Fragapalooza 98 (FP98) is Canada's largest network tournament. People from all over Canada and the US converge at the spacious Air Museum hangar in Edmonton, Alberta to play Quake, StarCraft, and for the first time this year flight sims. With over 200 networked computers it's a melee of fun in close quarters. Why do so many travel so far north just to play Quake and flight sims in a echoing hangar? Multiplay is an entirely different experience when you remove the immersion destroying impediments of less than stellar Internet connections and drops due to low pings. Further enhancing the experience is the fact that we could hold matches with as many opponents as games could handle in a battle arena and for many participants it was the first time they had been able to enjoy uninterrupted gaming for hours-on-end.

FP98 featured two military air combat tournaments with over $1200US in prizes to be won. Canada's 403 Royal Canadian Virtual Fighter squadron hosted the "King of the Skies" Flight Simulator tournaments at FP98. Stragetic Simulations Incorporated (SSI) donated software prizes, Microsoft donated a ForceFeedback stick, and Janes donated several highly sought F-15 hats and Longbow posters. The two tournaments held at FP were: Longbow2 and Janes F-15; plus a demo session of Su-27 Flanker by Mark (Stinger) Shepheard of the 403RCVFS.

After all was said and done, the casualties were heavy but spirits were high. The results are as follows:

Tournament 1 - Longbow 2

• First - Marty Balazs aka Darkcyde
• Second - Mark Shepheard aka Stinger
• Third - Shawn Vantuil aka Seggallion

Tournament 2 - Janes F-15

• First - Mark Shepheard aka Stinger
• Second - Kevin Scholthies aka M.A.C.H.1
• Third - (yours truly) Ed Reddy aka Brandor

Let me tell you something folks, this type of gathering is very addictive. It blows the doors off conventional combat simulator Internet play. Forget 400ms pings between your opponent, it's below 10ms on a ten Megabit LAN with 8 players. Sounds cool right? Well now, imagine no interruptions, no one to call you on the phone, no one to ask you for a drive to the mall or to pick up groceries. You're isolated, alone and focused on the task at hand... kill your opponent. Or better yet, fly as a team and kill another team.

Your wingman is sitting across from you. "Fox One, Fox One." "Roger, Fox One. Break right! He's on your tail…." "I'm on him." Yes folks, it's starts to feel real and that's what's so scary about it. You form tunnel vision. All around you the mundane objects like the table, chairs, and background noise evaporate. You become one with the twisting screen and each missile alert electrifies your senses to new heights of adrenaline-induced nirvana. Now, play it that way for at least 90 hours, and you're fragged… FP98 can be summed up in one phase - "Begins with many. Ends with one."

Next year, it will be bigger, louder, and yes better. Next year's event should include Su-27 Flanker 2.0 and Falcon 4 competitions. It'll be pure, unadulterated Flight Sim Juice… as much as your body can take.