Hey there once again people. I received a large shipment of sponsor goods in today, and was able to do a preliminary total value of our sponsor merchandise. As usual, I don't want to give away any surprises just yet, but I will say two things. First of all, the sponsors were VERY good to us. Second, the preliminary total value I came up with is over $1,000 in prizes to be claimed. We've got some very nice items here, and I'm sure you will all be very happy if you win something. Also, and as always, please give our sponsors your support. We truly appreciate them supporting us!

Registration is still open, and there are still several seats available. So, what are you waiting for? Get registered today and experience the LAN party rockin Southern Illinois since 1996!!

Hey everyone. I just wanted to post a couple of quick reminders for you. Catacombz 12.0 is rapidly approaching, but we do still have 19 seats available. However, please note that registration closes next week on Wednesday, October 14. After that the late payment fee of $25 (instead of $20) will be charged for anyone who has not paid. So if anyone is waiting until the last minute to register and pay, that time is drawing near.

See you at the event!

This is just a reminder that we have a Mini-Combz event this Friday, usual time and place. This will also be the last Mini-Combz before our next Catacombz event, so it will give some of you the opportunity to pay your registration fee.

We still have plenty of seats open for Catacombz, but we are now less than 1 month away. So, if you've been waiting to register, please do so as soon as possible.

Hello once again to the faithful minions of the Catacombz. I've got a bunch of things to report, so I'm just going to jump straight into it.

Most importantly, I'd like to say "Welcome Home!" to the 333rd Illinois National Guard Military Police Unit. These fine soldiers have been stationed in Afghanistan for the past year, but are now back with us here in the States. Among these soldiers was our very own "Maverick". To Mav and the other guys and gals of the 333rd, we're glad to have you all back home!

Our next Mini-Combz event is scheduled for September 25. It will be at the usual time and place, but more importantly, this will be the only Mini-Combz before our next Catacombz event. Which brings me to my next point...

Registration for Catacombz 12.0 is now OPEN! We were uncertain for a while if we were going to hold an October Catacombz event this year, but Catacombz 11.0 was such a smashing success, we just couldn't resist. The event will be held from 10:00am on October 17 through 5:00pm on October 18. If you are planning on attending, we would appreciate you registering as soon as possible. We are a little more crunched for time than usual, so we want to make sure that we take all actions possible to make this event even better than Catacombz 11.0. So, spread the word to everyone you know! Let's keep these events rockin!

I'd like to take a moment for a quick and shameless plug for one of our newer attendees, SirReal. He runs MartinFusion.com and sells custom decals, bumper stickers, appliques, and other items. He brought some samples of his work to our recent Mini-Combz, and it was quite exceptional. So if you are looking to snaz up your computer case, or just perhaps decorate your walls at home, take a look at his website and see what he has to offer.

The last thing I'd like to mention is a game update for Battlefield 2. They have released a 2GB patch taking the game to version 1.5. Among the numerous bug fixes, they've also included their two booster packs (Euro Forces and Armored Fury) for free in this patch. Being a big fan of the BF series, I'd like to see some of this played out our upcoming events. The patch can be downloaded here. Also, if you do not currently own BF2, but would like to get it for a decent price, Newegg is currently offering it for $9.99 with free shipping. The link to this is here.

I believe that's all for now. We hope to see you all at Catacombz 12.0!

For those of you who have never attended a Catacombz event, we can now show you how it goes down. A big thanks goes to Ophidian for the following video. It shows Catacombz 11.0 setup and gaming over the course of two days crammed into 2 minutes. Enjoy!

Another fine event has come and gone. Catacombz 11.0 was this weekend, and in my humble and unbiased opinion, it was a fantastic success. From what I could gather at the event, it appeared that everyone had a good time, and I truly believe this is one of the best events we've held. We ended up with 46 out of the 50 registered attendees at the event, and we greatly appreciate everyone who came out. I'd also like to give a big thanks to everyone who helped with setup and tear-down, and of course those who helped at the event itself. 

There were many different games played at this event. Some brand new, some old favorites. They include Call of Duty 4, Call of Duty 5, Warcraft 3, Left 4 Dead, Trackmania Nations Forever, Counter-Strike 1.6 and Source, Team Fortress 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, and of course World of Warcraft. There may have been others as well, but these are just ones that I personally saw.

We also held two official tournaments at this event, one for Call of Duty 4, and the other for Warcraft 3. In the CoD4 tournament, we ended up with 28 participants and 7 teams with 4 players per team. The winner of this contest was Team 4, which consisted of Kurbs, Synthetic_Fenix, [XO],  and TwistSmash. In the Warcraft 3 tournament, we had 24 participants that were split into 4 teams of 6 players. The winner of this tournament was Team 1, which consisted of Maestr0, Horth, Kyl3r^, [XO], MountainKing, and Ionn. Congratulations to the tournament winners!

I've placed a new poll on the main page asking for your rating of Catacombz 11.0. If you attended our event, please take the time to select an answer. Also, I've made a new thread in our forums under "Previous Events" asking for your input there as well. Please stop in and provide some comments.

The next Mini-Combz event will likely be near the end of this month. I will make an announcement once an official date has been set. The next Catacombz event will likely be sometime around mid to late October. So, I'd like to once again thank everyone who attended. Keep checking the site for information on upcoming events.

That's right people, today we hit the magic number 50 for Catacombz 11.0. We are officially sold out! It's going to be a friggin great event, and I can't wait. However, if you did not get registered in time, but would like an opportunity to attend, send me an email. I cannot guarantee anything, but if we have any last minute cancellations, I will take replacements in the order contacted. My e-mail address is dezastr(a)catacombz.com...of course replace (a) with @.

Early next week, I'll be sending a final e-mail to all registered attendees with some general information about the event. Please read through it because it will contain some important information that may not be common knowledge to all.

I'll see you all at Catacombz 11.0!!

We are officially one month away from Catacombz 11.0, and it's shaping up to be a fantastic event. At this time, we already have 38 attendees registered, and several more that are planning to attend. If you've been putting it off, you need to get signed up as soon as possible to secure your seat. Also, for those that are new to the site, please note that creating a user name on the site does NOT register you for Catacombz 11.0. You must first create an account and sign in, and then proceed to the "Event Registration" link on the right. From here, simply click the "Register for Catacombz 11.0" button to register for the event.

There's an open discussion in our forums about what tournaments you'd like to see at the event. The way it currently looks, we will have at least two tournaments, but maybe a third depending on support. The two we will likely have are as follows:

• Call of Duty 4 - 3on3 - Search & Destroy
• Warcraft 3 - 3on3 - 3 Corridors

All team assignments will be randomized in an effort to minimize team stacking. Rules for these matches will be established at the event. As for the 3rd tournament, we were thinking along the lines of something free for everyone, such as Trackmania or Armagetron. This is still being discussed, and we'll release more information as soon as it becomes available.

Our sponsors have came through for us quite well for this event, and for that, we are extremely grateful. Please give them your support! As of right now, we've received over $850 worth of merchandise that we'll be giving out at the event. In order to keep that air of mystery, I won't list the specifics of these items here. However, I will say that we've received some very cool stuff that should make several people pretty darn happy they came.

That's all for now!