The 10th Anuual QuakeCon just wrapped up, having seen almost 6,000 people in attendance and some $150,000 in prize money given away. The yearly celebration of id Software game franchises like Quake, Castle Wolfenstein and Doom allowed fans to intermingle at the Gaylord Convention Center down in Grapvine, Texas, compare gaming notes and scope out each other's hardware (if they chose to lug it down to Texas)--like a car club event for people who don't necessarily own classic cars but do own custom computers of the "hotrod" variety. A showcase opportunity for companies like Bawls and their power drinks and Alienware and their luxury class computers, there was also a lot of competitive gameplay going on; giant LAN parties where attendees played the games for fun or fame, or both. The Doom 3 Deathmatch competition, for example, saw "Gopher" walk away with 1st place bragging rights and $25,000 while "u96d/check6" cinched top spot and another $25,000 in the Return to Castle Wolftenstein: Enemy Territory competition. "g0d-Missy" from the "girlz 0f destruction," an all-female online game team, took 1st place and a $15,000 purse in the Quake 3 Arena Ms. Quakecon title match and "PURRI" walked away with $10,000 and top spot in the Quake II Retro-Deathmatch. id Software and Activision also took the opportunity to officially unveil Quake 4, the next iteration in the franchise that started the whole deal. More info on that at www.quake4game.com. QuakeCon info can be found at www.quakecon.org.
 
 

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