Guy Fawkes LAN
JRUDMAN, FreddyK, Gandalf, Heman, Beorn, Afro_DooD, Monsieur Pierre et fils
You know it's nearly summer when JR fires up the BBQ, Freddy has a birthday and the lads gather for a LAN! There was a good turnout for the main game of the night - NZ vs France in the Women's Rugby World Cup that is - with the Black Ferns victorious (just) at 25-24, sacré bleu!!! With that game and a spectacular feed done, JR, FreddyK, Heman and Gandalf settled in for some CoD4 action across our favourite maps and game types. Afro_DooD's nigori sake was a winner for birthday boy FreddyK and we helped him celebrate by letting him win a few rounds of CoD ;) - although he was probably helped by that damn chopper! Once again, another enjoyable evening was had with excellent company, fine food and some fun gaming - as we rapidly approach our 20th anniversary in just a few months...
Nigel LAN
JRUDMAN, Gandalf, FreddyK, Afro_DooD, SShadow, Enraged Stoat, Heman, Beorn, Bones
Has it been a year already?! A strong turnout for Nigel LAN provided a great opportunity for the clan to reminisce in good company over a mega feast and a cold brew, oh, with some gaming for entertainment of course. JR's BBQ got a good workout to feed the lads, with Afro_DooD bringing some fine sushi and quality sake (to offset the questionable sake...no it shouldn't be that colour, but if it tastes ok you can drink it... :eyeroll: ). Great to see Mr A Bones join us for a game or two, and in a Spawnpoint LAN first, Enraged Stoat brought along his VR rig for the lads to try out (and salivate over!), Half-Life: Alyx was definately a winner among those that sampled the virtual experience. Heman showed off a new rig, while JR demo'ed his flight-sim setup with head tracking, although it turns out that landing an F-18 with a stuck throttle is somewhat challenging! Predictably, group gaming was exclusively via CoD4 in Killhouse, Shipment, Bog and Vacant with a mix of TDM and HQ seeing us through to the early hours. The new house rules of winner takes a shot of tequila would have been rough on SShadow(!), so JR, Fred and Afro_DooD shared that mission before cake in honour of FreddyK - happy birthday for Monday bro!
HBN 2020 LAN
JRUDMAN, Gandalf, FreddyK, SShadow, Beorn
Who said nothing good happened in 2020!?! The weather was cool and damp, but the BBQ and LAN action was hot stuff. JR showed off a curved monitor, while SShadow wowed the lads with a fancy new rig which clearly helped his killing spree! ;) Lots of CoD4 action as usual across several maps, with Killhouse providing the usual hilarity and gritty competition, including plenty of grenades and a few rockets for good measure. The dinner spread was awesome thanks to our host JR - seriously, U-D-MAN! Sadly Beorn had to leave early after getting CoD4 installed just in time to pack up... "maybe next year bro!" Birthday cake for FreddyK was followed by Bledisoe III which resulted in the biggest spanking of the Wallabies yet: 43-5! More CoD4 rounded out the night which finished in the small hours of the morning after a monster unlimited round of FFA on Killhouse with SShadow clocking over 250 kills.
HBN 2019 LAN
JRUDMAN, FreddyK, Heman, Beorn, Mauke_warrior, Narsil, SShadow, llewraP, lumenstrife, Benz
JRUDMAN cranked up the BBQ and hosted SPAWNPOINT's 70th LAN!!! Also cause for celebration was FreddyK's birthday, hence the 2019 release of the HBN LAN series. Welcome to llewraP and lumenstrife and welcome back to Narsil after being AWOL for too long. Getting down to business, the clan enjoyed some kickass CoD4 action, dominated by SShadow and his flick shots, with the host on the receiving end of Mauke's blade too many times. As usual the favourite maps Killhouse, Shipment and Vacant saw a lot of action, which wrapped around 1am.
May The 4th Be With You LAN
JRUDMAN, Gandalf, FreddyK, Beorn, Heman, SShadow
A long time ago, in a galaxy not too far away.... A LAN on Star Wars day! Epic. JRUDMAN hosted once again for a fun-filled night of CoD4 action, fuelled by a great feed and few beers.
SummerLAN
Mauke_warrior, Gandalf, JRUDMAN, FreddyK, ZeusNZ
A new destination for the clan at Mauke_warrior's pad for LAN #1 of 2018. The first order of the day was to combat the humidity with some fluids on Mauke's new deck before cracking into some gaming. Gandalf snuck in some early game action in Battlefield II on Mauke's PC, which was sporting a new build incl a water cooled AMD Ryzen, GTX 1070 and a fancy (and small!) on-board SSD - sweet setup! Also getting a thumbs up from the lads was the feast Mauke put on - tasty chicken wings and tacos, with Paua from Fred, before cheesecake for dessert. Delicious. Once fed and hydrated, we got down to business in a new game - the wildly popular PUBG. After some quick purchases and installs, Mauke and Zeus took turns at coaching PUBG newcomers Fred, JR and Gandalf through some enjoyable 4-man squad games. While PUBG was the winner on the night, our old friend CoD4 didn't miss out on getting a run with the usual fast paced hilarity, sni-pussy and martyrdom action, mainly in the FFA and HQ game modes on the Killhouse, Shipment, Bog and Countdown maps.
HBN_2017 LAN
JRUDMAN, FreddyK, HeMan, Beorn, Mauke_warrior, Enraged Stoat, ... Afro_DooD
JR's annual LAN - and almost a year to the day since the last one! It wouldn't be a Spawnpoint LAN without some great Killhouse and Shipment rounds in CoD4 - and this one was no exception - along with a great feed (as evidenced by the thumbs up pic of Afro_DooD!)
HBN50 LAN
JRUDMAN, HeMan, Gandalf, FreddyK, Beorn
Once again JR hosted a great LAN timed nicely to help FreddyK celebrate his 50th in just a few days. While we congratulated him with a few headshots and martyrdom drops, ultimately we took Han Solo's advice to let the wookie, er, birthday boy win - yeah that's it, that's how he got to the top of the scoreboard all night! :P HeMan sported a shiny new rig for the night - powered by a massively cooled i7 CPU and GTX 1080 grfx card. Group gameplay was exclusively played out on our fav CoD4 maps; Killhouse, Shipment, Bog, Crash and Wetwork; across TDM, FFA and HQ game types. Some old school music provided entertainment between rounds, and JR cooked up a superb feed followed by desert and birthday cake! Cheers JR and happy birthday FreddyK. :)
HBN2 LAN
JRUDMAN, Narsil, FreddyK, Beorn, Jaye, That0guy
After 11 long months with no LANs, JR hosted the first of 2015. Beorn brought his brand new lappy and a fresh focus on FPS gaming which let him reach the top of the scoreboard in Gandalf's absence :P ...despite FreddyK dropping martyrdom grenades! :D The old faithful CoD4 provided the setting for battles on Killhouse, Shipment, Wetwork, Bog, Countdown, Bloc, Backlot and Ambush. Gaming wrapped around 1am, giving the lads a few hours before the ABs took out the RWC final!
MOFO's_MEGA_LAN
Afro_DooD, Enraged Stoat, Gandalf, JRUDMAN, HeMan, That0guy, Beorn, FreddyK, Pommie Legend
Afro_DooD hosted his (now annual!) pre-xmas feast with a great turnout of friends (including plenty of non gamers!) for an awesome spread of sushi and BBQ'd treats! In a SPAWNPOINT first, That0guy turned up with a dog (and his PC to be fair), while the host provided the gears for gaming but didn't have a game rig himself following a recent rebuild with Win8. Brief gaming was has by some (largely in CoD4) fueled by sake and kava, while a studio jam session was followed by a lively game of texas hold'em into the wee hours with the host cleaning up in an epic final hand (KKK to beat QQQ!).
HBN LAN
JRUDMAN, FreddyK, HeMan, Narsil, Mauke_warrior, Jaye, iLLuSioN, Enraged Stoat, Gandalf
HBN LAN started with a blow out! Thanks to JR and his air compressor, the lads were able to rid the rigs of dust before powering up for gaming. With some early backups out of the way via D-LAN, some quick troubleshooting was required to get UPnP working so that more than one gamer could be on Steam at once. Turns out that a good old fashioned router reboot works wonders! While various games were fired up around the network, the 4-vs-4 teamplay on the night was exclusively in the old favourite CoD4:MW. The popular Killhouse map was the stage for some epic battles, with the Bog and a few others getting a run, but in a first for a long time, Shipment never made it into the rotation!!! The BBQ also got a good workout to feed the lads, with birthday cakes (yes plural!) for dessert. :) New games on show included Project Cars from JR and Jaye demo'ing the gameplay in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, while Diablo 3 got a look in for a few of the lads and well into the small hours for the last of the gamers. Cheers JR and happy birthday FreddyK!
Mid-Winter LAN
Jaye, Khronos, iLLuSioN, JRUDMAN, Gandalf, Beorn
With a new pad and fibre installed, Jaye gathered the troops for the 1st LAN of 2014. Early gaming saw a return to an old title - the fast paced UT3, where random shooting while bouncing around like a kangaroo seems to work wonders! :P For a complete change of pace, the lads switched to another favouite for some good FFA and 3-on-3 action in CoD4:MW - it just wouldn't be a SPAWNPOINT LAN without some Shipment and Killhouse hilarity now would it! Dinner was a bunch of pizzas (slightly smaller than Jaye was expecting!) while the fibre was put to use streaming some Super Rugby - the Hurricanes victorious over the Crusaders tonight 16-9 (booo says the Crusader supporter!). Other sporadic gaming included a bit of Diablo3 for a few of the lads before Gandalf and JR hit the road around midnight. Finally, props to Beorn who attended before his nightshift! Well played.
StudioLAN
Afro_DooD, Beorn, FreddyK, Mauke_warrior, Rune, Gandalf, Enraged Stoat, JRUDMAN, That0guy, Adamantium, Spike, Shibby, crybaby, Pommie Legend, Tevoro
The first LAN of 2013 (a full year since the last!) celebrated 10+ years of SPAWNPOINT LANs with a new record turnout! EPIC!!! After a two year dry spell, Afro_DooD returned to the LAN scene in style by hosting another LAN with a legendary spread of food, although without a PC on the network (LAN 1st for a host!) along with insuffient desk space and cabling he earned a trio of Wooden Spoons for the Hall of Fame. ;) Also returning to the scene was Rune, who we last shot at in early 2005 and has only just returned to NZ with a baby pending in less than a week! We also welcomed Adamantium, Spike, Shibby and crybaby - always nice to have new peeps to frag - and props to Richard for some BBQ skills and to Pommie Legend and Tevoro for an appearance. The LAN kicked off with limited connectivity via shared wifi in the abscence of a sufficiently long cable to reach the modem, but luckily Gandalf and Enraged Stoat saved the day with a spool of cable and some crimping skills respectively to get the LAN wired to the outside world! Early system backups were made easy via the almost zero-config D-LAN with sporadic gaming and jamming in the studio breaking for a feast of sushi, salmon, dumplings, fish, sausages, steak, salads, crayfish and whitebait - washed down with sake, homebrew and BYO beers! As anticipated, CoD4:MW dominated the group gameplay which saw 10 players online at one point, although the LAN gremlins did their best to prevent FreddyK joining the action on his Win8 rig. Luckily he brought a backup PC which, combined with some parts from Afro, got him up and running. As numbers declined, gaming turned to the newly released CoD:Ghosts in the wee hours for FreddyK, JRUDMAN and Gandalf with the fill-in bots doing surprisingly well on a few early rounds! :P The LAN finally wrapped around 3:30am when most remaining peeps unplugged, although FreddyK was just getting warmed up following a late start so carried on solo until near first light.
GNL-LAN
FreddyK, Gandalf, HeMan, Beorn, Enraged Stoat, Narsil, That0guy, JRUDMAN, Mauke_warrior, miniFred, miniSparrow
The third LAN of 2012, named in honour of JR leaving soon for a trip home, was Fred's annual pre-Christmas gathering and our 60th LAN! Early gaming was somewhat sporadic and included a brief Diablo3 run for Fred, HeMan and Gandalf, before Fred fired up the BBQ to feed the lads with a superb spread as usual. Gaming then turned (via nostalgia, vehicle withdrawal or plain drunken foolishness) to a very old favourite - Call of Duty: United Offensive. Anticipation (and install time!) was high for this one, but sadly the game didn't live up to the fond memories we had, with glitches galore, including an invincible Gandalf at one point, and lovely blocky graphics. Following that, the old faithful Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had a lengthy run through to the early hours with some great FFA/TDM/DOM battles on some of the smaller maps and with miniFred giving the lads a run for their money! Also returning from LANs of old were some gremlins in the form of a non-booting PC for That0guy, and unfortunately no amount of prodding, swapping, scanning, fixing, rebooting etc would fix it. The gremlins also got into Fred's media PC with random system crashes/hangs late in the night and are suspected of frying Narsil's PSU post-LAN!
Hobbit-LAN
Enraged Stoat, Beorn, citizengold, Gandalf
Perhaps aptly named, just a small turnout of four hobbits, er, gamers for this one in Stoat's new pad - next to the Embassy and perfectly positioned for the upcoming Hobbit premiere. Beorn and citizengold rocked laptops for this one, while Stoat used his Shuttle form-factor PC (might be a citation there... is that a first?) and only Gandalf lugged a tower to the LAN (a dying breed perhaps...). After assisting each other with some backups, sporadic gaming was interrupted by a run for a feed to a local noodle house with some half time Mythbusters and TEDTalk action on Stoat's impressive big screen.
St Patrick's Day LAN
JRUDMAN, Gandalf, Beorn, FreddyK, Narsil, Mauke_warrior
After a bit of a dry spell in the LAN department (due to the nice dry summer weather right? ...not!), the first LAN of the year headed to JR's pad. While Beorn and JR set-up in about 30 seconds with their laptops, FreddyK mangaged to get on the scoreboard early with a notable mention for a grfx card failure before even arriving at the LAN. Luckily JR was able to supply a loaner, and was also able to provide Fred a keyboard to fill that gap in his gear bag too! Gaming kicked off early in MW3, but sadly JR's new install of Windows 8 gave issues which temporarily reduced numbers. That was soon sorted by a return to the ol' faithful CoD4, forcing a quick(ish) install by Mauke. The BBQ dinner went down a treat, as did some Paua from Fred and some nicely chilled beers - although despite the day nobody hit the Guinness. Shipment and Killhouse again dominated the map rotation in CoD4, with Gandalf's martyrdom dominating one of the TDM rounds! Later in the evening, post-departure, Narsil again joined the gameplay remotely for some brilliant 3-vs-3 Team Defender action in MW3 with JR's rig finally deciding it did want to take part after all. :)
Igrsana3LAN
FreddyK, Gandalf, Beorn, HeMan, JRUDMAN, Narsil, Enraged Stoat, Pommie Legend, Afro_DooD, That0guy, miniFred
Holy crap batman! A LAN!!! After a loooooong 7 month dry spell, FreddyK gathered the clan for his third IgrsanaLAN, with lots on the new list: peeps, hardware and games. Welcome That0guy and miniFred! Awesome to have some new faces joining the clan. On the hardware front, notable upgrades included Beorn and JR who turned up with brand spanking new MSI and ASUS lappys respectively, also HeMan and Gandalf both sporting new i5-2500K based rigs, and Stoat ditched his tower in favour of his HTPC shuttle for this LAN. Gaming got underway early in the newly released MW3 with some good action on the Dome map, but to maximise numbers we quickly reverted to the old faithful CoD4:MW. That saw 9 gamers battle it out with some great HQ and DOM rounds across various maps, along with the usual hilarity that accompanies HQ or FFA in Shipment and Killhouse! Kudos to whoever coined the new term describing some peeps use of their SMG: "spray and walk away!". And thanks to Beorn for the spare PC getting Afro and miniFred into the action. Fred's trademark BBQ and salad combo went down a treat, with gaming persisting in CoD4 well into the night. Following early departures for some due morning shifts, the stayers turned to some MW3 online action - addicting enough to keep Fred gaming through to sunrise!
HemansArseIsOnFireLAN
Enraged Stoat, Gandalf, Mauke_warrior, HeMan, FreddyK, Beorn, Afro_DooD
Enraged Stoat's new inner city pad was the venue for our first LAN of 2011 - a rather late start to the gaming season kicking off at the start of April! Once again FreddyK turned up with new hardware - a replacement M/B and new mesh case sporting a carry handle ideal for transport to LANs! (not quite the shuttle he was eyeing up, but a worthy contender). After the usual setup and peer backup routine ;) the clan headed for a bustling Molly Malones to down a beer or two before hitting Great India for a superb curry - no surprises from the LAN name on who ordered hot! On returning to Stoat's apartment Beorn and Afro joined us for a while before gaming got underway in some online Call of Duty Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 - including Narsil remotely for several rounds. Other games of note included the recently released Crysis 2 and NFS Shift 2, both of which got a brief run by Mauke and Gandalf. The end of LAN coincided with the end of daylight savings at 3am, er... make that 2am!
Igrsana2LAN
FreddyK, HeMan, Enraged Stoat, Gandalf, Jamestk, JRUDMAN, Beorn
The final LAN of the year was hosted by FreddyK sporting a fresh upgrade to his rig (somewhat prompted by the recently released CoD: Black Ops!) in the form of an Intel Core i7 backed by 6GB of actively cooled DDR3 RAM. Nice! Also on the new hardware front, HeMan brought along his new touchscreen toy, an Apple iPad, while Jamestk arrived in trademark style with just a USB HDD! :D Once again FreddyK fired up the BBQ for a meaty feast of lamb and venison accompanied by his LAN-famous salads. Sporadic individual gaming started late in the evening (including some Counterstrike, Osmos, and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit) before a return to two old favourites for some multiplayer goodness. Once agaion BF2142 (including some "homo commander action") and CoD:MW's maps Shipment and Killhouse provided the best gaming of the night - esp the latter with some close and typically hilarious 2-on-2 rounds. Final gameplay of the LAN was a few online rounds in CoD: Black Ops, before a wrap around 3am. Props to Beorn for gaming well beyond midnight with a short sleep before a morning shift!
HomeBrew LAN
Pommie Legend, Narsil, JRUDMAN, FreddyK, Gandalf
The fifth lan of the year saw a return to Pommie's estate for some fragging fun in a couple of old favourites - BF2142 and CoD4:MW. As usual with ground and air vehicles in BF and some crazy headquarters action on Shipment and Killhouse in MW, hilarity ensued! To keep the lads fuelled, Pommie fired up his pie makers for some delicious home made pies (so who's buying one for themselves?!) and kept the home brew flowing with two flavours on tap: Epic Fail Ale and Hobgoblin. :) Once again nobody was boasting of new hardware acquisitions for their rigs despite persistent upgrade rumors (when is FreddyK getting that shuttle?!) leaving ogling confined to Pommie's MythTV setup and it's sweet web interface.
JUNE LAN
JRUDMAN, FreddyK, Enraged Stoat, Gandalf, Mauke_warrior, Narsil
The clan headed to JR's for June LAN with a trademark BBQ feed, gaming, leeching and some All Blacks rugby on the schedule. As with most recent lans, clan gaming was exclusively in Modern Warfare 2 including a mix of private and public matches (with some hacking accusations thrown in for good measure!). Other games getting a run included the MMORPG Eve Online and car racing game Blur by Stoat, and Battlefield Bad Company 2 by Mauke and JR. Yet again, nobody seemed to have visited the new hardware department since the last lan, while on the software side Windows 7 appears to dominate the OS install base. As for scores, everyone got some gaming kills in - especially the opposition in one online match who finished us off with a tactical nuke(!) - while the rubgy finished up 66-28 with the All Blacks thumping Ireland. Finally, the lan wrapped around 3am following some clowning around on the Highrise map in MW2 - yes it is possible to scale the cranes and get up on one of the roofs following a leap of faith!
MothersDayLAN
Enraged Stoat, Gandalf, Beorn, FreddyK, HeMan
Mother's Day 2010 was celebrated by the SPAWNPOINT clan with a LAN! - thanks to Enraged Stoat. Unfortunately, Stoat was still recovering from some motorcycle injuries which limited his FPS gameplay somewhat, and an evening shift temporarily limited HeMan's gaming - props for turning up after work! Communal gameplay was exclusively in Modern Warfare 2, with other games getting a run including Eve Online, Dragon Age Origins, Serious Sam HD and Left 4 Dead 2. Boosting numbers for a while were Narsil and Mauke_warrior who joined remotely via Steam for a couple of MW2 rounds. On the hardware front, nobody was bragging so we'll have to assume no purchases of late! Otherwise, FileZilla served us well for file transfers and Stoat served us well with Kumara chips!
VaLANtines LAN
Enraged Stoat, HeMan, Gandalf, JRUDMAN, Mauke_warrior
Following a recent move into a new pad, Enraged Stoat hosted this LAN and put on a good spread of delicious home made pizzas and fries. Some further issues with PhantomDC (as at earlier LAN's of late) prompted a move to FileZilla for some reliable and fast file transfers via ftp. Fragging for the most part was in Modern Warfare 2, with Stoat purchasing on the night and Narsil joining in remotely for a few rounds, while some snuck in a bit of action in Left 4 Dead 2 and Eve Online. Enraged Stoat also provided a nice demo of his XBMC powered HTPC setup, while on the hardware front Mauke_warrior fired up his new Sidewinder X8 gaming mouse and JR revved up his new boy racer mouse!
JANLAN
HeMan, Beorn, Gandalf, JRUDMAN, Narsil, FreddyK
The first LAN of 2010 - also our 50th SPAWNPOINT LAN! - kicked off at HeMan's where the weather was considerably nicer than the wet southerly gale in the Capital! With some early leeching out of the way, gaming kicked off in CoD6:MW2 and later moved to CoD4:MW with the Star Wars mod Galactic Warfare providing some fun battles between the Imperial Stormtroopers and the Rebel Scum on the huge Mos Eisley skinned map along with some fimiliar stomping grounds - blasters on Killhouse FTW! Following a few early departures, due to some having Saturday shiftwork, the stayers turned to the recently released L4D2 for some zombie killing action to round out the night. New hardware at this event included a 1.5GB HDD for Beorn, a Logitech G15 gaming keyboard for Narsil, and a Microsoft Sidewinder X8 gaming mouse and Viewsonic 24" LCD for Gandalf. Also noteworthy was a nice little demo of HeMan's WD TV powered home theatre setup - nice!
Bonzai LAN
Afro_DooD, Beorn, Pommie Legend, Narsil, Gandalf, Enraged Stoat, JRUDMAN, [sambo]
Afro_DooD made a return to hosting for possibly the last LAN of the year and - with a little help ;) - put on a fantastic spread of Japanese food served with some alcohol to match (apparently the Japanese equivalent of whiskey+wine, which when heated wasn't too bad!). Some long cables came in handy to get the LAN on the internet and the big screen tv (did I mention BIG?!) came in handy for the Dubai Sevens and All Blacks vs Barbarians in the wee hours. Gaming got underway late in the night with CoD4 seeing a return to action as the most installed game, with Sambo helping Pommie out after a few random crashes on his rig. Casualties of the night included Sambo with a stick of RAM failing and Afro's new media PC which refused to load CoD4-MP despite running the SP version - weird!
Friday the 13th LAN
FreddyK, Gandalf, Beorn, Enraged Stoat, Sparrow, Mauke_warrior, JRUDMAN, Narsil
Unlucky for some - but not for us! This LAN was beautifully timed after the release of Modern Warfare 2, and coincided with a cold (but unusually dry!) southerly following a sunny day. Great to see Sparrow return to the SPAWNPOINT nest, and also to see Jamie drop in for Fred's legendary trademark BBQ dished up for the lads in his awesome new kitchen. Gaming kicked off early with some skirmishes in Modern Warfare 2, with Narsil joining us remotely before arriving in person later in the evening. Needless to say MW2 dominated the night, but some L4D was also squeezed in (as were some margaritas!) along with some other Steam games for some including Trackmania and Counterstrike. On the OS front, Windows 7 is now the OS of choice for the majority of the clan, while notable new hardware included a 3rd SSD for Enraged Stoat and a new motherboard for Gandalf - up and running just two days earlier following a dead M/B earlier in the week! Finally, a small sample of some MW2 accolades during the night:
- FreddyK: Most time spent crouched/Most explosions survived
- Gandalf: Most multikills/Most time near enemies
- Beorn: Most grenade kills/Most HQs captured
- JRUDMAN: Lowest average altitude/Most last stand kills
- Sparrow: Most comebacks/Most weapon swaps
- mauke warrior: Most knife kills/Most kills from behind
- Narsil: Most headshots/Longest distance travelled
BigScreenEnvyLAN
Enraged Stoat, Gandalf, Beorn, HeMan, FreddyK, JRUDMAN, [sambo]
Props to the host for this one! Just hours before kickoff, Enraged Stoat flew back to NZ from the US (minus luggage!) in time to host the LAN while the family were out of town. Upon arrival the lads marvelled at Stoat's 30" of Dell goodness, and a stunning view from the house. The new 16-port switch was put to heavy use right away, and again after some stellar transfer speeds early on in the LAN, speeds dropped off later in the night...(?) Gaming kicked off in Call of Duty World at War, followed by brief (but largely unsuccessful) attempts at some zombie killing co-op action in both CoD5 and L4D. CoD4 made it's usual appearance for some fast paced fun, and Enraged Stoat introduced the lads to TrackMania - a fun racing game with some wild tracks and jumps. Besides the switch, new hardware included FreddyK's SLI setup of 2 8800GTS cards - a SPAWNPOINT first - and Beorn's mini-keyboard for gamers who lack deskspace, while HeMan attempted the record of filling all spare USB ports with an external HDD - three I believe! Finally, we can't forget the "Hot as Hell" pizzas from Hell Pizza since the effects were still being felt the next day for some... :P
TheBigThawLAN
Gandalf, HeMan, JRUDMAN, FreddyK, Beorn, Tevoro, Mauke_warrior, Enraged Stoat, jamestk, [sambo]
Following a mini ice-age during the winter with a freezing of SPAWNPOINT LAN's, TheBigThawLAN brought the clan back together after 6 months since the last gathering! Great to see jamestk make an appearance (albeit without hardware) and welcome Enraged Stoat - a new resident to our shores with plenty of game experience and a nice rig! With lots of terabyte drives on hand, plenty of leeching got the LAN underway with some record speeds observed in excess of 100MB/s between Gandalf and Enraged Stoat! Gaming kicked off in Call of Duty 5 before Hell pizza for dinner in Gandalf's new kitchen, followed by more gaming in the newly released Wolfenstein (briefly!) and later Left 4 Dead. And of course it wouldn't be a SPAWNPOINT LAN without a Call of Duty 4 fix including the ever hilarous and tight maps Killhouse and Shipment. :) In the software department, FreddyK gamed on his Windows 7 RC machine successfully and JR brought software of a different kind for his mousepad... ;) As for hardware, Tevoro's PC was nice and shiny having arrived off-the-shelf just two days earlier, while most attendees sported big new internal and/or external HDD's with Gandalf putting his new HDD toaster to good use. King of the hard drive hill goes to Enraged Stoat with his 128GB SSD Raid for his system and a 6TB Raid for storage! - the first SSD at a SPAWNPOINT LAN too I believe.
WaxedArseLAN
JRUDMAN, Beorn, Gandalf, Narsil, HeMan, FreddyK, Mauke_warrior, jamestk
Coinciding with the Cuba Street Carnival (hence the LAN name - at least we hope this is the reason!) WaxedArseLAN kicked off the '09 LAN season at JR's pad. Great to see jamestk make the trek for a frag and catch-up in between jobs. Following a brief break after the release of CoD:WaW, CoD4 returned for some typically great action - albeit with an annoying spawn delay in HC mode! CoD:WaW (aka CoD5) also got a look in with some fantastically gritty WAR action, including the newly released daytime Makin map (with the 1.2 patch). A few early departures left the final 4 to team up for some zombie killing action in L4D with the LAN wrapping early before 1am! Just a couple of niggling problems at this LAN - Mauke and Gandalf quickly found that the CoD5 patch killed sound on Vista (resolution: lower the sound output quality via CP) and HeMan and Gandalf suffered a few games crashes in L4D, but this wasn't enough to dent the gameplay fun. Finally on the hardware front, no CRT's!!! - a SPAWNPOINT first - and plenty of portable USB HDD's in attendance... 5 was it?
IgrsanaLAN
FreddyK, Gandalf, HeMan, Beorn, Narsil, JRUDMAN, Mauke_warrior, G_Unit, [Sambo]
Short for "Im Gonna Rip Santa A New Asshole LAN", FreddyK hosted the last and 12th(!) LAN of the year with a turnout of 8 gamers bringing 10 PC's and a laptop! Sadly for those lugging the extras they weren't used beyond serving a P2P hub. On the hardware front, Beorn put his new Core 2 Quad and DDR3 powered rig to good use, while JR upped his screen size to a new 22" Viewsonic widescreen LCD, with 9 flatscreens present in total and just one CRT - surely an endangered breed... The recently released Call of Duty World at War (aka CoD5) dominated the night, completely dethroning CoD4. Along with plenty of MP WAR action, some co-op zombie killing was attempted with mixed results. Sticking with the zombie theme, the other game to get a look in was Left 4 Dead which at one point saw two parallel games, for 4 players each, running at once. The BBQ and margaritas went down a treat, but the power spike knocking out all PC's didn't - causing a few IP problems, compounded by much cable swapping madness throughout the night to switch the internet (and sometimes gamers!) on and off.
NO-BBQLAN
JRUDMAN, FreddyK, Gandalf, Narsil, Mauke_warrior, Beorn, HeMan, Kilojoule, G_Unit, [Sambo]
With the scheduled venue at FreddyK's out of action, JR stepped up and hosted this one on Fred's birthday featuring Hell pizza in place of a BBQ to feed the lads. A decent turnout saw some good gaming in CoD4 throughout the night, with Crysis Wars also getting a brief run for a taste of the gameplay. Sadly, the non-starters department featured two highly anticipated titles - the demo of Call of Duty: World at War (aka CoD5) and Far Cry 2. As for cool new hardware, Mauke_warrior showed off his Acer Aspire One running XP Black - nice! Finally, props to Fred/JR for timing the LAN perfectly for Gandalf who attended with an "on call" status... 24 hours later baby number 2 arrived!
WHOOP ASS LAN
JRUDMAN, HeMan, Narsil, Pommie Legend, Beorn, Mauke_warrior, FreddyK, Gandalf
JR hosted his 12th LAN and the 10th of the year coinciding with the daylight savings changeover. Despite a wet southerly, the BBQ was fired up to feed the lads with the action indoors being dominated by CoD4 running on a dedicated server by Narsil in the abscence of Sambo. Friendly fire proved not to be so friendly for some, including for Gandalf who finally arrived after midnight for some quick gaming. Man of the match goes to Beorn who clocked up an impressive 86 kills, including a 20-kill streak, in one Headquarters round on the Shipment map! In the new hardware department, HeMan arrived with a widescreen LCD, further pushing the CRT's towards extinction. After a quick jump-start to get Pommie underway and some late leeching, the final four fired up TF2 briefly, with the LAN wrapping after 4am, er, make that 5am!
Sake_LAN
Afro_DooD, Tevoro, HeMan, Beorn, Gandalf, FreddyK, JRUDMAN, Macian, [Sambo]
After a 3 year break from hosting, Afro had the clan round for the second LAN of the month. Once the cobwebs were blown out from his PC, and following some software and hardware troubleshooting by Beorn and Gandalf, the DooD was finally ready for gameplay... after a BBQ feed for the lads that is. Sambo again came in handy as a game client with Tevoro putting it to good use and bringing numbers to 8. A late start to fragging was made up for with some hilarious close up fighting in CoD4, often with a symphony of grenades and knives! Gaming remained in CoD4 thoughout the night and early morning with a few extended breaks for leeching. Lastly, the new hardware department featured a widescreen LCD for Beorn and a couple of external WD "My Passport" Drives for Afro and Gandalf.
Quad LAN
Enraged Stoat, Gandalf, Beorn, FreddyK, HeMan
With 4 pre-confirmed, Quad LAN kicked off just two weeks after the last LAN and ended up Quad +1 for attendance with FreddyK's arrival. The screwdriver was out early for an upgrade to HeMan's rig by way of a shiny new Radeon 4870, grunty PSU and 2GB of RAM. Once running it nicely warmed the room with an idle temp of near 80C! CoD4 was yet again game of the night with the Shipment and Killhouse maps providing some hilarious deathmatch, headquarters and domaination rounds. Also getting a run into the wee hours was Team Fortress 2, but with just 2-on-1 there was more fooling around than gameplay. Finally, this 8th LAN of '08 marks our 40th SPAWNPOINT LAN!
Great Southern LAN
Gandalf, Kilojoule, FreddyK, JRUDMAN, HeMan, Narsil, Pommie Legend, Macian, Beorn, [Sambo], Afro_DooD, Tevoro
With the family out of town, Gandalf hosted lan #7 of '08 - a good day to be indoors as rain and gales lashed the capital. An excellent turnout of 9 initially, with Afro and Tevoro topping up numbers after early departures, but both lacking hardware meaning Sambo switched from dedicated server to game client to give them some game time! In the hardware department, Kilojoule's lack of HDD space lead to some creative external additions including a large WD Passport drive, an iPod and a video camera! Also, both JRUDMAN and Beorn arrived with newly built rigs barely a day old and each sporting the recently released ATI Radeon 4850. Heman's iPod Touch also found a new use thanks to the Phone Saber app! CoD4 once again dominated gameplay throughout the night, with breaks for leeching, pizza, a (troublesome) attempt at Team Fortress 2, and a rubbish Bledisoe Cup match between the All Blacks and Wallabies! With some bad rugby (and reception) out of the way, gaming continued through 6am with the stayers hitting the sack soon after.
Stars & Stripes LAN
JRUDMAN, Narsil, FreddyK, Gandalf, HeMan, Mauke_warrior, Larrylowspec, Macian, [Sambo]
JR hosted the sixth LAN of '08 in as many months and continued the history lesson for the event name - on this day in 1777 Continental Congress adopted the Stars & Stripes. Early gaming kicked off in CoD4, followed by some leeching with variable speeds before a trademark BBQ feed. Gaming then returned to CoD4 which proved so popular that nothing else got a look in - especially with 4 new maps courtesy of the just released 1.6 patch. Sambo again ran dedicated P2P and CoD4 servers, while Mauke_warrior (aka SLICE N DICE among other names!) again carved up the opposition with his knife. Damn that Ninja! Lastly, there was plenty of rugby distraction on the big screen: the NZ Maori beat Fiji 11-7, the All Blacks beat England 37-20, the Wallabies beat Ireland 18-12 and the Springboks beat Wales 37-21.
PopeLAN
Narsil, FreddyK, Gandalf, Mikey, Macian, Kilojoule, JRUDMAN, G_Unit, Mauke_warrior, Beorn, Larrylowspec, HeMan, [Sambo]
Another month and another LAN, this time hosted by Narsil and in honour of St Adrian III who began his reign as Catholic Pope on this day in 884! Some early hardware swapping from Sambo replaced JR's dud graphics card, with Fred providing a replacement for the server, which didn't end up serving any games(!) but did run the P2P hub all night. Welcome back Kilojoule with a functional XP operating system on his Apple laptop, proving that mac gamers do indeed exist ;) And welcome back Larry with his awesome new smoking fast watercooled rig and sexy widescreen monitor - both SPAWNPOINT firsts - and quite an upgrade from a single USB flash drive (the lowspec moniker may have to be retired!) Following heavy leeching, gaming kicked off with a series of Team Death Match and Domination rounds in CoD4 spread over several maps - beware the knife weilding Mauke_warrior! Record numbers meant space was at a premium, but seats were found for 11 gamers providing some superb fragging action (HeMan replaced Macian who departed early). Gaming later shifted to Frontlines - Fuel of War before returning to CoD4 for some excellent Headquarters rounds through to near 4am. Finally, we say goodbye to Mikey who is soon moving to Canada - we'll miss fragging (and being fragged by) ya and backing up your fat HDD's!
SamboServeLAN
JRUDMAN, Narsil, Gandalf, FreddyK, Beorn, [Sambo]
The lads returned to JR's pad for LAN #4 of the year, featuring a good BBQ feed and our first dedicated LAN server named SAMBO (due to the slick black Gigabyte case won by FreddyK at a recent corporate golf day). Unfortunately, our very first attempt at running a dedicated game server didn't go smoothly with only FreddyK able to see anyones BF2142 server (including his own!). On a positive note, Sambo ran a dedicated CoD4 server for the bulk of our 5-person gaming, and also hosted a DC Hub for the duration with stellar transfer speeds at the end of the night. CoD4 dominated gameplay across several gametypes and maps with the final three hammering Frontlines: Fuel of War through to 3am with some hilarious helicopter and fighter flying and fun with drones and targetted airstrikes.
Easter LAN
JRUDMAN, Gandalf, HeMan, Beorn, G_Unit, Mauke_warrior
JRUDMAN, starring as "John Rambo", hosted the third LAN of '08 in as many months. The early arrivals kicked off gaming in the recently released Frontlines: Fuel of War, before getting stuck into plenty of CoD4 action. The old school mode was hammered all night across several gametypes with HeMan the kangaroo soon being joined by other leaping lunatics. BF2142 also had a brief run, with the LAN rounded out by more CoD4 into the wee hours. Also worth mentioning was the BBQ standing up to the mountain of meat JR threw at it, and Mauke_warrior's new floppy keyboard which is apparently waterproof - just as well as JR plans on using it the bath!
Friday night's all right for fighting LAN
Narsil, HeMan, Gandalf, JRUDMAN, Mauke_warrior, Kilojoule
A rare date and short LAN but plenty of good fighting was had by (almost) all. Welcome Kilojoule with an Apple laptop - yes I did say Apple, but this one sporting XP via Boot Camp. Sadly however, the install of CoD4 did not go well resulting in a corrupt XP partition which refused to boot... (this comic springs to mind!) While the boot woes continued, the remaining 5 gamers got stuck into some CoD4 domination with a break for leeching before three BF2142 rounds. A return to CoD4 saw some hilarious "old school free-for-all" gameplay across a number of maps, including the small action packed Shipment map featuring HeMan the kangaroo!
F**kWaitingForMarchLAN
HeMan, Gandalf, Mikey, JRUDMAN, Mauke_warrior, FreddyK
The first (and early!) LAN of '08 was hosted by HeMan, also being the first LAN at his pad on the Kapiti Coast. The early arrivals got stright into gaming with the newly released and uber-fast Unreal Tournament 3 followed by some CoD4 action... will the small "Shipment" container filled map rival the St Petersburg Seaport...?! The flying sim Attack on Pearl Harbour got a run with BF2142 also featuring for a 2-on-2 conquest match. Kudos to FreddyK for turning up after an evening shift and bringing the numbers to 6, with plenty of CoD4 and UT3 into to the wee hours. Finally, who needs the Golden Globe awards anyway? Here's this LANs SPAWNPOINT Awards:
- Best gaming: CoD4 headquarters and domination
- Funniest game discovery: You can play dead in UT3 ... hit [F]
- Sexiest new tech: Mikey's external WD 250GB passport drive
- Most dedicated: FreddyK for attending after an evening shift
- Most annoying: That damn fly!
FastFragFreedomLAN
Gandalf, Mikey, HeMan, Pommie Legend, JamesTK, FreddyK, JRUDMAN, Narsil, Beorn, Mauke_warrior
Armed with a fast new rig for fragging and the freedom of no family, Gandalf hosted the lads for this LAN. An excellent turnout of 10 gamers saw some brilliant 5-on-5 action in the newly released Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which dominated gameplay. Setting up proved challenging for Fred and JR who managed to send their video output to each others monitors. Props to JamesTK for throwing in an extra switch which was vital when JR's second one refused to work. While CoD4 was hammered through a few gametypes across all maps, BF2142 also provided some good matches with the added fun of vehicles. Also newly released, Crysis got a brief run late in the night but sadly the MP sucked so it was back to CoD4 for the stayers through to first light.
BrokeRibMountainLAN
JRUDMAN, Gandalf, Mikey, HeMan, Beorn, FreddyK, Pommie Legend, Macian, G_Unit, Mauke_warrior
Named in honor of the injuries JR and Fred brought home form a recent ski trip, BrokeRibMountainLAN had a good turnout at JR's pad with some new games getting a run. In a SPAWNPOINT gaming first we kicked off with the flight sim Attack on Pearl Harbor and a couple of free-for-all dogfights, then moved to the popular BF2142 for a few rounds spread over the Sidi, Suez and Belgrade maps. Next up was the recently released Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Demo with a fully playable obvective based multiplayer map pitting the alien Strogg against the human GDF (with bots thrown in to boost numbers). Another new game, Bioshock, also made a brief appearance but only on Fred's machine for the lads to see what the graphics should look like courtesy of his 8800. CoD2 saw just 5 minutes of action - losing out with a lack of gamers, with the final four players getting in some action packed bot-fragging fun in BF2142. Lastly, in an entertainment bonus, JR's plasma featured some Rugby World Cup action with Tonga almost beating South Africa 25-30 and an uninspiring England win over Samoa 44-22.
August LAN
JRUDMAN, Narsil, FreddyK, HeMan, Mikey, Gandalf, Pommie Legend, Beorn, Macian
After almost a year since last hosting, JRUDMAN had the lads around for our 30th SPAWNPOINT LAN! FreddyK arrived with his shiney new 8800GTS and after a minor booting problem had his rig smokin' in some gameplay. Gaming kicked off in Counter-Strike: Source on a variety of maps, then headed to Battlefield 2142 with gameplay mostly in the Suez Canal and Sidi Power Plant maps. Call of Duty 2 provided some excellent close up fighting via the Headquarters game type which worked well to focus the action on a single location. The ever popular Capture the Flag game type also had a good run in a couple of desert maps. Finally, the last few gamers returned to BF2142 for some epic matches through to 4am.
eweLAN
Pommie Legend, Narsil, HeMan, Beorn, JRUDMAN, Zippo, Gandalf, Afro_DooD, FreddyK, Mauke_warrior
Following a recent relocation, and armed with a brand spanking new Core 2 Duo rig with a 8600GTS as the first DX10 grfx card at a SPAWNPOINT LAN, Pommie hosted the 7/7/7 LAN at his new estate nestled in rolling farmland surrounded by sheep! A most excellent turnout of 10 resulted in some fantastic gameplay which got underway early in the event before leeching. Yet again a record number of LCD's were present, outnumbering the CRT's 7-3 with Pommie's old PC coming in handy for the hardwareless Afro. Gameplay kicked off in BF2142 then moved to CoD2, with some superb conquest and capture-the-flag rounds respectively. CS:Source then made its first SPAWNPOINT LAN appearance, providing a much needed boost to the graphics in CSCZ and some crazy tagging action with the frequent hiss of custom logos being sprayed! The LAN wrapped before 2am with departing gamers greeted by a thick coating of ice on their cars...
NEWSFLASH! eweLAN was featured in the "Viewer Tech Pic of the Week" segment on DL.TV episode 182. Sweet! (see ~4min into the episode - if you can still track it down!)
And here's a sample of some in-game videos from BF2142, CoD2 and CS:S and a screenshot of some spray tags ;) Click through to the eweLAN playlist at YouTube for more videos...
BF2142 - Walker and
rocket launcher fun
CoD2 - running around
in Matmata, Tunisia
CS:S - the terrorists
get a little crazy
JRUDMAN and Narsil
leave their mark in CS:S
Because I missed the last lan LAN!!!
FreddyK, HeMan, JamesTK, Gandalf, Mikey, Macian, Beorn, JRUDMAN
Following his abscence at the last event, Fred hosted the lads for the next LAN on the calendar (fair punishment I'd say!) In trademark style, the bathtub was again filled with beers and the BBQ stoked for dinner. In the LCD vs. CRT showdown the flat screens reigned supreme at 5-2 with newcomer Ian contributing to the count. JamesTK again showed off his portable HDD during the usual heavy leeching once the network was up and running. Unfortunately Gandalf had to answer a family S.O.S. before gaming eventually got under way in the evening following a few install issues. Long time favourites Rhine Valley and St. Petersburg returned in CoD-UO and BF2142 also had a run into the wee hours.
AboutBloodyTimeLAN
Gandalf, JamesTK, HeMan, Mikey, Pommie Legend, JRUDMAN, Beorn
Following a break of almost 4 months, the 1st LAN of '07 dealt some major PC woes to the host requiring a quick OS rebuild for Gandalf while the lads BBQ'd dinner (possibly related to multiple external HDD's, dual booting XP+Vista with Ubuntu in a Virtual machine!) A decent turnout with newcomer Mike making his presence felt via some good fragging in CoD2 and BF2142. In a sign of the times, the LCD's outnumbered the CRT's 4-3, the highest count at a SPAWNPOINT LAN to date. Full credit to JamesTK for his brief appearance before a nightshift, his kit this time small and consisting of a fat external USB HDD! Gaming finally wrapped in the early hours following some fun 2-on-2 CS Condition Zero action.
XmasLAN
Narsil, HeMan, Gandalf, JRUDMAN
Narsil hosted the last lan before Christmas '06 and fired up his BBQ to feed the lads who all attended sporting mo's following Movember. Gandalf again struck 100% cpu issues during leeching, otherwise the night was trouble free. Gaming kicked off in BF2142 with a mega 1000 ticket 2-on-2 match, followed by CoD2 including a return of the Medal of Honor Rocket Facility map and some gritty Tunisian desert sniper action! CS Condition Zero also had a run in which each team won as counter-terrirosts, with the LAN wrapping after a shorter BF2142 round.
For in-game videos of some action from BF2142, CoD2 and CSCZ recorded with FRAPS, head for Gandalf's XmasLAN playlist at YouTube.
Old BastardsLAN
FreddyK, JRUDMAN, Gandalf, Beorn, Legion
Fred decided to celebrate 40 years with a LAN and sent the family packing for the lads to stay over! Stomachs were satisfied by an impressive selection of international beers on ice and a superb BBQ. Freddy showed off his newly built dual-core rig with awesome cooling solution and 6800GT grfx card. JR and Gandalf also sported new 6800's, a GT and Ultra respectively. Early leeching and gaming was halted by network woes for Beorn and Fred, with Fred back on the network at midnight and Beorn at 4am followed by exclusive BF2142 2-on-2 action until sunrise with a few margaritas...
Fred's sexy CPU cooler
Check out those pipes!
Beer anyone?
1st place: best use of a bath
Celebrating 40 years
Happy Birthday FreddyK
And here's some YouTube hosted videos of FreddyK in action in BF2142. Enjoy!
FreddyK in a tank and JRUDMAN in a helicopter
FreddyK vs JR again, little gun vs big walker
A nice display of flying by FreddyK...
FreddyK and JRUDMAN walker on walker
September LAN
JRUDMAN, Stayhard, HeMan, Gandalf, FreddyK
A smaller turnout for this one at JR's place, but no shortage of leeching, sausage rolls and good game action. HeMan presented his new Intel Core 2 Duo rig which smoked some benchies and Gandalf presented his new 19" ViewSonic monitor. Random crashes on Fred's rig were kicked into touch (literally) while Gandalf suffered a few also under heavy leech action. Gaming can be best summed up as follows...
- Most favorite: CoD-UO, St Petersburg and Rhine return!
- Funniest: Condition Zero 2-on-2 with the moonwalking Freddy
- Best newcomer: MultiPrey with HeMan in Y-fronts and spooky spirits
- Most one-sided: UT2004 2-on-1 between JR, Fred and Gandalf
NewSpawn LAN
JRUDMAN, FreddyK, HeMan, Beorn, Narsil, Pommie Legend, Afro_DooD, Mauke_warrior
NewSpawn LAN was Gandalf's wish for a final frag before baby arrives. Unfortunately, the baby arrived early, the LAN was hosted by JR (cheers) and Gandalf couldn't show!
Yet again JR hosted a great LAN with a decent turnout and showcased an awesome setup with his 42" Plasma! Internet availability was a bonus, with Call of Duty again providing excellent fragging action. Also getting a run was Quake4, Counterstrike and Unreal Tournament but Freds pick of the gameplay was in MultiPrey late in the LAN which the final stayers played until 4:30am...
Overlord LAN
Narsil, Pommie Legend, Gandalf, JamesTK, HeMan, FreddyK, JRUDMAN
Named after the Normandy Invasion on 6 Jun 1944, Overlord LAN fittingly kicked off with some gritty WW2 action in CoD2. The popular bridge map from Medal of Honor is back! In a lan of several firsts we welcomed JamesTK with a few head shots, Freddy turned up with an LCD bringing the count to 2, and Counterstrike Condition Zero had it's first SPAWNPOINT outing... that is after Narsil (aka console command king) figured out how to hook us up. Kudos to JR for still managing a kill with a flat battery in his mouse! Finally, CoD:UO took us well into the wee hours with the ever brilliant St. Petersburg Seaport and Rhine Valley maps again seeing hilarious action.
MOFO LAN 2
JRUDMAN, Narsil, Gandalf, FreddyK, Beorn, HeMan
In a sequal to MOFO LAN, JR hosted the first LAN in '06 and again supplied the lads with a mountain of meat from the BBQ during some Super 14 rugby. Lots of leeching before the gaming in ernest in BF2, CoD2 and superb UT04 into the wee hours. Action in BF2/CoD2 was again interrupted with mildly annoying random crashes, but the end of daylight savings gave a bonus hour for gaming. JR showed off his bright and shiney new Viewsonic flatscreen while Gandalf demo'd Kororaa XGL courtesy of the absent Pommie.
Booting from CD
Transparency demo
The 4 sided desktop cube
MOFO LAN
JRUDMAN, HeMan, Afro_DooD, Gandalf, FreddyK, Beorn, Legion, Stayhard, Reaper, GTX
A good turnout including some new gamers for this lan at JR's place. Plenty of leeching early on, then a filling BBQ for dinner followed by loads of gaming. The recently released Quake4 and CoD2 were both popular and got a good thrashing, with BF2 also getting a run. Various random crashes plagued several PC's, but nothing too serious, and GTX informs his PC works fine after bouncing down the stairs!
HapukaLAN
Narsil, Gandalf, AgentOrange, Pommie Legend, SkiBum, JRUDMAN, Larrylowspec, Beorn, FreddyK
Billed as a final send-off to CoD, this LAN did CoD justice with some of the best gameplay to date. Welcome to AgentOrange and welcome back SkiBum (aka Silk), both sporting nice laptops. Narsil's spare network card came in handy for Beorn, with a scramble to get onto the gigabit switch for leeching! BF2 made a brief appearance, but various issues restricted numbers. In CoD, the largely unplayed Domination gametype was brillant and gritty in the train depot and Benouville bridge maps. Snipers or machine guns in the St Petersburg port changed the game immensly, with a team-death-match round also working well. Freddy's fav Rhine Valley also had a good run. Finally, LARRY HAS HARDWARE! Starting small, his kit now sports a USB flash drive... :)
JR bbq's the enemy
in the Arnham map
Benouville - large(ish)
but good for domination
Depot - worked superbly
for a domination round
St Petersburg Seaport
close up fighting fun
Boys-Basement_LAN
Gandalf, JRUDMAN, HeMan, Pommie Legend, FreddyK, Beorn, Narsil, Larrylowspec
The boys basement worked a treat for the first LAN in Gandalf's new pad. Easy access, a fridge, ensuite and a big screen. Some quick bios chip swapping got Freddy up and running, but no gaming for Beorn with a problematic PC, while Narsil's new 'Beige Box' saw its first LAN. CoD:UO got its usual run with BF2 also seeing action. Half time in the gaming was a superb game of rugby (NZ 31, SA 27) with half time in the rugby being JR's cake! Gaming finished in the small hours after Far Cry and more CoD:UO.
Winter_LAN
Afro_DooD, HeMan, Narsil, Larrylowspec, Gandalf, JRUDMAN, FreddyK
With winter here, the clan headed to Afro's pad for a LAN. Early hardware swapping saw HeMan and Afro get graphics card upgrades with some pre-LAN Kava numbing the tongue. The first casualty at a LAN went to Freddy who headbutted a table setting up, requiring a bandage and fetching head scarf. In more bad luck Freddy's PC crashed, corrupting his O/S. The spare PC he brought for Larry was then very useful with gameplay mostly Call of Duty but also UT2004. The curry went down a treat with a fireworks display an added bonus. A late round of Far Cry for the final 4 saw the LAN wrap at 4am.
SprogLAN
Narsil, Gandalf, HeMan, Pommie Legend, Larrylowspec
The sprog headed out for the night for the lads to frag! For small numbers, the "Behind Enemy Lines" game type in Call of Duty proved a hit (beware the lurking HeMan in buildings) Mmmmmm pizza...and animal shaped snacks! An extra laptop provided Larry some gameplay, with it handling the fast UT2004 action at the end of the night better than CoD!
PreNatalLAN
FreddyK, Afro_DooD, Gandalf, Narsil, JRUDMAN, Beorn, Sparrow
Freddy had the boys over before the new arrival for some gaming and yet another superb BBQ. Loads of Call of Duty action with some hilarious jeep kills in the Rhine Valley. The surf map in Far Cry also had a good run. A few game installation issues for Sparrow and Beorn but soon sorted.
JRUDLAN
JRUDMAN, Afro_DooD, Pommie Legend, Gandalf, FreddyK, Beorn, Mauke_warrior, Legion
JR's new pad hosted it's first LAN with a good turnout and some new faces :) Lots of Call of Duty - thumbs up to tanks in the Rhine Valley capture-the-flag map and gritty sniper/machinegun action at the Saint Petersburg Seaport. The Surf map in Far Cry was hilarious as usual ( JR's niece even got some good kills in!) with UT2004 also getting a run. Network troubles for Beorn resulted in a fresh O/S with new network card pending - JR's spare PC then came in handy, esp with Legion's late arrival minus hardware. Good wee quake at 4:08am too - mag 6.4 ~160km NW of JRUDLAN!
Renovation_LAN
Afro_DooD, FreddyK, JRUDMAN, HeMan, Rune
The first LAN of '05 and in celebration of Afro's new deck! A late start to gaming saw some Warcraft 3 action then some hilarious Call of Duty tank battles in a king of the hill match followed by UT2004.
FishfingerLAN
Narsil, Gandalf, Larrylowspec, Pommie Legend, HeMan, FreddyK, JRUDMAN, Rune
The first lan dedicated to a game - Call of Duty, and the first at Narsil's new pad. Originally named a 'Mini-CoD LAN', the term 'FishfingerLAN' was soon adopted. Great to see Larry there (in typical lowspec fashion with no hardware) and the new tables held up for the event! Lots of CoD action, but also WC3 and some UT2004 for a complete variety of game pace.
SunDayLAN
Gandalf, HeMan, Narsil, Pommie Legend, JRUDMAN, Beorn, Rune, Afro_DooD
And sunny it was on Sunday for the LAN (well briefly). The BBQ was fired up for the first time since last summer and struggled to cook the mountains of meat on hand! Gameplay was mostly Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne and Call of Duty United Offensive (with jeeps and tanks), also some Doom 3, Far Cry, and UT2004 later.
HouseWarmingLAN
Afro_DooD, Gandalf, FreddyK, JRUDMAN, Narsil, HeMan, Pommie Legend, Magic, Rune, Silk, Beorn (briefly!)
The first event in Afro's new house - held while the missus was out of town ;). Easy access to a separate games room, a good location but 3 chairs short and a trek to the fridge! Samosa's, pizza, beer, Sake, guitars, Call of Duty, UT2004, Battlefield Vietnam, Far Cry. A new record on numbers - a solid 10 and 11 for a while.
MayDayLAN
Gandalf, FreddyK, JRUDMAN, Vent, HeMan, Afro_DooD, Narsil, Pommie Legend
A new location but a common theme for Gandalf's LAN's - stairs to the event! Vent's OS required a rebuild, with some much anticipated Far Cry battles and good Call of Duty and UT2004 action.
BBQLAN
FreddyK, JRUDMAN, Gandalf, HeMan, Afro_DooD, Narsil, Beorn, Rune, Vent
As per the event name, FreddyK put on an impressive BBQ and hosted the lads upstairs. The biggest LAN to date with some great Call of Duty action.
IngerLAN
4-Nov-03Pommie Legend, Gandalf, FreddyK, HeMan, Afro_DooD
Apply a pommie accent to the LAN name and you'll get it! Great food on hand thanks to Mrs Pommie Legend, and the cable car ride to the event was a novelty.
SpringLAN
23-Sep-03HeMan, Gandalf, Afro_DooD, Pommie Legend
With the missus out of town, HeMan got the boys around for some PC fun. The curry break went down a treat with lots of gaming on Spearhead in Tug of War Mode.
TrampingLAN
Gandalf, HeMan, Afro_DooD, Beorn, Narsil, Pommie Legend, FreddyK
The trip to the summit was tough but the weather kind for this one. With Gandalf's old PC and extra laptop we had 6 gaming and 7 when FreddyK arrived later.
DogBoxLAN Revisited
5-Jul-03Afro_DooD, Gandalf, HeMan, Narsil, Beorn, Rune
The tequila swilling Afro_DooD escaped the box and hosted another LAN. More rain and bitter southerlies with the threat of snow in the mountains of Brooklyn. With a new network card in the hosts PC and an extra laptop for Narsil, it was game on for 6.
DogBoxLAN
8-Jun-03FreddyK, JRUDMAN, Gandalf, HeMan, Beorn, Rune
The DogBox was locked so tight that the LAN had to move from Afro_DooD's place with the damnation of a howling southerly storm and a flooded laundry. Gandalf's turn for PC troubles with an OS upgrade in order. Two late arrivals and we had 6 gaming.
VindalooLAN
28-Apr-03FreddyK, JRUDMAN, Gandalf, HeMan, Pommie Legend, Zippo
A primo setup, with a spacious room and nearby beer fridge, pity the hosts machine refused to connect to the network for a couple of hours! The first laptop arrived with a pom, (but we won't hold either against Pommie Legend!).
DasLAN
28-Feb-03Afro_DooD, FreddyK, JRUDMAN, Gandalf
A long time ago, at a LAN not so far away... The curry was tasty as were the beers, but unfortunately the host didn't have a network card, so it was 3 gaming and 1 waiting!