Pittsburgh LAN Coalition

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, Inc. ("Pittco") will unleash upon the world its latest energetic computer and console video gaming LAN party, IRON STORM XII on March 4-6, 2011 at the Castle Shannon Firehall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The doors will open at 8 p.m. March 4 for 200 gamers to hang out with other gamers and compete in tournaments, including Pittco Roulette–a fast-paced multi-game event spanning the duration of the entire event.

“We aim to create a gaming atmosphere incomparable to any experience at home or anywhere else in the city, state, or region,” said Nik “saberwolf” Parenti, Pittco’s executive manager and IRON STORM XII event chairperson.

Computer gaming tournaments include buy-in tournaments in Counter-Strike: Source and the soon-to-be-released Call of Duty: Black Ops. The winners of these tournaments will take the entire amount for themselves. Other computer gaming tournaments include Quake 3, StarCraft 2, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2 scavenge mode, and Heroes of Newerth.

Our ever-growing console audience will engage in combat in tournaments of Super Street Fighter 4 as well as the soon-to-be-released Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Mac OS X gamers are more than welcome to attend, too, as Pittco Roulette includes many Steam games available for the platform, and StarCraft 2 also has a Mac version.

Our community partners cantstopthis, Dead4Cheap, ThinkComputers, FITES, Recoil LAN, and The GXL will be providing servers, consoles, prizes, and our gigabit Ethernet backbone network.

There will also be an array of other, non-gaming tournaments involving feats of strength, speed, and hilarity. Musical Chairs is a stand-out tradition at every Pittco event!

We also plan to hold a 50/50 raffle and have numerous door prizes from our various sponsors. Sponsors will be announced as they join, but past sponsors include Alienware, ATI, ASUS, TrendNET, Cooler Master, Bigfoot Networks Killer NIC, NYKO, OCZ, Patriot, Mushkin, and more. A full list of past sponsors is available on Pittco’s web site.

“We’ve been experimenting with our format and we’ve learned a lot about how to throw exciting, entertaining, and engaging LAN parties,” said Colin “Rhettigan” Dean, president of Pittco. “This is our most important event ever, and we won’t stop until it’s the largest event we’ve ever had.”

For more information on sponsoring or advertising with Pittco, contact Colin “Rhettigan” Dean, president of Pittco, or Nik “saberwolf” Parenti, executive manager. Also, Pittco’s new Community Manager, Joshua “SovietKitsch” Bialek is the point of contact for teams and individual gamers alike.

ABOUT PITTSBURGH LAN COALITION, INC.
Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, Inc. ("Pittco") was founded in 2003 to organize the greater Pittsburgh LAN scene. The mission of Pittco is to provide a safe, entertaining, and competitive environment for video gamers of all ages. Since its inception, Pittco has held thirteen events and has received much attention in the LAN party community. Its web site is www.pittco.org.

Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, the premiere LAN party video gaming organization in Pittsburgh, concluded today its latest event, IRON STORM PURE, around noon. More than 80 gamers played through the night at ISPURE. Pittco Roulette, a gaming format where there were packed servers and crazy fragging action to the last kill, was a great success and will certainly be returning at future Pittco events. For more details about ISPURE, check out the forums.

Additionally, Pittco’s Iron Storm PURE has joined Alienware Arena. Alienware, Dell’s premier high-performance PC gaming brand, provided an Alienware TactX mouse and keyboard for giveaway at Iron Storm PURE. Learn more about Alienware sponsored events and giveaways at http://www.alienwarearena.com.

Look for more contests and promotions from Alienware—a long-time Iron Storm sponsor—at Pittco events!

Guys and Gals,

We have extended our pre-registration to midnight tonight (August 20th at 12:00 AM EST). This is your last chance to pre-register for the $30 per individual or $125 per 5-person team rate. The rate will jump to $40 per individual and $175 per team if you choose to wait and pay at the door at the LAN.

Feel free to stop by our forums if you have any questions, staff members are checking regularly and answering questions.

If you have a larger than 5-person group, make a post in “registration support”, and we can give you $25 per individual rate for the entire group.

Again, we are going full steam ahead with this event so it’s going to be awesome.

Greetings fellow LANers! We have posted our schedule of events for Iron Storm PURE and also the details about the “constant organized matches” we were advertising on the Pittco Roulette page! Pittco Roulette will be a randomized series of matches across a variety of games during the event. You can learn more and see the games that will be part of the Roulette experience here.

Remember guys, The LAN is only a week away! This event WILL occur regardless of signups (because we just love LANing that much). If you plan on coming, please register so we can plan accordingly. The price will jump $10.00 if you show up unregistered the day of so it is HIGHLY recommended that you get your registration in this week. With Pittco Roulette, this will undoubtedly be one of the best Pittco LANs yet!

In order to ensure that players fully understand the operations and rules of the Counter-Strike 1.6 Tournament at Iron Storm PURE, a page has been created with the details. Please refer to this document prior to asking questions!

Remember, teams can snag a deal by registering using the “Pre-registration, five person team” option on our Registration Page. Ensure to include a valid email address, and you will be contacted by our staff for the names of the players on the team.

If you wish to bring a team larger than 5 people and still want the $25 per seat deal, please make a post in registration support on our forums, or email bobk@pittco.org for further instructions.

We have now opened registration for Iron Storm PURE!

If you’re out of the loop, Iron Storm PURE will be a new format of event for the Pittsburgh LAN Coalition. It will be smaller in maximum size and looser in tournaments, but super high on group gaming and having fun. A part of the PURE format is that there will not be any announced tournaments ahead of time other than the Counter-Strike event. Instead, attendees will select the games to be played and the style of match, much like LAN parties were in the early days of multiplayer video gaming. Count on ludicrous and full game servers, which will be provided by Pittco. Local gaming groups Can’t Stop This and Co-op Volcano, as well as computer hardware review web site ThinkComputers will also provide servers.

For Iron Storm PURE, we’re using Eventbrite, an event ticketing solution. It’s a trial run using its service, so please bear with us if there are any problems registering.

So, to register, visit Pittsburgh LAN Coalition’s IRON STORM PURE LAN Party at Eventbrite or use the widget below!

PITTSBURGH– Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, Inc. (”Pittco”) plans to hold its thirteenth event, IRON STORM PURE, on August 21 and 22 at the Castle Shannon Firehall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittco is opening the doors for 128 gamers for 24 hours of non-stop gaming, competition, camaraderie, and fun.

Pittco attracts gamers from throughout the greater Pittsburgh area, and even into Canada. There are 128 seats available, and registration will be open shortly.

“We are trying a new format with Iron Storm Pure, known internally as Pittco Pure,” said Colin Dean, president of Pittco. “Many of our attendees to Iron Storm 10 and Iron Storm 11 stated that they liked the smaller size of IS9 and 11. So, we are reducing the number of seats available in order to espouse a more close-knit atmosphere than larger events, such as Iron Storm 8 and 10, have had.”

Regardless of the number of attendees, Pittco promises to have the PC and console gaming action devoted attendees love.

Prepaying for the day-long event costs $30, and the walk-in door price is $40. Teams of 5 wishing to register together can purchase group seats at $25 per seat. Pittco recommends prepaying for the event not only because of the cheaper price, but because choice seating is available to those who registered beforehand.

Iron Storm Pure will be held at the Castle Shannon Volunteer Fire Department located at 3600 Library Road Castle Shannon, PA 15234. This is the same location where Pittco’s events have been held since 2005.

In continuing support for the competitive community, there will be one Counter-Strike 1.6 tournament with a required $80 per team buy-in. This buy-in will be placed into the prize pot for enticing cash payouts. This buy-in is subject to change depending on the amount of registered teams.

In the past Left 4 Dead (2), UT3, Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike 1.6, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Battlefield 2, Day of Defeat, Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare, Street Fighter 4, Super Smash Brothers Melee, World of Warcraft, WarCraft III, StarCraft, and more have been played. If there is a popular game that a gamer desires to play, odds are that that gamer will find someone at Iron Storm who wants to play it with them.

Organized matches for small prizes and bragging rights will be announced when registration opens, as there are many pending game releases. StarCraft fans can rest assured that StarCraft 2 will bea high-demand game played at Iron Storm Pure.

For console gamers attending the event, Pittco will have a designated console section where gamers can hook up their consoles to play system-link capable games.

Mac gamers are also welcome and encouraged to participate. With the recent release of Steam for Mac, Pittco anticipates a larger Mac gamer crowd than at previous events.

A part of the PURE format is that there will not be any announced tournaments ahead of time other than the Counter-Strike event. Instead, attendees will select the games to be played and the style of match, much like LAN parties were in the early days of multiplayer video gaming. Count on ludicrous and full game servers, which will be provided by Pittco. Local gaming groups Can’t Stop This and Co-op Volcano, as well as computer hardware review web site ThinkComputers will also provide servers.

In addition to our organized matches, Pittco will be hosting many other things to do at the event, including Pittco’s heralded “Ice Head Competition”, held at the end of every LAN party. The goal of the Ice Head Competition is to see who can hold their breath the longest, upside down, in ice cold water. Ice Head, Karaoke and Extreme Musical Chairs are just a few tournaments that Pittco is planning to organize throughout the event.

The Pittco staff is positive that having some of the latest games mixed in with old fan favorites will draw a bigger crowd to the event, as well as win over many new sponsors for prizes. Iron Storm Pure will also help prepare gamers and staff for the regular-format spring event, which will hopefully be larger than ever!

For more information, contact Colin Dean, president of Pittco, or Nik Parenti, executive manager.

ABOUT PITTSBURGH LAN COALITION, INC.
Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, Inc. (“Pittco”) was founded in 2003 to organize the greater Pittsburgh LAN scene. The mission of Pittco is to provide a safe, entertaining, and competitive environment for video gamers of all ages. Since its inception, Pittco has held twelve events and has received much attention in the LAN party community. Its web site is www.pittco.org.

Pittsburgh, PA — Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, Inc. (”Pittco”), Pittsburgh’s premiere LAN party video gaming organization, today announced the election of Jordan Retterer as Secretary of its Board of Directors and Colin Dean as President of its Board of Directors.

Retterer, a core staff member for more than five years, will be responsible for the ongoing communication and documentation of decisions made by the Pittco Board of Directors. Prior to joining the Board of Directors, Retterer has held many positions in the different areas of the Pittco organization, most notably as a Check-in Manager and Setup Coordinator.

“I am proud to contribute to the continued success of Pittco as an organization and look forward in helping it expand into the multiplayer video game market and beyond,” Retterer said. Retterer is a Systems Administrator at Management Science Associates, a Pittsburgh based diversified information management company.

With more than seven years of LAN party experience, Dean will be responsible for continuing Pittco’s success in holding the largest and most successful LAN parties in the Greater Pittsburgh area. Before his election as president, Dean was a vital piece in the creation of the Board of Directors as its Secretary.

“I’m very eager to usher Pittco into the next decade, wherein multiplayer video gaming will undoubtedly grow and change in ways we have yet to imagine, just as they did this past decade,” Dean said. Dean is an applications engineer at Vivisimo, a Pittsburgh-based enterprise search and information optimization company.

Retterer joins Dean and current Board of Directors Treasurer Bob Kelley.

“It is so great to have the amount of talent, dedication and experience that is represented by the entire volunteer staff of Pittco, most definitely including Colin and Jordan in their new (or changed) positions on the Board.” Kelley said. Kelley is a founding member of Pittco.

ABOUT PITTSBURGH LAN COALITION, INC.

Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, Inc. (“Pittco”) was founded in 2003 to organize the greater Pittsburgh LAN scene. The mission of Pittco is to provide a safe, entertaining, and competitive environment for video gamers of all ages. Since its inception, Pittco has held twelve events and has received much attention in the LAN party community. Its web site is www.pittco.org.

So if you weren’t at Iron Storm XI you missed out… truth. BUT if you were here and you want to revel in your victories we took the liberty to upload all the Offical Tournament Brackets.

…I’ll update the the brackets as the tournaments finish.

It has been brought to our attention that several college students in the Pittsburgh area would like to attend Iron Storm: XI but currently have no transportation to the event. This problem has 2 solutions.

1. Post a message in the forums and their is always a possibility of hitching a ride with someone else in your area
2. Taking a bus to the “T” station and riding the rails to Castle Shannon.

One common thing overlooked about our event is that fact that the building also serves and the parking lot for a Port Authority Park & Ride. The back of the building is actually the Castle Shannon station on the Beechview Line. So, all you have to do is take a train (which departs about every 10 minutes throughout the day) from any of the downtown stations and 30 minutes later you’ll be in the parking lot to ISXI. Oh, and with the bus/train ride fair total cost would be $2.75 one way… just sayin’.

The “T” Rail Line Map

42C and 42S Train Schedule

^^das the train you’d take from downtown