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This past weekend, I was up in Cincinnati, OH at an event with Destructoid.com. For those of you who aren't exactly sure what Destructoid is, it's a community based gaming website. They hold small NARPs (No Apparent Reason Party) fairly often -- but this one was a little different. This was the largest gathering of Destructoid members ever.

I went to the event, a little fearful since I'm not a regular poster on Destructoid.com. Now I look back at it and think how silly I was being. I had a blast! Here's a recap of the event.


Although the actual NARP was on Saturday night, the majority of the Dtoiders showed up on Friday at the hotel. In the hotels confrence room, we had a few TVs set up with RockBand and some other games to be played. With plenty of games, pizza, and laughs to go around -- Friday was an awesome night by itself.

Saturday, we took some time to get a massive group photo, which turned out pretty nicely for as hot as it was outside (and someone almost falling off the ladder). Shortly after is when the NARP really began. There were 5 large LCD tvs set up at the bar for the Call of Duty 4 tournament, two 11'x11' projection screens -- one which was playing RockBand another was playing Grand Theft Auto 4. (I made sure we had a smaller TV set up so we could even play some Viva Pinata: Party Animals!) The building was so packed you could barely get to the RockBand area and even get to where they were playing Call of Duty 4 at.

TN Games donated a few vests to be shown off at the event -- and let me tell you: The vests are probably the next revolution in gaming history. Gritty Games even showed up to show off one of their new Xbox Live Arcade Games! Even if you got tired of being inside, if you stepped outside there was music being preformed live and afterwards a DJ.

I spoke with a couple community members from Destructoid, and this is what they had to say about the event --

The NARP was amazing. As a dtoid original it was nice getting to meet some of the people who ive been talking to on the internet for the last couple years. The destructoid community is great and the people are incredibly fun. The narp is open to everyone and it was nice having people like bunnyXablaze join in on the fun. Shes great and is great company on a long nine hour drive.The games were great and free stuff was a plus. Thanks to TN games for donating their vest and everyone else who donated swag for the evening. If anyone is interested in joining in on a NARP just watch dtoid for future dates.

-- Puppet

The NARP was a blast. There were 5 big screens set up for COD4, one projector set up for Rock Band, and another projector set up for GTA4 (which looked amazing on a really really huge screen)and a playable "preview" of Ninja Gaiden 2. There was a booth set up for the TN Games where we tried out the FPS Gaming Vest. Its a vest that lets you feel the bullets hitting you when you play certain FPS games. Also, there was Gritty Games showing previews of a new XBLA game. It was a night full of things to do. And if you needed a break from games, you could go outside to see live performances from some talented people.

-- NinoOG3

The NARP was fun; I dont think there's a single DToider who would say it wasn't. Who could possibly think hanging out with friends, playing games could be NOT-FUN? We pretty much hung out, had some nice discussions about random things, and played games. It was great because you could walk up to just about anyone and just say "Sup, dude?!" and get a response that wasn't "Who the f--k are you?" Plus, you meet some great people.

-- ZServ

I had a great time at the Destructoid Cincinnati NARP - Dtoiders around the country assembled for a weekend of Games, Music and Beer. It was an amazing experience to have a huge audience egging me on for my Rock Band singer performances. Usually I have my neighbors banging their brooms on the ceiling for me to stop!

-- Agent Moo

The weekend really began as everyone met together in the hotel lobby. As we realized who each other was, we went from complete strangers to close friends instantaneously. Most people on the internet will never meet those whom they interact with, but on Destructoid we are so close that were inclined to drive across the country to get together. Eventually we went up to the conference room to drink, socialize, and play video games. Saturday night we rented out a local restaurant, Buffalo Wings & Rings, though it was still open to the public. We had games such as Rock Band, Call of Duty 4, and Grand Theft Auto 4 playable on huge projection TVs. Even more Destructoiders were able to come Saturday, and it was great to meet each and every one of them. I drove 2500 miles total to attend the event and the fun and good times I had with everybody definitely made it worth my while.

-- Coonskin05

Destructoid put together a great event and as everyone who was there would tell you -- it was a blast! I wish I had actually carried my camera around during the event -- it was just EPIC. If your curious about upcoming Destructoid NARPs, check out Destructoid.com!

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