(Note: MAGfest 2.0 has come and gone, but be sure to attend MAGfest 3.0 from Fri OCT 1, 2004 to Sun OCT 3, 2004 in Williamsburg VA. Please visit the MAGfest website for details.)

It's a LAN party. It's a Video Game Convention. It's MAGfest . These were the words spoken inside of the Clarion Hotel in colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, as the one and only MAGfest took to the center stage. The Convention was held from Friday October 31st until Sunday November 2nd, 2003. We arrived at Thursday night from a long and tiresome trip from NYC, all the way to VA...but the trip was well worth it as we were able to cross a threshold into what we thought was truly unique.

We got to meet up with MAGFest's owner, Brendon, who was typing away at his computer while playing Videogame music through his computer speakers. Although it was NES music at that moment, it was a wonderful flashback remembering when we would hum musical tunes in our heads when we were younger. TFGM, myself, Wyldflower and Brendon began guessing musical scores through a little NES music trivia. Then Zero G got into the mix! We were on this subject for almost an hour, but then we knew what we had to do. We went inside the main room to set up our props and supplies. We even brought a few posters and advertisement boxes along with us for anyone to keep. We were almost done with setting up, but we left the rest of the work for Saturday. That night, we just stayed inside of our hotel rooms and played videogames all night.

When Friday arrived, we were still preparing for the arrival of the rest of the attendees. There were still some empty spots where other companies would set up their tables to sell their merchandise, but that didn't stop us from playing a game here and there. For some of the people that did show up at MAGfest, we got to play them in Super Smash Bros Melee, NES Contra, and this 1 game that was like Dance Dance revolution, but it involved the typing fingers to be as fast as they could be; I was completely intimidated by it, but I'll be ready for that game next year. Speaking of DDR, There was a gentleman who hooked up a DDR machine where it was playing a vast majority of DDR music that I've heard in previous DDR versions. From what I could tell, this specific machine must have had all of the DDR music connected with it. There were about 2 machines from what I saw, with random guests taking a shot at the game. I wish I could remember this gentleman because he did have something going for him in terms of the whole DDR idea. Much respect to that man. After setting up all of the props, I was completely exhausted and I turned in to sleep early. Surprisingly enough, I woke up quite early in the morning. I occupied myself, playing GGXX with Santhrax as he was teaching me a few techniques with "Ky Kiske". Afterwards, I just got my stuff prepared for tomorrow morning.

Saturday finally arrived and everything was under way. We had the laptops up and running to take down information, Zero G was the man of the hour; taking artwork requests from the many fans that support videogame characters, TFGM, myself and Wyldflower were placing up props to decorate the rooms (but they kept on falling off), Santhrax showed off his skill with the fighting games, Kreymore and Dieminion (Die-more) were testing out the various games that awaited anyone to play them, and Marvelous was hanging out with the Guilty Gear XX players. Everything was well. Aside from our booth, we got to take a look at the LAN party. Everything from Warcraft 3, to Counter Strike was being played. We dipped our hands inside of the LAN party games and had a good time. We were able to hold our ground in Warcraft 3 and Diablo 2 but the way they played Counter Strike was just too much. We'll be ready for the next LAN party for sure. A very unique feature of MAGFest was how almost everyone who attended the convention brought over their own games and systems for everyone else to play. Everyone co-operated on this issue, so nothing was illegally taken. Time felt like it passed by quickly for we were doing so much. But we were just hitting the afternoon hours.

We got to sit down with many of the other booth space owners to discuss where gaming should be heading and how all of us can make a difference from within it. I had the opportunity to sit down with Stephen Kennedy from KFSS Studios , in discussions of music in videogames, as well as Project Majestic Mix, a compilation of music from popular videogames with special thanks going out to the composers. Mainstream music and Videogame music are at a borderline where they are just about the same in terms of quality and style. Videogame music should be treated as equally as any other music form and with the help of Stephen Kennedy, this respect is coming closer. Along with the rest of the KFSS Studios staff, these gamers are very dedicated to videogame music sounding its best and they definitely know what they're talking about, especially in Final Fantasy questions. The next gentlemen I got to meet, I didn't know of at first but I'm glad that I did. Robert V Aldrich, a very good story writer discussed how the impact of videogame stories can make gaming better when gameplay is applied to it. With his own story, Teach The Sky (Which is very good by the way), Robert pointed out specific points on where plot, suspense, and drama can lead to an overall effect. Is it possible that graphics, music, gameplay, story, and replay elements can fall into 1 packages of goodness? Yes. Yes it is.

Then the surprise of all surprises came to Empire Arcadia's door as X-Strike Studios came through with their recording gear, looking to get some interviews. I knew that they were interviewing various groups, but I had no idea that one of those groups would be us. We sat down for a few minutes and introduced ourselves and what we do. We then had a personal talk with the team of X-Strike Studios about how videogames are today, what they were yesterday, and how we can combine both aspects to make tomorrow's games. Everything was clean and positive. Things got even more interesting as X-Strike Studios spoke about their preview movie, River City Rumble. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see the movie because I was attending (as well as assist hosting) tournaments during the convention. From what others said about the movie, however, is that X-Strike Studios should make videogame movies and no one else.

We were sitting inside of the readying room listening to Virt and the VGMIX crew . These guys are very talented. I simply yelled to them "Hey! How about giving us something with a 120 tempo!" they looked at each other, gave a few nods and went right into it. I heard that they were going to be performing their music later on that night in an in house concert. Sure enough the hotel had the in house concert with the talented musicians of Minibosses , Wave Theory and Virt and the VGMIX crew playing videogame music of all timelines with today's sound. So imagine original megaman music, Castlevania music, and other music variations, played with Guilty Gear musical quality. These musicians rocked the hotel so hard that debris fell from the ceiling above us. During the events of the concert, there was also a cosplay costume event where all types of videogame mascots were seen. From Link, Mario and Luigi, Viewtiful Joe, to Yuri, Slayer from GGXX, Team Aqua and Team Magma grunts, even a Tonbury! When all was said and done, everyone took pictures and signed books and autographs.

Unfortunately, the last day to Magfest arrived and this was the time when everyone was packing up and getting ready to return back home. Before we left though, we did gather as many people as we could to discuss a rather serious issue in gaming, Women and their involvement with videogames. How women are portrayed, what stereotypes are insulting, what women in general would like to see in videogames; Positive role females that girls and women can relate to. The discussion was very informative, and positive.

With all of our things packed, we said our goodbyes, took pictures and exchanged contact information. Then we got back on those horrible busses to return to NYC. One positive note though, there will be another MAGfest. MAGfest 3.0 from Fri OCT 1, 2004 to Sun OCT 3, 2004 in Williamsburg VA. We'll be there again and we hope to see you there as well.

GamingKnight.
Knights of Empire Arcadia Unit Leader / Webmaster.

(editor note) Oh! I almost forgot to mention! The music from the in house concert was recorded so that you can hear the tunes as much as you like! They are in .ogg Vorbis audio format so you will need an .ogg vorbis player.

You may download the music by clicking Here .

Try Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge 7.0 program. You can get it by searching their website, Here .