Agree with zerzhul - I didn't actually play any games last year in BYOC at all.
Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Spent probably $50+ on shipping to get my machine there and the most I got out of it was the ability to get to twitter sometimes. I sat down probably 4 or 5 times and tried to play, but my luck was terrible and it was always during the worst of the bandwidth issues. I did participate in blindfold Half Life though!
This year, I'm probably just bringing my MacBook. It's a year old, but it could run TF2, L4D2, D3, or SC II if I really wanted to. I realize that BYOC is a LAN event, but it also offers a secure and (in previous years) quiet space to stash stuff, chill out, etc. That's something you can't get anywhere else in PAX.
East 2014 Status: Badge [ Friend got it ] Hotel [Crappy] BYOC [YES] Transport [ ] Name on Forum Badge [ ] Challenge Coin [ ]
Well, theoretically the bandwidth for *gaming* should be improved this year, but it won't be nearly at the levels for uploading video. The one time I did BYOC I did use it for gaming, in the late evenings after expo was shut down. I don't think I'd buy a BYOC pass to just use it as a stash spot or an internet location though, but that's me.
Agree with zerzhul - I didn't actually play any games last year in BYOC at all.
Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Spent probably $50+ on shipping to get my machine there and the most I got out of it was the ability to get to twitter sometimes. I sat down probably 4 or 5 times and tried to play, but my luck was terrible and it was always during the worst of the bandwidth issues. I did participate in blindfold Half Life though!
This year, I'm probably just bringing my MacBook. It's a year old, but it could run TF2, L4D2, D3, or SC II if I really wanted to. I realize that BYOC is a LAN event, but it also offers a secure and (in previous years) quiet space to stash stuff, chill out, etc. That's something you can't get anywhere else in PAX.
I got some gaming in myself last year, but I actually got a laptop* rather then lugging my whole rig.
But BYOC really is what you make of it, for me I use it as time to sit and play some games, got to enjoy trying AirMech last year in BYOC (a game I discovered on the expo floor), and minecraft and left 4 dead. The bandwidth/lack of internet really hurt last year though and it seems this year it shouldn't be an issue (hopefully).
If you go into attending BYOC with the goal of gaming you'll play. If you don't plan ahead of time to do anything its less likely you'll get involved.
That said, I would personally love to see a return of the Minecraft server we had for East the year before last and would love to see some free weekend passes to try games for BYOC attendees.
* - I have a sweet gaming laptop.
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Kilonum[E]Somewhere near BostonRegistered Userregular
I didn't use BYOC for gaming last year.
More because I was trying to get my goddamn PC to work than any other reason (I was they guy rebuilding his computer).
Agree with zerzhul - I didn't actually play any games last year in BYOC at all.
Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Spent probably $50+ on shipping to get my machine there and the most I got out of it was the ability to get to twitter sometimes. I sat down probably 4 or 5 times and tried to play, but my luck was terrible and it was always during the worst of the bandwidth issues. I did participate in blindfold Half Life though!
This year, I'm probably just bringing my MacBook. It's a year old, but it could run TF2, L4D2, D3, or SC II if I really wanted to. I realize that BYOC is a LAN event, but it also offers a secure and (in previous years) quiet space to stash stuff, chill out, etc. That's something you can't get anywhere else in PAX.
I got some gaming in myself last year, but I actually got a laptop* rather then lugging my whole rig.
But BYOC really is what you make of it, for me I use it as time to sit and play some games, got to enjoy trying AirMech last year in BYOC (a game I discovered on the expo floor), and minecraft and left 4 dead. The bandwidth/lack of internet really hurt last year though and it seems this year it shouldn't be an issue (hopefully).
If you go into attending BYOC with the goal of gaming you'll play. If you don't plan ahead of time to do anything its less likely you'll get involved.
That said, I would personally love to see a return of the Minecraft server we had for East the year before last and would love to see some free weekend passes to try games for BYOC attendees.
* - I have a sweet gaming laptop.
2 years ago I spent a ton of time in BYOC actually gaming - played Monday Night Combat quite a bit, some TF2, and won a couple prizes during contests - blindfold FPS, fastest to build a bookcase in minecraft, etc. It definitely provides a great place to play games when you don't have anything else on your con schedule. The group I went with last year was much more into Tabletop and Magic, and not everyone had a BYOC pass, so I spent a lot less time there. Still, BYOC is almost always the first place I go in the morning.
The utility of having BYOC as a stash spot depends on a number of things - if your hotel is far away from the BCEC, it can be supremely useful. I know some people bring a cooler of food and leave it there. There have been occasional issues in the past of small items going missing in the BYOC area (security is great, but their only real job is ensure no one carries out a barcoded computer item, not police your seat for Grand Theft Snickers).
I'm not even sure how much the coat/bag check is on Sunday, because I always just bring my stuff to the BYOC area and put it there. All of that adds up to $30 of utility for me, even if I don't load up a single game during PAX.
East 2014 Status: Badge [ Friend got it ] Hotel [Crappy] BYOC [YES] Transport [ ] Name on Forum Badge [ ] Challenge Coin [ ]
im a bit worried about the actual turn out for the BYOC this year. Since the byoc badges were on sale on the main site with the regular badges Ive got a feeling that there are going to be a lot of empty seats caused by people just checking all the boxes when they ordered passes, and not even realizing that they got a byoc seat.
The same was the case for Prime, where the BYOC badges were on sale with the regular passes and according to the BYOC staff there BYOC was busy most of the time with people playing...I'm guessing it will be the same at East!
Is the Internet Bandwidth going to be spread out a little better or is the BYOC getting its own connection?
I've not heard if the network team for East has been decided yet but I know the team from Prime got things running well on a similar amount of bandwidth so hopefully that can be repeated at East.
There were a bunch of factors that played into the lack of bandwidth experience that was seen during PAX East 2012. We've identified the vast majority of those issues and came up with solutions. Those solutions we implemented during Prime 2012 and had a much better experience.
Here are some of the things that we did for Prime that we plan on doing for East:
1) Games on Freeplay machines must be LAN games and a server available locally onsite to host games.
-- We realize this excludes a large number of online WAN games. That being said, we had a really great time in Freeplay and Tournaments during Prime 2012!
-- Of interest, we also found out that the CS:GO Server didn't know what to do with a 64 core server and we got a hot patch from developers right before the large CS:GO Tourney at Prime. To put it mildly, that server was SUPER FAST!
2) Throttle Steam
-- Seems like a novel concept, but in past years we kept relying on the local Steam Content Server to provide games. Unfortunately, it's not worked out exactly according to plan, and people still found themselves downloading from the internet. PROTIP: Update Steam before you arrive at the convention.
3) Throttle the Internet
-- It seems funny, but the biggest complaint we got at Prime 2012 was because people couldn't get to Facebook/Twitter/or Google easily. That was by design, which gave off the impression that the bandwidth was bad. What really happened is that we throttled the use of our bandwidth to optimize the experience while gaming and throttled the amount of HTTP/S traffic so that we could provide as much bandwidth to gaming as possible.
We are definitely doing everything we can to ensure that the BYOC experience this year is positive and amazing. If you have direct questions or suggestions feel free to email pax_pc@penny-arcade.com!
Vapok
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Kilonum[E]Somewhere near BostonRegistered Userregular
PROTIP: Update Steam before you arrive at the convention.
Sadly, this will not be possible for me, most recent update I will have for East is March 10th, as on the 11th I am heading (with my computer) to my grandmother's in Alabama (where there is no internet) and going straight from there to East. I might see if I can do it in the hotel the night before but I may just be too tired.
Alternatively, I'll just set all my games to suppress updates and manually update the ones I know are on the local server once everything is set up.
PROTIP: Update Steam before you arrive at the convention.
thats not going to make a difference at all. valve knows when there are big lans going on and they make sure to update their popular games the night before or day of. It never fails lol. I always update before i leave, and the day i setup (at any lan) 4 games need updates.
Its good to do it, but im willing to bet valve will troll everyone again
PROTIP: Update Steam before you arrive at the convention.
thats not going to make a difference at all. valve knows when there are big lans going on and they make sure to update their popular games the night before or day of. It never fails lol. I always update before i leave, and the day i setup (at any lan) 4 games need updates.
Its good to do it, but im willing to bet valve will troll everyone again
Honestly, at the rate that Valve pushes updates, you're probably right. Still, I'd rather download a 30-100 MB update at a LAN instead of a 1-2 GB update.
Hey just kind of a random suggestion here for an event that may be pretty fun for the BYOC. DayZ and WarZ are both really popular right now, and there is a competition online called "The Survivor Gamez" which is currently using a modified version of the chernarus map (more enterable buildings, less loot, etc...) for DayZ. Basically its a marathon game and the last man standing wins. Maybe we could do something like that at East? With dayz you can setup private hive servers pretty easily, so I imagine it wouldnt be hard to run one on lan. Hopefully by then the DayZ stand alone game will be out, and you could do it with that, or maybe WarZ. Just a suggestion after checking out "the survivor gamez"... looked fun. thoughts?
Hey guys, I booked my flight and hotel for the weekend to go to PAX. I bought my 3 day pass but unfortunately I forgot to purchase my BYOC pass, which is honestly one of the few reasons I attend PAX. I ordered my 3 day pass but I didn't notice the BYOC on there, I'm used to it being on another site and now apparently I'm screwed. Is there any chance that BYOC tickets will go back on sale if there are returns? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Hey guys, I booked my flight and hotel for the weekend to go to PAX. I bought my 3 day pass but unfortunately I forgot to purchase my BYOC pass, which is honestly one of the few reasons I attend PAX. I ordered my 3 day pass but I didn't notice the BYOC on there, I'm used to it being on another site and now apparently I'm screwed. Is there any chance that BYOC tickets will go back on sale if there are returns? Any help is greatly appreciated.
For PAX Prime 2012, they actually expanded the BYOC area after tickets were sold out, so they opened BYOC sales again. Whether or not that is possible with East is impossible to tell at this point. You could try emailing pax_questions@paxsite.com but I'm not sure if they will be able to tell you anything or not regarding your question.
That would be awesome if they expanded the byoc for east. One of the only complaints I have about the pax byoc is that there are a lot of people who use it as a place to keep some stuff and they don't really play games. The room looks full sometimes but hardly anyone will be playing. I'm sure there are lots of people like aidanjian who missed their chance to a pass who actually want to go there and game, and that's what this LAN needs... More people actually gaming.
Yeah, I think to everyone's surprise that was waaay less of a problem at Prime this year, and even with one of the biggest BYOCs ever. We'll see how East goes I guess.
Im going a little more intelligent this time, I purchased a clear 4G hotspot, that does 6down 1 up, this way if the connection fails, my bud and I can link up to the hotspot to download and do what ever we need too.
About how warm can we expect the BYOC room to get? With all the hardware running in there I'm sure it'll be a good idea to dress lightly.
Obviously details haven't been finalized yet, but I would assume that BYOC and the PC room will be located in a similar location to last year. Last year, the PC Room was on the Expo Floor, it's basically not even a room, more of an aircraft hanger with really tall ceilings. So, even with near 600+ computers in the PC room, the temperature was pretty comfortable. There might have even been a night or two on the cool side. Last year sound was more of an issue than anything. I know that we are trying to take that into consideration this year, but I don't how effective it will be.
Im going a little more intelligent this time, I purchased a clear 4G hotspot, that does 6down 1 up, this way if the connection fails, my bud and I can link up to the hotspot to download and do what ever we need too.
An interesting anecdote from last year that I thought I would share. We setup the PC room on the Wednesday before each PAX. Last East, we had finished setting up the PC Freeplay area super fast, and had the machines on and operating. The next day (that Thursday before PAX) we were finalizing installs and network in the PC room, and as we worked, we noticed that there were TWO people (unknown to anyone in the PC room) walking around with sensors, a computer, some kind of monitoring machine, and were moving around in various places on the floor. It finally got to the point of "something isn't right" so we ended up asking them what they were doing.
They said that their monitors were detecting very high levels of radio frequency in the room causing interference to their antenna's in the BCEC. After a few more questions, they finally told us they were from AT&T and that they were concerned about the usability of their additional voice/data transceivers. They couldn't understand how the computers would be interfering. After several more minutes of questions from them, they finally realized that when we turned the computers on the previous day, was the exact same time they started having interference. So they ended up turning off the antenna that serviced that section of the expo floor. Haha.. A funny question came out of that conversations too, "Well are the computers going to go off at any point over the weekend?" Hehe...
Long story short, we're gonna do our best to make sure our network is speedy for games this year. The hotspots might work, but they might not.. The experience at Prime was really good. The only complaints we had was that facebook and gmail were slow, but that's because we had capped HTTP traffic so that games would have as much internets as possible.
Vapok
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MagnifiedX[E] PC SecurityBoston, MARegistered Userregular
Im going a little more intelligent this time, I purchased a clear 4G hotspot, that does 6down 1 up, this way if the connection fails, my bud and I can link up to the hotspot to download and do what ever we need too.
An interesting anecdote from last year that I thought I would share. We setup the PC room on the Wednesday before each PAX. Last East, we had finished setting up the PC Freeplay area super fast, and had the machines on and operating. The next day (that Thursday before PAX) we were finalizing installs and network in the PC room, and as we worked, we noticed that there were TWO people (unknown to anyone in the PC room) walking around with sensors, a computer, some kind of monitoring machine, and were moving around in various places on the floor. It finally got to the point of "something isn't right" so we ended up asking them what they were doing.
They said that their monitors were detecting very high levels of radio frequency in the room causing interference to their antenna's in the BCEC. After a few more questions, they finally told us they were from AT&T and that they were concerned about the usability of their additional voice/data transceivers. They couldn't understand how the computers would be interfering. After several more minutes of questions from them, they finally realized that when we turned the computers on the previous day, was the exact same time they started having interference. So they ended up turning off the antenna that serviced that section of the expo floor. Haha.. A funny question came out of that conversations too, "Well are the computers going to go off at any point over the weekend?" Hehe...
Long story short, we're gonna do our best to make sure our network is speedy for games this year. The hotspots might work, but they might not.. The experience at Prime was really good. The only complaints we had was that facebook and gmail were slow, but that's because we had capped HTTP traffic so that games would have as much internets as possible.
I still remember being shocked that they couldn't figure that out.
Definitely excited for East BYOC 2013. I got to meet some awesome people I still occasionally game with.
Glad the bandwith issues were solved at Prime! I was trying to play Battlefield 3 with people sitting near me Friday morning but thanks to bandwith issues I ended up just emulating Super Mario Sunshine while waiting for the expo hall to open.
PAX East 2018 4-Day Pass [X] BYOC Pass [X] Hotel Reservation [X]
See y'all at PAX East 2018!
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sary100% pure awesomesaucemanchester, nhRegistered Userregular
2 years ago I spent a ton of time in BYOC actually gaming - played Monday Night Combat quite a bit, some TF2, and won a couple prizes during contests - blindfold FPS, fastest to build a bookcase in minecraft, etc.
There's still a flat-packed Steve head somewhere here at my parent's place. Remind me about that. Seriously.
There might have even been a night or two on the cool side.
This brings me back, way back, like 2010. Freezing my tush off in BYOC... Conveniently, that was also the year of the complimentary Snuggie. (I say we start a petition or something for someone to have a product release conveniently timed with PAX. Because, thanks Nvidia, I still use that backpack. Frequently.)
I will be a super happy camper if locations allow me to ping-pong between BYOC and /dance like it did for a bit... 2? years ago. Though I will be content if the exhibit floor airwall arrangement is only even half as aggravating as last year's.
@Vapok - Sorry if this is answered somewhere, cold meds are interfering with me being able to filter info properly at the moment - Will BYOC badges ship with the regular passes this year or will it be business as usual? Combined ordering threw me for a loop, and I'm trying to plan my pre-PAX Thursday.
@sary BYOC badges shipped to people directly for prime. However they went out in separate mailings. I *believe* the intention is to ship them with the regular badges, but we probably won't know precisely what is going to happen until it happens :P
I ordered 3 BYOC badges for my friends and myself, but we are no longer going to PAX East is there a way to get a refund and return the 3 passes to the system so others that want them can get them.
So, I'm going to be doing BYOC this year for the first time. I attended the last two East conferences but didn't know about the BYOC room. Anyways, anything I should know about it? I read the FAQ, so I know what I'll be bringing. What should I expect, though? I can just set up whenever I get in? I hear things about contests and the like. What goes on there aside from free-to-play time on your own systems?
So, I'm going to be doing BYOC this year for the first time. I attended the last two East conferences but didn't know about the BYOC room. Anyways, anything I should know about it? I read the FAQ, so I know what I'll be bringing. What should I expect, though? I can just set up whenever I get in? I hear things about contests and the like. What goes on there aside from free-to-play time on your own systems?
If you've ever been to a LAN Party, that's exactly what this is. A huge space for around 300 people to bring their own machines, and play games in person with other people. Aside from that, BYOC has an MC that takes care of entertaining folks in the BYOC room. There's typically contests and activities running through out the day, and normally a raffle with quite a few prizes. Also, very often, people will do fantastic case mods and have their machine on display for you to walk around and look at/ take pictures.
Alternatively, a BYOC seat is also your home away home. It's the only place in the PAX convention that is your personal space, allow you to take a rest and sit down from walking around the huge conference center. It's also a secure place that you'll able to drop off things that you might have picked up from the Expo Hall or other places and store under your table during PAX. While BYOC is as secure as it can be, we do still recommend that if you win expensive prizing or other items that you carry those to your hotel room.
I'm starting to get excited now for BYOC. @Iamroot was posting teaser pictures of his custom build for this year.
That aside, I'm curious about what games people might consider wise to purchase or installing before PAX. What is everyone playing?
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sizzlersam(Retired) [E] PC Room NetworkRegistered Userregular
It can be hard to predict what people will be playing but historically we see a lot of TF2, BF3, CS:S/CS:GO, L4D2, SC2, CIV4. I'm probably missing a couple but if you have a few of those you should be in good shape.
And reminder to everyone... start Steam/Origin/whatever the day before you head to PAX to get any new game updates. No matter how well the network is setup, there just isn't enough bandwidth to have everyone installing updates at the event.
Personally, I plan on playing a lot of Guild Wars 2, perhaps some Planetside 2, and potentially Crysis 2 and Trine 2 (which I'm working on, lately). Though I have other games too (for instance, Call of Duty: MW1-3).
... Apparently I'm playing a lot of "2" games right now...
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whypick1PAX [E] Info Booth Manager~2' from an LCDRegistered Userregular
Personally, I plan on playing a lot of Guild Wars 2, perhaps some Planetside 2, and potentially Crysis 2 and Trine 2 (which I'm working on, lately). Though I have other games too (for instance, Call of Duty: MW1-3).
... Apparently I'm playing a lot of "2" games right now...
Good luck with those first two (pun not intended). At last Prime the network in the PC area was setup such that any mutliplayer games had to be played on LAN servers, so no MMOs. I imagine that will be the same at East, but @Vapok would know for sure.
Personally, I plan on playing a lot of Guild Wars 2, perhaps some Planetside 2, and potentially Crysis 2 and Trine 2 (which I'm working on, lately). Though I have other games too (for instance, Call of Duty: MW1-3).
... Apparently I'm playing a lot of "2" games right now...
Good luck with those first two (pun not intended). At last Prime the network in the PC area was setup such that any mutliplayer games had to be played on LAN servers, so no MMOs. I imagine that will be the same at East, but @Vapok would know for sure.
The Freeplay machines most definitely will have a limitation on the games that will be installed to only games that servers can be onsite at PAX or are typical LAN games. Very few online games will be available on the PCFP machines.
However, specific to BYOC, there should be enough internet to play whatever game you want to play, including MMO's and Online games. I caution though that Bandwidth will be a limiting factor in speed, and that it's suggested that LAN games and games that can be played with on-site servers, be used more in order to have a more fulfilling LAN experience.
Internet will be traffic shaped in such a way that internet surfing, gmail, facebook, and other "port 80" traffic will be very limited in bandwidth, purposefully so that as much of our internet pipe is reserved for gaming.
We also realize that the experience at East 2012 was atypical of normal BYOC's of the past, and we learned a few lessons. We applied what we learned, at Prime this past year, and had a much better experience. However, a few people still complained about internet slowness because they couldn't get to facebook fast. However.. that was by design.
We're looking forward to an exciting BYOC! We've got some cool stuff in the oven, but I can't tell you about that yet!!!!!!!!
It can be hard to predict what people will be playing but historically we see a lot of TF2, BF3, CS:S/CS:GO, L4D2, SC2, CIV4. I'm probably missing a couple but if you have a few of those you should be in good shape.
And reminder to everyone... start Steam/Origin/whatever the day before you head to PAX to get any new game updates. No matter how well the network is setup, there just isn't enough bandwidth to have everyone installing updates at the event.
I have a few of the "standards" I was thinking more new stuff, like AC3 and Borderlands 2 and such. I don't play multiplayer much so I never know what people are enjoying for multiple player.
If the internet is in decent shape I'd be down for some TSW, and I've been looking for an excuse to try Planetside 2.
Posts
Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Spent probably $50+ on shipping to get my machine there and the most I got out of it was the ability to get to twitter sometimes. I sat down probably 4 or 5 times and tried to play, but my luck was terrible and it was always during the worst of the bandwidth issues. I did participate in blindfold Half Life though!
This year, I'm probably just bringing my MacBook. It's a year old, but it could run TF2, L4D2, D3, or SC II if I really wanted to. I realize that BYOC is a LAN event, but it also offers a secure and (in previous years) quiet space to stash stuff, chill out, etc. That's something you can't get anywhere else in PAX.
I got some gaming in myself last year, but I actually got a laptop* rather then lugging my whole rig.
But BYOC really is what you make of it, for me I use it as time to sit and play some games, got to enjoy trying AirMech last year in BYOC (a game I discovered on the expo floor), and minecraft and left 4 dead. The bandwidth/lack of internet really hurt last year though and it seems this year it shouldn't be an issue (hopefully).
If you go into attending BYOC with the goal of gaming you'll play. If you don't plan ahead of time to do anything its less likely you'll get involved.
That said, I would personally love to see a return of the Minecraft server we had for East the year before last and would love to see some free weekend passes to try games for BYOC attendees.
* - I have a sweet gaming laptop.
More because I was trying to get my goddamn PC to work than any other reason (I was they guy rebuilding his computer).
2 years ago I spent a ton of time in BYOC actually gaming - played Monday Night Combat quite a bit, some TF2, and won a couple prizes during contests - blindfold FPS, fastest to build a bookcase in minecraft, etc. It definitely provides a great place to play games when you don't have anything else on your con schedule. The group I went with last year was much more into Tabletop and Magic, and not everyone had a BYOC pass, so I spent a lot less time there. Still, BYOC is almost always the first place I go in the morning.
The utility of having BYOC as a stash spot depends on a number of things - if your hotel is far away from the BCEC, it can be supremely useful. I know some people bring a cooler of food and leave it there. There have been occasional issues in the past of small items going missing in the BYOC area (security is great, but their only real job is ensure no one carries out a barcoded computer item, not police your seat for Grand Theft Snickers).
I'm not even sure how much the coat/bag check is on Sunday, because I always just bring my stuff to the BYOC area and put it there. All of that adds up to $30 of utility for me, even if I don't load up a single game during PAX.
I hope im wrong.
Intel did not do the LAN it was a different group of guys doing the network for the entire byoc/freeplay. Intel is awesome.
I've not heard if the network team for East has been decided yet but I know the team from Prime got things running well on a similar amount of bandwidth so hopefully that can be repeated at East.
Here are some of the things that we did for Prime that we plan on doing for East:
1) Games on Freeplay machines must be LAN games and a server available locally onsite to host games.
-- We realize this excludes a large number of online WAN games. That being said, we had a really great time in Freeplay and Tournaments during Prime 2012!
-- Of interest, we also found out that the CS:GO Server didn't know what to do with a 64 core server and we got a hot patch from developers right before the large CS:GO Tourney at Prime. To put it mildly, that server was SUPER FAST!
2) Throttle Steam
-- Seems like a novel concept, but in past years we kept relying on the local Steam Content Server to provide games. Unfortunately, it's not worked out exactly according to plan, and people still found themselves downloading from the internet. PROTIP: Update Steam before you arrive at the convention.
3) Throttle the Internet
-- It seems funny, but the biggest complaint we got at Prime 2012 was because people couldn't get to Facebook/Twitter/or Google easily. That was by design, which gave off the impression that the bandwidth was bad. What really happened is that we throttled the use of our bandwidth to optimize the experience while gaming and throttled the amount of HTTP/S traffic so that we could provide as much bandwidth to gaming as possible.
We are definitely doing everything we can to ensure that the BYOC experience this year is positive and amazing. If you have direct questions or suggestions feel free to email pax_pc@penny-arcade.com!
Vapok
Sadly, this will not be possible for me, most recent update I will have for East is March 10th, as on the 11th I am heading (with my computer) to my grandmother's in Alabama (where there is no internet) and going straight from there to East. I might see if I can do it in the hotel the night before but I may just be too tired.
Alternatively, I'll just set all my games to suppress updates and manually update the ones I know are on the local server once everything is set up.
thats not going to make a difference at all. valve knows when there are big lans going on and they make sure to update their popular games the night before or day of. It never fails lol. I always update before i leave, and the day i setup (at any lan) 4 games need updates.
Its good to do it, but im willing to bet valve will troll everyone again
Honestly, at the rate that Valve pushes updates, you're probably right. Still, I'd rather download a 30-100 MB update at a LAN instead of a 1-2 GB update.
Vapok
For PAX Prime 2012, they actually expanded the BYOC area after tickets were sold out, so they opened BYOC sales again. Whether or not that is possible with East is impossible to tell at this point. You could try emailing pax_questions@paxsite.com but I'm not sure if they will be able to tell you anything or not regarding your question.
Vapok
They said that their monitors were detecting very high levels of radio frequency in the room causing interference to their antenna's in the BCEC. After a few more questions, they finally told us they were from AT&T and that they were concerned about the usability of their additional voice/data transceivers. They couldn't understand how the computers would be interfering. After several more minutes of questions from them, they finally realized that when we turned the computers on the previous day, was the exact same time they started having interference. So they ended up turning off the antenna that serviced that section of the expo floor. Haha..
Long story short, we're gonna do our best to make sure our network is speedy for games this year. The hotspots might work, but they might not..
Vapok
I still remember being shocked that they couldn't figure that out.
Glad the bandwith issues were solved at Prime! I was trying to play Battlefield 3 with people sitting near me Friday morning but thanks to bandwith issues I ended up just emulating Super Mario Sunshine while waiting for the expo hall to open.
PAX East 2018 4-Day Pass [X] BYOC Pass [X] Hotel Reservation [X]
See y'all at PAX East 2018!
There's still a flat-packed Steve head somewhere here at my parent's place. Remind me about that. Seriously.
This brings me back, way back, like 2010. Freezing my tush off in BYOC... Conveniently, that was also the year of the complimentary Snuggie. (I say we start a petition or something for someone to have a product release conveniently timed with PAX. Because, thanks Nvidia, I still use that backpack. Frequently.)
I will be a super happy camper if locations allow me to ping-pong between BYOC and /dance like it did for a bit... 2? years ago. Though I will be content if the exhibit floor airwall arrangement is only even half as aggravating as last year's.
@Vapok - Sorry if this is answered somewhere, cold meds are interfering with me being able to filter info properly at the moment - Will BYOC badges ship with the regular passes this year or will it be business as usual? Combined ordering threw me for a loop, and I'm trying to plan my pre-PAX Thursday.
PAX East 2012 Omeganaut. Awesomest. Time. Ever.
If you've ever been to a LAN Party, that's exactly what this is. A huge space for around 300 people to bring their own machines, and play games in person with other people. Aside from that, BYOC has an MC that takes care of entertaining folks in the BYOC room. There's typically contests and activities running through out the day, and normally a raffle with quite a few prizes. Also, very often, people will do fantastic case mods and have their machine on display for you to walk around and look at/ take pictures.
Alternatively, a BYOC seat is also your home away home. It's the only place in the PAX convention that is your personal space, allow you to take a rest and sit down from walking around the huge conference center. It's also a secure place that you'll able to drop off things that you might have picked up from the Expo Hall or other places and store under your table during PAX. While BYOC is as secure as it can be, we do still recommend that if you win expensive prizing or other items that you carry those to your hotel room.
Vapok
That aside, I'm curious about what games people might consider wise to purchase or installing before PAX. What is everyone playing?
And reminder to everyone... start Steam/Origin/whatever the day before you head to PAX to get any new game updates. No matter how well the network is setup, there just isn't enough bandwidth to have everyone installing updates at the event.
... Apparently I'm playing a lot of "2" games right now...
Good luck with those first two (pun not intended). At last Prime the network in the PC area was setup such that any mutliplayer games had to be played on LAN servers, so no MMOs. I imagine that will be the same at East, but @Vapok would know for sure.
The Freeplay machines most definitely will have a limitation on the games that will be installed to only games that servers can be onsite at PAX or are typical LAN games. Very few online games will be available on the PCFP machines.
However, specific to BYOC, there should be enough internet to play whatever game you want to play, including MMO's and Online games. I caution though that Bandwidth will be a limiting factor in speed, and that it's suggested that LAN games and games that can be played with on-site servers, be used more in order to have a more fulfilling LAN experience.
Internet will be traffic shaped in such a way that internet surfing, gmail, facebook, and other "port 80" traffic will be very limited in bandwidth, purposefully so that as much of our internet pipe is reserved for gaming.
We also realize that the experience at East 2012 was atypical of normal BYOC's of the past, and we learned a few lessons. We applied what we learned, at Prime this past year, and had a much better experience. However, a few people still complained about internet slowness because they couldn't get to facebook fast. However.. that was by design.
We're looking forward to an exciting BYOC! We've got some cool stuff in the oven, but I can't tell you about that yet!!!!!!!!
Vapok
You're such a tease!
3 Day Pass [X] - BYOC [X] - Accomodations [X] - Travel [ X ] - Time Off [ X ]
I have a few of the "standards" I was thinking more new stuff, like AC3 and Borderlands 2 and such. I don't play multiplayer much so I never know what people are enjoying for multiple player.
If the internet is in decent shape I'd be down for some TSW, and I've been looking for an excuse to try Planetside 2.