In Response To: Carnage Fest Report (Louis Wu)
: The party actually got underway on Saturday evening - the first guests
: arrived around 6 pm, and we immediately got started hooking up equipment.
: The kids jumped on the Dreamcast to play Sonic Adventure 2, while the
: adults ran cable, moved TVs around, and attached Xboxes. After dinner, we
: got down to a 2-Xbox, 7-player lan game (or 6) - but we lost two players
: around 9:30; it was bedtime for my youngest. The core group was pared down
: to 5, and we jumped into a 3-on-2 capture the flag game on Sidewinder.
: Whoa, did that go on for a long time... the 2-player team decided that
: defense was the only way to go, and though the 3-player team ended up
: winning 10-0, it took almost 90 minutes and cost over 200 lives. Whoa!
: At this point, our youngest player (and best sniper) headed to bed, and we
: dropped down to 4 players... we called it a night, multiplayer-wise; I
: went back to updating websites, Freewill did his own online stuff, and Don
: and Mark co-oped a few levels. They were still at it when I went to bed
: around 1.
: The morning started early, since Don (my brother-in-law) had to get to the
: airport; my wife and kids left with him at 8 am, and I got down to waking
: up the rest of the crew and getting the rest of the furniture/TVs set up
: for the upcoming carnage. By 10 am, everyone was fed, and we played around
: with some single-player tricks while we waited... it wasn't long until
: Lophan showed up (at 10:30 - 2 and a half hours to drive 210 miles; you
: decide if he was breaking any speeding laws). Soon after that, the
: Historian rang the bell... and we had 3 on 3. A bit later, Oldirtae showed
: up, all the way from Boston - still a little fuzzy from 3 straight days of
: partying (but not so fuzzy he couldn't shoot us). By lunchtime, we were
: 10, and chowing down on pizza hauled all the way from New York, by
: Freewill. Yum! We played 5-on-5 team games, as well as free-for-alls, for
: a couple of hours, until Spooner showed up - we actually had enough TVs
: for 5 of the 6 Xboxes in the house, but we were having too much fun with 4
: box games that we simply never set the last one up. (We originally thought
: we'd have a TV or two running co-op games, or even other consoles; I had a
: Dreamcast, and Oldirtae brought a PS2 - but it never happened; Halo
: carnage was simply too addictive.) People started showing their strengths;
: Rafi and Spencer were the master snipers, Dan was death in a Scorpion,
: Kevin proved to be a fatal Slayer opponent, Mark showed off his Warthog
: skills... it seemed that each change in gametype/map brought out a new
: strength in a new player. Lophan took great pleasure in lining me up in
: his sights, then shouting through the doorway, "Hey, Claude!"
: "Yeah?" BLAM! Oldirtae always managed to be right where you
: didn't want him, with some weapon you just weren't expecting. Death
: reigned supreme (mixed with enormous amounts of laughter). Team games
: proved to be the most popular, with Team King of the Hill narrowly beating
: out Team Rally for pure enjoyment. (Highlight of the day for me; coming
: over a rise in Blood Gulch at top speed, hitting another Warthog; I headed
: straight up into the air, and did 4 complete end-over-end (front-to-back)
: flips, before landing on my wheels and continuing on.)
: We took another break for dinner (more pizza, some salad this time), then
: headed back down for more carnage. We learned that invisible snipers only
: on Damnation is simply insane, while Oddball with 11 players on Longest
: will bring out the melee attack from the most timid player. By 8:30,
: people started packing up to head out, and by 9 pm we were down to the
: core we started with. A little coffee for the road, and the house was once
: again quiet... more than 24 hours of Halo-drenched goodness.
: Kudos to everyone who showed up and made this a success, to Miguel for
: bringing all the pizza, to my wife for letting it all happen (and
: providing everything from chips to soda to coffee, to BROWNIES
: fergoshsakes!). Lophan forgot the beer (okay, it was a misunderstanding),
: but the stuff in the fridge was just fine. (Plus, I have more room now!)
: Biggest lesson of all: Halo is, without a doubt, a total success as a
: lan-party generator. People drove from hours away, and NOBODY regretted
: it. The option for other Xbox games, or other console games, was present
: at all times... but nobody took advantage of it, because Halo was just TOO
: MUCH FUN. To those who say they're bored of it... get more than 4 people
: together, it's a whole new game.
http://bs.bungie.org/reports/12_30_01/
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