Unfortunately I am announcing today that we are canceling the BYOC portion of LANcouver 2015 at SFU.

This decision was made after assessing the sponsorship we have been able to attract for this year, as well as several other factors including ticket sales and event overhead.

Organizing a LAN is a bigger and more expensive undertaking than most people realize. Myself and everyone involved are very dedicated to the cause but without a few assurances we can’t risk hosting an event that may not break even, or worse – be bland, boring, and without the excitement that gamers expect from us.

In previous years we have had massive support from sponsors. Without them LANcouver would not have been possible. Unfortunately for us in 2015, sponsor support is almost non-existent. This is an extremely unusual situation that we have never faced before.

I realize that many of you come to LAN events to have fun, but the majority of players are here to compete and win. We don’t want to ask for $60 and then offer very little in return.

Instead of a BYOC LAN we are going to offer an online tournament for CS:GO. That community has been extremely supportive of us this year so we would like to continue with that momentum.

There will be a minimum cash prize pool of $2500 based on a buy-in at $60 per player, and the prize pool will increase based on the number of teams that register. The existing rules will apply and tickets will be sold at the same Eventbrite page soon. Any existing pass holders do not need to take action. Any VIP CSGO players will have the difference in ticket price refunded via PayPal. Please allow a few weeks for us to process this.

Everyone is entitled to a full refund of their weekend pass, including CSGO players who don’t wish to participate in the online event. To request a refund, please follow these instructions. Refund requests will be taken until 11:59PM on September 30, 2015.

Link:
http://help.eventbrite.ca/customer/portal/articles/428712-can-i-get-a-refund-

Myself and all the other LANcouver volunteers thank you for your support over the last 11+ years. LAN parties are not possible without dedicated fans.

Is this the end of LANcouver? Absolutely not. When we are ready and have the sponsor support that we need, LANcouver will happen again.

Thank you,

Spencer Whitney
Founder & Event Coordinator
LANcouver

Please forward any questions to info @ LANcouver.com

*** UPDATES ***

Please note that refunds will be processed in a timely manner and that it can take up to 4 business days for the refund to appear in your PayPal account. We will only issue refunds requested by the original purchaser and the refund will only be issued to the original PayPal account. For passes purchased more than 60 days before the refund request, Eventbrite fees may not be refundable.

The official sign-up page is live as of today, and sponsorship of prizing will be announced soon. As a major tournament, CS:GO will be favoured with some pretty awesome prizes, and possibly a cash prize pool (based on turnout). Even if you have a casual team, come out and try to win some new gear! You could even be featured on our live broadcasts throughout the weekend.

Don’t have a team? No problem! ESEA members can find a team by visiting this thread. You can also try leaving a message on the LANcouver Faceboook page, or find a team by checking out this Google Document.

We’ll leave you with this awesome highlight reel from LANcouver 2012 produced by Mahone!

After many months we’ve finally announced the date and location for LANcouver. This year’s event will be held at the NCIX Warehouse in Richmond, BC! It’s very rare that NCIX has an empty warehouse – after all, they stock thousands and thousands of items that we need as gamers and techies. But lucky for us NCIX is moving to a bigger home, meaning that LANcouver gets a once in a lifetime chance to hold an event in a very unique venue!

But just because the gear has moved doesn’t mean you won’t find lots and lots of awesome deals at the NCIX Warehouse Sale – happening at the same time as LANcouver! Specials will be announced by NCIX a little closer to the event, and if past Warehouse Sales are any indication, you won’t want to miss this one!

Because of this great venue we are able to offer an even better LAN experience in 2013. LANcouver will again have a capacity of 200 BYOC participants, and we expect every seat to sell out. In lieu of discount codes we are offering great benefits for early ticket purchasers. The price of a full weekend pass is now $5 less than 2012 and includes an official event t-shirt if you are one of the first 100 people to buy a pass. And the advantage to having an entire warehouse to ourselves is the ability to make it completely dark – no more bright lights keeping you distracted from gaming or unable to get some sleep.

Group Seating is available via a new feature on our ticket check-out page. When you buy your ticket, you can either create or join a group. Get together with your friends or team and create a group that you can all join, and you will be guaranteed to sit together. If you buy a ticket and then want to join or switch your group, no worries! You can edit your registration profile.

New this year is a VIP BYOC section. This special seating area will have extra room for your gear, more power for your computer and accessories, exclusive sponsor swag, complementary refreshments, security and curtains to keep screen-lookers away! A very limited number of VIP tickets are available, though we may add more VIP seats if demand is strong enough. Due to the limited amount of VIP seats, group seating is on a first come first served basis.

Finally, we will be bringing back food trucks! They were a hit at LANcouver 2011 and many people were not satisfied with the lack of choices at the Oval cafeteria. Being in a different venue also means we are able to run a concession with competitively priced snacks and drinks.

If you think you have a great idea for LANcouver, we’d like to hear it! Email us at info@lancouver.com and tell us what you think should be at LANcouver 2013.

Want to know all about the prize? Futurelooks’ Eric Garay has you covered. Watch his video unboxing below, and read the review on Futurelooks.com!

All you have to do to enter is visit the Futurelooks contest page here and link your Facebook account – no worries about spam, because you’re only there to LIKE and FOLLOW all of our favorite social media outlets to gain entries for the contest. The more things you like, the more entries you get. And if you can convince your friends to do the same? More entries for you!

This is an incredible opportunity to own one of the hottest boards around. In case you haven’t already seen it, our Survey Contest gives you a chance to win its little brother – the G1.Sniper M3. Head over to our survey to enter!

It’s been just under a month since the doors closed at LANcouver 2012. We’ve had a lot of feedback from our sponsors and attendees, and today we’re proud to launch the LANcouver 2012 Post-Event Survey. This survey will help us shape future LANs in the region and also gives you the chance to directly influence how LANcouver events are run. We’re also excited to offer up prizes to every eligible person who completes the survey! Gigabyte and Futurelooks have teamed up with an awesome motherboard that will be awarded to one random surveyed person!

The Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3 is one amazing micro-ATX motherboard! You’ll find some of the best features available on any board along with world class stability, unbounded expansion capability, and killer looks, too! All you have to do to win this board is to fill out our survey, enter your full name and other info at the end, and be a resident of Canada or the United States. The G1.Sniper M3 boasts features like SLI, CrossFireX, high-quality sound processing, fan controllers, a full array of I/O ports, and support for the latest and greatest 3rd Generation Intel Core processors. Best of all, the G1.Sniper M3 is in a small, sleek micro-ATX form factor, meaning you can use it to power your next gaming rig and save space and time in hauling your setup to your next LANcouver event!

Here’s the greatest thing about the Post-Event Survey: it’s open to anyone! Even if you did not attend the event or watch any of the streams you can still give us your feedback on what we can do to make LANcouver your destination in 2013 and beyond. Make sure you answer all questions that apply and also take the time to make comments in the text boxes provided.

In addition to the survey we are always happy to get comments and suggestions emailed directly to us at info@LANcouver.com

We will announce winners on or around August 10th. Good luck!

Click here to begin the survey

MINI TOURNAMENTS sponsored by NCIX

– Minecraft creative build contest
– Battlefield 3 free-for-all
– TF2 fun tournament
– Unreal Tournament fragfest
And more! Lots of prizes for these tournaments!

PANELS sponsored by FUTURELOOKS.COM, ASUS, NVIDIA and ANTEC

– 5:30PM Friday – Strategies for a successful LAN Party Experience 101
– 10:00AM Saturday – Hardware Panel with experts from ASUS, Nvidia, Antec and NCIX!
– 11:15AM Saturday – PC Building workshop – watch two BYOCers go head-to-head swapping their parts over to a new ANTEC box!
– 1:00PM Sunday (or after SC2 finals finish) – SC2 Analysis session with Professor FireZerg

MINI EVENTS

– Dance-off
– Case Mod Concours
– Bawls Drinking contest
– Social Media Scavenger Hunt (keep an eye on our twitter and Facebook!)

MAIN STAGE

– Live DJ – Eminence – on Friday and Saturday
– Special presentations by our sponsors all day long on the main stage
– Random draws!

AND MORE!

– Secret Challenge!
– Sponsored snack breaks!
– Great deals on food and drink at the Oval!

We can’t wait to see you at LANcouver 2012! Come and enjoy what LAN parties are all about – gaming, making friends, winning prizes, and most of all having fun!

But before we go in to details, check out the Futurelooks preview of everything that LANcouver has to offer.

You can only participate if you come to LANcouver – buy your 3-Day BYOC or Spectator pass now!

Read on to find out more about LANcouver University!

Ever wondered how veteran PC builders get the most out of their systems? Have trouble staying awake at LAN parties? Need to ask a really specific question about hardware? We’ve got you covered! We’re hosting workshops, panels and seminars to help you find your way in the world of extreme gaming and hardware.

All panels are open to spectators and BYOC participants.

FRIDAY 5:30PM – Strategies for a Successful LAN Party 101
Sit in with this panel of expert gamers and LAN party veterans including Kevin Doan from CyberGaming, Brian Lau from NCIX’s Gaming Team, and Futurelooks’ very own Eric Garay for a walk through of all the things you’ll want to do to have the best LAN ever. It’ll also be your very first opportunity to get a taste of the massive pile of prizes that LANcouver has to offer this year so make sure you get your system setup quickly and head straight to the seminar.

SATURDAY 10:00AM – Computer Hardware for PC Gaming 101
Our next panel which will take you through everything you need to know to get the most from your gaming rig. We’ll go all the way through from case selection, to overclocking, in a fully interactive Q and A style format with the biggest names in computing including JJ Guerrero from ASUS, Steve Sung from NVIDIA, Ivan “Crazy Russian” Metelitsa from NCIX’s System Design Team, and William Au from Antec. Make sure you’re one of the first 40 people there with a BYOC pass!

SATURDAY 11:15AM – LAB Session – PC Building Demonstration
We can tell you all day long that building a system from scratch is easy but you’ll never get it unless we show you. Immediately following the PC hardware panel, ANTEC will challenge two of your fellow LAN gamers to rebuild their old system into a shiny new ANTEC case. Paired into teams with their choice of a coach from the panel, or even their best friend, each of them will attempt to complete the task within a generous but strict time limit. After being scrutinized out loud by two judges one of these volunteers will walk away with some fabulous prizes and the case too.

SUNDAY 1:00PM – LAB Session – Starcraft II Gameplay Analysis and Advanced Strategies
Since Starcraft II is clearly the star of this year’s LANcouver, you’re going to bear witness to some of the most intense matches ever. That’s why we’ve invited Professor Sam “FireZerg” Prowse of Cyber Gaming and Gosu Coaching, to give you a detailed analysis of some of the most memorable matches from the Starcraft II Tournament at LANcouver this year. He’ll answer your questions and go through strategies that should increase your chances of reaching the podium.

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Here’s what CyberActiv had to say about LANcouver and this announcement:

Next June 29 will be the biggest LAN in Vancouver for a while and we felt that they would do an awesome job and we know that they will have a stacked tournament that will prove to the rest of Canada that western Starcraft 2 players belong in the Canadian pro scene! This is the best opportunity that BC-based gamers will have to qualify for the WCS Canadian finals in Toronto.

The top eligible StarCraft II player in this year’s LANcouver tournament will be guaranteed a spot in the WCS Canadian Finals this coming July 14-15th in Toronto. Full airfare and accommodations will be provided. We are certain that the WCS will be a landmark event for Canadian eSports and LANcouver 2012 will give west coast players the chance to show what they are made of – and we know there are great players in Metro Vancouver who deserve a chance to compete for Canada in the World Championship!

Because of this last minute change, we’ve made a couple of adjustments to our SC2 tournament. First, the map pool has changed. You can find the new map pool listed here, along with which maps are being played for each round. Second, we’ve made preparations to accommodate more than 64 players in the tournament (and in the LAN area as well – extra tables are on order!).

Because the WCS is a championship based on nationality, the player who goes to the finals must be a Canadian citizen. If the 1st place winner of the LANcouver SC2 tournament is not a Canadian citizen, then the next highest placing player with Canadian citizenship will be given the seed. (Note: permanent residents, visa holders, etc are not eligible. All players of all residency status are still permitted to enter the tournament and win prizes. Please bring your passport or other proof of citizenship to LANcouver).

This fantastic opportunity (and free trip) for the 1st place player add to an already amazing 1st place prize from ASUS – a 17″ G75VW-AS71 gaming laptop worth over $1500! You can only win by being at LANcouver. Passes are still on sale for $45 when you use code “NCIX” at checkout. Spectator passes will be available at the door for $10 (3-day pass), and we can guarantee an amazing experience for spectators as well – you’ll be able to catch matches from our 12′ projector screen and stadium bleachers!

Here’s everything you need to do to enter the SC2 tournament at LANcouver:

1 – Read the full StarCraft II rules and tournament format
2 – Buy your 3-Day Pass here ($45)
3 – Register for the SC2 tournament here (be sure to get all information correct)
4 – Start training! There are only two weeks left until LANcouver 2012 kicks off!

If you have any questions about the tournament, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@LANcouver.com

Good luck to everyone!