It's with great regret that we have had to cancel next weekends MPU (June 18). We have had to do this for a number of reasons, including lack of registrations and admin availability.

Our July event is still on the cards at this stage.

It seems that even though our return event a couple of months ago was a screaming success, something is stopping us from repeating that each month. Is it because the events were too close to each? Is it because of the date conflicts with SGL? Is it because of the prizes we are giving away? Is it just that LAN parties are going the way of the dodo? Is it something else? As always, MPU is keen to listen to you guys, so please offer us some feedback by replying to this post, or emailing us: mpu@mpu.com.au

Again, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Believe me this is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we appreciate your understanding.

Wow, that really sucks. :(

It has absolutely everything to do with being on the same day as SGL too. I'd be very surprised if there is any other reason whatsoever.

[edit]
Just to expand on that a little. MPU is exactly what my friends and i look for in a lan, i'm sure plenty of others feel the same way. I seriously doubt it's anything mpu is doing wrong, if anything things were improving. Lidcombe cath club was in my eyes the start of something great too, it was a much better venue than the masonic club in every single way possible.

I know there are a lot of people who are torn between SGL and MPU when it comes to lanning, little things like a particular comp that's being run can be the deciding factor on if they attend SGL instead of MPU etc. Having the two lans kept on seperate dates would be a huge move in the right direction. Even if it's only a week apart it would be an improvement, and i'm sure numbers would pick up.

last edited by Blindside at 21:03:18 14/Jun/05

Shame. I was really looking forward to it to. Expecially with the BF2 demo just released

*votes for July 23rd*

last edited by Woody at 21:45:13 14/Jun/05

f*** sgl

Where is everyone's respect?? where is the loyality.... When the masonic club canned mpu coz for reno's did The admins and all that give up searching for a new location.. of course not i think its a little unfair on those guys who put in all the hard work, time and effort to bring us this wonderful lan... but unfortunatly if there is only the loyal few who reg then well you know... tis vexing... "The youth of today", as blade would say... as you can see i dearly love my mpu and i'll one of the first to be reg for july... I hope...

i was really looking forward to Trackmania...
i was already having a s*** day to then you get this news....
farty poo bum.. i say farty Poo BUM...

Dave, people go where their friends and clan mates go. I've always been loyal to MPU, but i've had it easy because my mates have been loyal to mpu as well. If they all went to SGL then i'd be torn. I'm sure it's a similar situation for lots of others.

That said, i've never been to SGL before (WCG though). Since mpu is cancelled and i was really looking forward to mpu this sat, i've rego'd for SGL. *shudders*

See what you've made me do! :P

last edited by Blindside at 22:22:16 14/Jun/05

I sorta figured the date clashes had a lot to do with it. We were really limited with what dates we could get at the new venue, and it's just poor luck that a bunch of them coincided with SGL who had already booked their dates.

I can already see July 23 being a day full of nothing but BF2 and Trackmania :)

... and pie .... MmMmMmmmm ..... Pie.

how many rego ed? one of the main problem i have is registering, ausgamers website is F**KED!!! hardly any of the links work. you click on ausgamers events nsw and nothing happends, or once i clicked on it and it went to victoria events instead of nsw. i got a group of 5 - 7, but last month i was the only one who went: proberly cause we thought it was next weekend when it was on last month due to that it was a week early (3 weeks). i rego-ed 2 days b4 it started and none of the other guys could come cause we where all busy on that day. we really need more communication in the public AND THAT DAM STUPID AUSGAMERS WEBSITE FIXED UP!!!! i come from mittagong, thats about 100km away. i travel all that way to get a decent Lanning experience and so do 2 others in my area. well worth the travel.
i would like to know the exact reasons why it was canceled, and i bet other people would like to know as well. cause if we know what the problem is maybe WE as in all of us, can work on this little problem, try and prevent it from happening again. (I HATE MPU BEING CANCELED!!!)

CHECK THIS LINK OUT:::
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=1&c=5&t=1138

Well, I'll be honest.

The #1 Reason I haven't attended MPU since the first return lan is the fact is conflicts with SGL. The main reason for this, a 100% Gigabit Network vs the 100Mbit Network. Much quicker for efficient distribution of Game Demo's like Battlefield 2 :-).

#2 is over the year since MPU stopped, I've made alot of friends there, who for various reasons, can not get to MPU on a regular basis, and the only chance I get to see them is SGL.

#3 is SGL slightly longer operating hours.

#4 is the SGL provided lunch and dinner included in the price of entry.

There are more reasons, but that's all I can think of atm.

And at the first lan, something was wrong with the atmosphere during the lan, I don't know, it just didn't seem, right. Haven't been able to put my finger on it.

If MPU didn't conflict with SGL, I'd almost certainly be at the MPU in the same month however.

this isn't a MPU v SGL thread

Both are great lans, I've attended both as a 'player' and obviously MPU as an admin. Each lan has it's pro's and con's.

Unfortunately, due to our venue at Parramatta, we had to move venue's and as such we had to take what dates were available to us and alas they were teh same dates as SGL for the first few lans.

I think in general lanning is slowly dying, with broadband becoming more and more accessable to everyone.

In short if you guys don't register, we won't know how many people are going to turn up! I can quite easily 'spam' email addresses via a mass mailout when a lan is on, however, EVERY lan we do MULITPLE news posts with links to register, so it only takes a visit to mpu.com.au once a week or so to stay in 'the loop' with MPU goings on.

Anyways, we'll be back in July and I can see lotsa BF2 being played :D

maybe because MPU loves stairs?

Well, first of all, s***.

I was looking forward to owning you all in Trackmania :p

Loc, I think you are asking to much, the fact that SGL provides substandard catering as part of the admission price shouldn't be the standard for LAN's in Sydney.

The new venue is awesome and I'm sure if the admins were allowed to bring in their Ice Buckets in filled with various soft drinks they would, but I'd rather go nil-by-mouth all day than not have mpu at all. The fact that you can't bring food up to the function room is a bit annoying, but at least what the club serves is edible, because honestly, who hasn't vomitted from SGL food yet?

I don't see the appeal of SGL at all. its nothing but people playing age-old games and leeching.

The admins there are grumpy bastards who I haven't seen smile once.

Also, I see SGL as the LAN to go to if you suck at games, and want nothing but other people's files.

And then there's MPU, the gamer's LAN. But wait. THERE'S LEECH AS WELL!!! OMGSHOCKHORROR!!11

FUCH s*** f*** s*** f*** s*** f*** s***
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I was just about to register to go to MPU this weekend and i find that it is Canceled, im so disappointed. I should have registered sooner, but WoW kinda gets in the way lol, and plus i work too.

Last month's MPU was my first lan ever and i loved it. I was so looking forward for this weekend so i could kick all your asses in Trackmania Sunrise demo, and now i need to wait till next month :(

i guess ill be playing WoW this Saturday then :)

last edited by Legionnaire at 19:53:58 15/Jun/05

last edited by Legionnaire at 19:54:05 15/Jun/05

Hey guys,

Sorry to hear about MPU being cancelled, shame that me and Alars can't have a 1v1 comp at Unreal Open in the grand finals.

The first time I went to MPU... i was thrilled, because i got along great with some people and one of the admins, who showed me the config file of the server for the UT2004 Deathball comp, entered a game comp and leeched.

With SGL, i talk to no one, i don't enter comps, i don't talk to the admins... but just leech all day, non stop.

And honestly... it doesn't bother me which lan i go to, as long as i get something out of it. :/

Unreal Open! NoOoOoOoo
I forgot about that postponed comp, it would have been so much fun. :(

If lots of people don't rego for the next MPU i'm gonna have to do something drastic, like go to sgl again.. and trust me, i don't want to stoop that low! ;)

Its so disapointing to hear that MPU has to be cancelled due to lack of numbers :( I know SGL has been clashing and sometimes that can't be helped. Hopefully in the future (next couple of months) this want happen.

I know this is not a SGL v MPU thread but, I have been to SGL and MPU and I must say IMHO MPU beats SGL hands down, as Heardy said earlier both have there pros and cons but in all honesty I prefer to come to MPU.

To me SGL is LEECH and CS no interaction, people don't really talk to each other and the admins are not very friendly or helpfull.

MPU is social, fun, gaming the odd leechin and a great day for all to enjoy. The admins a friendly joke around and get in on the action and everyone has a good time.

The new venue is awsome. Plenty of room, food and drinks at easy access. Plenty of parking and close enough for everyone just like the old venue.

Its great to see such a variety of games being played at MPU now, from latest game demos, fairly new games like HL2, as well as the old classics like Quake III. It also great to have the so out of there Racing Comp. Maybe we should get some other sporting games going that support multiplayer - Tiger Woods Golf 2005 anyone?

With so many new games being released in the future and demo's coming out thick and fast - Driv3r, BF2, Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 to name a few - the next few lans are gona be out of this world

As was said ealier with ADSL becoming more readily available people may not see the point in comeing to lans. But then they miss out on so much more. Gameing at a lan with friends in the same room is soooo much more fun then trying to get it to work over ADSL wich sometimes does not always work where at a lan you are almost always garanteed a game to work with a lot more enjoyment.




last edited by Moe at 21:33:17 15/Jun/05

[quote]The admins a friendly joke around and get in on the action and everyone has a good time. [/quote]

Haha, speaking of that. As I was about to leave MPU, one of the admins came up to me from behind and said "hey, sticking around abit for the random draw prize?" and i laughed and said "nah, sorry... i got stuff to do later on". He goes "hehe, fair enough... see you at next MPU."

I've never had an admin coming up to me before, it's quite interesting how the admins at MPU treat us like we're great friends with them, hehe.

SGL, i'm like very scared of them and don't even want to even ask them questions.

last edited by Demolution at 23:36:29 15/Jun/05

It's those friendly ones you must be warey of.....
as i've settled down a bit i have only 2 things to say on this subject....

Oohhhhh Poo!!!!

thats about the extent of it
i know lets register now for next mpu

GODDAMMIT! I've only been to mpu twice so far but without a doubt it truly KICK'S ASS! This is BULLs***!

I think i'm lost .. Is this the QGL forum ? :)

I was going to try come along to this one. Being so close to the end of my study i thought i could get away for a few hours and visit my friends at MPU only to see this message. I was deeply saddened and then went and cried on Heardy's (my life partners) shoulder.

I shall replace that deep sadness tonight with .. duna nana nana nana BATMAN!

baaah.. i was looking forward to kicking alars' arse at trackmania again ¬_¬

and personally id prefer if MPU didn't start serving SGL's food poisened sausages and i wont even start on the kebabs...

ill see you all on the 23rd =]

last edited by Ransico at 12:10:07 16/Jun/05

Bah couldn't come to the June MPU because of work commitments but may check out the July if you can confirm the 23rd early enough (pending time off from work).

i can think of 3 major possible reasons of mpu being a disaster:

1. the website was DOWN for a period of time
2. the number of people there has been droping since the last mpu held at Parramatta.
3. mpu was held at the same time as SGL.

i have looked at sgl and unfortunetly, i have signed up to go to SGL. the admins dont like new commers the first time you go its $30. and they look like they dont trust anyone there cause you require some sort of id card. mpu admins, show em what your made of!

i am starting to see alot more females going to mpu. it would be nice to have more variety of peopole going to mpu. really its up to us to talk to our girlfriends and boyfriends and invite them to a wonderful time= MPU.

GO MPU!!!!!!!!

Maybe do a bit of advertising? around the club? local schools? other places? I have noticed at the last couple of mpu's that people who ave walked past the hall have stopped and enquired as to what was happening...and then the next mpu they turn up with there pc for some fun. :)

We need to start letting people know mpu is back on getting some of the old regulars back and some new faces will make it a lot more enjoyable for all.

REALLY SUX!!!! I got some good files for ppl to leach for the LAN =(....Advertising is the main facto of low numbers IMO. Advertising on online stores or forums is a big bonus, and perhaps sponsorship by brands like thermaltake, they have a sponsor claim section on their site...

You could always start using the 'so called' MPU mailing properly and send an email out letting people know of upcoming lans, regos are opened, comps and such and get people to reply either by directing them to the forums or email back....

the maling list used to be buzzing...now it's almost dead and burried :(

I think also with the current online game offering, interest in gaming has been down for a bit. All the releases for a while were focusing on single player games, but it looks like multi player gaming will pick up, which will have a positive influence on lans and online gaming overall.

MPU has all the regulars comming atm from ages ago, but as time goes on word will get around, and no doubt fresh blood will fill the vacent seats.

tafe and uni final exams are currently on which is another reason why the numbers are down.

Sgl admins are noobs..... ahahah no they aint its just a pitty. But i feel there is nothing that beats the friendly and jovial feeling you get when your at mpu it seems there is always someone willing to help you out in a spot of bother... right heardy ??

always someone encouraging you to join in, even the DDR scene, It seems alot of people settle down and you dont often hear AAARRRRGH bulls*** hax hax f***ing no way.. throughout the day...

The prize draws are crazy good the comps are great the network is most of the time very stable.. It doesnt go for too long and isnt too short either.. i personally dont see the point of a 24h lan i usually have most of the stuff i wanted by then though i suppose i would have that and more at a 24h one but there is some issues pertaining to health and saftey with that... i mean don't people read the warnings on games theses days do not play for longer than 15hs without a break... i believe that one came from EG2....

Its just dissapointing thats all.. Anyways guys we have to appreciate the admins for trying their best, but you know sometimes things happen for a reason who knows MPU may go into overdrive and then everyone will not want to miss is...

Jeez hate this to be like ancient rome remembering the old addage "dont shoot the messenger"
I think berti may have been rittled with arrows lol....
ok so that wasnt funny...
<

last edited by Dave at 23:45:27 16/Jun/05

Yes... well....
My daughter and I were really looking forward to MPU after missing the last one. It's a real shame that SGL and MPU fall on the same day but I remember a year ago we didnt have any troubles with numbers when it did.

Frankly I couldn't give a stuff if there there prize draws from our wonderful supportive sponsers. I was even willing to fork out a little extra cash to setup a 2nd comp for Child v1.0 so she could play WoW all day and give me a little comp time.

But alas.. We shall have to wait till next month. I just hope it doesn't conflict with a Swans game. Then again I could get stuck on Cleaveland Street for 2hours waiting in the slow moving carpark trying to get to the SGC. But thats a story you can read about here.

oh well c uz next MPU. it would be a good idea if u get the good people at JW to give out pamphlets to customers, I think its time to attract new people and JW can help out. do special events like

- Ladies get in free
- Free entrance to anyone over 25
- people who come in large groups e.g. 10+ get half price or free meal
or somthing that would attract new people.

Yeah the admins at mpu are heaps friendly and they love to interact with the lanners, both ingame and out. When i went to sgl i got yelled at for asking for help :< hence why i go to mpu now :D

steve

sounds like sgl admins "are" noobs...

shouting at someone coz they needed help what a mo fo...

That could be MPU's catch cry..

With Friendly and helpfull staff, Why would you want to lan anywhere else?

hmmm... that seems awefully familiar for some reason

-different dates to sgl is obviously what we need
-gigabit for some people
-loctus ... nuf said.


i think IMO that yes lanning is starting to die off even with broadband coming up with higher speeds (eg DSL2)

however it seems to be the tension which used to grab me @ MPU back in 2001 or 2...whenever..was ages ago lol... turn up @ 10:30 and run in to see barely any spots left, i even recall admins moving extra tables in to fit people in..

i remember seeing 6 cs servers full.. and not just 12 player servers, more like 16, or 32.... then the in the rounds it comes down to 1v1...when the winner emerges screams, yelling and the occasional %@#^&@%#$(^@% :).. but i mean thats what it was all for.

i think things like BF2 demo, we could TRY and co-ordinate mass matches, (eg 2x 64 servers..which isnt hard. just give everyone time to setup/practice and then go all out...when 90% of the lan is just in either the one intense game or the other. rather than most looking at webpages while getting patches etc... i mean, get back to the core of gaming...its the gaming, then maybe have the evening to start sharing things.

IMO mpu should run the dc server, and kill it for 70% of the lan, so we all have fun gaming... means people who come for gaming get it and the others still get what they want.


nuf of long post.

I might not have even been able to go to this months LAN because half-yearly school certificate exams were on this week.....plus i have work on sunday....

I don't know if forcing people to play games by killing dc hubs is going to help. More likely it will be a reason not to attend "they do what to the dc hub? screw that lan". Lets face it, some people go for filesharing and a little bit of gaming. It's better than those people not coming at all. Although i gotta say, seeing people sitting at their pc watching movies, headphones on, completely devoid of any human interaction just gives me the s***s. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of sitting in a room with 100+ other people? Watch that stuff at home.

However i totally agree with what you're saying overall sniped, it really is a strong focus on gaming that is what makes a good lan. That an a good atmosphere.


Speaking of atmosphere (or a total lack of), i went to sgl today (first time there), and MY GOD i couldn't stand it anymore. I left early (along with the three mates that i went there with). What the hell do people see in this lan? Cold-as-a-morgue hall (complete with plastic school chairs and wobbly benches with mysterious sticky splotches), too much light (do the lights really need to be on if there's already heaps of daylight in there?), weird ping and lag spikes on the game servers, laughable competitions (great BF2 demo comp guys.. no.. really.. *cough*), and some of the admins need a serious attitude readjustment.

My mates and i won't be back, it's not even a tenth of what MPU is in our opinions. If only more people felt the same way. Again, i'm genuinely curious as to why sgl draws the larger crowd. MPU (especially with the new venue) just offers so much more in every single way. I can't figure it out.

The moral of this story...

MPU is cool because it is big enough for lots of gaming and filesharing and its small enough for lots of Social interaction, mainly preciptated by admins who are friendly and helpful

Remeber Fly your Friendly MPU airlines...

so we all comming back to MPU next month ?

but you know as the admins say they can only get the dates they've been given so you know mpu is likely to fall on the same day as sgl quite often

hopefully we'll choose the lan with fun people and friendly admins and people wont get pissed at missing mpu ... :P

Have fun peoples

also just quickly, we've looked at the dates and its 16 July NOT 23 July!!

A news post will follow soon :)

i see where your coming from

i retract my statement on DC, but what we neeed is UT2007, which is not an addon, totally new game with some of the oldskool feel. i mean ages ago CS was the thing to lan for, it was "newish, addictive and everyone was playing it." now most people cant sstand to see de_dust for eg.

cs is dying off even with source, some people find BF2 and UT2k4 "too strategical and not enuf 'in your face action' "

i agree with raygun, we need new blood to fill the seats @ mpu. MPU is always atalking bout "how can we improve' and well....not much you can do cept pimp da lan thru ausgamers as we usually do and just wait and keep hosting events.

maybe we could spread the word around @ next mpu to "tell your friends, bring em along we need a full house to go nuts :D" type a thang.

and if stairs is enough to turn people off mpu.........they could always look at using the elevator......

;)

I went to the last SGL for the first time and I must say that MPU kicks Ass, the only thing that sgl has over MPU is the stairs, oh well need the exercise we are playing games for 12hrs.... the comps at sgl are so unorganised they have no idea, all they do is scab smokes off me. :-8. About leaching well I like to leech a little before or after playing some games. it doesn’t hurt, we don’t join much comps except the racing comps. But we like to play the odd games e.g. SWAT4, Rome Total War; we would love it if more people asked as if they could join that’s what LANs are all about people. Just chat to anyone don’t sit on the sideline get involved no1 at MPU will bite your head off, Unlike SGL.

youve lost momentum

sounds like you need to get back to basics and promote your events - need to draw new blood and reinvigorate.

sydney lans having been choking for ages. thats why wa and vic lans are massive and ours are dying - has ntohing to do with broadband or internet cafes.

last edited by Dj-ZoRt!! at 17:19:29 21/Jun/05

You know what we need....

Woman Jumping On Trampoliens....

ahem... sorry been watching a little to much "The Man Show"

If I wasn’t in baggers or as we call it The Dad I would be there with bells on and I usually bring some heavy hitting pipe wielding n*****s with me. But since we haven’t had MPU for 6-7 months me and the n*****s had to find a alternate game den, which be me own garage. Me and the homies get some wife beaters and LAN up with 15 –20 people all crowed in my double garage. It’s not MPU for numbers but is has a certain charm and feel that you just can’t get at MPU. Namely everyone gets rolling drunk and screems abuse at each other till 3 in the morning or till the cops rock around complaining about the noise, or maybe that’s the wife(same outcome:P). I think a lot of the tradition MPU’er have gone down the same path they found love in other places. When I get back I hope MPU is still happening,

PS blindside when we catch up I’ll tell you a few of my warries :)

….there I was 2 against 100 ……toughest 2 we ever fought.

I'm not that keen on the SGL LAN's and have not been to an MPU for ages. My last SGL was good, except there was some sunlight (on monitor) issues at times. Even if I had a better seat, there would still be some, or others would have it.

Sif have MPU on the same day as SGL?

I preferred smaller LAN's say 30-50, or even 20. Just seemed better.

The food at Masonic sucks (well it did the last time I was there). That Merrylands School Hall years ago was quite good (MPU used it once or twice), cept no food, but BBQ could have been done. Some others liked it too, there is a reason it can't be used eh? Power system not up to scratch?

How much you charging for MPU's these days? Can the entry fee be dropped. Is it like $20? Wow, how many players you need to show to cover costs? Cancelling an event is a serious call. Less players would mean a loss, which could be recovered in time? The players that did show up would have had given rave reviews (as proven before). If it was really serious, could have had 20 people in one of those little rooms (if they are still there) and still pulled a profit.

I don't give a crap about prizes, that's been proven before too, people (customers) want comps, the prizes didn't matter so much.

They also valued LAN'ing with people they liked. If some of those pick SGL, where will they go?

If MPU was say 50-70 people and was running BF2 comps, good chance I might turn up to one. If its rows of 200 geaks all running ftp apps with no comps, mobs of people hudled around consoles (bleh!) and crap food (i mean the bistro) I'll stay home on cable.

You asked for feedback, there's mine.

PS: Spose what I really mean is. Run a smaller LAN. Get a smaller venue and rebuild MPU again. It's better when it's a small 'Full House'. Those LAN's are better I recon. Smaller MPU = Good.

last edited by Nmag at 18:12:21 12/Jul/05

Nmag, the new MPU venue (lidcombe catholic club) is so much better than the masonic club that you can't even compare the two. So as far as venue's go (along with cheap, quality lunches etc), MPU have it in the bag.

They are "smaller" in numbers now too (at least the last couple seemed that way). Try this one on sat instead of sgl. You won't regret it. :P

oh really, kewl

Well i might come by, if not to LAN but to drop in and say high, or maybe to LAN?

Thats good news, if I was going to a lan this w/e i doubt it would be SGL anyway.

Hows the food at this new place? Easy access to carry stuff in etc? sunlight ojn monitors? Anyway I'll come check it out, esp if lesser numbers, it was getting just crazy before. Looking forward to seeing the new place.

It's upstairs in a really nice conference room. To compare the two rooms i guess you could say the masonic club's hall was a caravan park, and this one is a nice hotel. ;)

Yes there are stairs, but there is an elevator right next to them if you don't wish to carry the computer up them. There's a bar inside the conference room where the lanning is happening that you can buy drinks (alcholic or otherwise) and pies/sausage rolls etc from. Then if you go downstairs there's a bistro where you can get a big lunch/dinner from that's nice and cheap. There's also a big projector screen that they can show comps on. The lighting is perfect in the conference room (they can turn the lights down), and there's no sunlight to reflect off the screens.

So yeah.. it's a great spot. :)

last edited by Blindside at 09:35:52 13/Jul/05

wow, that sounds very impressive, and the website for the club & bistro is excellent. Will have to make time to drop by on Saturday arvo. Sounds like a nice place.

asif not say hello

woops, hey swazi! :P

Been a while mate, when are you comin' to mpu next eh? ;)