the photo above is not from LANcouver (since it’s still being set up as I write this post), but it does give you a general sense of what you can expect. I’m not sure about the giggly girls in the background though.
I think video gaming is just another fun way to waste time.