I "discovered" Dtoid in its infancy, through Digg.com I kept seeing this site pop up that I'd never heard of before but it was posting articles and links at a frightening rate... Lots of the articles were real eye-catchers and I ended up visiting the site without being referred to it by Digg.com... A few months in, I discovered the concept of NARPs and how a bunch of US-dtoiders were hosting them regularly... I loved the idea ( having grown up in the LANparty-age ) and I wanted to bring it to Europe...



This lead to the very first EuroNARP. I've been "collecting" old gaming-consoles since I was a student. I had a pretty great student-job and was able to buy shitloads of old crap at various yardsales etc, but I felt that it would all go to waste if it wasn't used, this lead to the first "Teh Lair" that I built with Undergod ( PICS & original broken blog about that ).



So anyway, the first PAX was coming and since I live in Europe, there was no possible way for me to get there ( really don't have the money for stuff like that ), so I posted an invite for all Euro-Dtoiders: "Can't get to PAX? How about a NARP? (NSFW prolly)". As you can read from the blog I posted after the NARP, it was F*CKING AWESOME! =>EuroNARP Recap



After the first one, we had the taste, we started hosting 2 BIG NARPs every year. We do a summer edition in the summer ( DUH ) and a Winter-edition around february ( will be next week this year due to stuff & reasons ). And in between we host tiny NARPs to fill up the gaps. We've done all kinds of NARPs too, we've done "RetroNARPs", "NintendoNARP" & "SegaNARPs". Always at the same awesome location: Teh Lair^2



Yes, you see that correctly, it is indeed just a few containers stacked together & rebuilt into the ultimate gaming-paradise :-) Every NARP we try to "surprise" our regular guests and thus the inside & outside of Teh Lair^2 have changes significantly every year. This is how it all started: Before Po0ky & I started the rebuld and then it became this: EuroNARP 1, Main Room At the moment it mostly looks like this: "Welcome To Teh Lair"-blog.



Every single NARP has been a huge pleasure to host & we've had people come from ALL OVER THE WORLD, which is incredibly awesome to say the least... You have no idea how great it feels to have a visitor that has travelled for a full day or more just to be at your NARP... We've had Dutch guys ( Simon & Bob ), German guys ( n0brein, 3roticN3rd, Fana7ic ), guys from the UK ( Njsykora ) and even someone from Brazil ( NuclearPsycho ), I'm probably even forgetting some people due to all the alcohol-consumption at the EuroNARPs...



The biggest honour came for me last year... Hamza & Niero were going to do a EuroTrip and I invited them over to Teh Lair for EuroNARP 4.5, sadly they wouldn't be able to make it to that one, BUT they would fit a few days in Belgium into their schedule so they could at least visit Teh Lair... So, we hosted a one-night-NARP, EuroNARP 4.4 and it was incredible! I hope they weren't to bothered with me being so starstruck, but it was so awesome to have them come over, and then they totally RAPED our asses at any game we threw at them... we even had to create a specific Halo3 mode for MP that we still play now.



It's called "Deathmatch for when Hamza joins in" and it basically punishes who-ever is in the lead by depleting their shield and setting them at half health... and he still won almost every single match...



Every single NARP has been special to me, but the visit by Niero & Hamza was a truly special occasion for all of us that waste days and days at setting up and preparing Teh Lair for every single EuroNARP...

The next one is next week and it'll be AWESOME once again, I'm sure :-) It might be the last one at Teh Lair^2 because I'm gonna rebuild it in my new basement of my "new" home, but the EuroNARPs will keep going as long as I can hold a controller in my hands!

Thanks to everybody that has ever been to one of our EuroNARPs and if you read this guide you can start hosting your own NARPs and join in the fun!

It has been a pleasure ( and will keep on being one, I'm sure ) to host these NARPs and I hope to see you all at the next one, or the next one, or the next one...

Warm regards,
mistic, Po0ky, UnderGod & No-Use[youtube]

In 2005 I came home from living in my College-city for 4 years... Over the years I had collected a shitload of games and consoles ( worked my ass of for it at the local movie theater ) so I couln't store all of them in my bedroom, the solution came in the form of a bunch of construction-site-containers. It started with just one but now we have this place:


I lived there for about a year until I met my current wife, now we use it for hosting EuroNARPs ( like the one in a few weeks )

We started with just one 'room', now we use 3 of the 4 containers in the picture above to include a number of 'zones'.

MainRoom:


Other side of the MainRoom:


The Bar:


Guitar Hero Zone:


2-Player-Xbox-Zone ( For our LAN-Halo-Sessions ):


Racing Zone:


Lego Zone:


SlotCar Zone:


Rythm & Fight Zone:


Over the years we've hosted 18 EuroNARPs, the 19th will be on the 9th of june but this will be a very limited one of only one night and mostly to get the place ready for our 20th EuroNARP and also the 5th anniversary of the Summer EuroNARP.

This year we even had some very famous visitors come over:

Hamza:


Niero:


Teh Lair, signed by Hamza & Niero:


A video about our latest EuroNARP ( 4.5 )

So, if you want to become a part of Teh Lair's history and join us for 3 mad days of gaming, find out how to join us right HERE

Well it's that time again, february is approaching and thus, so is my birthday... Time for another EuroNARP!

Well, 2 actually...

First we'll do EuroNARP 4.4 on the 2nd of February => information here .

Then we'll do EuroNARP 4.5!



Don't know what a NARP is?
GO HERE NOW

Or, you can go and watch these movies to know what to expect:

"EuroNARP 3.5 in 10 minutes"
This was my birthday-edition from last year, the video goes from the setup to the end, so it covers 5 days in total, true NARP-action starts at the 4th minute.
Youtube!

"EuroNARP4.2 Official Recap"
This was Po0ky's birthday-edition from last october, it also has a part in the video that shows you some of the history behind Teh Lair and the EuroNARPs:
Youtube!



Details EuroNARP 4.5

Start: Friday 17th of February at 20:00h
End: Sunday 19th of February at noon

Location: Essen in the north of Belgium ( NOT THE ONE IN GERMANY FFS! ), exact location-details will be sent when you register for our event.

Registration: send a mail to "tehlair" "@" "gmail.com" with your nickname, cellphone and in subject "EuroNARP 4.5 Registration: <nickname>"

Prices: 25 euros for 3 days, drinks included!



What to bring?

- Sleepingbag + something to sleep on ( not enough sofas for everybody, you might get lucky, but you never know )
- TV/Consoles: mention in your mail what you want to bring and we'll reserve a space for you.
- Games/Controllers: bring whatever you like, but be sure to mark clearly what is yours!



Can't wait to see you guys there!

EuroNARP4.4 : The US-edition!
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DATE HAS CHANGED!!!!!

Dtoiders of the Europe-Mainland, now is your chance! Our hallowed overlords Niero and Hamza are visiting the Old Continent in a few weeks and they will be passing by @ Teh Lair!

To celebrate this we're having a special mini-EuroNARP!
if you don't know what a NARP is, go here: How To Host a NARP


Teh Lair from the outside

So on the 4nd of February we'll open Teh Lair for a crazy night of gaming, beer and fun with anyone that wants to join us! Though as it is a mini-NARP, we'll have limited seating available, so if you want to join in, be sure to register for the event ASAP by mailing to "Tehlair" + "@" + "gmail.com"


The Main-room in full action @ EuroNARP4

Details

Location:

Teh Lair
this is located in a small village in the North of Belgium: Essen ( beware there's a city in Germany that is named Essen as well but that's 100's of km's away from the one in Belgium ), more details if you are actually coming.

Date & Time

We'll be starting around 9pm on saturday the 4th of February and Teh Lair will be closed again around 10/11 am on sunday ( depending on when we finish breakfast )

Stuff To Bring

- 15 euros per person for entrance ( free beer all night long! )
- Sleepingbag + something to sleep on
- Games / Controllers / TV : let us know when registering if you want to bring something allong and we'll let you know if we still have a spot for it!

Please note, we don't really like having to ask for money for entrance, but we kinda need some money to keep all these containers in usable condition, but if you drink enough, there's nothing to be worried about :-D


Late-evening-beamer-gaming @ EuroNARP4

This is your chance to meet the guys that have made all this possible, the big examples of "Living The Dream", our overlords from the US, so join us in this celebration of Gaming & the Dtoid-Community

Hope to see you all there!


ALSO: if you can't make it to EuroNARP4.4, EuroNARP4.5 will be happening from the 17th of feb till the 19th of feb, so feel free to join us at that one! More info will come, you can join the Dtoid-EU-mailing-group Here


ALso2: here's the official recap video of our last event ( EuroNARP4.2 )
watch it here

As some of you know, I'll be a father soon. I've been a fan of racing games for years, but really became an avid fan of simracers over the last few years. This requires a wheel + seat for the best experience. So far I've built 3 "rigs", 2 of them were basically just plywood contraptions to keep a wheel and racing-seat from a GOLF2 together, the last one of those was in my gameroom:

Seat + book-cupboard by Van Loon Johan, on Flickr
Full set of pics for my gameroom

We just have a 2 bedroom-apartment, so when my wife got pregnant, my gamerooms days were numbered, so I had to find a solution and quick! Luckily, my wife is very supportive of my gaming-quirks, however putting that racingseat in the living room was simply out of the question, for one it looks hideous, takes up a shitload of space and it would mess up our otherwise nice and clean living room. So how to have a racing-setup in the living room without making it look like a mess?

The first part of the solution was the birthdaygift my wife gave me in february, the Fanatec Rennsport Wheelstand, she suggested I store it in the bed room and just to grab it if I wanted it. The PC would be on it's 'old' Ikea-Desk that was in the gameroom... HOWEVER... I've grown up in a carpenter family ( father & youngest brother are carpenters ) so I know my way around a woodshop. I decided to build my own custom desk.

Designing it took a little longer then planned as I had to wait 3 months for the wheelstand to arrive, but after that it all went great :-)

So here's my home-built racing desk:

When it's closed, it's just a nice and clean-looking desk.

desk as a real desk. by Van Loon Johan, on Flickr

And then the magic starts happening ( takes about 5 minutes to set up completely ):

IMG_2655 by Van Loon Johan, on Flickr

After the panel is secured, we start setting up the wheelstand:

IMG_2656 by Van Loon Johan, on Flickr

wheelstand is ready to go back in:

IMG_2658 by Van Loon Johan, on Flickr

add a chair from the table:

ready to race by Van Loon Johan, on Flickr

and RACE:

racing on the desk by Van Loon Johan, on Flickr

lots of possibilities with 3 different systems in the cupboard:

the goodie-cupboard :-) by Van Loon Johan, on Flickr

all the crap back in the box (not the gigabitswitch on the side):

all tucked away by Van Loon Johan, on Flickr

The actual desk area:

Desk in it's 'normal' state by Van Loon Johan, on Flickr

Hope you guys like it!

Everybody's pissed at Electronic Arts at the moment, either it's Origin-steam-feuds, ridiculous Battlefield-decisions, buying this-or-that-developer and more. Recently the focus is directed at EA for not allowing Turn10Studios to use Porsches in their next opus: Forza Motorsport 4.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm mad at them for all of the above as well, but there is a very simple way for EA to make it all up to me and probably a LOT of other gamers, especially the people of the last and newest group: the people that'll be missing the Porsches in Forza Motorsport 4.

Here's what I'm talking about:


Hear me out now, I want this game, BUT I also want to play Forza4 with my G25, alas since it doesn't work on a 360, we can make a LOT of people happy. First a short introduction for our younger public:

My love-affair with Porsches really started with the original Porsche Unleashed on PC, I didn't have a wheel yet, but I did have a controller on my PC, a kickass soundsystem and I was at a public boarding school that allowed the 6 people in the last 2 years of highschool to have their own private (30 room) floor without any supervision... We all had PC's and we were racing in this game almost non-stop for months after it was released on a small network with hubs and cables hidden behind our curtains and posters and our fireproof ceiling. ( most of us were studying informatics or graphics as a major so we needed decent PC's :-) I worked a whole year to buy a ,ew gaming PC )



The "Factory Driver"-mode was EPIC, you got to drive with virtually every important Porsche ever built, is was the first semi-serious NFS-game in the series in that regard :-) Multiplayer was a blast, especially in knock-out mode since whoever sucked most was left behind and had to wait the longest for his next run :-)

Now, as much as I loved that game back then, it's got a problem. It's Need For Speed, as much as I love the series ( I've owned ever single game they ever made at some time or another and still buy every one that comes out), I've been longing for a more realistic experience, my hopes were aimed at shift, but they've been shot down a bit. Don't get me wrong, I still really like those games, but they're not sim-experiences in my eyes, being used to GTR:Evolution.



So, how to handle all this? Well, first step is, you've been overtaken in the realism-field by Turn10Studios, plain and simple, they've done Porsches ridiculously great for years already now so why not get together, you're a publisher, they're a brilliant dev and their engine simply rocks!

But, all us true fans of simracers that own G25's (and sometimes a lot better) on PC are missing out on games like Forza, where we can change anything we want and get a true feel for the cars and the race. I've driven the 'Ring about 20 laps myself and about 50 as passenger with drivers of various skilllevels and with my limited experience, I truly feel that Forza's representation of the 'Ring and driving a car on edge feels a lot more realistic in Forza then in Shift, no matter how many aids you turn off. And once again, they're great at building Porsches:



So, what to do?

1. Get Forza-engine and port it decently to PC
2. Get Forza-Porsches ( all 35 of them ) and build the whole catalogue of Porsches ever built yourself
3. Give Forza licence for their own 35 plus the ALMS-Porsches, but only for 360
4. make new Factory Driver mode but take all the rest from FM3 :-)
5. release game as PC exclusive ( not 360 as not to interfere with Turn10Studios )
6. PROFIT and LOTs of it



PS: Also, RELEASE IT ON STEAM please.