MAGFest BRAGFest (with pics!)

It’s been over a week since MAGFest X ended. I am still recovering. It’s taken me until now just to go over it all in my head.

Now that I’ve done that, I’m going to use this space to do the thing I’m probably not supposed to do after a convention: brag about people I’ve met. And, to take it a step further, let’s start by bragging about people who recognized me before I could even say hello and remind them who I am, which sites I write for, the whole line that I practice in the mirror like a nut.

When Dennis and I arrived at the Gaylord Hotel in DC, the first people we bumped into were the obvious stand-out Japanese members of Nobuo Uematsu’s new band Earthbound Papas. It was about half the band, as well as their manager Hiroki Ogawa. I’d met Ogawa-san once before, when he and Uematsu took me out to dinner (with translator Shota Nakama) at Anime Boston 2010 (see interview here). I made awkward eye contact with Ogawa, but didn’t want to bug him. But he put his hand out to shake and said “we’ve met before… Anime Boston, right?” So that was a fairly pleasant feeling. With him at the time were Yoshitaka Hirota (bass, also composer of SHADOW HEARTS series) and Arata Hanyuda (drummer). More on them later.

That evening, coming back from dinner with Jayson from OSV and a whole bunch of Destructoid kids (including new EiC Dale North, who says he remembers me even though I really only met him once, briefly, about 3 years ago at E3… perhaps he knows I write for OSV, which he technically founded…), I walk past the entire Earthbound Papas crew in the lobby. I knew where they’re headed, since another friend of mine was going out for dinner with them (the ever-cordial and ever-enthusiastic Don Kotowski of SEMO). Ogawa-san pulled me aside and reintroduced me to Nobuo Uematsu, who seemed to immediately recognize me as “Pat, OSV, yes?” That was a surreal experience. From their perspective, I suppose that when you’re in foreign country and you see a familiar face, it’s always comforting. But man, two years! The whole band was exceedingly charming and polite the entire weekend, socializing whenever they could find free time with any and all fans. They put hours and hours into meet-and-greets and signings, not to mention their stellar concert Saturday night. And then they remember little old me… for me, looking to them as heroes and trailblazers in the budding world of game music, it was just wild.

Two others who recognized me, that I did not at all expect to recognize me, were Mustin (The OneUps / Bad Dudes) and Grant Henry (Metroid Metal / Stemage). All the bands at MAGFest did a great job this year, but those two are some of my favorites. Metroid Metal was especially solid this year, and OneUps did two different sets.

OH! And I got to spend time with an old pal, Josh Whelchel. When I first discovered him, he had done work on these fantastic, totally unknown indie RPGs THE SPIRIT ENGINE (I and II). Since that time he’s gone on to much bigger projects, and he also created the Indie Game Music Bundle, which patterned itself after Humble Indie Bundle and got a lot of great music to a lot of fans for low low cost.

Before I do any more name-dropping, let’s circle back to Arata Hanyuda. This one doesn’t speak so much to anyone’s ability to remember my ugly mug, but to Mike Salbato’s amazing talents as a graphic designer at RPGFan. Said website did a video interview with Earthbound Papas on Sunday afternoon. Though I’m considered an “editor emeritus” at the site these days, I attended the interview just to provide moral support for the newcomers that handled it (per their request… and they did a great job, for the record!). However, none of them had brought business cards, so at the end of the interview, I dug out some old ‘Fan business cards I had in my wallet and handed them out, just so they had something from RPGFan. When I did that, Arata Hanyuda shot up out of his chair and said: “I met you! FINAL FANTASY XI FanFest!” Now, I knew I had met him then. I remember him being there, and I think I’d met him once before at E3 ’06 for other FFXI activities. But I didn’t expect him to remember me, because he was here, now, in the capacity of a drummer, not a producer/designer with Square Enix. Nonetheless, when I handed that card to him, he immediately realized who I was, and the others in the band laughed, like “man, this kid really gets his name out there.” I’m not gonna lie: I’ve tried. The strange thing is that this time around I wasn’t really trying. I was just there to be friendly and support some of my other writer-friends, and rep for the new radio network hosting The Jurassic Hour, 8bitx. It’s kind of like that saying, “If you love something, let it go, and if it returns…” blahblahblah. Well, I let go of my driving desire to “be someone” in this industry, and it feels like, ever since I let go, things naturally happen that say “look, you’re not a big deal, but you’re not NOBODY either. We remember and it’s cool seeing you around.” That sentiment means so much to me. I hope I don’t read too much into it.

Now then, other people I saw again or met for the first time. Name-dropping is too much fun.

- Shota Nakama: head of Boston’s VGO, translator extraordinaire, and a great musician himself. His orchestra will be hosting a “Distant Worlds” concert in March, and I’m currently working to fit it into my schedule. Travel, lodging, etc.
- Jake “virt” Kaufman: whether you know it or not, you’ve probably heard this guy’s work. He is all over the place lately. For years he’s been the go-to composer for WayForward, and he also does guest arrangements on all kinds of cool stuff (including a Japanese-released “Chiptuned Rockman” (Mega Man) album). Meeting him was a great pleasure. Also got to meet his wife, who hosts a great podcast on Arecibo Radio.
- Speaking of which, I met basically everyone from Arecibo. They’re basically the equivalent radio network to 8bitx, but with slightly different scope of coverage. See our podcast on RPGFan/RPGamer to get a feel for that kind of relationship.
- I also met most everyone from 8bitx, which was great. Creator Will Strouse is just the nicest guy in the universe, and he also saved my butt when lodging arrangements for MAGFest went to crap for me last-minute.
- chipocrite, Luke from Anamanaguchi, and many other chiptune artists. I also got to see my friend Josh “Zen Albatross” Kopstein. He is so cool. I’m toying with the idea of making my own chip music thanks to cool people like them.
- MC Deathbear. He wasn’t at MAGFest 9, but he’s one of the first people I met at 8 and I bought this great lego art from him. To me, this guy is everything I would be if I had no-respect-for-authority-style courage and had no wife or kids. Dude does legit tagging and is also using epoxy-type glue to put lego art around NYC. Like, real legos, stuck to overpasses and stuff. That’s nuts, son.
- Jeff Ball, a great violinist and audio engineer. When I asked him “so what are you working on?” and he said “I just finished recording for MASS EFFECT 3” I was like “oh shiiii that’s rad.”
- David Saulesco, @withaknife on Twitter. People need to learn about this Swedish marvel. I have faith he’s going to go places. He did the soundtrack to one of Derek Yu’s earliest (successful) projects, ETERNAL DAUGHTER.
- All the dudes in the band “Battle Cake.” I don’t have all their names, but I was up with them late-night Saturday-into-Sunday. And they actually ended up pulling out of me this idea I have for a game. I haven’t told anyone about it, but they said it had potential, and considering some of them actually design games… well… I think I have a 40-page outline I need to spruce up and send around. It’s stupid, I know, but I want people to know that I dream up wonderful things too. And that recognition was wonderful.

I was bummed that I didn’t have any sit-down time with Justin Johnston (RadioFreeGamer, a great show from a great dude that I really respect) or Danny Baranowsky (composer for SUPER MEAT BOY, BINDING OF ISAAC). But the event is short, and even shorter when you have to skip the first day (it started Thursday night).

If you want to read about what all happened at the show, there’s great coverage from Jayson at OSV, Don at SEMO, all the guys at 8bitx, and plenty elsewhere. I’m going to dump some photos below, and then I’ll be done talking about it. Well, I might say something about it on the next podcast, but I’ll keep that brief. On to the GAMES, amirite?!

Nobuo Uematsu's band "Earthbound Papas" rehearsing before a show. Totally sweet.

More EBP rehearsal.

Here's me with friends (and friends of friends) from RPGFan. L to R: Brad, Sarah, Dennis, me, Travis.

Hey, there's me again! In the hotel room with the 8bitx crew (Will is the one on my left, your right).

Here I am chilling with my good friend, Jayson Napolitano from OSV. We had just wrapped up our interview with Earthbound Papas (OSV was after NPR! Whoa!).

My attempt at blurry photography during a concert. That there is The OneUps during their first set (Friday, 5pm). Mustin on keys doin' sweet sexy synth bass.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Otaku gaijin-Japan-nut 'money shot.' Minus the porn. I already introduced the people in the back. Up front is Earthbound Papas. L to R: Yoshitaka Hirota (bass), Tsutomu Narita (keys/rhythm guitar), Nobuo Uematsu (organ/keys), Arata Hanyuda (drums), and Michio Okamiya (lead guitar).

I had not just Uematsu but the whole EBP sign my FFVIII limited edition OST (many of the band members had some part in supporting the game, they're all ex-Square employees). Shout-out to vgmworld.com (Kahori Ezaki) for hooking me up with this rare artifact on-the-cheap and in a hurry.

It's rumored that Hirota-san is working on a new game soundtrack in 2012 with Nobuyoshi Sano (sanodg). But until that happens, his last major works were the three Shadow Hearts games. Hence, I brought my favorite soundtrack of the three (SHII) and had him sign it. Dennis brought his copy of the game (which I am borrowing) and got that signed too. Amazing how many people at the con remember Shadow Hearts and showed Hirota mega-love for it.