Gamertell

The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) is all about games and gamers. Lots of games. Lots of games and lots of gamers. Games of all types and gamers of all shapes and sizes. If you can play it, it will likely be there in some form for you to enjoy.

This year, PAX 07 has moved to downtown Seattle, WA, for the three-day event being held from 2 p.m., August 24, 2007 to 6 p.m., August 26, 2007, at the The Washington State Convention and Trade Center. The larger venue was necessary to accommodate the annually increasing size of the event. The first PAX. held in 2004 in Bellevue. WA, had 3,300 attendees and more than 30,000 are expected to attend this year. Tickets are $50 for the entire three-day event.

PAX was created by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, the same funny nerds who created the videogame centric webcomic, Penny-Arcade. The event was meant as a response to E3’s media-only exclusivity, offering family-friendly game rooms, events, panel discussions and nerdcore concerts any gamer can attend. Game rooms include various competitions, mod shows or are simply set aside for gamers with common interests to gather for a good time. Besides PC and console games, rooms are set aside for tabletop games and lobbies are usually filled with comfy beanbag chairs where hanldheld gamers can gather, recharge their sysem or simply catch a catnap.

The biggest event of the expo - sorry, they want to call it a festival now - is the Omegathon, where randomly selected gamers from those who pre-registered are able to compete in a series of gaming events to win a ginormous prize package. From the site:

The Omegathon is a three-day elimination tournament. Twenty Omeganauts are chosen from those who pre-order PAX passes, and compete in games from every category (tabletop, console, PC) culminating in a live championship match on the big stage during PAX closing ceremonies. The final game is always out of left field: first year was PONG, second year was Atari’s COMBAT, last year was Tetris. The grand prize is equally ridiculous; last year’s prize was a brand new car (a Scion) that had been upgraded with custom rims and paint, big sound, LCD screens, and an Xbox 360.

There is also an expo room where various companies set up booths and hand out freebies to promote their new products. The company list is quite impressive this year including more than 50 sponsors (Microsoft, Sony, EA, Rockstar, Ubisoft and Dell, just to name a few).

This year’s kenote addres swill be by writer, actor and geek icon Wil Wheaton, best known for his role as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Mike and Jerry also like to roam the event, so you may be gaming next to one of the guys and not even realize it. In case you lug your Penny Arcade graphic novels (published by Dark Horse Comics) around, they’re usually pretty amiable about autographs.

Site [PAX07]