Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it,
follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.
Our rules have been updated and given
their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!
PAX East 2012 BYOC Info/FAQ - Post-Event Feedback starts on page 14
Posts
You are free to try and organize your own games and whatnot in BYOC, I don't think it will be an official contest though.
If you are trying to get something big going in the room and need some help doing so, come find me and I can make an announcement to see if any other people are interested. Alternatively we usually have a chatroom or forum on the intranet site that you could use to get a game going.
I built a very fast SFF PC just last year, with parts off of Newegg. I'll have it with me during PAX. It's the size of a toaster and fits (albeit snugly) in a large Swiss Army backpack. But has three drives 1 SSD, and 2 1 TB SATA's, a GTX 580, 16 GB Ram, and i7-2600K. The thing packs a punch.
I also only spent $1500 total. Like BigRed said, not much utility as a laptop, but if you go to a lot of LAN's it's definitely worth it. It also works nicely as your normal desktop PC as well.
I do cringe at the thought of "laptops" at a LAN, but I also -get it-. There is a FedEx location at the BCEC, and with proper insurance and handling requirements, I would ship pretty much anything, but it's also a personal preference.
Vapok - PAX PC Security Manager
Yeah PAX BYOC is pretty much my only LAN activity, so building a small machine specifically for it won't have the utility that a laptop would for me at other times, though being honest the fact that I'm not even sure I would use a laptop is making me hesitate at spending the money on one.
If I go the laptop route I will probably still bring a monitor, keyboard and mouse, all of which I can easily pack into my carry on.
I did enjoy bringing my rig last year and a few people commented on my case, which was hard to miss with the big red glowing phoenix symbol on the front, but I dunno I guess I'm overly paranoid when it comes to my baby.
Steam: TestSubject23 | Minecraft: chaos_introvert | Backloggery: TestSubject23 | PSN: testsubject23
For long LANs (like 4day events... one of which i'm going to in Feb) I bring my full desktop.
If I was just attending PAX BYOC id probably just bring my alienware, Mainly cause I don't like carting my 100+lb desktop very far... and the BCEC is hueg.
Don't worry about me! I didn't say laptops were unwelcome. =) There are some super cool Alienware laptops that I'm usually jealous of, like BigRed's.
Vapok - PAX PC Security Manager
Whats everyone's feelings on laptops?
I'm currently looking at a Sager 5175 with a few mods, like upping it to a core i7. I'm looking at around 1000-1200 to spend, anyone have any experiences they wouldn't mind chiming in?
I'll second that. I get a referral bonus for helping someone get hired at my office and I have been planning on putting that toward a new PC. At this point, I may consider a laptop but that makes me cringe when I think about when something inevitably breaks in it. I might just do a smaller form factor desktop.
Thanks for this thread, by the way. It contains valuable information, especially for a first time BYOC attendee.
I buy them based on keyboard quality, touchpad quality, screen quality (matte vs glossy, and resolution), weight, and above all aesthetics .
Either that or I just use laptops far too often at work, heh.
Well my experience with laptops is pretty much non-existent except for a Acer netbook, so those sort of aesthetics I'm looking for as well.
The hardware I have down, I've done some research so I'm pretty comfortable as far as the specs go, but what I don't really know is how important some of those aesthetics are. Does matte versus glossy really make a difference, are different types of keyboards better. I know that touch pads vary, the one on my Acer aspire angers me whenever I use it.
That's what I'm asking. Does anyone have specific experience with specific items or laptops in that range and any pro tips for a laptop noob on things to look for basically.
Besides PAX BYOC it'll primarily be for dev work and lite use away from my desktop. It doesn't need to be pretty, functional and utilitarian is fine.
I haven't used a sager in 8 years so I cant really comment on what they are like now.
Matte vs glossy screen makes a huge difference. Matte is far less glare (which gets awfully annoying on a laptop).
Yeah I know, I am spoiled by all the stuff I get to play with before its released
I have an ASUS G53JW. I'd endorse it to others - it's performing great, and it's pretty. Not as drool-worthy as the Alienware crop, but it also cost a whole lot less.
Steam: TestSubject23 | Minecraft: chaos_introvert | Backloggery: TestSubject23 | PSN: testsubject23
I've skimmed through this thread but couldn't find an answer to my question.
So I didn't get a 3 day badge in time (I thought I would be out of town), but now that I know I will be here in Boston I really want to attend the BYOC.
I just bought 3 single day tickets (For Fri, Sat and Sun). Can I still register and buy my ticket for the BYOC event or am I totally screwed because I don't have the actual 3-day pass??
Thanks for any info
BYOC is good for all three days, you just need to be able to get into the convention itself. Three one-day passes should do, I think one of the guys here already answered as such earlier.
That was answered on the previous page actually
paxprank.org | paxcommunity.net | Steam | XBL
Vapok - PAX PC Security Manager
Vapok - PAX PC Security Manager
Mine is a mid-2010 15" i7 4gig macbook pro with hi-res screen. I have bootcamp on it with w7 64-bit enterprise installed and I've played full screen/full res bf3 on it without too much trouble (though obviously not at max settings).
If you're looking into doing a LAN with a laptop, I highly recommend getting a cooling pad and connecting to a regular monitor and keyboard. You'll take up a bit more space, but your results should be grand.
Plus if no one asked can we come earlier to setup our rigs?
Zack
You cannot pick your seat for BYOC. That selection on the Lanfest website is only there because it's part of Intel's "template" for LAN events.
In the past, BYOC participants have been allowed access to the BYOC area a little early on the first day of PAX (pre-10am on Friday) in order to set up. BigRed will likely have detailed information on that as we get close to PAX itself.
paxprank.org | paxcommunity.net | Steam | XBL
This would imply that we'll be registering at 8am, with setup targetted for 9, if I'm not mistaken.
Steam: TestSubject23 | Minecraft: chaos_introvert | Backloggery: TestSubject23 | PSN: testsubject23
I would like to organize a wet t-shirt contest.
Congratulations on living up to your username.
You should see half the shit he says in IRC
or in real life for that matter...
Correct, registration starts at 8. After you've registered, you're allowed into BYOC to begin setting up. Our hope is that by 10AM which is when PAX opens, everyone's rig is ready to go. Highly recommended that you ensure all windows updates, service packs, and game updates are installed prior to PAX to maximize your time spent in BYOC and to reduce time spent eating up the bandwidth. =)
Vapok - PAX PC Security Manager
I have the 17" version of the same laptop, and it is great for gaming. That said, I kind of regret not just building a SFF pc, I thought I'd use the laptop for more than just LANs, but I rarely do, and it'd be nice to have more hard-drive space. Guess it depends on how many games etc. you'd like to have actively installed.
www.esfclansite.net
MD PAX Meet-Up - Events Calendar - G+ - @MD_PAX_Meetup - Facebook
A SFF PC would've maybe cost a bit less and been almost as convenient, true.
I enjoy being able to play games from the comfort of my bed, though. That's pretty keen. Even if it ends up in a 5am bedtime more often than not.
Laptop HDDs are easy to upgrade, too.
Steam: TestSubject23 | Minecraft: chaos_introvert | Backloggery: TestSubject23 | PSN: testsubject23
That will be the goal but we wont know until we are closer to PAX if that will be the case or not.
Edit:
Scratch that!
Just got word that ill be able to do it on Thursday no problem