As always, the cutscenes are gorgeous, but the in-game graphics are equally as awesome – Square-Enix has really managed to recapture the fighting style of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children with some great fighting tactics, and even though I don’t know exactly what kinds of weapons and armor I’m equipping, there’s a lot of items to get and equip to many different characters.

I’ve only played as the Warrior of Light so far, but all the characters look very well balanced, and their limit breaks are a lot of fun to pull off. Juggling your opponent in the air becomes one of those little pleasures that you get to experience on the handheld.

As I get further and further into the game, I’ll be posting some more impressions, so stay tuned!

- Steve

I’ve been a vehement non-supporter of the Playstation 3 since its launch a few years back, deciding to go with a Wii for the superior launch titles and more affordable price, then with a 360 for the superior library and much more streamlined online experience. With each passing day I would laugh at the plight of the PS3 owner – badly reviewed exclusives, Square-Enix going over to the 360 and of course, the exclusion of backwards compatibility with the PS2 in all of their currently-produced models. All this considered, I managed to pick one up after much consideration. I kind of wanted a Blu Ray player and this would be a great chance to start to review some of the newer PS3 games.

What have I learned? The Playstation 3 is not that bad of a system.

Granted, it has its flaws, but they’re actually mostly involving the library with non-exclusives. However, most of the great games that came out last year were multi-platform and the PS3’s graphical power make most of the games look better than they do on the 360. To be completely honest, the pure raw processing power of the PS3 currently can’t be matched by any other system. Unfortunately, developers have no idea how to get their head around the coding process to make PS3 exclusives. So far only Sony’s in-house studios, Konami (Metal Gear Solid 4) and Media Molecule (Little Big Planet) seem to have realized the potential of the PS3.

That’s the biggest problem I have with the system, actually. I have a total of 3 games for this ridiculous paragon of processing power: Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Folklore. I have no desire to get any other games. Why? Because the 360 at the end of the day is more fun to play. I’ll be playing Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV on 360 because the online experience is better, I can pad my achievement score and I’ll be able to play with pretty much every one of my friends. (They all have 360s because let’s face it, the online experience is superior due to a 4+ year head start with developing XBox Live.)

So, why on earth would I choose to even slightly support the PS3 by getting one?

Something I’ve discovered is that the DLC for PS3 exclusive games gives you a little more bang for your buck than Microsoft. If it’s cross platform, the price will be the same, but as I was browsing DLC for Folklore, I noticed something: You can get eight extra missions, two brand new enemies and two new outfits for the main character for $5.99. (For those of you who don’t want to get out a calculator and do the math, that’s roughly $0.75 per mission, $2.98 per mission, and $2.98 per outfit if you were buying each of them separately – or if you prefer, it’s about $0.50 per item) Comparatively, the Knothole Island expansion for Fable 2, which offers roughly the same amount of content is 1000 Microsoft Points, or about $12.00. I know that they’re two completely different games and its difficult to compare them this way, but come on! It’s really difficult to beat that amount of content for that price.

If Sony starts wising up and giving developers lessons in coding for their powerhouse and actually continue to offer competitive prices for DLC, it would be very difficult for Microsoft to catch up – especially since every demo is available to every PSN user for free immediately. With XBL, you have to pay for that precious gold account to get access to the demos immediately.

As for the Wii? Animal Crossing: City Folk ain’t enough to keep us interested. Less Carnival Games and more De Blob! Seriously. I’m thinking about disconnecting my tiny little white box and putting it up for adoption.

No, you can’t have it.

- Steve

The NPD group, a marketing research firm that tracks how much of stuff is sold, has been keeping records of all console hardware and software sales for some time now. They release the information on a monthly basis and usually some kind soul over at Next-Gen.biz (though now it’s Edge Magazine) sifts through the data and compiles an analysis. Web site Venture Beat recently posted an analysis of their own spanning the last 26 months for all three systems and came to some pretty unsurprising conclusions.

The current all-time leader in terms of number of units sold is the venerable Playstation 2, but Nintendo’s strategy of developing a family-friendly console with a funny name has the Wii on track to pass up the PS2 in the near future. Meanwhile, during this same 26 month period, the Playstation 3 sold 6.79 million in the U.S., which puts it slightly above last-gen loser Gamecube, which shipped 6.75 units in its initial 26 months. Difference is, according to the report, Nintendo actually made money while Sony currently sells every PS3 at a loss. Oh, how the mighty hath fallen.

The trends for all three consoles seems pretty well established at this point and I would, without fear or hesitation, proclaim Nintendo the winner and Sony the loser. But wait, this story just took a surprising turn! What’s that you say, Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman Kazuo Hirai in a recent interview with the “Official Playstation Magazine? “You say you intentionally made the Playstation 3 a challenging platform to develop games, as to ensure its touted 10-year life cycle?

Of course, what a brilliant plan! While your competitors harnassed the energy and passion of developers and helped them create superior products, you frustated them, stymied their efforts and disillusioned the public with an underperforming, overpriced system. Sony’s PR has taken the lilt of a seasoned, but losing gambler who keeps justify his return to trips to the casino by saying “This time guys, just trust me, this time I’m on a hot streak.” It’s also remeniscent of begging the mafia not to break your kneecaps cause even though you don’t have the money now, you promise you’ll have it soon. Well, Sony you’ve had years to show consumers the money and now they’ve responded to your faulty advances by not giving you the money.

The justification mentioned in the interview for this intentional thwarting was that it would prevent developers from unlocking all the capabalities at once and ensure that the games got better over time. Here’s my question. If your machine is capable of creating games with superior graphics and gameplay, one not just do it immediately? Why not follow the shock and awe approach, release successful games early and build up an insurmountable lead over your competitors? Because that’s what Nintendo and Microsoft did and it seems to have worked out pretty well for them. Perhaps because your just attempting to cover up your consoles lack of success with lame excuses?

Nah, couldn’t be. I trust you Hirai. Also, Home is a completely useful addition to the gaming exeprience and not an unecessary hindrance at all.

More collatoral damage might be headed for Xbox 360 owners as reports of hardware failures are cropping up once again. This time the culprit is something called “Error E 74″ and can occur due to a faulty AV cable or a scaler chip problem. Concerned Xbox owners can read more here

You can read the full story here and puruse through the official bullshit, but I warn you, there’s a dizzying amount of hypocricy to be had. Over the past year, 1up.com has emerged as the place to go for fun and entertaining podcasts and videos. They regularly produced a couple of weekly 30-minute TV shows that have revolutionized the way video games are covered. Key to the success of these shows and the Web site as a whole were the personalities behind them. In fact, according to UGO, those “strong personalities” and unique reader loyalty they inspire are the reason it purchased the site.

Look, I’m no financial expert, but even I have the basic business acumen to realize when you buy something for its personalities, you should probably keep the people. It’s like buying a cow for milk and then slaughtering it for meat instead; The beef (i.e. cost savings) might be tasty, but you just killed the means of production.

I can understand shuttering EGM, though I loved the mag dearly. Print is a hard business for anybody to be in these days, no matter what they cover. It’s okay, I understand, you’ve got to cut some excess, slim down operations. However, don’t wield a chainsaw when a scapel will do. UGO overnight took a shotgun to one of the Internet’s most popular Web sites and blew it to pieces. Why should I go back? When I read 1up.com I actually remembered the names of the people who work there. At the risk of sounding socially inept, it felt like UGO fired my friends. Vengence, not Web site visits, is what’s on my mind now. Let the boycott commence.

For 1up’s sake, I hope someone at UGO reads forums because they will realize there’s a lot of angry people out there. The damage has been done, but let’s at least hope they realize it. For all those that are suddenly unemployed, rest assured that your talents didn’t go unappreciated and we will follow you wherever you go next.

I apologize for the excess of metaphors and similes wielded haphazardly throughout this entry. I guess magazine foldings and massive lay-offs just bring out the (shoddy) poet in me.

The main events today included a post-competition interview and awards ceremony for the Nibbler Championship (more here in case you missed it), an auction of some pretty sweet gaming merchandise, and the closing ceremony, where Brendan Becker a.k.a “Mr. MAGFest” listened to feedback from the audience about the convention.

Do not mess with Mr. MAGFest.

Some of the guests asked for better food options (pizza delivery gets old after a while, you know) while others asked for MAGFest VIII to be a full week-long event. Some were upset that the video and tournament rooms weren’t better advertised, and others wished for next year’s Jamspace to be more freeform. However, nearly everyone at the closing ceremonies that I observed was in agreement: This year’s MAGFest was the best in the event’s history.

Many people said that MAGFest was the best single convention they had ever attended, including conventions for Comics, Film and Anime. People gushed over the fantastic bands and musical acts and applauded the extra effort made in bringing guests like Overclocked Remix, whose work was relevant to both Music and Gaming. But most of all, people appreciated the fact that the MAGFest staff followed through on their promise and made a convention that was “by fans, for fans.”

Brendan said that thanks to events like MAGFest, people are changing their attitude about what a gaming convention can be. “We’re the anti-con,” said Brendan to cheers from the audience. Unlike most gaming conventions, MAGFest has no representatives from Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, or the like trying rabidly to sell their products to gamers. The convention makes money, to be sure, but being a fan event gives the con a more relaxed, less corporate vibe.

At MAGFest, gamers have the opportunity to hang out, rock out, and (if they don’t pace themselves) pass out to their heart’s content. Every year, Brendan and the rest of the staff work like crazy to organize and run the convention, and this year’s convention has been run extremely well, adding tons of stuff to do without sacrificing quality or the convention’s intimate atmosphere. If you have the opportunity and live on the East Coast, seriously consider attending MAGFest VIII. As Brendan said with a smile, “We’re only getting bigger.”

~Joe Newman

Click the MAGFest logo to visit their site and get info about MAGFest VIII next year!

Get ready, because here’s the long, twisted, crazy story.

(From left) Dwayne and Tim

The event was revolutionary from the beginning, as the 2009 Nibbler World Championship was planned to be the first-ever classic game competition to be webcast from start to finish. The video streaming was run by retrothing.com, using a device called a “tricaster” to capture footage. There were producers and documentary crews on call at all times, watching Dwayne and Tim’s every move.
Unfortunately, setting up a film shoot and conducting interviews takes time, and for a marathon like the Nibbler World Championship, every hour lost is another couple million points down the drain. Tim and Dwayne, getting impatient, chose to play a few warm-up games, and Dwayne had some trouble getting a good run started. However, once Dwayne had a decent score of about 10 million and a comfortable buffer of extra lives, he decided not to wait for the film crew and declared the current game as his official world record attempt.

Tim started his run 10 million behind Dwayne (pictured), and this led to a lot of problems.

Tim told me that starting off so far behind Dwayne forced him to play catch-up. “There were people passing by and they said ‘is that the world champion? Why is he so far behind?’” Tim had to push himself past his comfort zone, testing his endurance early on. “I suppose [hearing the audience's comments] shouldn’t have gotten to me, but well, you know.” Tim’s herculean push led him to break 500 million in 19 hours and to pass Dwayne at 465 million, but the extra effort Tim put in catching up likely hurt his game later on. (More on that later.)

Dwayne– feeling the pressure of having to maintain his lead– refused to take breaks for his entire run. However, shortly after hitting 498 million, Dwayne’s machine froze up and his game was over. Check out my previous article for all the details on this pivotal incident. According to my sources, the freeze occurred when Dwayne hit his Nibbler machine out of frustration, causing the hardware in the cabinet to become dislodged.

After the freeze, Tim played for 6 more hours, but eventually he started slipping. A combination of the early scoring sprint, the chaos of Dwayne’s game freezing, and the glare caused by the film crew’s lighting equipment all caused Tim to lose focus. Losing Dwayne as a competitor also took away some of Tim’s motivation, and despite intense urging from the producers to break the 1 billion-point record, Tim knew he was only prolonging the inevitable.

Even though he had a strong buffer of lives and could have gone on for a few more hours, Tim decided to call it quits and went to his room to sleep.

Dwayne, attempting to use his remaining time to beat Tim’s score of 648 million, jumped on Tim’s machine and started a new game. Although Tim was the first person to reach 1 billion points and his 1984 record still stands within the gaming community, his accomplishment was not made official in the Guinness Book of World Records because Tim (16 years old at the time) didn’t take the steps necessary to get it officiated by a Guinness official. (For instance, the 16-year old Tim didn’t take a drug test after finishing his game.)
The winner of the 2009 Nibbler Championship would have his score officially inducted, even if the score was less than 1 billion points. When Dwayne decided to jump on Tim’s machine, he didn’t have enough time to break 1 billion, even under ideal circumstances. By starting a new game, Dwayne hoped not to break a billion, but to beat Tim’s 648 million and take the Championship Title (and the Guinness World Record) for himself.

Here’s where the drama happens.

Tim finds out what Dwayne is up to and confronts him. He’s not mad that Dwayne is trying to steal the title from him, but he is furious that Dwayne would attempt to take the Guinness Record with an “inferior” score of less than 1 billion points (and on his machine, no less!). Both players know that with less than two days remaining at MAGFest, the goal of 1 billion points is mathematically impossible to reach. The film crew gets involved, because they want to film someone breaking the record. Dwayne considers his options and his score of 498 million.

Out of respect for Tim’s original 1984 record, Dwayne decides to call it quits.

During the awards ceremony, referee Walter Day celebrated Tim and Dwayne as “our champions.” Dwayne told the crowd “[I believe I'm] still a winner even though I got second place.” Tim was awarded the gold medal for his score of 648 million and Dwayne got the silver for his 498 million second attempt. Neither score will likely be inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records, because Tim refused to take a drug test for verification. Not because he has taken any drugs (he says all he ever takes is over-the-counter caffeine pills), but because he didn’t want his “inferior” score of 648 million to be published.

Tim poses with a game cabinet he and Dwayne signed.

CLOSING COMMENTS

When I asked Dwayne and Tim if they’d ever try again to break 1 billion, Dwayne said he’d have to wait a while, and maybe he’d focus on the world record for Dig Dug in the meantime. Tim responded, “I’m not touching that stupid thing for a while.”

Dwayne said he was frustrated that his first attempt was ruined by the freeze, but that hardware trouble sometimes comes with the territory. Marathon gaming is tough: Tim’s 1984 record required seven tries, a few of which were cut short due to arcade owners who accidentally cut the cabinet’s breaker during attempts.

Tim was proud of his performance during the beginning of the Championship and proud he broke 500 million in 19 hours, but wished he had paced himself better to break his old record. He was relieved yet disappointed that his record was safe: he got lucky that his machine never broke, but he told me, smiling, that “If [Dwayne] broke the record, I would have been the first to shake his hand…and if someday someone breaks 2 billion, I’ll get down on my knees and kiss their ass.”

~Joe Newman
Once again, a huge thank-you to Tim, Dwayne and Walter for their stories! Thanks guys!

People were especially excited about the bands for tonight, where some of the big headliners got their chance to play. Armcannon has been getting a lot of great publicity lately, and it’s for good reason: they rock. Keep an eye on them. Metroid Metal is the breakout band from last year’s MAGFest that has likewise been picking up some serious momentum, and Smash Brothers has been described by some as “the MAGFest all-star band.” The Saturday concert was by far the most talked-about performance, and people had good reason to be excited.

Speaking of a good reason to be excited, I got to spend a little more quality time with Street Fighter IV. I’m quite happy to report it’s going to be phenomenal. According to the game’s current Wikipedia page, “Producer Yoshinori Ono has stated that he wanted to keep the game closer to Street Fighter II” as opposed to the more technical Street Fighter III. Now, I’m not knocking Street fighter III: it’s deep, involved, and a whole lot of fun. Still, there’s something to be said for keeping it simple and staying true to the classics. The fighting in SFIV feels like a super-polished 2.5D version of Super Street Fighter Turbo, and what it lacks in complexity (and player roster), it makes up for in style. The crowd cheered as Zangeif pulled off yet another suplex on poor Ryu, and the camera zoomed in upon impact in order to show both fighters fantastic facial expressions.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the Ultra finishers: the quality of the cinematic is jaw-dropping. I was a little worried when I watched promotional videos of SFIV because I thought the Ultra Combos would be too overused and too overpowered, but there’s no need to worry. The move can only be triggered when the player has already taken a pretty heavy beating, and even then, it’s pretty tough to pull off the move and even tougher to land. Successfully finishing off an opponent with an Ultra Combo makes you feel better than winning the lottery, and pulling it off in a public setting like MAGFest is epic enough to make you feel like King of the World. Onlookers cheered like crazy after every match, rooting for the come-from behind victory and celebrating every perfect finish. There are advanced techniques for the hardcore player and plenty of new faces that bring some great personality to the roster.
Street Fighter IV is going to blow people’s mind when it comes out, and even now it appears to have been embraced by the hardcore fighting community due to the depth and balance of its fighting system.

On the film front, I also got a chance to speak with Chad Williams, one of the big names behind PBC productions (The New Adventures of Captain S, Little Miss Gamer). PBC has been hard at work on the webcomic of Captain S, and Chad told me there were plans for a huge end-of-the-year animatic for the series. It’s currently in limbo, but it may happen in the future, so be sure to check out their website for details.
Chad also let me know of some other upcoming PBC projects, such as a documentary on the recovery projects in New Orleans and the contributions of New York corrections officers in the rebuilding effort. PBC has also done a feature-length documentary called Puppet Rampage, based on the 2007 National Puppetry conference. Bet you didn’t know PBC did stuff outside of gaming!

“PBC is an ambiguous title,” said Chad, grinning. “We get to do a whole lot of different, unique stuff.” The PBC crew shot a music video based on ExciteBike earlier today, and they were getting clips with real MAGFest guests to use in their video. Unsuspected gamers playing on the main floor suddenly found themselves filmed for what might end up being the next big viral hit: it just goes to show the kind of stuff that can happen at any moment at MAGFest.
“It’s a gamer’s holiday,” said Chad.

Saturday marks the last full day of the con; check back tomorrow for some closing thoughts!
~Joe Newman

Well, it seems that last night in the wee hours of the morning, Dwayne’s Nibbler machine (which had already amassed well over 40 million points) was struck down in its prime. The game froze after Dwayne had been playing for over 19 hours, and his score was lost.

I spoke with Twin Galaxies founder Walter Day about the event. Walter oversees the event and officiates the scores for the Guinness Book of World Records. When I checked in to the console room at around 4:30pm today, I spoke to Walter and he had this to say: “Early this morning, [Dwayne's] screen froze… and it was all over.” However, perhaps out of respect for Dwayne’s loss, or maybe because he was just really tired, Tim decided to call it quits after another 6 hours and get some sleep. Tim had already amassed 648 million points or so, setting the record for the 2009 championship.

After Dwayne got a few hours sleep, Walter told me that Dwayne “Still had one day to play. So, he decided to try again!” At time of writing, Dwayne was back up to 17 million and going strong. Only time will tell if he passes the record.

I also had a chance to speak with Mr. MAGFest himself, a.k.a Brendan Becker, to get his thoughts on the incident. He told me that the convention didn’t even have the two Nibbler cabinets until 9pm Thursday night. Apparently, the provider of the machines didn’t have vertical cabinets which the players required, and the backup provider bailed and couldn’t be contacted. Brendan and his staff bought two cabinets “on the spot” from a vendor in Mananas. “I thought we had that worked out,” he said.
When Nibbler 2 broke, Brendan and the rest of the MAGFest crew had to convince the players to stick around. Brendan and his crew pretty much had to wing it in order to keep things running, but Brandon told me “If there’s anything MAGfest is good at, it’s winging it.”

Now that the incident has more or less blown over, Brendan said he was glad that both players had a chance to sleep and to experience just a little bit of the con, and he hopes that they get to catch some of the concerts as well. All the other events have been “extremely smooth,” and Brandon said that the Nibbler crisis was really the only significant “speed bump” that the crew had faced.
~Joe Newman

Craig from Screwattack.com took the stage first and jumped right in to taking questions. There were a lot of questions thrown out about how Screwattack works as a business, and a few questions about Craig’s gaming history as well. One audience member asked about Craig’s favorite game, which launched Craig into a story of when he was a kid and would save up his allowance and headed to Pizza Hut with his friends “for cheesy bread and Street Fighter.” Craig expressed his love for the SNES classics, naming the system “the best console of all time.” He also talked about the origins of his trademark hat (”Organically glued to my head”) and his “Stuttering” nickname (”I stuttered a lot as a kid. I don’t anymore, but the name stuck.”)

Craig fielded a few questions about the inner workings of Screwattack, talking about the popular feature Video Game Vault (They play all the games, of which there are more than 600!). There was a little discussion about Handsome Tom’s leaving the site (a huge controversy this past year), but Craig finished the panel by re-emphasizing the community aspects of the site. “When people think SA, I don’t want them to think, ‘That’s Stuttering Craig’s site.’” he said.

The AVGN asked for audience members (all fans) to vote on their favorite Nerd moments, for consideration for his Top 10 Nerd moments coming out later this year. “Whip or Shizz?” “Kill all babies or the Joker’s ass?” Everyone knew the jokes by heart, yet arguments over rankings were inevitable.
One Heated debate: which was better, Kyle’s flashback, or the pause music from BattleToads?

…You just have to know. What, you ask, was the number one choice? Well… you’re just going to have to wait for the video to find out.

Then James took some questions from his captive audience. Some samples:

5 favorite bands? Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Metallica, Led Zepplin.

Favorite video? Mario 3, because “for once I got to play a good game.”
Favorite games? “Super Mario World, Zelda: a Link to the Past, Super Metroid. The SNES had the best stuff.”

Where are you going from here? “Feature film.” “Stick with me, I’ve got something in the works.”

What about the next AVGN vid to be released online? “Michael Jackson’s Moonwaker.”

Asked about a video’s production, James said there’s a lot that goes into it. “They don’t have to look too professional because it’s just supposed to be me in my room, you know? I use desk lamps and stuff.” He uses a pretty professional mic for recording but he likes the intimate nature of his voice-over track. James talked about what goes into the editing process, from synchronizing game footage to color correction to matching time codes. “When all that’s done, that’s when the editing starts.” That’s the price for having high-quality videos, you know.

OverClocked Remix

Panel members:David W. Lloyd a.k.a. djpretzel, Larry Oji a.k.a. Liontamer, Shael Riley, Andrew Aversa a.k.a. zircon (directed OC ReMix’s Final Fantasy VII album), Jillian Goldin a.k.a. pixietricks, Vinnie Prabhu a.k.a. Palpable, Christopher Getman a.k.a. Mazedude, Scott Porter a.k.a. OverCoat
OverClocked Remix appeared at last year’s MAGFest, and since then they’ve exploded into the public consciousness for their work on Super Street Fighter II Trubo HD Remix, the first major game release to feature an entirely fan-made soundtrack. They couldn’t avoid chatting about it on their 10-year anniversary.

As the story goes, the soundtrack for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix was negotiated when Capcom approached Shael Riley and told him how much they liked their urban remixes of the original Street Fighter II soundtrack, the community’s Blood on the Asphalt album. Instead of sending a cease and desist, Capcom hired OCR to produce the new soundtrack. The team at Capcom worked closely with the OCR guys to make the soundtrack for the XBox 360/PS3 game, working alongside the folks at UDON to make the game’s art. The OCR guys read aloud a few of the emails between Capcom and the remixers, and there were some laughs due to some of the funnier requests Capcom made. “We love the cello part in Akuma’s ending theme for the original Street Fighter. Could you add that?” Capcom asked. OCR responded: “There is no cello part in the original Akuma theme.” Not to mention Akuma wasn’t even in the original Street Fighter to begin with.

“Before we had the game in front of us, we were all stressed.” The gig came at a particularly good time, too, as the game was having development troubles with delays in UDON’s art pipeline. Since other newsworthy initiatives planned for OCR’s website in 2008 had to be delayed, “HD Remix saved our ass… Now we have our sights set on 2009.”

The panel, like the AVGN panel was extremely informal: that was a conscious choice for this year.
Their next album, Summoning of Spirits, honors Namco’s Tales RPG series and will be released later this month after this year’s MAGFest. OCR is still hard at work on new projects for this year: Donkey Kong Country 2, a best-of Zelda theme remix, and a Final Fantasy IV project. The panel even let the audience in on a special preview of the FFIV album, featuring clips of the various remixes. This is definitely an album to watch.

~Joe Newman

Check out each site included the panel by clicking their logo above!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t first mention the fantastic music acts going on all night at MAGFest. There was so much to do that I couldn’t attend all the performances, but I did manage to catch a few shows while running around the floor like a chicken with its head cut off. Genres ranged from chiptunes rap (Planet Skill’s mile-a-minute styles had the crowd cheering) to classical renditions of game tunes (Select Start played last year, and The Gaming Symphony Orchestra had a booth set up this year) to heavy metal (Armadillo Tank is a good example), as well as many others.

Hard to tell, but this blur is PLANET SKILL in action.

Some bands like This Place is Haunted included some pretty obscure stuff in their set, and though no one in the crowd near me could place all the game tunes, we still stood there mesmerized. I asked Jake, the drummer for Armadillo Tank what his favorite part of MAGFest has been, and his response was immediate: upon arriving at Noon at Thursday, he was greeted by a fan wearing the band’s T-Shirt before the band members had even unpacked their gear. MAGFest’s following definitely contains some hardcore music fans even though most people are primarily there for gaming. This year’s MAGFest has really done a great job so far of making sure everyone has something to do to fit his/her taste. The folks, like myself, who want the best of both worlds are truly in heaven.

And oh, the games! For many people, the entrance to MAGFest’s console room was better than anything St. Peter could have ever provided. TVs with games from all generations filled the room, with projections of games on nearly every wall. Gamers were encouraged to bring their own gear, and many brought their own games as well. All the usual suspects were there like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but in addition to the throes of gamers on plastic guitars, there were DDR pads abound and even a few Beatmania pros going at it. Fighting games made up a significant portion of the console room’s inventory, with no less than 6 TVs running Super Smash Bros. (all three versions!) at a time. Other fighters like Street Fighter 3, Tekken 5, Guilty Gear X, and even Power Stone 2 could be found as well, but the biggest surprise was yet to come. Three fighters were revealed at the game floor that drew huge crowds and stirred up commotion: Rumble Fish 2, an arcade fighter which was released in Japan but may never see American release because of legal issues, Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, a game released on the Wii in Japan but will also never make it to the U.S. because hardly anyone knows what “Tatsunoko” is, and the hugely anticipated Street Fighter IV, set to come out later this year. Street Fighter IV in particular caused near hysteria when it came up on the projection screen: a huge crowd gathered to cheer on the players and to see the new game (on the top of many gamers’ wish lists) in action.
And in case you’re curious, it looks great.

North Americans not at MAGFest are going to have to wait until February 17 to get their hands on sweet Street Fighter IV glory.

In addition to fighters, there were some great racers such as Mario Kart Wii and Excite Truck (I didn’t see Mario Kart 64, but I suppose it’s just a matter of time before someone brings it in…), some classic sports titles like Tecmo Bowl and Virtua Tennis, and oddities like Secret of Evermore and Japanese import Melty Blood. If you could name it, it was either in the console room or being sold outside by a vendor.

On top of everything else, there was a classic NES table in the Console room that allowed gamers to test their skill in various challenges for points and prizes. It didn’t seem as popular this year as it was last year (when I walked by, at least), but there were a few dedicated gamers who weren’t intimidated by the list of superhuman gaming feats. Finish Stage 3 in Contra using only the flamethrower and without dying? I’ll stick to Mario Kart, thanks.
~Joe Newman
Check back tomorrow for another EXCLUSIVE interview, this time with Chad Williams, creative and technical manager of PBC productions. There’s lots to report, so be sure to stick around!