One of the best parts of my year is being given the pleasure to attend the inevitable summer wave of conferences.  Thanks to the central location of Dallas, relative to the rest of the United States, my very own metroplex houses some of the coolest and most entertaining conferences around, including some killer car shows, gaming tournaments, and most importantly, the annual Quakecon event.

But Quakecon isn’t just about gaming - oh no.  It’s a giant party for geeks, and believe it or not, geeks are gearheads in their own right.  While a gearhead is trying to squeeze more horsepower out of his ride, the geek is trying to squeeze more hertz out of his PC.  The Gearhead customizes his car by putting electronics in his vehicle, and a geek turns his computer into an over-sized RC car (and yes, they had RC computers at Quakecon).

In all actuality, most folks I talked to at Quakecon were not only car fans, but they also drove some sweet rides.  In the parking lot alone I saw an Aston Martin, an AMG Merc, Porsches, WRX-STI’s, and did I mention Porsches?  And to further prove how big an influence the car world has on the gaming industry (and vice versa), GM thought it would be a good time to unveil a new color - Ventrilo Blue, named after the popular gaming software of the same name.

The gamer-gearhead interaction doesn’t end there, either.  I will be writing on this topic for the rest of the week, and as you will read in tomorrow’s post racing games are only getting better, and closer to the real thing.