Now that we’ve all had a chance to rest and to review Digital Overload 2011, we want to thank you once more for being part of an incredible year. Along with our dedicated volunteers and generous sponsors, we worked hard to bring DO to Baltimore, and we’re glad we did.

Our attendance was higher than last year, partly due to our new location making it possible for so many in the Baltimore-Washington region to join us for the first time. Baltimore has a thriving tech community, and we’re very excited to be part of it, so thanks to all our new friends in Baltimore for joining us!

Lots of you enjoyed the XNA workshop presented by our friends from Microsoft. Even for non-programmers, it was really cool to see a game being made live on stage! Although Digital Overload is a fun event for gamers, it’s also a chance to meet some very talented and intelligent people (that’s you), so we hope to create more opportunities for you to show off your smarts by volunteering, networking, and talking with the pros like Ben, Andrew and Ed.

Of course, with the changes come some ups and downs, and we had our share of those this year. The increased attendance meant our internet connection was slammed, and perhaps you’ve heard what it would’ve cost to have a dedicated connection. Those of us who have been going to LANs for years now understand why there were times when we couldn’t escape the internal network at other major events. But we know internet access is key for many games, even when playing on a LAN, so that’s our top priority to improve for the future.

The new location got mixed reviews as well. The Baltimore Convention Center is an undeniably beautiful facility, but downtown Baltimore is not a cheap place to visit, and when you’re walking to and from the hotel in the middle of the night, not being able to use the air bridge is a strike against it. These are important points to consider when choosing our location for next year.

However, some positive changes were very apparent as well. We noticed a major boost in gaming in the tabletop area thanks to Matt from Connecticon and the Press Gangers of Privateer Press. The Ctrl-Alt-Del board game was really popular as well, and we were honored to be the first event to feature it. Support from the GXL game admins also helped our tournaments run more smoothly than in years past. We had more tournaments than ever before this year, which would not have been possible without our admins! Major credit goes to Javier of Nexus Gaming Alliance for running the console tournaments and our on-stage events such as You Don’t Know Jack and the contests to support Habitat for Humanity.

Finally, we sincerely want to thank Tim Buckley for his help and support through the years. When Tim started this event, there’s no way he could’ve known what it would grow to be. Many of us have met some of our closest friends and best professional contacts through Digital Overload, and that wouldn’t have happened if Tim hadn’t had the nerve to do this to begin with.

All-in-all, we had a really great time, and we hope you all did, too. You can see the official Digital Overload 2011 photos on do-photos.com, and please leave a link to your own collection here in the comments.

Stay tuned for more updates throughout the year to learn how we’re going to make 2012 even better!

Aaaaand we’re back!

Well folks, we had an awesome time at Digital Overload 2011, and we hope you did, too. In the coming days, we’ll be uploading the photos and videos we took, and you’re welcome to post links to your own photos here or on our Facebook page.

We’d like to extend one more big “thank you” to our very generous sponsors: Microsoft, ThinkGeek, TrendNet, Sumo, Funcom, Coolermaster, Tte Sports, Thermaltake, Bigfoot, Astro, League of Legends, OCZ, Funranium Labs and Gameskullz.

And finally, thanks to everyone who donated to Habitat for Humanity through our games on stage. You raised $375 that we will give directly to Habitat for Humanity.

Stay tuned for photos and recaps coming soon, but first: GET SOME SLEEP!

A few questions have been asked via multiple channels, so I’ll post a few answers here:

- We are in Hall A at the Baltimore Convention Center. Use the Charles Street Entrance to enter.

- The event is schedueled to open at 2pm. The BCC’s doors will open at noon. If you wish to come line up to enter, you can do so at that time.

- Gamer Badges can be purchased at the door, at least until what space we have left is sold out. Seating is First-Come First-Serve, so if you wish to sit with your friends, I recommend you get here early and stake out y