Excitement is at an all time high around the studio. It isn’t just that the games we are playing seem to be coming out at a great pace, or the fact that more are soon to come. Oh no, we're excited because we all know that MAGFest VI is coming. We sat down with director Brendan Becker to get a look at some of the happenings this year, and why MAGFest isn’t just some convention, it’s an experience.

The Gamer Studio: How's it going?

Brendan Becker: Not too bad!

The Gamer Studio: That’s cool; because I am sure the workload for MAGFest is getting quite heavy.

Brendan Becker: Yeah, we're almost at the one-month point. Things get pretty hectic around now.

The Gamer Studio: Well, MAGFest is nothing if it isn’t hectic. For those who do not know, how did it start?

Brendan Becker: Yeah, true. MAGFest kind of has an interesting history. The torch got passed onto me after only one year of its existence (well, I had to buy it), but still, I'd had the idea for something similar to MAGFest for a long time. It started as gaming tournaments and party-type things that the original founder, Joe, did from time to time and evolved into an event that needed a hotel. When that finally happened, Joe decided to add some video game bands into the mix and really flesh out the event into a convention. And actually, the game bands were what lured me to MAGFest 1. I wanted to demo a game I was writing at the time but I wanted to hear the Minibosses play even more.

The Gamer Studio: Demos? Can we expect some bright independent developers to show up and demo their games?

Brendan Becker: Well, you won't see anything from me. Around the time I went to MAGFest, I actually got some good coverage on the game I was working on. But once I bought MAGFest, it became clear that to ensure its continual success I would have to pass my game's torch onto my other primary developer (another Joe, ironically). However, this year we're going to see a few game devs at MAGFest. Brian Colin, CEO of Game Refuge (the original creators of Xenophobe and Rampage, among other funny games from that era) will be attending this year. Additionally, we have a handful of people that are a bit more indie than that, and we should see a few cool, possibly unreleased demos from them.

The Gamer Studio: That’s great that indie game developers from the east coast can get some pub. As a game developer at heart, were there any demos that impressed and inspired you?

Brendan Becker: Inspired me to write my own game? Or do you just mean things I've seen at the event?

The Gamer Studio: Things you’ve seen at the event.

Brendan Becker: Ah. To be honest, we haven't really focused on that aspect at MAGFest in the past (not that we couldn't in the future)...and as much as I hate to say it, I'm usually busy running around like a madman at the event to make sure everything goes down without a hitch (it never does).

The Gamer Studio: Hearing about the madness is interesting, what are some crazy things you have seen while at MAGFest?

Brendan Becker: Well, every year provides us with new entertainment, not only by the guests but also from the attendees. The first year, we had a straight-edge dude licking the walls after a few drinks. Also, I heard about (but unfortunately did not witness) a shopping cart race across the street from MAGFest 2 (I think?) There are of course one or two bad things that happen every year, and we can't really do anything to avoid that. On the upshot, we're still friends with the guy that got carried away in a stretcher for alcohol poisoning. How he managed to sing the Katamari theme while that far gone is beyond me!

The Gamer Studio: Hilarious! It sounds like there are tons of good times to be had and stories to be shared. What bands should we be expecting this year?

Brendan Becker: We've got four bands on Friday and four more bands on Saturday. We haven't exactly figured out how we're lining them up, but they are: Advantage, ArmCannon, Planet Skill, PowerGlove, Select Start, Smash Bros, Temp Sound Solutions, and This Place is Haunted. We've also got a thing we're trying this year called "JamSpace" which is sort of an "I came to try and play some game music with people but I don't have a setlist" or "I'm a solo act, want to hear a song or two of mine?" type area.

The Gamer Studio: Sweet, I play a bit of bass myself. Is this with live instruments?

Brendan Becker: I expect some people might come with some electronic setups (gameboys from the chiptune artists, etc) but it will be, at the very least, performed live.

The Gamer Studio: Maybe we shall see some new bands formed on site, and at the very least it should get interesting when people get a little booze in their systems.

Brendan Becker: Yes, in fact, one of the bands at MAGFest (Smash Bros) formed to play MAGFest 2, which is kind of neat. They were an exclusive house band for awhile and played their first gig away from the festival this year. Though, I should point out that we try to put a nix, for the most part, on the booze. We can't enter and stop room parties, which makes it that much more important that we keep the hotel and authorities happy.

The Gamer Studio: That’s fair, it is a beautiful location and you definitely want to keep them happy. How did the location come about?

Brendan Becker: Well, every year we "shop" around for hotels, so we were just calling around and happened to run into a hotel that had emailed me. They expressed interest about having MAGFest there. Their email got filtered as spam and I never knew until I talked to sales!

The Gamer Studio: Wow, they say one man's spam is another man's treasure. That had to be different from MAGFest's beginnings.

Brendan Becker: Well, we've had it at different hotels from year to year. Only one year did we book a second year. The other ones, we outgrew! But hey, that's definitely not a bad thing.

The Gamer Studio: That’s excellent! Speaking of growth, you guys are having more than bands and indie game developers. What other big name guests have you pulled?

Brendan Becker: We've kind of become a "cool spot" for fan-based videogame projects. Since we ourselves are just a bunch of gamers, we tend to associate more with other gamers rather than big industry types (even though we invite them to attend). Fortunately, that's not to say they're not well known. OC ReMix is probably one of the biggest names in videogame music websites. They're organizing a huge get-together at MAGFest, and they plan to do a few panels. Another cool guest is videogame remixer-turned-composer Jake Kaufman (aka "virt"), who is responsible for the soundtrack for the just-released Contra 4 on the DS. He's actually been a guest for every MAGFest to date. We also recently invited ScrewAttack to join us at MAGFest, and they accepted. We'll be having the Sidescrollers Tom and Craig, PBC Productions (Captain S), and last but not least, the Angry Video Game Nerd.

The Gamer Studio: That’s awesome! We at the studio love music, and we definitely love OC ReMix. Contra has always had memorable music, and Contra 4 does not disappoint. We are also huge fans of the ScrewAttack team, and I can’t say they didn’t have an influence on us at The Gamer Studio.

Brendan Becker: Yeah, there are so many fan-related sites and projects. It's really great to see a love for videogames turn into something neat. Tons of our guests are like that (ever heard of X-strike Studios?) and it's really great to watch them go from "hey uh, we do stuff with games, um, maybe we can be guests?" to folks that are still doing things and becoming better and better-known across the Internet.

The Gamer Studio: We know the feeling. Speaking to some of us newer players in the videogame industry, what kind of panels will be available?

Brendan Becker: Most of the panels are geared towards the things our guests are up to, or alternatively just "fun things" for gamers to do. Popular examples include name that tune and trivia contests, community meetups, listening parties, and other, similar stuff.

The Gamer Studio: Awesome. I know with that many gamers in one place, I can bet that tournaments will be going on.

Brendan Becker: Oh, definitely. There's a decent amount of gaming chaos in the gameroom. Usually there's around a dozen or so tournaments, and we also have a "gaming challenge" corner, with single-player stuff, like "beat this boss" or "speedrun this level". Also, sometimes gamers that are good at a certain game will hold an exhibition and just beat the game for an audience.

The Gamer Studio: Will we see newer games like Rock Band or the classics such as Street Fighter Alpha III and Virtua Fighter?

Brendan Becker: Hopefully both, and everything between. There's news that we might be getting several Rock Band setups. Don't know for sure yet. We definitely have lots of oldschool gamers though, so there should be a good chunk of 8-bit and 16-bit era gaming as well. Basically, if you enjoy games on a whole and not just one specific game, there should definitely be something you'll enjoy in the gameroom.

The Gamer Studio: Good stuff, I’ve been working on both my drum sticking and my Shoryukens.

Brendan Becker: Keep in mind even if you're not tiptop at whatever game, we really encourage a laid-back, "have fun" environment where you can just do exactly those. You're not paying to enter the tournaments. So why not do it and see how well you do? And in the other direction, if you don't want to, it doesn't matter, the games will still be set up for non-competition play so you don't have to feel pressured.

The Gamer Studio: That’s something I like to see, isn’t it all about fun in the end?

Brendan Becker: Exactly! You'll find the entire event kind of works like that. We try to stay away from getting called a convention because really all of MAGFest we just want people to relax, meet other like-minded gamers, and have a great time with friends.

The Gamer Studio: I think that is what anyone and everyone can look forward to, and a key reason for the growth you've experienced. In closing, if you can describe MAGFest in one word, what would it be?

Brendan Becker: Hahaha! I don't think I can, there's just so much going on. Maybe I can make up some cheesy term like 'chaotigamerfun'?

The Gamer Studio: Sounds like a blast to me!

MAGFest is scheduled for January 3rd - 6th, Thursday through Sunday, the first weekend of the year, and will be held at the Hilton Mark Center in Alexandria, VA. Register and get to see all the guests as well as us in our full gaming regalia just trying to keep up with the excitement!

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

---