So how was XL Birmingham?
Aug 09, 2:56 pm
As any LAN-attendee will testify, these kind of events are just as much about socialising as they are about gaming. Xbox Live is all well and good, but there’s nothing like meeting someone you’ve been gaming with for months face-to-face in the flesh. Despite all the talk of video gaming expanding at an ever-increasing rate, console-LAN events still retain an intimate, in-group feel. Everybody knows everybody. They might only know people from their gamertags, but they’ll be able to reel off a gamer’s history, their game of choice, and all the movers and shakers in the tournament gaming circuit. True it can be a bit clique-y and a bit intimidating to the uninitiated, but at the same time it’s nice to be at a gaming event that embraced its niche status. The main games of choice were Halo 2, Rainbow Six: Vegas, and Gears of War. Idol Master it wasn’t (sorry Kitt.)
Naturally I soon found myself gravitating towards the Vegas tournament. 4 vs 4, with a mix of retrieval and sharpshooter. Cross my heart, on my very soul, it was one of the most exciting Vegas tournaments I have ever witnessed. Insanity X and VVV made it through to the final, which was so close I didn’t know who was going to win until the last five seconds. It really made me want to run home and boot up the game immediately. As for the Halo 2 and Gears tournaments, well… Fantastic matches, but you’re still not going to get me playing either of them, sorry guys! Still not my cup of tea.
I’d survived on a diet of Subway, came *this* close to spending two-hundred quid on a gaming chair (ohhhh but it was a nice gaming chair...) and didn’t get home until after 1am on Monday morning. It was worth it though. In particular I’d like to thank Infused Gaming, Insanity X, Suddenly Taken Over, Scar Tissue, Xg, iPMS, VVV, 4 Team, True Console Ghosts, and of course the event organisers at XL. Sorry if I’ve missed anybody!
Let’s hope console LANs continue to move onwards and upwards. Here’s to the next XL.
Aug 09, 2:56 pm
Last weekend I travelled to XL, an Xbox 360-dedicated LAN in Birmingham. I was there to do some filming for XLEAGUE.TV. Although the event had a relatively small capacity compared to many PC LANs (a mere three hundred folks), it was still one of the biggest - if not the biggest, console-dedicated LAN event in the UK. Stick that in your Xbox 360 and smoke it.
As any LAN-attendee will testify, these kind of events are just as much about socialising as they are about gaming. Xbox Live is all well and good, but there’s nothing like meeting someone you’ve been gaming with for months face-to-face in the flesh. Despite all the talk of video gaming expanding at an ever-increasing rate, console-LAN events still retain an intimate, in-group feel. Everybody knows everybody. They might only know people from their gamertags, but they’ll be able to reel off a gamer’s history, their game of choice, and all the movers and shakers in the tournament gaming circuit. True it can be a bit clique-y and a bit intimidating to the uninitiated, but at the same time it’s nice to be at a gaming event that embraced its niche status. The main games of choice were Halo 2, Rainbow Six: Vegas, and Gears of War. Idol Master it wasn’t (sorry Kitt.)
Naturally I soon found myself gravitating towards the Vegas tournament. 4 vs 4, with a mix of retrieval and sharpshooter. Cross my heart, on my very soul, it was one of the most exciting Vegas tournaments I have ever witnessed. Insanity X and VVV made it through to the final, which was so close I didn’t know who was going to win until the last five seconds. It really made me want to run home and boot up the game immediately. As for the Halo 2 and Gears tournaments, well… Fantastic matches, but you’re still not going to get me playing either of them, sorry guys! Still not my cup of tea.
I’d survived on a diet of Subway, came *this* close to spending two-hundred quid on a gaming chair (ohhhh but it was a nice gaming chair...) and didn’t get home until after 1am on Monday morning. It was worth it though. In particular I’d like to thank Infused Gaming, Insanity X, Suddenly Taken Over, Scar Tissue, Xg, iPMS, VVV, 4 Team, True Console Ghosts, and of course the event organisers at XL. Sorry if I’ve missed anybody!
Let’s hope console LANs continue to move onwards and upwards. Here’s to the next XL.
