If you're a serious gamer, you're probably anxiously awaiting SDCC's announcement of the gaming tracks - the tournaments, board games, MTG, D&D, video demos, the Nintendo and Xbox Lounges. All of which is very enticing, no doubt. But if you want to take advantage of every gaming opportunity during Comic-Con - or you just have a free day - you will definitely want to look at Gam3rCon.
It runs during SDCC at the Tenth Avenue Arts Center, so it's very accessible - and because it runs until midnight every night, you can always do the Con during the day and Gam3rCon at night.
If you go, you'll find four floors of the following:
Tabletop gaming
Video games
Tournaments (cash prize and not)
Gaming Demos
A Retrocade with old Nintendo, Sega, Atari
Workshops
Gaming-themed Art Exhibits
Panels
Live Theatre
Movie screenings
Comedy shows
Rooftop parties
Cosplay
Happy Hours
That gives you an idea of why you'll want to visit - so here's another. You can still buy tickets now and you can navigate the entire experience without the ridiculous lines of SDCC. Week passes are $60, day passes $20.
First-timers, it should be obvious by now that official SDCC programming is only half the story. The outside events and activities are often just as compelling. You could make the decision to keep it simple and just focus on Comic-Con; there's nothing wrong with that. But if you are a dedicated gamer or simply want something fun and nerdy to fill your nights, you really should give Gam3rCon a shot.
Now that the smoke has cleared from the badge sale, two groups of people have probably come to terms with how they did: those who got 4 day or Preview Night badges, and those who got nothing. There's not much to decide there, after all.
But people who landed in the more nebulous zone of a one day badge or Thursday/Sunday have to decide now if they really want to go after all. My vote: yes. Unless the airfare is going to be outrageous and you're already strapped for cash, you should definitely go to Comic-Con. Even just for one day.
I discussed the Thursday/Sunday split when I landed in it last November. But I want to point out a few other reasons you should attend, especially for first-timers who've never been to SDCC before. It's easy to visualize Comic-Con as something that happens within a building, like a soccer game or concert would happen inside a stadium. You're either in or you're out. But the Con is quite different. It is a sprawling octopus of a phenomenon with tentacles that can accommodate anyone - whether they have a badge or not.
Let's say you have a Thursday badge. You have access to a freshly stocked Exhibit Hall and you can get into the massive MTV party that night - it's free to anyone with a Thursday badge, features multiple bands (Linkin Park headlined last year) and fandom awards. The whole thing is broadcast on MTV that Sunday night. If you only got Sunday, you'll have all those Exhibit Hall deals to take advantage of - lots of marked-down stuff - and a fairly eclectic variety of panels. (Which isn't to say you won't have major ones too. Check out last year's Sunday programming.)
But mostly you'll have a dazzling array of outside events to attend. I'm not talking about vendors or cheap carnival exhibits. I'm talking about really fun high-caliber events and promotions that can be more enjoyable than anything inside the convention center.
Here's just a small sample of the events last year:
The CBLDF party
The Image Expo
The Outlander red carpet premiere
The Adult Swim Fun House and Jammy Party
The Strain screening and fan event
The Walking Dead Escape
San Diego Symphony Summer Pops Comic-Con Concert
The Nerd-A-Thon with MC Front-a-lot
The Zombie Walk and the Zombie Prom
The Orphan Black Meetup
A combined Welcome to Night Vale/Thrilling Adventure Hour performance
The Incognito cosplay party with Adam Savage
Chris Hardwick's @midnight and live Nerdist podcast
The Haunted Hotel/Zombie Apocalypse Store
Geek and Sundry's ongoing party
The Crave Online party with MGMT and Grimes
Free gamer arcades at various bars and locations
A Nerdist laser-tag party
The Assassin's Creed obstacle course
The Game of Thrones Experience
The Sleepy Hollow virtual reality experience
And I'm not kidding when I say that's just a fraction of what was happening.
Of course there's also Gam3rCon - not just gaming but art shows, bands, and panels - and of course
Nerd HQ. Last year Nerd HQ offered up Joss Whedon, the Orphan Black cast, Nathan Fillion, the Supernatural and Walking Dead cast - lots of fan favorites show up there. Check out this list of panels.
Most 2015 events are yet to be announced, but we do know some - for instance, that Conan O'Brien will be taping from Spreckles Theatre every night of the Con. And of course there are beaches, taking the ferry to Coronado Island and lots of local museums that offer special nerd-themed exhibits during SDCC.
So5 benefits in all to your partial badge situation:
1) You can avoid getting worn out. If you haven't been to SDCC before, you can't imagine how exhausting it is. I say this as a high-energy person who can hike for miles without getting tired. When you're at the Con, a day to sleep in, eat some leisurely meals and then kick around doing whatever you feel like is pure heaven.
2) You can actually spend time with your friends. Every year I have long-distance friends at the Con and while we say we're going to catch up, it never happens because we're trapped in panels and interviews and obligations.
3) You can go to all the fun outside events the people in the Hall H line will never experience.
4) You can avoid going down this hellish rabbit hole next year if you find out now that you actually don't care for Comic-Con. Hey, it happens. A lot. If it's not for you, better to find out when you've only invested in a 1-2 day trip.
5) You will have two chances at going to SDCC 2016, since even a one-day badge gets you into 2016 Pre-registration. And you're only competing against 2015 attendees in that round, unlike the horde of hopefuls in Open Reg.
Did I convince you? Don't ask for a refund. Just go.
Today CCI published their gaming schedules, from board games to video gaming to D&D to Magic: The Gathering and more.
I'm always grateful for these tournaments because they keep a high number of people absorbed and out of the panels. But if you're a gamer who would rather wander around and see what's afoot, there's a lot going on this year. That goes for experienced gamer fanatics and the mildly interested.
Every single thing listed here is free and open to anyone with a badge - except Gam3rCon.
Exhibit Hall and Panels
Nintendo will have a booth at the San Diego Convention Center dedicated entirely to Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
Tetsuya Nomura and Hideo Kojima will be signing autographs - but you have to buy a Play Arts Kai Figure at the Square Enix booth, #3829. The Witcher fans get to see a brand new live 30 minute demo on Thursday.
Microsoft is bringing several panels, including a first look at Halo:Nightfall on Thursday at 11:45 am and Friday at 10:15 am, both in 6BCF, and a panel on Sunset Overdrive on Thursday at 5 pm in 5AB.
The documentary Atari: Game Over will be shown Friday at 3:30 in 5AB.
Besides playing on the Major League Gaming main stage, you can have your pick of dozens of games, including Evolve, Forza Horizon 2, Super Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix, The Evil Within, The Crew, and Project Spark. And don't forget this contest.
Nintendo Gaming Lounge (Marriott)
They will host a Smash Bros tournament, this one for the 3DS version. You can register on site starting Friday the 25th, but space is limited. You'll also get time with upcoming 2014 games like Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2 and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker - and much of it will be streamed on Twitch. Find out more here.
Nerd HQ
SEGA.will have on hand Alien: Isolation, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd and two titles under the new Sonic Boom franchise – Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for the Wii U system and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for the Nintendo 3DS hand-held system. This is the first time fans will be able to play demos of each title. The gaming gallery will have the first modern digital version of The Settlers of Catan board game, Catan Anytime.
Events
"Bayonetta: Bloody Fate" from FUNimation Entertainment will be screened Friday at 9:35 p.m. PT in Marriott Hall Room 4 at the Marriott Marquis & Marina hotel.
The Assassin's Creed Experience will give out free t-shirts to anyone who survives their obstacle course by the Hilton Gaslamp.
The PIXELS Electric Dreams Factory Arcade is at the Hard Rock Hotel and has retro video games available.
Square Enix and Deep Silver are hosting an arcade (open to the public) at the Whiskey Girl from 11 am Friday to 2 am Saturday. You'll see a bunch of upcoming titles, including Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris and multiplayer titleNosgoth and theHitman GoandHitman: Snipermobile games, as well asEscape Dead Island,Metro Redux and action RPGSacred 3.
Nerdist is hosting Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel-themed laser tag on the top floor of Petco Park. 3 games will run per hour, with 50 people each, and it's free - but people with a badge get priority access.
Gam3rCon, unlike everything else here, is not free - but it's not that pricey either. $20 for a day or $50 for the whole thing. And while that gives you panels on games in addition to demos and play, you also get parties, bands, and other events.
San Diego Comic-Con presents a weird paradox in that it offers a dazzling multiplicity of activities, yet the time investment required often whittles your options down to a very few. This isn't something most first-timers realize. They see all of the panels and events, see that each involves an hour or two, and calculate accordingly. Then they arrive and realize that to get into Ballroom 20 or Hall H, they'll have to forego a day in the Exhibit Hall, go to bed early to get up at 2 am to get in line for something else, and so on. Every year I hear from frustrated people who feel like they missed out on most of the action.
For this reason, it's good to sometimes look beyond the Con itself. You're going to be surrounded by so many options - NerdHQ, the various promotional attractions that movie studios set up in the Gaslamp and around the convention center, and of course Gam3rCon. While you might view these things as robbing you of valuable Con time, sometimes you'll get more action out of the Con than in it.
Gam3rCon is a great example. It takes place the same days as the Con at the Tenth Ave Arts Center in San Diego. It offers tabletop gaming, video games and yesteryear favorites from Atari, Nintendo and Sega; plays and films; an art exhibit; panels; comedy shows; and of course their famous rooftop parties, including a Saturday night show by Chamber Band (above). While some content like tournaments and panels will obviously appeal mostly to gamers, pretty much anyone can enjoy the rest of the agenda - and do so without the long lines and suffocating crowds of the Con.
You can still buy tickets; you can even still volunteer. Weeklong passes are $50, day passes $20. If you don't want to commit to it now, the Con programming should be announced starting 10 July. You'll have a better idea then if there's a day or night where you might want to stray off the reservation.
Renowned Brooklyn nerd band Chamber Band is returning to Comic-Con this summer, playing shows at both Gam3rCon and Comic-Con Nerd-A-Thon. Described as equal parts The Decemberists and They Might Be Giants (by way of Danny Elfman), the band will beplaying songs from their debut album Deities, about love and relationships in the world of Dungeons & Dragons. That may make them the most quintessential Comic-Con band ever.
The show will also feature the L.A. burlesque troupe Devil's Playground, with nerdcore rappers MC Frontalot, MC Lars, Schaffer the Dark Lord and Dr. Awkward. 21+.
Saturday, 26 July from 5-10 pm - free with $20 Gam3rCon admission. All ages, obviously.
While there will be official and geeky-themed events competing for your attention every night of the Con, sometimes it's a relief to get away from all of that and just go see a show in a bar one night. So consider this a good option. Tickets are on sale now; the VIP area for the Merrow show is already sold out, so get your tickets sooner rather than later.
.jpg)
.jpg)
