MAGFest

MAGFest
Status Active
Genre Video games, video game music
Venue Gaylord National Convention Center[1]
Location(s) National Harbor, Maryland
Country United States
Inaugurated 2002
Attendance Approximately 17000+ in 2015
Organized by MAGFest INC
Website
http://magfest.org

MAGFest (Music and Gaming Festival, originally the Mid-Atlantic Gaming Festival) is an annual festival held in the DC metro area that celebrates video games and video game music, as well as their surrounding culture. MAGFest's primary features are a large open video gaming room, a hall of arcade cabinets, concerts by chiptune artists and video game cover bands, and a Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) LAN Party. MAGFest 13 took place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, MD from January 23 to 26, 2015.[2]

Attractions

MAGFest's arcade hall and console room are open 24 hours a day.[3] The hallway contains dozens of cabinets, ranging from vintage shoot 'em ups[3] to contemporary Japanese candy cabinets. Additionally, the console room houses dozens of televisions and attached game consoles, where guests are invited to play at will and each station's game is periodically swapped with a different one from a game library.

The concert area hosts several nightly performances of video game music and related works. Many luminaries of video game music fan culture have performed at MAGFest. Previous bands include Minibosses, Powerglove, the NESkimos, the Advantage and Chromelodeon.

Other major attractions include guest panels from the video game industry such as Sid Meier, Jon St. John[4] and Nobuo Uematsu,[5] celebrated composer for many of the games in the Final Fantasy series. In addition, the fan remixing community is well represented with sites such as OverClocked ReMix. Filmmakers such as X-Strike Studios, Main Moon Productions, PBC Productions, and There Will Be Brawl have also appeared at the event. MAGFest has also included intellectually driven panels such as "Game Studies 101" where attendees were given a basic introduction to the manner in which scholars study video games.

Additionally, MAGFest features an open mic stage, a large LAN party environment, a film screening room, a tabletop gaming room, vendors, contests like "name-that-tune," and a video game "challenge booth" where players can "try to tackle insanely difficult gaming feats for prizes of all sorts."[6]

History[7]
Dates Location Attendance Featured performers
MAGFest
September 27–29, 2002
Holiday Inn Tanglewood
Roanoke, Virginia
265 Everyone, The Minibosses, The OneUps
MAGFest 2
October 31–November 2, 2003
Clarion Hotel
Williamsburg, Virginia
375 The Minibosses, The Smash Bros., Wave Theory
MAGFest 3
October 1–3, 2004
Clarion Hotel
Williamsburg, Virginia
500 Inheretics, Chromelodeon, The Jenova Project, The Minibosses, The NESkimos, Temp Sound Solutions, The Smash Bros., Wave Theory
MAGFest 4
January 13–15, 2006
Doubletree Hilton
Charlottesville, Virginia
750 The Minibosses, The NESkimos, Parasprinter, Powerglove, Search Snake, The Smash Bros., Sprite Slowdown, This Place Is Haunted, Wave Theory
MAGFest 5
January 4–7, 2007
Sheraton Premiere
Vienna, Virginia
950 Armcannon, Chromelodeon, Parasprinter, Powerglove, The Smash Bros., Temp Sound Solutions, This Place Is Haunted, Wave Theory, Year 200X
MAGFest 6
January 3–6, 2008
Hilton Alexandria Mark Center
Alexandria, Virginia
1050 The Advantage, Armcannon, Powerglove, Select Start, The Smash Bros., Temp Sound Solutions, This Place Is Haunted
MAGFest 7
January 1–4, 2009
Hilton Alexandria Mark Center
Alexandria, Virginia
1350 Armcannon, Armadillo Tank, Entertainment System, The Megas, Metroid Metal, A_Rival, Rare Candy, Temp Sound Solutions, The Smash Bros., This Place Is Haunted,[8] Year 200X
MAGFest 8
January 1–4, 2010
Hilton Alexandria Mark Center
Alexandria, Virginia
2200 Armcannon, Armadillo Tank, Entertainment System, The Megas, Metroid Metal, A_Rival, Rare Candy, Select Start, Temp Sound Solutions, The OneUps, The Smash Bros., This Place Is Haunted,[8] brentalfloss
MAGFest 9
January 13–16, 2011
Hilton Alexandria Mark Center
Alexandria, Virginia
3000+ (Capped) The Protomen, The Minibosses, The OneUps, Metroid Metal, Armcannon, Bit Brigade, The Megas, Year 200X, X-Hunters, Entertainment System, This Place Is Haunted, Rare Candy, Dj CUTMAN, A_Rival, Powerglove, brentalfloss
MAGFest 10
January 5–8, 2012
Gaylord National Convention Center
National Harbor, Maryland
6100+[9] Earthbound Papas,[5] Armcannon, Bit Brigade, Descendants of Erdrick, Dj CUTMAN, The Megas, Metroid Metal, The OneUps, Temp Sound Solutions, This Place Is Haunted, X-Hunters, Year 200X, Krieger, Random Encounter
MAGFest 11
January 3–6, 2013
Gaylord National Convention Center
National Harbor, Maryland
9000+ Yuzo Koshiro, Armcannon, Benjamin Briggs, Bit Brigade, bLiNd, Brentalfloss and The Cartridge Family, Dj CUTMAN, Mega Ran, Metroid Metal, Powerglove, Protomen, Rare Candy, The Megas, The OneUps, Those Who Fight, Video Game Orchestra
MAGFest 12
January 2-5, 2014
Gaylord National Convention Center
National Harbor, Maryland
12,000+ Machinae Supremacy, The OneUps, Love Canon, Bit Brigade, Urizen, X-Hunters, The Megas, Knight of the Round, Random AKA Mega Ran, MegaDriver, Super Guitar Bros., Those Who Fight, On Being Human, This Place Is Haunted, Armcannon, Rare Candy, LONELYROLLINGSTARS, Gamechops DJ Battle
MAGFest 8.5
September 12-14, 2014
Hilton Alexandria Mark Center
Alexandria, Virginia
1,500 Arm Cannon, Temp Sound Solutions, Professor Shyguy, You Bred Raptors?, Steel Samurai, Eight Bit Disaster, The Protomans, The World Is Square, Those Who Fight
MAGFest 13
January 23-26, 2015
Gaylord National Convention Center
National Harbor, Maryland
17,000+ Yuu Miyake, The Protomen, Powerglove, Bit Brigade, LONELYROLLINGSTARS, The Megas, Random AKA Mega Ran, Super Guitar Bros., Kirby's Dream Band, Viking Guitar Live, Super Soul Bros., Rare Candy, Urizen, On Being Human, The Tiberian Sons

References

External links

Press