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Sony shows off 'Doom VFR' and the rest of the PSVR holiday lineup
While the gaming world's eyes are all set upon the start of Paris Games Week, Sony demo'd a number of upcoming titles for the Playstation VR, many of which will be released in time for the holidays. Among the titles on display were marquee titles Doom VR, which can now be played with the system's rifle-like Aim Controller and Skyrim VR, which has added a short-hop teleportation feature for quickly moving through Tamriel. We also took a look at League of War, a dual-screen tabletop war simulator that's sure to be the life of your next LAN party; Farpoint's newest expansion pack, a 1-on-1 (but with AI minions) battle arena; and Bravo Team, a Time Crisis-esque co-op combat shooter. Check out the video above for highlights and reactions to everything on display. Follow all the latest news from Sony's PlayStation event here!
The Gathering 2012 to bring world's fastest internet to Norway, leave Swedish laundry out to dry
Dreamhack's record breaking 120Gbps connection was fast enough to replace a certain household appliance, but next to what's Norway's cooking up it looks almost antiquated. The Gathering, Norway's annual week-long LAN party, plans to set a new world record for the "fastest internet access in the universe" with a 200Gbps connection. "No way we would let the Swedes keep the lead on this," says Gathering head of information Simon Eriksen Valvik, "we didn't just raise the bar a little, we moved it a story up." The connection is reportedly faster than the combined bandwidth of Thailand, and will be capable of downloading 5,120 songs a second. Don't bee too envious though, the ludicrously quick network is only temporary. Representatives from Altibox, the Norwegian network that's partnering with The Gathering to break the record, say that Norway simply doesn't have the capacity to support these kinds of speeds on a day to day basis. The gap is being filled with foreign internet capacity, piped in by Level 3. Tickets for the event are already sold out, so speed freaks desperate for the fastest internet in the universe will just have to settle for the fastest internet in the neighborhood. At least until next year.
Google employee creates the ultimate LAN party house, lives la vita local
You don't see many software engineers over on Cribs, but if you did, then Google employee Kenton Varda would probably be first in line. Some people buy fancy cars and hot tubs, Kenton created the ultimate LAN party room. Getting your crew round for a marathon Counter-Strike session might be a barrel, but tangled cables and weeding out connection problems are not, or at least Kenton clearly doesn't think so. No more cable spaghetti for him though, thanks to a permanent installation that includes machines, monitors, many feet of HDMI and USB leads, rack mounts and networking equipment for up to 12 gaming chums. Spread over two rooms, with six stations in each -- ideal for team games -- bespoke cabinets were made to keep it easy on the eye. Anyone wanting to take on a similar project can expect to put a $40,000 dent in their wallet, or a little more, depending on the size of your LAN.
Visualized: Sweden's Dreamhack in pictures
What does a legion of Swedish LAN party-goers and a 120Gbps internet connection look like? Something like this. Dreamhack, officially (according to the Guinness Book of Records) the world's largest LAN party, offered up all sorts of gaming thrills along the lines of StarCraft II and Counter-Strike to the 12,000 attendees. It looks like the air was thick with excitement, perspiration -- and hopefully a little air freshener.
Funcom and Stunlock Studios to sponsor Bloodline Champions tournies
Funcom and Stunlock Studios know that Bloodline Champions was just made for the tournament circuit, which is why both companies are sponsoring a pair of gaming events in May that feature this popular PvP battle arena. First stop on the trail is this weekend's TooManyGames expo, an indie gaming event in Philadelphia that's running from May 6th through the 8th. The Bloodline Champions tournament begins on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. EDT, and any interested combatants can preregister on the website or sign up at the door. Later in the month comes Digital Overload in Baltimore from May 27th through the 29th. Digital Overload is a giant LAN party, and with Funcom's sponsorship, it's hosting a Bloodline Champions double elimination tournament that's free to enter. To help promote Bloodline Champions and encourage the playerbase, Funcom and Stunlock Studios plan to continue to sponsor and host events around North America this summer.
Gaming and Electronics Expo in Salt Lake City this weekend
We're right in the middle of convention season, but even if you're not planning to hit up San Diego, Seattle or Tokyo this year, there's always Salt Lake City. That's where the Gaming and Electronics Expo (GEEX) is being held this coming weekend. With a 27-hour LAN party, tournaments and exhibits all weekend long, and over 15,000 attendees expected, it sounds like Sandy, Utah (just south of SLC) will be rocking it. If you're going to be around, tickets are still available, and for $18 with a $5 discount online, they're one of the cheapest show passes you can still find for sale this summer. The exhibitor list isn't quite as big as PAX, and the speakers aren't quite as star-studded as Comic-Con, but if you live in Utah, you should probably take what you can get and enjoy yourself anyway, right?
Hi-Rez Studios to host all-night Global Agenda LAN party at Dragon*Con
Are you interested in checking out the sci-fi MMOFPS Global Agenda, but didn't get accepted into beta? The team at Hi-Rez Studios has good news for anyone who's going to be in Atlanta during Dragon*Con 2009. They're going to have an all-night LAN party for Global Agenda which anyone can crash, even if you don't have a Dragon*Con pass. Hi-Rez Studios bills this as an "all-you-can play, hands-on experience with the upcoming game, Global Agenda. There will be PvE missions, PvP death matches, and your chance to get an inside look" at the game. Interested? You can check out the details on the Global Agenda site, but the gist of their announcement is that the LAN party will be held on Friday September 4th in the Digital Gaming Area of the Hilton. The Hi-Rez event will be on the 3rd floor, conference rooms 309-312. There's no cost of admission, food and drinks will be provided so gluttony is encouraged, and again you won't even need a Dragon*Con pass to get in. This sounds like a great chance to play the game well in advance of launch.UPDATE: LAN party attendees will, in fact, need a Dragon*Con pass to enter the Digital Gaming Area.
StarCraft 2 may sport semi-LAN solution
You'll likely remember almost two months ago when Blizzard announced there would be no LAN support for StarCraft 2. No? It was that time you tried angrily tearing your favorite Kerrigan poster in twain before collapsing breathlessly on the floor of your grandmother's rumpus room. It may be lucky your attempt failed, though: Blizzard tells Shacknews it's working on a "pseudo-LAN" solution to the problem, that might allow play very similar to a regular LAN party, with Battle.net only being pinged once or periodically for authentication purposes. Even better, Shacknews also reports that a similar system will be included with Diablo III. While it's not quite offline play, we're hoping it's close enough to keep both developers and fans happy.
DreamHack to feature its own WoW realm
DreamHack, the world's biggest LAN party (according to Guinness), takes place in Sweden twice a year. They've just made an announcement of interest to us WoW players: at this year's summer event (June 13-16, assuming "Juni" means what I think it means), they'll have their own WoW realm. This is something that not many events have been able to do in the past. They'll be hosting an Arena tournament at the event, with prizes to be announced in the future. We can expect the realm to feature premades and gear and enchant vendors, like previous tournament realms. They also mention "live showing of raids;" I'm not sure we've seen realms with premade PvE play before, so that should be interesting. More information on registration is going to be released "within the next few days;" we'll keep you posted. Is anyone thinking of competing at DreamHack? Has anyone gone before? [thanks, Raful]
1UP layoffs and the ripples therein
When half of the staff leave/are laid off from a gaming site as notable as 1UP, it affects essentially everyone within the industry -- as does the closure of EGM, one of the very best gaming magazines around. Their excellent coverage of games like Final Fantasy XI, Warhammer Online and World of Warcraft (to name just a few) have always been the sort of things we here at Massively strive for in our own features. Whether it was podcasts like Legendary Thread or the infamous live reading of a certain Age of Conan incident on GFW Radio, the group working at 1UP were always in it to entertain, inform and hopefully make everyone think a little bit about their favorite pasttime.Understandably, the massive layoffs have created a sort of hate brush fire that's been roaring across the internet mostly via message boards fueled by a mix of ex-1UP Twitters and hearsay. While it pains us as fans to see so many talented and hard-working writers let go, there's some truth to the saying, "You can't win 'em all" in this situation. Our own searing anger was doused a little upon reading a lucid post detailing the why behind the whole debacle.
Commodore 64 users create perfect nerdstorm
There's nerd and then there's Commodore 64 nerd. Bring them together in a Commodore 64 LAN party and you've got a nerdstorm of mythical proportions. The world's first Commodore 64 LAN party was held in nerdistan Cincinnati last weekend. It consisted of eight C64s with Ethernet cartridges playing NetRacer off a central, Java-based server. So Geeksta it hurts.
Dust-Off announces "Keyboard Quiver"
We can't say we've often felt the need to whip out a full-size keyboard on a second's notice, but Dust-Off seems to think there's enough folks clamoring to do just that, and it's hoping they'll find its new "Keyboard Quiver" to their liking. Apparently designed specifically with "active gamers" in mind, the Keyboard Quiver measures 21x12x6 inches, and boasts enough room for a mouse, cellphone, headphones, and other gear in addition to your keyboard, with plenty of padding provided to keep everything in tip-top shape for your next LAN party or impromptu gaming showdown. You'll still have to make do with your current carrying gear for a little while longer though, as the Quiver won't be available until sometime this October, when it'll set you back $70.
LAN parties meet drug parties
The appropriately named TwitchGuru has kicked off a series of articles on the intersection of drug culture and gaming culture with an insider's look at a drug-fueled LAN party. Author Aaron Mckenna spent 48 hours stone-cold sober in a house full of gamers high on "marijuana, cocaine, mushrooms, acid, Ritalin, Adderall, Ephedrine," and more.Whether the gaming or the drugs was the party's real focus is up for the debate, but the drugs are definitely the focus of the article. Scenes of cocaine lines done off of a PlayStation 2 case, couples humping in the middle of the hallway, and four people stuffed awkwardly into a bathtub are recounted in full detail.Given the number of young men who enjoy games and the equally high number that enjoy illegal drugs, the combination of the two into a weekend-long bacchanal seems inevitable. Still, we can only imagine how this report will be interpreted by the people who believe that video game use leads to drug use.[Thanks Patrick]
360 goes portable, LAN party in a box
360 Fanboy reader, Vince, has sent us word of his newest creation, the Ackibox (short for Acrobatic Box). The Ackibox is an all in one solution for toting your 360 around. With space for controllers and its own flat panel monitor, the 360 gamer on the go will always have a 360 at a moment's notice. Vince describes his inspiration:"Being an avid gamer, I often found myself at a friend's house, enjoying some gaming action. But there were certain annoying things about the experience, and it wasn't bad attitudes, cold pizza, or stinky feet. It was that I often found myself playing on 1/2 or 1/4 of the screen and using someone else's profile on someone else's console. I'm all for sharing, but not having the full, single-console, single-television experience can really reduce the fun (literally). Many times the difficulties of setting up and transporting the right number of consoles and televisions was the obstacle to everyone having the full experience. It often took us over an hour just to get everything setup before we could really begin playing."While it may not be the most attractive solution -- it is a prototype after all -- the Ackibox's practicality cannot be denied. Any enterprising companies out there care to turn Vince's dream into a mass-produced reality?
