The HoC Lan party that time forgot – October 23rd

So Borderlands? Anyone got their copy yet? We didn't and we planned a Lan Party around it.

You didn't know about it because it was a secret Lan party. Don't worry, it pretty much went bad from the get go...

When Left 4 Dead came out (bear with me) Coxxorz and I planned a four person co-op day to get together and play through the co-op campaign. Coxxorz and I do these co-op days every so often link and link). But feeling guilt, we opened our Left 4 Dead up for the entire clan. This foray into Left 4 Dead with the clan wasn't the best co-op day experience we ever had. A fun Lan Party but not a fun co-op day.

When Borderlands came out we discussed a full clan Lan party but decided that we wanted a 4 player co-op day. So we planned a secret Lan party with a cabel of four clan members: Coxxorz, Graybush, Blackwalt and Stormblade. Honest, it made sense at the time.

Here is our original email invite:

On 10/8/09 4:31 PM, Blackwalt wrote:
Subject: Crossing the Border(lands) – Oct 23rd

So...

• Turns out that Borderlands release on Oct 20th.
• Turns out that it has four player co-op.
• Turns out that Coxxorz has room for four players in his living room.

Today while discussing Borderlands we decided it would be worth taking a day off to play it. Unfortunately Coxxorz and I are only two people so we need two more. Someone came up with Stormblade as the third as it is his type of game.

After dredging through the barrel Graybush’s name came up for fourth.

So... (again). Are you guys in for this? Keeping in mind that this is all preliminary and we haven’t found any deals other than the $69.99 price. Taking the day off, meeting at Coxxorz's at noon(ish) and playing til 12:00-1:00. It is a full 4 player coop campaign (drop in drop out).

Graybush, we aren’t sure if this is your style of game its more Diablo-ish than COD4-ish. If you don’t like this style its fine, we aren’t going to make you buy it/play it against your will. Stormblade yes but not you. While there are four player classes, you can mix and match so you are not required to play as Lilith (not that there is anything wrong with that cough * Moricerevek * cough).

If you don’t want to we will dig up another fourth. We are trying to keep this as just four and not a full HoC Lan party. Let us (Coxxorz and I know).

More info here: http://www.nomoregameblogs.com/previews/crossing-the-border-lands.html

Generational gap:
My dad: “We need a fourth for bridge.”
Me: “We need a fourth for Borderlands.”

This is where things went bad. In a typical Herd of Cats' way.

Various things that went wrong:

• No copies of Borderlands anywhere. One copy between the four of us.
• Stormblade's plans changed to include Dr's appt in afternoon (not for him but still...)
• Graybush's plans changed to included parenting kids for 2 hrs in the evening (Graybush's wife: "I'm going out for an hour friday evening so you need to be home to watch the kids... you said you were gaming friday *afternoon!* you didn't say anything about friday *night!*")
• No copies of Borderlands anywhere.
• Fungster buys copy of Borderlands for himself, leaves 10 copies on the shelf
• Graybush's frees up evening! Woohoo!
• Graybush's kid falls ill, out for afternoon will be there after school hours. Boohoo!
• Blackwalt swaps cars. CRV takes up permanent residence on the road.
• Blackwalt calls Coxxorz for ride, no problem "I'll get a lift home with Stormblade"
• Stormblade cancels outright, girlfriend sick, sends email to Blackwalt's home email. Blackwalt not at home btw. No one knows that Stormblade has cancelled and we hold off ordering pizza until he arrives.
• No copies of Borderlands at HMV, Staples, Radio Shack, Jumbo Video.
• Blackwalt's Mechanic picks up CRV from road, replaces starter and battery and returns it to Blackwalt's driveway! Awesome Mechanic dude!
• Graybush is delayed, two staff members inches away from fist fight. In front of the customers...
• Graybush almost has to work but finds last minute substitute.
• No copies of Borderlands at Loblaws, Walmart, Rogers Video.
• Graybush's wife squeals to Hardw00d about secret event, "So are you going to the Lan Party too?" Hardw00d unimpressed.
• Coxxorz's only gets a minimal deal on Dirt 2 (he sucks) the selected backup game. We rent copy for Graybush, force Stormblade to pay for his. Particularly after he no-shows.
• At end of Lan discover that Graybush's car has a small leak. Blackwalt almost drowns on ride home. "How long can you tread water?"
• Mechanic gets paid first thing Monday morning

It really wasn't the Lan party/Co-op day we had envisioned. Not in any way imaginable. We pretty much ended up laughing at the next thing to go wrong. The pizza was good and we did end up enjoying Dirt 2. However, as Dirt 2 supports 8 players we would have invited more people if we had known in advance that Borderlands would be a bust.

Available soon on eBayBorderlands Lan Swag!

We did hand out a Lan specific swag. The sample shown here was unclaimed and will shortly be listed on eBay. I need the $2 to help pay for the CRV.

One last totally random quote: