At 7pm the doors of the Civic Auditorium opened and a horde of attendees filed in.

People were very excited about the show.

Even Sonic the Hedgehog made an appearance

Sonic made a lot of friends that night!

Frogger also decided to stop by to say hello.

MANY audience members brought their Nintendo DS systems and communicated via Pictochat throughout the evening.

VGL merchandise flew off the racks

Programs, hats, shirts, pens, cd holders and CD's were all very popular items

Attendees sat on the steps to watch the preliminary judging of the costume contest

Excited fans filled the lobby for the pre-show festival.

Fans had a chance to compete for a limited edition "Guitar Hero" guitar, signed by video game composers.

Guitar Hero competition

Costume contestants posed for many pictures during the pre-show.

One of our costume contestants is interviewed for TV.

Samus greets a fan.

Our second place costume winner - Samus!

Becky takes a moment to thank Sonic for dropping by the show!

Zoe Flower, Cliffy B (from the Unreal franchise) and Kimi (from 1up.com) judged the costume contest prelims.

A costume contestant speaks with the judges.

A costume contestant (I'm pretty sure this is Selphie from Kingdom Hearts)

Vivi approaches our judges.

Vivi answers questions from the judges.

"You want me to show you my magic?"

Hand made weapon. Awesome costume!

Strutting his stuff.

Showing off his weapon.

A contestant shows his "wares".

Who knew that armor was the dress code for VGL?

Costume contestants take the stage for final judging by audience applause.

Samus shows off her armor. Yes... Samus is a girl!!

Let me hear how many people want him to win.

And, let me hear your applause for this contestant.

And we have a winner ... VIVI!