This is the first event that PC gamer have run, and you can tell this immeditaley. There are posters with their logo all over the venue. Being held at the same venue as i34, with some of the i34 staff present (the more senior ones admittedly), you unavoidably compare it with i34. And frankly, it is no i34. If you are camping at PCGS then it is about the same price as a full i34 ticket, which was a 4 day event rather than a 2 day event. But being press, I tried to keep that out of my mind as I inspected the venue.

For those that were at i34 or saw pictures of it, PCGS is only using Hall 2, the exhibitor hall. It is now quite nicely setup, so that the BYOC members are in one half, with some panelling acting as a split between them and the exhibitors. The BYOC bit is definitely no Hall 1, but then again PCGS were never aiming to get 2000 players into the LAN hall. Instead they are hoping to get 300 people through the door. Even though this is 200 short of their original target, and we think a few of the final sales were more freebies than sales themselves, it is still a reasonable number.



But for the prizes on offer why is this number so small? With £35,000 worth of prize funds available, it is definitely one of the premier LAN's of the year in terms of prizes. But apart from most of the top Source teams present, there aren't that many teams present which is dissappointing. Though we can't really judge the tournament yet, as we haven't seen the games. Lets just hope the few teams that are present give us some entertaining games.

Moving onto the exhibitors hall and the bar, it all looks quite good actually. Though it is not all properly setup yet it does look quite interesting, but that may be down to the content on show. With names like Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead and then the big names like Crucial and Packard Bell, along with the headline sponsor LG, there is certainly going to be a lot to see tomorrow when it is all setup and going.



As for the stage, again it is not a patch on the four sided i34 stage, but then again it is not a little raised platform in the corner. With QuadV confirmed to do the shoutcast of the finals, it should be quite a good place to watch the final matches take place. And to make matters better it is situated right next to the bar along with lots of tables to make the social side of the LAN quite enjoyable.

Things are definitely on the up, and lets hope that come tomorrow when it fills up a bit more, it will be the LAN we all hoped for.