4. Lan Party - Fun For The Young And Young At Heart

Kids and adults who wanted to take a break from the busy show floor, could relax by blasting away their competitors at the GameRiot LAN party. Surrounded by more than 60 big screens and monitors, gamers competed for cash prizes and free games. Gamers played new releases such as Republic Commando, America's Army, SWAT 4 and Half-Life 2 on dozens of small form factor PCs and Xboxes.

Here is a new twist on racing games: just sit in your car and use the car's steering wheel! Next to the GameRiot stage, gamers sat in the driver's seat of an Eclipse, and steered a game car, with a real steering wheel. The projector mounted on top of the car pointed at a slight downward angle, which provided gamers with an "almost real-life experience". Speakers inside the car let the drivers feel like they were in the middle of the action.

StormTroopers

This trooper reacts after the writer yelled out: "Yoda rules!"

Since the GameRiot LAN Party featured Republic Commando, a game set in the Star Wars universe, it would only be fitting for some StormTroopers to provide security. Three troopers from the 501st Legion, a more than 2,500 member Star Wars costume organization, patrolled the GameRiot booth and the adjoining halls. Everyone, especially little kids, wanted to get their pictures taken with these dreaded dispensers of Imperial justice.

Whoops! This StormTrooper is momentarily disarmed by a GameRiot booth babe.