fitbabits
08-07-2006, 09:18 AM
QuakeCon 2006 - A First-Timer’s Perspective, Part One
Editorial by James A. Young (aka fitbabits)
Rather than list off my activities one-by-one, I thought it would be more interesting to compose an all-encompassing editorial in order to hopefully convey to our readers just what it was like at QuakeCon (QC) 2006 for a first-time attendee.
I’ll begin this then where it all began for me – loading my pickup truck in preparation for the 13+ hour journey from Denver, CO to Dallas, TX. My Mapquested route was to take me through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and finally finishing in the Lone Star State.
The journey to QC was fairly unremarkable, but I would be kidding myself if I didn’t convey to you the one question that I repeatedly asked myself: What the hell is it with Kansas? Seriously, I have seldom been so offended by what I saw at the side of the road on billboards or heard on the radio while scanning the channels for some decent talk shows. There was so much conservative and fundamentalist Christian propaganda that I was forced to listen to Lamb of God just to cleanse myself! Easily 90% of the AM channels I scanned contained either some evangelical nonsense about letting God back in the classroom/your life/the Whitehouse/whatever, or some diatribe on how Liberals were trying to ruin the US of A. I wish I was exaggerating, but sadly I’m not…
Anyway, my problems with Kansas are best left for another day and another thread – this is supposed to be about QC 2006, so without further ado:
I arrived in Dallas at approximately 11:45pm Thursday, after the aforementioned Monster energy drink-fueled drive, and I was shattered. I quickly checked in to my room and hopped in the shower before hitting the sack.
Friday morning, then, and it was time for me to make the five-minute walk from my hotel to the Hilton Anatole Hotel where QC 2006 was being held. After picking up my press credentials, it was time for me to venture downstairs and finally sample the delights I was sure awaited me.
They say that first impressions last, and I believe that to be the case. You can imagine, then, how unimpressed I was when I walked through the doors and realized just how small the exhibition space looked. Granted, I’d never been to any of the previous QuakeCons, but I was still taken aback at how small it all seemed. I talked to a few of the exhibitors and they each said the same thing – this QuakeCon was smaller than in previous years. That’s not to say that what was on display was any less impressive, not at all; I’m merely saying that I expected something more grand in scale!
After taking in the size (or lack thereof) of the exhibition space, I proceeded to head straight for the main attraction – Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. I stood opposite the bank of high definition displays with my mouth agape while the lucky few were putting the latest build to the test. To say that it looked wonderful would be a huge understatement. I did get a chance to have a hands-on with it, but you’ll have to wait for part two to find out if it I thought it played as well as it looked.
I picked my jaw up off the floor long enough to head deeper into the cavernous room, passing by booths by nVIDIA, Intel, Enermax, CPU magazine, to name but a few. I then spotted some funky-looking green nVIDIA-branded chairs which were set up in front of a big TV where Doom (the movie) was on repeat play! So far, so good…
On to the demo kiosks and my first chance to play the likes of Call of Juarez, Lego Star Wars 2, F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point, Just Cause, and Flatout 2. First up was Call of Juarez and I was terribly disappointed on what I played. Perhaps the code wasn’t fully optimized, but it ran like crud and looked as dull as ditch water. The frame rate will no doubt be polished before release, but I left the game thinking that more was needed here than just some spit and polish. And I’ve not even mentioned the lackluster level design. It was a real shame as I was genuinely looking forward to getting my hands on this title and seeing what all the fuss was about. So just what was all the fuss about?
My mood was greatly improved, however, by getting some play time with Lego Star Wars 2 (LSW2)! I’m happy to report that fans of the original should have no fears where the sequel is concerned – it’s more of the same great gameplay, this time based on the movies that started the Star Wars phenomenon and therefore so much more relevant. It was odd playing it with the mouse and keyboard set up as I’m so used to playing games of that ilk with a joypad, be it on PS2, Xbox or whatever.
Next up was F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point, the hotly anticipated expansion pack for many people’s 2005 Game of the Year. As with LSW2, it’s definitely a case of more of the same with this episode, but when the sibling is of the same high quality as the parent, that’s seldom ever a bad thing. The first thing I noticed was the bump in graphical quality. This bump may not be as apparent to those who played the original on a top end rig, but holy macaroni – the visuals really did sparkle on the test machine. The level layout on EP seemed tighter as well. Oh, and then there’s the blood and gore. One other thing worth noting was the sound design – it really was stellar! The sound heard when firing the weapons on offer was so beefy I couldn’t believe it. I was pumped for this expansion before I played it and I’m now even more so after sampling the delights of the demo.
My QuakeCon adventure was now positively looking up after my initial disappointment and I still had Enemy Territory and John Carmack's keynote address to look forward to...
...which will be revealed in part two, hopefully some time tomorrow!
Editorial by James A. Young (aka fitbabits)
Rather than list off my activities one-by-one, I thought it would be more interesting to compose an all-encompassing editorial in order to hopefully convey to our readers just what it was like at QuakeCon (QC) 2006 for a first-time attendee.
I’ll begin this then where it all began for me – loading my pickup truck in preparation for the 13+ hour journey from Denver, CO to Dallas, TX. My Mapquested route was to take me through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and finally finishing in the Lone Star State.
The journey to QC was fairly unremarkable, but I would be kidding myself if I didn’t convey to you the one question that I repeatedly asked myself: What the hell is it with Kansas? Seriously, I have seldom been so offended by what I saw at the side of the road on billboards or heard on the radio while scanning the channels for some decent talk shows. There was so much conservative and fundamentalist Christian propaganda that I was forced to listen to Lamb of God just to cleanse myself! Easily 90% of the AM channels I scanned contained either some evangelical nonsense about letting God back in the classroom/your life/the Whitehouse/whatever, or some diatribe on how Liberals were trying to ruin the US of A. I wish I was exaggerating, but sadly I’m not…
Anyway, my problems with Kansas are best left for another day and another thread – this is supposed to be about QC 2006, so without further ado:
I arrived in Dallas at approximately 11:45pm Thursday, after the aforementioned Monster energy drink-fueled drive, and I was shattered. I quickly checked in to my room and hopped in the shower before hitting the sack.
Friday morning, then, and it was time for me to make the five-minute walk from my hotel to the Hilton Anatole Hotel where QC 2006 was being held. After picking up my press credentials, it was time for me to venture downstairs and finally sample the delights I was sure awaited me.
They say that first impressions last, and I believe that to be the case. You can imagine, then, how unimpressed I was when I walked through the doors and realized just how small the exhibition space looked. Granted, I’d never been to any of the previous QuakeCons, but I was still taken aback at how small it all seemed. I talked to a few of the exhibitors and they each said the same thing – this QuakeCon was smaller than in previous years. That’s not to say that what was on display was any less impressive, not at all; I’m merely saying that I expected something more grand in scale!
After taking in the size (or lack thereof) of the exhibition space, I proceeded to head straight for the main attraction – Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. I stood opposite the bank of high definition displays with my mouth agape while the lucky few were putting the latest build to the test. To say that it looked wonderful would be a huge understatement. I did get a chance to have a hands-on with it, but you’ll have to wait for part two to find out if it I thought it played as well as it looked.
I picked my jaw up off the floor long enough to head deeper into the cavernous room, passing by booths by nVIDIA, Intel, Enermax, CPU magazine, to name but a few. I then spotted some funky-looking green nVIDIA-branded chairs which were set up in front of a big TV where Doom (the movie) was on repeat play! So far, so good…
On to the demo kiosks and my first chance to play the likes of Call of Juarez, Lego Star Wars 2, F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point, Just Cause, and Flatout 2. First up was Call of Juarez and I was terribly disappointed on what I played. Perhaps the code wasn’t fully optimized, but it ran like crud and looked as dull as ditch water. The frame rate will no doubt be polished before release, but I left the game thinking that more was needed here than just some spit and polish. And I’ve not even mentioned the lackluster level design. It was a real shame as I was genuinely looking forward to getting my hands on this title and seeing what all the fuss was about. So just what was all the fuss about?
My mood was greatly improved, however, by getting some play time with Lego Star Wars 2 (LSW2)! I’m happy to report that fans of the original should have no fears where the sequel is concerned – it’s more of the same great gameplay, this time based on the movies that started the Star Wars phenomenon and therefore so much more relevant. It was odd playing it with the mouse and keyboard set up as I’m so used to playing games of that ilk with a joypad, be it on PS2, Xbox or whatever.
Next up was F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point, the hotly anticipated expansion pack for many people’s 2005 Game of the Year. As with LSW2, it’s definitely a case of more of the same with this episode, but when the sibling is of the same high quality as the parent, that’s seldom ever a bad thing. The first thing I noticed was the bump in graphical quality. This bump may not be as apparent to those who played the original on a top end rig, but holy macaroni – the visuals really did sparkle on the test machine. The level layout on EP seemed tighter as well. Oh, and then there’s the blood and gore. One other thing worth noting was the sound design – it really was stellar! The sound heard when firing the weapons on offer was so beefy I couldn’t believe it. I was pumped for this expansion before I played it and I’m now even more so after sampling the delights of the demo.
My QuakeCon adventure was now positively looking up after my initial disappointment and I still had Enemy Territory and John Carmack's keynote address to look forward to...
...which will be revealed in part two, hopefully some time tomorrow!