Photo Courtesy of MAGFest.org

Music and gaming are arguably two of the most popular pastimes for college students. It only makes sense that an affair bringing both of them together should take place a hop, skip and jump away from a college.

This year’s MAGFest (music and gaming festival) will be held Jan. 13 to 16 at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center on Seminary Road, very close to the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College.

MAGFest is an annual event in the Washington metropolitan area dedicated to the celebration of video games and video game music. MAGFest offers 24-hour console, arcade and PC game rooms, more than 10 live video game cover bands, a vendors’ area, along with guest speakers from the video game industry. Numerous other events are scheduled each day. The festival also features a jam space available to all attendees for impromptu music performances.

Among the many bands slated to perform at MAGFest 9, as this year’s festival is being called, are Rare Candy and Entertainment System, both from Baltimore, Year 200X, Metroid Metal, The Megas, Powerglove and The Protomen.

MAGFest 9 will also be holding a charity auction with the proceeds going to Child’s Play. Child’s Play is a game-industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in a network of over 60 hospitals worldwide. Since their inception in 2003, they’ve raised millions of dollars, and MAGFest is trying to help with that. Here are a few of the big ticket items up for grabs:

– CDs and posters for “Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy” signed by composer Nobuo Uematsu and conductor Arnie Roth. This package was donated by the people behind Distant Worlds.

– Civilization V (pronounced Civilization 5) game signed by the development team, including Sid Meier.

– Rock Band 3 keytar bundle signed by the MAGFest bands.

– Rock Band 3 Pro Guitar signed by the MAGFest bands.

In addition to the auction items already provided, MAGFest is accepting donations of additional items. The auction will be held on the last day of MAGFest, which is Sunday, Jan. 16.

For more information about Child’s Play, visit childsplaycharity.org.

For more details about MAGFest, visit magfest.org.

By: KJ Mushung

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