MAGWest 2026 has ended

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MAGWest 2026

MAGWest is a music and gaming festival featuring a 24-hour gaming hall, at least three stages of planned concerts, video game community guests/VIPs, and community-run panels. The festival runs from Friday, August 14 to Sunday, August 16. Buy your badge today!

***The schedule is subject to change!***
Make sure you check back to get the most accurate info!

PLEASE PLAN AHEAD FOR PARKING - NON-HOTEL GUESTS SHOULD PURCHASE PARKING AT PARKWHIZ PRIOR TO COMING TO THE EVENT.

Safety Issues, stop by Event Safety in the Silicon Valley Room or contact 1-833-FEST-SEC or [email protected]. Don’t forget to review our Code of Conduct.

9:00am PDT

CLOSED FOR REHEARSAL

Friday August 14, 2026 9:00am - 2:00pm PDT

Closed for planned rehearsals

Friday August 14, 2026 9:00am - 2:00pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Panels 1, Event Services

3:00pm PDT

Voice Acting Lessons I Didn't Learn From Voice Acting

Friday August 14, 2026 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT

This panel explores how skills and perspectives from other disciplines, including music, on-camera acting, visual arts, academia, and retail, can translate into becoming a stronger voice actor. Elisa Meléndez will share lessons and experiences from across these fields, along with how she has applied them to her voice acting career. After a brief presentation, the floor will open for a Q&A about 30 minutes in.

Guests

Elisa Meléndez

Voice Actor (Borderlands series)

Please welcome Elisa Meléndez to MAGWest! Elisa is an actress as well as a singer and songwriter, and she has channeled her passion into a PhD in Sociology and careers in college instruction and video game marketing. She is most known for her work in the Borderlands Franchise, as... Read More →

Friday August 14, 2026 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Subject Panels

4:15pm PDT

The Future of Games: A brief look into how we play games tomorrow.

Friday August 14, 2026 4:15pm - 5:15pm PDT

The 2008 global recession forced the gaming industry into radical reinvention, leading to the gaming renaissance. Between 2010 and today, gaming transformed from a niche hobby into one of the most dominant cultural forces on the planet, weaving itself into music, film, sports, and fashion along the way.

This panel takes a hard, empirically grounded look at where the industry goes from here. I focus on socioeconomic analysis and market data to map out two potential futures: one where games become less accessible due to an intersectional collective of reasons including socioeconomics, and one where games continue to innovate to strive to make sure everyone can experience games.

Let's have an honest conversation about what's at stake, what the data is already telling us, and what the industry, creators, and communities can do to ensure the next chapter of gaming is one worth playing.

Panelists:
Tamerlane Barak [Game Economy Designer, https://tamerlanedevportfolio.com/]

Friday August 14, 2026 4:15pm - 5:15pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience 15+
Subject Panels

6:45pm PDT

Dragon Quest Grand Casino

Friday August 14, 2026 6:45pm - 7:45pm PDT

Come one, come all to the Dragon Quest Grand Casino! Take a break from your weary adventures brave heroes and come have some fun in Tantegel’s newest traveling attraction! There’s a marvelous matching game, tricky trivia, and the lucky chance lottery! Will you win it big, or Frizzle out? Let’s all have a Goo-reat time!

Friday August 14, 2026 6:45pm - 7:45pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience All ages
Subject Panels

8:00pm PDT

Taboo! Game Show: Gaming Edition

Friday August 14, 2026 8:00pm - 9:00pm PDT

It's Taboo! Gaming Edition! In this game show, the goal is to get your teammates to guess gaming-related terms without using any of the associated "taboo" words. Teams of 2-4 will compete to see who can get the most points by guessing the most words. Think fast, test your pro gamer knowledge, and rack your brain for any clues you can give to score your team points! Glory and prizes are in store for winners!

Friday August 14, 2026 8:00pm - 9:00pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience 15+
Subject Panels

9:15pm PDT

quizmania: Kaimei Riddles DX PLUS

Friday August 14, 2026 9:15pm - 10:15pm PDT

Come join us for an exciting game show all about rhythm games! Jack-of-all-trades? Song savant? Too much into the lore? Whether you're a walking Remywiki, a J-Core and Vocaloid superfan, or even a light purveyor, this quiz will be entertaining, informative, and accessible for all!

Panelists:
Starrodkirby86 [Guy Who Raised $1M for Charity Playing maimai DX]

Friday August 14, 2026 9:15pm - 10:15pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience All ages
Subject Panels

10:30pm PDT

Mazes & Monsters: Satanic Panic D&D Nonsense At Its Finest

Friday August 14, 2026 10:30pm - 11:30pm PDT

"Mazes & Monsters is a far-out game"--and an even more far-out story.

The Satanic gaming and pop culture enthusiasts at Black Mass Appeal bring you the complete, dramatic, and embarrassing tale of the anti-devil worship panic that almost ruined everyone's favorite TTRPG in the 1980s, culminating in a hit exploitation paperback from the least likely author and a TV movie that subjected Tom Hanks' career to its most painful Saving Throws.

We've got the whole sordid story for you--including the long lost rules of Mazes & Monsters itself.

Panelists:
Daniel Walker [Podcaster, BlackMassAppeal.com]
Tabitha Slander
Simone Lasher

Friday August 14, 2026 10:30pm - 11:30pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience 15+
Subject Panels

9:45am PDT

VGM Zumba: Level Up Your Rhythm!

Saturday August 15, 2026 9:45am - 10:45am PDT

Join a ZUMBA™ session with high-energy dancing and moving your body to VGM + Latin hits! This is a fun, beginner-friendly activity for all dance levels and to share the joy of movement, rhythm, and energy as a community. Bring good shoes, water, and a sweat towel if needed.

Panelists:
Brooke Ferd [ZIN Instructor/VGM Musician, www.brookeferdmusic.com]

Saturday August 15, 2026 9:45am - 10:45am PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience 15+
Subject Panels

11:00am PDT

Player One: A Morning with Lotus Juice

Saturday August 15, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT

Join Lotus Juice as he shares the story behind his career, creative process, and life as a musician. From iconic game and anime music to international touring and original projects, hear firsthand stories from his journey, followed by an audience Q&A.

Performers

Lotus Juice

Lotus Juice is a Japanese rapper, lyricist, producer, and performer best known for his work on the Persona series, including iconic tracks such as "Mass Destruction," "Burn My Dread," and "Deep Breath Deep Breath." Blending hip-hop, rock, and game music, he has collaborated with composers... Read More →

Saturday August 15, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience All ages
Subject Panels

12:15pm PDT

Cadillacs, Dinosaurs, and Sillywood: When Hollywood Fell in Love With FMVs and Video Games

Saturday August 15, 2026 12:15pm - 1:15pm PDT

When technology such as the CD-ROM and early CG arrived in the late 80s and early 90s, both Hollywood and Silicon Valley lost their collective minds with excitement over new creative possibilities and scrambled to collaborate together. A slew of movies featuring early CG were released, while Full Motion Video technology and high quality audio were core to the experiences of classic games such as Myst, Rebel Assault, the 7th Guest, and Wing Commander. Yet not all were successful; for every Myst, there was a Night Trap or a Sewer Shark. Join Rob Curl and Steve Horowitz to explore game and audio design in this era of “Sillywood”! The session will examine key titles from the period, including Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, which Horowitz worked on with Rocket Science Games, and analyze the distinctive aesthetics that emerged from the fusion of Hollywood production techniques and interactive media. The talk will also address why many of these ambitious projects became fascinating failed experiments, offering insight into the challenges of integrating live-action storytelling with early interactive technologies and what their legacy reveals for contemporary game design.

Panelists:
Robert Curl [Museum Historian, www.themade.org]
Steven Horowitz [Professor of Music, Composer for Nick Studios, https://www.stevehorowitzmusic.com/]

Guests

The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE)

Nonprofit Videogame Museum

Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE) is a nonprofit video game museum based in Oakland, California. MADE is dedicated to preserving the history of digital games and promoting digital creation and game development through play, education, and hands-on exhibits. Visitors... Read More →

Game Audio Institute

Game Audio Professional Development

We started the Game Audio Institute based on our experience in the classroom over the last decade, where we have been developing curriculum and teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses in game audio. Interactive media is very different from linear media like film and... Read More →

Saturday August 15, 2026 12:15pm - 1:15pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience 15+
Subject Panels

1:30pm PDT

Waluigi Time!

Saturday August 15, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Waluigi doesn't have his own game, but he has his own panel where he pays other people to talk about games he should have been in and how great he is.

Panelists:
Foundation for the Eradication of Generation 5 Pokemon [https://linktr.ee/fifthgenisntpokemon]

Saturday August 15, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience 15+
Subject Panels

2:45pm PDT

Name That Orchestrion: Final Fantasy Quest

Saturday August 15, 2026 2:45pm - 3:45pm PDT

As scions of the crystal, we have been searching the land far and wide for other Warriors of Light to help restore music to our distant worlds! Please lend us your trivia knowledge so we can put our background music, battles, and character themes in the correct games!

Saturday August 15, 2026 2:45pm - 3:45pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience All ages
Subject Panels

4:00pm PDT

Cosplay Wrestling Federation: Magnitude

Saturday August 15, 2026 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT

Team CWF returns to ALA. Who will triumph tonight? Help us decide!

Saturday August 15, 2026 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience 15+
Subject Panels

5:15pm PDT

Do You Think God Stays in Heaven Because He too Lives in Fear of What He's Created? A Neopets Panel

Saturday August 15, 2026 5:15pm - 6:15pm PDT

Neopets is a shambling late-stage capitalism simulator cloaked in the guise of a “virtual pet website”, and it has been running for the past 26 years with absolutely zero economic regulation. Is there any way to fix this mess without inciting open class warfare between the Neopian bourgeoisie and the commoners who rely on their free daily omelette slice?

Please join us for an atrociously stupid presentation on the current state of the Neopian economy.

Saturday August 15, 2026 5:15pm - 6:15pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience 15+
Subject Panels

6:30pm PDT

Cracking Open a Cold One With The Catboys | Your Guide to Fishing in Final Fantasy 14

Saturday August 15, 2026 6:30pm - 7:30pm PDT

Fellow Warriors of Light, you've traveled to far off lands, fought foes threatening the very fabric of this star, striving endlessly for ever greater heights. Perhaps you seek a moment of respite, a quiet, peaceful opportunity to take it slow and drink in the sights. Just you, your rod, the crisp summer morning air, the sun cresting over the horizon, an alarm clock going off at 4 AM, an unreasonable number of spreadsheets, and a deep seated feeling of torment and despair. You stare into the deep inky waters. You see nothing but an abyss. You see a reflection of yourself. Fishing is not for the faint of heart, but together we can chart a course through these treacherous and terrible waters.

Welcome to the True Endgame. Fishing has Raidplans too.

This panel will not contain story spoilers, but will contain references to locations visited through the most recent expansion, Dawntrail.

---

BORN TO FISH
WORLD IS A LAKE
Reel Em All 2025
I am FSH main
410,757,864,530 CAUGHT FISH

Panelists:
Al'fyn Apothica
Sink

Saturday August 15, 2026 6:30pm - 7:30pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience All ages
Subject Panels

7:45pm PDT

YOU DIED: Dark Souls for Dummies

Saturday August 15, 2026 7:45pm - 8:45pm PDT

Are you dying (repeatedly) to get into Dark Souls and other Souls-likes? Take it from me, someone who can’t play games past easy mode. This panel is here for you with tips beyond “getting good.”

Panelists: Rangoon

Saturday August 15, 2026 7:45pm - 8:45pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience 15+
Subject Panels

9:00pm PDT

Smash Bros Honk-Along!

Saturday August 15, 2026 9:00pm - 10:00pm PDT

Come sight-read Smash Bros music with us while audience members fight it out! We've made simplified arrangements of Smash classics like Break the Targets and Jungle Japes. No instrument? No problem! We've got plenty of extra instruments to lend out, and we'll need smash players too! Sheets and stands provided :3

Performers

Adora Blue

Adora Blue (yes, that's adorable + u ;3) is a Seattle-based DJ (and producer, activist, tiktoker, etc) you won't soon forget!

Mainly playing eurobeat and VG remixes, she also branches out toward breakcore, kawaii future bass, hhc, and j-core, and no set of hers is complete without... Read More →

Saturday August 15, 2026 9:00pm - 10:00pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience All ages
Subject Panels

11:00am PDT

GameGrooves Listening Party

Sunday August 16, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT

Created in just 72 hours, come and be the first to hear the MAGWest Charity Album Jam, Vol. 2 - a collection of covers and arrangements from Undertale and Deltarune.

Guests

GameGrooves

Videogame Music Record Label and Sponsor

GameGrooves is an Independent Record Label that specializes in the creation and distribution of Community Album projects that celebrate Video Games, Video Game Music and the culture surrounding gaming overall. At GameGrooves we do not specialize in any particular genre and switch... Read More →

Sunday August 16, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience All ages
Subject Panels

12:15pm PDT

Game Audio Unlocked: How to Build and Sustain Your Career

Sunday August 16, 2026 12:15pm - 1:15pm PDT

You love Game Music & Sound, so do we!! So nows your chance to Ask us anything!!

This career-focused encounter session brings together Steven Horowitz (Composer, Audio Director & Founder of GAI) and Brendan Wolf (Career coach & Sound Designer at Injected Senses) to demystify pathways into the game audio industry. Designed for students, emerging creators, and mid-career professionals alike, the session offers a candid look at how to build a sustainable career in a rapidly evolving field.

Through a mix of practical guidance and real-world insight, the discussion covers portfolio development, networking strategies, and how to position your unique creative voice in a competitive marketplace. The speakers will also address common misconceptions about breaking into game audio, the realities of freelance versus in-house roles, and how to leverage interdisciplinary skills—from music composition to implementation and sound design.

Panelists:
Steven Horowitz (Game Audio Institute)
[Composer/Audio Director, https://www.stevehorowitzmusic.com/]

Brendan Wolf (Injected Senses)
[Sound Designer at Injected Senses and Game Audio Career Coach, https://www.hellagoodaudio.com/]

Guests

Game Audio Institute

Game Audio Professional Development

We started the Game Audio Institute based on our experience in the classroom over the last decade, where we have been developing curriculum and teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses in game audio. Interactive media is very different from linear media like film and... Read More →

Sunday August 16, 2026 12:15pm - 1:15pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience All ages
Subject Panels

1:30pm PDT

Sonic: An Unfortunate History

Sunday August 16, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Sonic the Hedgehog is a staple holding together the childhood of any proper 90s kid, but just like Soap shoes he’s tragically out of fashion. We’ll be going over the history of Sonic The Hedgehog games, Sega Consoles, Crush 40, and various chili dogs.

Panelists:
Foundation for the Eradication of Generation 5 Pokemon [https://linktr.ee/fifthgenisntpokemon]

Sunday August 16, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience All ages
Subject Panels

2:45pm PDT

Geography of Pokemon gens 5-10!

Sunday August 16, 2026 2:45pm - 3:45pm PDT

The geographer and person with a Pokemon hyperfixation are not done yet as they expand their global horizons on both Earth and in Pokemon! For generations 5-10 we’re leaving the Japanese Archipelago to venture into Europe, the Americans and other parts of Asia! We will be looking at unique places, animals and plants that have inspired Pokemon!

Panelists:
Natalie Uvon [Teacher, Geographer, Artist]
Antho Loc [student]

Sunday August 16, 2026 2:45pm - 3:45pm PDT
Panels 1 San Simeon / San Martin

Audience All ages
Subject Panels