The King of Kong and Show Off at MIX08

We're only one month away from MIX08 in Las Vegas, and I hope you've already registered! In addition to our new MIX UX track for designers, we have a lot of great sessions on the schedule. But MIX isn't just about pumping your brain full of raw content. It's about networking, inspiration, and good fun too.

So, to kick off the event, we've invited Steve Wiebe, Ed Cunningham, and Walter Day (of Twin Galaxies) to Las Vegas to give us a special screening of their movie, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Even if you've never played Donkey Kong, this is a fantastic documentary. Don't take my word for it...check out the 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie will be shown the evening of Tuesday, March 4th around 7:30pm, and Steve, Ed, and Walter will be on hand after the show for questions and answers. Note that this is the night before the opening keynote, so be sure to plan accordingly.

But that's not all. During the attendee party on Wednesday, March 5th at TAO, Steve will attempt to re-claim his Donkey Kong world record. This is a chance to see a master at work. Ed and Walter will be there too, so show up and cheer them on!

Then, on the evening of Thursday, March 6th, we'll break out the candy and popcorn while watching the best of our Show Off entries (by the way, we're now accepting submissions). This is a great way to share your work with fellow developers and designers. I've already linked to a few inspirational ideas in my post about MIX08 Contests; here are a few more that seem like they'd be audience favorites: Andrew Rudson's Drum Machine for your Rock Band drum set, the vision-guided fireball-throwing robotic catapult by the guys at Harcos, Inc., and Zombomatic by Miniclip Games. We're looking for stuff that's cool, fun, beautiful, inspirational, or just plain amazing. The audience will pick their favorites, and we'll give away some prizes. It should definitely be fun!