SGC Woo!

ScrewAttack put together an impressive, community-driven gaming convention in 2009 and 2010. I had been a previous participant in the ScrewAttack community—a g1 if you will—but I wasn’t able to attend either of the previous conventions.  I had always intended to; but like most of my intentions, I waited until it was too late, even though I live in the same area as the ScrewAttack’s HQ. ScrewAttack announced on an episode of Sidescrollers that there wouldn’t be another SGC due to high costs, much to the devastation of g1s who had previously attended or were in a similar position to me. Two years had passed, and I visited the site less and less due to unrelated reasons; however, ScrewAttack announced in 2012 a Kickstarter for their beloved SGC, which caught my and the other g1’s attention. ScrewAttack managed to reach their Kickstarter goal, overshooting it by about $20,000, and I no longer had an excuse barring death to not attend.

SGC is actually the first gaming convention in which I’ve ever attended, let alone the first time I ever participated in the gaming press publicly since joining The Koalition team, so I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from SGC—cliché as that sounds—beyond what I had seen from uploaded footage of previous years. The first thing I saw was a giant banner complete with all of the classic video game characters we all know and love. Directly next to it was a banner with the names of all the Kickstarter contributors. A year had passed, so it was understandable that I had forgotten that I too contributed. I remember donating what I could at the time, which seemed like an insignificant amount back then; however, ScrewAttack thanked everybody who contributed, regardless of amount, and I appreciated the sentimentality. I had never felt more proud of my third-grade cursive signature.

We made our way upstairs on the first day for registration. I’ll always have some sentimental value for SGC from the moment I received my first press badge alone, which I had stupidly written my first and last name rather than my name and organization—oh well. The first event scheduled had been delayed by an hour; however, the community didn’t seem to mind. I had overheard community members ecstatic for getting to meet each other, some for the first time and others like old friends. Others were gathered around in circles playing probably Animal Crossing on their 3DS—it is a gaming convention after all, and what better way to kill downtime than with video games.

Eventually we gathered around the main three rooms of SGC, where ScrewAttack’s Director of Awesome, Angel, would set the tone. Angel stol…I mean, he totally came up with a hand gesture for SGC after consulting with some g1s, which he had us all memorize, promising that he would be testing this throughout the week. I was never around for any of his tests; however, the gesture had just the right amount of cheese that I proudly would have. The Director’s energy was infectious, and I even remember The Koalition’s own David Jagneaux turning to me and saying, “Well, now I’m excited!” Now, the convention is just beginning…

Tune in for part 2 and part 3 of my experience at SGC 2013!