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!

Gamers already enjoying IRON STORM PURE

Pittco’s latest event, IRON STORM PURE, is underway–RIGHT NOW–at Castle Shannon Fire Hall in Castle Shannon, PA.

More than 75 gamers are already here, exceeding our expectations for this new and experimental format for our summer event. Don’t worry, there still are some seats available if you’re reading this and are not already at the event. The walk-in price is $40, and we might drop it lower as the night goes on.

The LAN started a little, well, purer, than we’d liked. We had some Internet problems at first, but thanks to our expert, MacGyver-like network staff, we’ve got a connection available so that gamers can enjoy Steam, Battle.net, and other services which require Internet for authentication and login.

Only IRON STORM PURE attendees can score this limited-edition, 72 of a kind keychain pen. Pittco thanks rushIMPRINT for giving us a great deal to offer this unique item to the Pittco faithful. This item is of significant value due to its rarity and usefulness only the future can dictate. Attendees acquiring one are urged to hold onto it, they’ll never know when it might come in handy.

Limited-edition, 72 of a kind keychain pen

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.

Maria Sciullo of the Post-Gazette wrote a wonderful article about Pittco’s recent event, Iron Storm X.

Read Videogamers come together in Castle Shannon for 24 hours of competition at post-gazette.com.

See more press coverage of past Pittco events on our new Media and PR section.

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.

Registration for Pittco’s IRON STORM 9 is now closed. There are still seats available for the door price of $35 tomorrow at the event.

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 .

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.

The Pittsburgh LAN Coalition is pleased to announce that the registration for its next event, Iron Storm 8, is now OPEN! Here are the important details you need to know about the event:

Date: Saturday March 15th – Sunday March 16th, 2008

Time: 2:00pm Saturday – 3:00pm Sunday

Location:
Castle Shannon Volunteer Fire Department
3600 Library Road
Castle Shannon, PA 15234

Seats: 200

Registration cost:
Pre-pay: $25
At the door: $35

Registration Instructions:
1. Before you register, please read the FAQ, Information, and Rules Sheet, especially if you’ve not attended a LAN party previously.
2. Register an account on the ALP website (Make sure to provide all information)
3. After registering visit this web page and pay for your seat
4. You then will be able to select your seat after your payment has been confirmed. This should be within 24 hours. Seating is based on a first come first serve basis so register and pay as soon as possible to get your spot with your friends.
5. Prior to the event make sure that you have completed the waiver. Make sure that you have signed it and have a parent or guardian’s signature (if you’re under 18). You should bring the following the the event: the Completed Waiver as well as printouts of both the Pittco and Paypal confirmations.

Official Tournaments:

• 5v5 Counter-Strike: Source
• 5v5 Call of Duty 4
• 5v5 Battlefield 2/2142
• 2v2 or 3v3 Unreal Tournament 3 Team Deathmatch or Capture the Flag
• 1v1 UT2004 DeathMatch

Console Tournaments:

• Halo 3
• Guitar Hero 3
• DDR
• Super Smash Brothers: Brawl

Also look forward to:

• Half-Life 2 DeathMatch
• Quake 3
• Warcraft 3: DOTA
• And many others!

As you can see, we’ve got some newer games lined up, as well as old favorites.

Also look forward to:

• Jackass Tournaments
• Console Gaming
• Prizes
• And much more!