Cal State Long Beach’s video games fanatics can rejoice – the countdown to BeachCon has begun.
BeachCon, an annual nonprofit event that encompasses all aspects of electronic gaming, will be held at the Walter Pyramid on Saturday.
Residential Hall Multimedia Technicians (Techs) and two resident assistants, who are promoting the event to students who live on campus, are hosting the event.
BeachCon marketing representative Cole Peterson said the local area network (LAN) BeachCon event has been happening for six years.
“BeachCon started as a small, ten-person event holed up in a CSULB dorm room put on by the Techs,” Peterson said. “Basically, the event was an excuse for people who enjoy electronic gaming to get together and have a great night doing what they love.”
Some students, like sophomore leisure and recreation studies major Dalena Tran, have never attended the event. She said that her friends, who went last year, encouraged her to go this semester.
“All my friends that did go in the past said it was super fun and looked really cool,” Tran said. “They got to play games like ‘Rock Band’ and ‘Just Dance.'”
Peterson said that the major games that will be featured this year are “League of Legends,” “Starcraft II,” “Super Smash Bros.,” “Brawl” and “Call of Duty.”
He also mentioned they will provide each LAN computer with a “Steam” game center license, which grants each player a large number of games to play throughout the night.
Diego Avalos, sophomore mechanical engineering major, is planning on attending BeachCon this semester.
He took second place in the “Starcraft II” tournament last semester, but he will not be competing this time around.
“This semester, they held the [preliminary] tournament online and I kind of missed my first game … so I got eliminated pretty quickly,” Avalos said.
Avalos said that he still wants to attend, even though he is not competing in the tournament.
“It’s a nice event to meet other people who also like [Starcraft II],” he said.
According to the BeachCon website, there will be six companies sponsoring the event, including Cooler Master Inc. and SilverStone Technology Co.
Peterson said some sponsors are providing prizes like mice, routers and other computer gear that will be given to the winners of different tournaments.
Peterson said that there are a limited number of LAN spots and anyone who wants to participate in the LAN party should register early because spots are limited. He also added that LAN participants must bring their own computers.
There will be a $10 fee for non-residents who want to attend the event.
To register or find out more about BeachCon, go to beachcon.org.