ShootMania Map Competition for PAX Prime Starts Today!

Ubisoft announced today on the ManiaPlanet blog that they are holding a map creation competition to generate maps for the ShootMania tournaments that will be held at PAX at the end of the month.

Up to 25 maps will be selected for play during the tournament in 5 different game modes that will be shown off to the attendees of the expo.  The game modes include:

• Siege
• Elite
• Battle
• Heroes
• Speedball

Each participant may submit up to 10 maps (ALL need to be submitted together in one email to Ubisoft!!!  See official rules for more information.)

If your map(s) is/are selected for PAX, you will be recognized at the show when your map is played.  The one most interesting map (first place winner) will be brought to PAX to help show off his/her map!

These maps are being made exclusive for PAX, and thus, Ubi has set some specific rules, including making sure your playtest group only includes the author and enough people to max what the mode supports.  For example, if you decide to make an Elite map (which is 3 vs. 3) -- your playtest group will consist of the map author and 5 other players.  Play on a passworded server, and the author and all playtesters agree to be under non-disclosure agreement; meaning you won't discuss or share the map in any way.  (This includes not posting to ManiaExchange until after the PAX tournaments take place.

So wait no more... go check out the rules and start pumping out the maps... Good luck!

(I will post more about the tournaments themselves when I get more info... in case some of you out there want to try to play in them!)

This Contest is open to legal U.S. residents (excluding residents of Rhode Island and residents of Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and other United States territories) and to legal residents of Canada (excluding residents of Quebec), who are thirteen (13) years of age or older at the time of entry.  Other restrictions apply; see official rules for more information.

GEEX Show 2009: Scheduled and Website Updated

It's official.

The Gamers and Electronics EXpo (GEEX) 2.0 is scheduled for April 17-18th, 2009 at the SouthTowne Expo Center in Sandy, Utah.

We're stoked because it's
1. Closer to home
2. Less expensive (and girls get in free)
3. Another chance to win cool gaming hardware in this year's TrackMania Tournament.

If you missed last year's show, you missed a killer lan party and fun tournaments. Of course, it took FNG winners an extra 6 months to get our video card prizes for taking 2nd and 3rd place, but Palit finally came through and gave us nVidia 9800GX2's (that I might add run Prince of Persia in SLI mode at 1920x1200 2xAA and looks scha-WEET!)

Anyway, the GEEX site has some video and photos from last year's event; and if the rumors are true that Intel and nVidia will be sponsors at this year's event; we could be in for one incredible show.

Stay tuned... we'll update as they update.

TRACKMANIA FOREVER!!!

Geeks Anticipating GEEX

Well, we finally got to put in our first night of practice this week (sure wish I had more free time!)

Thundr and I hopped onto the "Let's Rock" Nations server and played with several people ranked in the top 10,000 of the world. Needless to say, we never took the podium, but came close a couple of times. There were a couple of appearances in the top 10.

If the competition at GEEX is anything like tonight; all hope is lost... *CACKLE!* Serves us right for having families and responsibilities.

Regardless, we're very much anticipating a good time at the show and wish we could all be there for all three days of fun. Tsam may get to poke in before Saturday; but the rest of us will not be appearing until Saturday.

Nadeo was kind enough to let us use their TrackMania logo concepts to make a team shirt design. The first draft (which we didn't finish the design in time to get embroidered this round) looks like this:

We wanted to use the 3D blocks from the United logo, but we figure that won't work too well with embroidery... we'll see. We'll probably save that for the website.

Thanks to B_Rock and Atholon for working with me on the design.

My bro-in-law Keith did make us some shirts for GEEX (under short notice) that are pretty cool. Thanks Keith for the back-up there; you rock!

So, this will be my first big tournament for me since the Nintendo PowerFest came to Salt Lake when I was 17 (over half my life ago...) - I can't wait for the adrenaline rush.

Make sure to head to GEEX if you can and show your support for the Utah Gaming Community!

FNG to Appear at GEEX Show - TrackMania Nations Forever Tournament

That's right, folks. I found out about a local TrackMania Nations Forever tournament and I'm all about getting hooked up. I'm sure I'm also about getting my trash kicked and handed back to me; but it's going to be a good time no matter what happens.

For those that don't know... GEEX Show is hosting a TrackMania Nations Forever tournament on 19 July 2008. The guest list for the 3-day Lan Party now includes That One Guy. Thundr, Tsam and Beuchety have also expressed interest in attending the event and potentially participating in the TrackMania tourney.

I'm hoping we'll have a good FNG presence there; and that many more Utah gamers will help make this a well attended event; so they'll want to make it a recurring event.

GEEX show sounds to be much like a mini E3 event (like the E3 of the old days... not the new E3 format) where there will be 3-days of exhibits, speakers and the Lan Party. It's not all about games either... GEEX stands for Games and Electronics EXpo (if memory serves correctly.)

So as Utah Gamers, and especially FNG; let's help make this a killer event by adding our support in appearing at the expo and especially having a sweet time doing what we do best; being TrackManiacs.

See you there!

Calling all Geeks ... or GEEX!

The Gaming & Electronics EXpo (GEEX) is coming to the Salt Palace Convention Center July 17-19, 2008. This show will be open from 10am to 8pm each day and will feature an area where exhibitors will show off their latest technology, gadgets, controllers and mods. There will also be keynote speakers, breakout sessions, gaming tournaments and a Massive "all night" LAN Party sponsored by Protocol 42.

Tickets are available online:
$10 for a one day pass
$25 for the full three days.

Student passes are also available with a student ID
$5 for a one day pass
$15 for the full three days.

Tournaments and LAN Party participation have an additional cost.

For more information, visit www.geexshow.com.