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DreamHack Winter 2002 212

Posted by michael from the i-dream-of-genie dept.
JJC writes "DreamHack, a huge LAN party, is taking place this weekend in Sweden. Here's some information in English and a daily report from sponsors ASUS. This and this ought to give you an idea of the scale of the thing. Here's the obligatory webcam and their Internet bandwidth graph. It's a massively impressive event, wish I was there! :-)"
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DreamHack Winter 2002 More

DreamHack Winter 2002

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  • Damn... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30, 2002 @11:37PM (#4786326)
    And I though my 8 person Lan Party was hard to put together...

    • Re:Damn... (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Nothing like the scale but there is a big LAN party happening in Essex, UK. But this one big difference, its based in a nuclear bunker! only 100 people though. G2002 [g2002.bash.sh]

  • Geez (Score:5, Funny)

    by Junky191 ( 549088 ) on Saturday November 30, 2002 @11:42PM (#4786338)
    Thats seriously a lot of fucking jolt. Dear god. I mean really, holy fucking shit. Damn.

    • Re:Geez (Score:1, Funny)

      by kaxman ( 466911 )
      It's like 500 gallons of Jolt. Now, if you figure 100 mg of caffeine per 12 oz. can, that's like a pound of caffeine. Of course I'm probably so far off it's ridiculous, since I started with a really really rough guess at how many cans were there, and used the words 'about' and 'like' a lot. Propagated error...I seem to remember some professor or another mentioning something about that...

      *sigh*...I should probably just go to sleep, huh?
      • If you give each one of the 5000 people twelve cans of Jolt (modest estimate; 4 cans a day per person) there would be 6 kilos (13.2 pounds) of caffeine.
    • Any chance you could spare a straw?

    • Re:Geez (Score:3, Informative)

      by packeteer ( 566398 )
      I was about to call a repost when i realized it has been about a year since i saw this story. Oh yah i saw last year's [slashdot.org] story on slashdot. You can check out pics from last year at Dreamhack 2001 [dreamhack.org]. That overview pic is one of the coolest things i have ever seen.

      Also i could repost all the stuff that got modded to +5 in the last story and karma whore like mad or you can just read it here [slashdot.org].

    • Re:Geez (Score:3, Interesting)

      by packeteer ( 566398 )
      If you wanna talk to them to see how hopped up they are (or maybe inquire as to prices). You can meet them on IRC. Get onto Quakenet and go into #dreamhack. I talked to em last year and they gave a lot of insight to what you dont see on the webpage. Its also a lot of fun to listen to them talk.

  • Wow... (Score:2, Funny)

    by EvilCabbage ( 589836 )
    .. and I thought there was a lot of pr0n & cola when only 20 of us get together. That thing is a pornography and caffiene industry executives wet dream.
  • "a huge LAN party, is taking place this weekend in Sweden."
    "The goal is to create a cool Flash Demo highlighting ASUS component products and "jazz up" company image. The demo is to be use on ASUS company website. The theme of the demo will be "ASUS, at the heart of your technology.""
    I guess the Swedes have a lot of time on their hands... to be able to host a 4 day slumberparty/advertisement for ASUS...

    • Re:a 4 day commercial? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by ergo98 ( 9391 ) on Sunday December 01, 2002 @12:07AM (#4786424) Homepage Journal
      I guess the Swedes have a lot of time on their hands... to be able to host a 4 day slumberparty/advertisement for ASUS...

      How does the fact that ASUS is using this for marketing diminish the event whatsoever? It's one thing to be cynical about marketing and "big business", but it's quite another to take that to the point that you fail to see the positives when you've overblown the negativity.

  • So... (Score:5, Funny)

    by acehole ( 174372 ) on Saturday November 30, 2002 @11:46PM (#4786351) Homepage
    Any prizes for beating the 86 hour mark for gaming?

    Can't let Korea hold that forever ;)

  • ASUS "Heart of Technology" FLASH DEMO COMPETITION The goal is to create a cool Flash Demo highlighting ASUS component products and "jazz up" company image. The demo is to be use on ASUS company website. The theme of the demo will be "ASUS, at the heart of your technology." My God... Asus has a seriously dorky marketing department.
  • I think its something like pallet but can't remember the spelling and a quick look didn't turn up the spelling.

    but more importantly what are they for? are they the tables? the legs or what? a bonfire? how does a warehouse of them make me think of a lan party? jolt i get. wood i don't.

  • The Gathering (Score:5, Informative)

    by cstrommen ( 254974 ) <number1@[ ].org ['kde' in gap]> on Saturday November 30, 2002 @11:48PM (#4786359) Homepage
    For the curious, there's also a similar event once a year (easter) in Norway. The event is called The Gathering, and had almost 5000 participants last year (not including the massive stab etc etc). For more information visit http://www.gathering.org
    • Wow. And i thought MPCON [mpcon.org] (shameless plug), with 150+ people, was big.

    • Re:The Gathering (Score:2, Interesting)

      by saddlark ( 96399 )
      Ohhh... TG...

      Some of my pictures from TG01:
      Overview 1 [tellefsen.net],
      Overview in the evening [tellefsen.net]

      TG02: Overview, right side [tellefsen.net], and right side [tellefsen.net]

      (Sorry for the norwegian text, but the pictures should be informative enough :)

      There's a special feeling when you enter the hall the first day. The sound, the smell, the view...
      You walk through the check-in, carrying some equipment... then you enter the main hall. Thousands of computers, row by row.... Ohh...
      There's nothing like that.

    • Re:The Gathering (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      For those not in the know, The Gathering is not a LAN-party but a demoparty. Of course there are many people just playing games there, but the main focus is still on demos.

  • Uh Oh (Score:2, Funny)

    by dirkdidit ( 550955 )
    A few hundred geeks, thousands of cans of Jolt, no sleep and fragging. What happens when one of them goes crazy and starts some real life carnage? I can't wait.
    *Goes to watch the webcam shot*

    • Re:Uh Oh (Score:2, Funny)

      by istartedi ( 132515 )

      What happens when one of them goes crazy and starts some real life carnage?

      In a country with strict gun control? Probably nothing. Unless people actually break gun control laws. Naw... that wouldn't happen.

  • 4 days?? Is this as scary as it sounds? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Woogiemonger ( 628172 ) on Saturday November 30, 2002 @11:51PM (#4786368)
    Do you think any of the thousands of geeks bother to shower?
  • Let's hope we don't see a repeat of the guy who died after playing a game for 84 hours straight.

    News at 11:

    5000 people at a gaming conference died today after everyone forgot to go to the bathroom. Toxic waste officials said that the stench alone would be enough to keep all of Sweden's grass fertilized until 2022. The scene, as described by one passerby remarked, "It could only be described as disgustingly gross, yet strangely hilarious".
    • you know I'll never get slashdot moderation. insightful for this?? funny yes, insightful? oh well regardless I'd hate to be part of the cleanup crew

      "In related news stocks in lysol and charmin skyrocket, also the nerd population in sweden has unexpectedly dropped dramaticly."

      you know if this did happen it'd be kinda like that episode of south park where everyone decided to hold their farts and people started exploding.

  • I see there still (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ratso Baggins ( 516757 ) on Saturday November 30, 2002 @11:53PM (#4786376) Homepage
    Getting there furniture from Ikea....

    • Of course they are still getting it. By the time the hall is fully furnished, the first pieces that were delivered are already crumbling into little bits of particle board and glue, and need to be replaced.

      • Re:I see there still (Score:2, Insightful)

        by ergo98 ( 9391 )
        While the "grossly overpay for ugly furniture that you'll have at the curbside in three years" industry wants us to believe that Ikea products are poor quality, I've found quite the opposite: Not only are they overengineered and long lasting, but they actually use gorgeously smooth rollers on drawers, for instance. Just had to defend IKEA as I've noticed a pretty concerted attack on them lately (the bigger they get the more enemies they acquire).

  • Just think.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by efedora ( 180114 ) <efedora@yahoo.com> on Saturday November 30, 2002 @11:53PM (#4786377) Homepage
    If the roof fell in there wouldn't be a single broken hearted sweetheart back home.
    • If the roof fell in there wouldn't be a single broken hearted sweetheart back home.

      Au contraire! I'd wager that the wails of the bereaved would be heard all the way from Queynos to Freeport.
      • *HAHAHAHA*

        I'm surprised not enough people caught this to mod it up, its got to be one of the top 10 funniest things I've read on /. this year. :)

        siri

  • When I was younger, it was called computer camp... (Score:5, Funny)

    by dagg ( 153577 ) on Saturday November 30, 2002 @11:59PM (#4786396) Journal
    And everyone there was a pale, weak, super nerd. Things have sure changed.
    --
    • Yep... computer camp rocked (and it was exactly as you describe).

      We had ours at a nearby major university, and got to play with all their big iron. The older geeks were very cool, and injected some computer-hacker evil into a group of young computer afficionados (none of us were even in puberty yet). I also think they enjoyed showing off their 31337 H4X0r cred (they didn't realize we were soaking up everything like little tape-recorders). We even got to live in the dorms while we were there (it was summer, so everybody was gone).

      Big fun indeed, and let me tell you, we were an intimidating group walking to the computer lab... short, pale, skinny, glasses (with tape). I was amazed that nobody messed with us, and this was waaay before it was cool to be a geek.

      We were incredulous... The differences between our various schools and the university environment were huge. None of us particularly wanted to go back to regular school... it really made college-bound believers out of all of us.

  • Wait, that's not Jolt! (Score:4, Funny)

    by The Bungi ( 221687 ) <thebungi@gmail.com> on Sunday December 01, 2002 @12:02AM (#4786409) Homepage
    Wasn't that Dr. Pepper?? I swear I can make out 'per' in the middle right end of the pic. [trembling] Slobber [/trembling]

    All Real Programmers (TM) know Dr. Pepper is the shit when it comes down to separating the men from the boys.

    Definitely integral to surviving those 35-hour debugging bugfest sprees armed with nothing more than a butter knife, some scotch tape and an MP3 player.

    Those who emerge from that hell with six functional brain cells (or more) are theretofore respectfully acknowledged as members of the Order Of The Pepper Willies, bless our tender hearts.

    • Hey, the rest of us got by with Vivarin, Jolt, Mountain Dew, Mr. Pibb and even coffee before the advent of Red Bull..

      I could never survive a few of my college programming classes again. 2 1/2 solid days of coding and 4 hour of sleep intermixed just won't work anymore.

      But I did turn in a mostly working project!

  • Gaming (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mestoph ( 620399 ) on Sunday December 01, 2002 @12:03AM (#4786414)
    Question is, when will events like this become real complace. I mean most of us that game online, have held our own little lan party's. Anywhere from 8 (your standard cheap ether-hub, and still okie on a 512k adsl modem) and 24, when you can manage a guild or clan meeting (which takes an age to organize). Games such as half-life and its many skins, probably wont be able to set them up. But with the likes of "Dark age of Camelot" Europe [camelot-europe.com] / US [camelotherald.com] . Seeing so many users now, and ever expanding, with more and more servers, it can only be a matter of time till events become common place. Esp, if they offer prizes for either code or storyline.

  • Degauss your monitor! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 01, 2002 @12:09AM (#4786431)
    If anyone at the DreamHack LAN party is reading this, I dare you to degauss your monitor in the middle of a huge game. A guaranteed good time!

  • Live report (Score:4, Informative)

    by flaggzz ( 95879 ) <johan@ostensson. ... minus herbivore> on Sunday December 01, 2002 @12:20AM (#4786468) Homepage

    I'm here, and everything rocks,execept that the whole thing is over in about 4 hours :/

    • tell us more (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      how much did you pay to go to this?
      do you live there or did you travel to go to it?
      I'm pretty sure it is BYOC.. is there a limit on how many computers one can take? (you'd think there'd be that guy who brings 10) It also looks like it would be a real "hot rod" show.

      whats the most popular game being played there?
      what are you all doing? :) (ok you're reading /.)
      were there any technical problems throughout the party?

      whats on the big screen?

      I can't even imagine 5000 people online in the same room. sorry for the bombardment of questions.. i think I'll just post this anon :)

      • Re:tell us more (Score:4, Informative)

        by flaggzz ( 95879 ) <johan@ostensson. ... minus herbivore> on Sunday December 01, 2002 @03:20AM (#4786820) Homepage
        They are about to cut the network (DH2002 is almost over), so I answer a few of this questions briefly:

        >how much did you pay to go to this?
        500 SEK, about 55 US$

        >do you live there or did you travel to go to it?
        People live here during the event, but they come from all over Sweden.

        >whats the most popular game being played there?
        Counter-Strike :-(

        Q3A and Warcraft 3 are other popular choices.

        >whats on the big screen?
        Info, finals from game compos, demoscene stuff and other fun stuff :-)
  • ...that their network guys are better than their photographers. If not they'll be better off playing nethack over a 28K modem.

    BFL
    • Yes, they surely are...

      Everything has been running extremely smoothly with a nicely segmented and configured network. Download speed (Free software or shareware, of course) usually is close to 100mbit/s as aspected - something that's not that easy to manage when 5000 geeks starts pumping stuff around :)
  • and I thought th 20-30 person lan I went to at k-sate last tuesday was big.....wonder if I could get Asus to sponser one of my lans or get any jolt since you can't get it here, just goes to show though I can't do anything right I mean for crying out loud my lan this sunday will probably have 12 people at the most

    I wanna move to Sweden hot girls...huge lan parties, big bank accounts from people in other countries whats not to like??
  • Might as well post this here because there won't be any Comdex news on /. because nobody cares anymore.

    I was in a cab in Vegas the week before Comdex. The cabbie said everyone in town hates Comdex. "They all come here with one shirt and $20 and a week later they leave with the same shirt and the same $20."

    Makes sense. If that town loved Comdex, you can be sure it'd still be growing even if the technology industry wasn't (which it is).

    • Re:Heard a good one about Comdex (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Everyone knows that Vegas hates Comdex: It's considered the cheapest group of individuals that can get together. Having said that, the state of Comdex has nothing to do with what a bunch of hookers and illegal immigrant cabbies thinks of the group.
      • The cabbie was just the first one I talked to. Everyone hates Comdex. Except the LVCVB, who still see it as a way to say that over a hundred thousand people will be in Vegas, although only about 80K are showing up these days.
      • Damn. They should put the preview and submit buttons on separate computers.

        Anyway, to continue:

        Yes, the popularity of the convention among local merchants, and how it treats them, is important. If the convention was worth more in cashflow, competent managers would buy it and run it better and attract more participants and flow some of that cash to themselves. It's all interconnected. It's not more significant than the revelation that the telecom industry was telling lies, or the software industry's failure to keep up with the computing power curve, but it's significant.

  • Live feed (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 01, 2002 @12:48AM (#4786526)
    I'm one of the 5000 participants here on Dreamhack and it's a blast. There have been lots of tournaments, and some events that you perhaps wouldn't have expected. For example there has been a Mr Paperbag competition, where participants have been dressing up in nothing more then small paper bags. ATM there's a stand up comedy competition and for a couple of hours ago there was a snowball war arranged outside. There's been all kinds of companies giving away free stuff like t-shirts and games. M$ has even given away a couple of Windows XP cd-roms. =D

    It seems like some of the readers here believe its main goal is to make a flash demo for ASUS, and well, I can tell you that that's far from the truth. I would estimate that there are 80%-90% gamers here, and I would be surprised if it turns out that even 1% participates in creating a flash demo for ASUS.

    If you take a look around you would probably guess that M$ has a big part in financing this event. There's a game corner where you can try different X-box games for free and M$ has dragged a bid Unisys server down here. There's even been an attempt to make an unofficial world record in max CS gamers hosted by the Unisys server.

    A pic of the server can be found here [codexportal.com].

    O well, back to the fun, there's something going on at the scene again.
    • M$ has even given away a couple of Windows XP cd-roms. =D

      My god! XP cd-roms! gimme gimme gimme!!

      • Re:Live feed (Score:1, Flamebait)

        by zulux ( 112259 )
        M$ has even given away a couple of Windows XP cd-roms. =D

        My god! XP cd-roms! gimme gimme gimme!!

        Dear User #581881,
        Please make your Astroturfing(tm) a bit more subtle, as your curent methods may arouse suspicion. Instead try somthing anlong the lines of:

        Wow! That's real generous of Microsoft! Even at the low price of $295.94, is a great bargin, but for free. That's amazing! Thanks Microsoft.

        Or

        Nifty! I've always wanted to try the best in opeating system technoloy, and I know Microsoft is the one to give it to me.

        We know that you natural reaction is to preaise and worship, but please, keep in mide that if your too obvious you might actually disuage the Slashdot masses from our cause. Under no cercumstances are you to try the following:

        XP for free! Thank you glorious leader. I live to serve.

        or

        Free XP cd-roms? Wow! I hope they give me a stack of them so I can thrust my penis in and out of the hole in the center. I LOVE XP!

        Thank you for your attention to this matter.

        Certified Atrroturn(tm) Profecctional #2011, Glibert W. Feltcher.

  • Gamers coming to a compo is bad enough, but actually inviting them is completely out of line. These are sad, sad times indeed.

  • Biological Weapon? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    One non-hygenic nerd is bad enough...but what happens when you fill an aircraft hanger full of them?

    You'd need at least a biohazard suit to clean up the mess...

  • ... In other demoscene news ... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by The Pi-Guy ( 529892 ) <joshua+slashdot.joshuawise@com> on Sunday December 01, 2002 @12:54AM (#4786540) Homepage
    RIP Mekka [demo.org]. We will miss you. Apparently the organizers had some disputes they couldn't resolve. However, if you missed Dreamhack, Breakpoint [untergrund.net] looks like it's going to be the party to go to, with many of the organizers from mekka and other demoparties. (Note: FPS people need not apply - no gaming allowed, no warez allowed. sorry.) Hope to see you there!

    --joshua

    • Demo Scene goes /. ? (Score:3, Informative)

      by andr0meda ( 167375 )

      I can only welcome the idea, it seems the demoscene is once again on the edge of a major change in the public they are reaching.

      There was a time when scene-ing was a BBS-only thing, and parties were small obscure events happening in garages and local youth centers. Since the internet, demo parties have, together with LAN parties (and usually it's the same event anyway), grown to visitor numbers beyond the domestic range. For organisers it's getting more and more difficult to support such a load without sacrificing some of the I-know-you atmosphere that used to be present on these cosy events. Since a few years, demos (and lan parties) have been striving to entertain the general public, not just the underground scene. I think this is a good thing, but I also miss the sense of obscurity that stemmed from the hack and crack era, of which it was initially a subculture.

      For more news and references on these parties and the content they put out, see Scene.org [scene.org]

      ciao,
      a0a
      • I know - I'm an avid 8-bit scener. Although I don't like to admit it, yes, I released 'JWDEMO' for GBDEV2002, but EFNet:#gameboy is working on putting something together to blow you away for Breakpoint!!!
  • Yeah, right. More like a cheap translation to english spit out from some language converter.
  • So...many...casemods...Neon...Lights... *seizure*

  • Pricing (Score:2, Informative)

    by Woogiemonger ( 628172 )
    So for those who don't know what a Swedish Krona is (SEK), the full price ticket of 600 SEK is a bit over $55. There's a visitor price ticket which is a fourth of the price, valid for a day, unless you're a girl, which makes it valid for the full event. Furthermore, they provide a WLAN, so if you park your car just outside the building, you can probably join in for free with a laptop. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken.
  • Yeah people, just open few of those webcam shots and show them what we're made of.

    BTW it's Jolt based on this picture [dreamhack.org]

    I must say... super duper...
  • in the report for the 28th it says: blinking lights

    Obviously this should be blinken lights.

    Not to be anal or anything, but I think the lack of these type of errors is exactly what makes /. stand above the rest.
  • I thought that the biggest LAN party in europe is Shrimpwars [shrimpwars.be]?(anyone know more?)

    And that the biggest championship is World Cybergames [worldcybergames.org] I mean look at the prizes!

    Total Players : 63

    Participating Countries : 33
    Purse :
    Gold US$ 20,000
    Silver US$ 10,000
    Bronze US$ 5,000

    Though the webcam view was cool :)
  • Almost everyday I play UT (and others) with my cable modem w/ pings under 100. What do they have that I don't? The whole world of broadbanders is my lan party!
  • Is this a new corporate trend? I mean... they get together some of todays best demo artists to create great flash ads for them. All Asus & co have to do is to pay a couple of peanuts for the whole thing.

    Just wonder if companies like IBM, Intel and Cisco will jump on to this trend of getting cheaper-than-shit quality ads to "jazz up" their company image...
  • Normally a lanparty webcam runs on the internet connection present at the site - and now that URL has been slashdotted.. geez that's nasty, now there will be almost no connectivity for the participants.. unless they use a seperate connection of course.
    To slashdot a 4 day lanparty connection is an evil thing to do!
  • This used to be a demoparty, like Assembly [assembly.org], but it seems to have degenerated into a simple game even...sad. It is not too nice, however, that people seem to often mistake demo events for lanparties ("Yeah, it was a great party, but all those competitions interrupting our games really sucked") Why come to a demoparty if you don't like demos? Anyone else have similar experiences?
  • And in the US you've got TPL [thepromisedlan.net] which I went to. It was a great deal of fun but no where near the size of this. :) Must.... find... another 500 man[and woman] lan!

    Unforunately the TPL site appears to be down though :-/ It was a 500 person lan event in portland oregon on may 22nd 2002.

  • At the bottom of their front page [dreamhack.org]:
    PIRACY IS A CRIME
    Remeber that it is illegal to use and spread unlicensed software.

    **PIRACY IS A CRIME**

    // DreamHack Organizing
    What the heck did they use all that bandwidth [dreamhack.org] for, if it wasn't for warez, mp3s and movies?
  • Lamers!

    Greetings go to (in no particular order) Spaceballs, Virtual Dreams of Fairlight, CNCD, Complex, Silents DK, Lemon., Melon Dezign, Sanity, TRSI, Kangaroo, Bomb!, Andromeda, Rebels, Scoopex, Crionics, Stellar, Phenomena, Abyss, Cryptoburners, Mahoney & Kaktus, Pygmy Project, Artwork, Contraz, The Black Lotus, Potion and all we have forgotten
    • Yikes, I can spot more than a few well-known groups in that list from the good ol' Amiga days. Spaceballs, Silents, Sanity, TRSI, Cryptoburners, Mahoney & Kaktus all ring a bell to me even if I'm not even following the demo scene that well. =)

      Hm.. Would be nice if there were some pictures of those classic groups somehere. :-/
  • Pics from unix.se I found "interesting".. ;-)

    Too much Jolt [unix.se]
    Fun with Jolt #1 [unix.se]
    Fun with Jolt #2 [unix.se]
    Crazy about Jolt [unix.se]
    Crazy about GTA [unix.se]
    As the comment says... busted [unix.se]!
    Nerd heaven [unix.se] :-)
    Oh god... [unix.se]
  • Why don't we have ANYTHING like this in the United States?

    Vortran out


  • Looks like it could also be a sting operation for the RIAA, MPAA and Microsoft.

    "Sure guys, come on in and have a seat. Play some games, share some movies, music, pr0n, etc. Don't mind the SWAT team members at the exits, they are merely promoting the newest Tom Clancy game. Enjoy!"

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