Gone are the glory days of SGL, those LAN’s we all came together and enjoyed so dearly. SGL’s final event as its own entity before Cyberslam takes over was held last Saturday. What should have been a day of tribute was sadly anything but. Many of the older members of SGL decided to come along which left some of us feeling a bit nostalgic. However, the event simply failed to deliver on many fronts.

One of the biggest gripes of the day was the lack of an acceptable internet connection, or perhaps anything at all. Many paying gamers were left without a means to be able to update Steam and in turn unable to play games such as Team Fortress 2. So with one of the newest games sidelined for the time being, many turned to leeching to fill the time until competitions began.

DC++ has always been SGL’s method of choice for bringing file swapping together, but alas when that many people at once want to exchange it tends to have its problems. No bother, there are always fun competitions to play throughout the event. The day’s events saw a call for Unreal Tournament... 1999. I understand the need to find a game that most can play, but to pull something from the shelf of eight years ago was a bit of a stretch. Surely, was there anything new to throw down the gauntlet? This was answered by Guitar Hero 2 on the Xbox 360’s kindly setup down the front. Competitors were called up at around 10am to sign-up for this seemingly cool battle. Upon leaving the event at 4:30pm the comp had still not happened, not even the mention of a time. Guitar Hero 2 still got a work out don’t you worry, but by an SGL admin and friends. Never mind the handful of people patiently waiting to play, it’s not like they wanted to anyway. Anyhow, let’s move onto the pleasant features of the day.

For your $25, you were entitled to lunch and dinner as provided by BBQ. This apparently was one highlight, quoted by Destrado as being “not that burnt” and “at least it’s not the dingo meat they used to use” or thereabouts. Another credit to SGL was the location. While it was a smaller hall than the Macquarie Uni location, the benefit of curtains to shield glare was greatly appreciated. Parking was a small issue but not unreasonably so and still allowed for the inevitable announcements for people to move their cars or be towed.

Altogether, it was a disappointing day. I remember the feeling I used to have on the way over to SGL, the excitement of a killer day of entertainment, meeting up with friends, and the chance of winning a couple of prizes on the side. While the friends aspect was met, the rest of SGL was a very large let down to the majority of people. I hope sincerely that Cyberslam is able to do something with the LAN, as I truly wish to see it back to its former glory. For now however I continue to regret having attended and paid my $25, much like a dedicated fan goes to see an old music performer, and finds they have lost ‘it’ over the years.