PixlBit

    MAGFest, or the Music and Gaming Festival, is an event held in National Harbor, Maryland just outside Washington D.C. on the east coast of America January 2-5. Here’s a video for the show:

                                  

    There are lots of musical acts, most of which I haven’t heard of before, but I checked a few out. Urizen is a theatrical 8-bit infused metal band kind of like a techno-nerd version of GWAR. I watched a show of theirs last night and it was a lot of fun. I always appreciate humor in music and a theatrical style, so I’m on board with these guys.

                      

    I also checked out this acoustic guitar duo Super Guitar Bros. They do classical and acoustic guitar renditions of various video game tunes and they are very good.

                       

                                                   I love classical guitar

   The festival runs 24 hours a day for the four days and you can bring your own instrument and play in the halls or join in at the jam session area. How cool is that!

      But that’s not all! There are tons of games to play: 200 arcade machines, every console you can imagine, tabletop games, and a LAN party for your PC. There are panels if you want to hear discussions of games, There’s a marketplace for all your swag needs, There’s guest celebrities like Tommy Tallarico, James Rolfe, The Angry Video Game Nerd, possibly showing off clips from the movie he’s been working on. There's voice talent like John St. John aka Duke Nukem; and lots of Indie Game developers showing off their games. There’s even a movie theater where are shown various game related films and documentaries. Finally there is the Child’s Play charity auction, live action role playing going on, comedy improv groups and of course cosplay.

    MAGFest sounds like a blast!