Businesses are game
About 300 video-gamers are expected to share $600 in cash awards during this weekend’s first GameFest Spokane.
Sponsored by a number of area companies and the Spokane Area Economic Development Council, the competition will start Friday at 11 a.m. and conclude Saturday afternoon inside the Spokane Convention Center.
Cash awards will be handed out to winners playing Xbox Halo 2, Battlefield 2, and Counterstrike: Source.
Other games will be available for noncompetitive play, including one area of the center set aside for arcade games and another for PlayStation.
Those ready for a full night of gaming can take part in an all-night LAN party running from 6 p.m. Friday until 8 a.m. Saturday. LAN stands for local area network, and LAN parties feature gamers competing against each other on high-speed networks.
Internet connectivity is provide by the Spokane HotZone and by OneEighty Networks, with wireless computers provided by Itronix Corp.
Spokane-based Columbia Fiber Solutions is supplying fiber connectivity from the downtown to the U.S. Bank Building, where it will be routed to Liberty Lake Internet Exchange, a regional data center and connectivity hub.
At LLIX, game servers will be provided by ISR, a Liberty Lake company whose patented SprayCool products will be used to maintain performance and data protection.
Registration before Friday is $25; after that it’s $40.