KingsIsle at SXSW!

Have you ever heard of South by Southwest (SXSW)? It is an annual set of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. This past week, KingsIsle was lucky enough to host a booth at the SXSW Gaming Expo! It was an awesome experience as our first time hosting a booth, and we certainly hope it continues at future cons and expos. Check out some of our favorite moments from the event below, including our first ever KI not Live!

Crutch buddies unite!

While hosting the booth at SXSW, I noticed a mini-me on crutches and yelled out “Crutch buddies!” He smiled and came over to give me a fist bump.  I promptly sat up and said, “Let’s race!” The crowd parted before us and we hobbled off. I don’t want to say I let him win, but HE WON THE RACE!

“You cheated!” I teased him and asked him if he had ever played Wizard101.  He hadn’t so I got him and his family set up with a bunch of free Crowns codes and talked with them a bit. Next I asked him how he broke his limb, and he said, “I fell out of a tree!” Without batting an eye I yelled out, “ME TOO!” I told him and his family the story, and we all had a good laugh.  Meeting my new crutch buddy was my favorite highlight of SXSW. -Tom

Mario, Luigi, and  . . . Leala?!

Cosplay is always a big part of going to conventions and we saw some great costumes over the SXSW Gaming weekend.  One of our favorites were a couple of very familiar plumbers who dropped by the KingsIsle booth, and we introduced them to Wizard101. “This-a is-a my new-a favorite-a game-a,” said the Mario cosplayer in full character. We had a good laugh and took some pictures with our new friends in familiar disguise. Mario and Luigi’s mom told us this was only the beginning of their cosplay antics.

Friendly Neighbors

Part of hosting a booth at a show is that you get to know the people at your neighboring booths and talk network a bit around your games.  We had a great time talking with the guys who ran the “Brawlhalla” game booth, Minecraft booth, and also the Reaper Miniatures booth.  At the Reaper Miniatures booth they actually let you paint your own plastic miniature for free! Vanessa Mythdust was visiting us for the day, and Tom and Vanessa took some time during the last hour of Friday night to paint a couple of miniatures together.  Vanessa talks about it on her blog, the Untold Spiral.

The Voice of Dalia Falmea

We all know Professor Falmea from the forums is our beloved Leah Ruben, senior producer, but we had a surprise visit from the voice of Dalia Falmea (also known as Kat).  Tom made a vine of the occasion to celebrate  and selfies were taken left and right.

KingsIsle Devs Galore!

We were so happy to host a whole troop of developers from KingsIsle during SXSW. Officially hosted were Leah Ruben and Joel White from Wizard101 and Pirate101, Kevin Chin and Kevin Wienecke from the Mobile Team, and master doodler extraordinaire, Jeff Toney. Outside of our officially hosted devs, we had a ton of others who dropped by to help us out and talk about the games–it was hard to keep track of them all! One thing is for sure, our KingsIsle group is a fun loving and hardworking bunch.

KI not Live:

Where do you want to see KingsIsle host a booth next? Let us know in the comments and be sure to stop by and say hi at the next event we attend! 🙂