Article: Todd "Toddsmack2k" Roberts
Editor/Design: Allan "Zardon" Campbell

Have you ever to wanted frag hundreds of people with 0 ping rate and get the opportunity to meet some of todays biggest movers and shakers in the computer industry? Well then you should have been at The Million Man lan War 2 in Louisville Ky!!

This unreal competition happened June 26-29. Add in companies like AMD, ATi, ASUS, ABIT and THG along with a tad over 1,000 people ready to frag and you have a perfect recipe for major fun!

Over the 4 days of this event there were Q&A sessions by ATi, ASUS, and AMD. Tons of free prizes and contests all day long. Then to put the cherry on top how about being one of the first to see AMD's brand new 64 bit processor? Wish you were there? Well as a representative and staff member from Driverheaven I got to have some great fun and meet some great individuals.

Kyle Felstein: owner of ALL AMERICAN COMPUTERS
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WEB Address: www.aacdirect.com

The first person I met at MML2 was Kyle Felstein. He is the owner of an online retail computer store called ALL AMERICAN COMPUTER. They are a relatively new online store which has a hand in several LAN parties as well as dealing with all your computer needs. He was extra courteous to me and I thank him for his help and the time he spent with me at the event. If the treatment they showed me is how they do business I highly recommend you check them out next time you are looking to upgrade.

In this picture he was working on ABIT's Super G computer which got damaged in shipping. I was just watching him work on it when he struck up the initial conversation. I introduced myself as Todd from DH and told him I was there to do a article on the MML event as well as meet Terry Makedon from ATI and Dave Stellmack from Tom's Hardware Guide. He was like "yeah I know those guys!". After a quick call on the radio here came Terry Makedon and his staff from ATI

Terry greeted me with a handshake and a hug. Not what you would typically expect from someone in his position and only knowing me as a moderator on Driverheaven!. After exchanging hello's he said "come on man let me hook you up and show you around!".

First off: The servers at the MML2
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All the servers were running ATI Radeon 9000 graphics cards. Which of course was the right name to go with ;¬), then Terry proceeded to take me back to the room with all the goodies.

After loading me up with goodies like calendars, ink pens, fans, whistles, suckers,radio's, and special MML cd's, I got to see the awesome prizes some lucky winners at the event were going to recieve. Who wouldn't want a free 9600 or 9800! After checking out all the great stuff ATi was giving away i couldn't resist pimping DH ;¬))

(PIC8-from left to right THE ATI DUDES !: Jeff Royle - Developer Relationship Manager; Andrew Dodd - Catalyst Product Manager; Me! holding the 9800; and last but not least Terry Makedon - Catalyst Maker!)
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These guys were all the friendliest group of guys you could ever ask for. I want to thank them so very much for the great time and hospitality they showed me.

I had a moment to ask Terry Makedon a few questions before heading off to tour the wild scene that was MML2.

Todd: It is great to see how ATI is so involved with the MML2 at Louisville. So how did the event go in your opinion and did you guys have a great time?
Terry: It was awesome. The event was very well organized and the amount of sponsors that were there were truly impressive. I hope everyone that was there got something to take home to remember such an incredible event.

Todd: ATI had a major hand in the MML2 how was the response from all those there to you guys?
Terry: They were very enthusiastic. I got to chat to many people about various things and Jeff, Andrew and myself all helped out anyone who had a problem with their systems. The Q&A session we did was supposed to be for 2 hours but went for more like 4 hours, and the room was standing room only the whole time. We even had three guys streaking that session with nothing on other than RADEON boxes around their boxers! LOL...

Todd: Were there alot of ATI fans there?
Terry: For sure, the gamers boards of choice were definitely the RADEON 9700 Pro and RADEON 9800 Pro. As a matter of fact I would get stopped walking down the hall very often with people wanting to just say "Hi, you guys rock!". It truly was impressive the amount of support the ATI fans gave us at the event.

Todd: Did you get a chance to get in any game time? If so did How did you fare?
Terry: Would you believe I played zero games at all. I was a little disappointed because I wanted to log in some time on the game systems. Oh well, next time for sure!

Todd: What was your favorite part of MML2?
Terry: Aside from talking to you you mean? :-) It definitely had to be the Q&A session ATI hosted on Thursday night. It truly was overwhelming to be in a standing room only session with people buzzing for four hours straight! It was great to interact with the gaming community and answer some of the questions people had. Of course on a personal note I loved giving away the hundreds of prizes we brought down to people. We brought many graphic cards down with us, and every time I handed out a card and I saw the winners smile, it truly felt good.

Todd: The support shown there IMO is a excellent indication of ATI's dedication to the future and putting out the best product. Wouldn't you agree?
Terry: Of course, we brought down three staff members to the event and all of us spend most of our weekend (long weekend in fact for Canada) answering questions and talking to people till the wee hours of the morning. We truly are dedicated to being accessible to people and having a great time with them.

Todd: You know I couldn't let you go without asking this, is there anything in the near future you could possibly let us know of coming from ATI. What can we expect from ATI?
Terry: Of course I cant talk about new hardware products but I can talk about new CATALYST's since I am the Product Manager of that product. As I told Zardon on another interview on DH we have two very big features coming in CATALYST that will rock the industry. Furthermore we are moving to a "minimum 12 times a year" public driver updates. That in itself should be good news for ATI owners!

I want to thank Terry for answering these questions for me as he is always a busy man. Now off to meet some of the great companies attending the MML2.