PC Gamer video podcast

The crew down the hall at PC Gamer is fantastically good-looking and incredibly funny (and sometimes, we can milk 'em for free video cards). They've also got anew video podcasttoday, with tons of footage of August's Showdown LAN - a 500-man game-fest that went down last month in San Jose, California.

Did you miss it, or do you spot yourself among the hundreds playing Battlefield 2 and Counter-Strike: Source tournaments? Show-goers were among the first in the world lucky enough to have hands-on time with Company of Heroes and Battlefield 2142. And apparently there was enough free schwag given away to make even the most intrepid E3 attendee jealous.

Surprisingly, the highlight of this PC love-fest was Saturday's enormous outdoor dodgeball game. Sadly, not a single wrench appears to have been thrown, but this is probably for the best.

No word yet on next year's date - but rumor has it that it won't fall on the same weekend as the Penny Arcade Expo (like it did this year), which would be f'ing metal.

September 21, 2006