You can find the Alternate webstore online at Alternate.nl and you can find everything there for your gaming needs. From the latest Intel processors to the latest Logitech G gear, such as their keyboards, headsets and mouses. Before DreamHack starts, we will open up the WIN-A-PC questionnaire.

Logitech is back! Once again Logitech will support Intel Pack4DreamHack for this upcoming Summer edition, this time with their brandnew Logitech G label. After partnering up with Duh-Events and sponsoring The-Party and CampZone, Logitech G has decided to also support Intel Pack4DreamHack. With Logitech G, introduced in March of this year and first featured on The-Party, the well-known company has set another important step in the gaming peripherals scene.

Coming from the principle ‘Science Wins’, Logitech G recently redesigned their gaming hardware and came up with new products as well. These devices will improve your gaming skills to the next level. Products like the new G19s Gaming Keyboard, the G700s wireless Gaming Mouse and the G430 Surround Sound Gaming Headset redefine the definition of gaming hardware.

Intel Pack4DreamHack is happy to see Logitech G supporting us once again!

Hardstyle is popular in Sweden, very popular. Especially for the visitors at DreamHack, the harder styles really seem to be ‘it’ in terms of music. With acts like the Noisecontrollers and Headhunterz, DreamHack really has stepped up their game in recent years. Even we brought a hardstyle DJ (Dixz) last Winter to DreamHack! This Summer however, DreamHack is going all out. Not just with one big name, but actually two big names from the hardstyle scene.

The first to perform is Adrenalize. This upcoming artist from Denmark will play on Saturday the 15th of June on the DreamHack Mainstage:

“Malthe Mehlskov, aka Adrenalize is the definition of being a rising star. Born in the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark in 1996 makes him the youngest artist in the Scantraxx roster. Malthe was only 10 when he began to play around with a few simple music-making programs, and his passion for music has grown ever since. When everybody else was playing computer games he was putting samples together.”
- Read more.

The second, and most famous of the two is of course Frontliner. Some Dutch pride for this DJ, being one of the most influential names in the hardstyle scene in recent years. He will play the Mainstage on Monday the 17th of June.

“Hardstyle DJ and producer Frontliner (Barry Drooger) is well known for his versatile approach to the genre. His album Producers Mind (2011) is a showcase of versatility and recent monster hits such as ‘Halos’ and ‘I’m The Melodyman’ are direct proof of his skills to both feel and surprise his fans. And while he normally makes his appearance high above the crowd, on just about every known mainstage, he is very much ‘one of the guys’.

This fueled thoughts for his 2012 campaign where he experiments with crowd fueled participation into his music, events and artist career.”
- Read more.

We can’t wait to see these artists live on DreamHack!

People that already registered received an email that they could join.

Intel Pack4DreamHack will start on June 14 in The Netherlands. You’ll be back in The Netherlands on the night between June 18 and June 19.

So keep on checking us this DreamHack Summer for some daily updates from their team. Also, if you haven’t yet checked out the NaVi documentary, you can watch it below.

Packers might be getting used to the idea of getting a free Steam game each edition. And yes, for Intel Pack4DreamHack Summer 2013 we also have a free game for you. This time we’re partnering up with TopWare Interactive to bring you Planets under Attack.

Planets under Attack is a strategy game for up to four players. The challenge is to conquer a galaxy of planets, while undertaking multiple challenges. You can play online against each other or in teams.

“Planets under Attack is a surprising little strategy game, filled with a lot more depth than what can be seen on the surface.” – Thunderbolgames.com, 8 out of 10.

Features

• Impressive moving planetary systems in a three dimensional space
• Stunning cartoon graphics
• Fun, easy to learn gameplay in a rich science-fiction setting
• 8 types of planets
• A diverse campaign with 32 levels and multiple game modes
• 15 multiplayer levels for 2-4 players – either in Online mode against other players, Skirmish mode against the A.I., or work towards the same goals and team-up with players in Team mode.
• Same system multiplayer – allowing players to play with up to 4 people at once, all on the same system, and in any mode they choose.
• 15 unlockable technologies provide gameplay variety in both single and multiplayer modes
• 2 playable races with unique ship designs and gameplay variants

Game Info
Planets under Attack offers a surprising depth of gameplay, while its intuitive controls allow even casual gamers to pick it up and feel comfortable immediately. In addition to the addicting gameplay, Planets under Attack is an obvious labor of love. An exciting and memorable cast of characters exist perfectly in this artistically beautiful world. From the ships to the planets, everything has an essence of its own, with a memorable soundtrack and comical sound effects breathing life into the visuals.

Gameplay
The goal of this challenging space adventure is to conquer a galaxy of planets, while undertaking a multitude of special challenges. Take control of your mighty space armada, and wreak havoc across the cosmos, but choose your targets wisely! Conquered planets will net you income to expand your forces, but you must carefully weigh the pros and cons of attacking each planet, as timing and available resources are critical to victory. Above all else, you must keep a cool head. Enemies race to capture your territory as you hone in on theirs and multiple battles will rage on all fronts. You must make tactical decisions at every turn, from scouting your enemies and deploying units, to shoring up your planets’ defenses and knowing when to attack and when to defend. Strategic multi-tasking and a keen military mind will lead directly to unrivaled glory…while careless play will reduce your army to space dust.

In Online mode, don’t just choose your own path, make the cosmos your own personal battleground! You design the fight, from choosing the amount of players, to selecting your maps. Simply pick a game mode, select your settings, grab some friends, and cut loose. Team mode is just that, where the players can join a team with up to 3 other people, or AI, all working towards the same goal. Any combination of 4 – whether it’s 1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 2 and so on – can be chosen to change the overall experience in Planets under Attack Team mode.

Fresh out of the oven
Get them while they’re still hot, and let us know if you claimed one by leaving a comment!

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The Summer of 2013 is almost here. That means it’s time for Intel Pack4DreamHack Summer!  With over 12.000 participants and all kinds of nationalities, this event is the biggest lan event in the world. Of course there is a lot to do! Watching Esports, going to a concert at the main stage to see famous DJ’s (like Adrenalize or Frontliner) or you can just play some games yourself.

Today we are opening the sign-ups for the roadtrip to Jöngköping, Sweden. You can experience this great event for just €139,-. This includes the bustrip, BYOC Ticket for DreamHack Summer 2013 and several goodies. As usual we have limited spots so be sure to sign up fast!

DreamHack Summer takes place from June 15 until June 18. We will leave on June 14 from Enschede, with pick-up points in Eindhoven and Utrecht (please see ‘Bus Information’). We will probably arrive back home on the night between June 18 and June 19.

Today we announce the last two Logitech Package prize winners. With a stunning amount of comments and the recent 150.000 total views achievement on our YouTube channel, these contests were a big succes!

The comment contest was won by Finniespin while Pim van der Linde came out victorious in our YouTube contest. Congratulations to both winners, we will contact you as soon as possible.

This also concludes our Logitech Gaming Package giveaway for this edition of Intel Pack4DreamHack, be sure to frequently check the website for information about our next edition or other cool contests!

So go to our new webshop and order your The-Party 11 tickets for € 49,50! Payments via iDeal are for free. For Paypal we charge 3% and you have to pay 5 euros for a bank booking.

The moment we’ve all been waiting for: who won the amazing Tones.be PC? First of all, over a thousand people entered our contest to win this PC. All of them answered our multiple choice questions before going to the number of visits.

The multiple choice questions:
How many people joined this Intel Pack4DreamHack edition?
78

Where did Tones.be open their latest store?
Mechelen

What Intel processor doesn’t exist?
Intel Core i5 3670K

After filtering out the wrong answers, we still have 846 people in the race for the PC. Last edition we had 29.980 visitors. Apparently, many of you thought we wouldn’t grow this edition, so only 361 people left. Growing way too hard isn’t something we’re doing either; we didn’t pass the 100.000 all of a sudden. Only 222 people left.

Let’s skip ahead a bit; we made it past the 40.000, but didn’t get past the 41.000, which only leaves six of you.

The correct answer of our visits is 40.302. The person closest to that was Menno Smit, with an answer of 40.278. Congratulations Menno, the PC will come your way as soon as possible!

Today we announce two of our Logitech Gaming Gear Package winners! Both our Twitter and our Facebook contest were a big hit. You guys didn’t stop retweeting and liking/sharing the contest. Therefore we wish we could give everyone something nice, but unfortunately we’re only making a few of you happy.

The Twitter contest was won by @JayVideo. We will contact you as soon as possible! The Facebook user that we will contact is Bob Aerts. Congratulations to both winners!

This week coming up: the winner of the Tones.be PC!

UPDATE:
Twitter winner @JayVideo refused the prize for some odd reason, which means that @Th4tIsMe is a very lucky guy instead!

StarCraft II

LLL.PoYo definitely was the strongest StarCraft II player we took with us this edition. The Terran from team LowLandLions did not have a lot of trouble with his first two opponents, but then fell 1-2 against the Swede prOp.RunA. However, PoYo did qualify for the THOR open, which is an impressive feat.

mCon.NEEK had a decent run through the BYOC. In round 3 he took a game of Naugrim, which is an achievement. He unfortunately lost the two games after that.

AT.Giant met TomikuS in the first round, a strong Zerg from Czech Republic. TomikuS took the first map but Giant came back with a clever strategy, making it 1-1. In the last map, TomikUs proved he was the better player and took out Giant, 2-1.

Weiman faced HaMa in his first round and lost 2-0.

snOr.MoL made it to the second round by defeating Jezharra, but then lost to random player Elgben.

snOr.Lichiz lost to prOp.Finicky in his first round, 2-0.

snOr.Pimmeh had some doubts if he would sign up for the BYOC tournament. When he was finally convinced, it got clear that GL.Snute was his first opponent. Pimmeh lost 2-0.

League of Legends

Unfortunately, LLL.LoL didn’t make it through the BYOC tournament. They won the first four games but fell to Sju Sjösjuka Sjömän in the critical and deciding last match. However, LLL.LoL showed good games and only lost because of small mistakes.

Super Street Fighter IV

Both LLL.MBR and LLL.MoMi easily made it through the group stages at DreamHack Winter 2012. In the ro16, MBR and MoMi faced each other. Momi won 2-1 and had a good run through the tournament, eventually finishing 3rd. MBR dropped into the losers bracket and lost to WW.MCZ|LAUGH, he finished 7th.

Quake Live

LLL.Draven didn’t surprise at DreamHack, he got placed into a group with Snapphanen, Pavel and Cypher. He lost to Pavel and Cypher but won against Snapphanen, which wasn’t enough for a spot in the next round.

A couple of days ago, the Intel Pack4DreamHack bus safely reached the Netherlands and all gamers went into a long sleep. Our homecoming also marked the end of the Tones.be monster PC giveaway. The last couple of weeks, visitors could particate in a Tones.be website giveaway, to win the Tones.be gaming PC. Visitors had to answer multiple questions about Intel, Intel Pack4DreamHack and Tones.be in order to have a shot at winning the PC.

Next week we will announce the lucky winner of the Tones.be PC contest, so check the website frequently! In the meanwhile, take a look at the awesome videos we made at DreamHack Winter 2012!

Wednesday
I woke up at 5am, and after 4 hours of sleep I went to work because I only took a half day off. Once I got home, I started to pack my bags and prepare myself for the journey to DreamHack. We arrived just in time @ Eindhoven and loaded the bus trailer with all our gear. Then we took off and tried to enjoy every minute possible. Even though bus driving is boring. The goodies we received from Intel Pack4DreamHack were amazing and I was proud to wear its zip hoodie for the entire event.

Thursday to Saturday
After a couple of stops we finally arrived in time at Jönköping, Sweden. We were one of the firsts to arrive at the biggest digital festival in the world. Unpacking our gear and finally start doing what we came for: gaming and the unexpected. DreamHack is not just a Lanparty that you visit to play games with friends. It’s also an expo for new games and very important tournaments with tremendously high prizes. Even for the people that don’t do official competitions there is more than plenty free stuff to get. Even big prizes if you’re lucky. It was and still is a fact that the most beautiful women come from Sweden. Unfortunately the majority are minors. But hey, there is no problem with looking. And there were plenty of them to look at. Even the average here are good looking.

After lots and lots of shouting and overusing the sound of my voice I eventually lost it. All I can do now is make some squeak and make air movements. The overall food was delicious and a pleasure to pick up. Although Swedish people aren’t the most hardest workers. Rather slow actually. Fortunately I was in a holiday mood, so it didn’t bother me much. Swedish fashion is something worth to mention as well. They dress up weird, that’s all there is to it. One piece suits? Funny to see. I’ve also enjoyed the internet connection here. It’s just as fast or faster compared to Belgium internet. Making it feel like home.

Sunday
From Wednesday to now I’ve had roughly 12 hours worth of sleep. When I finish this blog I will start packing again to return home. Let us all hope I’ve been awake long enough to sleep for the entire trip so I’ll be home in seconds! Thank you Intel Pack4DreamHack for making this more than awesome trip possible! I’ve had a Lan experience that I’ll never forget and I hope to experience it every year more than once from now on.

- Bram Bertels

Onto Utrecht and Eindhoven!

What is DreamHack? Well, a place to learn not to forget your power brick of your laptop and yes, that happened to me on my first DreamHack in 2011. Now I’m here with the rest of Intel Pack4DreamHack for my second time and I didn’t forgot it!

Why DreamHack?
Well, DreamHack isn’t the typical lanparty I’m used to, but that’s what you get from traveling to Sweden for a lanparty of 15.000 people.

First you get a place to put your stuff that has almost less space than a toilet. The “tables” are created from pallets and hardboard. The chairs are pretty low compared to how high the “tables” are and if you have bad luck, then you have a pallet in between your legs. I could go on for ages why not to go, but still here I am for my second time. Why? The experience and for the ice-cream that Jeroen still owes me.

The trip
For me it started in Eindhoven (Son), where the first shipment of Packers were picked up by the Intel Pack4DreamHack bus. After the last Packers arrived in Eindhoven, it was time for us to put our computers and stuff in the bus and go to Utrecht to pick up the second shipment of Packers and to get our goodie bag (facemask, earplug, snuggie, cap, etc…). We also got our zip hoodie there. Our last stop was in Oldenzaal, where the last Packers were waiting to be picked up. But before we left for the border, we had our traditional raid of the local McDonalds with all 78 Packers.

After that it was time to leave Holland behind us and go to Jönköping for DreamHack. During the trip there were several movies playing, including the Live DVD of K3, a favorite of bus driver Barry. Of course, everyone in the bus was singing happily along with these mind terrorizing songs. After that there was a strange collective urge for sleep under the Packers, even I could not resist the urge to shut my eye lids. But after a long trip, including two ferry’s to cross a border, we finally arrived at 7 AM at the Elmia Hall for DreamHack.

A Day in my life as a Packer
So what do you do at DreamHack when you are finally there? Well, I think for every Packer that will be different. For me the day starts after a bad and short night sleep on a hard floor. My sleeping mat broke and now it won’t inflate. Other Packers sleep in nearby hotels, but if you want to do that you have to be fast! Because most hotels will be full before you know it. An alternative (like what I did) is to sleep in the sleeping hall at DreamHack self.

After the morning ritual of coffee, food and hygienic procedures it’s time to boot up the computer and start to play some games. For me it’s mostly Call of Duty: Black Ops II, but also some Borderlands 2. Other Packers also go to the main stage for some acts (mostly hardstyle stuff), others go on chat roulette with a whole group and some go clubbing in Jönköping. We all have a good time in our own way at DreamHack.

- Dennis op den Buijs

Well. Normally I’m not that much of a blogger, but to hell with principles. I’m on this awesome event they call DreamHack. It’s amazing. I’ve been to my fair share of LAN-parties in the past, but this beats absolutely everything. It’s such a different ambience and a totally different crowd than the LAN’s back at home.

I’m not going to talk much about the trip, most other people have already written more than enough about that. The ambience is great though, lots of random clips and movies. Absurdity taken to another level! When you finally arrive in Sweden there’s already a line for the entrance. I’ve heard there was a guy who spent 4 nights or so in a tent to make sure he was the first visitor to arrive. I thought our bus-trip was already hardcore. Once we were allowed to go inside the massiveness of the event is just mind blowing. The hall is huge! But, that’s just Hall B. When you walk around a little there’s also hall D, which has the main stage and everything. Talk about size!

Seeing as I lack the skills to be a pro-gamer, and the competitions aren’t my thing. I’ve enjoyed DreamHack mostly from my laptop with a view on the beamer. I could perfectly follow what was going on over at the main stage! I’m having a blast and when you get the chance to go, sure do!

- Peter Woltman

Another amazing year and another amazing DreamHack edition. We’ve been entertained for over 72 hours by the Swedes, the competitive gaming and of course all the cool music that has been played. The Headhunterz performance was mental, our own DJ, Dixz, played a great set for the Swedes and we’ve had several players getting very far in their competitive games.

DreamHack will always be an amazing event and we can’t wait to go back next Summer! In the meantime you can follow our trip via YouTube, Facebook for the photos and of course all the blogs that will be published during the day.

Thanks to everyone for another amazing Intel Pack4DreamHack!

Hi there ! This is the second time I am travelling to DreamHack with the Intel Pack4DreamHack organisation. As a regular visitor of lan-party’s, I’m amazed how smooth everything goes. The pick up at the bus, the regular stops on the way, the goodies; I’ve never experienced such a professional organisation.

And then the arrival! Places are all reserved, no one is lost on the way, we’re not wasting time getting in line to enter… Just installing the gear and play, or not! Being no hardcore gamer myself, I’m starting to walk around, enjoying the food, drinks, looking at the awesome girls, visiting the diferent booths. Over here, it’s all about the “party” in lan-party. DJ-sets, MORE goodies, free bèta-keys, playing the latest games, and fun! Being a member of clan “666-gamers”, the policy in our clan is fun-lan-clan, and here is THE place to experience just that!

So thank you Intel Pack4DreamHack. See you next year!

- Furcas

Both guys are talking StarCraft II in the following interview, talking about their futures, juggling and much more!

When you think of Sweden, you might think about going on a winter sport and cold weather. Thanks to the goodies of Intel Pack4DreamHack, we could keep ourselves warm if we get cold. The goody pack this time contained a hat, a snuggie, a key artifact and a laptop bag. An amazing goodie pack as always, not to forget the awesome new zip hoodie they gave us. Above that we got the standard travel items you get every trip. Very thoughtful and thank you for that! The bus trip however was a bit hard because of the little space I had. It was my own fault, because I had to bring my laptop case in the bus. Therefore, I took every moment of walking to stretch my knees and keep the thoughts of the amazing event: DreamHack Winter 2012. The last time I went to DreamHack with P4DH, it probably erased my thought of feeling pain with a great event.

On the first day of DreamHack, everyone unpacked there stuff and setup their gaming spaces. Camp Holland got their decorations as fast as possible so everyone knew we were there! Some people tried to greet with the known statement “Hello”, but a response was not there yet. A lot of people were still tired from either the bus trip or standing in front of the door.

At 4 PM the opening started with an amazing laser show and our very own Dutch DJ Dixz was following up. An amazing kickoff that you at least have seen once. If you do not like the crowd, you can go back to your own seat and watch the event on the big screen or live streams. Everything is connected and besides that, there are a lot of stands that are showing off their new games.

After a nice long deep sleep in Hall A, the sleeping hall, I grabbed my stuff and went to my seat. Some friends and I went to the local store to get some breakfast and get some fresh air. Believe it or not, you want to be outside sometimes! After breakfast we planned on some gaming and watching streams. Unfortunately, I had to do some homework. You got to do what you got to do. Therefore, the gaming had to wait a little, but the big screens and streams keep me up to date of what is going on.

So if you are looking for a great, generous, fun group to travel and game with, Intel Pack4DreamHack could take you to the place to be! New games, gadgets and/or gear are shown and sold here as well. It is absolutely worth it and I hope to be part of it next edition!

- Thieme Spook

The broadcasting went well, I peaked over 2700 viewers at one time, so that’s quite nice. I get to look back at a successful showing, in part because I was able to present the amazing atmosphere here. It was hard work but with that comes a rewarding experience.

This means that the last day I get to see more of the event. I’ll get to watch the finals of the tournaments and just this night I’ve already met with half a dozens of old friends and met a dozen more people that I regularly interact with online. It’s really cool to put a face to the people that you talk to online. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and if you’re back home, I only have one question for you: why are you not here?!

- Martijn “Mumbles” Bloemheuvel

My first time at DreamHack was back in 2004. It was a bit smaller then: they broke their own world record with 6000 seats that year.

In 2007, Intel Pack4DreamHack was organized for the first time. Intel Pack4DreamHack is basically a sponsored bus trip from the Netherlands to DreamHack. Thanks to sponsors like Logitech and Intel, ‘packers’ basically only pay the DreamHack entree fee, and they get the bus trip almost for free. In exchange, attendees are asked to promote Intel Pack4DreamHack by writing blogs, social media sharing, and wearing the Intel Pack4DreamHack T-shirt/hoodie, which has all the sponsors’ logos on it. An excellent deal if you ask me.

So I also joined in 2007. The group was about 20 people back then. We hit the road with two vans. DreamHack had grown a lot. The number of seats was about 10.000. It started to become more than just a LAN-party. There was a large game expo, and they had all kinds of shows. DreamHack calls itself computerfestival instead of LAN-party for good reason.

Now, 5 years later, Intel Pack4DreamHack is organized for the 11th time. About time for me to join once more! The group has grow to 80 people, and the two vans are traded in for a large, double-deck touring car with driver. We don’t have to drive ourselves anymore.

What is DreamHack like?
Basically, DreamHack is mostly like a normal LANparty, like the ones that we have here in the Netherlands. Everyone can attend. You bring your own computer, hook it up to the network and power and have fun. It goes on around the clock, 24 hours a day. If you bring your own sleeping wear, you can sleep in the sleeping hall. The event takes place from Thursday morning till Sunday morning; three whole days.

Naturally, there are a lot of differences. First of all there is the lack of space at your seat. To realize the large number of seats, space is lacking and the seats are cramped. Most LAN-parties in the Netherlands provide at least 100 cm’s of table space, sometimes more. At DreamHack, 80 cm is all you get. They don’t have real tables either. They are just euro pallets with wooden planks on them. In combination with the small chairs, the result is that you are sitting way too low. You are allowed to bring a small office chair, which can solve this problem. However, for us that is not a practical solution, because they don’t fit in the bus.

The event takes place at a large complex, not unlike the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht. There are four large halls and several smaller onces. DreamHack is way to big to let everyone sit in just one hall. Even back in 2007, 2 halls were already in use. In 2007 they were already using the whole complex, and this year they even expanded the building, just for DreamHack.

Hall A is the sleeping hall. Hall B, C and D are the BYOC area’s. A part of hall B is reserved for the game expo. Hall D is the largest hall. It holds about 5000 seats, and the main stage is also located there. As stated before, DreamHack also hosts several shows. They all take place in hall D. This makes it the noisiest hall in the building. The volume during the shows is pretty extreme. Most of the beautiful panorama photos you see of DreamHack are of hall D. That’s because it is the largest and most beautiful hall, and it has stands on the side from where you can take these nice shots.

Our group is located in hall B. This hall is the second biggest arena and it’s much more quiet than Hall D. There are several large screens that shows everything that is going on in hall D. The game expo is also located in hall B. Over there we can find Logitech, Asus, Telia, The Swiss army, Coca Cola and much more. Hall C is the die-hard game area. It is the quietest area, which makes it the perfect area for pro-gamers. A lot of game tournaments are held there, and winners take home a lot more than just a motherboard or a graphics card.

There are also several spaces where u can watch game matches. There are also demonstrations of all kinds. For example, several pro-gamers demonstrate why exactly they are so good. Pretty funny to see.

There is one big area to view the finals of the tournaments. These events are so big, you need to buy separate tickets for them. Insane, right? The area holds a few thousand people. Thanks to Intel Pack4DreamHack, we have tickets as well. The finals are held tomorrow, and I am curious to see some of them.

Technical stuff
The technical detail of everything that is going on here is amazing. Take the Internet connection for example. In the Netherlands, most LAN-events have to make do with an ADSL or cable connection (or, if they are lucky, a fiber connection) which is shared with everyone. At DreamHack, every attendee has a full duplex 100mbit Internet connection at his/her disposal. The total uplink capacity is over 100 Gbit/s. There are Gbit connections available, but you have to pay extra for them. But when you do, you have a full 1000/1000 mbit Internet connection to play with. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

Then there is the main stage. As I said before, there are several shows. The stage they built for them is bigger than I have seen at some large dance party’s in the Netherlands. It includes a big sound system, a dozen lasers and a light show that can blow your mind. All cameras and projector screens (about 20 of them, all across the building) are in full HD and in the best quality I have ever seen. All shows can be seen live at Youtube in full HD. Even the air conditioning is high-tech. The whole building is cooled with water from a nearby lake. This makes the cooling system very energy efficient.

LAN-party or hardstyle party?
Last night, the Dutch DJ Headhunterz climbed the stage. He did a 2 hour set and the interest was enormous. Hall D was transformed into a huge rave. One could ask himself: what in earth is doing something like Headhunterz on a LAN-party? I asked myself the same question. But it was fun to see and the ambiance was great. You could feel the bass far outside hall D. But it was a funny thing to see: look at the front, and see over a thousand people jump up and down and having a blast, then you look to the right, and see someone in a game of StarCraft II. Weird. That guy can’t hear anything of his game, it doesn’t matter how good his headset is .

- Martin Schimmel

Join the Dreamhack Pong competition on Saturday at 12:00 on the Dreamhack Main stage.

Our Dutch top commentator from StarCraft 2, Martijn “Mumbles” Bloemheuvel, has been streaming and commentating this whole day from the moment the competitions started. We can follow our top notch commentator during the StarCraft II matches on http://www.twitch.tv/glhf – he already got a steady 500 till 2700 viewers on his stream, which is an amazing job!

We wish our Martijn much luck with his streaming!

As you already know, we once again made a huge trip from The Netherlands to Sweden. Stijn, Yusuf, Tom and Rocco captured a lot of footage from this trip. So if you weren’t already sure that we arrived safely and sound, we hereby deliver you the proof.

Pictures by Jeroen “Weiman” Weimar

At the moment the timer says “2:30″. In two and a half minutes, DreamHack Winter 2012 officially starts! After a cool opening show, the first main stage act will commence. Our own DJ Dixz will open this year’s DreamHack, and you have the possibility to watch it live with us!

Watch live video from dreamhackmedia on nl.twitch.tv

The trip from The Netherlands to Sweden was good! Our biggest challenge was right at the beginning when packer Sjef didn’t turn up at the pick-up point near Eindhoven. Luckily, Sjef showed up at the second pick-up spot. After picking up the last five packers near Enschede we headed through Germany and Denmark to Sweden.

And like we said, now we’re here! Jönköping has had the pleasure to welcome us yet again. Let’s start this edition!

Instagram Live Feed:

Real-time GPS Tracking:

Updates are every 2 – 5 minutes – We can not guarantee that this keeps working during the trip, but we’ll try our best to keep you guys up to date!

One more night of waiting left to do. One last sleep in our own cozy and warm beds before the adventure starts. We from Intel Pack4DreamHack are ready. The bus has been stickered. All the amazing goodie bags have been filled and are waiting for their new owners. Our computers have been packed and all the other gear we use during this event is ready. The only thing left to do is wait.

Tomorrow morning a total of 78 people will come together and get on the bus that will drive us all the way to Sweden. The trip will start around noon and will take a total of 19 hours, to arrive at the venue just before it opens at 8am the next morning. Meanwhile we’ll travel about 1300 kilometres through Germany, Denmark and Sweden, taking two ponts during the drive.

Not long after we arrive our own ‘Camp Holland’ will have been realized within Hall B. Recognizable for anyone and everyone by the Dutch flags. And then the fun will really start, some of us will make the most awesome videos, others will take photos of the event and every other Packer will start gaming their hearts out. Later that day we’ll all enjoy our two Dutch DJ’s on the mainstage, starting with DJ Dixz at 16:30 and ending the night with the best harddance DJ in the world: Headhunterz, famous for his podcast ‘Hard With Style’.

And then we have three more days to go…

Yeah, we can’t wait!

The DreamHack Kingston HyperX Quake Live tournament is the last tournament we will be previewing before we depart for Sweden. Quake Live is one of the more classic Esports, with dedicated fans all over the world and even a lanparty named after the game (QuakeCon). This Quake Live tournament proves to be a good one, as Rapha and Cypher meet once again.

Quake Live is a free to play FPS that is immensely popular in the Esports scene. Quake Live is extremely fast paced and the basics are very easy to understand. Quake Live has been going strong the last few years as most professional players switched over from Quake III Arena, which is largely similar.

The Favorites

Rapha is the first massive favorite for this tournament. The American player from Team SK will need to defend his DreamHack Summer title. Last summer he finished second behind Cypher, his all time rival. It is hard to say who will win this DreamHack, as the first two prizes wil probably go to Rapha and Cypher.

Cypher is the second massive favorite, because Rapha and Cypher are so close to each other. The Belarussian player is the reigning DreamHack Winter champion and will try to defend his precious title. Cypher, who plays for the Dutch team SRS Gaming, will probably meet his arch rival Rapha in the finals.

Polish player av3k is another contender for a top 3 spot at this DreamHack. He achieved decent results this year but not anything really special, so he is hard to predict. av3k placed 3rd at DreamHack Winter 2011 and also got a second place in IEM Kiev 2011.

k1llsen has been in marvelous form recently, he has been hitting his shots and that gives him a good chance at DreamHack Winter. The 24 year old German should be looking for a top 3 finish this DreamHack, since he is in the form of his life.

Evil can be called ‘The Dark Horse’ this tournament, as it is uncertain what he is going to do. Evil is a clear underdog but it is a role that fits him, because he can surprise friend and foe if he has a good day.

The Packers

Draven is the only Quake Live player we take with us this edition of Intel Pack4DreamHack. Draven is team captain of LowLandLions and is looking to show himself at yet another tournament. In this field of competitors, Draven is going to have a hard time, but he might show an upset.

The DreamHack Kingston HyperX Quake Live Tournament will take place the 22nd till the 24th of November. The tournament will feature 16 top players from all over the world, fighting for a 70 000 SEK prize pool. The whole tournament will be streamed at Twitch.tv and the grand finals will take place in the DreamArena Extreme.

Only two more days of work to go before DreamHack opens it’s doors. In the meantime the DreamHack Crew will be busy putting the dots on the i as we say in the Netherlands, making sure everything is perfect for the 13.000+ gamers that will enter the Elmia Halls this Thursday. While we wait we can at least enjoy the enormous update of today’s build:

Pictures by @Deazid, @MainstageDH, @DreamHackNet and the Instagram account of @dreamhackfestival

Of course we’ll take extra good care of your stuff when traveling to Sweden. However, a lot can happen during a five day, 2500 kilometer trip. We have had our fair share of experiences in the past, including a PC-case bend a little weird and a Macbook getting stolen at the venue. That’s why we always say: Make sure you have travel insurance!

In this you’ll have two choices, either you already have one that’s valid all year round, or you can get a temporary travel insurance just for the trip. Vendors like FBTO have a fast and simple way to get you insured within the next five minutes. Costs are only about 10 to 15 euro’s and are well worth it when something actually happens.

We also recommend packing your computer in it’s original box or wrapping it in a towel or blanket if you don’t have the box anymore. Although we try to prevent naked cases standing next to each other, a scratch is easily prevented this way. Another great tip is to take your laptop and/or gaming gear with you when you go sleep, a mouse or headset is easily picked up from a table if nobody is watching.

Have fun packing up and see you on Wednesday!

What we have seen today so far is a lot of work on the DreamHack main stage which is looking very good by now. They’ve made some very cool graphics & banners so the whole main stage gets a real Winter theme. The Network crew have finished the cabling of the Access Layer. Here’s some pictures of today’s work!

Our friends from Nadeo and Ubisoft are back once again! A big box arrived this morning at the office, and when we opened it, we found a lot of presents for our Packers. We have T-shirts and mousepads from their new game: Shootmania Storm! They also sent us a some beta keys for the P4DH fans and all the participants. Nadeo is of course well known for TrackMania and all its versions. This time around they’ve decided to change it from racing to FPS and they have been working hard on this game over the past year.

Utilising the framework of TrackMania 2, ShootMania is a fast-paced FPS where players are on the main stage! You decide what to play and how to play it. Whether made by Nadeo or created by the community, the wide variety of maps and gaming modes offered provide endless challenging experiences. Battle one on one, 3 on 3, create a team, participate in a tournament… It’s easy to play, but hard to master!

It’s time for our fourth Logitech Gaming Gear give away! The previous give aways are the YouTube give away, the Facebook give away and of course the Twitter give away! You can still join those give aways and have a total of four chances at winning this set of Logitech Gaming Gear!

This week we’ll start our fourth give away: the Comment give away! Logitech has sponsored another one of these Gaming Gear Packages including:

A Logitech G510 Keyboard
A Logitech G35 Headset
A Logitech G600 MMO Mouse

This package is about 250 euros of gaming gear and you can win it by completing one simple action:

Comment on this Post!

That is all you’ll need to do to have a chance at winning this amazing prize.

The winner to this specific give away will be announced the 8th of December.

P.S. We are still giving away a gaming rig!

Our Packer Querex made a special link to simply follow all the Twitter accounts of the DreamHack Crew, so if you want to follow the DreamHack Build just simply click here.

Be ready next Thursday at 16:30 to have your eardrums thoroughly destroyed !

Fortunately, DreamHack Winter 2010 was the last snowy DreamHack and chances are DreamHack Winter 2012 will be snow-free as well. Personally I am really happy that we can experience DreamHack without snow, although I am not planning to be outside that much.

The first snow might hit Jönköping on Wednesday, but by then we already have left Sweden. Before I forget… Five days left, Hype!