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Project:
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TFL CPL Toronto 2004 Report |
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Author:
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Hi-TEK
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Date:
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March 22nd, 2004
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Introduction:
The Toronto gaming community was treated to a fun filled 3-day weekend on March 12th-14th, 2004 hosted
by the Toronto Fun League. The venue
would serve as the official Toronto CPL qualifier with 16 teams battling it out in a series of Counter
Strike matches for a chance to advance to the CPL event in Dallas, Texas. The event was held at the
massive 60,000 square foot facility known as the Toronto Games.
The Toronto Games is an initiative of the Greater Toronto Community Clearinghouse and is a registered
charity behind many critical community initiatives. Some of the initiatives include programs to help
the homeless and a center which provides computers and equipment to schools and community organizations.
MODTHEBOX was invited down to participate in the event along with a few other sponsors such as ATI, Bawls,
CompuSmart, Creative, DFI, Gamerzstuff, Ideazon, Intel and Startech.
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The weekend started off on shaky ground due to the cold weather and previous commitments that kept
Mantis and I from attending the first two days. We managed to make our way down to the Toronto
Games facility for the last day of the event on Sunday March 14th. Our goal for the day would be to
participate as judges in the BYOC Case Modding Competition. MTB would be handing one lucky winner
a brand new Diabolic Minotaur Mid-Tower Gaming Case
from CasEdge. Upon entering the event all spectators and visitors are required to sign-up at the TFL
registration booth.
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The TFL event was split into two different areas with the first area devoted to the BYOC. A series of
tables and chairs were stacked up on either side of the room with Ethernet cabling available for gamers
to hook into the TFL network. Attendance in this area was good with a number of gamers participating in
BYOC contests or playing local games with friends. I noticed that Counter Strike, Warcraft III and Unreal
Tournament 2004 seemed to be the most popular games played in this area.
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The number of modified cases in the BYOC was very disappointing with most gamers using pre-modified
cases from Antec, Cooler Master and Thermaltake. There were also a few budget pre-modified cases but
most people preferred to keep their rigs looking stock with the exception of adding hardware.
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In the BYOC we managed to find one person who was actually water cooling their rig using a Danger Maze
3 Water Cooling Kit. The water cooling set-up was good but the cable management in the interior needed
work. One gamer showcased an all acrylic set-up with a neat cabled interior and two blue cold cathode
tubes located on the left side panel.
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