INTEL TFL Summer Fragfest 2005 Report

Introduction:

Toronto's gaming community was treated to one final summer blast as the TFL presented its Summer Fragfest 2005 sponsored by Intel. This year's event was held at the Primrose Best Western Hotel on August 21st-22nd, 2005. Like previous TFL events, the theme presented this year was fun with the inclusion of professional gaming tournaments ranging from the ever-popular Counter-Strike to the latest release Battlefield 2. Event participants would have a chance to win up to $25,000 in prizes donated by the event sponsors. MODTHEBOX was invited down to participate in the event along with a few other sponsors which included Beantech, Corsair, Daiwa, DFI, D-Link, ECS, Leadtek, Neo Maxim, OCZ, Razotech and Vantec.

The weekend started off with great weather with temperatures ranging approximately 24�C-25�C. I hopped into my car and made my way to Toronto's downtown core. It wasn't hard to spot the Primrose Best Western Hotel since the location is a block away from Toronto's historic Maple Leaf Gardens.

Prior to kicking off the two day event, the TFL staff was already busy preparing one of several convention center rooms. The main LAN area was aligned with tables and chairs that were stacked up on either side of the room with Ethernet cabling available for gamers to hook into the TFL network. Sponsor banners and posters were hung in the main entrant hallways to let everyone know which sponsors were participating in the event.

The LAN admins were busy setting up the network center area using Gigabit switches donated by D-Link. This area would also include the TFL tournament servers as well as live webcams to stream a portion of the event. To make sure that the event ran smoothly, the TFL also arranged to have a portable diesel generator available kindly donated by Sprint (Rogers).

Click image for larger view

Click image for larger view

Upon entering the event all spectators and visitors are required to sign-up at the TFL registration booth. From the registration booth you would be able to purchase food supplied by the Primrose Best Western Hotel or proceed directly into the main tournament and BYOC area.