This was my first time going to a QuakeCon, I had heard about them for the last few years, many people I had known online for years went every year. I always wished I could have gone previous years, but I could never get the time off, or justify the huge expense of traveling from Canada to Texas while I was still going to college. I’ve been finished college for over a year now, and was able to take the time off work without worrying if I would have a job when I got back, so I decided to make the trek.

    Having just joined up with Virtual-Hideout.net earlier in the year, it would add even more things to do and see while I was there. With the deal worked out, I received the information about getting a press badge once I arrived.

    Throughout the trip, I would be using different products that I had never needed or seen before, so it was a great opportunity to review some very impressive gear. I’ll leave the in depth reviews for a different article, as this will be mostly about the trip and QuakeCon itself.

    Getting to QuakeCon 2005 was by no means an easy task, and it didn’t start out very well at all. I did not decide 100% that I would be going to Qcon till 2 weeks before I would have to leave. I realized that I did not have a good system to carry my computer onto an airplane, and after seeing different horror stories about the football players that work at various airports, I thought something indestructible would be needed.

    As it happens, a friend works at Commercial Solutions, and he knew of a product that he thought would fit the bill. After looking online, I agreed with him. The case is made by Pelican and the model number is 1660. It is a gigantic case, which would cause me multiple problems later on, but as for protective abilities, I don’t think anything better exists. The case comes with pull out foam that you can shape to fit anything you need. It was more than enough room to fit my Lian-li PC-V1000 case, Apple Keyboard, APC Surge protector (I would have brought my APC UPS, but Qcon rules stated that 500VA was the limit for UPS’s, and mine is 800VA) Mouse, Headphones, Camera and 20” BenQ 2091 LCD monitor + stand. All totaled the case weighed 102.5 pounds. I figured it could have been dropped out of a plane, land in the ocean, wash up on shore and my computer would be just fine, yes it’s that protective.

    Of course, I didn’t GET that case till the night I had to leave. So at 9pm , I was furiously packing everything into it, and by 12pm , I had it and the rest of my bags ready to go. After catching a few hours of sleep, I got up at 3am and drove the 1.5 hours down to the Calgary airport for my 6:30am flight (yuck, especially for someone who can’t sleep while on a plane, aka: me) Once I got to the airport, I found out a bit of news that nearly made my heart jump out of my chest. The limit (absolutely, 100% legal limit we won’t budge at all sort of limit) for a single piece of checked in luggage is 100 pounds. At this point, I thought my case was over 110 pounds because I weighed it at home on the scale, thankfully it overestimated things a touch. I was able to remove my headphones, digital Camera and a few cables to bring it down to 99.4 pounds *whew*. At least it could go on the plane, but it sure was expensive with the extra charges (over $150USD) as the case was also oversized. Right then I thought “boy, if I ever do this again, I’m either just bringing a laptop, or I’m getting a shuttle case!”

    Customs and security, I had heard all sorts of news stories about the hell on earth that was airport security. After going through the security in Calgary Alberta, and as I sit writing this in Dallas Fort Worth airport, where you go through check in and security right as soon as you enter the airport, I can say I’m actually impressed with the way they handled everything. (*cough, see update at the end of the article, Cough*) It took a minute to explain what QuakeCon was of course

• Me: “It’s a computer gaming convention”

• Customs: “Is it for work?”

• Me:” No”

• Customs:” What do you do there?”

• Me: ”Umm.. play computer games with about 3000 other people.”

• Customs: ”Is it for work?”

• Me: ”Umm nooooo..”

• Customs: “… uh… o…. k… carry on.”

    I think I had that exact conversation with 3 different people as I went through. Despite their obvious confusion, they put my computer through customs without opening it (or at least moving anything inside the case anyway) and it took maybe a total of 10 minutes to go from check-in through customs till I was sitting inside the terminal waiting for the flight.  I took my laptop on the plane with me, it took them maybe 30 seconds for them to take a swab of my laptop, ask me to open it after I walked through the metal detector. (They didn’t put it through the x-ray machine in Calgary , they did in Dallas , but there was no swab for chemicals in Dallas .)

 

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    The plane ride itself was uneventful, I took American Airlines, and it was more spacious than Air-Canada or the domestic West-Jet flight I took earlier in the year, but it was still cramped. I grabbed my luggage at the pickup location (it was the first batch out!) and went to an exit point, where I met another passenger who was heading for QuakeCon. It was easy to spot who was going to QuakeCon, anyone who had a desktop computer at their side was pretty well automatically going. He had already arranged for a shuttle bus, so I road with him. It was only 20 feet from the exit of the airport to the bus, but that was all it took to cure me of any desire I might have had to move down to Texas. Being acclimatized to a temperature range of -40 to 25 above Celsius, 20% humidity, I wasn’t at all prepared for 94 F with 85% humidity! I can’t imagine having to work outside laboring in Texas. Thankfully, they do take their air conditioning very seriously in Texas, so anywhere inside felt perfect.

    QuakeCon was hosted at the Gaylord hotel, just 5 minutes away from DFW airport. The hotel is huge; it easily held all the people who were staying for QuakeCon, as well as other large events happening simultaneously. The large atrium in the center of the hotel was air conditioned, filled with lots of plant life, waterfalls/streams and even a few exhibits of small animals, model trains and a NASA display. A long hallway connects the hotel area to the different ballrooms that the “Bring your own computer” (BYOC) area was held in. The rooms aren’t anything special, at least the ones at the QuakeCon rates anyway. A Standard Best-Western, Super8 is on par with the Gaylord for room size and quality.

    After meeting up with my friends from mIRC and having something to eat, we waited for the BYOC to open up. I was informed that previous years, they had started to let people in at 10pm Wednesday night (those who had a reserved spot that is) So the line had started to form around 4pm . It was 11pm by the time we headed down to get in line, and no one had been let it at that point. In fact, it wasn’t till around 2:30am till they started letting people in.  Apparently their database had failed and they did not have access to any of the registration information. You’ve probably been in a room with 30+ people for a few hours and know how hot and sweaty everyone can get in a short time. Well try being in a hallway with a few thousand people who have been waiting in line for 8+ hours. The smell was not for the faint of heart at the front of the line and that’s putting it mildly. Our group was smart enough to start waiting for the line to open up in shifts, so people could go get some sleep and shower if they wanted to. If we had been really smart, we would have just all went back to the hotel rooms and come back around 5am< . I was literally the 3^rd last person in line by the time we got into the BYOC. Though I have pictures that prove there was at least 75+ people behind me when we got in line. I guess that’s what happens when you have a polite Canadian in line and someone says “ok, everyone move over here now.” Once we got in, everyone was told to just drop off their computers without setting anything up. Everyone was allowed back in at 9am to really begin QuakeCon 2005. The BYOC never filled completely up; except for maybe 4 hours on Saturday, I always had 2 open spots next to me. There was an amazing amount of people at QuakeCon even with the open spots, but the BYOC never had any mob issues.

    The vender areas was an entirely different story. With Nvidia, Intel, Creative, Alienware, Dell and Activision making up the major sponsors, and taking up the lions share of the space, everyone tended to congregate around them. As soon as someone started tossing out free shirts, or some other swag, it could get pretty loud and crowded real fast. It was almost impossible to go to QuakeCon from Thursday through Sunday without getting at least 1 free shirt. I turned away more than one. There were shirts, hats, toques(beanies for the Canadian deficient out there), bouncy balls that lit-up, mouse pads, wrist bands and dog tags everywhere you looked.

    Of course the big news everyone has been reporting about is the showing of Quake 4. There was a short period of time that the single player was available to be seen, but it was quickly locked out for the rest of the time and I never got a chance to review it. Multiplayer was open for people to try out the rest of the time, even after-hours on some nights.

    The short and sweet review of Quake 4’s multiplayer is this. The game play is almost exactly the same as Quake 3, right down to the powerups and jump ramps. The levels are just as flat and uninteresting; with wide hallways, a few boxes here and there and futuristic looking pieces jutting out of the wall that only just stop it from being completely flat walls and ceilings. (Of course they have no impact on game play) The graphics themselves are on the same level of Doom 3, but without the pitch black “omg I’m blind” parts. The weapon models feel like they have been made to remind gamers of Unreal-tournament, but that’s actually a good thing, as they are impressive looking.