QuakeCon

QuakeCon

The Official QuakeCon logo
Genre PC gaming
Venue Hilton Anatole
Location(s) Dallas, Texas
Country United States
Inaugurated 1996
Most recent Present
Organized by ZeniMax Media
Filing status Corporate
Website
http://www.quakecon.org

QuakeCon is a yearly convention held by ZeniMax Media to celebrate and promote the major franchises of id Software and other studios owned by ZeniMax. It includes a large, paid, bring-your-own-computer (BYOC) computer gaming event with a competitive tournament held every year in Dallas, Texas, USA. The event, which is named after id Software's game Quake, sees thousands of gamers from all over the world attend every year to celebrate the company's gaming dynasty.

The event is highly dependent on volunteers to cover many aspects of the organization of the event. QuakeCon has historically had a reputation as the "Woodstock of gaming", and a week of "peace, love, and rockets!".[1][2]

Origin

QuakeCon originally grew out of a group of people on the EFnet IRC network, in channel #quake. As various regular visitors to the channel began expressing a desire to meet and game together in person, Jim Elson, a.k.a. "H2H", a gamer from the Dallas, Texas area with ties to the local Dallas-area gaming community, and Yossarian Holmberg, a.k.a. "yossman", a computer consultant from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, came up with the idea of assembling at a hotel. The original event name was actually '#quakecon', named after the IRC channel, though this quickly evolved into just 'QuakeCon'. Mr. Elson organized the bulk of the event for the first two years, until the number of people attending each year demanded a more organized approach. Volunteers grouped into teams to assist in the setup, troubleshooting, and tear down of the event's equipment and network.

Past events

Past results and records in Duel Tournaments

Year Champion Runner-up Game
1996 United States Remedy United States BullyBoy Quake
1997 United States Dan "RiX" Hammans United States Forego Quake World
1998 United States Dan "RiX" Hammans United States Makaveli Quake II
1999 Canada George "DieharD" Myshlyayev United States Tim "1134-Bane" Santaniello Quake III Arena
2000 United States John "ZeRo4" Hill United States Terrel "Matador" Garret Quake III Arena
2001 United States John "ZeRo4" Hill United States Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel Quake III Arena
2002 Russia Alexey "LeXeR" Nesterov United States Sean "Daler" Price Quake III Arena
2003 United States John "ZeRo4" Hill Sweden Alexander "Z4muZ" Ihrfors Quake III Arena
2004 United States Paul "czm" Nelson United States John "ZeRo4" Hill Quake III Arena
United States Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel United States Sean "Daler" Price Doom 3
2005 Sweden Fredrik "gopher" Quick China Yang "RocketBoy" Meng Doom 3
United States Jamie "g0d-Missy" Pereyda Canada Alana "g0d-Ms.X" Reid Quake III Arena (Women only)
Sweden Mikael "Purri" Tarvainen United States Brad "Doze" Herrlinger Quake II
2006 Sweden Johan "Toxjq" Quick Russia Anton "Cooller" Singov Quake 4
2007 Sweden Johan "Toxjq" Quick Sweden Magnus "fox" Olsson Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena, Quake 4
2008 Belarus Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky United States John "ZeRo4" Hill Quake Live
2009 United States Shane "Rapha" Hendrixson Sweden Sebastian "Spart1e" Siira Quake Live
2010 Belarus Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky Russia Anton "Cooller" Singov Quake Live
2011 United States Shane "Rapha" Hendrixson France Kévin "strenx" Baéza Quake Live
2012 Belarus Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky United States Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty Quake Live
2013 United States Shane "Rapha" Hendrixson Russia Sergey "evil" Orekhov Quake Live
United States Jefferson "JKist3" Kist Canada Chris "DevastatioN" Felix Doom
2014 Belarus Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky United States Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty Quake Live
2015 United States Shane "Rapha" Hendrixson Russia Sergey "evil" Orekhov Quake Live

1996

The first event,[3] in August 1996, was held at the Best Western hotel in Garland, Texas, a mile or two away from the id Software company offices. Starting with just 30 people, by the end of the weekend the number of people had grown to 100, as news of the gathering began to spread on Internet chat networks. The Best Western has since been replaced by a La Quinta Inn.

Attendees who had brought their computers along to the event set up a small, impromptu network, in one of the hotel meeting rooms, playing mostly Quake I and Doom, testing deathmatching skills. A small tournament was held, with winners taking home T-shirts as prizes.

The highlight of this first gathering came on the eve of the last day, when the entire id Software team showed up at the event in a surprise and most-welcome visit, stopping by to chat with the participants. John Carmack, lead programmer for Doom/Quake, participated in a 30–45 min. group chat with attendees on the porch of the hotel. Some ideas discussed during that chat eventually made it into Quake's future public releases. This "Carmack's Talk" grew into a yearly keynote speech that lasted through 2013.

Quake 1v1

Doom 2 1v1

1997

QuakeCon 1997 brought an estimated 650 attendees to the Holiday Inn in Plano, Texas. It was covered by numerous Internet and broadcast media outlets, and was sponsored in part by id Software and Activision.

Quake World 1v1

1998

QuakeCon 1998 was held in conjunction with the Cyberathlete Professional League. Due to poor planning and the lack of people who had helped make the first two events a success, QuakeCon 1998 is regarded by many as being only partially a QuakeCon event. However, it was instrumental in motivating a group of people to start planning QuakeCon 1999 early.

Quake 2 1v1

1999

QuakeCon 1999 was the first event in which id Software played a major role in the organization. Recognizing that major sponsors were needed, David Miller a.k.a. "Wino" & Paul Horoky a.k.a. "devilseye", both original QuakeCon 1996 people, contacted id Software and convinced them to become the main sponsor, and to help out with finding more sponsors. Together with Anna Kang (then id Software employee, now John Carmack's wife) and a team of volunteers, Mr. Miller & Mr. Horoky set out to build QuakeCon 1999, which became the template for later years.

First ever Quake 3 tournament

2000

QuakeCon 2000 [5]

Quake 3 1v1

2001

QuakeCon 2001 [7]

Quake 3 1v1

2002

QuakeCon 2002[9][10]

Quake 3 1v1

Return To Castle Wolfenstein

2003

QuakeCon 2003 [11][12]

Quake 3 1v1

Quake 3 CTF

Return To Castle Wolfenstein

2004

QuakeCon 2004[13][14]

Quake 3 1v1

Quake 3 CTF

Doom 3 1v1

Doom 3 tournament winners

[15]

2005

QuakeCon 2005[16]

Doom 3 1v1

Ms. QuakeCon Quake 3 1v1

Quake 2 Retro Tournament

Enemy Territory

Intel Doom 3 Deathmatch Tournament

Creative Soundblaster Doom 3 Deathmatch Tournament

Quake 4 Unveiling Tournament - 2vs2 Capture the Flag

Alienware Performance Challenge

2006

QuakeCon 2006[19]

Quake 4 1v1

Quake 4 2v2 Team Deathmatch

Enemy Territory 5v5

Nvidia Quickdraw Winners

2007

QuakeCon 2007 [21]

1st ever Quad Damage 1v1 Tournament

1st Ever Enemy Territory:Quake Wars 6v6 Championship

Bawls Chugging

2008

QuakeCon 2008

Intel Quake Live 1v1 Championship

Intel Quake Live Capture The Flag Championship

The Activision Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Team Championships (PC)

The Activision Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Team Championships (Xbox 360)

2009

QuakeCon 2009

Intel Quake Live Masters Championship

Intel Quake Live Open Championship

Quake Live Capture the Flag Championship

2010

QuakeCon 2010

Intel Quake Live Masters Championship

Intel Quake Live Open Championship

Quake Live Capture the Flag Championship

Bawls Chugging

2011

QuakeCon 2011

Intel Quake Live Duel Invitational Masters

Intel Quake Live TDM Invitational Masters

Intel/Bethesda Brink Open Championship

Bawls Chugging

2012

QuakeCon 2012

Intel Quake Live Duel Invitational Masters

Intel Quake Live Capture the Flag Championship

Intel Quake Live Duel Open

2013

QuakeCon 2013 [24]

Intel Quake Live Duel Invitational Masters

Quake Live Clan Arena 3v3 Open

20th Anniversary DOOM Challenge

2014

QuakeCon 2014

Intel Quake Live Duel Masters Invitational

PCPartPicker Quake Live CTF Open

Seasonic Quake Live Duel Open

Ventrilo 10k Raffle Winner

2015

QuakeCon 2015

  • UAC: 32 seats - March 4, 2015
  • QuakeCon done Quick (QdQ): 300 Seats - March 11, 2015
  • Select a Seat (SaS) with Swag pack: 500 Seats - March 18, 2015
  • Select a Seat (Sas): 1600 Seats - March 25, 2015

QuakeCon 2015 Quake Live Tri-Master Tournament

QuakeCon 2015 Quake Live Grand Master Duel

Ventrilo 10k Raffle Winner

Sponsors

QuakeCon is primarily paid for by ZeniMax Media and fees paid by attendees in conjunction with the sponsorship of leading technology companies. Often companies will forgo a large monetary sponsorship and will instead elect to lend equipment to the event as a promotional measure.

Past sponsors of the event include Activision, nVidia, AMD, Aspyr, ASUS, Ventrilo, Apple, ATI Technologies, AT&T Inc., Alienware, Ageia, 1UP Network, FragArcade, Intel, D-Link, Logitech, Linksys, Spike TV, Newegg.com and Lucent Technologies.

References

  1. Luke Plunkett. "A Closer Look at the "Woodstock" of Video Games". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  2. "Peace, Love and Rockets: Inside QuakeCon". The GameAgent Blog. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  3. "QuakeCon 2000 - The World's Best Multiplayer Gaming Event". Quakecon.org. Archived from the original on 16 August 2000. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  4. "QuakeCon 99". Quakecon.org. Archived from the original on 27 November 1999. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  5. "QuakeCon 2000 - The World's Best Multiplayer Gaming Event". Quakecon.org. Archived from the original on 16 August 2000. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  6. "Quake 3 Tournaments/Leagues 1999 > 2001". Angelfire.com. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  7. "QuakeCon 2001 - News". Quakecon.org. Archived from the original on 15 May 2001. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  8. "Hotels in Mesquite, TX - Hampton Inn Mesquite, TX". Hamptoninn.hilton.com. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  9. "QuakeCon 2002 - News Archive". Archived from the original on 1 June 2002. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  10. "QuakeCon 2002 - The World's Premier Multiplayer Gaming Event". Quakecon.org. Archived from the original on 2 August 2002. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  11. "QuakeCon - The World's Premier Multiplayer Gaming Event". Quakecon.org. Archived from the original on 9 April 2003. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  12. Archived November 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  13. Archived February 10, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.
  14. Archived March 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  15. "QuakeCon 2004: Doom 3 1v1". e-Sports Earnings. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  16. Archived May 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  17. "QuakeCon 2005: Quake II Retro Deathmatch Championship". e-Sports Earnings. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  18. Archived October 31, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  19. Archived August 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  20. Archived October 31, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  21. Archived May 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  22. "ESR - (Archive) QuakeCon 2007- toxjq & Dignitas Win". Esreality.com. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  23. "ESR - QuakeCon 2008". Esreality.com. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  24. Larry Frum, Special to CNN (16 August 2013). "The coolest computers of QuakeCon". CNN. Retrieved 20 December 2014.

External links

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