Monday, January 20, 2014

MAGFest 12 Is a Thing That Happened

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.