Support NeoGAF

[RotBot]

The 11th Annual Music And Gaming Festival
4 Days of Non-Stop Games and Concerts

Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center
201 Waterfront Street
National Harbor, MD 20745
Jan 3 - 6, 2013 (Thu - Sun)

Price: $40 before Oct 31, $45 after

After last year's thread didn't get started until 2 days into MAGFest, I decided to post this early. Maybe the people living 3 miles away from it will know it exists this time.


What is MAGFest all about?
In short, MAGFest is a music and video gaming festival run by fans, for fans. In more verbose terms, it's an annual event dedicated to the celebration of video games and video game music. Every year offers 24-hour console, arcade, and PC game rooms,live video game cover bands, a vendors area, and guest speakers from the video game industry and fan scene. It also features a "JamSpace" available to all attendees for impromptu music performances. Numerous other events are scheduled each day.

What makes MAGFest unique is that it's an event run by fans for fans. There are no corporate sponsors, no over-crowded showfloors, and no top-secret-behind-closed-doors showings. MAGFest is built from the ground up to be a party-like atmosphere with focus on community and fan creations, which creates an environment that no other expo or convention can ever recreate.

Where did MAGFest start and where is it now?
MAGFest is currently headed by a crack commando unit.The first MAGFest was held September 27-29, 2002, at the Holiday Inn Tanglewood in Roanoke, Virginia.We've had a total of ten MAGFests so far, and they've been a blast!We have grown rapidly to our current size of over 6000 people in January, 2012.MAGFest will be held in the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, and we hope to see you there!

• Attendance: 6100 at MAGFest X (2012), 8,000-10,000 expected at MAGFest 11 (2013)
• Year started: 2002
• MAGFest 11 Dates: January 3-6, 2013
• MAGFest 11 Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center,201 Waterfront Street, National Harbor, MD 20745
• MAGFest 11 notable guests: Kinuyo Yamashita (Castlevania Composer), Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage composer)
• MAGFest 11 notable bands:Random AKA Mega Ran, Video Game Orchestra
• Notable past guests:Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy series composer),Ellen McLain (Voice of GLaDOS),Jon St. John (Voice of Duke Nukem), Angry Video Game Nerd,Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana composer), Sid Meier, Grant Kirkhope (Rareware music composer), Howard Drossin (Sega music composer), Tommy Tallarico (Video Games Live)
• Notable past bands:EARTHBOUND PAPAS (Nobuo Uematsu's band), The OneUps, Metroid Metal, The Minibosses, Powerglove, The Advantage, NESKimos

Too lazy to update all this stuff, so click here: http://magfest.org/people


Guest List (as of August 31, 2012)
Yuzo Koshiro
Kinuyo Yamashita
Extra Credits
Kan Gao
Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson
Chris Huelsbeck
Interrobang Studios
John Patrick Lowrie
Jon St. John


Musical Performers
Yuzo Koshiro
Bit Brigade
BrentalFloss and The Cartridge Family
Random AKA Mega Ran
Metroid Metal
The OneUps
Powerglove
Video Game Orchestra

Some videos from last year:
Arcade & Game Room walkthrough
Child's Play charity auction
Earthbound Papas
Bit Brigade
meme



The ultimate premiere party for new and exciting video game films kicks off at MAGFest with the brand new Games on Film festival. Gone forever is the "con video room", GoF is a curated film festival featuring the best and brightest of this year's video game films.

This festival lineup includes a dozen different features, including nine NEW feature-length films inspired by or focused on geek and gamer culture. Video game documentaries, action extravaganzas, shorts from the US and around the world, and International premieres. We'll have filmmaker Q&As, live tournaments, contests, and a host of other special events paired with each screening. Games on Film includes programs for both hardcore and casual geeks. Curated by Chad Williams.

Beyond the Game
Beyond the Game: the EVO 2011 Trailer from AnimatronicAckbar on Vimeo.
FIGHT!Beyond the Game is a document of video game culture, from within the fighting game community.Directed by Animatronic Akbar.

Ecstacy of Order
Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters chronicles over two decades of jaw-dropping video game wizardry. Get an up-close look at the masters as they reveal their secrets, recount their decades-long obsession with the game, compete against each other to set new world records, and enter the transcendental state required to reach the highest levels known as the “Ecstasy of Order.”Directed by Adam Corneilus.

THE FP
In a post apocalyptic future, two rival gangs fight for control of Frazier Park by playing "Beat Beat Revelation", a deadly version of Dance, Dance, Revolution.Written and Directed by Brandon and Jason Trost.

Get Lamp
Computer Adventure Games.In the early 1980s, an entire industry rose over the telling of tales, the solving of intricate puzzles and the art of writing. Like living books, these games described fantastic worlds to their readers, and then invited them to live within them.Get Lamp is a documentary that tells the story of these incredible games, in the words of the people who made them.Directed by Jason Scott.

Going Cardboard
Welcome to the colorful world of designer board games.Going Cardboard is a film about the new board gaming, a phenomenon going on right under your nose, probably in your very community! This film will take you into that world to meet the players and designers responsible for this radical departure from technology. And you just might discover it's the hobby for you.Directed by Lorien Green.

Indy Game: The Movie
A documentary that follows the journeys of indie game developers (Fez, Journey, Minecraft) as they create games and release those works, and themselves, to the world.Directed by Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky.

Journey Quest 2
JourneyQuest is a fantasy comedy webseries that premiered on Hulu and YouTube.Season 2 reunites the hilarious cast with twice the laughs, action, and geeky references.

Machinima Expo
The winners of the juried online film festival, Machinima Expo 2012, will screen at Games on Film at MAGFest!Machinima films, made inside video games (licensed and otherwise), range from comic gold to action / thrillers.

Mario Warfare
Beat Down Boogie's newest fusion of video games and intense action.From the amazing team that brought you "Modern War Gear Solid".

More than a Game
More Than a Game is a feature-length documentary about the video-game fighting tournament Evolution 2011 in Las Vegas.

Standard Action Season 2
Standard Action’s first season of 14 episodes and nearly three hours of content took the web by storm in 2011 with its brilliant cinematography, gorgeous art and design, fantastic performances, intelligent writing, and unique, quirky characters.

Video Game Theater
Behold the greatest hits of VIDEOGAME THEATER, a short-form puppetational series for MTV-Italy's QOOB Network.Writers/Directors: Scott Chernoff & Frank Meyer.


Demoscene gathering featuring Chris Huelsbeck

MAGFest is breaking into the world of Demoscene! Special guest Chris Huelsbeck (Composer of C64 Turrican, R-Type) will be joining us this year, so come join the legend himself and take part our badass demo party. Bring your computer, your brain, and a great deal of caffeine.
What is Demoscene?

The demoscene is an underground subculture centered on the realtime aspect of non-interactive multimedia productions. When someone mentions something about a demo in this context, that particular individual is referring to a somewhat unique mixture of game technology and short film direction. The production runs in realtime, using the same technology used in game development, but with a fixed runtime behavior, much like a short film or a play.
Presented by Blockparty

Blockparty is North America's longest running demoscene party: an event where fans of digital art demonstrate their abilities, share their knowledge, and connect with others within the scene. Whether you remember the days of the Pilgrimage or NAID parties or you're just now getting to know what this subculture is all about, we want you here. For this edition of Blockparty, with the blessing of organizers emeritus Jason Scott and RadMan, we have several competitions in the works at a venue that has all of the amenities that seasoned partygoers have come to expect.








Nothing to do with this:

 

[alr1ght]

RIP Zipper

 

[itwasTuesday]

Only 10 minutes away.
So, maybe.

 

[Nick The Newbie]

I help out with MAGFest, so let me know if you guys have any questions! I'll try to update you with details as we announce them, too.

 

[Skiptastic]

Um, I've been going to Magfest since Magfest 2 so yeah, I know what Magfest is. Even though I refuse to capitalized the first three characters to make the acronym complete.

PS. Earthbound Papas and two Minibosses shows last year was a great way to introduce the Gaylord to Magfest. This year should be excellent!

PPS. My thread on a different forum for Magfest had a better titled: "My convention goes to eleven."

 

[ultron87]

I know what it is! And would go if I was close. But I'm not.

 

[RotBot]

Even though I refuse to capitalized the first three characters to make the acronym complete.

Are you saying you've always spelled it like that or revolting against the name change? The letters were still capitalized back when it was called (the classier) Mid-Atlantic Gaming Festival.

PPS. My thread on a different forum for Magfest had a better titled: "My convention goes to eleven."

Then why did you make me waste my time writing BBcode when you could have copy-pasted?

 

[Skiptastic]

Are you saying you've always spelled it like that or revolting against the name change? The letters were still capitalized back when it was called (the classier) Mid-Atlantic Gaming Festival.

Then why did you make me waste my time writing BBcode when you could have copy-pasted?

I've always spelled it like that. It was always MAGFest but it just feels better to type Magfest. Don't know why...

And I didn't copy and paste because that thread would make zero sense on NeoGAF compared to the other forum. Besides, yours has about 10x more information because that thread is frequented by the people who have already been to Magfest and those who are trying to get there. I don't really put a lot of info in the OP because Nick updates us as things are added (like Yuzo Koshiro joining up).

 

[Nick The Newbie]

I've always spelled it like that. It was always MAGFest but it just feels better to type Magfest. Don't know why...

And I didn't copy and paste because that thread would make zero sense on NeoGAF compared to the other forum. Besides, yours has about 10x more information because that thread is frequented by the people who have already been to Magfest and those who are trying to get there. I don't really put a lot of info in the OP because Nick updates us as things are added (like Yuzo Koshiro joining up).

Koshiroooooooooooooooo. Did you guys know that this is his first ever performance in the USA? His first public appearance as well.

 

[-PXG-]

Of all people, my father told me about this last year. He doesn't know anything about video games. I remember people giving out pamphlets at PAX East.

I see that Mega Ran will be there. Might check it out...

 

[RotBot]

Koshiroooooooooooooooo. Did you guys know that this is his first ever performance in the USA? His first public appearance as well.

I got hyped after listening to the Ys episode of VGMpire.

 

[GhaleonQ]

Koshiroooooooooooooooo. Did you guys know that this is his first ever performance in the USA? His first public appearance as well.

EVERYBODY LOVES KOSHIRO. OF COURSE WE KNOW THAT. HE IS THE BEST.

 

[bistromathics]

I remember running into MAGFest people in the airport on the way back from PAX 2010. Someone said something about John St. John and then I said something under my breath about dudebro. Several GAFfers were outed and more drinks were had.

 

[randomkid]

I have been to exactly one nerdly event in my life: A Distant Worlds concert that lived up to my worst fears (even the music was terrible!) I don't have any desire to ever attend anything of the sort again. But Koshiro, dammit. Ergh... this is pretty tough.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

MAGFest is great, guys. Seriously. Go to it.

 

[RotBot]

Chris Huelsbeck and Demoparty announced.

We just keep getting more and more INTENSE this year. Our latest guest for you is famed classic game composer and demoscene figure Chris Huelsbeck (Hülsbeck). He's done some amazing soundtracks such as Turrican, R-Type C64, and The Great Giana Sisters! His Turrican Kickstarter was hugely popular, so expect to hear some great things out of him regarding that project.

Also, expect him to be present at MAGFest's first ever demoparty! That's right, the amazing demo culture is finally making it's way to MAGFest. Bring your computer and participate in a group of teams that will be working diligently all weekend to make the most technically impressive demos they can.

As always, please pre-register and book your hotel room!

More props to Audun Sorlie for getting Huelsbeck for us.

Demoscene gathering featuring Chris Huelsbeck


MAGFest is breaking into the world of Demoscene! Special guest Chris Huelsbeck (Composer of C64 Turrican, R-Type) will be joining us this year, so come join the legend himself and take part our badass demo party. Bring your computer, your brain, and a great deal of caffeine.
What is Demoscene?


The demoscene is an underground subculture centered on the realtime aspect of non-interactive multimedia productions. When someone mentions something about a demo in this context, that particular individual is referring to a somewhat unique mixture of game technology and short film direction. The production runs in realtime, using the same technology used in game development, but with a fixed runtime behavior, much like a short film or a play.
Presented by Blockparty


Blockparty is North America's longest running demoscene party: an event where fans of digital art demonstrate their abilities, share their knowledge, and connect with others within the scene. Whether you remember the days of the Pilgrimage or NAID parties or you're just now getting to know what this subculture is all about, we want you here. For this edition of Blockparty, with the blessing of organizers emeritus Jason Scott and RadMan, we have several competitions in the works at a venue that has all of the amenities that seasoned partygoers have come to expect.

 

[RotBot]

http://magfest.org/djannouncement

Who says you need a live band to enjoy live video game music? We've finalized all of our DJs this year, so check out the awesome lineup of guys that are going to make you dance it off.

DJ Lineup (click to view all performers):
Yuzo Koshiro - Composer for Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Actraiser, Ys, and more. This is his first ever performance in the USA!
bLiNd - Remixer of OCReMix and VGMix fame.
DJ Cutman - MAGFest veteran who has been gaining huge popularity, and has the uncanny ability to make dubstep not suck. He is also the founder of the gamechops netlabel.
Benjamin Briggs - Also known as chthonic, he's another OCReMix personality who will be spinning up some VG tunes.

 

[leatherhat]

Lets take a brief moment to weep for the good SOCOM game zipper wasn't able to make this gen.

...


Also was MAG itself any good?

 

[bounchfx]

been wanting to go to this for the past 3 years but shit always keeps coming up... now I'm all the way in CA so no chance.

Freakin Uematsu was there last year, jamming out!

also Armcannon fucking rules.

 

[RotBot]

Today's the last day to pre-register for $40. It's $45 starting tomorrow.

 

[YoYo Switch]

any places to take a shower if i'm planning to sleep in my car?

 

[Skiptastic]

any places to take a shower if i'm planning to sleep in my car?

Find a friendly fest goer and ask to use theirs?

 

[Kerub]

:-( I was hoping this was a MAG lttp.

 

[Hale-XF11]

I wish I could go again. Haven't been able to afford it since Mag 8. It's seriously the best time you'll have in your entire life. It's like one giant slumber party and all your friends are there.

 

[YoYo Switch]

Find a friendly fest goer and ask to use theirs?

haha, that's probably a good idea, if a little strange

"hey can i shower in your rooooooom neeekiiiiddd"

 

[tearsofash]

A few friends of mine would always go to magfest. They were part of the furry music electronic sort of thing, so them talking about it never really garnered my attention much.

 

[TxdoHawk]

Hotel rooms are booked and passes are bought. I can't wait. This is my one vacation for the year, my group has been going for years now.

This is me at the hotel last year. Say hi if you see me!

 

[Meowtor]

Good friends with the guys who run it. Very awesome convention but I wont be attending this year due to money issues

 

[Gunstarheroes]

My first year, actually. My friend was talking it up, and i'm like, eh, i've already got PAX East and stuff, and i've seen most of the bands. Then he mentioned Yuzo Koshiro.

Now, between that, Game Grumps, AVGN, Screwattack, a bunch of rad bands, the chance to catch up on some retro gaming purchases, play some old arcade cabinets. The more and more i saw, the more excited i got.

 

[Billen]

This seems awesome. Shame it's in the wrong part of the planet though.

 

[Mr Jared]

I'm still trying to figure out whether or not I'm going to this.

If you are, do me a favor and go rock out to Crashfaster. They're a chiptune group from here in San Francisco and kick major ass. GOGOGO~

 

[Daigoro]

sounds great. if i was in the area id love to check it out.

 

[explodet]

I'm decompressing from a pretty awesome second day here at Magfest.

When I arrived I scoured the dealer's room. I'm eyeing a combustible lemon (with pull string), but not sure how airport security would enjoy that. I then wandered the console room and I saw all these weird and wonderful old games being played. There was a big crowd of guys surrounding one screen, far more than any other. And not surprising, UMvC3 was playing. Still some mad hype for that game.

I caught The Megas play in the concert hall, which is huge now - pretty good set, although I think they were messing with the equalizers in the back.

Today after morning coffee I hung out in the giant arcade room. It's an entire section of the convention hall with nothing but arcade machines. The majority of it looks to be old school games, but they have a good variety. I tried out Jungle King, Missile Command, Joust, Mappy, Donkey Kong, Punch-Out, and Street Fighter II Championship Edition. I'm told Asteroids with a really sharp vector screen is something to be experienced, I'll have to try that tomorrow. I then helped out a friend in the dealer's room while he visited the Game Grumps panel. Not my thing, so I'm not upset I missed them or anything.

I saw the Bit Brigade concert which was pretty awesome. Last year they had a timed run of Mega Man 2 while the band played the soundtrack, and this year they did Castlevania and Contra. I was pretty impressed at the Castlevania run - much holy water abuse, natch. I didn't stick around for Arm Cannon who played next, but I hear they put on another good show.

Back to the arcade room where I played some Turtles in Time as Donatello with two random dudes and a little kid who was having the time of his life as Raphael. Beat the game, the little kid ended up with more lives than the rest of us, go figure.

I caught a sweet DJ set in the jamspace room at midnight tonight, then went over to the arcade room again to play some Gauntlet Dark Legacy and then managed to squeak out So Deep Heavy on a fully working and maintained DDR Extreme machine (by gar it's been a while). My legs are going to be screaming tomorrow.

And the 3DS street passes are flowing like wine!

 

[PorygonVandal]

I love their challenge corner

A friend and I used to play some of this challenges, 3 best out of 5 and we recorded them... the one who won was declared the "Champion of the universe"

 

[Skiptastic]

This is only the third Magfest I haven't been to. I'm pretty jealous of you guys right now.

 

[Gunstarheroes]

I love their challenge corner

A friend and I used to play some of this challenges, 3 best out of 5 and we recorded them... the one who won was declared the "Champion of the universe"

I've gotten 10 so far. One of the most enjoyable things to do here, for myself at least.

 

[drizzle]

Yuzo Koshiro is up right now:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/magfest-11-live-coverage

 

[Ketch]

RIP Zipper

yea, rip.

 

[d0c_zaius]

YUZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

hes still got it. I hope this is archived!

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Yuzo Koshiro is up right now:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/magfest-11-live-coverage

Been listening since the start. Pretty fucking awesome tbh.

 

[solidefy]

This was my first MAGFest, had an incredible time. Yuzo was amazing, Protomen were amazing, also really enjoyed VGO and Powerglove. Wanted to stay up for DJ Cutman but I was barely able to stand anymore.

Already going through Street Pass withdrawal after getting 100 an hour, can't wait for next year.

If you're on the fence about going to this in the future, I highly suggest you go for it!

 

[robot]

Had no idea Yuzo was playing last night (nor did I know what Magfest was). Hopefully it was archived!

 

[StarCreator]

The fact no one on GAF talks about MAGFest is depressing. It's my only must-go event of the year, above even PAX.

 

[KrawlMan]

This was my first MAGFest, had an incredible time. Yuzo was amazing, Protomen were amazing, also really enjoyed VGO and Powerglove. Wanted to stay up for DJ Cutman but I was barely able to stand anymore.

Already going through Street Pass withdrawal after getting 100 an hour, can't wait for next year.

If you're on the fence about going to this in the future, I highly suggest you go for it!

This was my first MAGFest and certainly won't be my last. I loved VGO, Super Guitar Bros and PowerGlove. I kept stopping by the VGO table in the market and never saw them there I had hoped to pick up a CD.

I stayed for most of DJ Cutman, but towards the end my friend bumped into some guy and the guy got really pissed for no legitimate reason, just begging for a fight. Kind of sobering, left the concert hall right after that.

 

[solidefy]

I kept stopping by the VGO table in the market and never saw them there I had hoped to pick up a CD.

Haha we were the table next to them (Elder-Geek/Shamoozal) they never showed up the entire time. At one pointed we were just going to take over their table and tell people we were them.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

I had no idea what MAGfest was before last week and was surprised that GAF wasnt talking about it at all. An awesome arcade room, great arts and crafts stuff I probably wouldnt have seen otherwise, cool setups for drop in multiplayer stuff and some cool people selling used games (Picked up Diddy Kong Racing and a Japanese Animal Crossing N64 cartridge) all in a nice little plaza.

Highly reccomended and will be returning next year.

 

[KrawlMan]

Haha we were the table next to them (Elder-Geek/Shamoozal) they never showed up the entire time. At one pointed we were just going to take over their table and tell people we were them.

I actually saw one of the guitarists out and about several times throughout the event, but I never bothered him (he appeared busy most of time). I did speak with the violinist after the concert though and he actually had no idea where they would be selling anything. Sounds like he never knew they had a table haha.

 

[Gunstarheroes]

I have to agree with everyone here. First year there, and it was the best festival/convention i've ever been to.

On that note, anyone who didn't go to Bit Brigade missed the hell out.

 

[solidefy]

8bitx has posted the full Yuzo Koshiro set on youtube, really nice quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9z2ujbw1OBA

 

[Nick The Newbie]

Hi guys! I'm one of the organizers of MAGFest. I just wanted to say thanks for coming out, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. MAGFest 12 will be January 2-5, 2014 in National Habor, MD, so get ready because this battle is about to explode.