Moleman 2 - The Art of the Algorithms is now available to download, completely legal! It will be shared out through bittorrent, and we hope that most of you seeds after downloading it. The documentary is 90 minutes long, and are available in both 1080p and 720p.

Mainly the documentary is told through Hungarian demosceners, but it also includes other nationalities - like Duckers (better known as Anders Lassen, chief for Creativia at The Gathering) and with pictures from the norwegian demo party Solskogen.

During the documentary, you'll get an insight in what the demoscene is, it's history and some of the personalities. You can read more about Moleman 2 and the project at molemanfilm.com.

photo: Kristoffer Nes Langemyhr

So, what are you waiting for? Go download the songs from ftp://ftp.gathering.org/TG/2012/MusicDisk/ or the whole music disc as a .zip-file.

And while you're at it, why don't download the music disc from 2011 and 2010?

photo: Steinar H. Gunderson

photo: Kristoffer Nes Langemyhr

photo: Steinar H. Gunderson

1. 173 byte byte--; - Zochwar & Olli
2. 193 byte clusterfuck3 - Zomgtronics
3. 196 byte FourteenSquared - Marius Skadberg aka Eizon

THEMED PHOTO

1. 208 pts Wildlife - Wic

MSPAINT

1. 437 pts Eye witness - offwhite
2. 247 pts Lost in Transition - Thor Merlin Lervik
3. 186 pts Submerged - Sigrid Aasgaard

SANESTATION MUSIC

1. 116 pts Fighting Monsters - Jonas Magnussen
2. 106 pts Level Up! - Joakim Skurk
3. 80 pts You're a pussy and you know it - 0-day Ivar

THEMED GRAPHICS

1. 375 pts SunBathing - Wic & Zeila

RENDERED GRAPHICS

1. 379 pts Gare Nouveau - FreqMod
2. 340 pts Soldiers Lost Spirit - Oyvind Berget
3. 308 pts Night Watch - Volant

FAST REMIX

1. 100 pts Miu Domination - Kaktusen
2. 77 pts Im Back Once Again - Chimeric
3. 64 pts Living Lars Remix - Living Lars

FREESTYLE GRAPHICS

1. 734 pts Hello Beastie - Anne Marte Markussen
2. 323 pts Destruction - Wic
3. 195 pts A gift - offwhite

FREESTYLE MUSIC

1. 196 pts The Rumblebots (TG12 compo edit) - Kaktusen
2. 127 pts Ambisextrous - Living Lars
3. 88 pts Dancing Tonight (Start The Party) - Jarret Scott

FAST INTRO

1. 121 pts Pedobeer is a dolphin pitcher - Zomgtronics
2. 81 pts 8bit Dolphin Edventure - bitFlavour
3. 76 pts Wireframed - Indigo

HARDCORE PROGRAMMING

1. Shad_AI - shad
2. Zoomgtronic - Zoomgtronic
3. DrunkDriver - Henrik Nordvik

NGA GAME DEVELOPMENT

1. 151 pts Bark - Crackwhip Interactive
2. 47 pts Project Dinomites - Petri Wilhelmsen
3. 46 pts Shadow of the Game - Derail Games

NGA THEMED GAME DEVELOPMENT

1. Pig Space Program - Outracks
2. Bobs Tale - Sidetrack Games
3. Race my Face - Legendary

INTRO

1. 186 pts Bigger Bouncier Balls - Kvasigen
2. 157 pts Spoiled Milk - Youth Uprising
3. 73 pts cubes cubed - Legendary

FREESTYLE VIDEO

1. 116 pts Hindsight - Håvard Fandrem
2. 105 pts A silhouette story - Anders Øvergaard
3. 88 pts Ninjanitor - Team Ninja

DEMO

1. 165 pts Cortez - Gammel Opland af 1891
2. 115 pts Sonic Room - Contraz
3. 77 pts REM - Youth Uprising
4. 43 pts Mostly facts about giraffes - kvasigen
5. 29 pts Obstroctopus - Indigo

For complete results, please see this text file on ftp.gathering.org

If you wish to see the contributions, you can find them on ftp.gathering.org as well.

TG2012 - Harald Zwart Video Competition from The Gathering on Vimeo.

Enjoy the attentiongrabber either in .mp3 or .flac

There's not just lug00ber's Attention grabber on the FTP, so we recommend you take a trip over to the ftp at ftp.gathering.org and see for yourselves what kind of awesome contributions the crew and participants have made in the previous years.

TG2012 - The Gathering 2012 from The Gathering on Vimeo.

THIRD PLACE: In third place was Anders Lindholm Liland with his entry "No Reason".

SECOND PLACE: In second place was Eirik Horvath with his impressive entry "Showdown".

FIRST PLACE: In first place was Sindre Haugland with his funny and well-executed entry "Nyan Car".

Special thanks to all the participants who entered movies in the contest this year. We are already looking forward to next year's entries.

It was a difficult choice for the judges this year with many amazing and sometimes exciting entries received, but in the end, the entries were narrowed down to a top 3 based on skill, content and exhibition of the theme for this year's event: In a galaxy far, far away. And without any further delay, the winners for the TG12 Minecraft Competition are as follows:

THIRD PLACE: In third place with their submission of a space station were Henrik Hedenstad Breivik, Øyvins Snilsberg and Jadar Loeng Grilstad. The judges commented "Good construction, good detail."

SECOND PLACE: In second place with a submission of a space ship was Olav Bogevik. Our judges said "A very good job with Redstone wiring, large and detailed".

FIRST PLACE: Finally, in first place with an impressive submission entitled "Theed Palace (Naboo)", the team Norske Klossbyggere: Marius Bergh, Joachim Eide and Kristoffer Svendsen. The judges said of this entry "Amazing detail, insanely huge and it really screams out the theme. This entry stood out with very good landscape around the buildings with rivers and waterfalls."

We at UiO give a brief introduction to how some of the major technologies work, the concepts they rely on, and try by example to show who you are trusting, and from whom you actually hide. For in-depth discussions on the topic, you are more than welcome to our stand!

The last full day of The Gathering 2012. Today we will show you the last of the creative competitions, and there will be seminars and at the very end - a prize ceremony. Remember the deadlines for the Intro compo at 17:00, and the Demo compo at 18:00. We hope that as many people as possible contribute, and not least shows up for the demo show on the main stage at 20:00. Perhaps you will even get inspired, and feel compelled to participate next year?

Deadlines

• Saturday, 12:00 Deadline NGA Game Development competition
• Saturday, 12:00 Soft deadline Intro competition
• Saturday, 12:00 Soft deadline Demo competition
• Saturday, 17:00 Deadline Intro competition
• Saturday, 18:00 Deadline Demo competition

Seminars

Liam is back on stage at 13:00, to talk about Gamedevelopment for beginners in Java. At 13:00, Anne Marte Markussen will do a speedpaint session on the main stage. Anne Marte won the freestyle graphics compo last year with Babe Runner.

Last year, We Crave Sustenance by PlayPsyCo won the demo compo. The demo was hand synced by Thomas Austad, and at 16:40 he will tell you how in How to sync like a DUBstar. Anders Lassen will be back on stage at 18:55. All this from the main stage today!

At 14:00, the play-off in Hardcore progamming will be held in the auditorium. So, show up and check out the AI's get together, in the battle of spacebumpers!

Some other stuff are held in the auditorium as well today - learn Python programming, Arduino and physics:

• Saturday, 13:00 PY1000: Ditt første Python-program (Your first program in Python)
• Saturday, 13:30 PY2000: Python for viderekomne (Intermediate Python Programming)
• Saturday, 16:00 ARD1000: Fysisk hacking med Arduino
• Saturday, 16:30 ARD1010: Vær oppfinnsom med Arduino (Be inventive with Arduino)
• Saturday, 17:00 FYS-ROT0001: Morsomme fysikkeksperimenter (Fun physics)

Compo shows

Tonight at 20:00 the last of the creative compos will be shown. Get yourself to the main stage for the hardcore progamming final, showing of the contributions in Norwegian Game Awards, Freestyle Video - and finally the main events, the Demo and Intro compos! The sound will be awesome, and there will be more sanntidseffect than ever before!

At 23:30, there creative prize ceremony will be held on the main stage. Finally we will know who's the best of the best, and the toughest of the toughest! Show up!

Mentors

As always, our mentors and helpdesk are happy to help you. Use them, you still got time for both the fast intro compo, freestyle video and hardcore progrmaming. Check out the mentors page!

TG2012 - Harald Zwart hilser til TG from The Gathering on Vimeo

Download it here (Norwgian only).

Their work mainly consists of patrolling around vikingskipet, so that the dog can use its keen sense of smell to detect illegal substances. The dog's keen sense of smell is in fact so good that that it can smell if one of our participants have smoked marijuana as far as seven weeks prior to The Gathering, Geir Ove tells us. There has also been cases where some of our contestants have brought illegal substances with them to The Gathering but they get caught. "We hope that as many as possible who attend this event thinks twice before they bring any illegal substances to it." Geir Ove points out.

In addition to the interview with the local police, we've talked to several of the participants at TG to hear what they feel about having the police here. «I feel safer» was the general consensus from those we interviewed.

Located in the same building as The Gathering is also the Fire Department, and they've got an agreement with The Gathering which means they'll help us should there be any need of an evacuation of Vikingskipet during the event.

We encourage all our participants to visit www.gathering.org regularly and familiarise themselves with the security protocols for the event. If you see anyone or anything in violation of these rules, please contact a member of security ( recognized by "SECURITY" on their backs) or contact info-desk.

Earlier today our online newsmagazine The News Gathering talked to the police about the same incident, you'll find their story here.

• Fast Intro
• Freestyle Graphics
• Rendered Graphics
• Freestyle Music
• Themed Graphics
• MS Paint
• Fast Remix
• Sanestation Challenge
• Themed Photo

Complete all challenges and you may win a Botanicalls kit that can make a plant tweet!

176.110.35.4

Have you lost something? Found something? Info:Desk in the southern end of the ship will help you!

This lecture is a must for all those who are curious and wants to learn how they can start developing applications for the brand new Windows 8 operatingsystem.

At the moment the operatingsystem is only released in "developer"-preview in english, but Arif promises us an introduction in Visual Studio 2011 and an introduction on how to develop application for Windows Store, so you're ready when Windows 8 is released later this year.

The Fast Intro themes are released, and the deadline is 18:00 today. So, get on with your code, music and graphics, and just do it! Got trouble starting? Try out Petri's XNA demo framework. If you missed the workshop, you can watch the whole thing here.

Deadlines

• Friday, 12:00 Deadline Rendered Graphics competition
• Friday, 12:00 Deadline Freestyle Graphics competition
• Friday, 18:00 Deadline Fast Intro competition
• Friday, 23:59 Deadline Freestyle Video competition
• Friday, 23:59 Deadline Hardcore Programming competition

Seminars

As usual, the stage and auditorium are filled with seminars. Learn more about popular science concerning math and calculations from UiO at 13:00 on the main stage. Learn how you can develop apps for Window 8 in Microsoft Visual Studio 2011 at 14:50 on the main stage, or maybe you want to learn how to develop a game for Windows Phone or Xbox 360? Then show up in front of the stage at 16:40.

If graphics are more your thing, or if you're just curious, prepare for a speedpaint session with Wictoria Norgaard at 18:15 and an introduction to 3D sculpting at 19:10.

Compo shows

Tonight, there will be a compo show on the main stage at 20:15. We will show your contributions in fast intro, freestyle graphics, rendered graphics, freestyle music, themed graphics, MS Paint, fast remix, Sanestation challenge and themed photo.

It'll be a show containing awesome music, awesome graphics and fantastic demos, so show up! Get inspired! Get your ears filled with music, and give your eyes some candy!

Mentors

As always, our mentors and helpdesk are happy to help you. Use them, you still got time for both the fast intro compo, freestyle video and hardcore progrmaming. Check out the mentors page!

8-bit, dolphin, pitcher

The deadline is at 18:00 today (friday 2012-04-06), deliver your entry at compo.tg12.gathering.org, and remember to read through the Fast Intro rules.

A data center was created in just three weeks in order to host the servers. The data center contains seven blade servers, each one containing two terabytes disk space with failover, 12 processors and 96 gigs of ram. These seven blade servers were used to create the 500 virtual private servers.

Everyone who got themselves a VPS will be able to test the system for free for three months. The aim of the project is, according to Haukeberg, to show how fun it is to code with Microsoft technology.

- We want to stimulate people to create the web services of tomorrow. So-called consumerisation is important to Microsoft; the ability to consume content and services whenever and wherever, says Haukeberg.

He doesn't hide the fact that Microsoft also has the app market for Windows 8-tablets in mind.

- I hope the ones who got themselves a VPS will test the system properly. It's easy to use, and offers a lot of possibilities, Haukeberg says.

He is certain that The Gathering's participants will create great websites on the system.

- We will give away awesome prizes to the five best websites. We will also randomly hand out some Xbox 360 consoles and Kinect systems.

A quick introduction to what it is like being a student at the University of Oslo.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, kl. 11:00

MEK1000: Building a computer

This course will be held by experienced PC builders from the Department of informatics at the Unviersity of Oslo. Participants will learn to combine parts that are suitable for each other (e.g. motherboards that are suited for a CPU) and how these parts are mounted.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 12:30

Lecture: Personalized video streaming based on search

To locate content in large video archives is a very computationally heavy and time demanding process. A search like for instance "show me all the tackles in the Tippeliga in April 2012" has until now demanded that you manually search through the archive sequentially and click on video after video. In future solutions we can generate personalized videos based on search, and play them back like a traditional playlist on MP3-players.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 14:30

FEM1000: Girls and IT – Questions and Answers

What is it like being a female in a male-dominated environment? And is studying IT fun?
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 15:00

JAP0100: Japanese Crash Course

Learn how to introduce yourself and get started in Japanese syllabary.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 15:30

PY1000: Your First Python Program

Python is a very flexible and all-round programming language. It's quick to learn and easy to comprehend. This is a crash course where you'll learn all the basic principles of basic programming with Python.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 16:00

PY2000: Intermediate Python Programming

The course builds on PY1000: Your First Python Program. In this course you'll learn how you can use the basics you've learnt to do fun stuff.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 16:30

REG1000: Regular Expressions - Everybody stand back, I know Regular Expressions!

An introduction to some elements of regular expressions, and how to use Python's re module. The course is held in conjunction with PY1000 and PY2000 as a base for doing simple HTML parsing.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 17:00

SIG1000: Sampling and Signal Processing in Arduino

In this course we'll look at how Arduino can be used to sample signals and what you need to consider when doing so. It's recommended that you have some prior knowledge of Arduino.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 17:30

LOD1000: Soldering Lab

We teach you how to solder a circuit with two different sounds.
Time and place: The stand, Friday, 18:00

GAME1000: Basic Game Programming in Processing

Learn how to handle keyboard and mouse input, draw vector shapes and bitmap images. No prior programming knowledge is required.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 18:00

GAME1010: Game Programming in Processing

Add sound, animated bitmaps and simply physics to add a finishing touch to your game. To attend this course, prior programming knowledge is recommended, that or you should have attended GAME1000: Basic Game Programming in Processing.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 18:30

TUX1000: Introduction to Desktop Environments in Linux

A quick and fun introduction to the different desktop enviroments available for linux: Gnome3, Unity, KDE4, XFCE, Enlightenment, Open Box and xmonad. We'll see that there's something for everyone's taste and computer.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 19:30

ÅPEN1000: Open Source

What is open source, what licenses are deemed open source, what's the difference between Libre Software and open source, and what's the advantage of developing on open source and what kinds of freedom does it give developers and companies working with it.
Time and place: Auditorium, Friday, 20:30

Participants must be 22 years or older and you need to be a participant at TG or in the Crew.
The test takes approx. 5-10 minutes.The survey is in Norwegian.

Link to the survey

You only need to enter your seating, and then we will come to you!

In addition to a valuable contribution to science, you will after completing the survey, be able to win one of three gift cards worth 1000 NOK from Spaceworld. The survey will take about 10-15 minutes. You can find the survey at this location.

Regional Research Fund - "Hovedstaden" and Oslo Medtech invite to app- competition for use in the healthcare sector.
1st prize: 50 000 NOK + up to 250 000 NOK in development grants
2nd prize: 30 000 NOK
3rd prize: 20 000 NOK

Submission Deadline: Monday 30 April 2012.
Visit www.oslomedtech.no for information

Young IT talents challenged at TG by the medtech business

Oslo Medtech is attending The Gathering for the first time. "Oslo Medtech is engaged at The Gathering to create awareness for the health sector's great need for IT skills", says CEO Katherine Myhre Oslo Medtech.
Win 50 000 NOK + up to 250 000 NOK in development funding.

Vegard Skjefstad, The Gathering-founder and driving force, greets Oslo Medtech welcome as a player at the event. - The many people joining the TG is committed to solve challenges and problems. The hall is full of people with data skills keen to do something differently, says Skjefstad. He and Chairman of the organization KANDU, Tommy Hultin, initiated cooperation with Oslo Medtech only a few weeks before this year's event.

Two competitions

Two medtech competitions are launched for the participants at The Gathering. To really accomodate for the target group, two competitions will be launched that invites the IT expertise at The Gathering to participate.

The first competition is launched in cooperation between Lærdal Medical and Oslo Medtech: The participants at The Gathering are invited to test their abilities in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on one of Lærdal Medical's most advanced training dummies.

– Simulation technology is used in a very advanced way to save human lives. We are holding a tournament in CPR, with support from a local Red Cross team, where the winner will receive a cool gaming headset, says Myhre.

The other competitions is held in cooperation with Regional Research Fund – "Hovedstaden". The participants are challenged to develop a demo version of a health mobile application that can contribute to better and more efficient health services.

– The Norwegian health sector faces some great challenges, and this concerns and engages most of us on one level or another, including the computer expertise at The Gathering, says Myhre.

Tempting problems and big prizes

The participants at The Gathering are invited to descripbe a concept for developing a demo app. A jury will select the three best suggestions after Easter. Regional Research Fund offers prizes that Kathrine Myhre thinks might increase the interest:

– The third place gets 20.000 NOK, second place gets 30.000 NOK and the first place will get 50.000 NOK and an invitation to send in a pre-project application where you can receive up to 250.000 NOK in pre project funding to complete the development of the mobile app for the health sector. The winner will also receive an offer for counseling from the Investment department at Forskningsparken, Kathrine Myhre informs.

TG2012 - Luftig ankomst from The Gathering on Vimeo.

Could you tell me a bit about the idea behind Milliways?

Of course. Vegard called me up and asked me if we should make a proper restaurant. I asked him where, as there isn't really that much space on the floor. He answered "we build upwards".

The view from the restaurant is really good. Was that part of the plan?

Yes. We wanted to get the restaurant a bit up from the traffic in the hall and place it somewhere you could see the stage.

Steaks and candle light isn't really standard food for computer parties. What was the intention behind that menu?

Many of the participants at The Gathering are getting older and we want to give them an alternative to hamburgers and pizza.

The specter of participants has expanded greatly

Yes. There are also a lot of sponsors coming here and they also need somewhere to eat. We hope this restaurant will make The Gathering a bit more attractive.

Tell me a bit about the restaurant. It isn't that big. How many participants can it handle?

Milliways can seat 84 people and you need a reservation. This can be done in the book below the restaurant. This gives us an idea of how many people to prepare for.

When is Milliways open?

Milliways opens on Thursday and will serve customers from 5PM to 11PM.

Is this something you wish to continue next year?
Very much so. We hope to expand both the menu and the restaurant.

Thank you for taking your time to talk to us!
You're welcome.

Programming For Beginners

Programming For Beginners is held by Liam S. Crouch at 13:55, and is an introduction to programming in object-oriented languages, specifically Java. It will explore principles and simple examples to get you started in programming.

Liam won the Best Newcomer Award at The Gathering 2011, as well as took 3rd place in the Game Development competition at the same event with his game Caveman.

Demo Programming in XNA

Petri Wilhelmsen from Microsoft will hold the seminar Demo Programming In XNA at 14:50. If you're curious about programming demos, curious about XNA, or both - show up and let Petri show you what it's all about.

Petri is the Developer Community Manager for Microsoft Norway, and has a long history of attendance at The Gathering - where he has competed in the demo competition multiple times.

Game Development For Beginners

Liam S. Crouch returns at 15:45 for his seminar on Game Development for beginners. This seminar is a continuation on his seminar from earlier today, and builds on the same bulding blocks. During the seminar, you will learn how the special starter kit that has been put together works, and it will explore how to make simple games from scratch.

After the seminars, you can naturally come to the Creative Lounge and get further help and guidance from our mentors. We hope to see your contributions based on what you learn here for years to come.

A winner of the two first competitions will be chosen on April 6th, and the two second competitions on April 8th. Prizes in all the competitions are a gift certificate from mpx.no worth 1000 NOK.

The winners will be chosen by four media production students at Østfold Community College.

BIO1337: Keyboard Biology: What lives in your keyboard?
There's life everywhere on earth, and there's hundreds of lifeforms in your keyboard alone. In this course you'll learn more about what lives in your keyboard.
Time and place: UiO: Campus TG-stand, Thursday, 14:00

ARA1001: Crash course in arabic
Arabic – more than kebabs and coffee.
Time and place: Auditorium, Thursday, 15:00

TRE3000: All about triangles.
The head of the Department of informatics is coming - in person - to talk about his favorite subjects: triangles and triangulations.
Time and place: Auditorium, Thursday, 15:30

NAO1000: Programming the NAO robot
Here you'll get a technical demonstration of how the NAO robot is programmed, We'll explain the basic principles of robot programming and some of the most basic features it has (movement, detecting objects and noises etc.).
Time and place: Auditorium, Thursday, 16:00

EKS1000: The art of explosions
From airbags to Mentos in Coke, explosions abound. What is an explosion? Elina and Andreas present the chemical and the physical view of an explosions and practice the art of blowing things up.
Time and place: Auditorium, Thursday, 17:00

GAME1000: Basic game development – programming with Processing
Learn how you'll develop for a keyboard/mouse environment, draw geometric characters and images. No prior programming knowledge is required for this.
Time and place: Auditorium, Thursday, 18:00

ARD1000: Physical hacking with Arduino
Introduction to programming of physical things. Learn how to make objects glow, sense their environment and create noise with the help of a programmable microcontroller.
Time and place: Auditorium, Thursday, 18:30

GAME1010: Game development – programming with processing
Add sounds, animated drawings and basic physical principals to add a finishing touch to your game. To attend this course, prior programming knowledge is recommended, that or you should have attended GAME1000: Basic Game development.
Time and place: Auditorium, Thursday, 19:00

FLY-FYS1000: Paper plane physics
We have all seen paper in flight. Paper planes are tons of fun, but can we make more of them than sheets of paper falling out of the air? UiO: Campus TG looks into cargo and combat applications of folded paper.
Time and place: Auditorium, Thursday, 20:00

UIO1101: Life, the University and Everything
A brief introduction to life, the University of Oslo and everything.
Time and place: Auditorium, Thursday, 20:00

SOV1337: RedBull, Caffeine, Polyphasic sleep.
What is caffeine and how does it affect our bodies? Can a cup of coffee reduce the effects of not going to bed? Why do we sleep, anyway? Is it possible to sleep more efficiently? Do you really need to go to bed? This lecture introduces a study in the effects of your quest to evade downtime: sleep deprivation. In order to find the answer to how the TGers manage without sleep, UiO: Campus TG arranges an extensive survey of the sleep deprivation and the caffeines effect on cognitive abilites. With experiments and statistics we will answer the big question: do we need to sleep when we have coffee?
Time and place: Auditorium, night before Friday, 01:30

The Small HTML case task is now out, as is the Fast Remix kit - so get cracking! We are anxiously awaiting your contributions.

Deadlines

Deadlines for the following competitions are today, so we hope you have your entries ready - Themed Photo at 12:00, MS Paint at 15:00, Fast Remix at 16:00, Themed Graphics at 17:00 and Sanestation Music at 23:59.

Tomorrow, friday, we have deadlines for the competitions Rendered Graphics (12:00), Freestyle Graphics (12:00), Fast Intro (18:00), Freestyle Video (23:59) og Hardcore Programming (23:59).

Seminars

Today brings many good seminars from the main stage. You cean learn more about programming in «Progamming for beginners» with Liam S. Crouch at 13:55, or catch his second seminar of the day «Game development for beginners» at 15:45. Crouch won third place in last year's Game Development with his game Caveman.

Microsoft is holding the seminar «Demo programming in XNA» at 15:45, followed by a second seminar on game production at 21:55 from the good people of Noroff, called «Alex Trowers Making Games? Great!».

If your interests are more about music, sound and production, we strongly advise you to attend the seminars «The Secrets of Bass and Sound Design» at 16:40 as well as «Inspiration to Music Production» at 18:15. Both seminars are held by Magnus Sørlie, better known as Miu when he is appearing on stage - as he did in the opening show yesterday - or Kaktusen, when he is busy winning music and demo competitions right here at The Gathering for the last few years.

So get oup out of your chair, get down to the stage and see these seminars! You will certainly learn new things, and be inspired to start creating your own awesome productions. You can read more about what happens on stage in The Gathering's main Schedule.

Mentors

Other than that, all our mentors are in place, so use them - ask them questions, get their input on your production, and if you wonder about anything - come talk to us at the Creative Helpdesk! You can read more about who our mentors are and what they can help you with at our mentor page.

The first prize is a Dell Alienware M18X laptop worth 48000 norwegian kroner.
There is also a daily drawing at the Altibox booth at 22:00.

For more information see this video:

When ODD performed at the Scene.org Awards halftime show last year, they left behind a little present - a remix kit for their world wide hit World Dominaton! They have kindly allowed us to use it for the purpose of this years' Fast Remix competition.

Go download it! The deadline has been set to 16:00 today (5th of August). So, use your six hours well, use the kit to remix or cover it, and last, but not least, read the compo rules for fast remix!

Download the fast remix compo kit!

The compo system is where you can submit your entries to the Creative competitions and vote for the entries you like.

You can find it here: compo.tg12.gathering.org

We realize the compo system can be a little confusing, so we have created a short guide to the compo system which you can read here.

The ticket can only be picked up by its user, meaning that owners of more than one ticket need to add the appropriate users before picking up their ticket.

The tickets can be collected in the reception for a deposit of 10 NOK. The reception does not have any change at the moment, so exact change only. Payment by credit card will be available from Thursday 8 a.m.

We must stress that the food ticket is only valid for one serving per meal.

Menu

Breakfast is served from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and consists of a buffet with bread, various spreads, egg, milk and coffee.

Dinner is served from 3 p.m to 6 p.m.

• Thursday: stroganoff casserole with pasta marinated in herbs and salad
• Friday: rissole with boiled potatoes, cabbage à la norvégienne and cowberries
• Saturday: taco buffet

Allergies and special needs

If you have any allergies or other special needs, you need to inform the cafeteria staff about this when you pick up your first meal.

Norwegian stream

The winner will get an engraved iPad with the text of their chosing. Deadline for the puzzle is saturday by 22:00. For questions regarding this puzzlegame please don't hesitate to take a trip to their stand here inside the gathering.

Exchange some of your warm cooler bricks for some nice and cool ones down at kandu's chilloutzone.

If you haven't already signed up for the tournaments, make sure that you do that as soon as possible before the deadline comes and goes and you miss out on your chance to play! Professional gamers (invited and qualified) are reminded that they still need to sign in for the tournament at the Game:Desk located next to the QPAD stage at the far end of the arena.

This year's BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) Tournaments will kick off this very day at The Gathering, and the deadline for you to register is closing in, so please follow THIS guide and make sure you are checked-in to be able participate, before the deadline for your game:

• League of Legends: Sign-up closes at 19:00
• Battlefield 3: Sign-up closes at 19:00
• Starcraft II: Sign-up closes at 20:00

Please make sure you have everything ready when you come to check-in for the tournaments, and remember that if you play a team game the whole team needs to come to the desk to check-in even if you have a manager.

There are lots of teams playing this year, and it's going to be GREAT! Coming to play in the tournaments at TG12 are well-known teams Lions EK, Dignitas, Team BX3 and Epsilon as well as many other amazing teams. The LoL tournament is shaping up to be quite exciting with 4 invited teams, and the Battlefield 3 tournament will be equally as exciting. The Starcraft tournament is our premiere tournament this year, with players from all over the world competing (Spain, USA, South Korea, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Ukraine, Germany and Russia). We also have some amazing casters attending, including the unmistakable IMBA.tv crew, and Norwegian casters Kenneth "Kjartan" Gjersdal, Tom-Egil "HoppeH" Fossåskaret, Roger "RogerRus" Rusten and Richard "RiChY" Rørmark.

You can get more information about the tournaments under the game pages -

Leauge of Legends

Battlefield 3

Starcraft II

Good Luck and Have Fun!

Announcements

The Small HTML competition task will be announced at 03:00, and the Fast remix kit will be released tomorrow morning at 10:00, so be sure to be ready for those!

Deadlines

The first deadlines are already tomorrow, and you need to make sure your contributions for Themed Photo (10:00), MS Paint (15:00), Fast Remix (16:00), Themed Graphics (17:00), Sanestation Music (23:59) and Freestyle Music (23:59) are ready!

Creativia time!

The main thing that's happening tonight is a show from the main stage, starting at 23:15, and running a full hour. During that time, Creativia chief Anders Lassen and selected guests will give brief introductions to all the competitions, as well as show examples of some of the most outstanding contributions from previous years. We will round it all up with some selected demos from previous years, to really get your inspiration going.

That's it for today - we will see you all out and about in the creative lounge, and be sure to come up to our helpdesk and ask our extremely helpful and friendly staff if there is anything you need.

Download it here. (Norwegian)

And then, on our journey through The Gathering's creative history, we've reached the present. 2008 didn't have any large adjustments to the competition structure, apart from the loss of rendered graphics for this year - so let's just go straight to the results:

Zeila - My Creatures of Light

Graphics was won by Julie M. Røsok with Angel, in front of Marilla with Pony Stole My Panties and Volant with Outside The Box. Themed graphics was won by Zeila with Transform The Earth, in front of Mogsters with Bio. On the music side, Kaktusen won Reason music with Impact, and Stian K won HiQuality music with Nostalgy. In the intro and demo competitions, there was one name bigger than all the others this year. After many years of contributions, PlayPsyCo finally made serious impact, and won both competitions! In 64k intro, they won with the fantastic Konami / Raze, where they made a whole world in only 64k. In demo, they won with Camden Town, in front of Nazareth Creations with Mercury.

2009 was, in many ways, an important year. With a brand new team in charge of the creative competitions and a brand new sense of enthusiasm, it was perhaps the best creative TG yet. Among the news this year was the introduction of the creative lounge where interested people could hang out and get help and inspiration from our creative mentors. The graphics competitions got a huge upswing this year, with the reintroduction of rendered graphics and the new MS Paint compo - ending in a total of four graphics compos. The Reason compo was gone, but in its place we got the new competition "fast remix", in which participants were given a set amount of time in which to remix a given track.

Wictoria Nordgaard - Sirens

Let's start with the new and resurrected graphics compos first; MS Paint graphics was won by Offwhite with Bris, followed by Phae with Mademoiselle. Rendered graphics was won by Martin Olsen with Nintendo Boy, while Volants Showdown made second. Themed graphics was decided by a jury, and in first place we find Marilla with Luna Travels. In the main graphics competition, Wic went all the way to the top with Sirens. Wic is also one of our mentors in graphics this year, and she will be at hand in the creative lounge. The new music compo, fast remix, was won by Dr. Macarena with Fast Remix TG09, only one single point in front of Kaktusen with Nesten Egil Mix. In the main music compo, Andre Söderlund won with Medley From Desert Heat Machinima - also the soundtrack of this years winner in the wild compo. Unfortunately, there was no intro compo this year, because of too few contributions. On the other hand, in demo, there was no lack of entries. The Greeks from Andromeda Software Development won with their monster demo Rupture. In second place, we find Outracks and Nazareth Creatins with Quantum, and Sunshine In A Box by Dead Roman on third. The international demoscene loved Rupture so much, that it was voted best demo of the year, best direction, and public choice award for the 2009 Scene.org awards.

The biggest difference between 2009 and 2010, was that 2010 got enough contributions in the intro competition - even with the top two intros being by the same group. We had found a form that worked, and little was changed from last year.

Let's start off with MS Paint again; the winner was Phae with Mage Queen Rosali, followed by Zeila with O Hai Thar in second and Stephanie Spoor with Wild Child in third place. Themed concept art was won by Yngvill Thon Sørensen with Mirror Shards. Rendered graphics went to Kim Aleksander Strandli with Super No More this year. In the main graphics compo, the roles from MS Paint were flipped - Zeila won with Walking My Pet, in front of Phaes Shamaness, and Wic with The Day of the Storm on third.

Zeila - Walking My Pet

Fast remix was won by Duccis' version of Danse Hele Natten - even though so many people found 0-Day Ivars version so unique, that it was awarded a special award during the prize ceremony. The music compo was won by the group OVRPWR - including previous compo participant Flipside - with Best Way of Defense, in front of Kaktusen with Revolution by Design in second and Joakim Skurk with The Next Level in third place. Out of three contributions for the intro compo, the top two was as mentioned from the same group - Youth Uprising. Magnus finished first, and JenterErForetrukket came in second in the competition. The third place went to Compo Xaviours with Polymono. In the demo compo, PlayPsyCo once again took back the crown, with the almighty Phon, in an obvious victory. Two of the people behind Phon are mentors this year, (Datsua and Kaktusen) and both of them are going to hold seminars. Phon was nominated for best soundtrack in the Scene.org awards, but unfortunately did not win.

2011 was a special year for the creative competitions at The Gathering, with awesome contributions and extra motivation from being chosen to host the prestigious Scene.org Awards! This in turn resulted in more international visitors and participants, which was reflected in the overall quality of the contributions. 2011 was an extremely good year for The Gathering on the creative side - maybe the best ever. Let's check out the results.

MS Paint was won by Tina Alfredsen with 3 Goldfish 1 Moon, in front of Zeila with Unmasked in second, and Offwhite with 0x4169 in third place. Themed concept art was won by Yngvill Thon Sørensen for the second year in a row, this time with The Three. Rendered graphics went to someone who had participated for years, Volant with Barely Regal. First place in graphics went, without much doubt, to Babe Runner by Anne Marte Markussen. Anne Marte is another one of our seminar holders this year, with a speedpaint session in Photoshop. Second place went to Yngvill Thons Sørensen with Raindrops.

Anne Marte Markussen - Babe Runner

The fast remix task this year was to remix last years winner, and the winner was Kaktusen with Kaktusens Bassface Remix. The same man brought home first place in the music compo as well, where he got everybody to walk around singing "We are the units that move as one" with his track We Are The Bass. Second and third went to Flipside with Beautiful Sight and Irvin with That's Some Incoherent Shit You're Talking There. The intro compo was won by Loonies from Denmark with Michigan, in front of Compo Xaviours with Milk - just eight points behind. The demo compo at The Gathering 2011 will probably go into history as one of the best ever. With a pretty small margin, PlayPsyCo once again took home first prize with We Crave Sustenance. Following hot on their heels was CNCD and Fairlight with Numb Res, followed by a row of strong demos - Outracks and Nazareth Creations with Struct in third, Dead Roman with the cutting edge Spheres On A Plane in fourth, Hobots by Kvasigen in fifth and Nitesco by Youth Uprising in sixth.

2011 was a monstrous year for the creative The Gathering, and we can't wait for what the participants have coded, produced, drawn, rendered and synced at home since we last met. We have not a shred of doubt, that 2012 will once more destroy all previous records.

From the basic building blocks of actually creating a game yourself all the way to playing your favourite game and making something creative out of it, there will be a creative enterprise that fits most gamers at this years The Gathering.

NGA Game Development and NGA Themed Game Development

For the developer and programmers, our creative team have partnered with the Norwegian Game Awards to give you the opportunity to compete for prizes by creating your very own game. This is a nice way to stimulate your creative senses fully because you can create almost anything you want. If you are new to game development but always wanted to make your own game, you can get tons of help from our mentors in the creative area, so not having the skills is no excuse to leave your entry out of the submission box!

Minecraft Creation

Minecraft has grown and grown and now involves millions of players around the world - a true sign that everyone can be creative if they want to be. We want to bring this forward at The Gathering and that's why we are continuing our success from last year by holding a Minecraft creation competition. The goal is simple: we give you a theme and you amaze us with the biggest, best, most amazing creation you can come up with. Last year, the challenge was to re-create "Vikingskipet", this year we are at the end of the universe, so we have a fitting theme – "At the end of the Universe".

Best Game Movie

Like to create movies or short clips of action, but don't want to leave all your games at home? Well, maybe you can compete in our Best Game Movie competition! There are not many rules you have to follow, and the setup is simple: just make a movie. As long as it is clearly related to games and has a strong game theme, we are happy to judge it. There are lots of styles to choose from, from the popular fragmovies and racing movies to the game themed short movies filmed with real actors – starring you!

What are you waiting for? Most of these competitions are already open for you to start being creative! So off you go, and get creative – you must enter to be able to win!

The results of this survey will be out in the start of june on NTNU's own pages.

The last couple of years, we've made a music disc with the best music from the competitions. Get the easter feeling with songs like We Are The Bass and Best Way Of Defense, and get inspired for the Gathering experience - or even better, to contribute yourself?

Music disc from 2010 – Submerged

Music disc from 2011 – Partly Cloudy

The new route is marked by signs.

When returning home on Sunday, the same route must be followed.

Note - as this route exits from an E-road onto a national road with less traffic, we remind everyone to follow the speed limit and to respect fellow motorists and the surroundings.

It's enough to tell them you're going to or from the Gathering. No purchase is necessary, but it's always nice with people who support the local commerce.

The gas station is situated along the E6, by Mjøsa in Stange kommune.

After a few moderate years an the start of the millennium, a definite sense of improvement started to show in the 2003 compos, and the feeling was further reinforced in 2004. Seperate platform competitions now belonged to the past, and a focus on including game developers in the creative world was new.

Kusma - bitch2k3k9k

As usual, lets start with the graphic compos of 2004. Kusma of Excess won the drawn part of the compo with Bitch2K3K9K. By the way, Kusma is one of our programming mentors this year, and can be congratulated on his 2004 victory in the creative lounge for anyone who wants :) Rendered graphics was won by Pål Syversen with the picture Hottentott, just inches in front of Marius Jonsson with Fighting Falcon. Tracked music was won by lug00ber with Respekt, while high quality music was won by Flipside with 30000 And Counting. Number two in both compos was Edzes of Kvasigen and Rebels, with Chippelakke Chippelakke!! and Alumina.

The intro and demo compos were, as before, combined. 64k intro had a very clear winner this year, with more than double the score of second place. Members of Excess and Kvasigen united, and made the monumental Nemesis. The music from this intro was made with Sanestation - a self developed socalled softsynth - which we have a seperate music compo for this year! Read more about the Sanestation compo. The winner in demo this year was the newbies in Outracks, with this years chief of Creativia in the lead, with our.demo. In second and third place, iNF with Pornographic, and Spaceballs with Hog, followed. The latter should be the last Amiga demo in TG history to reach top three.

The only real adjustment in 2005, was the addition of the Reason Music compo, in which all contributions had to be made with the Reason software.

Mulm - Luftslott

The graphics compo was somewhat special this year, being the first victory of the extremely talented Mulm, with her contribution Luftslott. Mulm continued to do pretty well in the graphics compos to come, which resulted in her being recruited to work on several demos, and to eventually join the design team at The Gathering. Do you like this year's The Gathering design and background pictures? Mulm was one of the people who made that. RenderedgGraphics was won with a picture called theAlien by Thomas Døhlen. In tracked music, Aulin was victorious with his tune Super Ted In Outer Space, and in high quality music, Ola Prøis by Søta Vennar won. 64k went to Kvasigen with Cubism 2, with a safe margin down to second place. In the demo compo, Portal Process went all the way to the top with the robot demo Meet The Biots, while Outracks took second place with No Kelvin.

There were some changes in the compo structures in 2006; tracked music and rendered graphics disappeared, while themed graphics were added - a new concept for a graphics compo, where contributions had to follow a given theme.

Mulm - Vi Vil Ha Loff

Mulm rose to the challenge, and won both the regular graphics compo and themed graphics this year - with Vi Vil Ha Loff and A Grave Misunderstanding. She also claimed second place in the Wild compo, which we usually don't cover in this series. The Reason compo, which was added last year, was won by Kaktusen with Time Is Running Out. High Quality was won by Edzes with Sunset In Alcudia. 64k Intro was won by Portal Posse - an alias for our friend in Portal Process, known from last years demo compo winner - with Smoke This. This years demo compo was a close shave, between the Greeks in Andromeda Software Development with Animal Attraction, which won, and Outracks with Genesis. PlayPsyCo took third place with Treble And Bass.

After the uplifting quality of the contributions from last year, we have reached 2007 - and the last year for this little article. Again with some minimal changes in the compos, so lets get to it.

Mulm - Trouble At The Martian Spring Factory

Not surprisingly, Mulm did as last year, and won both the regular graphics compo with Just Google It as well as themed graphicss with Trouble At The Martian Spring Factory. Reason music was won by Cathedral of Failure with the song Malevolent. Second place in Reason and first place in high quality music was won - the latter with a huge margin - by Kaktusen with the tracks Erase, Evolve, Complete and Commando. 64k Intro was won by PlayPsyCo with Mupé, followed by Nazareth Creations with Cubiform on second and Boozing Kupoz with Pocketrocket on third. The demo compo was just won by Outracks - after two years in a row on second - with Gamma. The demoscene's international organization, scene.org, chose to reward two of the contributions from The Gathering this with Scene.org awards - Mupé won Best 64k Intro and Gamma won Best soundtrack of the year.

The stream can be viewed at http://vikingskipet.no/.

Altibox, the company that gives us the fastest internet connection in the universe, will this year, same as last, set up a tv-channel broadcasting TGTV

The channel is available to all Altibox customers and is live April 4th to 8th.

In addition to this, Altibox is holding a competition where you can win a brand new gaming laptop. For more information about this, see this link.

Last ned!

The year 2000 arrived at The Gathering, unfortunately it was about to be a few low years for the creative environment. The number of contributions were decreasing, and the quality didn't hold the expected level in the first few years of the new millennium. Nonetheless, some golden nuggets did show up, and we're going to focus on some of the better ones.

At The Gathering 2000, it was decided that the Amiga and PC competitions for intro and demo were to be merged. The old faithful servant, 4 channel music, said goodbye, and the music competitions were now branched into Tracked and MP3. The Animation competition changed its name to Video FX.

Inferno - Avatar

Traditional graphics was won by the Hungarian Inferno of Haujobb with the picture Avatar, while first place in rendered graphics went to Silver3D with the picture Adorable, Horny Chick. We know, not all that politically correct. In tracked music Edzes took first prize with Beautiful Dreams, and in mp3 Anone won with the track Unreal. As mentioned earlier, the intro competitions were merged this year, and it was a close race between the winner glAss by Psikorp (pc), Airspace by Nocturnal (pc) on second and Swaptro by Ephidrena (amiga) in third. Java demo was won by the collaboration demo No You Don't by Blashpemy, TPOLM and Prone. Like last year, 3D accelerated demo was arranged, but there wasn't enough contributions to carry through. In the end, contributions were shown, but could not be voted on. The Demo competition included both amiga and pc contributions, and again - for the second year in a row - Spaceballs won with Hypnopolis.

2001 was the sixth edition of The Gathering held in the Vikingship. The video fx competition from last year was renamed back into animation. The intro competition was once again split into amiga and pc, while the demo competition was still combined. Java and 3d-accelerated demo was gone, and another web technology took over - Flash. The biggest talking point of the year was what happened in the 4k intro compo, where Repoman of Three Amigos competed - and won - with an intro he had stolen from another group! Obviously, he was found out by the observant demosceners in attendenace, and called out from the main stage.

TMK - Dreamworld

Graphics was won by Inferno of Haujobb for the second year in a row, this time with Warrior Babe. Rendered graphics was won by a gentleman answering to the name Dr_3D, which won with a picture named Pirates. The Wacko and Kaktuskaffe won the tracked music compo with Kamelene til TG2001, while mp3 music was won by Gonzo with Goblin Construction. The new Flash compo was won by lug00ber and Fuglemat with Fiskeslo. The combined 4k Intro was won by Spaceballs with Badass 5000, while 64k Intro was won by Nocturnal with mx.9kru. As mentioned, the demo compo was split into Amiga and PC. In Amiga demo, to no surprise, Spaceballs won for the third year running with Powergod. PC Demo was won by Fadebout with Triple Five Tsunami, just in front of Nocturnal with 3pm.lived (pRot3kt0r).

In 2002, the combined 4k and 64k intro system was continued, but there were still separate demo compos for amiga and pc. Also, Alternative Platform Demo was introduced, a competition for demos on all kinds of hardware - like cell phones!

As usual, there were two graphics compos. The drawn compo was won by a familiar name, TMK of iNF with Dreamworld. Rendered graphics went to Denis Alekseev with Homeless. Tracked music was won by System Talayot with The Dark Side, while mp3 (which for the occasion had changed its name back to High Quality Music) was won by lug00ber of Kvasigen with These Walls. The new compo for obscure software, Alternative Platform, had a rare battle for the first prize - Excess and Contraz won with Curto Servico de Mesagem, one small point in front of Tralala Vrooom by Kvasigen and Nocturnal. In the 4k combined intro, Push Entertainment won with ECHT, while 64k Combined Intro was won by Nocturnal with Masse Lego. Amiga demo went - and you'll never guess this one - to Spaceballs with Scrimm. The winner of the PC demo compo was iNF with Thermo Plastique.

The last year we're going to cover this time around is 2003. Java, Flash and Alternative Plattform were removed, but little else was changed this year - except for the changes made during the party. Amiga demo had so few contributions, it had to be combined with pc demo. Nonetheless, two of the three top placements were Amiga demos.

Pixel graphics was, for the first time in history, won by a girl - Fuglemat with Disappointed Virgin. Rendered graphics was won by the same person as last year, Denis Alekseev with Mission Impossible. Music had two competitions - tracked music, won by Edzes with Sorrow - and ogg/mp3 music, was won by Dezerate with - please excuse our/Dezerates language - Fitte I slipset. As far as we can see for the available source material, 4k intro competition was held. 64k intro, on the other hand, was held, and won by Neon and lug00ber with lol 2k!!. The demo compo for Amiga and pc was, as previously mentioned, combined, and on top we find the legendary demo World Domination by Odd. Even though the Amiga had significantly less powerful hardware than the pc, the three Amiga demos did exceptionally well, scoring both second place (Ephidrena with Fake Elektronik Lightshow) and third place (Spaceballs with Dark Helmets) in the competition. 2003 was a good year - definitively better than the ones that started the new millennium off - and it was going to get even better.

In addition to good food, the restaurant offers great photo opportunities.

Menu:

• Pepper steak from the tenderloin, served with grilled tomato, fried vegetables and pepper sauce, NOK. 290
• Beef of sirloin with onions, roasted vegetables and béarnaise sauce, NOK. 245
• Entrecote (250gr), served with fresh champignon, roasted vegetables and red wine sauce, NOK. 275

All dishes are served with a choice of gratinated potatoes or French fries.

So sit down and enjoy a great meal At the End of the Universe, welcome to Milliways!

Louie - Me And My Little Sister

The graphics competition was won by a Swede, Louie of The Black Lotus with the oustanding Me And My Little Sister, while Vinnie of Spaceballs again won the 4 channel music, and COdec won multi channel music with Asian Dawn II. The Amiga compos were dominated by the new supergroup The Black Lotus this year, which took both first and second place in Amiga 4k with Gizmo and EQ-4k, and first place in Amiga demo with Tint. Tint has been mentioned as an outstanding demo even in recent years, and was given a glowing recommendation by The Gathering boss Vegard Skjefstad during one of the demoshows from the mainstage in 2010. The only Amiga compo The Black Lotus didn't bring home, was first prize in the 40k intro, where the Finns in Stellar brought home the prestigious prize with Lights. The PC competitions began in earnest to show muscles this year, and with a Norwegian victory in 4k with Waterworld by Scoop, once again the Finns brought home the rest - Orange with You Am I You Am The Robot in 64k intro, and CNCD with Inside in the demo compo.

1997 was The Gathering's second year in the Vikingship, and this year brought new adjustments and experiments to the competition structure. So called Textmode demos - demoes made in textmode in ms-dos on a pc, that is, only letters, digits and symbols from regular text mode - got its own demo competition. Graphics got a little side category with raytracing. Further, music was now merged into one competition, and PC and Amiga 64k Intro were merged, probably because of the low number of contribution in the Amiga competition.

Louie and Danny - Angelic Particles

Graphics was won by the beautiful Angelic Particles by Louie and Danny of The Black Lotus - which in addition to winning the graphics competition also showed up in the winning Amiga demo and the 3rd-placed pc demo! There wasn't any 4k compo for the Amiga this year, but there was one for the PC, which was won by Index with Bubble. 64k was, as mentioned earlier, merged, and the Danes in Fudge won with Gene. In the Amiga demo competition, The Black Lotus once again came out on top with the awesome Captured Dreams, and won with a large margin. The Germans in Artwork came in second, with Exit Planet Dust. The pc demo competition was once again won by Finns - CNCD and Orange trumped with CNCD vs Orange, with Rage's Robotnik and The Black Lotus' Astral Blur tight second and third.

The Gathering was already an undisputed success, and 1998 was the first year it was totally sold out - three weeks in advance! Another year, more adjustments. Once again, music was divided into 4-channel and multichannel. In addition, a new animation compo was established, and new demo compos for demos written in Java, and demos written with 3D-acceleration. Yup, you read that one right. It was still not really mainstream for graphic cards to come with 3D-rendering functionality, and all the beautiful worlds built up in demos were still mostly just pure code. The Textmode compo was continued this year.

Graphics was won by TMK of iNF with Alone, while raytraced graphics was won by 3DAddict with Future Bandits. In the music compo, Caramel of iNF brought home both first prizes - 4-channel was won with Girl Fromage, and multichannel was won with Liquorice Lobotmy, which was a collaboration with Jisemdu. Amiga 4k was won by Spaceballs with Hippie Machinerey, while PC 4k was won by Index with 4k Intro, for the second year in a row.

On the 64k side, The Black Lotus was back on Amiga, and won convincingly with Imitation None, and Jive 2 from Sublogic won the PC 64k. And then, the new demo categories - Komplex had changed the first letter of their group since their triumph with Dope back in 1995, but still brought home the first prize in Java with Forward and first prize for 3D-accelerated demo with Planet Cornball! This years best demo on Amiga went to a subgroup of the old giants TRSI called Mellow Chips, with the demo Rise. Best PC demo was won by Gods with Dimensions.

1999 was the fourth year in the Vikingship for The Gathering. Both the Java and the 3D-accelerated demo competitions were continued, but unfortunately the latter was cancelled due to a lack of contributions. This year, the music compo got a new branch - High Quality, in other words; mp3 and other streaming formats had come to stay.

Dr3d - Bounty Hunter

The traditional graphics compo was won by TMK of iNF for the second year in a row, now with Blue. Raytraced graphics was won by Dr3d with Bounty Hunter. 4-channel music was won by Rolex of Depth and Massive with Kamelon, and in the multichannel compo Anticipations-TG99 by g00ber - for many of you, known as the person in charge of the creative compos at TG today, Ola Gundelsby - won. In the new category High Quality Music, Antasal reached the top with Sudden Trip Back Home. In Amiga 4k intro, Extreme Entertainment won with Freedom, while Digimind took the first prize in PC 4k intro with Animal Planet. Amiga 64k was won by Spaceballs with Fushion Is No Good For Me, and PC 64k was won by Purple with Public Demand. The "little" democompo for Java was this year won by Digital Nerds with Lucid Dreams. So, to the demos. On the Amiga Spaceballs started a string of winning contributions with the release of Supermonster, which came in just in front of Ephidrena's Flux. PC Demo was won by a group which had really started to make its mark in the last few years leading up to this - iNF won with Yume 2000 - (Future World Mix). The author of this text would like to add, that the results from this year was absolutely, fantastically messy, so, if anything is wrong or inaccurate, please - comment in the field below, and we will correct as neccessary. But we think we got it right. Mostly.

BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer)

The BYOC qualifying tournaments are held the first day of The Gathering 2012, and this is the last chance for anyone to qualify for the main tournament. Signups and check-in for the BYOC tournaments close 19:00 if not specified otherwise. For the BYOC to run smoothly, a BinaryBeast account is required in order to allow players to report their scores after the end of a match and move on to the next.

Here is what you need to do to be able to play in the BYOC tournaments at The Gathering 2012:

1. Login to your BinaryBeast account or create a shiny new one!
   
   
2. Make sure you have linked your gaming profiles to your account (Battle.net ID/Summoner name, etc.)
   
   You can also set your ID's/summoner name as the "Display Name" on your BinaryBeast profile.
   
   
3. Join the tournament you want to play in. You will find a link to registration under each game in the menu to the left.
   
   NOTE: In Battlefield 3 and League of Legends, only the team leader needs to apply for a slot in the tournament. However, the whole team must check-in at the Game:Desk upon arrival at The Gathering 2012 (More about that below.)
   
   You have now reserved a slot for the tournament, but still need to check-in as a confirmed player/team to be able to play in the tournament (your slot is still not locked and can be taken by other participants):
   
   
4. When you arrive at The Gathering 2012 you and your whole team must check-in at the Game:Desk, this must be done before 19:00 on Wednesday the 4th of April. After you and your team have done this you are a Confirmed Participant in the tournament, and no one else can take your slot.
   
   
5. Get on IRC and the channel for your game. If you don't have an IRC client, a link to a web-client can be found under the game pages BYOC section of your particular game. (Navigate with the menu to the left.)

Main Tournament:

The main tournament is where most of the action happens. It is played in the Game:Arena, an e-sports area created for this years gaming events. To be able to compete in the main tournament you must either have been invited, qualified through an online tournament or qualified through the BYOC tournament. Players and teams must also check-in for the main tournament:

1. Upon arrival for The Gathering 2012, players and teams must check-in and confirm their arrival at the Game:Desk.
   
   
2. Players and Team Managers must fill out a form with contact and bank account information at the Game:Desk – it is the players' and teams own responsibility to make sure this information is given to The Gathering's Administration and that the provided information is correct. Providing faulty information may result in the loss of prizes.
   
   Please have all bank details, including international codes and transfer information ready when you come to check in.
   
   
3. Make sure that you meet up for your matches at least 30 minutes prior to any scheduled match time.

This year's theme is:

Someone who is in a situation they are unsuited for, or something that's in a situation where it does not belong. For instance, a superhero with the wrong powers to complete his mission, or a military robot from the future in a dating sim.

Read more about the NGA Themed Game Development Competition here!

The doors open wednesday, April 4th at 09:00

There will be a shuttle bus running from the parking lot outside Vikingskipet. The bus will run until 18:00.

You will also get the opportunity to win some prizes, as Chillout will hold multiple competitions during the day.
So remember to pack your swimming gear, and remember: «If you want to survive out here, you've got to know where your towel is.»

You will find more information at the Chillout area during The Gathering.

Check-in

Tickets for this event are digital and can be modified by the owner at any time. You can print a check-in proof detailing information regarding the ticket at the time you completed pre-check-in. You only need the check-in proof and identification to gain access to the event.

In summation: The ticket it self is digital in the sense that it only exists in Geekevents and that it's the status in Geekevents which decides whether or not it is in fact valid.

Just like at the airport

To compare this with something you might be more experienced with, let's say your at an airport.

Let us compare this with when you are going to travel by air. Your proof of check-in is the reference number you have when you go to the check-in counter. When you check in you get a boarding pass, which in our case can be compared with the bracelet you get when you arrive at the venue and check in there.

Food ticket

There have been some questions regarding the food ticket. The food ticket works a lot like the participants ticket Explained briefly:

1. Make sure you have selected users for all your food tickets, if you have more than one.
2. Every single user go to the receptian to get a GE-card
3. You pay a 10 NOK deposit for the card..
4. Eat plenty of food.
5. Return the card and get a 10 NOK refund or keep it for the future, it may be used on future events.

In a small series of articles leading up to this year's The Gathering, every other day we will present a new time era in TG's history from a creative perspective. We shall begin at the beginning, in Skedsmohallen, Lillestrøm - the easter of 1992. This article's author attended with good friends after reading lots about the event in the local press and the computer press beforehand. What we experienced back then, wasn't only a fantastic atmosphere and the beginning of something big, but also tremendous competitions within graphics, music - and the magic that happens when joining these elements and making them move - demos.

Sauron - Beauty and the Beast

Sauron from the group Equinox participated with the winning picture in the graphics competition with Beauty and the Beast, while Gin from Carnage won the music competition with the track Party Time. Back in those days, there was only one proper platform for demos, and that was Amiga - and the competition was won by Spaceballs with Wayfarer, just inches before Andromeda with D.O.S.

The following year, The Gathering returned to Skedsmohallen, and 1993 was in every way similiar to the previous year - in both shape and content. This was the last year in Skedsmohallen. New this year, was the intro competitions - like demoes, but with a sizelimit designed to squeeze the little extra out of the groups. The graphics competition was won by Archmage from Andromeda with The Dhryads, while last years winner, Sauron, had to settle for third with Freak. Vinnie of Spaceballs won the music compo with Jammin' Cindy. The intro competition was won by the new supergroup Lemon., with A 40k Intro For The Gathering Intro Competition, and the most prestigious prize - demo - was won by the Danish supergroup Kefrens with their enormous production Desert Dream.

Fairfax - ZZ Madman

In 1994, The Gathering moved for the first time, and was held in Rykkinnhallen in Bærum municipality, just outside Oslo. The new hall brought its own problems, with power cuts among other things, but the creative compos was nonetheless a success. For the first time, competitions for the PC were held, in addition to Amiga, and all Amiga contributions accepted use of the AGA-circuits in the new Amiga models. The graphics competition was won by Fairfax of Andromeda with the colorful ZZ Madman, and the music compo was won by guitar track Sound O' Da Lunatic by Svolkraq from the PC-group Gollum. Amiga Intro was won by Stone Arts with Bjarne, while the PC intro was brought home by Das Grelle by Gollum. Amigo Demo was this year won by Andromeda with Sequental, while PC demo was won by a group called Five And Then Some with Superunknown.

The Gathering's travelling days was to end the following year, but not without stopping in Stavanger in 1995. This year, The Gathering had a completely new crew behind it, and to be completely honest, 1995 is widely regarded among the long-time-participants as the worst event in TG's history. Luckily the creative compos weren't affected particularly, and this year brought the by now familiar amounts of quality and awesomeness.

Graphics were won by Bridgeclaw of Gods with the picture God's Grace, and this was the only compo with no adjustments. Music was now split into two separate competitions, 4 channel - the traditional Amiga module with four channel sound - and Multichannel - which let perticipants use up to 32 simultatious sound channels on PC's. The 4 Channel compo was won by Syntex of Stone Arts with Let It Linger, while Mutlichannel was won by Jogeir Liljedahl of Virtual Dreams and Scoop.

Intro and Demo had also gotten new categories - 4k og 64k, for a total of six categories - Amiga 4k, 64k and Demo, and PC 4k, 64k and demo. Amiga 4k was won by Spaceballs with Babenoise - the first ever 4k intro with sound - while PC 4k was won by 4kbflight by Scoop. Amiga 64k was again won by Spaceballs, with Jobbo, while PC 64k was won by Valhalla with Fluid Motion. The democompetitions in the first and last TG in Stavanger was won by CNCD and Parallax with Deep on the Amiga, and Complex with Dope on PC - featuring the amazing soundtrack Onwards. Finland on top in both competitions, then.

In two days, the story continues - with the story of when The Gathering first arrived at Hamar.

Sponsor
If you are an existing sponsor, you can call sponsor contact Geir Arne Brurok at +47 406 205 70. New sponsors Contacts us the usual way.

Parents/Guardians

The participants ombudsmen, Lars Petter Johnsen and assistant Mats Frøiland, will answer questions from concerned parents. They can be reached at +47 476 00 005.

Andre henvendelser

All other important inquiries should be directed to our Info:Organizer, Simon Valvik: +47 400 50 100.

Please, do not call unless it is really, really important.

Please note that info@gathering.org will not be manned from Monday March 26th untill Tuesday the 10th of April.

Go to Compo Case

Watch a video with Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard: http://tv.gathering.org/page/10

Read more about New Horizons: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/

Read more about TG06: http://www.gathering.org/tg06/

Read more about the plutiod: http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto

Read more about the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)

Read more about "Rescue on Fractalus!" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_On_Fractalus

That's among the wishes of Norwegian Minister of Defence, Espen Barth Eide, put forward when he presented the Norwegian Armed Forces' latest long term plan.

"We are establishing a new unit, the "Cyber defence" at Jørstadmoen, the unit will focus on protection against digital warfare. That demands expertise. We need people with skills in the area of the digital network", says Norwegian Minister of Defence, Espen Barth Eide.

A new area of expertise

The Minister of Defence made no secret of the fact that those kinds of operations demand a different type of skill set than what is traditionally sought after in the Armed Forces.

– People who may have spent more time at The Gathering rather than in the forest, Barth Eide tells NRK.

– They are in a different kind of niche than those who end up in the Telemark Battalion (a mechanised infantry unit of the Norwegian Army), he further elaborates to The Gathering.

Barth Eide then stresses that the Armed Forces will still need youth who enjoy walks in the forest while wearing backpacks, with a humoristic tone.

It is too early for the Minister of Defence to elaborate on what they will require from the technically skilled youth, and how they will be recruited.

– We have notified that we will publish a statement of qualifications, including what kind of people and what kind of competence management we want. We need to look at new possibilities to bring forth the new qualities we seek in the future, not just the physically fit youth, the Minister of Defence says.

– I have heard about The Gathering for several years, and it is marketed well. I use The Gathering as a reference to illustrate something that is besides the "traditional" view, Barth Eide explains.

On equal grounds

The Cyberdefence is a continuation of Forsvarets Informasjonsinfrastruktur (the armed forces information infrastructure) (INI). Now, however, it's considered "an area of operations of threats on equal grounds with air, land and sea", according to the Norwegian Ministry of Defence.

The Minister of Defence is, in cooperation with the Minister of Justice, responsible for the institutions that safeguards Norwegian interests in the digital network.

– What we see is that even tough we're continuously getting better at protection our self, the threat increases more and those trying to break in to the systems are getting smarter and more advanced, explains Barth Eide.

The qualifiers for the TG12 Starcraft II tournament, supported by Noroff University College, attracted a record number of gamers this year, with nearly 500 people taking part, including players from South Korea, the United States and Germany, which means that we can expect an exciting tournament during The Gathering 2012.

The Gathering's press office today also announced that Chris ‘McDuffs' Crevling and a full complement of team members from IMBAtv will be providing colourful and quirky commentary on the tournament ‘as it happens' (live). McDuff's career, which spans many years, has seen him gather a fan base of thousands, and his signature steam punk look and self-confessed "epic beard" will be a welcome addition to The Gathering's already vibrant casting stage. Vital to the success of this year's casting efforts has beenNoroffUniversityCollege's support of the tournament and of IMBAtv's preparations. Creevling said of this partnership, "Noroff and The Gathering have been an absolute joy to work with".

For more information, keep an eye on the Games section on the website.

Download the archive, read the documentation, have fun! sanestation-tg12.zip

"I'm really happy, especially after such a close final. It feels great to qualify. I'm satisfied with how I played, although I think I played a bit worse in the finals than in the rest of the qualifier", comments LucifroN on his play.

Early in the match it didn't look as good for LucifroN as he lost 2 – 1 in the first set, taking it down to the wire to win in the last set of this double elimination qualifying tournament. There, a clearly tired LucifroN executed a bold move using hellions and banshees in an attempt to finish the match early as he struggled against the late game broodlord play of SortOf. His gamble paid off, and not long after moving his hellions into SortOf's drone line a 'good game' was posted and LucifroN could celebrate his victory.

LucifroN is now qualified for the main tournament at The Gathering 2012 taking up one of the invite slots, and will recieve a high seed for the tournament. We congratulate him on his win and hope to see more good games from him at The Gathering 2012.

Final standings can be viewed here.

Photo: Liquipedia

We are now very close to fresh out of Creative Tickets for permanent seats in the Creative Lounge. The last tickets will be given to applicants bringing entries in the Demo, Intro and Fast Intro competitions. If you are planning to enter any of these competitions, make sure you mention this in your application.

However, you can always order No-Seat Creative tickets up until the party starts, and also during the party. With a No-Seat Creative ticket you can enter all the competitions, seminars and side events. You will not get a permanent workplace, but if you bring a laptop to the lounge area you can work on entries as long as we have space.

Note that to order a ticket during the party, you need to apply for it through Geekevents *before* arriving at the Vikingship, otherwise you can only by regular day-passes in the door (which are more expensive if you plan to stay more than one day).

We are happy to announce that we are now accepting signups for the online qualifying tournaments in Starcraft II. Our partner and host for the qualifications is the Norwegian SC2-community site SC2.no

There will be a total of five qualifying tournaments, through which one player will be awarded an invite-slot and the rest will fill the online qualifiers slots.

• Noroff Qualifier Saturday, March 17th (Winner receives invite slot to the main tournament)
• SC2.no Qualifier #1 Sunday, March 18th (Top 4 qualify for main tournament)
• SC2.no Qualifier #2 Monday, March 19th (Top 4 qualify for main tournament)
• SC2.no Qualifier #3 Tuesday, March 20th (Top 4 qualify for main tournament)
• SC2.no Qualifier #4 Wednesday, March 21th (Top 4 qualify for main tournament)

If you want the best possible seed for the main tournament, you will want to participate in the Noroff Qualifier.

Requirements for entry:
- Qualifiers will be played on the European Battle.net server.
- An account on SC2.no (For signing up to join the qualifying tournaments)
- An account on Challonge.com (Used to report scores during the qualifying tournaments)

More information about the qualifying tournaments and how you can participate is found on SC2.no.

During this year's The Gathering there is more than just honor and glory to compete for. Breaking limits is something we wish to do for gaming and e-sports in Norway, in every way we can. This year we are offering 224 250 Norwegian kroner in prizes, and we hope we can add even more as we get closer and closer to The Gathering 2012.

If you wish to participate in any of the tournaments make sure you keep a keen eye on www.gathering.org as we will publish information on how you can compete very soon!

Starcraft II - Total: 100 000 NOK
1st – 55 000 NOK
2nd – 25 000 NOK
3rd – 10 000 NOK
4th – 5 000 NOK
5th – 1 250 NOK
6th – 1 250 NOK
7th – 1 250 NOK
8th – 1 250 NOK

League of Legends - Total: 70 000 NOK
1st – 40 000 NOK
2nd – 20 000 NOK
3rd – 10 000 NOK

Battlefield 3 - Total: 35 000 NOK
1st – 20 000 NOK
2nd – 10 000 NOK
3rd – 5 000 NOK

Minecraft - Total: 8 750 NOK
1st – 5 000 NOK
2nd – 2 500 NOK
3rd – 1 250 NOK

Best game movie - Total: 10 500 NOK
1st – 6 000 NOK
2nd – 3 000 NOK
3rd – 1 500 NOK

The themes are:

• Themed Graphics: "Everyday life in space"
• Themed Photo: "Wildlife"

Themed Graphics - "Everyday life in space"

Assume that at some point in the future, humans will be able to live their whole lives anywhere in space, and that this will be just as normal as living on Earth.

How do you imagine an ordinary day in space will look like? How will it be different from life on Earth? Illustrate your ideas and participate in this compo!

Themed Photo - "Wildlife"

This year's theme is "Wildlife".

The theme is inspired by a legendary entry from the Freestyle Video compo at The Gathering 2000, "Wildlife" by the demo group Yodel.

You can interpret the theme in any way you want, as long as it's possible to relate your photo to the theme. That said, please take your photo before The Gathering! We've seen plenty of photos from The Gathering itself, so we would prefer to see something more original in this compo.

General rules

Remember to read and understand the general rules for the Creative Compos.

Regular tickets for The Gathering 2012 are now more or less sold out. A few participant tickets will trickle in as people cancel or don't complete their orders, but it won't be long before all regular tickets are gone. However, there are still Creative Tickets available.

As you might know, participants with a Creative Ticket will be seated in our Creative Lounge, a "creative party within the party". In this area, we will organize creative seminars, and we will have mentors available to help you with coding, graphics and music. This is also a very social area, where you can meet other people with similar interests. In other words, joining us in the Creative Lounge is the perfect way of getting the most out of The Gathering 2012!

This year we will host seminars about programming, graphics and music, and hopefully they will inspire you to create something awesome, and contribute in our compos. For more info about the seminars, go to our seminar page.

We will also host a wide range of creative competitions, from the traditional demo compo, to music and graphics competitions. If you can code, create a demo or participate in Hardcore Programming. If you like creating music, you can participate in the Freestyle Music compo or make a remix for the Fast Remix compo. If graphics is more your thing, check out our Freestyle Graphics and Rendered Graphics compos. We even have a MSPaint-compo! See more info about the compos on our compo page.

As you can see, during The Gathering 2012 there will be a lot of cool stuff going on in the Creative Lounge, so don't miss out! And who knows, maybe you'll be the next Demoscene Superstar!

If you want to join us, go to geekevents.org and select Creative ticket. You will still need to write a short application where you explain why you want a Creative ticket.

Also, if you have bought a regular ticket but you want to "go creative", it's possible to convert your ticket into a Creative Ticket. In that case, send an application by e-mail to demo@gathering.org and we'll help you.

Creative tickets are 800 NOK (+38 NOK fee), or 250 NOK (+12 NOK fee) Creative no-seat-ticket!

The Gathering will, as previous years have tournaments in a selection of games, and it is with great pleasure we announce the first 3 games:


StarCraft II is a RTS-game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment. As a sequel to the extremely popular game StarCraft, it has grown to become one of the top e-sport games of its time. With regular matches of amazing plays and tactics, we are truly looking forward to seeing the players compete.



League of Legends is an action RTS/MOBA-game developed and published by Riot Games. Featuring arena styled 5v5 matches in the «fields of justice», focusing on teamplay, countering the opponent as well as good tactics, we are eager to see teams step up to show what they are made of.



Battlefield 3 is an award-winning FPS developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. Battlefield 3 features the combined arms battles that made the series extremely popular. With action-packed close combat, fighter jets, and a wide range of vehicles, Battlefield 3 is sure to bring some action to The Gathering 2012.

Keep updated
More information about the tournaments, schedule, rules and how you can compete will be published on gathering.org in the coming weeks, so stay tuned to secure yourself a spot to compete in the tournaments!

As we move closer to The Gathering 2012, we'll be announcing more game titles that you can compete in. That means that if your favorite game isn't among the top 3, there's still a chance it will be announced as we move closer to easter. Our hope is to see all battle hungry participants eager and ready to register and take part of this years gaming tournaments at The Gathering 2012.

Questions and feedback
We encourage everyone to check the Game pages on gathering.org to stay up to date, and if you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave them in our forum.

The demo compo has been one of the biggest highlights at The Gathering since the very beginning in the early nineties. This compo is unique when compared to the other creative competitions, as it requires a combination of different skills in order to win. Code, 2D and 3D graphics, music, design, teamwork and plenty of late nights are usually needed to create something that will reach the top.

We Crave Sustenance by PlayPsyCo. This demo got first place at The Gathering 2011.

A demo is a programmed graphical and musical show with the purpose to entertain, impress and show off the team's techinical and artistic skills. This means that your team will need a person with programming skills, since a demo largely revolves around code. There are plenty of different ways to code a demo, but the most common way to do it is by using tools like C++ and OpenGL. NeHe is a classic place to start when you are new to programming 3D graphics. You can also go for frameworks that makes it easier for you to get started, XNA for instance. Unity may be of interest if you are of the adventurous kind. You are allowed to use any kind of tool, as long as the result is an executable program.

New possibilities emerge with web browsers, as they have become very powerful lately. Today's web browsers supports graphics, animation, sound and video out-of-the-box with HTML5. You might want to look at using HTML5 and JavaScript to create your demo if you are a newcomer to programming and graphics. Three.js has a low level of complexity and is aimed towards beginners with little experience in 3D programming. There are plenty of great tutorials out there to help you getting started.

Get inspired by old demos! Pouet.net contains nearly every demo that has been released, and many of them also have the source code available for you to look at.

Numb Res by CNCD and Fairlight. This demo got second place at The Gathering 2011.

Read more on how Numb Res was created at Displayhack: Making-of: Numb Res

Don't worry if you bump into some problems along the way, as nobody are born with a set of good programming skills. Answers are usually found by using Google, and we would like to remind you that our mentors visit the forum on a regular basis. A lot of creative and skilled people can be found on IRC, so this is a good place to be if you want answers quickly. Some channels that are worth visiting are #scene.no and #tg-creativia on EFnet.

If you want some extra challenges we can recommend two alternatives to the demo compo: Intro with it's brutal size limitations and Fast Intro where you only have eight hours to make a demo that contains three different themes.

Only your imagination restricts what you can create with the countless tools that exists out there. Go take a look at the rules and make something amazing for this year's demo compo at The Gathering 2012! We are looking forward to see what YOU are able to create!

Illustration: Screenshot from Nazareth's first demo "The Beginning", released at The Gathering 2006.

• Singles room with breakfast for only 650 NOK per room per day.
• Doubles room with breakfast for only 750 NOK per room per day.

The hotel also offers free wireless access from your hotelroom.

To book rooms, send an email directly to First Hotel Victoria at: victoria@firsthotels.no

The prices are for the period of the 3rd of April until the 9th of April, 2012.

You can read more about the hotel at their webpage.

The creative competitions at The Gathering is your chance to show your creation to a huge audience, get instant feedback from an inspired crowd, and win huge prizes and awards.

The rules for the Creative competitions have now been published. The competitions have one set of general rules that apply to all compos, and a set of individual rules for each competition.

The rules specify several things, mainly which formats are permitted, and what kind of content we want to see in the competition entries. The rules also explain how the competitions are executed.

If you plan to participate in a competition, you need to make sure that your entry follows the rules. Every year we have to disqualify some entries because they don't follow the rules properly, and often it's because of some minor details that could easily have been fixed.

We try to notify participants in case there is a problem with their entries, so that they'll have a chance to correct it. However, this is not always possible, and in such cases we have to disqualify the entry. So please make sure this doesn't happen to you, and read the rules thoroughly before submitting.

However, don't be scared if the rules seem overly formal. The most important thing is that you show us something creative. We're looking forward to seeing YOUR entry!

Read the rules for the creative compos.

After last year's world record of 110Gbit/s, the Swedes at Dreamhack answered with 120 Gbit/s on their event. Just like cross-country skier Northug answers the Swedes before the finish line, TG and Altibox answers the Swedish record with a new world record.

"We have a long tradition of breaking records. With this internet access we write history again", says head of information at The Gathering, Simon Eriksen Valvik.

"No way we would let the Swedes keep the lead on this, and we didn't just raise the bar a little, we moved it a story up, continues Valvik Eriksen.

More than Thailand

To comparison a country like Thailand with about 60 million inhabitants have about 158Gbit/s international bandwidth.

The speed is incomprehensibly large. But if we say that a song on iTunes is 5 MB, we can download a total of 5120 songs per second. Every song that's downloaded on iTunes per month can be downloaded in about half an hour at The Gathering.

Altibox, Norway's premier provider of services through fiber delivers this year's Internet access.

Fiber is the key

"This year surpasses every previous record. This is just the reason we're focusing on broadband trough fiber. It has nearly no limits and we know that we will be setting new records in the future too", says Per-Andre Rykhus, vice president, marketing, sales & products, Altibox.

"We bring with us Huawei and their technicians and Level 3 which delivers the foreign Internet capacity needed for such enormous speeds. Day to day, there's simply not enough capacity in Norway to handle speeds like this", adds Rykhus.

A world-class core network

2012 marks the 14th year in a row the core network in Vikingskipet is delivered by Cisco. This means the participants will experience a world class, secure network.

"Cisco once again supports The Gathering as it in turn increases the skills and innovation of the youth. The entire Norwegian society is dependent on highly qualified personnel with IT skill and especially the network's contribution to innovation, creativity and new thinking in the years ahead. These young enthusiasts can be worth their weight in gold for Norway in the long term", says Jørgen Myrland, CEO of Cisco Norway.

Large seatmap available here.

Just like previous years we will open the seating gradually. This is done so that both larger and smaller groups will be able to sit together.

NB. Seating closes April 2nd 23:59 Norwegian time.

Postponed one day

The seating which was supposed to start at 21:00, March 8 th, was initially delayed for one hour. Unfortunately we discovered factors that when combined resulted in that starting the seating tonight would not be smart.

I order not keep people up at night we found it to be most appropriate to postpone the first seating group (those seating for 30+) for one day.

We will open the seating as follows:

• March 9th 22:00 - Seating opens for those with 30+ tickets.
• March 10th 21:00 - Seating opens for those with 20+ tickets.
• March 11th 21:00 - Seating opens for those with 10+ tickets.
• March 12th 21:00 - Seating opens for those with 5+ tickets.
• March 13th 21:00 - Seating opens for everyone.
• March 21th 21:00 - Pre check-in starts.

At the same time we would like to remind that the deadline for refunding your ticket is March 4th 23:59 (Norwegian time)

Ps. For a tutorial on how to seat using Geekevents click here (English only).

Pps. Participants with creative tickets will not be seating with Geekevents, this is done at arrival to the lounge.

Pre check-in

The pre check-in consists of confirming whether you intend to use the tickets for yourself or not. If you are registered as the user for more than one tickets, you will be asked whether the remaining tickets are for your personal use, or for another user. In the first case, it will be marked as unusable for check-in. In the second case, you must select another user as the user of that ticket.

After this, you must confirm that your contact details are up to date. When the contact details are confirmed, you can download a PDF with the proof of check-in that you must print out and bring to TG. It will be sent by email as well.

Please note that a proof of check-in does not equal a valid ticket. The status of the ticket in Geekevents is what matters.

Zones

This year, we've split the arena into 4 zones (divided on 9 sectors) to make sure you get the best party experience. The zones are as follows, and the placement can be seen at the map above.

Zone 1, sector 1: Hardware zone

This is for those who enjoy hardware modification, building computers and similar. In this zone, we want moderate sound levels, so this is not the place for gigantic speakers.

Zone 2, sector 2: Silent zone

If you are one of those who want a seat with less sound, this is the zone for you. We do not expect this zone to be completely quiet, but advice participants to limit themselves to smaller speakers or headsets. This zone is close to the Creative area and ChillOut, which will offer interesting presentations and activities.

Zone 3, sectors 3-8: Party zone

This zone has no special restrictions, other than creativity and fire safety. This zone has the most seats; we are a computer party after all.

Zone 4, sector 9: Gamer zone

This is the zone for those who are participation in the game competitions, or just have an interest in gaming. We expect this zone to be calmer sound wise, to make it easier to focus on the gaming. We recommend bringing a headset. Other than that, this area does not require any activities.

Temperature

The temperature in the arena will rise with 5000 participants and their computers, which means that we must ventilate. The Ventilation will mainly consist of opening the gates at each end of the arena, making the seats on the outer left and right of the map have somewhat lower temperature. Generally speaking, the middle seats of the rows will have a slightly higher temperature throughout Vikingskipet.

What resolution would you prefer? Tell us in the comments.

All TG12 merchandise will be delivered at TG. Congratulations, you now have even more things to look forward to when you arrive here at Vikingskipet!

Please check out the whole range of merchandise at geekevents.org.

Ps. The design is not yet ready, stay tuned here for updates.

While the selection of the theme for The Gathering is a process shrouded in mystery, we've gotten some insights as to what people that may or may not have been involved in the process are thinking.

"Selecting a theme is never easy, so I'd like to keep that a secret.", states Event:Organizer Jørgen Vigdal, when asked how the theme for TG12 was decided.

The theme is yours!

Vigdal does however, have a few comments to the theme in itself.

"The management team decided on a theme which we find to be relevant for the year of 2012 and one that holds a lot of potential in terms of decoration. In addition, we believe it opens up for a lot of individual interpretations which in turn offers more freedom to figure out what to bring to the venue to show one's interpretation."

Another man rumored to have some insights is Anders Lassen.

"I've always been a fan of themes that have references typical to the demoscene and the computer party culture we have at TG. My favorite of all time is Rescue of Fractalus from 2004, which was a reference to an old Commodore 64 game and at the same time fractals which was very hot in the demos at the time", says Lassen, chief of Event:Creativia, the crew responsible for all the creative competitions at The Gathering.

More or less obvious references to both the end of the world and Douglas Adams' literature put aside, Anders thinks you can do the job of interpreting this year's theme yourself.

"I've found many alternative interpretations that fit just as well, but part of the fun is for people to be able to find their own meaning with the theme trough their own creative endeavors", says Lassen

Release your creativity

What we hope now is that every single participant releases their creativity.

"I hope they (the participants) can be as creative as possible and that they come up with their own interpretations and their own ideas.", says Vigdal

"And I'm absolutely sure that we will award the best interpretations of the theme that we haven't necessarily come up with"

"That applies to anything, it's a freestyle competition", Vigdal stresses.

Want to know more about the new Gathering.org?

Major rethinking

First off, we've done some major rethinking on how news at gathering.org is presented. With better use of images, graphical styles that will allow you to instantly know what an article is about, and much more, the front page is sure to be both easier and quicker to navigate.

But what about the old news, the articles from two months ago? Well, fear not, if you scroll all the way down to the footer you can choose which category you want to read and you will get all the articles, no clutter.

"So then, The Gathering, what's this thing called ‘The participant's guide to the universe?'", you ask.

Easily explained, this is where we will gather our best hints on how to get the most out of your experience at The Gathering. This is, for instance, where you will eventually find our suggested packing list.

We want your feedback

If we've achieved our goal you will find gathering.org much more alive than ever before. But as ever before we love feedback, be it negative, positive or neutral.

If there's anything you would like to know more about, anything you are missing, you can get in touch with the team behind gathering.org at webmaster at gathering dot org.

We need this feedback to improve, so we appreciate any feedback you might have.

Want to know more?

In the time left untill TG12, we will be releasing a lot more information on both entertainment and competions. Stay tuned for the latest on how you will be spending the Easter of 2012. If you want to share your ideas and discuss with other participants, head on over to forums.gathering.org.

We look forward to seeing you on The Gathering 2012.

Want to know more about this years theme?

http://filer.overlyd.no/Miu/remixbass/WeAreTheBassRemixKit.zip

Note that this song will NOT be used in the actual Fast Remix compo at TG. A new (and secret) remix kit will be released at the party.

Miu also challenges you to post your remixes on Facebook. Good remixes may be picked up for signing by Dub Monkey Records. More information about the challenge can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/miuglitch

http://www.soundcloud.com/miuglitch

http://twitter.com/miuglitch

So for you geeks out there who love tech specs, see how it works right here.

The subculture is thoroughly discussed in Moleman 2, where a group of Hungarians talk about their connection to the scene. Szilárd Matusik is the director, and his goal with the 90 minute long documentary is to show how the demoscene has flourished alongside the advent of computer technology.

A quote on the documentary's website states that new art forms have been born as a result of the spreading of computer technology:

- This has opened up new and exciting ways to produce art that is not dependent on physical skills. Computer programming allows us to create art only with the use of our own mind and imagination. Moleman 2 will show you a digital subculture, where artists use both the latest technology and 30 year old techniques.

According to Wikipedia the demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing demos, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time on a computer. This art form has always had a strong position at TG, and every year participants compete to create the most impressive demo.

"We Crave Sustenance" by PlayPsyCo won last year's competition. You can watch it here.

Creative and Pro-Gamer tickets are still available (requires application).

KANDU, the organization behind The Gathering, is arranging an exhibition about the Digital Arts.

The exhibition can be seen at Jernbanetorget metro station in Oslo, and contains artwork, demos and music made at computer parties around the world from 1991 to 2011.

The goal of the exhibition is to show people that young people do more than play video games when they sit in front of their computers.

In addition to this, you will also find various computer memorabilia from the same period, from an original NES in its box, to a Windows 95 install disc.

The exhibition lasts until February 14th and will be updated every other week.

How to get there: Metro: Take the metro (all lines) to Jernbanetorget and go towards the Byporten/Oslo City-exit. From street level: go down to the metro station from either outside the main entrance to Oslo City or Byporten Shopping centres. The exibition is in the hallway between the east- and westbound lines.

If you're not in Oslo, you can view some of the artwork at www.pikslar.no. The site is in Norwegian, but you can still enjoy the artwork.

First things first, there's no reason to hammer Geekevents till they crash! When the store opens you will recieve an e-mail notifying you of what possition in the queue wou've got.

Not yet in the queue lottery, you've got no time to waste, go to Geekevents and enter now.

60 hours of access to the store

When you gain access to the store you will have 60 hours to complete your order. if you do not complete your order by that time you will be kicked out and will have to reenter the queue again.

This is a reduction from previous years, with 72 hours of access to the store and is a move we are taking to help you get your hands on those sweet, sweet tickets faster. But if you don't check your email often getting SMS-alerts (an option found at Geekevents) could be a good idea.

The food ticket is back

This ticket gives you 3 breakfasts and 3 dinners at Nordre Sving during TG. The breakfasts are buffets (coldcuts, bread, eggs, milk, coffee). In addition you get 3 dinners, but the menu is not yet decided (last year it was a straganoff casserole, meat balls and taco buffet respectively complete with sidedishes).

You save about 20% on individually priced meals, excluding the ticket fee. This service is provided by Nordre Sving.

Payment options

Geekevents accepts payments by VISA, MasterCard and Norwegian online banking.

If you're short on cash right now, contact Geekevents and they can help you by moving you backwards in the queue.

• December 19th 2011, we will start processing the crew applications.
• December 13th 2011, tickets are in store at geekevents, info here.
• December 5th 2011, you can apply for a position in the crew, details here.
• December 2nd 2011, Creative Ticket, Creative No-seat Ticket and Pro Gamer (NO SEAT) will be available through our ticket service geekevents.org - read more about it here.
• December 1st 2011, 10 PM, the queue lottery for ordinary participant tickets and the foreigner tickets will be available at geekevents.org - further info can be found here.
• April 4th 2012, 9 AM The Gathering 2012 begins, se the FAQ and check back for more info.

Yep, you got us right, the tickets will be in store next tuesday, the 13th of december at 7 pm.

This means you have until then to join the ticket queue lottery, this includes you as well foreigners. Simply enter the queue lottery by selecting order on a regular participants ticket and select your required amount of foreigner tickets when you gain access to the store.

Prices will remain the same as for TG11. Thus a regular ticket will cost you 990 NOK (+ 47 NOK fee) and a foreigner ticket will cost 450 NOK (~€55, + 22 NOK fee).

This year Wannabe has undergone an extensive upgrade on both front- and backend. It's still just as easy, if not better. Apply now by submitting your application via wannabe.gathering.org.
No need to register a new account if you already have one, just enter your credentials from the "old" Wannabe.

The crew

The crew at The Gathering we tell you, is something really special. We get together once every year to make The Gathering come true. There's all kinds of amazing stuff to do if you have the skills and/or will.

We have Event with all their skills in making stage design, including lighting, sound and AV, and their surrounding decorations bring the arena to life. They're also behind compos, both gaming and creative, they're on stage making fun and off stage making sure all the fun is captured on tape.

Then there's Security who keep us all safe, among other things they make sure no troublemakers enter the venue. Their Medic team will assist those who have a sudden need for medical assistance.

There's Tech, the people whom every year continue to design one of the world's largest contemporary networks. They are responsible for what we need of servers (DHCP and much, much more) and provide support to our participants.

As you're reading this we obviously also have our own Info-crew, who makes systems such as Wannabe, they write for gathering.org and all our other information channels. They will help you from the Info:desk during the party and handle any press related matters.

Last, but not least, there is Core, and not as mystical as they sound they do what everyone else does not. They make food for the crew, they handle logistics, sponsors and whatever else might come up.

Still interested, familiarize yourself with the various crews by reading through the descriptions.

Want to look your best, we've gathered six useful tips, read them.

• Make sure what you write is easily understandable. Stick to bokmål, nynorsk or English. A well written application with proper language might lead to a better first impression.
• Let the chief know why you should be chosen for this crew. Be specific – if you want to contribute with your "experience" or "being a positive addition to the crew", you're not really saying anything.
• Describe any relevant background or experience that you feel might come in handy.
• Remember that your chief only sees your application, nothing more – he or she cannot guess what skills you have if you do not present them. The text field might look small, but don't let that stop you from being thorough.
• Let a friend or parent review your application. Some extra feedback might give you that extra edge.
• Consider carefully whether you want your choices to be prioritized or not. If your first choice is a bit too ambitious, it might be hard to get into your second or third choice. The reason for this is simply that the chiefs mainly look at the applicants who have their crew as first priority, and by the time your first choice is rejected, your second or third choice of crew might be filled up. Make sure you read the descriptions of the crews you apply to properly, and answer any additional questions as best as you can.
• (Ninja tip: Make yourself known. This can be achieved by hanging out at our forums, our IRC-channel and participating at other parties, or even in another part of the TG-crew. This is a common long term strategy for those seeking admittance to some of the more demanding crews.)

Now the Norwegian director want to do a little extra something for one of the most promissing talents, to help more Norwegian movie makers out in to the big world.

The award goes to the best director

The lucky winner of "Best direction award", a movie direction competition at The Gathering, will get the day of their dreams in Hollywood. The winner will be picked up at the airport by Harald Zwart in a limousine. This is followed by a tour on the set of the Norwegian director where the winner will see how movies are made, Hollywood style. And if that wasn't enough, as a real director, the young talent will have his/her own director's chair on the set.

"I want to further inspire and stimulate the creative environment at The Gathering, which have fostered many new talens during the years. I have a lot to learn from these young talents and I would like to do a little extra something for the winner. Hopefully the prize will attract more young people to be movie makers.", says Harald Zwart.

Want to strengten the creativity

We at The Gathering hope this prize will be a solid boost for the participants and will hopefully contribute to strengthening the event as a creative environment for inspiration and development.

"To put an even stronger focus on what's going on at The Gathering, and especially the creative parts of the event, we've been so lucky as to get Harad Zwart on our team, which will be a fantastic experience for the lucky winner", says Simon Eriksen Valvik, information chief at The Gathering.

The winner of "Best direction award" will be selected by a jury lead by Harad Zwart at TG12. The competition was announced yesterday with Harald Zwart face to face via video from LA.

Rules

Rules for this competiton follows the rules from Freestyle Video and the General rules.

For pictures, movie and sound from the video conference with Harald Zwart, head on over here.

Just like the previous years, we will use a lottery system to handle the ticket sales. This solution is chosen to make the process more fair.

It is possible to sign up for the ticket lottery at geekevents.org from December 1st. By signing up you will be given a random spot in the queue when the ticket sale starts. Remember that it does not matter when you sign up, so long as you do so before the lottery ends, we will get back with that date.

After the store opens, the queue will behave as normal. This means that new users will be entering the queue at the back. The queue is shared between all the ticket variations, except for Pro Gamer, Creative and Creative No-seat tickets (read about the different ticket options in the FAQ). Quantity and type is chosen when you reach the shop.

You will receive updates on your progress in the queue by email. It is also possible to receive these updates via SMS, priced 5 NOK per received message. When it's your turn to enter the shop, you have 72 hours to buy tickets before your spot in the shop is given to the next one in line. You can buy up to 5 ordinary tickets per session.

Tomorrow, december 2nd, creative and pro gamer tickets will be on sale.

A new ticket this year is the creative no-seat ticket, which you can read all about in the FAQ.

The creative no-seat ticket is the ticket for all the Creative participants that do not want to attend the entire party, but would like to attend a competition and/or see exciting lectures, or even see one or more of our shows. This ticket gives you the access to all of The Gatherings facilities, except a seat. You will therefore only be able to bring your laptop or other mobile device to the event. As with the regular creative ticket, you will need to write a short application, explaining why you wish to have this ticket. You can not attend game competitions with this ticket.