Cozy living room atmosphere at the Button Festival in Graz

Take “VulkanLAN” and “Hanamicon”, mix them together, put them in your living room and the result is a “button fest of gaming culture.” The Ludovico Association has been organizing the Gaming Festival since 2015. “The idea was to bring a major gaming event to Graz that puts comfort and socialization at the forefront,” explains Harald Koberg, Head of Digital Games at Ludovico. And you can feel this living room atmosphere on both days.

Retro Games, Nintendo and League of Legends

The doors to the Patton Festival opened on Friday at 4 p.m. Many players, including some cosplayers, are waiting at the entrance at the appointed time. A small queue has formed – but there are no long waits. Soon you found yourself on the second floor at the heart of the button – the gaming living room. First off, a little apart from the rest, you were able to show off your singing skills with the song “SingStar”. As at almost every gaming event, Nintendo had a booth here as well. There, visitors played many Nintendo games. Including classics like “Mario Kart,” “Super Mario,” and “Switch Sports.”

In addition to family games from Nintendo, there was also the opportunity to play many retro games on old consoles and TVs. Of course, you can also play a round or two of League of Legends. The eSports team “Austrian Force willhaben” was also represented at the button.

International Women's Day as a theme

Since the button was pressed on March 8, International Women's Day, this year, the organizers have taken this opportunity to address the topic in two episodes. “Basically, the topic of diversity is very important to us at Ludovico. “We always want to address the topic and draw attention to it,” explains Koberg. “Especially at the Patton Festival, we notice that diversity is very important here.”