The UKs largest LAN party has just closed its doors. We attended i41 to bring you some inside info on the Sleepless November LAN.

The Multiplay Insomnia Gaming LAN has long been a national tradition within the gaming scene as the biggest LAN of the year. Not only national though, indeed in Europe it remains a prestigious event to attend. Running three times a year – Spring, Summer, and Winter, the i41 gaming LAN has just closed its doors after a very successful weekend. We went along to discover what gamers are calling THE event of the year. Enter Insomnia 41 – The Sleepless November LAN.

Banners showing the sponsoring brands

With i41 running in a rather wet and windy November compared to the warmth and sunshine of summer this does have a negative impact on numbers attending. Certainly as i41 does not fall on a bank holiday weekend there did seem to be a distinct lack of numbers there. That said, over 1000 gamers attended (hardly small). Contests within Starcraft 2, Counter Strike and Call of Duty were all well on their way when we arrived. There were two prominent buildings that gamers could find themselves in. The Grandstand, featuring exhibitors, main stage, and 2 stories of fully equipped rooms for gamers to install their rigs in. Over in the other building known as the Berkshire Stand, there was another two stories of gamer filled rooms.

NOTE: File Play covered the event in every bit of detail for your viewing pleasure.

Inside one of the rooms – Grand Stand. Game on!

In and around the racecourse where the event is held there are designated spots for gamers to erect their tents. With temperatures between 1-5°C there weren’t all that many tents seen. I can understand why! There were even outdoor showers for attendees to ‘freshen up’ in. Gotta love camping!

Mobile shower unit – freshen up and revitalise those senses

There were running commentaries by Team Dignitas during the Starcraft 2 finals. At first there weren’t so many spectators but soon enough there were a good crowd of viewers watching on the gameplay being streamed on 6 – 52″ Samsung Plasma screens dotted around the main stage. Great entertainment even if you aren’t particularly a fan of this type of game. With commentary running in the background, it makes watching the matches quite exciting, it adds the suspense and injects some hysteria.

The Dignitas guys getting setup for commentary on main stage

Star Craft 2 finals underway. Small audience to start with

Rustlers Gamesafe and Multiplay partnered up for i41 and near the front of the Grand Stand we had a small team of guys intending to break the world record for the ‘Longest FPS Marathon’. 32 hours was the record set at Guinness World Records and a judicator was on hand to monitor the team – make sure they don’t drop off to sleep etc!! The guys did an exceptional job, although they did look like actual zombies they succeeded in breaking that record. Well done Team Game Safe!

Team Game Safe attempting to break the world record “Longest FPS Marathon”

Exhibitors at i41

Hosting such an event as i41 requires a pretty hefty data communications link. The network connections were hosted by none other than Demon. They had a special launch offer on at i41 but also had a competition running each day. Play Guitar Hero, get the top score and win an annual subscription to Demon Broadband – as you can appreciate this was a popular one!

Demon hosted the network connections at the event and put up some amazing competitions

Kustom PCs had a large stand there at i41 showing off some great products together with Meroncourt and Antec. Kustom PCs were showing off a wide range of products including Razer. Whilst Meroncourt focussed on ROCCAT, Razer, Mionix, Ozone and plenty more brands. Sat there on the floor they had setup a F1 simulation chair, steering wheel and pedals hooked up to an F1 game. This did attract a lot of attention. I can’t imagine many have this kind of setup at home, so it was something out of the ordinary to have a bit of fun with.

Kustom PCs, Meroncourt and Antec

Antec were there with Kustom PCs and Meroncourt, showing off the new LanBoy AIR in all 3 colours. Although the stand was small, people were drawn in , being intrigued by the LanBoy Air. Its always nice at these events to get a good closeup of the products and have some first hand experience. Reviews are always very useful to read but they can only give a linear perspective. You can’t beat being right there.

Antec showing off their LanBoy AIR in blue, yellow and red

NOTE: We also launched our new competition with Antec at i41. Check it out below.

Big thanks to Team Dignitas for providing us with the DF-85

Mad Catz were also at i41 showing off their range of kit from Triton and Cyborg. We had a close look at the R.A.T gaming range, up until now I’ve only ever seen pictures of this mouse but having some first hand experience of it you really begin to understand just how customisable this gaming peripheral really is.

Mad Catz had a couple of machines setup showing off the new Call of Duty Black OPs. Myself and Dave took the opportunity to try out the R.A.T 7 mouse and Triton AX PRO headset. Both products are very good, hopefully we can get both products and indeed a selection of Mad Catz, Cyborg and Triton products in for review.

Playing with the Cyborg R.A.T 7 and Triton AX PRO headset

Booth babes – the one and only

No event is any event without the delights of the booth babes. Sadly there was a distinct lack of ‘totty’ at i41 and the only booth babe at the event was this young lady. With this being our first Multiplay event, we are hoping that next year Multiplay might invite a few more hotties to i42!

Just the one… *sigh*

TWS Simulator V4 – NVIDIA 3D over triple display

Up in the Grand Stand we found a nice gentleman by the name of Ben Zenon. He has been working with VRX iMotion simulators. The main focus for his projects are to test a range of triple display capable gaming systems to integrate within a VRX iMotion simulator. The first build he worked on was called the v2 which involved Eyefinity 2D triple screen desk mounted solution in a Lian-Li shuttle case. Upon learning of the NVIDIA driver release in July that gives support for 3D across 3 displays he built the v3 floor mounted system to test this new technology. The idea behind the triple display arrangement and 3D ready system was that it further enhanced gaming experience. Adding another dimension, allowing the gamer to immerse within the gaming world.

A crowd gathers around the v4 – NVIDIA 3D triple display system

This the latest representation – v4 shown at i41 involved the Intel platform, NVIDIA powered 3D, with Surround. The system specifications are as follows.

V4 System Spec
Antec LanBoy Air
ASUS Rampage III Gene
i7 950 @ 4.2GHz
12Gb (3x4Gb) Corsair Dominator GT PC16000 (2000)
NVIDIA GTX 480 SLi
BeQuiet 1200W PSU
Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit
60Gb SSD
1TB 2.5″ HD

Liquid cooling
EK FC-480 GPU Blocks
Phobya CPU block
Internal 240mm Radiator
External 480mm Radiator with de-coupling
XSPC Dual 5.25 bay reservoir with pump
Yellow Braided 1/2″ hose
Phobya Black Nickel Compression fittings

Display
3 X Acer GD245HQ 120Hz NVIDIA 3D Ready certified 23.6″
Peerless-AV LCT mounting solution

Chassis
Giroflex 64 chair
Stainless steel and aluminium tubular space frame
Lightweight clamp system
Laser cut PMMA interface and component platforms

Enter the matrix

It was quite fascinating seeing this unit in use and also taking part (we had a quick demo). It did draw in a lot of attention, as you can well imagine. This kind of unit is uncommon. The system being used within the v4 was probably one of the most powerful machines there at the LAN party.

The arms holding the monitors

Ben gave us a run down of the current system he has combined with the v4. This is what he had to say:

“The Gene board is mATX leaving us space below the PCI-e slots to mount the SSD & HD there. The internal 240mm radiator is mounted inside case front, with external 480mm radiator on the space frame below the centre display featuring quick release couplings for transport. The foot rest solution gives six weight distribution points for the case tested for up to a 75Kg PC. With the chair interface platform in a fixed position the chair can swing out right to allow entry and exit, coasters have been removed from the chair in favour of glides to prevent you from pushing yourself away with your feet.

Please have a look at the site triplewidescreen.co.uk we’ll be improving our designs and expanding your horizons in 2011!”