id Software's annual LAN fest-convention QuakeCon is now in full swing here at the Gaylord Texan hotel in Grapevine, Texas. The free gathering of gamers to play on a massive 3,000 player LAN network combined with a mini-E3 exhibit hall area and lots of activities is one of the more unique game events in the US. Some gamers who didn't register in advanced have been waiting since 9:30 pm Wednesday night for a chance to be admitted to the event's BYOC area

Big Download will be here for the entire event where id Software will show off, for the first time in public, actual gameplay from their next major title Rage. Their master programmer John Carmack will also be making his annual QuakeCon keynote address later today (expect things to get highly technical) and lots of other stuff are planned as well from now until Saturday night. You can check out some quick pictures from the event in our new gallery.

Oh and while this isn't PC gaming related it's still pretty cool. Today at QuakeCon they were showing a playable version of the previously unannounced Doom II for Xbox Live Arcade. The neat bit? In addition to porting the entire PC game, the development team at Nerve Software are also making an ALL NEW EPISODE that's exclusive to the Xbox Live Arcade version.