Amidst all the new technology on show at this year's CES in Las Vegas there was this little event called the Cyber X Games. 1200 eager gamers were involved in this massive LAN party, with sponsorship from the likes of Microsoft, ATI and and with the presence of professional gaming teams like The 4 Kings the event was expected to be a great showcase for gaming. Unfortunately things did not run quite as smoothly as anticipated.

Initial network cabling problems were eventually solved, so gamers settled down for a gigantic session of Counter-Strike. Unfortunately, to get the game running a patch was needed, a patch that could only be downloaded using and a patch that, at 3 megabytes times the 1200 computers present weighed in with a total size of 3.2 gigs. In other words, a patch that crashed the network. Valve were nowhere to be seen, despite their close proximity to the ATI booth at CES a couple of blocks away. This lack of interest has done them no favours, as many gamers, still upset about the lack of care on Valve's part that has caused the of 2, were expecting the company to make a real effort to ensure that the event-goers were able to play the game that cemented Valve's position as creators of the finest shooters.

The gamers themselves reportedly shared out the prize money equally between the competing teams and then got down to some non-competitive gaming. It's a shame that such a large event was brought to its knees by such unnecessary and fully surmountable problems. It is even more of a tragedy that a company like Valve seems to be having some real problems connecting with its customers these days.

By Sam Gibson