Gaucho Gaming hosted their second convention at the Corwin Pavilion featuring voice actors from popular video games such as Genshin Impact, Marvel Rivals, Resident Evil and Silent Hill on May 23.
The convention featured an artist alley where students could sell their art to attendees and keep 100% of the profit. Elijah Obando / Daily Nexus
The Gaucho Gaming Convention (GG Con) offered students a space to explore gaming culture through voice actor panels, autograph signings, video game tournaments, art vendors and giveaways.
GG Con had three separate panels centered around games the voice actors appear in. The Genshin Impact panel brought actors Sean Chiplock, Cory Yee, Patrick Pedraza and Kieran Regan who voice Diluc, Gorou, Wanderer and Heizou Shikanoin, respectively.
The Marvel Rivals panel featured actors Bill Millsap, James C. Mathis III, Jon Bailey and Xanthe Huynh who voice Punisher, Black Panther, Jeff the Land Shark and Dagger, respectively. Fourth-year communication major Lucas Joseph Sotelo expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to meet the voice behind Punisher, a character whom he frequently plays in Marvel Rivals.
“It’s surreal being able to meet [Bill Mishap], shake his hand, talk to him about things and then hear the Punisher [voice] line in real life … It’s mind-blowing,” Sotelo said. “[GG Con] is just an amazing and fun event. It’s phenomenal that college students are able to put something with this magnitude on, and it’s just an absolute blast for people who enjoy this kind of thing.”
The “Voice Your Fears” panel, named after the horror video game voice actors, featured Nick Apostolides, who voices Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil, and Caleb Yen, who voices Fox Mask in Silent Hill. During the panel, Apostolides explained how he booked the “iconic” role of Leon Kennedy without an agent and gave the audience guidance on entering the voice acting field.
“You got to just love what you do because if you love it, that’s gonna bleed into everything that you do,” Apostolides said. “And when people see your work, they’re gonna see that you’re enjoying it; it’s not just a means to an end.”
Kai Houlihan, a second-year computer science major, said they appreciated GG Con’s “more organized and structured” events compared to last year. They explained the panel rooms were “bigger” and “nicer,” and they were grateful to get a signed copy of Resident Evil 2 remake from Apostolides.
This was Gaucho Gaming’s second time hosting the convention. According to its President of External Affairs and fourth-year communication and art double major Kei Kwon, a big focus of the event was “testing how far [they] can push it” given how new it is.
“[Hosting the event was] kind of balancing what is doable within the small amount of staff we have, but also [testing] how ambitious we can be,” Kwon said. “I think it has been a success, but I’m very excited to see the event grow as well.”
The convention also featured an artist alley where students could sell their art to attendees and keep 100% of the profit. Vendor and fourth-year economics & accounting major Ashley Zhang explained how the convention brought a lot of traction to their art.
“I think Gaucho Gaming is definitely the biggest event of the year, especially if you’re [coming] for artist alley or things like that,” Zhang said. “For me, sales have been amazing, especially since [GG Con] doesn’t charge a table fee like other conventions outside of UCSB.”
GG Con had tables for attendees to play board games and video games. In between tournaments, the convention gave away gaming accessories such as mouses, headphones and microphones.
Attendee Sam Mendez, a third-year psychological & brain sciences major, won one of the giveaways and said he enjoyed the event.
“I’ve been really enjoying [GG Con],” Mendez said. “I got a bunch of stickers from the artist alley — amazing art like always. My highest recommendation.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 5 of the May 28 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
