LlamaLAN 8

[CyberDrac]

LlamaLANners

Just when you though that we had forgotten!

The planning is over, the venue beachhead is secured, and LlamaLAN 8 is about to storm the tropical shores of the Spratly Islands!

"the date?" I hear you cry! "tell us the date!" ... well LlamaLANners ... find your diaries and write in large letters **LLAMALAN 8** on the 17th, 18th and 19th of August 2007.

Yes, we're back, and this time we're Tropical! 'der LlamaLAN management have decided to put the PARTY back into LAN Party, and in addition to the usual excellent LANning experience you can expect something a little special on the Saturday night, we are pleased to welcome you to Mad 'Llama' Jack's famous Luau, kick back on the Saturday night with some Pizza and Punch and imagine yourselves on a sandy beach.

We'll run a tropical themed tournament that hopefully everyone will be able to get involved in, and a couple of big games, we will of course be reviewing the selection of games and asking you to review your lists so that we can pick the games to be played.

To cover the cost of the extra party treats the prices are a little different from previous events, but remember people, we don't make a profit, all of the funds collected go back into the events to make them event better for you, we don't usually rely on sponsors other than the ever constant support from Everglide/Gamerzstuff, and so all of the prizes and new network gear are funded directly by you, so what we bring you is the pure distilled essence of what we feel a LAN should be ... FUN!

As usual, to ensure the event goes ahead as planned we are setting a date by which we need sufficient PAID signups to cover the venue hire. So with that in mind we need 20, that right, only TWENTY paid up people by MIDDAY on the 8th of July for LlamaLAN 8 ... easy to remember ... 8th for LL8, to encourage people to sign up we will of course be running our usual discount offer ... ANYONE WHO PAYS BEFORE THE DEADLINE SAVES **£2.50** (12.5%) OFF THE NORMAL TICKET PRICE.

Spectators - £7.50 (7.95)
Early Adopters - £17.50 (18.30)
Post Deadline Price - £20.00 (20.88)

(prices in bracket include PayPal charges)

So get paid up early and let's make sure that the event happens as planned.

'der Management

[Andy^]

It would appear, that I am "in"

-Andy ;D

[Murray-Mint]

I am so in for this, I'm out the other side!

Really, I will make it this time!

[philbert_mcpleb]

i'm seriously considering buying two seats so i can run dual monitors, thats how good these LAN's can be

[winbar]

It's pencilled into my diary.

[Chicane]

i have also penciled it in

[CyberDrac]

Most Excellent ... Welcome One and All! :D

CD

[inferno]

i will be going.

[CyberDrac]

Looking forward to seeing the signups and payments winging their way to the LlamaLAN account by the 8th of July.

CD

[Lucifa]

It's only taken 9 years for a lan to appear on my birthday :awesome:
But won't be coming :(

[Vikx]

Its on My b-day as well....doubt i will be able to make it though.

[CyberDrac]

Pleasantly surprised to see 5 fully paid up participants so far, only 15 more to go, and three more are on the 'to pay' list, good progress considering only a week has passed :)

CD

[Pru]

Im probably giving up my holliday to come... with a pc :o

[CyberDrac]

The dedication of a true Llama :)

CD

[Swyft]

considering it, but it'll depend on when I'm going on holiday :p

btw you might want to update your site with the new prices, the front page still has the usual prices :)

[CyberDrac]

I could have sworn that I had hunted down every reference ... OK ... I'll just go and beat KF until he changes them. ;)

edit: OK Swyft, I give up, where are they?

CD

[CyberDrac]

In further news ... the poster has been released ... feel free to print it off and place in prominent (legal) places ... let's pimp this event like it's never been pimped before. :D

http://www.llamalan.co.uk/images/pictures/0_200507063817.JPG

CD

[Murray-Mint]

Now that's a fine pimp poster! Damn fine! Will be paying in a week!

[CyberDrac]

C'mon Murray ... the week has passed :) get yer wallet out ;)

On related news ... we have 15 signups and 10 paid and so can declare ourselves half way to ensuring the event will happen. Murray can make that 16 and 11 :D

CD

[Murray-Mint]

Done! Looking forward to it :)

[CyberDrac]

Good man ... keep up the good work :) I see ProfLiebstrom lurking as well ... sign up now Prof it is your DESTINY! :)

CD

[CyberDrac]

ProfLiebstrom, Inferno, Chicane and Winbar would make it 20 signups and then all we'd have to worry about is getting the cash ... remember folks it takes 20 PAID signups to guarantee this event runs.

CD

[CyberDrac]

OK ... Murray's all paid up ... NEXT!

CD

[philbert_mcpleb]

i can't make it, unlike pru who can give up her holiday for a LAN, with this holiday i can't (i'm running it)

[CyberDrac]

How dare you plan a holiday at a time when hadn't decided when we were going run a LAN ;) You will of course be missed, and I know that you will have loved this one ... get your sister to buy you a souvenir :)

CD

[Pru]

How dare you book a LAN on our holliday :P

[Swyft]

me and some mates are going camping at some point during the summer, and until thats sorted out I can't confirm my place :(

weekends are in short supply this summer! Clearly someone forgot to order in new stock, too many mondays, and not enough saturdays! :p

[CyberDrac]

Just to remind people that we are under a week away from the make or break deadline and we are still SEVEN payments short of making this happen, so, all those people who have expressed an interest ... get you money in soon or else there may not be a LAN to sign up to later.

CD

[CyberDrac]

OK, my fellow Llama Fraggers, with less than two days to go we are still FOUR payments short ... don't let this event slide into obscurity, we have put a lot of effort into the organisation it would be a real shame to see a party wasted like this, so c'mon join the Llamas who are putting Party back into LANParty. :D

CD

[CyberDrac]

OK, for anyone not watching the site or idling the channel ... here are a selection of news posts from the LlamaLAN website ...

[CyberDrac]

I'm sure that you are all pleased to hear that LlamaLAN 8 is confirmed.

Although we didn't hit our usual minimum (to cover the venue costs) we decided that it would be a damn shame to cancel since there were more people signed up and due to pay in the very near future (hint hint).

So my little Llama fraggers, if you were holding off signing up or paying because the event was unconfirmed then you no longer have any excuse. LlamaLAN 8 WILL BE HAPPENING. So all we need to do now is sell out the remainder of the seats to make the party really take off. So if you are already attending why don't you drag along a couple of mates to help fill up the hall, girlfriends, boyfriends, work colleagues, we just don't care, as long as they are up for some computer gaming fun. If you have friends who aren't sure, then bring them along, you never know they might like it and get the LAN party addiction.

Please Please Please spread the word, you know what a great time can be had at a LlamaLAN, don't keep it to yourselves, spread the good word!

See you in a few weeks!

'der Management
Kanonfodda, CyberDrac, Golem, LittleGem, and Kryton

PS. a big thank-you to everyone who did pay up early, and a huge thank you to the many Llamas who offered to subsidise the event through donations, thankfully we didn't need them, but we appreciate the offer greatly.

[CyberDrac]

In case people haven't taken the hint already, we are running a HAWAIIAN THEMED LAN.

As such there is only one BIG GAME we must play ...

FAR CRY

... if you haven't already got this game then shame on you for missing out on one of the classics of PC gaming, you can quickly rectify this but popping along at http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/880175/Far-Cry/Product.html and pick up a copy at the bargain price of £7.99.

With it's superb graphics and great gameplay you can look forward to some tropical deathmatching on the Saturday. Don't miss out, grab a copy soon!

CD

[CyberDrac]

In keeping with our Lost / Crysis / Hawaiian theme, the management decided that we couldn't have JUST a t-shirt, we decided that we needed something a little special ... a custom designed Hawaiian Aloha shirt.

The design features some traditional Hawaiian elements such as Coconut trees, Flowers, and a Llama wearing sunglasses ?!? Yes, Mad Jack Llama features heavily.

The shirts are also extremely partisan, show your support for your chosen team by purchasing the shirt in either RED or BLUE.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/3697/ll8shirtfinalallls2.gif

These shirts are available through the LlamaLAN shop, if you haven't already you may have to register, but once you have pre-ordered and paid your shirt will be available to collect at the event. Anyone who wishes to purchase a shirt but cannot attend should contact the staff to arrange what method of delivery they would like to pay for, but I'm not sure that the Royal Mail deliver by llama.

The price is £21 a shirt, which barely covers the cost of manufacture, but is going to give you an unmistakable, irreplaceable, unique piece of LlamaWear by the multi talented Matt 'Golem' Ainge.

So get there quick, we need all the orders in the next fortnight to give our supplier a chance to manufacture them.

See you all soon,

'der Management
Kanonfodda, CyberDrac, Golem, LittleGem and Kryton

[CyberDrac]

In the next couple of days we will be freezing the selection of games, we will then put the top ten games CHOSEN BY YOU into a poll and those will be narrowed down to THREE to be put with the tournament choice of 'Far Cry', these will be our big games, the games where we hope that everyone will get stuck in and fight for their team.

It is essential that you make it known what games you want played through your PROFILE - GAMES, if you don't put down what you want played then you are missing out on having your voice heard.

At the very least put down what games you have installed and your preference so that you have a chance of the big games being something you have installed.

Even if your favourites aren't chosen, we hope that you abide by the gamer's agreement and make the most of the big games by getting involved.

Ladies, Gentlemen and Llamas choose your games NOW!

See you soon,

'der Management
Kanonfodda, CyberDrac, LittleGem, Kryton and Golem

[CyberDrac]

Hopefully that will bring everyone up to date, there are still many places available, so anyone needing their small LAN fix and are devastated by the loss of StratLAN33, and have the previous weekend free, and can make it to Kent, then ...

SIGN UP NOW! ;)

CD

[CyberDrac]

OK, it's that time again, we need to find out from the favourite games in your profiles which THREE we want to be playing as our BIG GAMES on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I am sure that most of you will have realised that the main tournament will be played in 'Far Cry', hence the unsubtle hints to go out and buy it, however, non-regulars may not have realised that we also run Red Team vs. Blue Team games where we encourage EVERYONE to get involved.

The choice currently stand as (in no particular order) ...

Unreal Tournament 2004
Battlefield 2
Quake III Arena
Battlefield 1942
Half Life 2 Death Match
Counter Strike Source
Armagedtron
Quake 4
Trackmania Nations
and
Far Cry (if you wish it to be a BIG GAME as well as a Tournament)

Don't worry you'll have plenty of other time to organise you own games.

Just post in this thread (http://www.llamalan.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=8779) with your THREE favourites, the three with the largest number of votes will win, in the event of a tie (as with the votes in your profile) then the position you place them will come into effect and those rated higher will win.

So vote away ...

[CyberDrac]

Sorry for the confusion my fellow Llamas, but web coding genius Kanonfodda has knocked us up a poll to make my life counting the votes easier.

Once you have logged into the site, go to the 'Polls' link in the box which contains your name and profile in the left hand column on the main website, underneath the Llama's head.

This will allow you to vote for 3 and only 3 of the possible game choices.

Vote wisely.

CD

[CyberDrac]

Although they've only been on sale a few short weeks, we have to close the orders on Friday at midday in order to get the order to our supplier, printed, and shipped back to us here in time for the event.

So, today (Thursday) and part of tomorrow (Friday) will be your ONLY opportunity to place your orders for these UNIQUE, COLLECTIBLE pieces of EXCLUSIVE LlamaWear. If you've seen the design you'll know that the artwork is of exceptional quality, and that you will get many years of wear from these garments.

Nobody else on the planet will have these shirts, they are more exclusive than your average 'designer wear'.

Unable to attend? Contact us anyway and we can negotiate getting a shirt shipped to you.

So pop over to the shop (http://www.llamalan.co.uk/shop) and place your order now.

[CyberDrac]

Fellow Llamas, the end is nigh, well the deadline for ordering shirts is anyway. So anyone wanting a shirt you have a couple of hours to get your order in through the shop, or you will probably miss out. If you are having problems placing your order then please leave a message through the forums.

This is also a reminder for the people who are marked as being unpaid for LlamaLAN 8, if you don't pay before the event then you will have to shell out £25 on the door, and I'm sure you want to save all the pennies you can by paying up before then.

[CyberDrac]

Only 7 out of the 20 participants attending LlamaLAN 8 have voted on what games they would like to play. Remember this is YOUR chance to influence what goes on during the event so GET VOTING.

At the moment we have two out of the three in a clear lead with the old favourites ...

UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2004
and
HALF LIFE 2 DEATHMATCH

... taking and early lead, however we have a multi-way tie for third place with the following on an equal percentage ...

BATTLEFIELD 2
TRACKMANIA NATIONS
and
FAR CRY

Only YOU can make the choice, so get to the site, go to the polls section under the Super Llama Head. Make your THREE votes count!

[CyberDrac]

Thanks for everyone (yes, all 8 of you) that voted for the big games, I think that everyone who was going to vote has now done so. They are to be ...

UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2004 with 20.8% of the vote,
HALF LIFE 2 DEATH MATCH with 16.7% of the vote,
and
TRACKMANIA NATIONS also with 16.7% of the vote

The great news is of course that TrackMania Nations is a free download and so nobody has an excuse not to play it, and that a vast majority of gamers have UT2004 (a classic) and HL2DM (even if they only got it bundled with their copy of HL2).

For anyone sadly lacking these games in their collection, TrackMania Nations can be downloaded from ( here (http://www.trackmanianations.com/indexUk.php) ), UT2004 can be purchased for a modest £9.99 bundled with the original UT and Unreal from ( here (http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/1087486/Unreal-Anthology/Product.html) ), and if you don't have it bundled with something else HL2DM can be obtained for a mere $9.95, about £6 after tax from ( here (http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=320&cc=GB) ).

Go get the games sorted and get practicing and we'll see you at LlamaLAN 8.

PS ... don't forget FAR CRY as well

[CyberDrac]

Many of our regulars will be aware that one of the advantages how paying early is getting to sit EXACTLY where you want on our seating plan, be it a traditional seat, a lucky seat or simply one near someone you love or admire. Several of our paid participants have not taken advantage of this service, so need to go to the 'EVENT' section, to the 'LlamaLAN 8' event, select the 'FLOOR PLAN', and choose their seat.

It serves two purposes, you get the seat you want, and we get to know which team you have chosen for the big games so we know how big our teams are going to be.

So get choosing, if you don't pick your chair soon, we'll open it up to the non-paid participants to choose theirs, and if you haven't selected a place by the start of the event then we'll we'll simply put you on the seat plan to balance the teams.

So make it YOUR choice.

[CyberDrac]

Now that nearly all the paid participants have selected their seats, we will now open up that option to the remaining participants who have NOT paid. This is purely so that we can gauge numbers for the red and blue teams. Anyone who hasn't chosen their seat by tomorrow morning will be sat wherever they are needed to balance the teams.

If for whatever reason you are no longer attending please let a member of staff know through the forums so that we have accurate numbers.

[CyberDrac]

Go SBB ... I knew you'd succumb in the end ;)

Welcome to the Hotel Llama ... you can check out ... but you can never leave :)

CD

[diddydecoy]

Great Website ;)

[CyberDrac]

Great Website ;)
Thank you very much, our artist and web designer do like to take pride in their work.

CD