Quakecon is a pivotal moment in the gaming calender, and this weekend it once again reaffirmed its position as an event that we cannot live without! It has legacy that is undeniable, and a hegemony in place that is irreplaceable.

But in 2005 the tournaments were not so special, In doom 3 we didn't have the deathmatch game we wanted, and not really a match to remember until the final. In ET with just Check 6 and idle attending from Europe, and there being such a gulf in class between the two and only u5 from the states able to offer any resistance many could be forgiven for not having a Quakecon moment in 2005 to remember.

Quakecon 2006 had a rocky start, with late announcements, smaller venue and the decision to include ET again which surprised many after the amount of no-shows last year as well as the probability of less European attendees. I will even admit that I was not expecting the excitement in the tournaments like that of previous years, how wrong was I? Underestimate Quakecon and ID Software at your peril as yet again the "con" strikes at the heart of gamers.

Whether you're an ET fan or a Quake fan the tournament threw up games that simply cannot be forgotten. But its not all about the tournaments at Quakecon. The BYOC is what makes Quakecon so special, and is an element that cant be forgotten.
The Quakecon BYOC is somewhat unique in the fact that attendees come year after year expecting not only to play and enjoy, but to spectate.

Spectating and interacting with tournaments is something that cannot be underestimated in feeding excitement into an event. Take the BYOC out of Quakecon and you drop the amount of people who live and die by the action of the tournament by 1000 and boy can 1000 make some noise! They come from all around the venue to watch, be it by the iTG area or on the plazmas around the tournament area. These are the people that make the event such a livewire for excitement. They Ooo, They Ahh and they clap to the pace of the game. On Quakecon day one iTG had a finite amount of space within which people could sit and watch games at the booth. By half way through tournament day one iTG had a chained off section in the walk way for people to view, as the crowds gathered and breathed in and out tournament action.

There's another aspect to Quakecon that contributes so much to the enjoyment of the tournament itself. Quakecon is so loose and easy to be in, once you're in you can go where you want, you've no pressure to register for your match X amount of time before the tournament. The admins and directors of the tournament know their game, they know their players and know exactly how to bring the best out of them.

Whether its the server admins, match admins, tournament admins or directors you name it. The whole tournament crew know exactly how a tournament should run. They changed ET to 5on5 and Quake to one map and after that tournament who dares to tell them they were wrong?

Quakecon Placings versus Seeds:

ET: Seeds: 1st - Idle, 2nd - Crossfire, 3rd KiH
1st Place: idle
2nd Place: Crossfire.nu
3rd Place: KiH

Quake 4 1vs1: Seeds: 1st - Toxic, 2nd Stermy, 3rd Cooler, 4th Ztrider
1st Place: Toxic
2nd Place: Cooller
3rd Place: Ztrider

Quake 4 2vs2 : Seeds - 1st Britney, 2nd Clan519, 3rd mouz

1st Place: Britney
2nd Place: All the Rage
3rd Place: mouz

I think thats pretty damn conclusive as to how good this admin team is.


Then there's the tournament itself, and the problem here is where to start?
Quakecon 2002 was arguably the greatest tournament to date as both 1vs1 and Wolfenstein tournaments had unparalleled excitement levels and upsets, be that Daler beating Fatal1ty or iNfensus coming back against cK the tournament was littered with memories. Quakecon 2006 may just have overtaken 2002. Excitement? Upsets? How about 15 year old av3k beating Fatal1ty to repeat Dalers feat. Ztrider vs Cypher was a phenomenal display of nerve racking dualling, and then there was the emergence of the new kids on the block, charging through day one and two, only to be gunned down by the names we've come to love and respect. How about crossfire vs idle to replace doctors vs iNfensus for the final, or Crossfire vs KiH to replace iN vs cK, the list goes on.
Tox vs Cooller was one of the most memorable games in 2002 and they were to repeat history in 2006, yet with Tox coming out the victor this time around. "No think on lan"? I think not this time around.

There's just something about Quakecon, something non-commercial. Big cheques and no entry fee, marriage proposals and $1000 random shoot-outs. Sure, if every attendee pays $50 for Quakewars then the event might have paid for itself, but everything about it was so gamer focused rather than commercially focused. That mentality went tight down to the hotel selection.
Last year Quakecon was held at the Gaylord, in the middle of nowhere where lunch cost you a small fortune. In 2006, the Hilton anatole just a short ride from Downtown and on the same road as 5 cheap hotels which some had Quakecon room rates and were walking distance. That and the fact on some days Quakecon provided free food and drink (inc. beer)!

You can cancel Christmas, you can take away my iPod but whatever you do, you cant replace Quakecon.