Episode III cancelled

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posted in News

December 11, 2018

It has been confirmed as of this week that North American LAN Episode III —originally running from January 11th to 13th in Long Beach, California— will no longer be happening for 2019.

Episode III was a spiritual successor to the Rewind LAN series hosted in 2017 & 2018 at Esports Arena in Santa Ana, California. Episode III was announced back in August 26th this year on teamfortress.tv’s Twitter, after the conclusion of Insomnia 63. Thunder Gaming Center was originally set to produce and host the event in conjunction with Matcherino.

On October 22nd, setbacks were announced in the public Episode III Discord from WillScarlet that Thunder Gaming did not have the CPU capabilities to host the event, due to a late reveal that the venue wanted to use cloud-based gaming for the tournament over physical computers. CPU & PC sponsors were requested to contact the staff, and buying accommodations was not recommended until the situation was sorted.

Updates during November 21st to the 25th included alternate venues such as Ultimate in Los Angeles being pursued, but was followed up that Ultimate’s costs were too expensive. An offline event was stated as being worked on for those who had already bought flight tickets, with the goal of still hosting an online tournament.

On December 5th, a final statement was made from WillScarlet on both Discord & teamfortress.tv that the event was officially cancelled:

For the last few months we have tried to work with two venues to find a good home for the LAN, unfortunately neither panned out, for both logistical and monetary reasons. Once we knew we were unable to provide that LAN experience, we were aiming to run an offline event for those who booked tickets and additionally whoever wanted to come that would coincide with an online tournament. Unfortunately we are not going to be able to make that happen and it sucks that this is the case.

I, as well as everyone on the team, volunteered a lot of time trying to organize and make the event work. Although it was quite frustrating at times, we would do it again. For us, the disappointing thing is not being able to make up for the people who spent money on travel. No one wants to organize an event to have attendees book travel and then be unable to deliver on the event.

The rest of the statement, as well as the prior updates, can be read in the Episode III LAN thread here.

charis

10 Frags – +

[*]

aiera

95 Frags – +

C L O U D C O M P U T I N G L A N C E N T E R

Discord

7 Frags – +

[*]

Maky

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crackbabydumpster

13 Frags – +

when am I gunna fight alexandros again now???

Reero

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[*][*][*]

Beelthazus

-6 Frags – +

the end of an era [*]

GrapeJuiceIII

27 Frags – +

https://i.imgur.com/28foeEg.jpg

[img]https://i.imgur.com/28foeEg.jpg[/img]

subhuman

10 Frags – +

https://puu.sh/CgiWv/4c36149a04.jpg

[img]https://puu.sh/CgiWv/4c36149a04.jpg[/img]

#10

Alexandros

32 Frags – +

crackbabydumpsterwhen am I gunna fight alexandros again now???

RGB 4

[quote=crackbabydumpster]when am I gunna fight alexandros again now???[/quote]

RGB 4

#11

The_Fridge

4 Frags – +

game dead, everyone pack up and go home

#12

Jasbutts

11 Frags – +

Our spooky basement gamer house will have to wait one more year to return. How else will I be able to photograph gorgeous gamers now? :'(

#13

qbown

9 Frags – +

This sucks, would've been a good lan :/

#14

skeez

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#15

DRIFTA

33 Frags – +

hey what are you guys talkin about its been out for weeks

https://youtu.be/lbaSfPDppcc

hey what are you guys talkin about its been out for weeks
[youtube]https://youtu.be/lbaSfPDppcc[/youtube]

#16

bill_

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#17

chompa-

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didn't everyone expect this?

#18

SolarLight

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[*]

#19

niko

-20 Frags – +

alexa play despacito

#20

andre

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Unfortunate

#21

Wandum

37 Frags – +

GUNSGUNSGUNSalexa play despacito

trying our hardest to keep up with the kids are we

[quote=GUNSGUNSGUNS]alexa play despacito[/quote]
trying our hardest to keep up with the kids are we

#22

Eemes

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cu@ Copenhagen burgers

#23

zaint

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#24

directstar1

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b4nnyEsports Arena seem interested in doing Rewind 3. Relax.

[quote=b4nny]Esports Arena seem interested in doing Rewind 3. Relax.[/quote]

#25

twiikuu

-3 Frags – +

directstar1b4nnyEsports Arena seem interested in doing Rewind 3. Relax.

international LAN contender btw

[quote=directstar1][quote=b4nny]Esports Arena seem interested in doing Rewind 3. Relax.[/quote][/quote]
international LAN contender btw

#26

frenzy_

-2 Frags – +

sad

#27

highfive

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how do i coalesce evidence and didactic vivisections

#28

pajaro

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online offline lan btw

#29

Twiggy

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so is something non-tf2 happening with the cloud based gaming shenanigan? If yes i'm interested in what games they could get to run this way, considering even tf2 wouldn't

#30

pazer

17 Frags – +

Twiggyso is something non-tf2 happening with the cloud based gaming shenanigan? If yes i'm interested in what games they could get to run this way, considering even tf2 wouldn't

The problem isn't getting the games to run; they can run (almost?) all games like this. The issue is latency, and although Shadow has claimed to have solved it, it's very obvious they haven't, because it's unsolvable. No matter what anyone ever tries to do, you will never get a frame encoded, sent over the internet, then decoded in the same amount of time it takes a normal desktop to get the same frame rendered and sent to your monitor.

The only games this will ever be suited for is games where latency doesn't really matter, aka things like hearthstone or turn-based games, and MAYBE MOBAs. Even then, I can't imagine spending $25 a month on a non-optimal experience like that.

[quote=Twiggy]so is something non-tf2 happening with the cloud based gaming shenanigan? If yes i'm interested in what games they could get to run this way, considering even tf2 wouldn't[/quote]

The problem isn't getting the games to run; they can run (almost?) all games like this. The issue is latency, and although Shadow has claimed to have solved it, it's very obvious they haven't, because it's unsolvable. No matter what anyone ever tries to do, you will never get a frame encoded, sent over the internet, then decoded in the same amount of time it takes a normal desktop to get the same frame rendered and sent to your monitor.

The only games this will ever be suited for is games where latency doesn't really matter, aka things like hearthstone or turn-based games, and MAYBE MOBAs. Even then, I can't imagine spending $25 a month on a non-optimal experience like that.

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