There was, for a moment, an alignment of all of the stars and the planets, a brief humming of cosmic harmony that occurred thanks to the power of the PAX.

Had things not gone awry it would have resulted in an unforgettable Penny Arcade Expo moment of epic proportions, a stunned silence just after Tycho and Gabe said they had a surprise guest they wanted to bring up to the stage and none other than Jack Thompson walked from stage right, or maybe stage left.

The Penny Arcade folks, it seems, had in fact asked Jack Thompson to fly out to the annual expo, their treat, to debate someone from the industry (most likely Hal Halpin) in front of a live audience, their live audience. But, as with most things Jack, the whole beautiful thing managed to get wonky and go awry.

PA told me that there was a disagreement about how exactly to promote the event: They wanted to leave it as a surprise until the moment the grey-coiffed head of Jack appeared under the limelight so as to prevent way too many people trying to pack in a room that could never hope to hold everyone who would want to witness this epic event, but Jack wanted to put out a press release about the appearance.

Jack says, in a press release, mostly the same thing, though he puts his own little twist on it:

Penny Arcade required, however, that Thompson not be allowed to tell anyone that he was participating. Thompson thought this was a joke, in light of Penny Arcade's "free speech" posture.

When Thompson insisted upon knowing what in the world was the reason for Penny Arcade's bizarre position that only it could tell people about the event, Penny Arcade said that it was concerned that too many people would want to go if word got out too widely that Thompson would be at the event.

Pause.

One wonders what the real reason for the news blackout by Penny Arcade is.

When Thompson insisted that he be allowed, given the real meaning of the First Amendment, to tell folks he would be in Seattle to participate in this news-worthy event, Penny Arcade pulled the plug and reneged on the offer, with no further explanation.

I'll leave it to you, the reader, on who to believe, the artists or the master debater. Brian Crecente