Soooooo belated....

Al of the TCA mentioned around Christmas time that it was a shame there were no photos on my blog of the Xbox LAN which my friends and I took part in (organised, really) just before Christmas. I have been bugging and bugging 'Sarge' to get ahold of the precious photos and now, finally, (after literally stealing them off his computer while he wasn't there) I have them to show you.
First, a refresher.

An Xbox is similar to a computer in that it can be connected to the internet, and to other xbox's and even (if you have the right software) a computer too. But they are specifically dedicated to games. There is a small group of us who get together every now and again in a garage and connect our 'boxes up to play against each other in both tactical and "shoot 'em up" games, but this LAN was a little different. For this we booked an old communications centre on the Air Force Base (where I work) and managed to get twelve plus people going hammer and tongs all night! Sarge and I organised a proper tournament to begin with - with prizes - and even held a prizegiving just before dinner. A big thanks to the people of Microsoft Xbox Australia who kindly sponsored us with drink bottles, t-shirts, lanyards and some limited edition magazines for prizes.

Below are some of the pics we took;

On the top you might be able to see how we laid desks out in a horse shoe, with the white projector screen at the open end. People were ranged on both sides of the desks (ie some facing in and some facing out). In the picture at the bottom you can see a row of eager young players. There isn't a game in process at the moment - we're all laughing over some of the events just played out. It's hard to describe, but at the end of a round, or a game, the stories are always told by the person who missed the chance, or who was unfortunately killed - we are always laughing at ourselves, and while we'll teasingly talk ourselves up before a game, there is no room for arrogant bragging afterwards, unless the victim started the story.
An example of sorts;
I say: "I had just found myself this perfect spot to line up GRIMUZ from across the building, I changed to sniper rifle and hit the zoom - only to see a full-scale rocket coming straight at me! I didn't even have time to move before I was blown to smithereens!"
TDevils says: "Yeah, yeah the funny part is I was about to assisinate you too and he got me as well!!"
GRIMUZ says: "Don't worry, Blade got me with a frag grenade about a second after I fired."

So you can imgine that round after round is just absoloute carnage! At the end of the round the program comes up with the stats, as shown here:

This is just the medals page of the 'post game carnage report' for the game Halo 2. Our usernames are on the left, total medals earned and then symbols of the variety of medals too. I am second from the bottom for this game, on the orange line - username: Alice. (Because I'm a bit like Alice in Wonderland). I won three 'beat down' medals, which means I was pretty good at fistycuffs. (or I ran out of ammunition a lot, but there's no need to tell the boys that!).

At the end of the Halo 2 tournament, we had a prize giving. Sarge (second from the top) tallied up results and called out the winners of each category and since I was the only girl I got to do the "promo girl" honours. (handing out the goods!) In the next picture I'm giving 'Blade' a drink bottle and a novelty dartboard to help improve his aim!!! Sarge looks on from the right.

After the prizegiving we had pizza for tea and a lot more jokes and laughs. We wandered about looking at people's prizes and went outside for a breather and a chat. This is another important part of the evening as it is important to rest your eyes and actually talk in normal conversations with the people you are hanging out with!! We don't let the LAN's get too big so that it is always with friends which guarantees we keep up the social aspect of the activity.

After dinner we connected on of the xboxes to the projector and played some very old school arcade games which have been adapted to play on these new consoles.

Sarge (left) and Warwulf play bomber man on the projector while TDevil (right) watches and waites for his turn. They were playing king of the ring. (winner stays on, loser hands over the controller to the next player.) It was sort of like being in the fish and chip shop when we were kids. Except it smelt different and you didn't need 20c to play!!!

I have only one more photo for you now, and this one is from very late - or very early - as it was taken at ten to three in the morning!

The big guy under the white duvet is 'Phatal1ty'
He's had enough for one night!

The really good thing about this bunch of people, is that most of them turn up the next day to help us clean up.

And that was our December LAN! Tomorrow 6th February is Waitangi Day and we might be holding one of the little garage ones since we don't have to work. When I find more time I'll put up a post on my weekend dive drip and maybe talk about Waitangi Day, but I really think it's a subject best avoided.