Another LAN ETS has come and gone! This past weekend saw the 15th edition of the Lan party organised by Montreal’s École de technologie supérieure. With an approximate attendance of over 2000, gamers of all kinds attended the event to play, compete in eSports tournaments, meet fellow game aficionados and take in the the Montreal video game scene at Place Bonaventure.
This year’s LAN was extremely important, but the level of expectations only came to a front 2 weeks prior with the announcement of DreamHack Montreal in August and their partnership with the LAN ETS team. This being my first year attending, I was curious to see what level of professionalism and performance could be brought to the table by the LAN ETS organizers. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked onto the show floor. I have attended many events at Place Bonaventure in the past, one of the largest being Montreal Comiccon before it moved to Palais des congrès, and it’s a big space to fill. The show floor looked impressive in its set up and though it was packed with gamers with their computers and consoles, it never felt overwhelming. The two main stages looked impressive and suited the execution of the final matches well. The floor staff was very helpful and I enjoyed the well priced cafe with its “healthy food” options along side Rockstar energy drinks ;). There was a small exhibition area occupied by local PC companies, sponsors, a few media booths and other folks wishing to share their video game related wares.
Most of the event was streamed via Twitch. Though there were some technical difficulties during the finals, the broadcasts were very good and had a decent attendance online. Shoutcasting were done in both English and French, with professional sports style in between match hosting by Denis Talbot and on floor interviews by our own Catherine Smith-Desbiens for RDS.
Hanging with @DenisTalbot at @LanETS! 🎮🌟🕶 #lanets16 pic.twitter.com/kNEBmmGB4N
— Girls on Games (@TheGirlsOnGames) April 17, 2016
The finals were exciting to watch, with the League of Legends trophy going to DatZit Gaming Triangle and the CSGO title won by team Ayyyyyyyyy. Below is the full list of tournaments and standings, via LAN ETS and Toornament.com.
Looking back at this year’s edition, I have high hopes for DreamHack Montreal. I believe that they chose well when picking the LAN ETS team to help them launch the first Canadian edition of their festival and I am really looking forward to August.