MAGFest Dates Announced’,’The organizers of MAGFest, a huge music and video game festival, have finalized the dates for next year’s event. The festival will be held from January 3, 2008 through January 6, 2008. The event will be in the Hilton Mark Center in Alexandria, Va.

If you live anywhere near the D.C. area (actually, if you live anywhere on the east coast of the U.S.) you should really consider attending. This event is unlike any other you’ll encounter. It is essentially a huge party centering around all of your favorite video games and video game consoles. There are multiple concerts every night from video game-themed bands. There are cosplay contests. There are media rooms where video game related television shows, movies and fan flicks are running 24 hours a day.

This is truly an amazing experience, and is absolutely worth the incredibly low cost of admission (currently $30 per person, but it will go up to $35 per person in the next day or so). If you reserve a room in the hotel where the festival is taking place, you can usually get a very nice room for a very reasonable rate. It’s generally less than $100 per night. I think it was something like $80 per night last year, which is a rock-bottom price for Tyson’s Corner (which is where it was last year). If I recall correctly, I couldn’t even find an Econo Lodge or Quality Inn cheaper than that in the area, which is why I ended up staying there.

I hope to see you all there. I will definitely be there, and I will be representing the entire DC community.

More information about the festival can be found at http://www.magfest.org/