Pittsburgh LAN Coalition

The internationally-known Pittsburgh LAN Coalition (Pittco) officially announced today the opening of registration for its latest event, IRON STORM X from 2 p.m. on March 21 to 2 p.m. March 22 at the Castle Shannon Volunteer Fire Hall in Castle Shannon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Iron Storm X is the eleventh LAN party computer and console gaming event which Pittco has held in its more than five years as an organization.

Pittco will seat up to 200 gamers at the 24-hour event. Gamers will compete in a variety of tournaments and competitions in order to prove they are the best player of their favorite games. Tournaments will be formally announced closer to the event, but will probably include Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Counter-Strike: Source, and Unreal Tournament.

Several hundred dollars in prizes will be given to winners of these contests. Past prize sponsors include Alienware, ATXPowerSupplies.com, Bawls Guarana, BDA Gamer, CPU Magazine, Danger Den, Evo-G, FSP Group USA, Razer, Patriot Memory, Red Bull, Slappa, Steel Series, TRENDnet, and Velocity Micro.

In addition to its own dedicated servers, Pittsburgh-based computer review web sites ThinkComputers and BIOS LEVEL will be lending some of their dedicated servers.

Light snacks will be available for free at the event, while water, soft drinks, and pizza will be available for a nominal free.

Admission to the event costs $25 for pre-registration on its web site, www.pittco.org, or $35 for on-site registration.

Registration is open now.

MIAMI-July 31, 2008 – BAWLS Guarana, the drink of choice for video gamers everywhere, today announced the launch of a partnership with GameFly, the leading online video game rental service. Through this new affiliation, BAWLS will give customers a chance to try GameFly free for 30 days and GameFly users will receive substantial, limited-time discounts on the purchase of BAWLS Guarana/GameFly co-branded products.

“As a continued supporter of the video game community, partnering with GameFly is a perfect fit for BAWLS Guarana,” commented Founder and CEO Hoby Buppert. “GameFly’s easy-to-navigate site, expansive inventory and growing popularity will be a big hit among our customers, the majority of whom are avid gamers.”

On July 8^th, GameFly users will receive a $2-off coupon for co-branded BAWLS/GameFly 16 oz. can 4-packs – available exclusively at Target stores nationwide. BAWLS customers can also find 30-day GameFly trial subscription codes inside BAWLS/GameFly specialty branded 4-packs – available at Target stores nationwide this month.

“BAWLS Guarana is an excellent partner for GameFly. They are huge supporters of the video game industry and their beverage appeals to GameFly’s members,” said Sean Spector, GameFly Co-Founder and Senior Vice President, Business Development and Content. “This promotion will allow us to connect with new customers via the on-pack promotion and special one month offer. It will also introduce BAWLS to our members by providing exclusive discounts on all BAWLS Guarana/GameFly co-branded products.”

No stranger to the video game world, BAWLS Guarana is the nation’s largest supporter of video gaming, sponsoring over 1000 gaming events each year. BAWLS Guarana is also the Official Energy Drink of some of the world’s largest gaming events, including QuakeCon 2008 and PAX 2008 and is a supporter of Child’s Play – a global charity created by the video game community.

About GameFly

GameFly™ is the leading online video game rental service. With a choice of more than 5,000 titles, GameFly offers the widest selection of games for the PlayStation® 2, PlayStation® 3, Xbox™, Xbox 360™, GameCube™, Game Boy™ Advance, Nintendo DS™, Nintendo Wii™ and PSP™ without the hassle of due dates or late fees. With plans starting at $15.95 a month, GameFly subscribers can rent one to four games at a time and keep them for as long as they like. Subscribers manage their GameQ™ online and receive games directly from the U.S. Postal Service via first class mail. GameFly is also a great source for high quality, used video games at exceptional prices. For more information and a free trial, please visit www.gamefly.com

About BAWLS

BAWLS is the brainchild of entrepreneur Hoby Buppert, CEO of Hobarama, LLC, who named the beverage for the caffeinated “bounce” the drink packs. Widely distributed to local supermarkets, convenience stores (7-Eleven, Speedway/SuperAmerica), Target, Microcenter stores and gaming venues; BAWLS is a premium, non-alcoholic, carbonated beverage made from the guarana berry harvested in the Amazonian Rainforest. The caffeine found in BAWLS Guarana contains the same amount of caffeine as coffee and nearly three times that of traditional sodas due to a naturally occurring form of the stimulant found in the guarana berry. BAWLS’ unique refreshing flavor tastes like a citrus infused cream soda and its popularity continues to grow among caffeine-deprived, refreshment-seeking techies, students, professionals and athletes in need of a Bounce. For more information, visit www.BAWLS.com

CHICAGO, July 29, 2008 – The leading manufacturer of innovative professional gaming gear, SteelSeries, today announced its acquisition of certain assets in Ideazon, Inc., the North American-based developer and manufacturer of gaming peripherals and technologies. This acquisition further strengthens SteelSeries’ peripheral technology and will help expand the company’s broad support within the gaming community.

“SteelSeries has brought together two rapidly growing companies in the gaming space, making SteelSeries one of the fastest-growing gaming peripherals manufacturers globally,” said Bruce Hawver, CEO of SteelSeries. “No other organization works as closely with both gamers, and now software creators, in order to create arguably the most responsive gaming products in the world, optimized for gamers’ preferences, as well as specific gaming publishers and specific titles.”

SteelSeries has achieved success and recognition over the past few years in working with and establishing new professional gaming events, like Iron.Lady and King of the Hill, as well as its support of more than 1,200 events globally. Ideazon has helped enhance the gaming experience through its relationships with top game developers and publishers, but its start in gaming also came from the gamers’ perspective and has grown from there.

“Ideazon’s game-branded line of PC peripherals is incredibly popular and enjoys a dedicated following,” added SteelSeries’ Hawver. “Their products truly complement our own by extending our reach to a broader audience of gamers. Our combined expertise with competitive gamers will help speed the development of game- branded products by linking the game developers with the strongest group of pro gamers in the world.”

SteelSeries supports more than 200 professional gaming teams globally and has involved many more pro and competitive gamers during its product development process. Ideazon has also inspired a community of gamers in terms of both sponsorships and event support.

“This acquisition will further establish SteelSeries as a leading global gaming peripherals manufacturer,” said Jacob Wolff-Petersen, Founder of SteelSeries . “No other organization works as closely with gamers and industry partners, or has a more comprehensive line of products to support every type of gamer. The synergies between Ideazon and SteelSeries are evident in the design, relationships and industry influence that both companies bring to the table to create this new gaming powerhouse.”

The new combined organization will be headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark with offices in North America and Asia.

About SteelSeries

SteelSeries is a leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals and accessories, including headsets, keyboards, mice, software and gaming surfaces, available in more than 75 countries. SteelSeries, whose motto is “winning is everything,” has been on the forefront of professional gaming gear since its inception in 2001. The company has set a new benchmark for gaming accessories around the world thanks to continued innovation and product development in cooperation with leading professional gamers, the world’s most demanding IT consumers, who actually make a living based on the quality of SteelSeries products. SteelSeries’ development strategy is simple: Only products that take performance to the next level will be introduced. This ensures optimum performance and durability across a variety of gaming and other demanding applications. For more information, please visit www.SteelSeries.com.

About Ideazon Inc.

North American-based Ideazon Inc. develops, manufactures and markets the next generation of gaming peripheral technologies that enhance the gamers experience. Working with the gaming community – with partners, game developers and publishers – Ideazon develops its entire line of Precision Gaming Tools to maximize comfort, control, and in game dominance. Since its beginnings in 1999, the company has grown to be an industry leader in gaming technologies and has assembled an impressive list of technology partners including Activision Blizzard, Eidos Interactive, Electronic Arts, NCsoft Corporation, Microsoft Game Studios, NVIDIA and Sony Online Entertainment. For more information, visit the Web site at www.ideazon.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PITTSBURGH– Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, Inc. (”Pittco”) plans to hold its tenth event, IRON STORM 9, on August 16 and 17 at the Castle Shannon Firehall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittco is opening the doors for 200 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 200 seats available, and registration is open immediately.

“We have been continually growing throughout almost every event,” Dan Wright, Pittco president, said. “At Iron Storm 8 we received our largest attendance level yet, surpassing the 150 mark plus staff.”

This surpassed Pittco’s previous record of 130 plus staff at Iron Storm 7.

“We have even been lucky enough to have people from all of the country, as well as Canada and Europe attend our events,” Sean Potter, Iron Storm 9 organizer, said.

Regardless of the number of attendees, Pittco promises to have more PC and console gaming action than ever before.

Prepaying for the day-long event costs $25, and the walk-in door price is $35. 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 9 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 the four prior events where held.

In the past UT3, Unreal Tournament 2004, Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike 1.6, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Battlefield 2/142, Day of Defeat, Call of Duty 4, World of Warcraft, WarCraft III, and StarCraft 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.

The tournaments at Iron Storm 9 will be similar to previous events with a couple of new additions to the lineup. Some of the main tournaments are the 5v5 Counter-Strike Source with a $25 buy in per team, 5v5 Call of Duty 4, and 1v1 Unreal Tournament 3 DeathMatch. Pittco will also run a 5v5 Battlefield 2/142 tournament if there is enough interest. In addition to these main events, Pittco will be hosting some classic game tournaments which include a 1v1 “Clamato Bowl” Quake 3 tournament and a 1v1 StarCraft: Brood War tournament.

For console gamers attending the event, Pittco hopes to have an array of eight HDTVs. Tournaments for Halo 3, Guitar Hero 3, and Super Smash Brothers: Brawl will be taking place on these HDTVs.

In addition to our gaming tournaments, 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.

Also at Iron Storm 9, Pittco will giving gamers a chance to win some serious cash and prizes in its 50/50 ROFL(Raffle). Pittco will be supplying the raffle with over $500 worth of the latest and greatest computer components. Sponsors for these items will be announced soon.

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.

Registration for the event is now open, and is accessible via Pittco’s website (http://www.pittco.org/register/). The cost of the event will be $25 pre-paid, or $35 at the door. Drinks and snacks will be made available to everyone, and pizza will be provided for an small, additional cost.

For more information, contact Dan Wright, president of Pittco, or Sean Potter, IS9 organizer.

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 nine events and has received much attention in the LAN party community. Its web site is www.pittco.org .

“WIN A TRIP TO FASHION WEEK WITH THE BAWLS GUARANA ULTIMATE FASHION EXPERIENCE CONTEST!”
Miami, FL – June 16, 2008 – Win a chance to be at the most glamorous event of the year! BAWLS Guarana today announced the launch of the 2008 Ultimate Fashion Experience Contest! The Energy Drink of Fashion will send one lucky Grand Prize Winner on a trip for two to New York for the largest, most glamorous fashion event of the year – Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week!

BAWLS will give one Grand Prize Winner the ultimate fashion VIP treatment. The winner will have access to a weekend of the hottest invite-only shows and sip plenty of BAWLS Guarana to keep them fashionably buzzing under the tents! Five Runners-Up will win an Ultimate Fashion Prize Pack, a couture BAWLS bottle tote by designer Bacca da Silva and plenty of BAWLS Guarana drinks!

Enter to win at www.BAWLS.com/fashion. No purchase necessary to enter and winners will be announced in August 2008.

About BAWLS
BAWLS is the brainchild of entrepreneur Hoby Buppert, CEO of Hobarama, LLC, who named the beverage for the caffeinated “bounce” the drink packs. Widely distributed to local supermarkets, convenience stores (7-Eleven, Speedway/SuperAmerica), Target, Microcenter stores and gaming venues; BAWLS is a premium, non-alcoholic, carbonated beverage made from the guarana berry harvested in the Amazonian Rainforest. The caffeine found in BAWLS Guarana contains the same amount of caffeine as coffee and nearly three times that of traditional sodas due to a naturally occurring form of the stimulant found in the guarana berry. BAWLS’ unique refreshing flavor tastes like a citrus infused cream soda and its popularity continues to grow among caffeine-deprived, refreshment-seeking fashionistas, students, professionals and athletes in need of a Bounce. For more information, visit www.BAWLS.com.

The New York Times ad…Firefox Flicks…the Firefox crop circle…Operation Firefox…you name it! The Firefox community is always up to some cool, collaborative way to declare their passion for Firefox. What better way to do this than band together to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours?!

It’s a whole lot easier and safer than donning a beard of bees or underwater jump roping. All you have to do is download Firefox 3 when it goes live on Download Day — some time in June. In the meantime check out Download Day Headquarters and pledge to download Firefox 3. We’ll let you know when Firefox 3 goes out the door, kicking off our 24-hour attempt.

Here are some other ways you can help in the run up to Download Day:

* Get the word out; tell your friends, your neighbors, your grandma, anyone and everyone to participate in Download Day.
* Host a party to download Firefox; you provide the people and we’ll provide the party favors.
* Put a Download Day badge on your blog, profile or website.

With your help the Firefox community can go down in history! If you have any questions or ideas please drop us a line at worldrecord @ mozilla.com.

PITTSBURGH– Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, Inc. (“Pittco”) held its ninth event, Iron Storm 8, on March 15 and 16 at the Castle Shannon Firehall. More than 160 men and women attended the 24-hour event, including more than 150 gamers and 15 staff members.

Attendees competed in several PC and console video games tournaments and odd talent competitions. More than $2,000 worth of prizes donated by sponsors such as Warrendale-based DVDEmpire.com, ATXPowerSupplies.com, Bawls Guarana, In Win, Razer, Red Bull, Thermaltake, and VisionTek were given as prizes for tournaments in games such as Counter-Strike: Source, Unreal Tournament 2004, Halo 3, Super Smash Brothers: Brawl, and Battlefield 2. Local computer enthusiast web sites BIOSLEVEL.com and ThinkComputers.org sponsored dedicated servers for the event.

Pittco president Daniel “Danielson” Wright of Mount Lebanon was impressed with the turn-out and success of the event.

“We broke our long time goal of 150 attendees and our crazy tournaments and games lasted well into the wee hours of the morning,” Wright said. “I’m impressed with my staff for their hard work preparing for the party and their sacrifice to keep events flowing and energy up throughout the night.”

Iron Storm 8 was the first Pittco event which Mark “Dauphin” Slazinski of Grove City attended.

“It was nice to see a group of guys who were willing to not only excellent sportsmen, but who helped make sure everyone was able to connect and have a blast,” Slazinski said. “Plus, I will remember the random Radio Shack trip and food run with people I just met.”

“The network performance was solid and our power never went out,” Colin Dean, server manager and public relations engineer from Volant, said. “Our fiber Internet connection gave us access to speedy patch downloads and chat access so attendees could stay in touch with friends who were unable to come.”

Pittco’s Iron Storm events aren’t just gaming tournaments. Attendees competed in karaoke competitions and even musical chairs. One tournament revolved around a game, but had consequences: the winning team earned several four-packs of popular energy drinks, but the losing team earned a can of Mott’s Clamato Energia clam and tomato juice and had to chug it on the spot.

Some attendees discussed programming and general computing in addition to playing games. While many attendees are high school students, a large contingent is in college or has recently graduated. Fields vary from computer science and information systems to political science and psychology.

“Attendees hail Pittco for its events’ atmosphere, and Iron Storm 8 once again solidified this fact,” Wright said.

Planning is already underway for the next event, Iron Storm 9, which is to be held in August.

“We’ll be aiming to increase attendance and getting even more sponsors,” said Sean “Obsidian” Potter, event chair for Iron Storm 8 and the next event, Iron Storm 9.

For more information, visit Pittco’s website at www.pittco.org to contact Dan Wright, Sean Potter, or Colin Dean.

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 nine events and has received much attention in the LAN party community. Its web site is www.pittco.org.

Discuss this in the forums.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PITTSBURGH– Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, Inc. (“Pittco“) unveiled today its new web site. The LAN party organizer whose events include seven large “Iron Storm” tournaments and one small “Pittco Lite” tournament redesigned the site in order to greater facilitate the use of the site as a tool for attendees, sponsors, and parents.

The site was redesigned by a team of Pittco staff members including Colin Dean, Jonathan Daniel, Sean Potter, Zack Zlotnik, and Patrick Cannon. They used WordPress, the premiere blogging software, and modified a theme originally produced by Srini G. In addition, the team also heavily modified Autonomous LAN Party, a LAN party management software.

Pittco will host its ninth event, Iron Storm 8, on March 15-16, 2008 at the Castle Shannon Firehall in the Castle Shannon suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 200 spots are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Gamers from throughout western Pennsylvania and the United States, and even internationally from Ontario, Canada.

For more information, contact Dan Wright, president of Pittco, or Sean Potter, IS8 organizer.

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 eight events and has received much attention in the LAN party community. Its web site is www.pittco.org.

Discuss this in the forums.