Unreal Expo Cancelled

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 1:23 pm

It is with great sadness and frustration that I make this news post. I apologize for the length, but feel that every Unreal fan has a right to know what happened and who is at fault. Unreal Expo has been a dream of mine since I began Unreal Ops related webstuff over 4 years ago. The event itself had been in planning for 2 years. All of that came to a crashing halt this morning. At around 11am today, I found out that our financial backer pulled out.

What many don't realize is that it takes a lot of people to run a large LAN, and it takes a lot of money as well. The tab for this event was $12,000 and without the backing we are dead in the water. Here are the events that led up to today. Over the last couple of weeks, while we were hashing out the details with Ticketmaster and the Memorial Hall, the backer wanted written reassurance from Epic, Atari and Digital Extremes that they were going to help. Atari and Digital Extremes wrote back but all we got from Mark Rein was silence.

Which brings me to another part of this story. From the beginning, Mr. Rein said he would help with the event but as things went on they started to smell fishy. As you may recall, a couple of weeks ago I pulled all of the Non-Unreal content from the website. This was in response to a veiled threat from Epic that they would pull support for the Expo if we continued to write about these games (even Dark Sector). While I was immensely pissed off I just sucked it up and pulled the content. I really, really wanted this event to happen.

Even after all of that, Epic still did not give our backer the words that they needed to hear to invest in us. I can't tell you how frustrating these last few years dealing with Mr. Rein have been. That is why I am going to take an official hiatus for the next couple of weeks and decide the future of Unreal Ops. I am going to finish up the History of Unreal Tech article for you the fans. I am also going to finish up the Chenbro Review as I am going to keep my word (unlike others) to Mr. Stellmack.

I just wanted everyone to know that we tried the best we could and in the end it came down to money and ego. I have no clue why Epic doesn't want a large scale Unreal Fan event and I guess I never will. Once again I am very sorry for letting everyone down and for any inconveniences this cancellation may have caused.

The sad thing about all of this is I don't even know why Mr. Rein has taken the stance he has because it makes all of Epic look bad in my humble opinion.

Tycho

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 1:38 pm

DAMN YOU MARK REIN AND FINANCIAL BACKER!!!
I couldn't come anyway, much to far away, but i do know people who where going to do alot to get there...

Man that really sucks.. i was looking forward to hearing how it was Rolling Eyes

I'm sorry Tycho, i feel with you.. I can see you put alot of work into it, and went trough a lot of trouble to get it all going, and now this..

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 1:40 pm

*sigh* I was looking forward to going to this, too. Confused

I don't believe Epic could do this to their fanbase. Evil or Very Mad

But oh well, I guess I can just go camping at Kings Island or something those three days, seeing as how I all ready requested them off from work. ~_~;

And I thought Epic had gotten better at listening and caring for their fanbase. *shrug* Thanks a lot, Epic. Keep making good games, seems to be the only thing you're good at. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 1:42 pm

fell sorry too.
till this morning i looked up to rein... i thought he was one of the greatest guys of the gaming scene. well, he maybe makes a good job at epic but personally i think he sucks.

am i now allowed to start with Mark Rein Jokes again? Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 1:46 pm

theres only 1 person who knows if he realy sucks. Rolling Eyes

yes, your very alowed to make jokes about em *ahum* ^^^^
starting NOW!
/me runs of to photoshop marks head on a death bikini girl Razz

(all photoshop this 2003 contestens know what i mean Razz

)

Guest

And I thought Valve was a bad company...so sorry to hear the news Tycho.

Guest

Well, that blows. Way to represent your company, Mark.

Guest

???
Why would a financial backer need that much assurance for ?
You had 2 out of 3 ...
/me thinks *that* is were you should lay the blame for this failure.
He wanted the impossible as well ...

It's not like every lan in the world needs 100% official support from companies like these before they can be organised.
Even though it would have been ultra-cool to announce your lan-party as 'officially sponsored by Epic & co' ...

UO Noob Joined: 23 Jun 2003 Posts: 25

I'm sorry to hear that Tycho. You guys really put a lot of work & heart into this site & the expo, then you get sh!+ on by what was probably a white-devil lawyer whispering into Mr. Rein's ear. For what it's worth, thanks for heading this up for us. I was really looking forward to going. Even took the 9th off work already & was going to buy my ticket this afternoon on the way home from work. Guess that's money in the bank & a day off at least. Doesn't make up for the disappointment though. Take it easy bro.

Cheers,
-Scumgrief

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 2:32 pm

If you guys don't know me I'm Buzz and I usually never swear or scream in foruns but today trhose rules are broken:

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!!!!???? Do you realize (EPIC/REIN ... not Tycho) how many people were looking forward to this? How in the hell can you allow thousands, maybe millions of people to even entertain the thought that WE FINALLY had our own "Trekker" Convention.

THis is some serioulsy FUCKED up SHIT!!!! People had planned their summers around this already. I can't believe I'm the only one this irrate!!!

My son and I Love (LOVED) this game and had been practicing really hard to be able to play at at least inhuman so we could take part in some fun games. ANd let's not forget EVERYONE we no longer have the chance to meet CLiffyB ... my son was really REALLY disappointed about that!

FUCK THIS BULLSHIT!!! ATARI always sucked and yes I blame them because they are the MAJOR MUSCLE and the BIG NAME and they could flex their muscles if they wanted to. HOw could these SOBs forget who made them millionaires. US GODDAMNIT and WE SURE in the FUCK deserve a little consideration. We could have been abandoned this BULLSHIT ass franchise when that peice of shit UNreal II came out but we stuck it out and for that we get 1) Limited EDition DVDs (I got mine but I still think it was unfare how it was done and some longtime players and loyalists got screwed ... oh wait this is EPIC) 2) Some ridiculous bugs that should have never been missed (I'm an ex-Sr. Systems Test Engineer so I know ALL about buggy software) 3)The Cancellation of this MUCH ANTICIPATED event!

Ohh!!! Did someone say Doom# and HL2 are coming out. Battlefield Vietnam is doing well. Hell if we all banded together and boycotted these jerks maybe we could make an impact. But I know from a realistic standpoit that won't happen. Most of us ... maybe even me to be honest ... will probably still keep this on their hard drive, and even buy the next version. Humans .... when we ever evolve and take a stand.

I really can't believe that $12,000 is all that is keeping this from happening. I used to run HUGE Global Area networks with sub LANs so I could do that for just food and lodging. I'll even through in $1000 if 11 other will match me. FUCK THEM!!!! Let us the TRUE UNREAL who tower above all other PC Gamers bring to life the best PC Gaming event ever!

Buzz

P.S. I sincereley apologise to any children who might read this. But this is a very serious matter.

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 2:39 pm

fuck yeah, tell em Buzz!
i think we all feel that way, tho expres ourself in other ways, heres how i do it:

and yes, theres much more where that came from, so keep tuned for my next photoshops. they all suck.. but someone has to do it.. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 2:47 pm

This is Buzz again ...

We cannot let this DIE!!!! We gotta do ths People if for no tother reason than to flip Atari/Epic the bird. If anyone has any ideas feel free to email me at "buzzati@aol.com".

Tycho ... my man you are recongised ... you deserve HUGE props and you gotta know that NONE of us REAL UNREAL fans think that this was in any way shape or form your fault. You are the man ... you showed trust as a good person should and lived up to ALL of your obligations. FUCK the ASSHOLE who Bullshitted you and wasted your time and tried to make you look bad. Peace to you and all the other fans that are hurting. WE ALL DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS BULLSHIT ASS TREATMENT!

buzz

UO Noob Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 13

Damn you Epic. Damn you Mark Rein.

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 2:52 pm

You feel me Cheetah!!! Yeah FUCK THEM dudes!!! I'm talking SHIT ... BIG SHIT ... all day long! And I hope they have the guts to read this thread and have some BULLSHIT marketing SPIN reply all ready to make us feel bad for their fucked up selves.

This is the only time I will ever let out this much emotioin. After this crap I'm done with Forums. Not because of you cool as forum folks but because I can't be like this when I know kids might see this ...

BUT DAMNIT I'm just so frustrated and pissed off. Peace again and Cheetah, good lookin' out.

Buzz

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 2:55 pm

Ok guys, some swearing is understandable, but this is turning into a flame fest. Chill with the blatent swearing, lest we be forced to take action.