The PAX South premiere in San Antonio may have garnered more attention, but the Washington, D.C. suburbs had their own gathering of game fans this weekend. MAGFest (the music and gaming festival) has now grown in its 14th year from fewer than 300 attendees in 2002 to an expected attendance of over 18,000 this weekend. Gamers and musicians filled an entire wing of the Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland with arcade cabinets, classic consoles, board and card games, merchandise tables, panels, and concerts.
What sets MAGFest apart from many other fan conventions is that it runs all day and all night for the entire four days. players were penetrate Johann Sebastian Joust until 2 a.m, for example, and clogged the arcade and console freeplay areas (and nearby bars) until the wee hours of the morning. Parental commitments prevented me from staying out that late this year, but next time I hope to find a babysitter for the kid and play with the crowd until dawn.
This is what I saw.
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A few rolls of colored duct tape can create an excellent Pokemon facsimile
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Perler pearl pixel art was all over the merchandise tables, as this table illustrated.
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If you want your Amiibo with a Japanese flair, be prepared to pay an extra price…
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This cosplayer showed a surprising lack of stealth.
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Sega’s latest redesign of Knuckles has been a hit with fans.
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MAGFest had a wide variety of rhythm games in the arcade, but bar abuse was a constant problem
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Despite the standard match-the-beat gameplay, the light show stems from this Neon FM arcade cabinet attracted a lot of attention
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Xbox One? PS4? Pfft. Real gamers play on a Kaypro 4.
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28 years after the release of the Macintosh SE and we’re still trying to get to Oregon…
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Rarely seen in the west, ParaParaParadise is like Dance Dance Revolution for your hands.
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You wish you looked this fabulous.
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Segas Flash beats bathes players in an otherworldly glow as they bounce ever-faster lights back and forth through five parallel tubes.
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A rare one Balloon fight cosplayer is making its way into my heart.
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At this stand, visitors could turn over tables full of fragile items in exchange for a donation to charity. Here’s the before shot…
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…and here’s the aftermath.
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Kawaiiiiiiii
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I don’t remember Pit being so stunned…or having a beard…
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The award for “Largest PlayStation Controller” goes to this monstrosity branded with the logo of popular Japanese rhythm series Hatsune Miku.
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This giant Beholder sat unloved in a back corner of the console room. Note the paper list of spells in the foreground.
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You are what you play…
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Fighting with a blindfold? Now you’re just showing off, Sagat…
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A casual string quartet concerto by Zelda music in the hotel atrium attracted many tired fellow visitors.
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This man was walking purposefully when I took this photo.
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MAGFest is the kind of place where street artists play remixed Mega man music in the halls.
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This was the best guarded garbage can in the entire hotel.
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I’m… well, you know.