Some of the greatest air hockey players in the world are coming to Milwaukee for the Midwest Air Hockey Championship, and now you can play in! Participate in a tournament on either Friday night or Saturday morning for the chance to win one of two play-in spots for the main tournament. Then, on Saturday starting at 2pm, watch as the winners of those play-ins take on some of the best in the world, with the finals being held at 7pm Saturday!
Stories Behind the Creation of Your Favorite Classic Games
Join legendary game developers David Crane (Pitfall!, Kaboom, A Boy and His Blob) and Garry Kitchen (Keystone Kapers, Donkey Kong 2600) as they talk about what it was like to make games in the early 80s, tell about a number of funny happenings during the development of some of your favorite games, and take questions from the audience!
Retronauts: Atari Got A Raw Deal
Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Kevin Bunch and Marty Goldberg trek back 35 years ago to the so-called “Atari Crash” that shook the U.S. games industry to its core. Was it really all Atari’s fault? We look at different sides of the story, and the great Atari creations that never got a fair shot throughout the late ’80s.
Animating Sequels with Philo Barnhart
Philo Barnhart is an animator with an incredible portfolio! His work includes The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Rescuers Down Under, The Secret of NIMH, Happily Ever After, An American Tail, and special effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture! Some of his most unique work, however, was working on the Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace series, both of which had sequels that are less known that Philo was involved in. Join him as he discusses these sequels, as well as his other work in animation, and maybe even get to see him create some new art while he talks!
Mortal Kombat to Dark Presence
Mortal Kombat was a genre-defining game, and one that many other games sought to attempt to replicate, but never quite got the formula right… perhaps until now! Galloping Ghost Productions is working on putting the final touches on a new Mortal Kombat style game called Dark Presence, which even uses many of the Mortal Kombat actors! In this panel, the game creators and many of the original Mortal Kombat actors will discuss the creation of Mortal Kombat, and how that same spirit is being used to create the new Dark Presence game!
My Game on the Silver Screen: Rampage Vs. Q*Bert
There has been a lot of movies lately inspired by video games, including the new RAMPAGE movie that is being released on April 13! How do the creators of these games feel about Hollywood taking their creations to the silver screen? Find out when Brian Colin, creator of Rampage and freshly back from the Hollywood premier is joined by Jeffrey Lee, creator of Q*Bert, as they discuss their thoughts and feelings about what happened when their games went Hollywood.
Wittenhagen, Jeffrey
Jeffrey is the writer of tons of awesome books like the Complete NES: Ultimate NES Collector’s Book and many others! He is also one of the hosts of the popular VGBS podcast!
Show Merchandise
Love the show and want to get something from it? Stop at the Show Merchandise booth to find t-shirts like this one designed by Rare designer Kevin Bayliss, hoodies, posters, and many other souvenirs from your day!
Future Classics
Try out the classics of the future from various developers of all sizes! From VR to console, Steam to mobile, you might be the first to check out tomorrow’s hot new game!
Are you a developer? Register here to show your games at MGC.
Pixel Blast Arcade
The Pixel Blast arcade of Lisle, Illinois is bringing a bunch of their exciting and popular arcade video games to the floor of the MGC to share them with you! Stop by and check out what this great arcade has to play!