Introduction

The weekend just passed I traveled to Sydney, Australia (again) from our base in Melbourne for the Shuttle XPC Ultimate Power LAN operated by the folks from CLGA - the local LAN operators from Sydney who aren't afraid to do things a little differently, said the main organizer, Tim Eliot. The LAN, which played host to around 150 "enthusiastic" gamers from the Sydney area, was held at the North Sydney Anzac Club on Saturday till 10 in the evening and was sponsored by Shuttle (as the title suggests), ATI Technology, PCMarket, GEIL and SATO (who are the sole distributor of the Shuttle XPC in Australia).

All things considered, the LAN was managed very well and I have got to say first off it was one of the best organized LAN parties I have been to - I am sure many other LAN party operators could learn a thing or two from Tim and crew. While organization receives full marks, I think the event as a whole could have been made much more upbeat and exciting with such things as technical demonstrations and Q&A sessions from Shuttle reps and the rest of the sponsors about their latest products and technologies.

Unfortunately none of the sponsors were launching any new products at the LAN however we did get a chance to play with Shuttle's upcoming XPC LCD monitors, a Swiftech Water-cooled XPC and an impressive 40" LCD monitor which was used to host the monthly hot seat Nascar 2004 competition - even our marketing contact from Shuttle HQ in Taiwan sat down and endeavored to learn how to play Q3A - top marks for effort, Sylvia!

It is quite interesting to witness the current trend from tech companies around the world (such as ABIT, Shuttle and Newegg) seemingly all of a sudden showing a very strong and active interest in participating in LAN parties. No doubt sponsored LAN parties are by no means a new thing but it is good to see many more companies getting more involved and giving something back to gamers around the world with prizes and so on being provided for their gaming skills and general interest. This trend is something I am sure we will see more and more of in the following months and years as gamers and enthusiasts continue to make an even bigger influence on the all important bottom lines of the world's biggest tech companies.

Let's continue on as we have a pictorial look at the Shuttle XPC Ultimate Power LAN by CLGA.

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