They came from all walks of life and from all over the world. Mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters, all uniting at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine Texas to celebrate the work that id software's done, and at the same time, id software rewarded its fans for making it successful. Sleep was foregone, heads were shaved, strange things were consumed, and for over 72 hours rockets whistled through the air, the sky rained bullets, and bodies were seared with hot plasma. This...was Quakecon 2005, a place where consoles took a back seat and PC gaming reigned supreme.

That's not to say that there weren't any consoles at the show. Activision, who was one of several sponsors, brought Ultimate Spider-man as well as id and Nerve's PC to Xbox port Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, but aside from those games and some PSPs and DS units (which were brought by attendees), the show was all about the PC. In fact, thousands of people lugged their towers and monitors (some of which looked truly archaic) from such places as Finland, Baghdad, Sweden, and the U.K., a labor of love not only because they enjoy playing online games, but because of the hazards associated with doing such a thing. Not only did they need to make sure they packed them up tight (because mailmen aren't always kind to packages), but they had to wait in long lines as STAFF assisted them in hooking up their PCs inside of the convention center, which, once everything was running, was a true sight to see, an enormous room lit by the warm whitish glow of numerous PC monitors, all of which displayed different games. Yes, most people came to vanquish opponents playing the Quakes, the Dooms, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, but they also enjoyed Battlefield 2, Need for Speed Underground, Half-Life 2, Street Fighter II, Super Puzzle Fighter, Marvel Versus Capcom, Worms, and even Dance Dance Revolution! Sure, it's primarily an id sponsored event and the only way you can win cash prizes ($150,000 worth) is by competing in its games, but QuakeCon's not just about money. It's about celebrating with your peers, whether they are foreign, domestic, or even smelly.

Speaking of smelly, bathing was actually a requirement to attend the show, dominantly displayed on a sign posted at the convention hall's entrance. Believe me, it's a polite request, especially since you technically never have to leave your PC.

In addition to the cash prizes and the Woodstock like videogame love fest there were numerous events and booths to check out. In fact, half of the convention center was turned into a very scaled down E3, with such sponsors as Activision, NVIDIA, Intel, Razer, Alienware, Linksys, and even Gamestop all having things to play and give out. Almost every sponsor had a free t-shirt, but you could also collect these cool rubber balls that have flashing lights in them, get glow sticks, blow up toys (of the non erotic variety), and exclusives. For example, Gamestop allowed people to preorder both Quake 4 and Ultimate Spider-man, and if they did they received a QuakeCon exclusive t-shirt (I was lucky to just find a Quake 4 shirt lying around).

The main highlight of the show was the soon-to-be released games. Quake 4 was the biggest, and to accommodate the scores of people who wanted to test drive the multiplayer mode, Activision, Intel, and NVIDIA set up play stations, and even though thousands of people attended QuakeCon, if you truly wanted to play some Quake 4 you could. Unlike the mess that is E3, the people working the booths consistently rotated gamers around, so the wait was never a long one.

Other fantastic games included Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, Auto Assault, Serious Sam II, Mage Knight: Apocalypse, Sniper Elite, Fable, and the non id game that made the biggest splash, Stubbs the Zombie, which always had a crowd standing around the lone kiosk.

In addition to the games and the booths there were also several cool events. The show was actually kicked off with an enjoyable NVIDIA pizza party where host Julie Stoffer (from G4's Electric Playground) gave away numerous graphics cards, games, books, and even a supped up Dell PC to numerous show goers, most of which had to do really strange things. Girls had their heads shaved, a poor guy consumed two sticks of butter, one guy drank a blended fish (with whip cream), a dude shaved his legs, and two others had to perform the Macarena for over an hour and a half (to no music). Lastly, the competition to win that PC was fierce. About four guys had to lay their right hands on the top of the machine and if they took them off they were disqualified. This went on for well over an hour, and to make matters worse people kept forcing them to drink water (so they had to pee real bad) and one guy even threw up (he later gave up when an NVIDIA representative offered him a graphics card). Finally, when they were allowed to step away from the machine they had to perform strip teases, the winner being decided by the audience. It's safe to say that I as well as the rest of the people in attendance saw way too much man skin.

The NVIDIA event was cool but it was overshadowed by a Doom the movie presentation, where we were all treated to new footage of the spectacular first person shooting sequence. Yes, there are moments in this film where you'll see things from the marine's perspective and there will actually be a gun bobbing up and down on the right side of the screen, but trust me when I say that those working on the film have done an amazing job. Before the clip was shown I was convinced it would be super corny, but was pleased to discover that it kicks major @$$.

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