Ok, this is it. This is the last day I drone on about Digital Overload registration. The people who live too far away or can’t make it to the event are probably sick of hearing me talk about it at this point, and I’m a little tired of saying it over and over myself. But judging by the flood of last-minute registrations coming in, it needed to be said.
Today, Wednesday, is the last day to register and pay for Digital Overload Gamer badge. If you haven’t registered and paid by tonight, your only chance for getting into Digital Overload will be as a spectator. We don’t offer registrations at the door, but we will be selling 3-day spectator badges for $20. As a spectator you can’t bring anything into the event, or participate in any of the games, raffles or tournaments, but you are allowed to come in and hang out.
If you have paid, but your name isn’t showing up on the user’s list, send me an email. Some of you have sent payments under different names than what is on your Digital Overload registration, and I can’t apply the credit until I get confirmation from you.
Once you’ve registered and paid, you can pre-register for tournaments from within your account. You can find a draft of the schedule here, to see what’s running when. Keep in mind this is subject to change, and also only lists the officially run tournaments and events. There will be dozens of other games running at the LAN at any given time.
If you are bringing consoles, please bring your own display (monitor, tv, projector, whatever). Do not count on or expect Digital Overload to provide you with one.
Also, look over the general FAQ if you have other questions, or hit the forums.
If you’d like to volunteer to help out at the event, fill out this form. We’re looking for volunteers to help with registration, security and running the tournaments.
Ok, that’s it for now. No more talk of Digital Overload registration until next year.
The Ctrl+Alt+Del Animated Series Season One came to a close last month with episode 12. You can still subscribe for $14.95 and you get access to all 12 episodes of season one, if you don’t want to wait for the DVD. The DVD with extras will be out this spring, and people who have already subscribed to season one (current or previous) will be able to buy the DVD at a significantly discounted price.
Crackdown, as you all know, arrived yesterday, and it’s living up to all of my expectations. While the bosses and missions themselves are pretty easy, and I won’t imagine will provide more than 8-9 hours of gameplay, the balance is made with replay value. I’m looking forward to playing through the game 2-3 times until all my skills are maxxed, and also trying to collect all the orbs.
Also, fucking around in co-op mode will give me and my friends at least 5-6 hours of enjoyment. We spent a good hour last night just playing with the ramp truck and various civilian vehicles. I actually cleared a building in some piece of shit jalopy. And our skills aren’t even fully developed yet.
NBA Street Homecourt dropped too, and though I haven’t played my retail version yet, I’m really looking forward to it. I loved the demo, though short as it was, and hopefully the multiplayer will deliver.
Virtua Fighter 5, too. I really need this one to be good, because I need more games to justify my PS3. But I have a feeling it will be everything it’s supposed to be.
I know I haven’t talked much about the PS3/Wii. Honestly, it’s because I haven’t had much to say, yet. I’ve had them for months, and they mostly collect dust.
The PS3 just hasn’t even begun to grow into it’s potential yet. It’s got Resistance, and now VF5, and that’s it. Every other game on the system was weak, or a port I’d already played a few months previous on the 360. I don’t doubt that the PS3 will become a great system. It’s got the power, some of the games lined up look fantastic. It’s just not there yet. So I’m reserving really talking about the PS3 until I feel it’s reached it’s full potential.
The Wii is fun, although the idea of playing with Gamecube-esque graphics for another 4-5 years is a bit daunting. No, graphics aren’t everything, but they do matter. You’re lying to yourself if you say they don’t.
Zelda is great, obviously, but it’s such a massive game. I haven’t gotten into it, because I know I don’t have the time. Raving Rabbids was ok, Elebits looks fun but I’ve only watched my girlfriend play it so far. As of this writing, my favorite game on the Wii is the Metal Slug Anthology. I’d have bought the system for that right there, but all it is is a series of arcade ports.
Anyway, the Wii feels a bit gimmicky to me right now. We’ll see how it looks in 6 months, after it’s had time to grow a bit. Any system looks like crap in the first 6 months, including the 360. These consoles need games, and game libraries take some time to build.
Both of these topics are subjects for an entire newspost, so I’m not getting into them here.
I’ve got super-agent justice to dispense.