Our new LAN Parties page has generated such an incredible response. People from around the world have also been sending us information about their LANs to be posted on the page. There are now so many and from such diverse places that we have had to change the format to break down the different time dates and regions.

However, one issue in particular has grabbed our attention: there are no big LAN Parties here in Southern California.

Darren, our man on the ground for the East coast and Mid-West LANs, regularly attends parties with hundreds of people. Wehave also listed LANs in Europe promising a couple of thousand attendees. Even the North West seems to draw a healthy amount of attendees. So what do these locations offer that we don't have here in California?

Location, Location, Location!

When I mentioned the small number and size of the local events to Darren he suggested that part of the reason might be the price of real estate. He regularly attends LANs with large venues such as warehouses and hotels. Renting out such places can cost a lot of money but would cost even more in Southern California. Electricity costs are prohibitively expensive as well. While it has been a long time since the last rolling black out, energy prices are still in the stratosphere and many hotels may not be willing or even able to handle a hundred gamers with 400 watt power supplies. Thus, higher than average operating costs could be an obstacle to having large events in California. Perhaps that is why the LANs I ended up attending here had what I will call a more "personal feel" than a warehouse or hotel. But is that the only reason? The patrons of the LANmaniacs party, had a different theory.