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i34 set to be UK's largest ever LAN party
Author: Harry ButlerPublished: 7th August 2008
Grab your PC - it's time to LAN!
i34 kicks off tomorrow (or this evening if you've chosen to turn up early), and is basically guaranteed to shatter the UK LAN party attendance record, with almost two thousand gamers making the trip to the i-series' new venue at Stoneleigh park, Coventry. While this is still a ways off of the enormous attendance figures of similar events like Dreamhack in Scandinavia, it does show the UK PC online gaming scene is continuing to grow.
However, this time Multiplay have also chosen to build on the expanding trade show aspect of the event, and are running "M-festival," a trade show/exhibition alongside the i-series LAN party, with dozens of booths from some of the biggest names in PC hardware and software showcasing the latest games and technologies.
In attendance will be industry leaders such as EA, Ubisoft, Foxconn, MSI, Intel, Samsung and many others, showing off all their latest kit and games, including Spore, Mirror's Edge and Far Cry 2.
The event is completely open to the public too - you can just turn up and pay on the door, which is a great chance for those who bemoan the lack of any major public industry events in the UK.
i34 is also playing host to the UK leg of the World Cyber Games, with gamers competing to qualify for the chance to represent the UK at the WCG grand finals in Cologne Germany - although hopefully they won't have such a lame theme song as before.
bit-tech will be attendance for the entire weekend, chatting with the event sponsors, organisers and maybe even a celebrity or two, as well as keeping our eyes open for any unique or interesting case mods on display. We're also keen to give some love to any of our forum regulars in attendance, so be sure to drop by seat Q-16 and claim yourself some bit-tech goodies (first come, first served) or give us a game of Zombie Fluxx if you want.
Are you going to i34? Or do you not see the point of LAN gaming now we all have broadband? Thinking of going along for the exhibition? Let us know in the forums!
Comments (20)Stats: 0.049 seconds
Cya there Hg
i have never been to a lan before and would love to go to one
i've got jack all to do this weekend, if you had told me like 3 weeks earlier, i'd have hired a car and went.
Fancy a quick detour through County Durham? :p
I'm camping out at seat Q-16 now :P (im in V-12, join us for TF2age!)
For someone paying on the door and travelling an hour and a half each way, is it a good event?
free games like Armagetron and bontago ftw!
well why didn't you just say so! see you there! hehe...i would love to go but alas am verry vusy at the moment. although Gemma in that hot military outfit is irresistable
I would love to meet the BT staff in there :/
Harry is going for the full weekend and Hiren will be there Friday.
Will I be able to tell who's from BT, if your all walking around?
1800 tickets sold out in 6 days!
I bought mine on the 1st by the way :-)
just kidding though...
Harry is wearing a hat with a Bit-tech business card in the top of it, I think.