Thanks

Photos

By SS*Ryly and {DFM}Ice-IX

Click on the thumbnails to view the photos


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Again this year, I was online waiting for registration to begin. I was still number 471. *sigh*


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I also registered Ryly …


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… My brother-in-law …


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… And my nephew. Neither my brother-in-law nor my nephew made it to the Con. :-(


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Registration was very smooth with almost 2400 people signing up in the first 2.5 hours.


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There was a contest to see who registered at certain "magic numbers" … These were the winners.


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The following Tuesday, it was announced all the BYOC reserved spots had been filled.


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Fast forward to Con time … Packing the "boys" off to the vet to be boarded.


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The car is loaded and we are ready to leave.


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Ryly, dressed for the event, walks to the car.


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The grueing 8.1 mile trip took us past the Hyatt Regency Reunion Hotel and Tower.


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… And the rest of downtown Dallas.


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This is the entrance to the Atrium portion of the Hilton Anatole. The 46 foot sculpture is "Flames of Life" by Prince Monyo Mihailescu-Nasturel.


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Every hotel has to have a huge floral arrangement in the main lobby.


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This was parked by the front door … A white Lamborghini.


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Oddly, this is not the only example of this vehicle I have seen in Dallas.


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We were given a room at the top of the Atrium.


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A couple of shots of the room … One sink.


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The rest of the bathroom.


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A king-sized bed and a seating area by the window.


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And a great view of Downtown.


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The white building behind the Sheraton Suites is the Infomart, built to resemble the original Crystal Palace in London.


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This was the look down from the balcony outside our room. A little bit of Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh Anxiety there. :-)


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A huge storm came though Dallas at about 6:00 PM. Afterwards, these low clouds moved through downtown.


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There was a little bit rain too. Compare the waterlevel with that in qc070021.


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Clouds still moving through downtown.


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Still …


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The clouds have almost passed through downtown.


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At sunset, a rainbow appeared that arched over all of downtown. This is the right "leg".


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Our Atrium room was about as far from the Con as possible … So we changed rooms to the Tower.


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Our new room was just like last year's room … Same wall art.


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Same trapazoid shape …


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Same two sink bathroom …


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Same sitting area …


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The same king-sized bed …


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And the same desk and minibar arrangement.


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At about 10:30 PM, got in line for early check-in to the BYOC. Ryly and MsMoody are at the back of the line in the overflow area. :-(


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Parents, don't let your children play W0W!


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This personable fellow was at the front of the line in the overflow area.


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Even celebrities like Optimus Prime have to wait in line.


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The overflow area was down a set of stairs so MasterTech and Hack waited in the lobby with our wheeled carts.


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Nice paint job on this Silverstone case … Scuffed aluminum finish covered in tinted clearcoat. The flames make it run faster. :-)


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After about an hour, we moved from the overflow area to the party at the checkin area.


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This is the bag check area where they look for unauthorized patch cables and plug strips.


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Two foosball tables were set up to help pass the time.


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There were also several classic video games in the same area.


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Tacgnol vs. Longcat


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The BYOC rules for 2007. Compared to previous years, food and drinks are actually allowed in the BYOC this year.


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We finally were able to drop our equipment in the BYOC at about 2:00 AM. This is Ice's rig.


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Ryly travels much ligher with a Mac Powerbook.


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We are sitting at the back of the BYOC behind the main NOC and Pykomantis' PC.


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This is the auxillary NOC in the middle of the BYOC.


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Last year, this area was the tournament area. This year, it is all BYOC.


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This area was the vendor area last year. Like the tournament area, it is all BYOC.


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By noon on Thursday, all the pre-registered attendees had been admitted into the BYOC.


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MacBooks -- The preferred laptop of NOC Operators.


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A camera crew was moving through the BYOC filming.


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I guess they never saw XP being loaded on a PC because they spent about 10 minutes filming this machine.


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These guys brought an Xbox 360 and a projector. In the dark BYOC, the image looked pretty good on the wall.


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There were several of these scattered around the BYOC.


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They projected updated schedules of events on the wall.


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A schedule and map of the facility was also projected above the BYOC doorway.


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At 2:00 PM, this was the line of everyone who had not pre-registered for the BYOC. They were admitted starting at 3:00 PM.


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The Main Stage was all the way over on the opposite side of the hotel in the Atrium area.


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At 4:00 PM, nVidia offered free pizza …


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… and Bawls.


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It was an effective ploy to get people out of the BYOC and into the Main Stage area for the nVidia Kick-off presentation.


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Someday, we will save the life of someone or kill someone and be allowed to sit in the VIP lounge.


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Ryly checks the Quakecon.org forums on her iPhone while we wait for the start of the program.


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The Kick-off had lots of games and give-aways. Ryly tried her luck at "Name That Tune".


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Unfortunately, she was unable to name the 3rd-chair violinist who performed the "Imperial March" from Empire and was eliminated.


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A view of the Atrium I floor from the Main Stage level.


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The Vendor Area was huge but crowded. Ice ran through after 7:00 PM to miss the crowds. Logitech was displaying their latest keyboards and mice.


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The Guildhall from SMU had a booth explaining their graduate program in video game design.


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Not sure what these guys do but they had a booth at Quakecon to demonstrate it. :-/


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GameRail was aggressively pushing their private gaming network. If it consistently works, this could be a great idea!


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Instead of spending money on a well-designed, cohesive display, FSP opted for a double-wide booth with a "homegrown" appeal …


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… but they did have a great stock of power supplies.


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Z-Board had a booth displaying their latest gaming keyboards.


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This was a nice booth and a nice idea (particularly for laptops with slower hard drives) but I never saw anyone in the booth.


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Who is WinTec Industries? Appealing backdrop though.


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The Left 4 Dead demo. There was always a line waiting to play this game.


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Bawls had a double-wide booth but had not shown up as of Thursday evening.


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MSI was displaying their latest motherboards.


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PNY had a very nice booth with a half dozen demo PCs.


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They also displayed a "3-D gaming monitor". The image looked pretty 2-D to me.


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Sierra had a huge booth and offered World in Conflict demos.


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Alienware had a number of systems on display.


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Not too much action in the GameLounge …


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AxionTech is coming to Dallas soon? Well, I'll just hold my breath until then. :-P


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Dell had a display on the other side of the Alienware booth.


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Armadillo Aerospace brought some of their toys to show off.


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People could look but not touch.


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Phillips had a booth featuring their amBX line of computer speaker systems.


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Triton Technologies had a sparsely decorated booth.


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Electronic Arts had a demo of Orcs and Elves II.


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Activision had an Enemy Territory - Quake Wars demo …


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… and a Guitar Hero II demo set up in their large booth.


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DeVry University was present, explaining their career training programs.


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Another booth featuring computer power supplies.


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nVidia had the largest booth by far with lots of computers …


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… and an apparel store. They did have a free T-shirt they were giving away.


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This booth delivers its message pretty effectively. :-P


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InWin had some nice computer cases on display.


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Patriot Memory and Antec shared a double-wide booth with a small LAN setup.


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Perhaps this will motivate somebody …


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nVidia passed out numbered buttons. If you found your match, you both got a spin on the Wheel of Prizes.


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OK, time for some fragging. A number of servers where provided by the BYOC staff including this Quake 4 Instagib server.


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More Quake 4 Instagib. Nice pings! :-)


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Just when Ice thinks he has this game figured out …


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… MT brings him crashing back to reality. That's what clan mates are for.


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Grabbing some shut-eye in the BYOC.


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The Austin Modders brought some cool case mods and some really big screens.


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This double-wide case has a nice effect on the case windows.


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The flat-panel is attached to the side of this custom case.


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This case was a top three finisher in the Quakecon Case Modding Contest.


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An Elric motif on this case.


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There were a lot of laptops in the BYOC this year.


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This is something you don't see in the BYOC everyday …


[120] qc072009.jpg

But then, it is a complete PC.


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The hot pink keyboard and mouse of Doooooooom!


[122] qc072011.jpg

Nice acrylic case …


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It looks good in the dark too.


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This is an interesting effect …


[125] qc072014.jpg

There were also a number of Apples in the BYOC this year.


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Nice effect on the PC created by the internal lighting and the vents.


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There were a number of empty seats in the BYOC. These were near the main entrance.


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[129] qc072018.jpg

This was a very popular case at Quakecon this year.


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A number of people brought shuttle-sized PCs also.


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I saw two or three of these in the entire BYOC. The case is covered with cooling fins.


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An Apple laptop in the BYOC.


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I don't know if the skull or the sticker was more effective at keeping hands away from this PC.


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The Wolfenstein guys have upgraded their helmets. I guess they are the GDF guys now.


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You used to never see consoles at Quakecon. I saw several this year.


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Another double-wide case …


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… showing its internal lighting.


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This case won an honorable mention in the Quakecon Case Modding Contest. Prize: A case of Bawls.


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The coolant reservoir was in a converted attache case.


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This case was huge!


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An external drive array?


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The bright yellow SATA cables were tied to glowing blue cables which produced a nice effect in the dark.


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That's a lot of caffeine!


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A gamer crashed in the BYOC.


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Another gamer crashed in the BYOC … and it's only Friday!


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A military theme on this case.


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There was even a Thinkpad T60 laptop in the BYOC.


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This Silverstone case had a glowing ring around the side window.


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It was much more obvious in the dark.


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Sometimes, the raw look of bare metal is most effective.


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The colors on the lid of this Toshiba laptop did not show well in this photo, unfortunately.


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A number of machines were water-cooled.


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MT had a clever idea for advertising his nVidia SLI Match numbers …


[154] qc072043.jpg

It looks like this computer is having some issues …


[155] qc072044.jpg

Ah, there's the problem!


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There were many empty seats at the back of the BYOC.


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Wow, is that a grill in the BYOC?


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Naw, it's another case modded PC.


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This case was covered with stickers. Some were rather topical.


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I didn't realize how big the Dell XPS computers were until I saw this one.


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lolz


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So, the cut is suppose to be a viper's head, I suppose.


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This just pissed Ryly off … A Mac running XP. It could at least have the decency to run Linux!


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Skeletor PC.


[165] qc072054.jpg

This case featured a PlayStation 1 display screen running at up to 1024x768 resolution in the floppy drive bays


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Nice effect on the front of this case.


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Looks good at night too.


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Another Apple laptop in the BYOC.


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This case was covered with highly polished stainless steel which made the case look like it was covered with mirrors.


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The other side of the same case.


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Instead of the Styx hat, this gamer should wear …


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… One of these Bawls hats!


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I saw this PC at Quakecon a few years ago. When you have a good look, there is no reason to change it.


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Is this a toaster … ?


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… Or a PC?


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External cooling unit mounted on the side of this case.


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Nice effect with the cold cathode tubes on this case.


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This is a double-high shuttle case.


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This camouflaged PC also won a prize in the Quakecon Case Modding Contest.


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It doesn't show in the picture but the internal lighting flashed in a way to make the internal hardware look like it was pulsating.


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This was the Information Desk at the front of the BYOC.


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Hack lords over the BYOC network.


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The BYOC Helpdesk, hard at work.


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Evilcow schools us in FreezeDT.


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All the power cables were wrapped in this PC.


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Glowing blue backlit keyboard.


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Well, it's green …


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Another water-cooled rig.


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This case had its name cut in a piece of clear acrylic.


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It produced a very nice effect in the dark.


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This Lian-Li case is similar to mine, only a few drive bays shorter.


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This FragBox isn't going anywhere.


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This is the Japanese equivalent to Guitar Hero. It features techno and electronic tracks instead of guitar-heavy tunes.


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Avast, me hearties! We're sailing the software seas!


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Another popular case at Quakecon this year.


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Oh, it's not that bad …


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A couple more shuttle cases.


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A nice acrylic shuttle case.


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A Thermaltake shuttle case. I saw several of these around the BYOC.


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This combination of tinted acrylic and cold cathode tubes made a nice effect in the dark BYOC.


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The Thermaltake shuttle case in black.


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… and a couple more black Thermaltake shuttles.


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Now you're taking … a USB fan and a USB light.


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This would be handy in case of gas attack or if the people around you forgot to bathe.


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That is some heat sink on the processor of this PC.


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This PC is covered in leather.


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Even the CD trays are covered in leather.


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Voodoo PC.


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Sssssssssssssss


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Another gaming console in the BYOC.


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A couple of water-cooled PCs.


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Nice lighting on both of them, too.


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I counted seven hard drives in the double-wide PC.


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MT and Ice played in a FreezeDT tournament on Saturday. They did OK, I suppose.


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More water-cooling.


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The same PC in the dark.


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This PC has two dual core Opteron processors and runs Linux.


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Another nice Lian-Li case.


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The inside looks pretty good in the dark.


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A water-cooled double-wide case.


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Another water-cooled double-wide rig.


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A night shot of the same PC to show off the case lights.


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This RAM scrolls diagnostic messages using displays build into each stick.


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At 6:00 PM, everyone headed across the hotel to the Main Stage for the Finals Party.


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Trouble was, the setup on the room was not finished yet so a long line formed …


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… Which wrapped most of the way around the Atrium.


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The left side of the Main Stage.


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The middle of the Main Stage with the tournament computers.


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The right side of the Main Stage.


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Making the final adjustments to the tournament computers for the Quad Damage Finals.


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The Guitar Hero II hardware for the finals.


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Chaotic Development gave this PC away in a drawing later in the evening.


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It was definitely a sweet looking machine.


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Working the crowd before the Quad Damage Finals.


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The Quad Damage Finals featured Fojji on the left vs Toxjq on the right.


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Fojji dominated Quake 1 and Quake 2 pulling out to a 2-0 lead in the match.


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Toxjq stormed back in Quake 3 to cut the match score to 2-1.


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Between games, the Quake Girls handled out T-shirts.


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The Quake Girls wore very interesting outfits, to say the least.


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Toxjq easily beat Fojji in Quake 4 evening the match at 2-2.


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The tiebreaker game was Quake 4. Fojji played well but not well enough to win the game or the match.


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DaHanG finished third, Fojji finished second, and for the second year in a row, Toxjq won.


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Setting up for the finals of the Bawls chugging contest.


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The guy in the dew rag downed 4 shot glasses and a bottle of Bawls in something like 5 seconds but he didn't put all his shot glasses top down!


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He was disqualified and this guy was declared the winner.


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He received the coveted Quakecon Chugger's Stein.


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This was one of the Guitar Hero II - Battle of the Bands finalists.


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… And his partner.


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This was one of their opponents from the other band.


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… And his partner.


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The first band playing Psychobilly Freakout.


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They finished with a very good score.


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The second band played the same song.


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They didn't do so well.


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The winner of the Battle of the Bands is crowned.


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All the Quick Draw winners over the course of convention were brought up on stage while the Guitar Hero II finals was setup.


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This was one of the Guitar Hero II finalists.


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… And his opponent.


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They played the song Six in a head-to-head competition.


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The scores were actually pretty close.


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It's good to be a Rock Star!


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The Enemy Territory - Quake Wars finals featured Team HOT from the winners bracket.


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Their opponent was Dignitas coming from the losers bracket.


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The first stopwatch map was Valley.


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Neither team could complete all their objectives so the game ended in a tie.


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Dignitas completed their objectives on the second map, Area 22.


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Team HOT failed to complete the objectives faster than Dignitas, forcing a second round of games.


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Dignitas finished Area 22 in an amazing time of 6:06 during the second round of games.


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Check 6 finished third in the Enemy Territory - Quake Wars tournament.


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After over three hours of finals play, Team HOT finished second.


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Dignitas won the first ever Quakecon Enemy Territory - Quake Wars tournament.


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We went back to the BYOC and played some Quake 3 and 4.


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These are a few of Ice's Quake 4 FFA games.


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Oops, x6.Fighter2a is getting close … Time to change servers. :-P


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We played until almost 6:30 AM when we packed up and went to the room.


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The hotel staff had thoughtfully slipped this under our door while we were gaming.


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We left a small gift for the hotel staff in the corner of window.


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It was almost visible from the main entrance of the hotel.


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OMGWFTBBQ?!??


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By noon on Sunday, the registration PCs had been packed up for shipping.


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The BYOC was well on its way to being cleaned up and dismantled.


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The tournament PCs were being packed and loaded onto pallets for shipping.


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This was all that was left of the vendor area.


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This was part of the swag haul for Quakecon 2007.