Once a year, somewhere in the Mid Atlantic, thousands of
people gather to completely geek out over video games. Games of from all types and eras. Listen to chiptunes
recreated with live instruments and live instruments recreated as chiptunes.
Possibly, these people might drop some cash on gaming related swag that they
wouldn’t buy normally. To be honest the hardest battle fought this particular
weekend was with a snowstorm.
The National Harbor in Maryland is just outside of Washington
DC and is a pretty upscale convention area with expensive restaurants and
hotels that fill several blocks. I don’t know who green lit a giant nerd fest
in the area; I guess moist money is as good as any other money. To be fair,
there is a giant anime convention that happens in the same space. So a space
that normally holds investor meetings, college graduations, and political meetings,
gets run over by throngs of people in costume, the socially awkward, and
YouTube celebrities.
On Thursday I had an eight hour drive to get to my
destination. My brother and his friends were to meet me at the hotel across the
street from the Gaylord Convention Center (seriously, it’s cheaper and they
include breakfast) while my other friends would attend on later days. The worst
of the drive were the multiple snowstorms encountered on the way. This was not
the best weekend for weather. While I tried to avoid a car either stopped or in
a ditch every few miles, I made the eight hour drive in just under ten and a
half. At least that part was over.
Thursday night was spent finding out where everything was,
scoping out the vendors to see if there were any actual deals, and figuring out
when everyone else wouldn’t be eating so we wouldn’t have to wait for a table.
You know, the regular convention stuff.
Friday morning my brother and I attended the Jon Tron panel.
Say whatever you like about his material, he’s a legitimately funny guy. Jon
offered some funny stories and seemed to answer fans’ questions with sincerity.
I’ve got nothing bad to say about that guy. On the bottom floor of the venue,
in an area the size of a plane hangar; was a giant arcade and vender area.
Arcade machines from every era loosely arranged by genre litter the floor and
sound as obnoxious as you remember. It’s really too bad that arcades have
declined over the years, it’s still a blast to play pinball and shoot guys with
a light gun.
Saturday we went to the Continue? Show panel and it was
great. The guys that run that show are really awesome film makers and
comedians. I’ve followed their show for a few years now and still laugh at all
of the Billy Joel jokes they make. The band On
Being Human is extremely awesome and the RetrowareTV panel was excellent. I
really like “The Video Game Years” web show they produce, it’s like VH1’s “I
Love the 80’s” but with games. I met some really cool people and saw some
really talented musicians melt faces with 8-Bit melodies. I picked up some
reproduction carts of some games I may have emulated 15 years ago and a Sega
CDX for well under eBay prices. You can still find a deal here and there. Saturday
night I went to the Jon St John panel. I played Duke Nukem 3D when I was kid
and would love to hear him say he’s got balls of steel. Jon St John is an
extremely talented voice actor, but he’s a raging asshole. The self proclaimed “King
of Magfest” is known for crashing hotel parties, drinking the liquor, and then
leaving; at one point a he had a guy wear a candy man thong while another guy
from the audience ate some of it while
shouting “Only at my panel!!” Eh, he can just voice my games thanks.
It was a good weekend. Everyone I know who came had a good
time. I’d recommend checking it out for a day if you happen to be around the
Beltway while it’s going on.