The Flow of Consciousness

The Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, of which I am a staff member, held its eighth event this past weekend: Iron Storm 7 (the number difference is a result of a smaller LAN called Pittco Lite that was held very quickly and was very small).

While attendance wasn’t its highest because of both Quakecon and the Family Values tour being in Pittsburgh on Saturday, it was still a very energized and highly interactive event.

We held a Counter-Strike: Source tournament and a Unreal Tournament 2004 tournament officially. I didn’t play in the former, but I did manage to get hosed in the latter. We’ll not go into the scores, but suffice to say that I need to learn how to use the shock combo far more effectively. I also need to remember that the shield cannon cannot counter said shock combo and that I should stop trying to use it in 1v1, no matter how hilarious a kill with it may be.

I conducted the 8v8 Battlefield 2 tournament on Karkand. Three teams vied for bragging rights: ITO, Spyder, and Pornalicious. I played with ITO against Spyder in the first round. We lost by about 70. A not-so-narrow defeat, but we still played well for having a team that was thrown together haphazardly. Spyder went on to defeat Pornalicious narrowly (I believe by less than 10). Spyder kept the crown, having won at IS6, too.

I tried to get in on some Far Cry action, but the guys who were playing quit by the time I was patched and ready to go. I really miss Far Cry multiplayer FFA–it’s insane.

Jon, Zack, and I fetched some sushi from Giant Eagle Market District. I had a summer roll and blue crab California rolls. We also picked up some hummus and pitas as a side and a strange kosher candy bar that Zack likes. It was made of crushed sesame seeds and was pretty delicious. Zack said that a person can only handle one once in a while so as to not come to dislike the incredibly sweet taste. I agreed.

I did play CS for a little, but only enough to get myself pissed off. It happens when I play that stupid game.

The jackass tournaments went well, too. The karaoke tournament was small but amusing. I think I will do it next time. I’m certainly a better vocalist than the chap who won. The boxer sprint made a return, too. At least this time, it wasn’t snowing outside like at IS3.

I’m looking forward to IS8. We’re considering adding some more official tournaments using newer games that will be out then (UT3, Crysis, etc.). I want to get an official BF2 tournament going, too.

Check out the activity on the forums.

Electronic Arts silently added Logitech G15 LCD support to BF2142 in its recent v1.10 patch. Displayed when you aren’t in a game are your career points, points until next rank, how long you’ve played, your kill/death ratio, and how many dog tags you’ve taken. You’ll have to check out the pics for the in-game stuff—I’m not typing in the wealth of information displayed

Proof:

Button three under the screen is the one that changes pages.

Yeah, my career points aren’t that high, but I’m in the middle of attempting to graduate and work at the same time.

Thanks to the folks of Gunslinger for not booting me while I marveled about this.

Update: Guntizzle over at StrafeRight saw it before I did and posted pictures, too.