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    The PC (Personal Computer) is a highly configurable and upgradable gaming platform that, among home systems, sports the widest variety of control methods, largest library of games, and cutting edge graphics and sound capabilities.

    Is the LAN PC a thing of the past?

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    Huntin 4 Games

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    So I used to love the idea of building a compact gaming PC for other rooms in the house, to bring to a friends for LAN shenanigans, or on a trip somewhere. I finally built a cheap one with a crappy little case and used components 5 or so years ago, and it was great.

    But now with in home streaming getting quality and ease of use that it has, there's really no reason for me to have a second full fledged PC at my house. And with Razer's announcement of the Ultrabook / GPU Housing unit at CES I can't imagine why I'd want to go with a desktop PC, no matter how small, as a travelling option now. This tech isn't brand new, but previous iterations have been bulky and annoying. Razer's option looks sleek and easy with a single usb connection and no need for additional docking of the laptop.

    Obviously we'll have to wait and see if it performs on level with a standard desktop, and obviously pricing will be a factor. But I feel like in most cases I'd lean towards that hardware style over a compact gaming desktop because of its flexibility, which is a little sad haha.

    TLDR: Are options like in home game streaming, or laptop and external gpu combos like the new Razer Ultrabook, making LAN PCs obsolete?

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    rethla

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    TLDR: Are options like in home game streaming, or laptop and external gpu combos like the new Razer Ultrabook, making LAN PCs obsolete?

    I have never seen anytyhing like that on a LAN. Either people bring their battlestations with them or they go light with just a laptop. Many just have a laptop as their main gaming PC all the time. Razer ultrabook type of stuff must be a supertiny part of the market.

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    Huntin 4 Games

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    @rethla: Yeah I'm always surprised at how many lug around their full towers, seems like a huge pain haha. The new razer option is out yet I think, and while other companies have attempted similar setups, they've all kinda been terrible. Curious to see how it changes the market though.

    You might be right though, might not have as big an affect as I'd think.

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    stonyman65

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    People still go to LANs? I can't remember the last time anyone I know even mentioned a LAN, and those were dudes who used to run a LAN center in town...

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    Huntin 4 Games

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    @stonyman65: to be honest I haven't gone to one in years. my friends and I always say we should do one and then get lazy and don't

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    stonyman65

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    @huntin 4 games: Same here. Last one I was at was.... 2007? 2008 maybe? A long ass time ago. And even then, it wasn't a "big" LAN like the old days, it was only 4 of us and one dude left early.

    I think LANs are a thing of the past, from a time when online multiplayer wasn't anywhere near where it is today.

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    rethla

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    #7  Edited By rethla

    @stonyman65: Or maybe you have become older since 2008 and so has your friends ;)

    Theres still alot of kids going to LANs, wether its more or less than 10 years ago who knows.

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    Huntin 4 Games

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    @rethla: @stonyman65: Yeah improvements in online multiplayer have definitely change the game a bit. and rethla don't remind me haha

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    stonyman65

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    @rethla: I guess but I'm only in my early 20s...not that old!

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    OldManLight

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    i wish LANs were more of a thing amongst my friends. I can only remember one time we did it up right and it was for Halo CE on the original Xbox so not even a PC LAN. 4 screens, 4, xboxes, 16 people playing a CTF game that lasted 45 minutes playing to 3 caps on Blood Gulch. it was one of the most fun gaming experiences i've ever had. we even had separate rooms for Blue team and Red Team so there was no screen looking.

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    Huntin 4 Games

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    @oldmanlight: haha awesome, yes. This is what made LANs great in a nutshell, online is great and all but having everyone there and focused is just such a different experience.

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    hippie_genocide

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    I feel like this topic should've been necro-bumped from 2005 or something. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I can't remember the last time I even heard the word LAN party. The thought of moving my behemoth desktop to the next room, much less to a friend's house, sounds exhausting and I'd probably be nervous that I'd short out a component during travel. Sorry, I feel like I sound like a jerk in this post. Your forum avatar is from FFXI (now that would be fun in LAN), so you're cool with me, but yeah LAN parties are a thing of the past I feel.

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    Corvak

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    #13  Edited By Corvak

    I've had too many laptops overheat and die to trust them anymore, but we're at the point where I can just rig up controllers and my TV to use my PC like a console if I want to do local co-op.

    LANs are pretty well dead unless its at your local convention or something. If I were somewhere with a scene like that I think i'd just build one of those mini-ITX boxes.

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    Evilsbane

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    I miss going to the office in the 90s and having 8-10 people play something like Rainbow Six, god those were fun times, we did a small one with 3-4 of us a few years ago but since then it just doesn't happen anymore.

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    Slag

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    LAN parties are fantastic. I'm lucky enough to still have a semi-regular one to go to.

    But it's definitely a thing of the past, although I feel like it shouldn't be. You'd think with how small devices are becoming, this sort of thing should be getting easier not harder.

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    Huntin 4 Games

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    @hippie_genocide: hahah nah you're right, I had initially meant this as more of a discussion about hardware, but LAN parties are pretty much a thing of the past. FFXI was probably the last real "everyone bring their hardware" LAN party I did, which says something

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    guanophobic

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    People still go to LANs? I can't remember the last time anyone I know even mentioned a LAN, and those were dudes who used to run a LAN center in town...

    Loading Video...

    Ever heard of Dreamhack? Around 10k BYOC visitors every 6 months, coming to Austin in may.

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    Huntin 4 Games

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    @guanophobic: A friend mentioned this to me last year, seems like a really awesome event. PCs / consoles / pen and paper all over the place, whatever people feel like doing.

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    jedikv

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    I used to organise LANs both (PC and Xbox/360) back in college. My issue is when everything started to get tied to the cloud (e.g. Starcraft 2 or Halo 5 both needing internet connections), which to me is not true LAN.

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    Ry_Ry

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    #20  Edited By Ry_Ry

    Haven't had a LAN party since maybe '03.

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    RikiGuitarist

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    LANs quickly died off with broadband Internet. LANs were kind of a necessity for large multiplayer games back then, since dial-up latency was a nightmare if you had more than a few people on a server.

    LANs are still popular in large consumer conventions like QuakeCon, PAX, Fan Fest, DreamHack, BlizzCon, etc. They're also very huge in Asia in the form of Internet/game cafes. I know a few people who still lug their full-sized desktop towers to LAN parties. It's more about the social element of having friends in the same room as you, rather than the technical limitations of the past.

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    reasonablesteve

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    LAN parties will continue to exist as long as there are communities small enough to support them. When you have small groups of people in relatively close geographic proximity, the benefits of face-to-face communication and interaction can outweigh the cost of moving gaming hardware around. There aren't as many games that take advantage of the LAN format, but there are more and more that do things with couch multiplayer and audience interaction that work really well in a local setting.

    The computer science department of my local college, for instance, has a tri-semester LAN party, and playing the Jackbox games and some other weird stuff like Gangbeasts and Velvet Sundown for a local audience of about 30 people was an incredible experience.

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