This past weekend was the second annual Throwdown LAN party, which I am happy to report was an excellent time, albeit without as much gaming. Two parts networking troubles, one part game hosting issues, and three parts really small teams, Throwdown 2004 still managed to be a very comfortable evening amongst good friends.

LAN parties are a curious animal. In their initial planning stages, they seem like the most obvious things to do for a gamer – get together to play multiplayer games. Their importance is increased even further if someone recently got a new computer. This newfound excitement leads to the planning of the event months in advance, drawing up lists of invitees, games to be played, and grudge matches to continue.

But as the time gets closer, the guests always inadvertently have some other engagement to pursue, and the list shortens dramatically within a few days of the event. Sadly, in my quest for the ultimate LAN I have eked out a meager gathering with two or three people on more than one occasion, almost always involving some cooperative RPG.

Although we did lose some attendees this time around, both Call of Duty and the Xbox provided good times indeed in between technical woes. Wrestling with multiple networking issues cut me deeply, and caused me to question my devotion to the PC platform. If I had a solid gaming laptop this wouldn’t be an issue, but having to bear the weight of my PC and its appurtenances on top of the technical problems was a bitter pill to swallow in the face of a complete XBox in someone’s backpack. Luckily there was plenty of Steam Whistle to go around.

Once again thanks to beto for hosting the event in his cozy apartment. And some recognition should go to Gamma Fodder who skipped out on a date with his wife for an hour to come play a very enthusiastic round of Call of Duty Team Deathmatch. Strangely, I haven’t heard from him since.

Until next year!