Pittsburgh LAN Coalition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PITTSBURGH– Pittsburgh LAN Coalition, Inc. (“Pittco”) plans to hold its eleventh major event, IRON STORM 11, on August 8 and 9 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’s Iron Storm attracts gamers from throughout the greater Pittsburgh area, the eastern seaboard, and even into Canada. There are 200 seats available, and registration is open immediately.

“Iron Storm 10 was our second largest and most successful event,” Pittco President of the Board Sean Potter of Turtle Creek said. “More than 160 gamers, staff, and spectators enjoyed the competitive tournaments, the prizes from our gracious sponsors, and the atmosphere of gaming and fun.”

Pittco’s largest event was Iron Storm 8, but Iron Storm 10 was just seven attendees shy of that record.

“We have even been lucky enough to have people from all of the country, as well as Canada and Europe attend our events,” Nik Parenti, Pittco Executive Manager and Iron Storm event 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 11 will be held at the Castle Shannon Volunteer Fire Department located at 3600 Library Road Castle Shannon, PA 15234. Pittco has enjoyed this location for more than three years.

Pittco announced six official tournaments for Iron Storm 11: three PC games and three console games. 1v1 Starcraft: Brood War, 5v5 Counter-Strike: Source with $25 buy-in, 4v4 Left 4 Dead are the PC tournaments. 4v4 Halo 3 and 4v4 Gears of War 2 are the Xbox 360 tournaments, with 2v2 Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the Wii tournament.

A fourth official PC tournament featuring a freely available, open source first person shooter may also be organized, ensuring that every attendee will be able to play something at Iron Storm, regardless of their budget or choice of operating system.

In the past Unreal Tournament 3 and 2004, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Battlefield 2 and 2142, Day of Defeat, Call of Duty 4, WarCraft III, and Quake 3 have been organized as pick-up tournaments by staff and attendees. 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.

Several well-known gaming groups announced their participation in Iron Storm 11 planning, as well. Rec0il Gaming, a primarily console gaming group from Pittsburgh, will be providing several Xbox 360 consoles and monitors for attendees. Can’t Stop This, a gaming group spawned from within Pittco, will be organizing the Quake 3 Clamato Bowl tournament in which gamers will compete to win a case of Bawls, or be second place and drink a clam and tomato juice beverage known for its pungent smell and unique flavor.

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 11, 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 several hundred 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 prize and equipment sponsors. Past sponsors include Gigabyte, CPU Magazine, Alienware, Cooler Master, Crucial, Slappa, NZXT, and Thermaltake, as well as Pittsburgh locals King of the Mountain Electronics, ThinkComputers.org, and BIOSLEVEL.com.

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 Greg Baden, Pittco sponsorship manager, or Colin Dean, Pittco Board secretary. See also http://www.pittco.org.

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.