Next to the stage, I found Crucial incognito. They had a couple gaming systems participating in some of the pwnage. It was pretty cool finally getting to meet some of the Crucial team. Oh, yeah. See those pretty little blue LEDs inside their demo system? That's something new coming soon in their Ballistix Tracer line. The LEDs indicate when the module underneath is active. And they aren't too bright at all, which I think is perfect for this kind of factory mod.

Sorry Dice! I got dibs! >:)

West Coast Custom Computers is new to my favorites. I met with the founder of WCCC who also just happens to live up here in Seattle, Washington. If your current system isn't enough, or you want to get something totally new and pimped out, check them out online. They have plenty of ideas and work closely with DangerDen to bring you those systems. Tell them, Temujin sent you.

The Man!

Customized w/ DangerDen

Two excellent 3D monitors were provided and raffled off by iZ3D. Here you can see the two monitors. The Flame and Iron skins simply turned the two in to the sweetest looking monitors around. The quality and detail were flawless. And the 3D performance is better than anything I've seen from any other company. Plus, their 3D glasses are so much nicer than the "birth control" models seen at CES. (I call them "birth control" because you will scare every girl away while wearing them.)

iZ3D Custom Monitors

Basically, all the prizes raffled off came from several of the sponsors including 260 GTX and 280 GTX video cards. Intel hosted a Ninja costume contest where a ninja dubbed, Denim Ninja, won the coveted Skull Trail system along with the near priceless QX9770 Harpertown (Harpies) processors. He basically won the final phase of the Ninja contest which was simply, rock, paper, and scissors. (LOL!) Those fingers really are deadly weapons.

One of the Ninjas

Denim Ninja w/Hello Kitty? o_O

More Hotness:

As for the rest of the event and to be honest, I didn't get to follow much of the game tournaments or the winners. Hey! I was busy helping people with their PC issues (which were many), answering questions, talking to vendors, checking out everyone's machines, sharing military stories, and eating when possible.

I did find what I thought was the ugliest computer case (bottom right pic) while browsing the endless rows and rows of computers. I don't know or care who designed the case. But, I do know it needs replaced ASAP with at least one of Antec's new cases. Our Northeast area reviewer, Sludge, loves to shoot these cases up.

Captain Camo

Before BAWLS

After 6 BAWLS

So, what do you do at a LAN when you need to unplug? Drink some more Bawls energy drinks I guess. I learned that more than three energy drinks can make taking pictures darn near impossible without a tripod. And even then, it's still a challenge. Thank God for timers.

Gaming aside, PDXLAN started off and ended quite well. Comcast (Communistcast) did a pretty decent job of setting up and hosting the connection to the Internets. The entire network was obviously running on Gigabit switches which was really nice for last second game patching which was graciously hosted on a file server. There's nothing like downloading a much needed patch at about 6MB/s.

That's a lot of Bawls!

It was a bummer having to pack up and say bye to new friends. The attendees and vendors were great. There's always something being randomly given away that usually requires a comical, self degrading act or sacrifice of one's pride. Good times were definitely had by all.

Me, Anna, Dave, Saeed, and Mary

If you're looking for one huge, energetic, and innovative LAN, then PDXLAN is absolutely worth the experience. There's already another PDXLAN coming up in January at www.pdxlan.net for those looking for the chance to go. If you don't make it to this LAN, check out those sponsored by Intel like Infernalan. Either way, you have a chance to win new Intel processors or a gaming system. Remember to register early since PDXLAN will sell out quick.