Since opening the seating plan, some of you have been asking for us to put some pictures up of the two gaming halls and bar at epic.FIVE. So we've updated the epic.FIVE Venue page so that you can see which hall is which.

For those who know the Uttoxeter Layout, you will now enter the event under the covered walkway in the middle of the grandstand between the two main rooms. Hall 1 on the seating plan is on the left and called the Premier Bar, Hall 2 is on the right and is the Exhibition Hall (where we held epic.THREE and FOUR).

The main helpdesk and shop will be in Hall 2 right by the main entrance, and there will also be a smaller staff area in Hall 1.

The bar, and quite large social area which runs for the entire length of the room, will also be located in Hall 1.

You can also see the site layout on our handy Google Map.

After loads of you have been asking, so that you can book holidays from work next year, we've rushed ahead to confirm the epic.LAN event dates for 2011 already!

Because we're launching our new style events, and investing a lot of time and resources into running the two rooms at Uttoxeter, we've shifted the balance in 2011 to run 3 epic.LAN events at the racecourse and 2 lite events in Bagnall. We're also hoping to actually get around to some more social events next year, like our Silverstone F1 trip.

So in 2011, you can join us for some excellent LAN parties on the following dates:

• epic.FIVE - 24th - 27th February (bookings open!)
• epic.lite 4 - 27th - 30th May
• epic.SIX - 28th - 31st July
• epic.SEVEN - 20th - 23rd October (provisional)
• epic.lite 5 - 18th - 20th November

Event bookings for our main events will open some time at the previous event, normally on the last day. The dates for our epic.lite event bookings opening will be confirmed closer to the time, but is normally a few months before the event.

Now, go fill in those holiday requests!

For those of you who have been keen enough to grab your epic.FIVE ticket during the early bird discount so far, you will be please to know that you can take advantage of your early payment by grabbing your event seat on the seating picker now!

If you have been to one of our events at Uttoxeter Racecourse before, you will notice some layout changes in preparation for the addition of tournament gaming to the event.

We've decided to keep the elements of the event separate so those who enjoy the current epic.LAN atmosphere will still get just that at epic.FIVE and those new to the events in the competitive side will get an atmosphere more suited to the tournament play.

So when you pick your epic.FIVE seat, please bear the following in mind:

A new seating layout is in operation to accommodate the new capacity and two different event 'styles', so you can select your seat according to your LAN gaming preferences. Regardless of where you sit, the event network will be linked and you'll be able to enter either of the halls with your event pass.

Hall 1 - Aimed at the 'casual' LAN gamer. Features the traditional epic.LAN atmosphere that many of you will be used to from our first four events, including atmospheric lighting and background music. There will be regular announcements in this room for fun/social gaming such as our big game programme.

Hall 2 - Aimed at the 'competitive' LAN gamer. This hall will be quieter as it is geared to those playing in the more competitive tournaments being introduced to the events. There won't be any background music and during tournaments, PA announcements will be limited to essential information only. If you are playing in our tournament series we strongly recommend that you select a seat in this room.

If you're planning on joining our Dreamhack Winter 2010 trip, then bookings and seating have now opened and seats are already starting to go in Hall D (which is where we need to be!)

See full details about the trip, including our travel plans here or discuss it with other people attending on the forums.

Those of you at epic.FOUR will have heard about some of our exciting new plans for 2011. If you weren't there, you'll need to wait a little bit longer before we reveal the details!

But in the mean time, we need to start recruiting our new team for epic.FIVE in February 2011. Yes, we know it's a long time off yet, but we have loads to plan and we want the new team to be a part of that process.

We have a number of vacancies to join the current team ready for our new events including the following:

• Event Team - Part of the event team for the LAN parties including running social activities, basic technical support and helpdesk/shop. Must have attended a previous epic.LAN event.
• Team Fortress 2 Lead Admin - We are looking for an experienced TF2 tournament admin (either LAN or Online) to join our new tournament team for epic.FIVE. The lead admin must have a high level of knowledge and experience of the competitive elements of TF2.
• Team Fortress 2 Game Admin - Somebody with reasonable knowledge of TF2 to provide tournament admin support to the Lead Admin and Tournament Manager.

There may be other vacancies arising as more detailed plans for the event are made.

If you are interested in any of these positions, then please contact us via email detailing your knowledge and experience and why you think we should consider your application to become part of the team. The closing date for applications is Monday 6th September. Further stages to the application process, such as an online interview, may be required depending on applicant numbers.

Good luck!

Interested in coming to Dreamhack Winter 2010? Then read on to find out more about the plans!

If you were at epic.FOUR you may have noticed that you were racking up achievements during the LAN for various activities and events. If you haven't seen, then check out your profile to see which ones you, and your follow gamers, gained over the weekend.

Here's mine as an example, and you can click on names in the attendance list from epic.FOUR to see more profiles from the people who attended.

Once again, an excellent fun pub quiz at epic.FOUR to give a break from the gaming! Massive congratulations to team Geo, why did you leave us? for their win after a slightly messy tentacle-based tiebreaker!

Thank you to for everyone who took part in the quiz, certainly for us, it is one of the social highlights of the event and it is great to see such a high proportion of the event taking part.

The key to the rounds for the score table below is:

1. General Knowledge
2. Film & TV News
3. Gaming News
4. TV Themes
5. Current Affairs
6. Gaming Lines
7. Music
8. Gaming Themes

As epic.FOUR comes to a close, we hope you've enjoyed the last 4 days of LAN. The team always appreciate feedback on how the event was from your point-of-view and we do take the time to review each response.

Similar to epic.THREE, we've created a short online survey available to those who attended this weekend. There is also the obligatory "Good, Bad and Ugly" thread on the forums for additional comments.

We hope you take the time to complete the survey as we take on board what is said and will post a response to the points raised in the coming weeks (once we've slept!).

See you all online and bring on epic.lite 2!

The final of our last-man-standing Unreal Tournament 2004 competition has just taken place here at epic.FOUR. Four valiant competitors took part, but in the end, there could be only one winner.

Draken, Jobabob, Vardy and Fuzz fought it out to the bitter end on Idoma in a five minute battle. The winner, taking glory, honour, some epic.LAN goodies and a £20 Kustom PCs voucher is...

Vardy!

A decisive win by 19 frags over second place Fuzz has shown that he truly is the champion.

The full standings are:

Well done to everyone who took part!