I was at my regular gaming convention, Ubercon, in New Jersey this weekend (Nov. 2-4). As I discussed with one of my friends there, the real reason I keep going isn't really Ubercon itself, although we generally find one or two new games that are a lot of fun. Instead, it's primarily for all the people I don't see on a regular basis that show up at this Gaming Club-organized event. So, in essence, it's a really expensive alumni reunion. Or, it was really expensive for me, because I chose to stay at the hotel instead of with a friend who lived nearby.
As for the con itself, it was questionable as to how well it would be attended: last spring, the con randomly moved to the Great Lakes (Michigan?) area, so there had been a year-long break from the last con. Fortunately, attendance was good, meaning the energy that comes along with a well-attended convention was still there. More importantly, the Unreal Tournament 2004 tournament (aka UT2k4 tourney) made a return. Even better, the outcome was different this time: I won! Take a look at these screen shots to see how well I did in the qualifying round:
I'm not even sure how I did so well. To the best of my knowledge, my skill level in FPSes hasn't increased significantly from last year, and many of the participants were veterans from previous Ubercons. My performance this year created quite a reputation for myself, with the other participants cheering any time they killed me, and some running away in the game when they saw my avatar. I didn't replicate my stellar performance in the finals, as the maps were different and so were the competitors. But in effect, it was a competition between myself and Sam, the guy who always beat me at previous Ubercons.
Side note - Oddly enough, Sam didn't get the reactions that I did from the other players, even though he did better than I did in the beginning of the finals. Maybe it was because his qualifier performance wasn't as good as mine, for whatever reason. Still, this is the guy who won practically every previous Ubercon UT2k4 tourney. It was a strange role reversal, and I wish he could have gotten some recognition too. On most other selections of maps, he probably would have blown me out of the water, as he always did in the past. I'm exaggerating a bit; we've always been at a similar skill level, making for a nice, fun rivalry. But until now, it was one-sided, as he always won in the end.
He won the first of the three maps by a slim margin of 5 frags but then blew it in the second map, allowing me to establish a 25-frag lead. He chipped away at it on the third map (more on that in another post if I get some screen shots from it), but I stayed competitive and only lost that map by 11 frags, giving me my first win in 4 years (I always came in the top 3 or 4 in the past but never before in first). My prize: this computer case, which will be shipped to my house. Since I got a new computer this summer, I'm not sure what I'll do with it. Ideas include building a cheap computer to run Linux or just selling it.
Other highlights of the con:
- The return of the Mafia d20 game. Last year, the GM who runs it wasn't able to attend, so it was sorely missed. As expected, it didn't disappoint, with spectacles like a female character having sex with a biker, tasering him, stealing his bike, and riding it back practically naked.
- War on Terror: The Boardgame. I didn't know what to expect from this game, but in terms of its mechanics, it's clever, reminiscent of Risk, but quicker and more strategic. As long as you can get past the uncomfortable feeling that it sympathizes with terrorists and portrays them as justified in their actions (mostly in a satiric way but some of the flavor text and description in the manual goes beyond that), it's a great independent board game.
- Treehouse. Elegantly simple but with a lot of subtlety. Also, the pieces used for it are used in a lot of other games, as described in this Gamers with Jobs article.
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